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ACC AM May22
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(ACC Mentioned) Plasticity To Provoke a 'Big Conversation'
May 21, 2015 | Plastics News
Product manufacturers and brands have long recognized that plastic is one of the most effective and valuable materials in the market, due to it’s cost, durability and ability to be formed into so many shapes and sizes. However, as technology improves, and polymer varieties increase, including with nano-materials, so too does consumption, as well ... -
(ACC Mentioned) China Plastics Processing Industry Association Joins Battle Against Marine
May 22, 2015 | Plastemart
China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) became the latest trade association to join Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) with the signing ceremony hosted just before Chinaplas 2015. CPPIA’s decision to join means the association will promote OCS, a product stewardship program administered by SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade... -
(ACC Mentioned) Trending Basic Materials Stocks – EQT (EQT), Cabot (CBT), Cloud Peak Energy (CLD), Sociedad Quimica (SQM)
May 21, 2015 | Techsonian
EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) announced the declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per share, payable June 1, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 15, 2015. EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) released first quarter 2015 net income attributable to EQT of $173.4 million, or $1.14 per diluted share (EPS), comparable to the... -
(ACC Blog) Making the Grade Through Proper Disinfection
May 22, 2015 | American Chemistry Matters
Every year, millions of children get sick with colds, flu or norovirus – a highly contagious “stomach bug.” The ripple effect can be tremendous. Children miss days of school and risk falling behind in their studies. Teachers and staff lose work time when they pick up the “germ du jour,” and parents often have to take time off from work to care for ... http://blog.americanchemistry.com/ -
(ACC Mentioned) Why the American Chemistry Council Loves Tom Udall
May 22, 2015 | The Huffington Post - Blog
By Lou Dubose
Congress hasn't passed a major environmental bill since 1996, when Bill Clinton signed amendments to the Clean Water Act. Now it seems that the "Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act," is moving through the Senate and might actually make it to Barack Obama's desk. The bill is a fix for the non-functional 1976 Toxic ... -
(ACC Mentioned) Bipartisan Senators Reintroduce 'Sustainable Chemistry' Bill
May 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
A bipartisan pair of lawmakers reintroduced a bill yesterday meant to promote federal research and leadership in the field of sustainable chemistry. The bill, by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), would align federal policies to encourage the development of sustainable chemicals -- substances designed to reduce ... -
(ACC Mentioned) Editorial: Chemical Industry Insider Speaks Out
May 21, 2015 | The Fresno Bee
Parents tell their children that no matter what bonehead stunt they pull, they’ll make it worse by lying. Perhaps some American Chemistry Council and corporate executives whose companies produce certain types of flame retardants didn’t learn that lesson. The chemistry council denied involvement with an AstroTurf group known as Citizens for ... -
(ACC Mentioned) California Lists BPA As Reproductive Toxicant / Plastics And Can Manufacturers Dispute Conclusion
May 22, 2015 | Plasteurope
California has added bisphenol A (BPA) to its “Proposition 65” list of chemicals known to cause reproductive toxicity. The US state’s decision to add the chemical used to make polycarbonate resin and epoxy resins for can liners follows an analysis by the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DART-IC), an advisory... -
House Plans Vote on TSCA Reform, Regulation of Coal Ash in Late June
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
House lawmakers plan to consider legislation the week of June 22 reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act and modifying how coal ash can be regulated, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told reporters May 21. Shimkus, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, said he plans ... -
House Version Of Reform Bill Will Get Formal Introduction Tomorrow
May 21, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said today he will formally introduce legislation to update the Toxic Substances Control Act tomorrow. The bill introduced will not contain significant changes from draft legislation that was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy last week, Shimkus said. -
OSHA Plans Public Meeting on GHS Issues
May 21, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US Occupational and Safety Administration is hosting a public meeting of the interagency GHS coordinating group on 10 June to discuss proposals for the upcoming 29th session of the UN Sub-committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of the classification and labelling of chemicals. -
(ACC Mentioned) API Energy Supply Bill Testimony: Part 1
May 21, 2015 | Energy Global
Below are highlights from a testimony given by Erik Milito, Group Director of Upstream and Industry Operations, American Petroleum Institute, before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Energy Supply Bill hearing. “We are pleased to see the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee... -
Oklahoma Senate Gives Final Passage to Bill Restricting Local Ordinances on Oil Drilling
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Stinson
The Oklahoma Senate has approved final legislation that would curb municipal efforts to regulate oil and gas operations. Passed May 21 on a 33-13 vote, the bill (S.B. 809) would allow the state's oil and gas regulator—the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC)—to control regulations on oil and gas while giving municipalities ... -
Private Land, Mineral Rights Owners Suffering From Wave of Bankrupt Oil Drillers
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
At the height of the U.S. energy boom, Texas landowner John Baen received about $100,000 a month in royalty payments from companies producing oil and natural gas on his property. Now the checks are much smaller, and when he opens his mailbox each day, he is afraid he will find yet another bankruptcy notice. So far, four of the... -
Florida Dem Looks To Extend Offshore Drilling Ban
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is fighting back against a Republican bill that would expand offshore oil drilling near the coast of Florida. Nelson introduced a bill Thursday that would extend the current moratorium on oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico through 2027. The bill comes after a group of Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.)... -
Fla. Sen. Nelson Seeks To Keep Eastern Gulf Off-Limits
May 21, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Nick Juliano
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a bill today aimed at keeping oil drillers out of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The bill comes in response to a proposal from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to allow drilling in the eastern Gulf and lift a revenue-sharing cap to give Gulf Coast states more of the money raised from the resulting energy exploration. -
Colorado Blazes the Path on Oil and Gas Data
May 21, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Adam Peltz
This May has truly been a banner month for transparency of the oil and gas industry. To start, FracFocus, the state-run, national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure database, released chemical information of nearly 100,000 wells in raw digital format. On the same day, Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) put two... -
California Oil Spill Ignites Array of Protests Against Industry
May 21, 2015 | Reuters
By Nichola Groom
This week's oil spill in California has become a springboard for environmental groups to attack the oil industry, with calls ranging from a ban on fracking in the Golden State to a halt to drilling in the far-flung Arctic. Two days after a pipeline rupture began spilling 105,000 gallons of crude oil onto a beach and into the Pacific Ocean west of Santa... -
Oil Again Fouling California Coast Near Site of Historic Spill
May 21, 2015 | The New York Times
By Adam Nagourney, Richard Pérez-Peña And Clifford Krauss
Refugio State Beach is one of the treasures of the California coast, a little-known curve of beach in the hills that on weekends like this one — Memorial Day — would be sprinkled with people who made their way up from Santa Barbara, about 20 miles down the Pacific Coast. But not on Thursday. Refugio was filled not with vacationers... -
Comment Period Extended for Furnace Rule After Pushback From Natural Gas Industry
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The comment period for the Energy Department's proposed rule on energy efficiency standards for residential furnaces was extended from June 10 to July 10, following pushback from industry. The deadline is being moved to provide more time to comment on the proposed rule (RIN 1904–AD20), which would amend the energy conservation... -
White House Unveils Regulatory Roadmap
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - Regulation
By Lydia Wheeler
The Obama Administration unveiled its semiannual regulatory agenda on Thursday, detailing the rules that federal agencies will make top priorities in the next year. The White House is notorious for releasing this administration’s Unified Agenda on the cusp of a holiday when most people are headed out of town to celebrate the long weekend. -
Regulators Provide Comprehensive ‘Menu' Of Clean Power Plan Compliance Options
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
An association of air pollution regulators extensively catalogued measures to help states comply with th e Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan in a report released May 21. The report, “Implementing EPA's Clean Power Plan: A Menu of Options,” outlines 25 options for states to curb carbon... -
EIA Sends Analysis of Clean Power Plan To House, Says Public Release Upcoming
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The Energy Information Administration sent a copy of its analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed carbon dioxide standards for power plants to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, an EIA official said May 21. The EIA was asked by the committee to analyze the impact the Clean Power Plan... -
Final Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Power Plants Due Out in August, EPA Agenda Says
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
First-ever final rules governing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are projected for release in August by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the agency's updated regulatory agenda . The EPA's spring regulatory agenda also shows May as the month for releasing the final rule that would clarify the scope of Clean Water Act... -
EDF and Other Environmental Groups Call on Pennsylvania to Step up Energy Efficiency
May 21, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Dick Munson
Utilities across the country offer energy efficiency programs, many of which obtain good results simply by replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In Pennsylvania, however, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and other environmental groups are going further by seeking more comprehensive... -
Senate Appropriations Approves Energy, Water Bill, Takes on Social Cost of Carbon
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted May 21 to approve a $35.4 billion fiscal year 2016 energy and water spending bill that includes language to ban the Energy Department from using social cost of carbon estimates in rulemakings. The bill, approved by a vote of 26-4, also includes a rider that would bar the U.S. Army Corps... -
Senate Panel Advances $35.4b Bill Funding Energy, Water Programs
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Shabad
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced a $35.5 billion bill funding energy and water programs for fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1. The bill provides $1.2 billion above current levels, but $666 million less than what President Obama’s requested.The Army Corps of Engineers, which funds the nation’s water infrastructure... -
Capito, Scalise Introduce Bill to Improve Permitting Under EPA New Source Review
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency would be required to publicly post the number of new source review air pollution permits it has approved each fiscal year and the percentage completed within one year under legislation to bring transparency to the process. The Promoting New Manufacturing Act (no bill number available), introduced... -
Republicans Seek To Ease EPA Permitting
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A new Republican bill aims to ease the burden of obtaining air pollution permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for manufacturing facilities. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said their legislation introduced Thursday would help the country’s energy and manufacturing sectors move forward in ... -
Obama Set to Strengthen Federal Role in Clean Water Regulation
May 22, 2015 | The New York Times
By Coral Davenport
The Obama administration is expected in the coming days to announce a major clean water regulation that would restore the federal government’s authority to limit pollution in the nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Environmentalists have praised the new rule, calling it an important step that would lead to significantly cleaner ... -
Appeals Court Finds EPA Violated Clean Air Act in Approving California Plans
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The Environmental Protection Agency erred in approving California plans to bring the San Joaquin Valley into attainment with the federal 1997 ozone and fine particulate standards because the plans failed to include state-approved mobile source emissions standards, a federal appeals court has ruled (Comm. for a Better Arvin v. EPA... -
Court Faults EPA For Approving Parts Of Calif. Ozone Plan
May 21, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that U.S. EPA erred in approving aspects of a California plan for addressing air pollution. Community and environmental groups challenged EPA's 2011 and 2012 approvals of California's state implementation plan, or SIP, for ozone and fine particulate matter pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, an agricultural... -
California Declares Emergency After Pipeline Leaks Crude Oil Along Coastline
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Robert Tuttle
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) declared an emergency in Santa Barbara County after a Plains All American Pipeline LP oil conduit leaked as much as 2,500 barrels of crude along the state's southern coastline. About 500 barrels of crude entered the ocean, and a total of 145 barrels of oil were recovered as of 9 a.m. local time May 20, the Joint... -
Senators Urge Obama to Quickly Nominate Permanent Administrator to Lead PHMSA
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
Ten senators urged President Barack Obama to nominate a permanent administrator to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in a letter released May 21. The role of administrator is becoming more important as oil and gas production increases, the senators said. All of the senators' states have had pipeline spills... -
CSX's DeSimone Receives AAR Award For Hazardous Material Safety
May 21, 2015 | Progressive Railroading
CSX Transportation's Director of Hazardous Materials Romano DeSimone has been awarded the Association of American Railroad (AAR) Holden-Proefrock Award for significant career achievements and contributions to the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail. -
Itech Proud to Assist TRANSCAER Flammable Liquids Training in Haldimand County
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(ACC Mentioned) Plasticity To Provoke a 'Big Conversation'
May 21, 2015 | Plastics News
Product manufacturers and brands have long recognized that plastic is one of the most effective and valuable materials in the market, due to it’s cost, durability and ability to be formed into so many shapes and sizes. However, as technology improves, and polymer varieties increase, including with nano-materials, so too does consumption, as well as complexity for recovery.
As a result, many also recognize that plastic has an image problem, largely linked to its ubiquitous nature, and to its propensity to be used to make disposable, single-use products. This tends to be further exacerbated by the sloppy habits of many people who tend to irresponsibly discard waste materials, or by the lack of infrastructure to properly recover, convert and reuse much of that waste in other viable applications.
Take, for example, the recent study by the University of Georgia’s College of Engineering, which found between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010 from people living within roughly 30 miles of the coastline. Globally, some 280 million tons of plastic is produced annually, yet estimates suggest that only 10 percent is actually recycled. Capturing this waste stream presents a significant and untapped business opportunity, as does the redesign of packaging and the thought process around waste recovery and resource maximization.
As the world’s population grows, a rapidly mobile and financially stable middle class is emerging in much of the world. Those people become consumers who want products that the developed world has enjoyed for decades. This inevitably means that waste will grow proportionally. However, resource recovery is rarely given the focus it deserves to prevent impacts on water quality, health and livelihoods.
Mike Biddle, CEO of Material Solutions and founder of MBA Polymers Inc., suggests that three important areas of development will help keep waste from ending up in the wrong place by liberating value from waste streams more efficiently:
1. Lower-cost and more-effective ways to separate plastics from other materials, allowing for smaller scales of efficient material aggregation.
2. Better plastic sorting and purification technologies that allow recyclers to make plastics at sufficient quality to replace virgin material.
3. Waste-to-fuel technologies that can convert what cannot be recycled into clean fuels — allowing waste processors to get closer to zero-waste solutions.
The key to achieving the first has to do with reaching scale in new ways that create value, even if that scale is smaller than what one would expect. Today, the scale often needs to be so large to ensure the low margins make sense economically, that a lot of cities and countries do not even attempt the types of recovery that their societies need. This is a problem, because as we begin to use more complex materials, as well as a greater variety of materials, the options for unified streams of material proliferate, yet decrease in size/volume in any given locality. How do we make sense of this so that materials can be aggregated, even with relatively low technologies that many countries can deploy?
These are some of the weighty issues that will be discussed at the fourth annual Plasticity Forum (www.plasticityforum.com), taking place June 8-9 in Cascais, Portugal. Billed as “a big conversation about the future of plastic,” Plasticity Portugal 2015 will build on last year’s successful conference in New York, and feature several high-level speakers, including Biddle, the American Chemistry Council’s Steve Russell and Dow Plastics’ Jeff Wooster.
The agenda also will feature discussions about some of the solutions and best practices that are making their way to the market and from which we can all benefit. I invite you to come join the conversation.
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(ACC Mentioned) China Plastics Processing Industry Association Joins Battle Against Marine
May 22, 2015 | Plastemart
China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA) became the latest trade association to join Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) with the signing ceremony hosted just before Chinaplas 2015. CPPIA’s decision to join means the association will promote OCS, a product stewardship program administered by SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association (SPI) and the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) designed to prevent plastic resin pellet loss and help keep pellets out of the marine environment, among its membership of Chinese plastics companies, and throughout China as well.
“Keeping plastic resin pellets out of our oceans and reducing the amount of plastic in the ocean overall will take international collaboration and commitment, and CPPIA’s participation in OCS is a crucial piece of that puzzle,” said SPI Senior Vice President of Industry Affairs Patty Long. “The OCS framework is not a rigorous regulatory burden, but a set of simple rules and procedures that companies all over the world can implement to help eliminate pellet loss. We hope CPPIA’s decision to join results in every Chinese processing company’s decision to take the OCS pledge and do their part to eradicate plastic debris from our oceans.”
“Marine debris is a global problem that requires a global solution. By increasing the number of industry partners promoting the best practices contained in the OCS framework, and increasing the geographic areas where OCS is being implemented and companies are taking the OCS pledge, SPI and the global plastics industry is making real progress toward the goal of zero pellet loss,” said SPI Senior Director of International Affairs and Trade Michael Taylor. “CPPIA represents the entirety of China’s robust plastics processing industry, and their pledge to become the 18th global trade association charged with promoting OCS fills a gap that needed filling. Their participation will move the entire plastics industry closer to the goal of zero pellet loss.”
OCS is administered in the U.S. by SPI and ACC. In addition to CPPIA, the remaining 17 international members of OCS are:
The British Plastics Federation, The Canadian Plastics Industry Association, Fédération de la Plasturgie (France), Plastics New Zealand, La Asociación Nacional de Industrias del Plástico, A.C. (ANIPAC) (Mexico), All India Plastics Manufacturers’ Association, Plastics SA (South Africa), PET Product & Closure Manufacturers Association (Nepal), The Danish Plastics Federation, ASIPLA (Chile), Costa Rica, Plastics Europe, Brazil, Japan Plastics Industry Federation, Ecuador, The Philippines, Egyptian Plastic Exporters & Manufacturers Association (EPEMA).
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May 21, 2015 | Techsonian
EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) announced the declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per share, payable June 1, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 15, 2015. EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) released first quarter 2015 net income attributable to EQT of $173.4 million, or $1.14 per diluted share (EPS), comparable to the first quarter 2014 earnings of $192.2 million, or $1.26 per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $164.3 million in the first quarter 2015, $41.2 million lower than the first quarter 2014, while 2015 adjusted EPS was $1.08, $0.27 lower.
EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) showing decrease movement during previous trade, it traded with the volume of 1.12M shares in the last trading session, as compared to average volume of 1.36M shares. The stock on down -0.11 % and finished the day at $ 88.04.
Has EQT Found The Bottom and Ready To Move Up? Find Out Here
Cabot Corp (NYSE:CBT) disclosed that three of its U.S. manufacturing facilities were recognized with “Certificates of Excellence” by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) for their safety achievements in 2014. /* script-replace-ec3888c4ae68328b3752b6ce47363cb3 */
These awards were presented to Cabot’s inkjet colorants plant in Haverhill, Mass.; fumed metal oxides plant in Midland, Mich.; and activated carbon plant in Pryor, Okla. in recognition of each location’s outstanding safety results throughout the past year. This is the highest safety certificate awarded to individual facilities by the ACC and is bestowed upon those that complete a year with no Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injuries or illnesses, which result in days away from work, and no restricted workdays or job transfers among both employees and contractors.
Cabot Corp (NYSE:CBT) was moving downward during the previous trading session. The company traded with the decline of -0.21 % and closed at $ 43.34, after total volume of 1.12M shares, as compared to average volume of 452,795.00 shares. During last trade its minimum price was $ 43.07 and it gained its highest price of $ 43.72. It’s while its beta value stands at 1.81 times.
Has CBT Found The Bottom And Ready To Gain Momentum? Find Out HereFollowing its annual meeting of stockholders on May 13, 2015, Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (NYSE:CLD) released the preliminary voting results from the annual meeting.
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(ACC Blog) Making the Grade Through Proper Disinfection
May 22, 2015 | American Chemistry Matters
Every year, millions of children get sick with colds, flu or norovirus – a highly contagious “stomach bug.” The ripple effect can be tremendous. Children miss days of school and risk falling behind in their studies. Teachers and staff lose work time when they pick up the “germ du jour,” and parents often have to take time off from work to care for their children. Not all illnesses are preventable, but there are some common-sense ways for schools to help prevent the spread of common infectious illnesses.
The National Education Association Health Information Network and the American Chemistry Council’s Chlorine Chemistry Division recently announced a new video series aimed at demonstrating proper cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting practices in schools.
“Research shows that there’s a vital link between clean school buildings, improved indoor environmental quality, and healthy students and staff,” said NEA Health Information Network’s Executive Director, Jim Bender. “Our goal for the video series is to share best practices, while highlighting the benefits of implementing a comprehensive cleaning program, which is the key to a healthier school.”
The video series is a relevant resource for all school staff, but is especially important for Education Support Professionals, including the staff who strive to maintain clean, healthy environments in schools across America day in and day out. These individuals are also the “first responders” to health incidents involving the sudden onset of illness in schools. The series includes important information about the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and targeted disinfecting, how to select the right product for the job, and how to use and store cleaners and disinfectants—like chlorine bleach—safely.
“Flu, colds, norovirus and MRSA can spread rapidly via contaminated surfaces in schools, sickening students, teachers and staff, and reducing valuable learning time,” said Judith Nordgren, Managing Director of ACC’s Chlorine Chemistry Division. “Our aim in collaborating with the NEA Health Information Network is to communicate clearly the safe, effective use of cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants for healthy schools and healthy students, teachers and staff.”
For several hours every day, school buildings are the critical learning and social environments for America’s children. The new video series helps optimize the health of these physical spaces, a step that can only help our kids thrive in every way.
The video series can be found on the NEA HIN’s website at: http://neahin.org/cleanschools/. - See more at: http://blog.americanchemistry.com/2015/05/making-the-grade-through-proper-disinfection/#sthash.Qy75b1xc.dpuf
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(ACC Mentioned) Why the American Chemistry Council Loves Tom Udall
May 22, 2015 | The Huffington Post - Blog
By Lou Dubose
Congress hasn't passed a major environmental bill since 1996, when Bill Clinton signed amendments to the Clean Water Act. Now it seems that the "Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act," is moving through the Senate and might actually make it to Barack Obama's desk. The bill is a fix for the non-functional 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Named after a former Democratic Senator from New Jersey, who was working to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act when he died in 2103, and co-sponsored by New Mexico Democratic Senator Tom Udall, whose family name is an environmentalist brand (his uncle Stewart Udall was a conservationist interior secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations), the Senate bill that establishes a process to evaluate and test more than 80,000 potentially hazardous chemicals should easily win the backing of environmental groups.It has not. Tom Udall, whose family name is an environmentalist brand, has provided this legislation some measure of green credibility, essentially putting lipstick on a pig to hide the ugly. Here's the ugly.
As it turns out, the Vitter-Udall bill, co-sponsored by Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter, is a Trojan Horse, cobbled together by the American Chemistry Council, a huge industry trade association, and pushed through the Senate by more than 100 lobbyists representing the chemical companies whose products would be regulated.
At an April 28 Committee markup of the bill, California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer complained that one draft of the Vitter-Udall bill has been traced directly to an American Chemistry Council computer.
Boxer also placed in the record letters and statements from a coalition of 450 environmental, labor and public health groups that oppose the Vitter-Udall bill.
Members of the coalition ranged from the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council to the AFL-CIO and the Breast Cancer Fund.
A single green group, the Environmental Defense Fund, is supporting the bill. Its senior scientist struggled to vindicate himself at a March 15 hearing of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works.
In a letter to the committee, California Attorney General Kamala Harris wrote that "the preemption of state authority with respect to high-priority chemicals years before federal regulations take effect" is a fundamental flaw in the bill.
Testifying at the hearing, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh explained "preemption of state authority."
The preemption provisions that are built into this legislation tie the hands of states at nearly every turn. Among these, there is a prohibition on new state chemical restrictions from the moment EPA begins the process of considering regulation of high priority chemicals. It's a plain fact that the bill itself allows this EPA review period to last as long as seven years.
Let's say we're talking about a toxic chemical. That's seven years with no federal regulation, seven years during which no state can take action regardless of how dangerous, how toxic, how poisonous a chemical is, regardless of its impact on men, women or children.
The EPA testing will be, let's say, protracted.
Of 80,000 synthetic chemicals commonly used in the U.S., 1,000 are considered potential health threats. Within the first seven years after implementation of the Vitter-Udall bill, only 25 of those chemicals would be tested by the EPA. Yet there is no provision in the bill that would stop the EPA from listing chemicals that it "is considering" testing, which would protect them from regulation by states.
Tom Udall and the Environmental Defense Fund have provided this legislation some measure of green credibility, essentially putting lipstick on a pig to hide the ugly.
Here's the ugly.
The American Chemistry Council, Dow, Dupont, BASF, 3M, Honeywell and Koch Industries spent $62.9 million in 2014 lobbying members of Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and lobbying disclosure forms filed in Congress. While the disclosure forms don't link the lobbyists to specific bills, a study by the Environmental Working Group found that most of the forms referred to TSCA.
David Vitter, now running for governor in Louisiana, has been underwritten by the chemical industry for as long as he's held elected office.
Senator Tom Udall, in Congress since 1999, has been largely ignored by the industry--until the 2014 election, when he turned up in the top 20 recipients of American Chemistry Council money, according to opensecrets.org. The Chemistry Council also ran television ads supporting Udall's successful (54.4-44.6) race against Republican challenger Allen Weh.
It appears they're getting a decent return on their investment.
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(ACC Mentioned) Bipartisan Senators Reintroduce 'Sustainable Chemistry' Bill
May 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
A bipartisan pair of lawmakers reintroduced a bill yesterday meant to promote federal research and leadership in the field of sustainable chemistry.
The bill, by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), would align federal policies to encourage the development of sustainable chemicals -- substances designed to reduce or eliminate risks to human health and the environment.
The legislation would direct the White House to establish an interagency Sustainable Chemistry Program that would promote and coordinate federal activities on sustainable chemistry. The program would be run by a joint working group, including representatives of at least seven federal agencies, though the panel would be coordinated by U.S. EPA and the National Science Foundation.
The panel's duties would include promoting the use of sustainable chemistry and providing federal grants and loans to encourage the development of these products.
Aiding the growing field is an important way to create jobs and support the commercialization of emerging technologies, Coons said in a statement.
"We have only scratched the surface of developing new ways to ensure products we use every day -- from our laundry detergent to our shoes -- are produced in a way that maintains their high quality and benefits our health and the environment," Coons said. "By creating a cohesive vision for our nation's sustainable chemistry research and building new partnerships with the private sector, the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act is an exciting opportunity to create jobs and maintain our scientific leadership."
Collins said in a statement that the bill "will help to create American jobs and maintain the scientific leadership of the United States."
The bill has the support of an array of groups, some of which have not agreed on the issue of broader chemical management reform. Supporters of the bill include the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Chemistry Council, the American Chemical Society, the American Sustainable Business Council Action Fund, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, Honest Company, and the Consumer Specialty Products Association.
Industry heavyweights Ashland Inc., BASF Corp., Dow Chemical Co., DuPont Co. and others also support the bill, according to Coons' office.
Much of the legislation has already been incorporated into a pending Senate bill, S. 697, or the "Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act." Unlike that controversial Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill, though, Coons and Collins' legislation would not change or impose new regulations, nor would it increase federal spending, the lawmakers said.
Coons was an original co-sponsor of the TSCA bill, which was introduced by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) earlier this year. That bill now has 40 co-sponsors of both parties, though Collins is not one of them.
Lawmakers previously introduced a version of the sustainable chemistry bill last year, but no action was taken on it in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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(ACC Mentioned) Editorial: Chemical Industry Insider Speaks Out
May 21, 2015 | The Fresno Bee
Parents tell their children that no matter what bonehead stunt they pull, they’ll make it worse by lying.
Perhaps some American Chemistry Council and corporate executives whose companies produce certain types of flame retardants didn’t learn that lesson.
The chemistry council denied involvement with an AstroTurf group known as Citizens for Fire Safety, an industry front that lobbied against legislation to restrict what Gov. Jerry Brown calls “toxic flame retardants.” The chemicals had become ubiquitous in the environment and showed up in mothers’ breast milk.
Last month, industry lobbyist Grant Gillham wrote a powerful letter to the California Legislature detailing how he established the front group in 2007 at the request of the American Chemistry Council and three member corporations that produce the flame retardants.
“My role, at the direction of the three companies, and under the oversight of the American Chemistry Council, was to develop a national advocacy and grassroots public relations campaign to defeat the growing body of legislation aimed at banning chemical flame retardants,” writes Gillham, a former legislative aide.
In 2012, as Gillham oversaw a lobbying effort that derailed bills in several states to restrict flame retardants, the Chicago Tribune printed articles exposing Citizens for Fire Safety’s questionable tactics and scientific claims.
The Center for Public Integrity picked up on the story earlier this month, focusing on Gillham, and reprinted a 2012 letter from the chemistry council’s executive director, Cal Dooley, in which he told Maine legislators that the council “is not affiliated with Citizens for Fire Safety.”
We must be missing some nuance. Maybe we don’t know what the definition is of “is,” as used by Dooley, a former Democratic member of Congress from Fresno. On Wednesday, Anne Kolton, the chemistry council’s communications director, restated the council was not involved with Citizens for Fire Safety.
In 2012, after the front group had been exposed, Brown directed his staff to rewrite regulations so that California no longer required the flame retardants be added to furniture sold in the state.
Last year, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, whose previous legislative attempts to restrict flame retardants had died in part because of Gillham, won approval of a bill requiring that products containing the flame retardants be labeled.
Now, with Gillham as an ally, Leno is carrying a new bill, SB 763, which would require labeling of products for juveniles such as napping pads. It deserves passage, no matter what the American Chemistry Council says.
In Washington, the chemistry council is lobbying for S. 697, a bill that threatens states’ ability to regulate chemicals. California’s congressional delegation should protect the state’s authority by opposing this bill unless the preemption language is dropped.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/article21623565.html#storylink=cpy -
May 22, 2015 | Plasteurope
California has added bisphenol A (BPA) to its “Proposition 65” list of chemicals known to cause reproductive toxicity. The US state’s decision to add the chemical used to make polycarbonate resin and epoxy resins for can liners follows an analysis by the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DART-IC), an advisory panel to the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. DART said that through scientifically valid testing BPA had been “clearly shown to cause reproductive toxicity based on the female reproductive endpoint.”
Businesses using chemicals listed in Proposition 65, formally the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act passed by California voters in 1986, are required to provide a “clear and reasonable warning” before “knowingly and intentionally” selling a product that could potentially expose them to carcinogens or reproductive toxins – unless the business can prove that the product poses “no significant risk.” For consumer products, the warning can be a printed label. A warning can also take the form of notices in a workplace or rental housing complex or in a newspaper.
The rules for dealing with the listed chemicals are currently being challenged in US courts. Last month, in a case involving lead, a California court of appeals ruled in favour of processed food manufacturer Beech-Nut in a challenge by the US Environmental Law Foundation (ELF). The Foundation maintained that the company should have provided a warning. The court said Beech-Nut had no duty to warn as it had satisfactorily demonstrated that the average consumer’s reasonably expected rate of exposure fell below relevant regulatory levels. ELF has petitioned the California Supreme Court to review the ruling.
A challenge to the BPA listing could be more difficult, as there are no binding US regulations for the chemical’s use in specific applications, only recommendations for daily intake levels. As could be expected, environmental and health advocates have hailed its inclusion in Proposition 65, while associations representing manufacturers of cans, epoxy resins and polycarbonate have slammed the listing. John Rost, chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, commented that the decision is “contradictory to the findings of leading regulatory bodies throughout the world that have determined BPA to be safe at the levels used in food contact applications.”
The American Chemistry Council (ACC, Washington DC / USA; www.americanchemistry.com) says the evidence used to back the California decision is not supported by the extensive scientific record presented to the committee and is “completely contrary to explicit input provided by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” In a statement, Steven Hentges of ACC's Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group, noted that the FDA’s acting chief scientist submitted a letter to the DART-IC in April, pointing out that the FDA’s own comprehensive research “does not support BPA as a reproductive toxicant.”
Like its European counterpart European Food Safety Agency (EFSA; www.efsa.europa.eu), the FDA has not reached a definitive conclusion on all possible health risks associated with exposure to BPA, although in a report published in January of this year, EFSA largely absolved the chemical of blame as an endocrine disruptor – see Plasteurope.com of 23.01.2015. Both the European and US food watchdogs are holding off with any final verdicts pending the conclusions of a long-term study by the US National Toxicology Program which will be available for evaluation in two- to three-years’ time.
In contrast, the Risk Assessment Committee of ECHA, the body that administers REACH, last year unanimously supported France in proposing that BPA's mandatory classification should be “strengthened” from a category 2 to a 1B ("presumed human reproductive toxicant that may damage fertility") – see Plasteurope.com of 24.03.2014.
The European plastics producers’ association PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org), however said data from the guideline studies it believed were used by ECHA did not support this classification. -
House Plans Vote on TSCA Reform, Regulation of Coal Ash in Late June
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
House lawmakers plan to consider legislation the week of June 22 reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act and modifying how coal ash can be regulated, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told reporters May 21.
Shimkus, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, said he plans to formally introduce the Toxic Substances Control Act Modernization Act of 2015 May 22, and the full committee will mark up the legislation the week of June 1. A draft version of the TSCA bill cleared the Illinois Republican's subcommittee unanimously on May 14.
House members are feeling “very positive” about the progress they've made toward modernizing the 1976 chemical safety law, and the soon-to-be-introduced bill will contain only minor technical changes from the version that cleared Shimkus's subcommittee, he said.
“We don't know what will happen if we go to conference, but I think we're pretty locked down on our side,” Shimkus said. “We got a 21-0 vote with people on record. You can only screw it up now. We're at a high water mark. You start tinkering with it, things could fall apart.”
Separate Push From Senate
Shimkus said House members are pursuing their TSCA reform efforts independently of the Senate where Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) have already secured the support of two-fifths of the chamber for their broader TSCA reform legislation (S. 697). He declined to say whether he would support a broader bill like the one in the Senate.
“I'm not really focusing on the Senate bill,” Shimkus said. “They've got to get it off the floor. They've done great work. If we move relatively soon, that gives them motivation [to secure Senate floor time].”
Once both chambers pass bills, House and Senate lawmakers could work out differences in their approaches through a conference.
“I think people are looking forward to being involved in a conference again,” Shimkus said.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee cleared S. 697, which would amend TSCA for the first time in nearly 40 years, on a 15-5 vote on April 28. Senators have yet to secure floor time from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) but expect consideration of the bill could take several weeks (82 DEN A-9, 4/29/15).
Coal Ash Moving Too
Also during the week of June 22, Shimkus expects to advance legislation (H.R. 1734) that would enable states to draft, implement and enforce their own permitting programs for coal ash management and disposal while barring the EPA from ever regulating the residue from coal-fired power generation as a hazardous waste.
That bill, introduced by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), earned House Energy and Commerce Committee approval April 15 on a 32-19 vote (73 DEN A-15, 4/16/15).
Environmental advocates have slammed the legislation and warn it would endanger human health and the environment. Industry groups, coal ash recyclers and state regulators, meanwhile, strongly back the approach and say the bill would address the risk of dual regulatory requirements and confusion associated with the agency's final rule.
The Environmental Protection Agency opted to regulate coal ash under the nonhazardous waste provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in its final rule, which was formally published in April (80 Fed. Reg. 21,302).
A spokesman for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did not respond to requests for comment on when the chamber would consider both bills.
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House Version Of Reform Bill Will Get Formal Introduction Tomorrow
May 21, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said today he will formally introduce legislation to update the Toxic Substances Control Act tomorrow.
The bill introduced will not contain significant changes from draft legislation that was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy last week, Shimkus said.
Known as the "TSCA Modernization Act," the legislation is on track to be considered by the full Energy and Commerce Committee during the first week of June, Shimkus said, and to reach the House floor by the end of next month.
Shimkus said he was open to discussing future changes on the proposal but wanted to move forward with what had been achieved to date.
"If you can get Democrats and Republicans to agree on some language and you get [Rep. Frank] Pallone and [Rep.] Fred [Upton] to say, 'No harm, no foul, we're behind it, and we will fight to keep that,' then come talk to us," Shimkus said, referring to the ranking member and the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively.
He added, "Our goal is to lock it down with the agreement that we have, unless there's big buy-in on both sides" for further changes.
The House action may prod Senate leaders to take their own bill to the floor, Shimkus said. Previously, Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and other co-sponsors have said they expect Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to take up the legislation next month, although McConnell has not committed to doing so (E&E Daily, May 5).
Lawmakers on Shimkus' subcommittee approved the draft TSCA legislation last week in a unanimous vote (E&ENews PM, May 14).
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OSHA Plans Public Meeting on GHS Issues
May 21, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US Occupational and Safety Administration is hosting a public meeting of the interagency GHS coordinating group on 10 June to discuss proposals for the upcoming 29th session of the UN Sub-committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of the classification and labelling of chemicals.
Osha will provide an update on GHS-related issues as well as seek input from interested parties for consideration in developing the US positions for the UN subcommittee meeting, to be held 29 June-1 July in Geneva. It will also take comments on subjects related to its activities in the US-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council.
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(ACC Mentioned) API Energy Supply Bill Testimony: Part 1
May 21, 2015 | Energy Global
Below are highlights from a testimony given by Erik Milito, Group Director of Upstream and Industry Operations, American Petroleum Institute, before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Energy Supply Bill hearing.
“We are pleased to see the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee moving forward with a robust debate to move the country toward a comprehensive energy strategy. We are a nation truly need a comprehensive approach to energy shaped by reason, commonsense and experience, an approach based on competition in the marketplace and state of the art technology. As the committee considers the debates the pillars of infrastructure, supply, efficiency, and accountability, the US is well positioned to lead the world in the production of all energy sources, and particularly in the production of oil and natural gas. As both the US and global economies grow, the US, with its abundant supplies, can effectively provide economic and energy stability to domestic and global markets through continued and expanded development of oil and natural gas.
“Our nation can and should be producing more of the oil and natural gas Americans need here at home. This would strengthen our energy security and help put downward pressure on prices while also providing many thousands of new jobs for Americans and billions of dollars in additional revenue for our government.”
“US production growth has made all the difference. It has largely offset the loss from unplanned production outages around the world and put downward pressure on prices to the great benefit of American consumers and businesses.”The fundamentals
“Fundamentals of economics are quite evident in oil and gas markets, with growing US supplies putting downward pressure on the price of oil and natural gas. The Henry Hub price of natural gas has remained at US$6 /million Btu or less since December 2008, with most months since then with an average price in the US$2 – 4 range. Abundant supplies of natural gas in the US and the ability of US producers to efficiently produce these resources has led the EIA and other analysts to predict that natural gas prices will remain relatively low for many years. The low price of natural gas led IHS to conclude that the average household had US$1200 additional disposable income in 2012, expected to increase to US$3500 in 2025.
“Similarly, the price of crude oil has come down significantly. The spot price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil averaged US$95/bbl in January 2014. By December 2014 it was down to US$59, and in January 2015 it was at US$47. According to The Economist in its ‘Sheikhs vs. Shale’ article: ‘Cheaper oil should act like a shot of adrenaline to global growth…A typical American motorist, who spend US$3000 in 2013 at the pumps, might be US$800 a year better off, equivalent to a 2% pay rise.’ Affordable energy helps drive the economy, and affordability comes with increased access to US oil and natural gas supplies.
“The US energy boom has also been a catalyst to resurgent manufacturing and petrochemical sectors, which rely on low cost energy to fuel operations and on natural gas and natural gas liquids as feedstock for production. For example, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) identified 225 chemical industry investment projects valued at US$138 billion that have been announced as of March 2015. According to ACC, during peak investment years, these projects could support 383 000 jobs, US$266 billion in new economic output and US$19 billion in new tax revenue by 2023.”Global perspective
“Globally, the change in energy demand is much greater, and when it comes to liquid petroleum products, the US competes on a global basis for these resources. Recent forecasts by the EIA estimate that sustaining a 3.6% annual growth in the global economy from 2014 – 2040 will require an expansion of about 28 million bpd in global oil supplies. That is an increase roughly equivalent to the current consumption of the US, Canada, Mexico and Japan. The growth in demand for natural gas worldwide is expected to be even larger, increasing by 64% from 2010 – 2040. Despite significant growth of renewable energy and improvements in energy efficiency, more than half the world’s energy demand will be met in 2040 by oil and natural gas, as is the case today.”Resources
“We have a tremendous resource base with which to meet our growing energy needs. Based upon conservative estimates, we have enough oil and natural gas resources to fuel 93.7 million cars for 50 years and heat 66 million households for more than three centuries. And there is very likely much more oil and natural gas than previously known in areas where the industry has been unable to explore, and new technologies allow us to access resources previously thought unreachable.”
“The US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is estimated to contain some of the greatest quantities of undiscovered oil and natural gas resources. Unfortunately, the federal government has placed most of the OCS, approximately 87% of it, off limits to oil and natural gas development.
“The US has kept areas like the Atlantic off limits while our neighbours continue to move forward in an effort to develop oil and gas off their shores. Just to the North, Canada has secured tremendous economic and energy security advantages by developing oil and natural gas off the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, effectively reviving seaports that were considered near extinct, like the town of St. Johns. Also, Cuba and the Bahamas have both moved forward with exploratory drilling or development planning. And the rest of the Atlantic continues to seize this opportunity, including Norway, the UK, Venezuela, Brazil and Nigeria.”
Further highlights from the testimony can be found here.
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Oklahoma Senate Gives Final Passage to Bill Restricting Local Ordinances on Oil Drilling
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Stinson
The Oklahoma Senate has approved final legislation that would curb municipal efforts to regulate oil and gas operations.
Passed May 21 on a 33-13 vote, the bill (S.B. 809) would allow the state's oil and gas regulator—the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC)—to control regulations on oil and gas while giving municipalities room to establish “reasonable setbacks” on the condition they don't “prohibit or ban” oil and gas operations, the final version of the bill said.
Sent to the governor's desk May 21, the legislation was approved by the state House in April by a 64-32 vote (79 DEN A-18, 4/24/15).
The bill will take effect immediately after Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signs it, as expected.
Oklahoma joins Texas in passing legislation in 2015 designed to curb local efforts to regulate the oil and gas industry, seen largely as a response to a ballot measure approved by the North Texas city of Denton in November 2014 banning hydraulic fracturing within its city limits (215 DEN B-12, 11/6/14).
Texas Governor Signs Measure on Jurisdiction
On May 18, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a law granting the state exclusive jurisdiction over oil and gas operations, preempting ordinances and regulations enacted by a municipality that ban, limit or otherwise regulate an oil and gas operation unless the regulation meets one of four tests (96 DEN A-3, 5/19/15).
The Oklahoma bill also repeals Section 137 of the state statute governing oil and gas (Title 52)—a statute that had given local governments the right to regulate the oil and gas industry in their municipal jurisdictions.
Oklahoma Sierra Club Director Johnson Bridgwater told Bloomberg BNA that repeal of that statute is especially concerning, noting that it had served for 80 years as a means of assuring local governments that they have the right to regulate the oil and gas industry in their municipal jurisdictions.
“I am going to call on Governor Fallin to use her veto authority to shoot down this bill to show her support for local governments and their citizens,” Bridgwater said in a May 21 e-mail.
Bridgwater Calls Approval ‘Unfathomable.'
Taking into account the state's earlier acknowledgement of a link between use of underground injection wells and a spike is Oklahoma's seismic activity Bridgwater said it was “unfathomable” that the Legislature would react to Oklahoma's increased seismicity “by passing legislation that assures local governments in our state will lose their authority to fully regulate and address the very industries that are being identified as the cause of the biggest threat and safety concern to all of these communities and their residents” (78 DEN A-18, 4/23/15).
Chad Warmington, president of the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, said the bill's passage “will help prolong” the state's oil and gas boom.
“It was priority number one for the Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association to protect Oklahoma's oil and gas producers and midstream companies from having to deal with a patchwork of unreasonable regulations around the state,“ Warmington said in a May 21 release.
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Private Land, Mineral Rights Owners Suffering From Wave of Bankrupt Oil Drillers
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
At the height of the U.S. energy boom, Texas landowner John Baen received about $100,000 a month in royalty payments from companies producing oil and natural gas on his property.
Now the checks are much smaller, and when he opens his mailbox each day, he is afraid he will find yet another bankruptcy notice. So far, four of the producers sending him checks have caved in to rising debts as oil prices slumped, seeking court protection from their creditors.
“I feel like crying because I know I'm going to get another 10 notices,” said Baen, 67, who owns 10,000 acres of land and mineral rights on other property.
A rebound in oil prices that bottomed near $44 a barrel in March has provided some relief to stronger companies that have been able to compensate with cost cuts and more efficient operations. For many smaller, cash-strapped producers, current prices of almost $60 still aren't enough to make ends meet compared to the $100-plus prices seen during the boom days.
There have been at least a dozen bankruptcy filings in recent months, and more than a dozen have defaulted on bond payments or warned investors of challenging times ahead, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
That's sending shock waves through the world of private land and mineral rights owners— sometimes called “shale-ionaires”— who were enriched by the explosion in U.S. shale drilling. Those resource owners basically rent out their oil and gas rights to producers in return for a share of the revenues. When the industry does well, the mineral rights owners do well. When business tanks, they share the pain with producers.
Shrinking Payouts
Royalty payouts from bankrupt operations have shrunk to a fraction of the rates paid before the crash, sometimes more than can be explained by the drop in oil price. In the worst cases, landowners can be left with no one to take responsibility for abandoned waste, spills and other hazards, say industry experts who have past experience with oil busts.
“If you're a landowner and you're not happy with an operator, you don't want them to go bankrupt,” said Jenna Keller, a Colorado oil and gas attorney, by telephone. “Because then you're stuck with a mess.”
Many more companies, which make monthly royalty payments to tens of thousands of people, may go bankrupt in the next year, said John Castellano, a managing director at AlixPartners LLC, who focuses on company restructuring.
More Soon
“We're seeing highly-levered companies, with high break-even cost requirements, with little ability to generate cash and little access to liquidity,” Castellano said. “I don't believe we are near the end of this.”
WBH Energy Partners LLC is typical of companies seeking court relief from debts. After a drilling spree in the run-up to the oil price crash last year, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy law protection in January. A judge appointed one of WBH's partners, U.S. Energy Development Corp. of Getzville, New York, to take over some of its Texas operations.
Baen, a rancher and business professor at the University of North Texas in Denton, said his first royalty check from U.S. Energy on March 30 was $51.88, a third of what his previous check, signed on March 2, had been.
The company had changed the payout for royalties, and reclassified some oil production as lower-priced “condensate,” according to an April 16 letter Baen received from U.S. Energy.
Legal Help
“I was just flabbergasted when I saw the check and the price,” he said by telephone. Baen said he's hired an attorney to pursue money he may be owed.
Calls and e-mails made on May 20 to a U.S. Development Corp. media line and to its attorneys weren't returned.
Jason Cohen, a Houston-based bankruptcy attorney for Bracewell & Giuliani LLP who represents WBH Energy, said the company he represents no longer has control over royalty payments and is seeking to liquidate its remaining assets to repay its creditors.
Keller, the Colorado oil and gas attorney, said such problems are commonplace for private land and minerals owners caught in the middle of corporate bankruptcies. One of the biggest concerns is that workers who haven't been paid may walk off the job without taking the necessary steps to clean up or secure the site.
Landowner Risks
That leaves the ranchers and homeowners that allowed companies to extract minerals from their land at risk. Filing a lawsuit isn't helpful because the company responsible is insolvent, Keller said. Turning to state officials for help is a waiting game, as the agencies responsible for oil and gas cleanups are shorthanded and usually have a long waiting list.
Finding a company representative to sort out problems with royalty payments also is more difficult during bankruptcies, when company workforces may have been reduced to skeleton crews.
Paul Midkiff, head of the Oil, Gas and Minerals Group at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Fort Worth, helps royalty owners manage their finances and relationship with drillers. He said he's fielding calls from mineral rights owners across the U.S. trying to make sense of their monthly checks.
“They don't know where to look,” Midkiff said by telephone. “You're calling an 800 number and not getting the call backs or not getting the responses in a timely manner.”
Logistical Difficulties
Geography can also become a headache when royalty owners don't have easy access to court proceedings in another state. Quicksilver Resources Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in March, said in court documents it owes $12.3 million to mineral rights owners and other interests.
Most of those resource owners are in Texas, but an April 27 hearing held to give creditors a chance to meet with the company was in a court in Wilmington, Delaware, where the company filed for bankruptcy. Calls and e-mails May 20 to a media line for Fort Worth, Texas-based Quicksilver Resources and to the company's attorney weren't returned.
Clint Liles, 73, a frequent poster on “Mineral Rights Forum,” an online chatroom for private citizens coping with the complexities of oil and gas leases, often dispenses advice to royalty owners. Liles thinks he'll be getting busier as more drillers face down bankruptcy.
“I've had several people call me or message me,” Liles said by telephone from his West Texas ranch. “These oil companies—it's hard to figure out what they're going to do.”
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Florida Dem Looks To Extend Offshore Drilling Ban
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is fighting back against a Republican bill that would expand offshore oil drilling near the coast of Florida.
Nelson introduced a bill Thursday that would extend the current moratorium on oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico through 2027. The bill comes after a group of Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), filed a bill last week to open up the area to oil drilling as soon as next year. In a floor speech, Nelson warned against allowing drilling near Florida, raising the specter of an oil spill on par with those in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and this week in California.
“Drilling off the coast is not what the people of Florida want,” he said. “We want fishing vessels hauling in prize catches, not coast guard vessels skimming oil.”
Congress instituted a ban on drilling within at least 125 miles of the Florida coast in 2006. The moratorium is set to expire in 2022. Cassidy’s bill would allow drilling no less than 50 miles from the Florida coastline and create a revenue-sharing program between Florida and the federal government.
Industry estimates suggest that by 2035, offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf could produce up to 1 million barrels of oil a day and contribute billions of dollars per year to the economy.
“Developing oil and natural gas resources in the Gulf of Mexico could create more than 200,000 jobs, add more than $18 billion per year to the U.S. economy and strengthen our national security,” Cassidy said in a statement announcing the bill May 12. “What is there to oppose? Time for everyone to get on board.”
But Nelson said the economic benefits aren’t worth the risk of a spill, which he said could hurt Florida’s fishing and tourism industries.
“We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure we don’t lose another tourism season,” he said. “We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that we don’t lose an entire year for our fishermen.”
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Fla. Sen. Nelson Seeks To Keep Eastern Gulf Off-Limits
May 21, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Nick Juliano
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a bill today aimed at keeping oil drillers out of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The bill comes in response to a proposal from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to allow drilling in the eastern Gulf and lift a revenue-sharing cap to give Gulf Coast states more of the money raised from the resulting energy exploration. Nelson's bill would extend an existing moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf through 2027.
Nelson, a longtime critic of offshore drilling near Florida, pointed to the spill in California this week that despoiled a stretch of beach in a state park and to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which Nelson said devastated his home state's tourism industry.
"Any revenue Florida could expect from having rigs off its coast would be a drop in the bucket compared to the long-term costs and damage to the state, not to mention the fact that drilling would encroach upon the country's vital military training areas," Nelson said in a release announcing his bill's introduction today.
Cassidy's bill was one of three revenue-sharing proposals being considered for inclusion in a broader energy bill. Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a revenue-sharing bill targeting the Arctic, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced a bill targeting the South Atlantic.
A hearing earlier this week revealed significant opposition from several Democrats and the Obama administration, raising questions over whether it could make the cut as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan energy bill (E&E Daily, May 20).
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Colorado Blazes the Path on Oil and Gas Data
May 21, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Adam Peltz
This May has truly been a banner month for transparency of the oil and gas industry. To start, FracFocus, the state-run, national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure database, released chemical information of nearly 100,000 wells in raw digital format. On the same day, Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) put two key datasets online that will also increase what we know about oil and gas development.
Providing access to quality data is good for the public. The recently released data will help the public track oil and gas complaints and understand more about the quality of wells across the state. This is significant, as researchers can now analyze these data sets to uncover patterns of well issues that can ultimately lead to environmentally protective policy solutions – the Big Data revolution in a nutshell. By making its data easily and fully accessible to the public, Colorado is helping to lead the way when it comes to responsibly managing oil and gas development.
Two new datasets, one big step forward
The complaint database shared by COGCC is pretty straightforward. When members of the public complain about an oil or gas well that complaint is logged, along with all of the follow-up and the resolution (or lack thereof). This download enables researchers to study the outcomes of citizen complaints about oil and gas activity in the state. Such research might lead, for example, to policies that help COGCC more rapidly respond to complaints. But whatever the case, there will be empirical evidence on which to base policy decisions, and that’s how it should be.
The Mechanical Integrity Test (MIT) database is just as compelling, if a little geekier. Mechanical Integrity Tests are an important tool to protect groundwater, as they can help figure out if a well is leaking underground or at increased risk of doing so. Colorado is the first state to release MIT results online and Pennsylvania may not be far behind. This data provides a treasure trove to researchers trying to figure out the incidence of well integrity problems including well leak rates (which are notoriously difficult to determine) and understand the conditions under which leaks are most likely. Improvements in well integrity practices, when they occur, often owe a lot to data sets like these.
Putting data online goes a long way toward improving public understanding of oil and gas development and helps regulators determine what policies provide the most environmental bang for the buck. Between the data released by Colorado and FracFocus, states are heading in the right direction on this crucial transparency issue.
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California Oil Spill Ignites Array of Protests Against Industry
May 21, 2015 | Reuters
By Nichola Groom
This week's oil spill in California has become a springboard for environmental groups to attack the oil industry, with calls ranging from a ban on fracking in the Golden State to a halt to drilling in the far-flung Arctic.
Two days after a pipeline rupture began spilling 105,000 gallons of crude oil onto a beach and into the Pacific Ocean west of Santa Barbara, several environmental groups held a rally on the steps of the town's Spanish-style County Courthouse on Thursday to call for an end to fracking in California.
Organized by a handful of organizations that included Food & Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity and Californians Against Fracking, the rally drew 150 people, including the city's mayor and other local officials. The group held up signs that read "Ban Fracking Now" and "Get Oil Out!"
Although the latest spill may be smaller than some recent accidents that poured hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the oceans, its location invoked memories of the large 1969 oil spill along the same pristine coastline that helped spark the modern U.S. environmental movement.
The latest spill sparked protests against a wide range of issues, such as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into a well to extract oil or gas. Environmentalists argue the practice is dangerous as it risks contaminating ground water.
"Those practices represent an expansion of oil and gas in California at a time when we should be phasing it out," said Sandra Lupien, a spokeswoman for Food & Water Watch, which is renewing its call on Governor Jerry Brown to ban fracking and other advanced oil extraction techniques.
"We hope that Governor Brown sees this as another case in point for the need to end fracking," she said
An industry spokesman said that none of the oil that travels through the burst pipeline was extracted using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
"There is absolutely no link between hydraulic fracturing and this week's release of oil at Refugio Beach," Tupper Hull, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association, said in an email.
The pipeline system receives crude from two offshore oilfields. No fracking has taken place offshore of Santa Barbara, Hull said.
Still, environmental groups are not missing the chance to voice their grievances against fossil fuels.
The Natural Resources Defense Council used Santa Barbara to highlight its opposition to importing tar sands oil from Canada to California and to expanding drilling in the Arctic in blog posts this week.
Greenpeace used a blog post about the spill to link to a form letter to President Barack Obama asking him to rescind Royal Dutch Shell Plc's drilling lease in Arctic waters.
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Oil Again Fouling California Coast Near Site of Historic Spill
May 21, 2015 | The New York Times
By Adam Nagourney, Richard Pérez-Peña And Clifford Krauss
Refugio State Beach is one of the treasures of the California coast, a little-known curve of beach in the hills that on weekends like this one — Memorial Day — would be sprinkled with people who made their way up from Santa Barbara, about 20 miles down the Pacific Coast.
But not on Thursday. Refugio was filled not with vacationers, but with teams of workers in white coveralls and masks, scooping up sand fouled with oil that had washed in after a pipeline broke earlier this week. The smell of oil, not surf, was in the air as Coast Guard riggers off shore, using yellow buoys, tried to corral and clean up the oil before it reached the shore.
Along the beach, rocks — the kind on which children would typically scamper — were sticky with oil, and officials said they might pose the biggest cleanup problem in the days ahead. The only people here were the cleanup crews and the news media; this beach and one other, El Capitan, were shut down by the state’s parks department.
“I do want to manage expectations — cleanup doesn’t happen overnight,” said Capt. Jennifer Williams of the Coast Guard, who is heading the response. “These types of things continue on perhaps even for months.”
As oil spills go, this is hardly the worst that Santa Barbara County has faced. The area has long had the unlikely juxtaposition of stunning beaches and hills facing oil derricks out in the water. As of Thursday afternoon, it appeared that 21,000 gallons of oil had spilled into the water from the broken pipe before it was shut down, a far cry from the three million gallons lost in a 1969 spill that has been widely credited with starting the environmental movement.
Yet the distress was real, etched in the faces of longtime residents and on once-pristine beaches stained with oil. Damage to wildlife seemed limited so far, but with the oil slick stretching to nine miles along the coast, concern was high that more damage could be done. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in this region on Wednesday evening.
For this tourism-dependent area, the response has been split between heartfelt environmental concern and fear that outsiders will get the wrong idea and stay away, even though the spill is northwest of Santa Barbara and the city is unaffected. “We hope the media can start to parse the issue of where the location is, so we don’t have the economic impact,” said Ken Oplinger, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Santa Barbara Region.
Aaron and Kate Dulmaine of Boston were camping in El Capitan Canyon before a wedding they planned to attend. “We flew into San Francisco and heard people talking about it, but it didn’t seem real and we didn’t know where it was,” Ms. Dulmaine sa
“But when we got here, we could certainly smell it,” Mr. Dulmaine said, adding, “It’s pretty awful.”
The Coast Guard reported that almost 400 people were involved in the round-the-clock cleanup effort. Thousands of feet of floating booms have been deployed to contain the oil and protect shoreline areas where birds nest and marine mammals come ashore.
The owner of the broken line, Plains All American Pipeline, estimated that up to 105,000 gallons of crude oil were released underground with the rupture, with about a fifth of that reaching the ocean. Patrick Hodgins, the company’s senior director for safety, cautioned that the figures could change.
At a news conference, Mr. Hodgins, who joined Plains just last month, declined to respond to reports that his company had a worse-than-average rate of safety infractions.
Rick McMichael, senior director of operations at Plains, said the company had begun using heavy machinery to remove hundreds of cubic yards of contaminated soil around the pipeline. Until that is done, the cause of the break cannot be determined. By Reuters 1:24 Officials Discuss California Oil Spill Continue reading the main story Video Officials Discuss California Oil Spill By Reuters on Publish Date May 21, 2015. Photo by Michael A.
On Thursday morning, officials from state and federal agencies and the pipeline company took a helicopter flight over the area to assess the spread of the oil. They said it appeared not to have flowed southeast, toward Santa Barbara, since late Wednesday, when the Coast Guard said slicks in the water stretched nine miles. Instead it appeared to have moved farther out to sea.
The State Department of Fish and Wildlife has banned fishing for up to a mile on either side of Refugio and up to half a mile offshore. Department officials said Thursday that so far, they had recovered five brown pelicans hurt by the oil but no marine mammals; the waters are home to an array of shore birds, seals, sea lions, otters and whales.
The pipe that ruptured on Tuesday, a few hundred yards inland, carries crude from offshore drilling rigs, and the stretch that broke links a tank farm in Las Flores to a pumping facility in Gaviota. Some of the escaped oil seeped through the soil and into a storm drain, then flowed out to sea.
The 24-inch-diameter line was installed in 1987. Plains said that at the time of the rupture, oil was flowing through it at a rate of 54,600 gallons an hour.
Oil pipelines are usually designed with a 25-year life span, so age and pipe maintenance should be factors in the inquiry into the pipe failure, energy experts said. They said California’s seismic activity could have played a part, too. Photo Cleanup crews picked up oil-contaminated sand bags at Refugio State Beach on Thursday, part of the ongoing cleanup effort following the spill from a broken pipe.
“If I inspect the pipeline today and there is an earthquake 20 miles away a day later, it doesn’t take more than a quarter-inch shift of the ground to compromise the pipe’s integrity,” said Ed Hirs, a University of Houston finance professor who is an expert on oil transportation.
Energy experts said the spill resembled several pipeline ruptures in California, Montana, Arkansas and elsewhere in recent years, more than it did larger maritime disasters like the wreck of the tanker Exxon Valdez off Alaska in 1989 or the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig failure in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Yet this latest accident could have large ramifications for the oil industry because of the symbolism of its location near the 1969 blowout. It also comes at a time when the oil divestiture movement is spreading on college campuses and environmentalists are pressuring the Obama administration to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil sands production from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
“This is a pivotal spill at a pivotal moment,” said Amy Jaffe, executive director of energy and sustainability at the University of California, Davis.The spill galvanized people in Santa Barbara who have had oil drilling around their community for nearly a half-century, with many pointing to this latest spill, no matter how relatively modest, as a reason the practice should end. They gathered around the Santa Barbara courthouse, holding placards in protest.
Plains All American operates through the United States and Canada, running 18,000 miles of pipelines and terminal networks that carry and store four million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids daily. It reported $878 million in profit last year.
According to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the overall pipeline system run by the Plains All American subsidiary that operates the damaged pipe was responsible for nearly $24 million in property damages in over 175 oil pipeline spills and incidents, including 11 in California, over the last 10 years. It was fined $284,500 in enforcement actions. The subsidiary runs a total of 6,437 miles of pipeline in 16 states, 20 percent in California.
“Plains Pipeline had a 14 percent higher rate of incidents per mile of pipeline than the national average rate,” said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit watchdog group.
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Comment Period Extended for Furnace Rule After Pushback From Natural Gas Industry
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The comment period for the Energy Department's proposed rule on energy efficiency standards for residential furnaces was extended from June 10 to July 10, following pushback from industry.
The deadline is being moved to provide more time to comment on the proposed rule (RIN 1904–AD20), which would amend the energy conservation standards so that residential non-weatherized gas furnaces and mobile home furnaces would have to meet a 92 percent minimum annual fuel utilization efficiency [AFUE] standard by 2021, the department said in a May 20 Federal Register (80 Fed. Reg. 28851) notice (48 DEN A-3, 3/12/15).
During March and April public meetings, members of the American Gas Association and the American Public Gas Association said the standard is too costly and that by essentially eliminating certain furnaces from the marketplace, it limits customer choice and could lead to customers switching to less-efficient energy alternatives (61 DEN A-11, 3/31/15).
While both groups said they are pleased with the month-long comment extension, they'd originally requested a 90-day extension of the comment period in a letter to DOE April 30. Both groups plan to file subsequent comments to the agency.
Assumptions Called Inconsistent With Experiences
“We have found, with the information that has been made available to the public, that assumptions made by DOE in their rulemaking are inconsistent with the experiences of our member utilities, furnace manufacturers and installers. These include inaccurate estimates of the cost for a 92 AFUE furnace, the installation costs and the unintended consequences of higher greenhouse gas emissions” Jake Rubin, an AGA spokesman, told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail May 21.
“Our comments will reflect the ways in which we believe the rule as written is divorced from reality and puts an undue burden on consumers,” he said.
AGA and APGA also filed a joint Freedom of Information Act request with DOE in March requesting more information on the methodologies, models and conclusions used in drafting the rule. The groups received a response from DOE May 20, but both groups are still reviewing it to determine if their requests were addressed, AGA and APGA told Bloomberg BNA May 21.
Meanwhile, the House passed a $35.4 billion fiscal year 2016 energy and water spending bill May 1, which included amendments that would bar the DOE from regulating the energy efficiency of various products, including residential furnaces (85 DEN A-17, 5/4/15).
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White House Unveils Regulatory Roadmap
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - Regulation
By Lydia Wheeler
The Obama Administration unveiled its semiannual regulatory agenda on Thursday, detailing the rules that federal agencies will make top priorities in the next year.
The White House is notorious for releasing this administration’s Unified Agenda on the cusp of a holiday when most people are headed out of town to celebrate the long weekend. The release of the spring 2015 edition was no exception, coming one day before the long Memorial Day weekend.
The lion's share of the actions appear to be regulatory holdovers from previous agendas, as the administration works to finalize as many of the rules currently in the pipeline as possible before Obama leaves office.
The Environmental Protection Agency listed an August deadline to finalize its carbon emission regulations for existing power plants and Food and Drug Administration has given itself until June to issue its deeming regulations for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and cigars.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission's new safety standards for off-road vehicles are one track to be finialized by September. The new requirements are expected to include lateral stability measures, vehicle handling requirements, and speed controls to keep vehicles from rolling over and crushing their drivers.
The administration, however, declined to add some proposals to its to-do list, despite pressure from outside groups. For instance, a proposal from financial reform advocates for regulations requiring corporations to disclose their political spending did not make the cut at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The measure was included on the agency's 2013 agenda but later abandoned amid fierce pressure from business groups and congressional Republicans. Groups had renewed their calls for the SEC to revisit proposal, but the item does not appear on the agency's 2015 plan.
Proponents of stronger health and safety rules cheered the release as evidence that the administration remains committed to finishing the work
“We are glad to see that the spring Unified Agenda includes so many important health, safety, and financial security protections,” said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch. “Too often, the release of this agenda is seen as a negative - and the idea that regulations are somehow by their nature problematic is raised by corporate interests. The release of the agenda is a good moment to reflect on the importance of implementing the laws intended to protect the public via regulation.”
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Regulators Provide Comprehensive ‘Menu' Of Clean Power Plan Compliance Options
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
An association of air pollution regulators extensively catalogued measures to help states comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan in a report released May 21.
The report, “Implementing EPA's Clean Power Plan: A Menu of Options,” outlines 25 options for states to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, ranging from retiring coal-fired units to better building codes and energy-efficiency standards for appliances.
“We at [the National Association of Clean Air Agencies] believe the menu of options will be the single most important resource that air regulators will turn to when crafting plans capable of achieving the emissions targets that EPA will set under the Clean Power Plan,” Executive Director Bill Becker told reporters May 21.
The association is also developing a model plan that states can use to craft their own compliance plan for the proposed rule. That model plan is expected to be released this summer after the EPA finalizes the Clean Power Plan.
The EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33) would set a unique carbon dioxide emissions rate for the power sector in each state. State regulators will develop their own plans on how best to achieve those emissions goals. The EPA would issue federal plans for any state that chooses not to submit its own.
‘Building Blocks' Proposed for Regulators
The EPA has proposed four “building blocks” that regulators can use to craft their compliance plans—heat rate improvements to existing power plants, shifting generation from coal to cleaner natural gas-fired units, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. The NACAA report outlines several options for each of those building blocks, including improving the quality of coal being burned for power, demand response programs to promote energy efficiency, carbon capture, systems and fuel-switching.
While the EPA outlined four general building blocks, state regulators can also pursue additional emissions reductions programs.
“The building blocks were used only to set the state specific targets,” Becker said. “States are not limited to the building block options for their compliance plans.”
The NACAA report also includes sections on carbon taxes, grid-efficiency improvements, better building codes, expanding use of combined heat and power systems and improving energy efficiency standards for appliances.
Becker said NACAA began developing its menu of compliance options before the EPA even proposed the Clean Power Plan. He said the strategies outlined are proven to reduce emissions reductions and will be viable options for states to address carbon dioxide emissions regardless of how inevitable legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan play out.
“The strategies were viable before the Clean Power Plan was proposed and will continue to be viable whatever happens to the Clean Power Plan in the future,” he said.
Federal Plans Should Include Trading
In a separate white paper issued May 21, Advanced Energy Economy, a national association of businesses focused on clean energy, argued the EPA should explore emissions-trading programs as part of any federal plans issued to states.
“The federal plan, like any state plan, can best achieve the goals of the Clean Power Plan by harnessing the vast potential of advanced energy to improve reliability, increase flexibility, and produce energy savings, as well as reduce emissions,” the white paper said.
Advanced Energy Economy said the EPA should incorporate emissions trading programs into its federal plans whether those plans are issued with rate-based emissions targets for the power sector in each state or whether those targets are converted to mass numbers. Power plants should be allowed to purchase compliance credits from renewable energy and low- or no-emissions generating facilities as part of the program, the white paper said. Phasing in the emissions targets for states under a federal plan would provide additional flexibility while allowing the necessary emissions trading market to develop. Additionally, the EPA will need to establish a tracking registry to verify sources looking to generate the tradable credits, the white paper said.
Even if states choose to develop their own compliance plans, the federal plan could provide valuable guidance for developing that plan, the white paper said.
“For states that are developing their own plan, the federal plan can provide a model – including by demonstrating how to integrate and promote advanced energy solutions for maximum benefit in achieving state targets at low cost. The federal plan will send a strong signal to states about what policy designs EPA considers approvable,” the white paper said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called on governors to boycott compliance with the Clean Power Plan. While Oklahoma has announced it will not develop its own compliance plan, other governors have not heeded McConnell's call (95 DEN A-6, 5/18/15).
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EIA Sends Analysis of Clean Power Plan To House, Says Public Release Upcoming
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The Energy Information Administration sent a copy of its analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed carbon dioxide standards for power plants to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, an EIA official said May 21.
The EIA was asked by the committee to analyze the impact the Clean Power Plan would have on the economy and environment, and the report was sent May 20.
The EIA will release the analysis to the public in the next week or two, with permission from the committee, Paul Holtberg, team leader of EIA's integration team, said at a May 21 U.S. Energy Association event in Washington, D.C.
Holtberg said the analysis will show the potential for a lower reliance on coal to generate power than what is in the EIA's current Annual Energy Outlook for 2015, which was released in April .
The EPA Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33), proposed in June 2014, sets a unique carbon dioxide emissions rate for each state. States would develop their own plans to comply with the rule. The EPA expects the proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels when it is fully implemented in 2030 (106 DEN A-1, 6/3/14).
Holtberg noted that the EIA had to develop multiple cases in its analysis since it was working off of the proposed version of the rule, not the final rule, which is expected from the EPA this summer.
“In terms of the analysis of the Clean Power Plan, they did multiple cases as part of that. That's a very complex bill, and we're working with the [proposed rule], not the final rule, because we don't know what the final rule is,” he said. “So we're modeling and trying to deal with that uncertainty within the multiple cases that we're dealing with.”
He also noted that there was considerable restructuring and updating of the 2015 energy outlook model to run the analysis of the proposed rule.
A House committee staff member confirmed receipt of the analysis, but did not release a copy to Bloomberg BNA.
Analysis on Lifting of Crude Oil Ban
The EIA also will release an analysis of the impact of Congress lifting the ban on crude oil exports in early June, ahead of the 2015 EIA Energy Conference in Washington, D.C., June 15-16, Holtberg said.
Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to lift the 40-year-old ban of U.S. crude oil and condensate exports (96 DEN A-3, 5/19/15).
He said the EIA updated the energy outlook model for the analysis on the impacts of the lifting the crude oil ban as well.
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Final Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Power Plants Due Out in August, EPA Agenda Says
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
First-ever final rules governing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are projected for release in August by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the agency's updated regulatory agenda .
The EPA's spring regulatory agenda also shows May as the month for releasing the final rule that would clarify the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction over waters and wetlands. The EPA reportedly was aiming to issue the final rule May 22, but sources said the release date had been pushed back past the Memorial Day weekend.
The revised regulatory update also projects that in June the EPA will issue a final regulation for stream protection at mining sites and propose greenhouse gas standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The EPA also expects to propose an endangerment finding in June for greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft.
Also, the EPA is scheduled to issue its final rule for electronic reporting of Clean Water Act discharge permit data this October.
The agency posted its agenda May 21 on the White House Office of Management and Budget's website.
The agenda illustrates the EPA's plans to move ahead on key environmental rules in 2015, despite threats from Senate Republicans to target the power plant and Clean Water Act jurisdiction rules.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) issued a call March 19 to states to boycott compliance with the EPA's Clean Power Plan (54 DEN A-16, 3/20/15).
OMB Review Began May 7
In the regulatory agenda, the EPA indicated for the first time that the two final rules to limit power plant greenhouse gases would be out in August, as opposed to the nebulous “summer of 2015 timeline” that agency officials have been using.
The OMB began a review May 7 of the EPA's proposed carbon dioxide new source performance standard (RIN 2060–AQ91) of 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour for new natural gas-fired power plants and 1,100 pounds per megawatt-hour for new coal-fired units.
This rule, once finalized, would necessitate the use of carbon capture and sequestration systems. The EPA reproposed this rule in January 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 1,429).
The EPA has yet to send for interagency review its proposed Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33) that would establish unique carbon dioxide emissions rates for the power sector in each state. State regulators would then develop their own plans to comply with the emissions rates. The EPA would issue federal plans for states that choose not to develop their own.
Aircraft, Truck Rules Expected
The EPA announced in September 2014 that it planned to propose the aircraft emissions endangerment finding after environmental groups threatened to sue after the agency refused to undertake the finding in response to their petitions. The OMB began its interagency review in March (42 DEN A-4, 3/4/15).
The EPA would be required by the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases from aircraft if it determines the emissions endanger public health or the environment.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the EPA also plan in June to propose the second phase of their joint fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for model year 2018 and beyond for medium- and heavy-duty trucks (RIN No. 2060-AS16). The proposed rule is now at OMB (61 DEN A-1, 3/31/15).
A final rule is now planned for January 2017, about 13 months later than the timeline published in the fall agenda.
EPA Has Begun Data Collection
The EPA in September 2014 began collecting the data it would need to propose the second phase of standards (173 DEN A-3, 9/8/14).
The new standards would follow similar requirements the two agencies issued for model year 2014 through 2018 for heavy-duty pickup trucks, delivery vehicles and tractor trailers in 2011 (76 Fed. Reg. 57,106).
The agenda indicates that the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue the final rule clarifying Clean Water Act jurisdiction this month, but only one week is left in May.
The EPA and the Corps of Engineers jointly released the proposed jurisdiction rule in March (RIN No. 2040-AF30).
EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia told Bloomberg BNA May 21 that “you will see it soon” but stopped short of saying whether the agencies will meet the May deadline or see the rule's release pushed into early June.
Groups Awaiting Waters of U.S. Rule
Environmental groups and industry are waiting for rulemaking. The Republican-controlled Congress is preparing to send the rule back to the agencies upon arrival. The House already has passed legislation that would send the rule back to the agencies for a rewrite
The Senate has introduced legislation that would require the agencies to establish jurisdiction between waters and wetlands and downstream navigable waters following explicit directions, including the use of flow (84 DEN A-19, 5/1/15).
Protecting Streams Near Mining Sites
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will propose its long-awaited stream protection rule in June that was widely expected out sometime this spring (RIN No. 1029-AC63)
The proposed rule would alter the current law that prohibits dumping mining waste within 100 feet of a stream. Previous attempts to update these requirements have become mired in congressional investigations and litigation on both sides.
The OSM also plans to release in December its proposed rule regarding how to appropriately manage toxic fumes from coal mine “blasting” operations, a rulemaking that may spur significant opposition from the mining industry (RIN No. 1029-AC71).
Electronic Reporting Rule
The agenda has the EPA issuing the final electronic reporting rule in October for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting programs (RIN No. 2020-AA47).
The EPA in December 2014 amended a rule it proposed in 2013 that would require states and NPDES permit holders and applicants to use existing, available information technology to electronically report facility, discharge, monitoring, compliance and enforcement data.
The goal of the proposed rule was to provide more complete, accurate and timely data to the public. The purpose of the amended rule was to clarify who can receive the initial reports and responded to concerns that only states with very high participation in the electronic reporting format from NPDES permit holders would be designated as initial recipients of e-NPDES reports.
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EDF and Other Environmental Groups Call on Pennsylvania to Step up Energy Efficiency
May 21, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Dick Munson
Utilities across the country offer energy efficiency programs, many of which obtain good results simply by replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In Pennsylvania, however, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and other environmental groups are going further by seeking more comprehensive and longer-term efficiency measures.
Compared with neighboring states, Pennsylvania’s efficiency programs tilt heavily – 65 percent – toward the residential sector. Since residents account for only 37 percent of the state’s total electricity, environmental groups see substantial efficiency opportunities exist in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors.
Also, compared with other states, Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission (Commission) has proposed a relatively modest efficiency goal of 0.82 percent reduction per year in total electricity use. The median electricity savings target for the country is about 1.4 percent per year. Neighboring Maryland approved an annual 1.6 percent reduction, while nearby Michigan set a target of 1 percent.
Environmental groups call for higher savings from commercial and industrial sector
Environmental groups are calling on the Commission to set a higher savings target for the C&I sectors. Costs are typically lower in these sectors, in part because electricity use tends to be concentrated at a small number of facilities. C&I customers also tend to use a proportionally larger amount of electricity than residential customers.
The groups – EDF, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, and Natural Resources Defense Council – are proposing measures that in some cases would help new commercial buildings exceed the state’s energy savings standards. Other measures focus on large commercial retrofits.
The groups also emphasize the efficiency benefits of combined heat and power (CHP) units, which simultaneously produce heat and electricity from a single fuel source. Since these units integrate the production of electric and thermal energy, they are significantly less wasteful than producing each separately.
Such non-lighting programs might incur initial costs but they can result in greater lifetime energy savings than lighting measures on their own, transform energy efficiency markets, and drive new technologies. Without support from the environmental community, these advanced energy efficiency measures are unlikely to be implemented.
Third phase of clean energy legislation
EDF, along with its environmental partners, submitted comments calling for more comprehensive energy efficiency measures as part of the third phase of clean energy legislation that set standards and goals for energy efficiency, initially passed in 2008. The third phase of this legislation, called Act 129, is currently under review by the Commission and is scheduled to launch a year from now.
Under the first two phases, Pennsylvania utilities ran successful efficiency programs that exceeded initial energy savings targets. However, Act 129 imposes a cap on spending that says utilities don’t have to spend more than two percent of their annual revenue on efficiency programs. This limit forces power companies and regulators to rethink how best to achieve the most benefit for a wide range of market segments.
EDF and its environmental partners argue energy efficiency programs need to go beyond the simple and low-cost measures such as lighting or behavioral changes – though such initiatives are very critical to lower energy use. Comprehensive measures may initially be more complex and expensive, but offer higher savings and better returns over the long term.
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Senate Appropriations Approves Energy, Water Bill, Takes on Social Cost of Carbon
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted May 21 to approve a $35.4 billion fiscal year 2016 energy and water spending bill that includes language to ban the Energy Department from using social cost of carbon estimates in rulemakings.
The bill, approved by a vote of 26-4, also includes a rider that would bar the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from redefining mining “fill material,” a move supported by organizations representing mining companies such as Peabody Energy Corp. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc.
In addition, the legislation would establish a pilot program to allow consolidated nuclear waste storage sites.
Overall, the legislation would appropriate $29.4 billion for the Department of Energy, $5.5 billion for the corps and $1.1 billion for the Interior Department's Bureau of Reclamation, according to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.
Social Cost of Carbon Rider
The spending would prohibit the Energy Department from using social cost of carbon estimates in any rulemakings during fiscal 2016, according to a committee bill report.
The social cost of carbon is a measurement of the price society ultimately pays for the damages caused by each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted. The higher the social cost, the more economic sense it makes to impose strict but expensive emission controls, economists have said. The Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Department and other federal agencies use the social cost of carbon to estimate the climate benefits of rulemakings (86 DEN A-4, 5/5/15).
Companies such as Duke Energy Corp. and others have criticized the process the White House used to develop the estimates as lacking transparency.
Other highlights include $1.9 billion for the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, $950 million for nuclear energy, $610 million for fossil energy research and development and $291 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), according to the bill report.
CHART
Small Reactor Funding
Funding includes $62.5 million for DOE development of small modular nuclear reactors—typically 300 megawatts or less—such as those being developed by Babcock & Wilcox Co. and privately held NuScale Power LLC.
In addition to establishing an interim nuclear waste storage site pilot program, the bill includes a a provision that would allow the Energy Department to store nuclear waste at private facilities, such as one proposed in Texas by Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists LLC (27 DEN A-5, 2/10/15).
Under current law, the department is prohibited from developing an interim storage site for commercial radioactive waste until the proposed permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is fully licensed. That repository, however, has been shelved by the Obama administration, which said in 2010 that Yucca Mountain was “unworkable” and terminated the project.
Yucca Funding Addressed on Floor?
Unlike the $35.4 billion energy and water appropriation's bill (H.R. 2028) passed by the House May 1, which included funding to continue the project, the Senate version did not include money for the project in it's base text. Alexander predicted the issue would be addressed on the Senate floor as an amendment (85 DEN A-17, 5/4/15).
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Environment and the Economy Subcommittee and an ardent supporter of the Yucca Mountain project, told reporters May 21 he was “taken aback and a little frustrated” that the Senate version contained no funds for the nuclear waste site.
“I don't think interim storage moves—just by litigation and process—without a reaffirmation of what's your long-term strategy,” Shimkus said.
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Senate Panel Advances $35.4b Bill Funding Energy, Water Programs
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Shabad
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced a $35.5 billion bill funding energy and water programs for fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1.
The bill provides $1.2 billion above current levels, but $666 million less than what President Obama’s requested.The Army Corps of Engineers, which funds the nation’s water infrastructure, would receive $5.5 billion. Energy efficiency programs would receive nearly $2 billion. Science research efforts would receive $5.1 billion. Environmental cleanup efforts would get $6 billion. Nonproliferation and nuclear weapons programs would get $12.3 billion. The Bureau of Reclamation, which funds water supply projects, would receive $1.1 billion.
The bill doesn’t contain funding for a nuclear waste depository on Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. Republicans have wanted to fund the project, while the Nevada delegation and President Obama oppose the project.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) offered an amendment that would defund a pending Environmental Protection Agency rule that would redefine which bodies of water are covered under the Clean Water Act. Hoeven quickly withdrew the proposal, after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, warned it could kill the bill. Hoeven appeared intent on proposing it at another point during the appropriations process.
The House approved its version of the bill earlier this month in a 240-177 vote. The White House has threatened to veto that measure.
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Capito, Scalise Introduce Bill to Improve Permitting Under EPA New Source Review
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency would be required to publicly post the number of new source review air pollution permits it has approved each fiscal year and the percentage completed within one year under legislation to bring transparency to the process.
The Promoting New Manufacturing Act (no bill number available), introduced May 21 by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), would require the EPA to disclose the number of new source review permits it has processed each year from 2008 through 2014 within 60 days of the law taking effect. It would also require the EPA to disclose the average time it takes the Environmental Appeals Board to issue a final decision in appeals of the permits.
“Our bill would implement much-needed reforms at the EPA to fix a broken permitting process that is holding innovators back from creating thousands of good jobs here in America,” Scalise said in a statement. “The hard-working taxpayers who have to live with these radical regulations deserve transparency from the EPA. This agency must be held to a higher standard and should have to prove that its proposals can be realistically achieved without destroying American jobs.”
New or modified industrial facilities in areas not currently meeting one or more of the EPA's national ambient air quality standards must obtain new source review permits to ensure that their emissions will not further impede efforts to improve air quality. The permits stipulate the best available control technology (BACT) that those facilities will be required to use to control their emissions.
Progress Report Required
As part of the push for greater transparency, the bill would require the EPA to report back to Congress within six months on efforts the agency has undertaken to expedite the permitting review process. The EPA would be required to report to Congress on any permits whose reviews have exceeded the Clean Air Act's one-year deadline for completion, the reasons for that delay and steps being taken to resolve the issues.
The bill would also require the EPA to publish guidance to states for processing new source review permits when it updates national ambient air quality standards. It would also prevent the EPA and states from evaluating pending permit applications under the revised air quality standards until the EPA has issued final implementation regulations.
State regulators have called on the EPA to issue its implementation guidance along with revised ozone air quality standards to be issued this October. The agency said it is unlikely to issue the final rule and the guidance at the same time (78 DEN A-2, 4/23/15).
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Republicans Seek To Ease EPA Permitting
May 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A new Republican bill aims to ease the burden of obtaining air pollution permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for manufacturing facilities.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said their legislation introduced Thursday would help the country’s energy and manufacturing sectors move forward in a way that is difficult now.“The EPA insists on holding America back with its onerous regulations and deeply flawed permitting process for new and expanding manufacturing facilities,” Capito said in a statement.
“In order to tap into the full potential of our vital energy and manufacturing sectors, we must establish accountability measures that protect American manufacturing jobs,” she said.
Scalise sponsored similar legislation last year that passed the House.
It would require the EPA to write guidance for manufacturers every time it updates air quality rules in order to help them figure out how to comply.
The EPA would have to publicize how many new construction permits it issues under the Clean Air Act and how long the approvals take, and report to Congress on what steps the agency is taking to expedite the process.
The bill “holds the EPA accountable and makes the federal government more effective and efficient by cutting red tape that is currently choking millions of dollars in manufacturing investments,” Scalise said in the statement.
“Our bill would implement much-needed reforms at the EPA to fix a broken permitting process that is holding innovators back from creating thousands of good jobs here in America,” he said.
The White House threatened last year to veto that version of the bill, saying it “would impose arbitrary and unnecessary requirements that could weaken the public health and environmental protections of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and would increase uncertainty for businesses and states.” It did not go anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
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Obama Set to Strengthen Federal Role in Clean Water Regulation
May 22, 2015 | The New York Times
By Coral Davenport
The Obama administration is expected in the coming days to announce a major clean water regulation that would restore the federal government’s authority to limit pollution in the nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands.
Environmentalists have praised the new rule, calling it an important step that would lead to significantly cleaner natural bodies of water and healthier drinking water.
But it has attracted fierce opposition from several business interests, including farmers, property developers, fertilizer and pesticide makers, oil and gas producers and a national association of golf course owners. Opponents contend that the rule would stifle economic growth and intrude on property owners’ rights.
Republicans in Congress point to the rule as another example of what they call executive overreach by the Obama administration. Already, they are advancing legislation on Capitol Hill meant to block or delay the rule.
The announcement of the rule could come as soon as Friday. If not, it is likely to happen next week, people with knowledge of the plans said.
The water rule is part of a broader push by President Obama to use his executive authority to build a major environmental legacy, without requiring new legislation from the Republican-controlled Congress.
This summer, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release a final set of rules intended to combat climate change, by limiting greenhouse gas pollution from power plants. Mr. Obama is also expected to announce in the coming year that he will put vast swaths of public land off limits to energy exploration and other development.
“Water is the lifeblood of healthy people and healthy economies,” Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A.’s administrator, wrote in an April blog post promoting the water rule. “We have a duty to protect it. That’s why E.P.A. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are finalizing a Clean Water Rule later this spring to protect critical streams and wetlands that are currently vulnerable to pollution and destruction.”
But even as E.P.A. staff worked this month to finish the rule, the House passed a bill to block it. The Senate is moving forward with a bill that would require the agency to fundamentally revamp the rule.
“Under this outrageously broad new rule, Washington bureaucrats would now have a say in how farmers, and ranchers, and families use their own property,” said Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming and the chief author of the Senate bill.
“It would allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate private property just based on things like whether it’s used by animals or birds, or even insects,” he said.
“This rule,” he added, “is not designed to protect the traditional waters of the United States. It is designed to expand the power of Washington bureaucrats.”
The E.P.A. proposed the rule, known as Waters of the U.S., last March. The agency has held more than 400 meetings about it with outside groups and read more than one million public comments as it wrote the final language.
The rule is being issued under the 1972 Clean Water Act, which gave the federal government broad authority to limit pollution in major water bodies, like Chesapeake Bay, the Mississippi River and Puget Sound, as well as streams and wetlands that drain into larger waters.But two Supreme Court decisions related to clean water protection, in 2001 and in 2006, created legal confusion about whether the federal government had the authority to regulate the smaller streams and headwaters, and about other water sources such as wetlands.
E.P.A. officials say the new rule will clarify that authority, allowing the government to once again limit pollution in those smaller bodies of water — although it does not restore the full scope of regulatory authority granted by the 1972 law.
The E.P.A. also contends that the new rule will not give it the authority to regulate additional waters that had not been covered under the 1972 law. People familiar with the rule say it will apply to about 60 percent of the nation’s waters.
“Until now, major bodies of water were protected under the law,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, a spokeswoman for Environment America, an advocacy group. “But they can’t be fully protected unless the streams that flow into them are also protected.”
The rule will also limit pollution in groundwater and other sources of drinking water. Polluted groundwater is now chemically treated before being used as drinking water.
“We could spend a lot of money to massively treat the water that we drink, but it makes a lot more sense to protect the source,” Ms. Ouzts said.
A coalition of industry groups, led by the American Farm Bureau Federation, has waged an aggressive campaign calling on the E.P.A. to withdraw or revamp the rule.
Farmers fear that the rule could impose major new costs and burdens, requiring them to pay fees for environmental assessments and to obtain permits just to till the soil near gullies, ditches or dry streambeds where water flows only when it rains. A permit is required for any activity, like farming or construction, that creates a discharge into a body of water covered under the Clean Water Act or affects the health of it, like filling in a wetland or blocking a stream.
“It’s going to cause a nightmare for farmers,” said Don Parrish, the senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
“Our members own the majority of the landscape that’s going to be impacted by this,” he said. “It’s going to make their land, the most valuable thing they possess, less valuable. It could reduce the value of some farmland by as much as 40 percent. If you want to build a home, if you want to grow food, if you want a job to go with that clean water, you have to ask E.P.A. for it.”
The lobbying fight over the rule has also generated a public-relations battle over social media.
In its protest of the rule, the American Farm Bureau Federation started a social media campaign, using the Twitter hashtag #DitchTheRule, to urge farmers and others to push the E.P.A. to abandon or revamp the rule. The E.P.A., in response, created a campaign with the hashtag #DitchTheMyth, urging people to speak out in favor of the rule. But some legal experts contend that campaign might have tested the limits of federal lobbying laws, which prohibit a government agency from engaging in grass-roots lobbying for proposed policies or legislation.
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Appeals Court Finds EPA Violated Clean Air Act in Approving California Plans
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The Environmental Protection Agency erred in approving California plans to bring the San Joaquin Valley into attainment with the federal 1997 ozone and fine particulate standards because the plans failed to include state-approved mobile source emissions standards, a federal appeals court has ruled (Comm. for a Better Arvin v. EPA, 9th Cir., No. 11-73924, 5/20/15).
California's strategy to comply with the ozone and fine particulate standards relied on emissions reductions the mobile source control measures would achieve, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. The Clean Air Act requires all control measures required to achieve compliance with federally required air quality standards be included in state implementation plans, the appellate panel said in its May 20 ruling.
The Committee for a Better Arvin, Comitè Residentes Organizados al Servicio del Ambiente Sano, and the Association of Irritated Residents filed the petition challenging provisions in the state implementation plans adopted by the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District and later approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
At issue is the EPA's long-standing policy not requiring California to include its strict vehicle emissions standards for cars and trucks be included in state implementation plans for which the state has a waiver from the EPA to enforce.
The appeals court rejected the EPA's argument that the “savings clause” in Section 7515 of the Clean Air Act doesn't require “waiver measures” approved through an earlier process to undergo an additional approval process by being included in a SIP.
Section 7410 (a) refutes the EPA position, the court said.
SIPS ‘Shall Include' Emissions Limits
“The statute makes clear that SIPs ‘shall include’ all emissions limitations, control measures, means, and techniques on which the state relies to assure compliance with the CAA,” the court said.
“If the state standards that are necessary for meeting federal requirements are not part of the SIP, then, while the state agency, CARB, perhaps could enforce them, the responsible federal agency, EPA, would not be able to bring an action directly challenging violation of those standards,” the court said.
Basically, the court said that it isn't sufficient for the EPA to give California a waiver, Richard Alonso, an attorney at Bracewell and Giuliani LLP in Washington, D.C., told Bloomberg BNA May 21. “The enforcement requirements from the waiver must be included in the SIP.”
While the appeals court sided with the petitioners on the “waiver measures” issue, the EPA prevailed on other claims in the petition alleging the agency violated the Clean Air Act by not requiring additional state and local emissions reduction measures and that the ozone plan lacked enforceable transportation control measures.
EPA Reviewing Decision
In an e-mail, the EPA told Bloomberg BNA it is “reviewing the decision.”
Even though the petitioners lost on some issues, the opinion is “a big deal,” Brent Newell, an attorney at the Oakland-based Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment who represented the petitioners, told Bloomberg BNA May 20.
Now that the mobile source emissions standards must be included in the SIP, they will be enforceable, Newell said.
Earthjustice attorney Paul Cort, who wasn't involved in the litigation, told Bloomberg BNA May 21 that the decision means a number of the EPA Region 9 plans will have to be revisited.
The EPA already is revisiting many of the plans, so “it is not such a hardship,” Cort said. “The ozone and PM plans for both Los Angeles and San Joaquin Valley have all either been sent back or are due to be revised under new standards. Our hope is that EPA takes this opportunity to step back and figure out why none of these plans is actually working, and, instead of trying to cut legal corners, commit to getting these areas on a meaningful path to meeting the national standards.”
Paperwork Exercise Likely
Alonso said the immediate impact of the decision for the EPA and California would be mostly be a paperwork exercise.
The decision also could force the EPA to revisit approved SIPs in states that have adopted California's vehicle standards if the measures weren't included in their plans, Alonso said.
Once the EPA approves the revised SIPs, however, citizens would be free to enforce the mobile source emissions standards through litigation, he said. Alonso suggested that private lawsuits could even be filed against vehicle manufacturers.
Latham & Watkins attorney Michael Carroll told Bloomberg BNA May 21 that the state or the EPA would be the most likely parties sued.
“It's an enforcement issue,” Carroll said of the decision. “The bottom line is to ensure these mobile source measures are enforceable under federal law.”
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Court Faults EPA For Approving Parts Of Calif. Ozone Plan
May 21, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that U.S. EPA erred in approving aspects of a California plan for addressing air pollution.
Community and environmental groups challenged EPA's 2011 and 2012 approvals of California's state implementation plan, or SIP, for ozone and fine particulate matter pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, an agricultural area with some of the country's worst air quality.
The SIP did not include California's air emission limits for mobile sources like cars and trucks. California's mobile standards are more stringent than EPA's, and the state was relying on them to comply with EPA's ozone and soot standards.
The inclusion of the mobile source standards was pivotal, the groups argued, because EPA or citizens may only bring enforcement actions against polluters if they are violating the terms of the EPA-approved SIP.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed and sent the approval back to the agency for reconsideration.
Judge Ronald Gould wrote that the "language and structure of the [Clean Air Act] demand that all control measures on which the Plan rely ... be included in the SIP and subject to enforcement by individuals and EPA."
The case presented an unusual set of circumstances. Typically, EPA sets mobile source emission standards that pre-empt any state regulation.
California, because of its history of air pollution problems, is allowed under the Clean Air Act to issue its own more stringent standards. Those are called "waiver measures."
EPA claimed that it has had a long-running policy of not requiring such waiver measures to be included in SIPs.
Gould, however, found that the plain language of the Clean Air Act says SIPs "shall include" any methods for controlling emissions.
"Common sense tells us that a SIP must include waiver measures to the extent that they are needed to achieve a state's compliance with the federally required air quality standard," he wrote.
"The federal agency, EPA, not the state agency ... has the fundamental duty to carry the ball across the goal line to achieve compliant air quality levels or satisfactory progress toward that end."
The ruling was a partial win for the community and environmental groups, led by the Committee for a Better Arvin and Association of Irritated Residents. They had also pressed the court to invalidate other aspects of the SIP, but the court sided with EPA and state regulators on those issues.
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California Declares Emergency After Pipeline Leaks Crude Oil Along Coastline
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Robert Tuttle
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) declared an emergency in Santa Barbara County after a Plains All American Pipeline LP oil conduit leaked as much as 2,500 barrels of crude along the state's southern coastline.
About 500 barrels of crude entered the ocean, and a total of 145 barrels of oil were recovered as of 9 a.m. local time May 20, the Joint Information Center managing the cleanup said.
Gov. Brown said the emergency declaration would help speed up the response. Phillips 66's Santa Maria refinery, supplied by the Plains system, was said to be running at reduced rates after the line was shut.
The release created an oil slick extending for nine miles (14.5 kilometers) along the coast, Jennifer Williams, Los Angeles-area sector commander at the U.S. Coast Guard, said in a televised press conference. Nine vessels are at work—six attempting to corral the slick with booms and three skimming oil from the surface, she said.
“This emergency proclamation cuts red tape and helps the state quickly mobilize all available resources,” Brown said in a statement. “We will do everything necessary to protect California's coastline.”
The 24-inch pipeline, called Line 901, can carry 150,000 barrels of crude a day, the center said. Typically, it carries 28,800 barrels a day from Las Flores to Gaviota, where it links to other pipelines.
The line was shut, and a culvert where the oil flowed into the ocean was blocked to prevent any more crude entering the water, Plains spokesman Brad Leone said in an e-mail late May 19. The company has 130 cleanup workers on site with more en route, he said.
Plains shares fell 1.5 percent to $48.86 in New York May 20.
Called Largest Spill Since 1969 Blowout
The release is believed to be the largest oil spill into Santa Barbara waters since 1969, Lt. John McCormick, Coast Guard public affairs officer, said by phone May 20. In that year, an oil platform blowout spilled 200,000 gallons of crude into the Pacific, marring 35 miles of Santa Barbara coastline.
The Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said it's investigating.
The line links to a network that supplies the 44,500 barrels a day to the Phillips 66 Santa Maria refinery, Santa Barbara County said on its website. The plant, which upgrades crude into a feedstock for further processing into fuels at a facility in Rodeo, Calif., has cut its operating rates by at least half, a person familiar with the refinery said.
The refinery continues to operate, and it's too early to know how the plant will be affected, Dennis Nuss, a Phillips 66 spokesman, said in an e-mail May 20.
Earlier Pipeline Leak
The spill comes a year after a Plains pipeline that supplies some of the state's largest refineries leaked 21,000 gallons of oil in Los Angeles, damaging a club and forcing some customers to leave their cars behind.
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Senators Urge Obama to Quickly Nominate Permanent Administrator to Lead PHMSA
May 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
Ten senators urged President Barack Obama to nominate a permanent administrator to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in a letter released May 21.
The role of administrator is becoming more important as oil and gas production increases, the senators said. All of the senators' states have had pipeline spills and many have dealt with crude-by-rail incidents, both of which largely fall under PHMSA jurisdiction and highlight the importance of “a fully empowered administrator” and a need for additional agency resources.
“It is important to states like ours that PHMSA have a permanent administrator to ensure accountability, to develop long-term plans for pipeline transport and crude-by-rail safety, and to respond quickly when things unfortunately go wrong,” the senators, including Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), said in their letter dated May 20. “We rely on this Agency to protect our citizens and our environment from damaging spills and accidents, while also ensuring the flow of energy products to those who need them.”
Cynthia Quarterman, the previous PHMSA administrator, left in October 2014. Since then, the PHMSA Deputy Administrator Timothy Butters has served as acting administrator.
The permanent position has been vacant for more than 220 days. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (Pub. L. No. 105-277), federal officials are allowed to serve in an “acting” role for up to 210 days after a position that requires Senate confirmation is vacated.
After the president has nominated an individual to fill the position, federal guidance says an acting official may remain in the acting role as long as the nomination is pending.
The letter was signed by Sens. Cantwell, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Joe Manchin, (D-W.Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).
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CSX's DeSimone Receives AAR Award For Hazardous Material Safety
May 21, 2015 | Progressive Railroading
CSX Transportation's Director of Hazardous Materials Romano DeSimone has been awarded the Association of American Railroad (AAR) Holden-Proefrock Award for significant career achievements and contributions to the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail.
DeSimone, who has more than 30 years of combined experience with CSX and Conrail, leads CSX's team of hazardous materials managers and has maintained an injury-free record for his team's response efforts over 25 years. He developed significant response experience with hazardous materials including as a field hazmat responder in New York and his first-response efforts at various rail incidents, CSX officials said in a press release.
"CSX puts safety at the forefront of everything we do, and Romano has personified this commitment through his leadership and courage," said Skip Elliott, vice president, public safety, health and environment at CSX. "Romano's achievements, especially his visionary leadership of safety training programs, have made a lasting impact on our culture and our relationships with the communities we serve."
DeSimone has become a recognized leader for equipping emergency responders with the information and skills needed for safe and effective responses to rail-related incidents. As a member of the Firefighters Education and Training Foundation's board, he spearheaded the development of Safety Train programs to bring hands-on training to local communities.
The lifetime achievement award is named for Roy Holden and Art Proefrock, pioneers in the safe rail transportation of hazardous materials, and is awarded annually to recognize lifetime achievement in this field. DeSimone received the award earlier this week in Addison, Texas, at the 28th Hazmat Seminar hosted by the AAR and Bureau of Explosives.
DeSimone is the fourth CSX employee to receive the the Holden-Proefrock Award.
At the same awards ceremony, DeSimone and CSX employee Harry Hopes also received the TRANSCAER (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) Torch award, which is given to retiring members who have made a significant contribution to this voluntary national outreach effort focused on preparation and response for hazardous material transportation incidents. -
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