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ACC AM June 3
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(ACC Mentioned) US GDP Growth To Remain Below 3%, Leaving It Vulnerable – ACC
Jun 2, 2015 | ICIS News
The US economy will maintain growth below 3%, leaving it vulnerable to shocks, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Tuesday. The ACC discussed the US economy in its mid-year outlook, released during the group's annual meeting. The US economy should grow by 2.5% this year and 2.9% in 2016, the ACC said. GDP growth ... -
(ACC Mentioned) AIHce 2015's Stewardship Program Proves Popular
Jun 2, 2015 | Occupational Health & Safety
Many AIHce 2015 attendees are checking out the #Stewardship2015 sessions taking place during the larger conference. The Product Stewardship Society is presenting this conference-within-a-conference here in Salt Lake City with popular sessions throughout the AIHce 2015 meeting, with presenters discussing the challenges of complying... -
(ACC Mentioned) Business News In Brief
Jun 3, 2015 | Philly.com
In the Region CHOP hires innovation leader. Patrick FitzGerald has left his job as managing director of DreamIT Philly, a business incubator, to fill the new position of vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In his new job, which he started May 26, FitzGerald, 39, will help doctors, nurses and... -
(ACC Mentioned) Senate TSCA Reform Bill May Not Go to Floor Until August; Markup of House Bill Begins
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The Senate's chemical safety bill to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act may not make it to the floor until July or August. “We're trying to work with everyone to get a good schedule. We don't know when it'll be yet,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a co-sponsor of the bill, told Bloomberg BNA June 2. -
(ACC Mentioned) BPA in Canned Foods Less Common, But Still There
Jun 3, 2015 | Kern Golden Empire
By Kathleen Doheny
At least a third of canned foods have the chemical BPA in their linings, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The report found that BPA, or bisphenol A, is less commonly used to line the inside of metal food cans today. Research has linked the chemical to several health problems. -
Some Canned Food Makers Switching From BPA, Environmental Group Finds
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Consumer demand combined with pressure from advocacy campaigns is prompting some food manufacturers to switch from bisphenol A-based epoxy can coatings to coatings made from other chemicals, representatives of can manufacturers and the Environmental Working Group told Bloomberg BNA. -
US EPA Rejects Call To Cancel Triclosan Registrations
Jun 2, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has declined a citizens' petition calling for the cancellation of the registration of all products containing the antimicrobial pesticide (biocide) triclosan. In its response to the petition, the agency said it is looking at the risks posed by triclosan and will consider regulatory action, depending on the results of the assessments. -
California Lawmakers Seek Oil Pipeline Crackdown Following Spill
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Esme E. Deprez and Lynn Doan
California would require oil pipelines in environmentally sensitive areas to be outfitted with automatic shut-off valves, under proposed legislation following a spill last month that leaked 500 barrels into the Pacific Ocean. The three bills also would require annual inspections of pipelines and hasten the cleanup... -
(ACC Mentioned) Chevron, Phillips 66 Joint Venture May Have A Second Natural Gas “Megaproject” In The Works
Jun 2, 2015 | Bloomberg
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., a joint venture of Chevron Corp. and refiner Phillips 66, is considering a second “megaproject” in the U.S. that would take advantage of low natural gas prices for making plastics and other materials. “We are certainly looking seriously about the possibility of another project in the U.S.,” Chief Executive... -
(ACC Mentioned) Chevron, Phillips 66 JV May Have Second Big Gas Project In The Works
Jun 2, 2015 | Seeking Alpha
By Carl Surran
Chevron Phillips Chemical, the joint venture of Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), says it is considering a second “megaproject” in the U.S. that would take advantage of low natural gas prices for making plastics and other materials. JV CEO Peter Cella says the company is on schedule to begin producing ethylene... -
Upton Says Committee Should Consider Repealing Crude Oil Export Ban This Year
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Legislation to end the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports should be on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's “agenda this year, chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said June 2. “The energy sector has been the nation's most significant jobs creator in recent years, but with the drop in oil prices, as many as 100,000 energy industry... -
Upton: I Didn't Endorse Lifting Crude Export Ban
Jun 2, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton underscored this his remarks earlier today on the value of congressional action on exporting U.S. oil did not mean that he supports ending the export ban. Upton told POLITICO that he had had carefully crafted his remarks, which he said "stopped short of endorsing the legislation" that would ... -
GOP Chairman: Oil Exports 'Can Be A Win'
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The top House lawmaker overseeing energy said lifting the four-decade-old ban on exporting crude oil could have wide-ranging benefits. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, stopped shot of endorsing a repeal or relaxation of the ban, as he has done previously.Instead, at a hearing Tuesday of the ... -
Refiners Push Back After Upton Applauds Crude Exports
Jun 2, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Refiners gave a cool reception to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton’s comments today that Congress should consider revising the crude oil export ban. While their reaction is not surprising, the measured comments from refiners indicate they may see Upton’s remarks as a cautious step towards assuaging GOP reticence... -
Environmental Groups Sue Over Approval Of Shell Exploration Plan for Arctic Offshore
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
An alliance of environmental advocacy groups sued the federal government June 2 over approval of Royal Dutch Shell Plc's exploration plan for leases in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea (Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell, 9th Cir., No. 15-71656, 6/2/15). The 10 groups petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit... -
Greens To Challenge Arctic Ocean Drilling In Court
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Twelve environmental groups are planning to challenge in federal court the lease sale that is allowing Royal Dutch Shell to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean. Greens have twice prevailed in federal court against the Interior Department’s 2008 lease sale under the George W. Bush administration to Shell, in which it gave drilling... -
Enviros Ask 9th Circuit To Quash Shell's Drilling Plans
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Phil Taylor
A coalition of environmental groups today asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Interior Department's decision last month to conditionally approve Royal Dutch Shell PLC's oil exploration plan for Alaska's Chukchi Sea. The petition for review before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to block Shell's plan to drill up to six... -
House Bill to Expedite Approval Process For LNG Exports ‘Workable,' Moniz Says
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter and Rebecca Kern
House legislation that would expedite the Energy Department's approval process for liquefied natural gas export projects is “workable” but not needed, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz testified June 2. “To be frank, we find it unnecessary,” Moniz said during a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power... -
Groups Ask Court To Halt Construction Of Md. Export Terminal
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
Environmentalists have asked a federal appeals court to issue an emergency stay on U.S. approval of Dominion Resources Inc.'s $3.8 billion Cove Point, Md., liquefied natural gas export facility on the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Sierra Club, EarthReports Inc. and others filed an emergency petition... -
Environmental Groups Ask D.C. Circuit to Halt Construction of Cove Point LNG Terminal
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
Environmental groups asked a federal appeals court to stay two orders allowing Dominion Resources to construct and operate the Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal (EarthReports Inc. v. FERC, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1127, 6/1/15. Earthjustice filed the motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit June 1... -
Oil Companies See Future in Natural Gas As Climate Threat Spurs Tussle With Coal
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rakteem Katakey and Tara Patel
Oil companies that have pumped trillions of barrels of crude from the ground are now saying the future is in their other main product: natural gas, a fuel they are promoting as the logical successor to coal. With almost 200 nations set to hammer out a binding pact on carbon emissions in December, fossil-fuel companies led by Royal... -
Groups Seek to Put More Attention on, Urge Halt to Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nora Macaluso
Environmental and Native American advocates want to draw more attention to harms caused if Enbridge Inc. succeeds in its plan to expand the Alberta Clipper pipeline, a project that would double the amount of Canadian tar sands oil the line could carry into the U.S. “We're coming to the Twin Cities to call on President Obama to keep dirty... -
EPA Sends Final Clean Power Plan Rule To White House for Interagency Review
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency sent a final rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review. The final Clean Power Plan is expected in August. The EPA sent the final rule to the White House June 1. Interagency review is typically the last... -
Clean Power Plan Goes To White House For Final Review
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan traveled to the White House Office of Management and Budget yesterday for one last vetting before a final version is released, the office's regulatory website shows. The existing power plant carbon rule has become a political lightning rod since it was proposed one year ago today. -
GOP, Obama See Common Ground On Energy Infrastructure
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
House Republicans have found reasons to agree with some parts of the Obama administration’s energy infrastructure proposal. GOP leaders in the House Energy and Commerce Committee told Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz that they are largely in agreement on the need to improve pipelines, electric transmission lines, energy storage and other... -
Obama Budget Chief Criticizes Senate Energy Spending Bill
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The head of the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rebuked a Senate energy and water spending bill on Tuesday, saying it underfunds "important investments" in the energy sector proposed by President Obama. OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)... -
White House Outlines ‘Serious Concerns' With Senate Energy, Water Funding Bill
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Obama administration has “a number of serious concerns” about the Senate Appropriation Committee's $35.4 billion fiscal year 2016 energy and water bill, Shaun Donovan, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a June 2 letter. Specifically, the letter, addressed to Appropriations Committee Chairman... -
White House Cites 'Serious Concerns' With Senate Energy-Water Bill
Jun 3, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Geof Koss
The White House Office of Management and Budget yesterday outlined a laundry list of issues with the Senate energy and water development spending bill that it wants addressed before the legislation hits the floor. In a letter to Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), OMB Director Shaun Donovan said the fiscal 2016 bill approved... -
Moderate Senators Remain Coy On WOTUS Rule
Jun 3, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Annie Snider
Moderate senators who are potential swing votes on the Obama administration's controversial water rule say they are still digging into the final version unveiled last week and are offering few hints about where they will land on it. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who joined opponents of the "Waters of the United States" rule in a test vote in March... -
White House Begins Review Of ESPS, Opening Door To New Lobbying Push
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Lee Logan & Dawn Reeves
The White House is beginning its formal interagency review of EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for existing power plants, opening the door to a host of last-minute lobbying efforts from a variety of groups that hope to win major changes when the final rule is unveiled this summer. -
D.C. Circuit Broadly Backs EPA's Methods For NAAQS Attainment Findings
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has issued a sweeping ruling broadly upholding EPA's methods for designating areas as either attaining or violating its 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), providing a boost for the agency to replicate the method in future NAAQS designations. -
EPA Asks Court to Reconsider Order For Discovery in Air Act Jobs Review Case
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency asked a federal district court to reconsider an order requiring the agency to provide additional staff depositions and documents in a lawsuit seeking to require a jobs impact review of Clean Air Act regulations (Murray Energy Corp. v. EPA, N.D. W.Va., No. 5:14-cv-00039-JPB, motion for reconsideration, 6/1/15). -
EPA Guide Touts Consideration Of Environmental Justice In Rulemakings
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
EPA has issued final guidance on how agency rule writers should weigh environmental justice (EJ) concerns when crafting regulations, touting a series of completed and ongoing rules where EJ issues are specifically addressed -- though the agency has yet to finalize complementary technical guidance on how to include EJ in regulations. -
D.C. Circuit Dismisses Industry Challenge To Carbon Sequestration Waste Exclusion
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
A federal appeals court ruled June 2 that industry petitioners have failed to establish standing and dismissed their challenge to a final Environmental Protection Agency regulation determining that carbon dioxide streams captured and sequestered underground can be excluded from hazardous waste regulation... -
Veto Threat for Appropriations Bill Cites Lack of Adequate Energy Transport Funds
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The White House issued a veto threat for the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill that would include $227 million in funds for hazardous materials and pipeline safety programs. The Obama administration took issue with what it called a lack of “adequate funding” for the Transportation Department to address safe transportation of energy products... -
Highway Funding Patch to August Signed by Obama
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
President Barack Obama signed a highway bill May 29 that will authorize funding for surface transportation programs, including hazardous materials transportation programs, through the end of July. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (H.R. 2353), which will authorize $8.5 billion for surface transportation funding, was introduced...
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(ACC Mentioned) US GDP Growth To Remain Below 3%, Leaving It Vulnerable – ACC
Jun 2, 2015 | ICIS News
The US economy will maintain growth below 3%, leaving it vulnerable to shocks, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Tuesday.
The ACC discussed the US economy in its mid-year outlook, released during the group's annual meeting.
The US economy should grow by 2.5% this year and 2.9% in 2016, the ACC said. GDP growth should reach 2.8% in 2017 and 2.7% in 2018.
Such a growth rate will leave the US economy susceptible to shocks, the ACC said. "This economy is vulnerable."
Among some bright spots, the US automobile market continues to improve, according to the ACC.
The average age of a US vehicle on the road remains high, reaching levels not seen since the 1930s, said Kevin Swift, chief economist of the ACC.
Automobiles are an important end market for the chemical industry since each light vehicle contains an average of nearly $3,500 worth of chemicals.
US auto sales should continue rising in 2015 and 2016 because of improving access to credit and because of a strengthening labour market.
Job growth should also boost demand for housing, the ACC said. Both housing supplies and interest rates are low, which should also help the market.
However, the industry still faces challenges. Population growth has slowed, and first-time home buyers have weak finances. Shifting consumer preferences are also hurting house sales.
As a result, housing demand will remain below the US long-term trend of 1.5m units until 2018, the ACC said.
Housing is another key end market for the chemical industry, since each home has an average of $15,000 worth of chemistry.
Meanwhile, other trends are holding back growth. Cold weather and the port strikes on the west coast caused the economy to shrink in the first quarter.
The slowdown in the oil and gas industry is hurting several industries that supply the sector with goods and services, the ACC said.
While the oil and gas industry make up a relatively small portion of the US economy, it was responsible for a significant amount of its growth and of business investment during the current recovery, Swift said.
Ultimately, US consumers are expected to spend the money they save on fuel. This should increase demand for chemical products.
More challenges loom.
The stronger US dollar is making the nation's exports less competitive in foreign markets.
Meanwhile, high taxes, high debt and red tape are all taking a toll on business and consumer confidence, the ACC said. "US economic growth remains below its potential."
The ACC annual meeting ends on Wednesday.
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(ACC Mentioned) AIHce 2015's Stewardship Program Proves Popular
Jun 2, 2015 | Occupational Health & Safety
Many AIHce 2015 attendees are checking out the #Stewardship2015 sessions taking place during the larger conference. The Product Stewardship Society is presenting this conference-within-a-conference here in Salt Lake City with popular sessions throughout the AIHce 2015 meeting, with presenters discussing the challenges of complying with REACH, GHS, and other classification schemes for chemicals of concern.
Occupational exposure limits, the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act and OSHA HazCom Standard, and REACH are prime topics of concern for product stewards, but advocacy-based lists and state regulations in Washington State, California, and Maine also are useful and important to monitor, Robert DeMott, Ph.D., DABT, principal toxicologist for ENVIRON International, told the audience during a June 2 session titled "Product Stewardship in the Era of Hazard-Based Ingredient Listings: Responses for the New Reality." Robert Skoglund, Ph.D., CIH, DABT, senior lab manager for 3M Company, and Linda Dell, M.S., senior epidemiologist at ENVIRON International, were DeMott's co-presenters.
They advised their audience to be prepared to communicate the differences between hazards and risks -- hazard is about the chemical, that is, it is a property of the chemical, while risk is about people, DeMott said -- and to monitor sources such as EPA's Safer Choices, the American Chemistry Council's recent paper comparing various tools' assessment of seven chemicals of concern, California's Safer Consumer Products regulation, the National Research Council's Framework for the Evaluation of Chemical Alternatives, and advocacy lists such as SIN (Substitute It Now! and ChemSec) and Skin Deep (Environmental Working Group.)
"Hazard doesn't make a product risky," DeMott said, adding that lists for scoring chemicals' hazard levels "are very useful, make no mistake."
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(ACC Mentioned) Business News In Brief
Jun 3, 2015 | Philly.com
In the Region CHOP hires innovation leaderPatrick FitzGerald has left his job as managing director of DreamIT Philly, a business incubator, to fill the new position of vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In his new job, which he started May 26, FitzGerald, 39, will help doctors, nurses and pharmacists commercialize therapies, vaccines, devices and information technology solutions, he said. CHOP said FitzGerald will also direct CHOP's investments in in early-stage companies, co-investment vehicles, joint ventures and other partnerships. FitzGerald said he will continue teaching entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. - Harold Brubaker
Wegmans looking to hire
Wegmans is set to open its newest supermarket in Glen Mills on Nov. 8. There are 525 job openings at the 110,000-square-foot store; 450 openings will be filled locally and the remaining 75 will come from internal transfers. There are 325 part-time openings, ranging from culinary and restaurant operations to customer service. Full-time positions will also be filled for the culinary section, which prepares hot and fresh food, and at the Pub, the company's casual restaurant. After an eligibility period, a part-time employee who works an average of 30 hours a week will be eligible to receive health-care benefits. - Joel Wee
Sixt car rental coming to Philly
Sixt Rent A Car has purchased a building near Philadelphia International Airport for what will be the German company's first Philadelphia location, according to Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, which brokered the sale. The Munich-based car-rental firm bought the 84,471-square-foot industrial building at 3601 Island Ave. for $3.4 million from Pennock Co., NGKF said Tuesday. NGKF also brokered the purchase of a nearby 104,000-square-foot warehouse by a company called Powers Court Partners for $3.48 million, it said in the release. The 7625 Suffolk Ave. facility will be used to process and distribute packaged kits of pre-measured ingredients that are shipped to consumers for home preparation. - Jacob Adelman
Comcast hires Nike executive
Comcast Corp. said Tuesday it has hired Nike executive Chris Satchell as executive vice president and chief product officer in its cable division. Satchell will lead the product-development teams in Philadelphia, Denver and Silicon Valley. He replaces Charlie Herrin, who now directs Comcast's sweeping efforts to improve its customer experience. Comcast is building a second tower in Philadelphia to house product and technical development.
- Bob FernandezAmerisourceBergen expands
Valley Forge-based drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen said it plans to build three new distribution centers in Olive Branch, Miss., Shakopee, Minn., and Newburgh, N.Y. AmerisourceBergen says it handles nearly 35 percent of all of the pharmaceuticals sold and distributed throughout the country. - David Sell
IRS adjusts fraud policy
The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday said it changed policy and will now provide victims of identity theft with copies of fraudulent tax returns filed under their names. The about-face came in response to Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.), who urged IRS Commissioner John Koskinen last month to provide tax-related identity theft victims with copies of fraudulent returns. Previously, the agency had refused, citing privacy concerns. "We will put together a procedure that will enable victims to receive, upon request, redacted copies of fraudulent returns filed in their name and (Social Security number)," Koskinen wrote. Last month, the IRS discovered hackers tried to steal about 200,000 taxpayers' information through the IRS Get Transcript system, which allows taxpayers to download past tax returns online. - Erin Arvedlund
Endo to sell shares
Drugmaker Endo International plc said it will sell $1.75 billion in stock to help fund a recently announced takeover of Par Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc. Endo executives operate from Malvern, but it officially moved its global headquarters to Dublin, Ireland, to avoid paying U.S. corporate taxes. - David Sell
FMC watching Monsanto deal
Philadelphia-based FMC Corp., which transformed its business this year to focus on agricultural chemicals, would try to buy any pesticide brands that regulators force Monsanto Co. to sell as a condition of its planned takeover of Syngenta AG. "Of course we would look at it very aggressively," FMC chief executive officer Pierre Brondeau said in an interview at the American Chemistry Council's annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo. "When there are mergers like this, there are always products that are just falling off because of antitrust reasons." Syngenta has rejected Monsanto's unsolicited $45 billion takeover offer, saying the bid undervalues the Swiss company and doesn't account for antitrust hurdles. St. Louis-based Monsanto offered to divest Syngenta's seed business and some chemical assets to placate regulators.
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Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The Senate's chemical safety bill to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act may not make it to the floor until July or August.
“We're trying to work with everyone to get a good schedule. We don't know when it'll be yet,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a co-sponsor of the bill, told Bloomberg BNA June 2.
At issue is the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), which Udall and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) introduced March 10 (47 DEN A-19, 3/11/15)
An aide to Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who co-sponsored an alternative Senate bill that has not moved, told Bloomberg BNA, “There remain several outstanding concerns that Senator Markey has with [S. 697], and he plans to work with his colleagues to resolve those prior to floor action.”
House Bill Moving
Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 2 began marking up the Toxic Substances Control Act Modernization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2576) as part of its efforts to complete a House vote on the measure before the July recess.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has announced he will bring H.R. 2576 to the House floor the week of June 23.
The Senate and House bills take different approaches to updating the core provisions of TSCA, which has not been updated since signed into law by President Gerald Ford on Oct. 11, 1976.
The Senate bill, which has emerged from years of negotiations, addresses many aspects of chemicals management, while the House bill targets a few narrow provisions of TSCA (90 DEN B-1, 5/11/15)
Senate Bill Not Scheduled
Udall and Vitter have asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring S. 697 to the floor in June, but McConnell's office told Bloomberg BNA that as of June 1 the legislation was not scheduled to come to the floor.
The American Chemistry Council is urging McConnell to bring the legislation to the floor before the Senate's August recess, Cal Dooley, president of the industry group, told reporters during a briefing June 2 at the council's annual board meeting.
The Senate is scheduled to go into recess from June 29 to July 6 and again from Aug. 10 through Sept. 7.
As of June 2, S. 697 had a total of 40 co-sponsors, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats.
Intense Lobbying
According to lobbying records, chemical manufacturers are spending millions of dollars lobbying for TSCA modernization among other issues.
In the first quarter of 2015, for example, the American Chemistry Council spent $1.66 million in lobbying efforts concerning a range of chemical issues that included addressing confidential business information under TSCA, passage of S. 697, bisphenol A, flame retardants, formaldehyde, microbeads, pthalates and a variety of Environmental Protection Agency-related science activities, according to information submitted to the Senate Office of Public Records.
DuPont reported lobbying activities of $2.24 million in the first quarter. DuPont's portfolio of issues included passage of S. 697, as well as draft House legislation to modernize TSCA; reauthorization of the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS); the Clean Air Act; climate change; and skilled worker visas.
Also during the first quarter, 3M spent $900,000 on legislation and issues, including S. 697, green chemistry and science-based environmental regulatory reform, while the BASF Corp. spent $700,000 on S. 697 and other issues.
ACC Supports Both Bills
Regarding the Senate and House bills, Dooley said, “We are very supportive of both proposals. Both contribute to our goal of TSCA modernization.”
Should the bills pass their respective chambers, Dooley predicted the White House working with the Environmental Protection Agency would become more engaged in the TSCA legislative process than it has been.
The White House, in consultation from EPA, is likely to weigh in on modifications that would be needed to make sure the agency can implement whatever bill would be negotiated and to ensure it would retain broad bipartisan support, Dooley said.
Concerns About Legislation
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) said during opening remarks June 2 of the Energy and Commerce Committee's markup of H.R. 2576 that the EPA has identified several issues that deserve serious consideration, He did not describe the agency's concerns.
State attorneys general also have raised concerns that remain to be worked through, Tonko said.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he has heard concerns that the House bill would allow industry requests that the EPA assess chemicals to “overrun the program, even preventing EPA from initiating [its] own evaluations on top priority chemicals.”
It is critical that manufacturer-initiated risk evaluations do not overwhelm the agency, preventing it from evaluating its top priorities or diminishing the public's confidence in the chemicals management program, Pallone said.
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told Bloomberg BNA he expects H.R. 2576 to be approved by the full House. It is possible, however, that a manager's amendment with additional revisions may be brought to the floor, he said. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE HE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
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(ACC Mentioned) BPA in Canned Foods Less Common, But Still There
Jun 3, 2015 | Kern Golden Empire
By Kathleen Doheny
At least a third of canned foods have the chemical BPA in their linings, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The report found that BPA, or bisphenol A, is less commonly used to line the inside of metal food cans today. Research has linked the chemical to several health problems.
"Definitely the trend is moving away from BPA,'' says Renee Sharp, director of research at the EWG. "But there is a long way to go."The BPA Scorecard
The EWG looked at 252 brands made by 119 companies between January and August 2014. They asked if the company used BPA-based coatings to line the metal food cans. The lining protects the food from touching the metal.
Sharp says federal regulations don't require manufacturers to identify BPA-free cans, so consumers have no way of knowing which cans are free of the chemical.
The FDA says the chemical is safe in food packaging and containers. A spokeswoman for the North American Metal Packaging Alliance says she is “disappointed” by the report.
The EWG survey findings:12% of the brands, or 31, used BPA-free cans for all of their canned products.14%, or 34 brands, used BPA-free cans for one or more of their canned products.31%, or 78, used BPA for all their canned products.43% of brands supplied incomplete or ambiguous answers to survey questions or did not respond.
BPA-free brands include Amy's, Earth's Best Organic, Seneca, Sprouts Farmers Market, Tyson, and Health Valley.
The survey was funded largely by Grace Communications Foundation, an organization focused on increasing public awareness of food and other health issues, and other donors, Sharp says.BPA: EWG's View
BPA mimics sex hormones and thyroid hormones. And it has been linked in some research to problems with brain and nervous system development, obesity, and reproductive health problems. Exposure during pregnancy is viewed by some as particularly hazardous.
Much of the research has been done in lab and animal studies, EWG researchers acknowledge. But some studies have linked BPA with behavior problems in children, as well as obesity and heart disease.
Companies can turn to BPA substitutes to line the cans, the EWG says.BPA: View of FDA, Others
The FDA says more research is underway into BPA and any potential risks.
Justin Teeguarden, PhD, a toxicologist and senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, says his testing shows the chemical is safe.
Teeguarden's current research is funded by the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the American Chemistry Council, whose members make BPA.
"There is a difference between a hazard and a risk," he says, and it's driven by exposure. Standing on the brink of a cliff, for instance, is much more dangerous than standing a mile away, yet in both instances the hazard is present.
As for BPA alternatives to line cans, he says, ''the possible alternatives have not been toxicology tested the way BPA has." Experts are beginning to do that research, he says.
The Environmental Protection Agency notes that food packaging using BPA accounts for less than 5% of the BPA used in the U.S.Industry Weighs In
The EWG report will ''scare consumers away from a technology that has protected food for well over 35 years without fail," says Kathleen Roberts, a spokesperson for the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, responding to the report. She noted that the food packaging, including BPA, helps prevent food-borne illness.
"We are also disappointed the EWG did not even attempt to explain that everything that contacts food will migrate trace levels of that material into the food -- whether it be glass, plastic or some new BPA-substitute chemistry."
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Some Canned Food Makers Switching From BPA, Environmental Group Finds
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Consumer demand combined with pressure from advocacy campaigns is prompting some food manufacturers to switch from bisphenol A-based epoxy can coatings to coatings made from other chemicals, representatives of can manufacturers and the Environmental Working Group told Bloomberg BNA.
Thirty-one of 252 brands of canned food used bisphenol A-free cans for all their products and another 34 brands used BPA-free cans for one or more of their canned products, the Environmental Working Group said in a survey and analysis, BPA in Canned Food, set to be published June 3.
The analysis emerged from other research EWG conducted for its Food Scores database, which provides nutritional, chemical constituent and other information about more than 80,000 foods.
Metal Packagers: Safety Not Reason for Change
“There have been some companies that have stated that they will switch to alternative technologies for can coatings. To the best of my knowledge those companies have stated that safety is not the reason for this switch but [it] is based on consumers asking for a change based on nonscience-based attacks on canned foods like this EWG report,” John Rost, chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance Inc., told Bloomberg BNA June 1.
Of the 252 brands that EWG surveyed by phone, e-mail and website review, 78 used BPA-lined cans for all products and the remainder either did not provide information or gave such ambiguous or incomplete answers that the group could not make a conclusion about their use, EWG's analysis said.
The change is being spurred by extensive science, countered Renee Sharp, EWG's director of research.
As evidence, she pointed to a scientific advisory panel's unanimous May 7 vote that led the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to re-list bisphenol A as a reproductive toxicant under the state's Proposition 65 (90 DEN A-4, 5/11/15).
The Food and Drug Administration's repeated statements that BPA is safe at the levels consumers are ingesting it are based on its incomplete review of older-style toxicity tests that do not take into account subtler signs of toxicity found by hundreds of studies conducted by academic and other researchers, she said.
Sharp referred to a December 2014 statement FDA issued. Bisphenol A is safe at the current levels found in foods, FDA said, adding it reached that conclusion based on a four-year review of more than 300 scientific studies (235 DEN A-16, 12/8/14).
EWG: Safety Assurances Before Evidence
“FDA's December announcement was a particularly bizarre move, considering the abundance of studies currently pending completion,” EWG's analysis said.
Among other studies, the report and Sharp referenced a five-year, $30 million BPA-research effort being conducted by a consortium of universities, the FDA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
The NIEHS is coordinating a broad research effort that examines worker exposures as well as long-term health effects that result from exposure to BPA in the womb or early in development (164 DEN B-1, 8/23/13).
The FDA, Health Canada and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have all reviewed the science on BPA and concluded that current uses—and levels in food—are safe, Rost said.
“Asking for a further restriction below a safe level does not make good food safety policy,” he said.
EWG's report said the permissible level of BPA in canned food should be no greater than 1 part per billion.
FDA does not have a safety threshold, Sharp said, but the European Food Safety Authority's provisional tolerable daily intake is 4 micrograms BPA per kilogram body weight per day (14 DEN A-10, 1/22/15).
That EFSA provisional concentration is about 600 times higher than what EWG is recommending, Sharp said.
Companies Will Comply With Regulators
Rost, from the metal packaging alliance, stressed the safety record of canned food made with epoxy coatings derived from BPA.
“Canned foods have enjoyed an unprecedented run of food safety with zero food-borne illness cases from the failure of metal packaging in well over 35 years, which translates into trillions of cans,” Rost said.
“Despite the best efforts of activist groups like EWG, BPA is not a major concern for most consumers, or toxicologists, Rost said.
“While in some markets the change of one company may cause other companies to consider changes, the reality is that most companies and consumers are comforted in the knowledge that U.S. FDA, Health Canada, and EFSA say this use is safe,” he said.
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US EPA Rejects Call To Cancel Triclosan Registrations
Jun 2, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has declined a citizens' petition calling for the cancellation of the registration of all products containing the antimicrobial pesticide (biocide) triclosan.
In its response to the petition, the agency said it is looking at the risks posed by triclosan and will consider regulatory action, depending on the results of the assessments.
The petitioners – Food & Water Watch and Beyond Pesticides – said products containing triclosan should have their registrations cancelled because the substance's ubiquity results in endocrine disruption and contributes to bacterial resistance in antibiotic medications and antibacterial cleansers.
The EPA's most recent assessments of the risks to human health and the environment found that the “antimicrobial uses of triclosan met the applicable statutory standards, and the petition and supporting comments did not provide sufficient evidence to significantly change those conclusions,” the agency said.
The EPA is required to periodically review pesticide registration eligibility decisions (REDs) and the agency said it "is committed to examining the endocrine interactions of triclosan further”. The registration review process will allow the EPA to examine information acquired since the triclosan RED was issued, back in 2008, and to require submission of additional data if necessary.
Also, its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) will, it said, provide “additional opportunity to assess the need to issue future orders or data call-ins, requiring the submission of EDSP screening assays.”
As for the issue of bacterial resistance, the agency said: “There is currently no evidence before the EPA ... of causal relationship between bacterial resistance in humans and either triclosan 'body burden' or residential exposure to triclosan residues, resulting from the use of consumer products.”
Triclosan was first registered with the EPA as an antimicrobial pesticide in 1969. It is currently registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act as a bacteriostat, fungistat, and mildewstat for use as a materials preservative in residential, public access, commercial, institutional and industrial premises.
Last year Minnesota became the first US state to impose restrictions on triclosan, banning the sale of consumer soaps containing the substance (CW 22 May 2014). A number of large companies, including Procter & Gamble, Avon and Johnson & Johnson, are also phasing out from products (CW 10 April 2014).
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California Lawmakers Seek Oil Pipeline Crackdown Following Spill
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Esme E. Deprez and Lynn Doan
California would require oil pipelines in environmentally sensitive areas to be outfitted with automatic shut-off valves, under proposed legislation following a spill last month that leaked 500 barrels into the Pacific Ocean.
The three bills also would require annual inspections of pipelines and hasten the cleanup response by better positioning state-owned skimmers. A program enabling local fishing vessels to act as contractors to help with clean-up efforts would be modeled on one set up in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989.
The Plains All American Pipeline LP system leaked heavy oil May 19 along a stretch of pristine beach north of Los Angeles and near the site of a 1969 blowout at a Union Oil platform that dumped 80,000 barrels of crude in what was then the worst spill in U.S. history. The latest incident has galvanized efforts to prevent future spills and has prompted calls to phase out drilling in the state altogether (98 DEN A-14, 5/21/15).
“Oil is dirty, it is dangerous and it is destructive,” state Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) from Santa Barbara said during a call with reporters June 2 unveiling the bills along with fellow Democrat Assemblyman Das Williams.
U.S. Senators Raise Concerns
Democratic U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both from California, and Edward J. Markey (Mass.) sent a letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on May 28, describing the spill response as insufficient. Plains may not have acted quickly enough to detect the leak, and an automatic shut-off valve could have reduced the volume of oil released, they said.
PG&E Corp. was told by state regulators to install automatic shut-off valves on some of its high-pressure gas transmission lines after a 2010 explosion that killed eight people in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno, Calif.
It took PG&E about 90 minutes to stop the flow of gas because the line had to be manually shut down by workers, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board (180 DEN A-18, 9/17/14).
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Jun 2, 2015 | Bloomberg
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., a joint venture of Chevron Corp. and refiner Phillips 66, is considering a second “megaproject” in the U.S. that would take advantage of low natural gas prices for making plastics and other materials.
“We are certainly looking seriously about the possibility of another project in the U.S.,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Cella said Tuesday. “This is the right time to get serious about the next project.”
The company is on schedule to begin producing ethylene in mid-2017 at its $6 billion project outside Houston, Cella said in an interview at the American Chemistry Council annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He’s looking globally for where to build the next ethylene and derivatives plants, given the multiyear timeline to complete major projects.
The Houston-based company has led a wave of new U.S. facilities that make ethylene, used in plastics to polyester. Plants that use low cost gas from shale formations will help U.S. production of basic chemicals increase for the next four years, starting with a 3.1 percent rise this year and peaking at 6 percent in 2018, according to the council.
A rapidly growing middle class in developing regions will boost long-term demand for plastics used in packaging, autos and other applications, Cella said.
About 65 percent of new capacity in the U.S. will be exported, Kevin Swift, chief economist for the industry group, told reporters at the conference. Swift said the U.S. will increase its global share of chemical production, grabbing sales from Europe and Japan, where oil is often used instead of gas.
The drop in oil prices hasn’t erased the cost advantages for the Texas project, Chevron Phillips’ biggest ever, Cella said.
Falling oil prices also have some benefits, including increasing the availability of skilled labor in the wake of energy sector job cuts, he said. That’s reduced the pace of wage-cost inflation and improved the quality of available workers, particularly welders, Cella said.
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(ACC Mentioned) Chevron, Phillips 66 JV May Have Second Big Gas Project In The Works
Jun 2, 2015 | Seeking Alpha
By Carl Surran
Chevron Phillips Chemical, the joint venture of Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), says it is considering a second “megaproject” in the U.S. that would take advantage of low natural gas prices for making plastics and other materials.
JV CEO Peter Cella says the company is on schedule to begin producing ethylene in mid-2017 at its $6B project near Houston, and he is looking globally for a place to build the next ethylene and derivatives plants, given the multiyear timeline to complete major projects.
Plants that use low cost gas from shale formations will help U.S. production of basic chemicals increase for the next four years, starting with a 3.1% rise this year and peaking at 6% in 2018, according to the American Chemistry Council; Cella made his remarks at today's annual meeting of the group.
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Upton Says Committee Should Consider Repealing Crude Oil Export Ban This Year
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Legislation to end the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports should be on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's “agenda this year, chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said June 2.
“The energy sector has been the nation's most significant jobs creator in recent years, but with the drop in oil prices, as many as 100,000 energy industry positions have been lost,” Upton said during a subcommittee hearing, adding that repealing the trade prohibition would create jobs.
While a broad energy bill being crafted by the committee doesn't “currently” include such a measure, Upton said he looks forward to working with Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), and other “colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that we get this policy right.”
“Oil exports can be a win for the American people and a win for our allies,” Upton said.
Previously, Upton and other committee members, such as Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power, have indicated they were in no hurry to act on the ban, which was enacted in the wake of the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s.
Barton Optimistic on Lifting Export Ban
Barton, the author of H.R. 702 that would end the crude oil export ban, said he was optimistic language ending the trade prohibition may end up being included in the broader energy bill, which is expected to be revealed later this summer.
“Let's wait and see,” Barton said in an interview. “What's he's told me for the last six months is we need to make sure its bipartisan and we need to get members educated, which we are doing.”
Similar legislation, S. 1312, has been introduced in the Senate by Energy and Natural Resources chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), but some analysts don't see Congress acting on the issue until 2017 as lawmakers remain concerned that approving the change could later be linked to an increase in gasoline prices.
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Upton: I Didn't Endorse Lifting Crude Export Ban
Jun 2, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton underscored this his remarks earlier today on the value of congressional action on exporting U.S. oil did not mean that he supports ending the export ban.
Upton told POLITICO that he had had carefully crafted his remarks, which he said "stopped short of endorsing the legislation" that would lift the ban, and he said that "we need to look at the policy."
Asked whether his remarks today could be construed as a shift towards backing unfettered crude exports, if not the legislation on the issue, he indicated that any change is incremental.
"I've never said I'm against" ending the decades-old export ban, Upton said. But proponents of congressional action to change the 1970s-era export ban "need to show support" for their views before the committee can move forward.
Asked how the panel plans to integrate further hearings on crude exports with its broader energy bill, designed as a bipartisan affair, Upton added only that exports "may be relevant to that" legislation. "We'll see." -
GOP Chairman: Oil Exports 'Can Be A Win'
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The top House lawmaker overseeing energy said lifting the four-decade-old ban on exporting crude oil could have wide-ranging benefits.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, stopped shot of endorsing a repeal or relaxation of the ban, as he has done previously.Instead, at a hearing Tuesday of the committee’s energy and power panel, Upton said it is time for Congress to consider lifting the ban, and said he wants it on the committee’s agenda this year.
“Oil exports can be a win for the American people and a win for our allies,” Upton said in a speech at the beginning of the hearing on energy diplomacy and infrastructure.
“Economic and foreign policy experts across the political spectrum believe that expanding the markets for American oil would be a net jobs creator at home while enhancing our geopolitical influence abroad,” he said.
Upton said the energy sector has been the top job creator in recent years in the United States, but it has lost 100,000 jobs because of the drop in oil prices, which could be stabilized by lifting the ban.
Upton did not yet jump on board with congressional Republicans — and Democrats — who have increasingly argued for ending the export ban.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has become the main voice in the House behind lifting the ban, which was instituted amid the Arab oil embargo and energy shortages as a way to protect United States consumers and businesses from international spikes in oil prices.
But with abundant oil supplies that are likely to make the United States the top oil producer soon, supporters say the case for the export restriction is weakening.
Support for oil exports is high in Texas and other areas with heavy oil production. Oil refiners want to keep the restrictions in place, fearing that prices would increase if the United States’ oil market were opened to the world.
Barton has 40 co-sponsors on his bill to end the export ban, including five moderate Democrats.
While Upton said he would work with Barton and other co-sponsors of that bill, he recognized that oil exports are not currently part of the comprehensive energy reform package that the Energy Committee is working to write.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) are the main supporters of oil exports in the Senate.
Despite the lack of an endorsement from Upton, the oil industry saw his comments Tuesday as a major gain for their arguments.
“We’re very encouraged by the chairman’s statement,” the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement. “His comments reflect the rapidly growing chorus of bipartisan support for lifting 70s-era restrictions that only limit America’s growth as an energy superpower.”
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Refiners Push Back After Upton Applauds Crude Exports
Jun 2, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Refiners gave a cool reception to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton’s comments today that Congress should consider revising the crude oil export ban.
While their reaction is not surprising, the measured comments from refiners indicate they may see Upton’s remarks as a cautious step towards assuaging GOP reticence over tackling the sensitive issue rather than a call to overturn the ban.
“Chairman Upton is a good friend to the energy sector,” Jay Hauck, executive director of the pro-ban Consumers and Refiners United for Domestic Energy lobbying coalition, said in a statement. “The Chairman conducted a lengthy and thorough investigative analysis of our nation's [liquefied natural gas] supplies before moving any legislation to export American resources. As the Chairman knows better than most, crude oil is vastly different from LNG.”
Hauck added that Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, at the same commitee hearing, “pointed out that we are still importing over 7 million barrels of foreign crude oil per day.”
Stephen Brown, a vice president at Tesoro, said by email that although the company “applauds Chairman Upton's apparent interest in relaxing current restrictions on domestic crude exports, we also recommend his attention to other market-distorting policies such as the Jones Act and the Renewable Fuel Standard that ultimately work to artificially drive up consumer costs for transportation fuels.”
A spokesman for the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, refiners’ main lobbying group in Washington, did not immediately return a request for comment. -
Environmental Groups Sue Over Approval Of Shell Exploration Plan for Arctic Offshore
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
An alliance of environmental advocacy groups sued the federal government June 2 over approval of Royal Dutch Shell Plc's exploration plan for leases in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea (Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell, 9th Cir., No. 15-71656, 6/2/15).
The 10 groups petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to review the decision of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an Interior Department agency, to approve the plan for exploratory oil drilling that could begin as early as this summer, pending additional permits.
“In approving the plan, BOEM violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1331-1356, 1866, and the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4370,” the petition said.
Detailed explanation of the arguments supporting the allegations haven't yet been filed. Petitioners' opening brief is due Aug. 21.
The groups include the Alaska Wilderness League, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the National Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Pacific Environment, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society.
BOEM Conducted ‘Rushed' Review of Plan
In an announcement of their lawsuit, the groups summarized their argument. BOEM “conducted a rushed and cursory review of Shell's plan that inadequately assessed its threats and effects,” the groups said.
Shell intends to use two drilling rigs and a small armada of support vessels, “all posing a threat to whales, walruses and seals, as well as air and water pollution discharges,” the groups said.
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Greens To Challenge Arctic Ocean Drilling In Court
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Twelve environmental groups are planning to challenge in federal court the lease sale that is allowing Royal Dutch Shell to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean.
Greens have twice prevailed in federal court against the Interior Department’s 2008 lease sale under the George W. Bush administration to Shell, in which it gave drilling rights for nearly 30 million acres in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska.Shell is planning to drill exploratory wells this summer following the Obama administration’s decision last month to approve its drilling plan.
The environmentalists cite the risks of spills in the harsh Arctic weather and the harm to the climate caused by the oil and gas in challenging the lease. They also cite various problems Shell encountered the last time it tried to drill in 2012.
“Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean only will hasten climate change at what is already ground zero for global warming,” Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice who is representing the 12 groups, said in a statement.
“Interior ignored recent science that identifies Arctic oil as incompatible with meeting basic international commitments to curb the worst effects of climate change, putting the region, wildlife, and our communities further at risk,” he said.
“Drilling in the Arctic has never made sense from a risk perspective, and Shell proved that in 2012 when its drillship ran aground,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The groups also cite an analysis from Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that found that if the United States’ Arctic Ocean territory is fully developed for oil and gas drilling, there is a 75 percent chance that an oil spill will happen one day.
Interior declined to comment on the legal action.
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Enviros Ask 9th Circuit To Quash Shell's Drilling Plans
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Phil Taylor
A coalition of environmental groups today asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Interior Department's decision last month to conditionally approve Royal Dutch Shell PLC's oil exploration plan for Alaska's Chukchi Sea.
The petition for review before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to block Shell's plan to drill up to six wells in the Chukchi beginning in July.
Today's legal action comes one day after a similar coalition of environmental groups filed notice in an Alaska federal district court challenging the George W. Bush administration's 2008 oil and gas lease sale that made Shell's exploration plans possible (Greenwire, June 2).
Todays's petition before the 9th Circuit was filed by the Alaska Wilderness League, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the National Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Pacific Environment, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society.
It claims the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's decision to approve Shell's exploration plan violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Under OCSLA, challenges to exploration plans go directly to the appeals court level.
"Interior unlawfully approved Shell's problem-riddled Arctic drilling plan," said a statement by Erik Grafe, an attorney for Earthjustice, which is representing the groups. "In doing this, it has failed the communities and wildlife of this region."
In a joint press release, the groups claimed BOEM conducted "a rushed and cursory review" of Shell's plan "that inadequately assessed its threats and effects."
"Shell's approved exploration plan is even bigger, dirtier, and louder than 2012, including the use of two drilling rigs in a concentrated area and a bigger armada of vessels, all posing a threat to whales, walruses and seals, as well as air and water pollution discharges," it said.
It is unclear whether the groups will ask the court for an emergency halt to Shell's drilling plans, which could commence as early as July if the company is able to obtain necessary additional permits from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and federal wildlife agencies.
"We certainly want to get our petition resolved as quickly as possible, and we're reviewing all of our options right now," Grafe said.
Shell's drilling plans have been thwarted by the 9th Circuit before.
In January 2014, the San Francisco-based court ruled that Interior had badly underestimated the amount of oil that could be produced as a result of the 2008 lease sale, which required BOEM to conduct a supplemental environmental review that postponed any potential drilling in summer 2014.
President Obama has defended his administration's decision to advance Arctic exploration, saying last month that Shell has given regulators "assurances that we have not seen before" that drilling will be conducted safely.
Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), said today's lawsuit is part of a campaign by environmentalists to make drilling in U.S. Arctic waters more expensive than other parts of the globe, where regulations may not be as strong.
"It is hard to be competitive," he said. "If we don't get [oil] from Alaska, we're going to get it from somewhere."
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House Bill to Expedite Approval Process For LNG Exports ‘Workable,' Moniz Says
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter and Rebecca Kern
House legislation that would expedite the Energy Department's approval process for liquefied natural gas export projects is “workable” but not needed, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz testified June 2.
“To be frank, we find it unnecessary,” Moniz said during a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. “We have been acting quite quickly.”
Specifically, the draft legislation, a component of a broader energy bill being crafted by the committee, would set a 30-day deadline for the DOE to issue a final decision on applications to export LNG following the conclusion of the National Environmental Policy Act environmental review, among other measures.
A previous version of the bill (H.R. 351) was passed by the House in January with support from organizations representing companies such as Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and Range Resources Corp (19 DEN A-9, 1/29/15).
A similar Senate bill (S. 33) has won support from the Obama administration (20 DEN A-19, 1/30/15).
Criticism From Democrats
The subcommittee hearing on several components of the House measure drew fire from the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.). The hearing was titled Quadrennial Energy Review and Related Discussion Drafts.
“The majority has chosen to resurrect controversial legislative proposals that have already drawn Democratic concerns and presidential veto threats,” Pallone said. “I hope this committee can start to work toward consensus legislation instead of resurrecting problematic issues of the past.”
Among the measures Pallone highlighted were several provisions in the draft “energy diplomacy title,” such as a measure that would eliminate the requirement for presidential permits for cross-border energy projects such as pipelines and transmission projects (97 DEN A-22, 5/20/15).
Next Quadrennial Energy Review
Moniz also said at the hearing that the next installments of the Quadrennial Energy Review will address supply and demand in the energy sector. “We'll have something out for sure by the end of 2016, but we may have something out by the beginning of 2016,” he said.
The DOE is working with other federal agencies to narrow the topic of the next installment, Moniz said. The first installment of the QER, released April 21, focused on recommendations to modernize and update U.S. energy transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure (77 DEN A-13, 4/22/15).
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Groups Ask Court To Halt Construction Of Md. Export Terminal
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
Environmentalists have asked a federal appeals court to issue an emergency stay on U.S. approval of Dominion Resources Inc.'s $3.8 billion Cove Point, Md., liquefied natural gas export facility on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Sierra Club, EarthReports Inc. and others filed an emergency petition this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for an immediate stay of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of Dominion's construction and operation of the Calvert County export facility.
They asked the court to grant the motion by June 17.
In deciding whether to issue the stay pending review of the agency order, the court will have to consider the likelihood that environmental groups will succeed in asking for a rehearing of FERC's approval of the Dominion export facility or that they will suffer "irreparable harm" should the stay not be granted.
The groups and Calvert County residents argued that their request for a rehearing has "languished" before FERC for seven months, even as the commission approved construction of the terminal. In asking for a rehearing, the groups accused FERC of failing to consider the indirect effects of extracting and shipping gas from Cove Point when conducting an environmental review of the terminal.
"Armed with FERC's approvals, Dominion built a pier that juts out 166 feet into the Patuxent River, cleared nearly 100 acres of forest to create a construction staging area, and began demolishing buildings to make way for a power plant that will run its operations -- all before petitioners could bring this challenge under the National Environmental Policy Act," they wrote.
But Dominion in a statement expressed confidence that FERC's approval of Cove Point will be upheld in court, and that EarthReports' request for emergency stay will be denied.
"The project has been upheld in the courts as well as by federal and state regulators, so we expect a similar outcome," said Karl Neddenien, a spokesman for the Cove Point project. "The FERC recently denied appeals to stop the project, which also has consistently been upheld in the courts as well as by federal and state regulators, so we expect a similar outcome."
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Environmental Groups Ask D.C. Circuit to Halt Construction of Cove Point LNG Terminal
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
Environmental groups asked a federal appeals court to stay two orders allowing Dominion Resources to construct and operate the Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal (EarthReports Inc. v. FERC, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1127, 6/1/15.
Earthjustice filed the motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit June 1 as part of a lawsuit challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of Dominion's Cove Point LNG facility in Calvert County, Md.
Earthjustice is acting on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and EarthReports Inc. (doing business as Patuxent Riverkeeper).
The May 7 lawsuit came in response to FERC's denial of Earthjustice petitions for a rehearing and to stop work on the project (89 DEN A-2, 5/8/15).
Earthjustice Lawsuit
The May 7 lawsuit said FERC circumvented the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider how the Cove Point project would trigger expanded hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region. That would lead to significant new amounts of air, water and climate-disrupting pollution, the lawsuit said.
The groups argued that when FERC delayed action on the petitioners' request for a rehearing of the orders, this enabled Dominion to start “substantial work before the administrative process was complete.”
“Petitioners already have been harmed by project-related construction and need immediate relief to prevent further injury,” the groups said in the motion.
The groups alluded to the environmental effects of Dominion's development thus far, saying, “Armed with FERC's approvals, Dominion built a pier that juts out 166 feet into the Patuxent River, cleared nearly 100 acres of forest to create a construction staging area and began demolishing buildings to make way for a power plant that will run its operations—all before petitioners could bring this challenge under the National Environmental Policy Act.”
Response Requested by June 17
The petitioners requested a response to the motion for stay by June 17, which is when Dominion has sought permission to begin foundation construction.
Dominion told Bloomberg BNA it wouldn't comment on the case.
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Oil Companies See Future in Natural Gas As Climate Threat Spurs Tussle With Coal
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rakteem Katakey and Tara Patel
Oil companies that have pumped trillions of barrels of crude from the ground are now saying the future is in their other main product: natural gas, a fuel they are promoting as the logical successor to coal.
With almost 200 nations set to hammer out a binding pact on carbon emissions in December, fossil-fuel companies led by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA say they are refocusing on gas as a cleaner alternative to the cheap coal that now dominates electricity generation worldwide (105 DEN A-8, 6/2/15).
That has sparked a war of words between the two industries and raised concern that Big Oil is more interested in grabbing market share than fighting global warming.
“Total is gas, and gas is good,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said June 1, in advance of this week's World Gas Conference in Paris. His remarks echoed comments two weeks earlier by Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden, who said his company has changed from “an oil-and-gas company to a gas-and-oil company.”
Shell began producing more gas than oil in 2013 and Total the following year. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s output rose to about 47 percent of total production last year from 39 percent six years ago. Companies are pushing sales in China, India and Europe.
Coal from producers led by Glencore Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd. produces about 40 percent of the world's electricity. Shell, Total, BP Plc and other oil companies said June 2 in a joint statement that they are banding together to promote gas as more climate friendly than coal.
‘The Enemy.’
“The enemy is coal,” Pouyanne said June 1. He vowed to pull out of coal mining and said Total may also halt coal trading in Europe.
A key strategy for gas producers to push this agenda is asking governments to levy a price on carbon emissions from power plants. That creates an economic incentive to switch from coal, the top source of greenhouse gases, to cleaner options.
BP CEO Bob Dudley called for a carbon price at the company's shareholder meeting April 16, while Exxon head Rex Tillerson on May 27 reiterated support for a carbon tax if consensus emerges in the U.S.
Even without carbon pricing, gas has been displacing coal in the U.S., Tillerson said in Paris June 2.
“Natural gas use in the U.S. has reduced carbon dioxide emissions to levels not seen since the 1990s,” he said in a speech. “And the U.S. has no comprehensive cost of carbon policy.”
Dudley, Tillerson, Pouyanne, Van Beurden and Statoil ASA's chief Eldar Saetre will join Chevron Corp. head John Watson at the conference in Paris this week to discuss ways to promote gas as the main fuel for a clean and sustainable world.
Shifting Focus
“They promote gas because it's already part of their business,” said Michael Barron, director of global energy and natural resources at the risk adviser Eurasia Group. “In many ways gas makes a contribution to moving toward a lower carbon economy. But it'll all depend on the economics.”
Drilling for oil often yields both crude and gas, and in recent years the major producers have stepped up their focus on gas. That shift is accelerating, with billions spent on adding to gas operations, which have historically generated less money than oil.
“More gas is the absolute key,” Shell's Van Beurden told shareholders at the company's annual meeting May 21.
In April, Shell agreed to pay $70 billion to buy BG Group Plc, mainly a gas company. Exxon is starting gas fields and liquefied natural gas export projects in Papua New Guinea to supply Asia, and Total is investing in Russia.
Carbon Emissions
“Coal is not the target,” said Joan MacNaughton, who served as executive chair of a World Energy Council climate-change report released in May. “The target should be emissions. It's true that gas is half as emitting as coal. You could say it's twice as clean, or you could say it's just half as dirty.”
Big Oil still has its work cut out, given the economics of coal. In fast-growing Asia, which accounts for about 70 percent of world coal use, prices for the fuel have declined every year since 2011, driving down costs for electricity.
“It's a question of affordability,” said Philip Garner, director general of the U.K. trade group CoalPro. “Coal is a much more abundant resource than oil and gas, and countries that have it can't be asked to stop using it because more than a billion people still live without electricity.”
Coal-fired power must drop to about 30 percent of global generation by 2025 to meet a goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the International Energy Agency.
Carbon Capture
Coal companies are betting on carbon capture and storage, which vacuums out carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere, to keep themselves in business in the face of demands for cleaner energy, Garner said. Technologies that clean coal of impurities will also be a part of the industry's defense.
“No one is suggesting switching off all coal plants because half of the planet will be in the dark,” Gerard Mestrallet, CEO of French utility Engie, said on June 2 in Paris. “What is important is a switch in the mix, which now gives a central role to coal.”
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Groups Seek to Put More Attention on, Urge Halt to Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nora Macaluso
Environmental and Native American advocates want to draw more attention to harms caused if Enbridge Inc. succeeds in its plan to expand the Alberta Clipper pipeline, a project that would double the amount of Canadian tar sands oil the line could carry into the U.S.
“We're coming to the Twin Cities to call on President Obama to keep dirty fossil fuels in the ground, starting with the tar sands, the most dirty form of oil,” Mike Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said June 2 of a protest and rally scheduled for June 6 in Minneapolis. He and other advocates spoke on a conference call with reporters.
The groups said the Obama administration needs to be more consistent in its policies to reduce carbon pollution.
“We have seen a number of strong steps the Obama administration has taken on reducing carbon pollution,” Brune said, citing policies aimed at cutting emissions from vehicles and power plants. “What we have not seen yet is strong action on the supply side of the equation,” he said. If the president is committed to combating climate change, Brune said, he should take steps to make sure carbon “stays in the ground.”
Needs KXL-Level of Attention
The Alberta Clipper is the same diameter as TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline and carries the same product, yet it hasn't received the same level of attention from the federal government, Andy Pearson, Midwest tar sands coordinator with MN350, a Minnesota-based environmental group.
“If they're very similar, we should be able to expect a similar level of scrutiny from the administration,” he said.
Native American tribes have been working to stop the Enbridge pipeline and others that run through tribal lands, arguing that by allowing their expansion the administration is violating treaty obligations, said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network.
“Tribes have serious concerns regarding oil spills and potential surface and groundwater [contamination] on or near land held in federal trust by the U.S. government,” he said on the call.
Lawsuit Filed
Goldtooth's group, the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation and others last November sued the federal government over its approval of the pipeline, arguing that the State Department violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it allowed Enbridge to build the 17-mile pipeline connection at the U.S.-Canada border (White Earth Nation v. Kerry, D. Minn., No. 14-cv-04726, 11/11/14; (219 DEN A-1, 11/13/14).
The groups filed a memorandum in opposition May 29 to the U.S. response brief to their petition for partial summary judgment in the case.
Enbridge has said it considers the border connection to be a modification of an existing line, known as Line 3, that doesn't require an environmental review or presidential permit. A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 10.
The proposed project would increase the capacity of the pipeline to 800,000 barrels of oil a day from 450,000 currently. The State Department approved the project “behind closed doors and through meetings with Enbridge” rather than through the environmental analysis other, similar pipelines receive, Hayes said.
Though organized efforts to stop the Clipper pipeline and other big projects haven't gotten as much media attention as the Keystone controversy, they have been ongoing in Minnesota and elsewhere, said Bill McKibben, founder of environmental group 350.org. “We hope this rally will bring things front and center,” he said.
Activists in Michigan used a recent gathering of state policymakers on Mackinac Island, Mich., as a backdrop for a press conference and protest of another Enbridge project, a pair of aging pipelines running under the Straits of Mackinac. The groups want Michigan leaders to shut down the line until more is known about the dangers posed to the Great Lakes in the event of an oil spill (102 DEN A-8, 5/28/15).
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EPA Sends Final Clean Power Plan Rule To White House for Interagency Review
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency sent a final rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review.
The final Clean Power Plan is expected in August. The EPA sent the final rule to the White House June 1. Interagency review is typically the last step before the final rule is signed by the administrator.
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 would determine how best to achieve that target through a combination of heat rate improvements at individual power plants, shifting generation from coal to cleaner natural gas, investing in new renewable energy or through energy efficiency programs.
Although the EPA has not yet finalized the proposal, it is already under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after being challenged by coal companies and states opposed to the proposed carbon dioxide standards (In re: Murray Energy Corp., D.C. Cir., No. 14-1112, oral arguments 4/16/15; West Virginia v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 14-1146, oral arguments 4/16/15; 74 DEN A-1, 4/17/15).
The Office of Management and Budget also is reviewing the EPA's final carbon dioxide new source performance standards rule (RIN 2060–AQ91) for newly built power plants. That rule as proposed would set an emissions limit 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, which would effectively necessitate use of carbon capture systems. That rule is also expected in August.
Together, the rules form the backbone of President Barack Obama's pledge to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by between 26 percent and 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 as nations prepare to gather in Paris this year for international climate negotiations (105 DEN A-10, 6/2/15).
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Clean Power Plan Goes To White House For Final Review
Jun 2, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan traveled to the White House Office of Management and Budget yesterday for one last vetting before a final version is released, the office's regulatory website shows.
The existing power plant carbon rule has become a political lightning rod since it was proposed one year ago today. President Obama originally asked EPA to release a final version this month, but the agency has pledged to do so by "midsummer," and the OMB website projects it will be out in August.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the House and Senate are moving legislation aimed at scuttling the rule, with a floor vote on the House version, H.R. 2042 sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), expected late this month.
After EPA finalizes the rule together with regulations for new and modified power plants, states will be tasked with determining how and whether to comply. Some officials, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), have hinted that they plan not to write a state implementation plan, while others, like Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), have said they will. EPA is in the final stages of formulating a federal plan that would be enforced in states that opt not to submit an approvable plan, though Republican lawmakers aim to prevent the federal agency from imposing it.
The rule's opponents say it would drive up electrical rates and burden U.S. manufacturing. But EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said in a statement today that the rule depends on a "time-tested" partnership with the states and incorporates millions of stakeholder comments collected over many months.
"This vital input is giving the agency the opportunity to address a wide range of issues in the draft final rule that will deliver a clean, affordable and reliable electricity supply, drive American innovation and American jobs, and that will demonstrate U.S. leadership within the international community," she said. The agency has hinted at substantive changes between the draft and final versions, especially when it comes to the rule's early compliance period and the way it treats nuclear energy.
William Becker of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies said that EPA "has demonstrated throughout the rulemaking process that it is listening carefully to states' views."
"We hope and expect the agency and OMB will follow through and revise its proposal accordingly," he said.
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GOP, Obama See Common Ground On Energy Infrastructure
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
House Republicans have found reasons to agree with some parts of the Obama administration’s energy infrastructure proposal.
GOP leaders in the House Energy and Commerce Committee told Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz that they are largely in agreement on the need to improve pipelines, electric transmission lines, energy storage and other pieces of infrastructure.Moniz testified at the hearing to promote the Quadrennial Energy Review, which the administration released in April to call for comprehensive infrastructure improvements worth billions of dollars.
“Many people are even asking — not surprisingly — is there enough common ground between our efforts and the Obama administration to enact meaningful energy legislation,” Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the energy and power subcommittee, said at the Tuesday hearing.
“I do believe that this question was answered with a clear ‘yes’ when the Department of Energy’s first installment of its Quadrennial Energy Review was released last April,” he said.
“This detailed study focuses on the infrastructure implications of America’s new energy boom, and many of its recommendations overlap with provisions in our draft energy bill,” he continued.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the full committee’s chairman, agreed with Whitfield’s assessment and cited last month’s oil pipeline breach in California as a sign of the need.
“Both the energy legislation and the QER include a number of ideas for upgrading and expanding the nation’s energy infrastructure,” Upton said.
“And in light of the recent pipeline spill in California, I would add that both aim to ensure that this new infrastructure is built with state-of-the-art technologies that reduce the environmental and safety risks,” he said.
Moniz said he was glad to see the Republicans’ willingness to work with Democrats and the administration in upgrading infrastructure.
“I look forward to working with you to move these ideas forward, and I really appreciate in the opening remarks the statements about common ground and the opportunities we have to work together,” he said.
Infrastructure is one piece of the House GOP’s ongoing effort to write a comprehensive energy reform package.
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Obama Budget Chief Criticizes Senate Energy Spending Bill
Jun 2, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The head of the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rebuked a Senate energy and water spending bill on Tuesday, saying it underfunds "important investments" in the energy sector proposed by President Obama.
OMB Director Shaun Donovan sent a letter to Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) saying the White House has "serious concerns" with the committee's $35.4 billion energy and water appropriations package.The White House's basic objection to the bill is its adherence to "sequestration" spending caps Obama wants to remove. Donovan wrote a similar letter about the Senate's military construction and veterans affairs budget, and he sent one to House appropriators about their energy and water funding bill in April.
Obama's budget proposal ignores the spending caps, and the Senate's energy and water appropriations bill is $666 million lower than what Obama wants to spend next year.
In his letter, Donovan wrote that the Senate's bill underfunds the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which he said "would slash the number of research, development, and demonstration projects supported in cooperation with industry, universities, and the national labs."
The bill cuts funding for electric grid reliability by 44 percent compared to Obama's budget, and Donovan said that would hurt efforts to modernize the grid. He slammed the bill for underfunding an energy research agency and cutting spending on climate change programs.
The bill has "ideological riders" related to information technology oversight at Department of Energy labs, Donovan wrote, which "threatens to undermine an orderly appropriations process."
The Appropriations Committee approved the energy and water bill in May. Many Democrats on the committee supported it, and Republicans said they kept the most controversial riders off the bill, though they could come up in floor debate later on.
Donovan's letters portend a larger fight between the administration and Congress on overall spending levels this session.
"The President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto any legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework, which blocks the investments we need for our economy to compete in the future," Donovan wrote.
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White House Outlines ‘Serious Concerns' With Senate Energy, Water Funding Bill
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Obama administration has “a number of serious concerns” about the Senate Appropriation Committee's $35.4 billion fiscal year 2016 energy and water bill, Shaun Donovan, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a June 2 letter.
Specifically, the letter, addressed to Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), said the legislation would underfund investments in clean energy and electricity grid modernization and includes “highly problematic ideological riders.”
Among the policy provisions opposed by the administration is language that would “irresponsibly undermine Federal agencies' ability to protect Federal investments from flood risk” and a measure that would exclude Energy Department labs from information technology reforms designed to reduce duplicative IT systems, increase cybersecurity and take other steps, the letter said.
The bill, approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee May 21, also would ban the Energy Department from using social cost of carbon estimates in rulemakings and 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. (99 DEN A-18, 5/22/15).
Administration Questions Other Parts
The letter also said the administration took issue with the bill's proposed funding level for the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at $1.95 billion, $790 million less than the administration's fiscal year 2016 budget request, though a slight increase from the current funding level of $1.9 billion.
“As the Senate takes up the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies bill, we look forward to working with you to address these concerns,” the letter said.
Overall, the legislation would appropriate $29.4 billion for the Energy Department, $5.5 billion for the corps and $1.1 billion for the Interior Department's Bureau of Reclamation.
Floor time has yet to be scheduled.
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White House Cites 'Serious Concerns' With Senate Energy-Water Bill
Jun 3, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Geof Koss
The White House Office of Management and Budget yesterday outlined a laundry list of issues with the Senate energy and water development spending bill that it wants addressed before the legislation hits the floor.
In a letter to Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), OMB Director Shaun Donovan said the fiscal 2016 bill approved in committee last month would undercut key initiatives at the Energy Department.
"The Administration supports investments in scientific research and water and energy resources that will create high-quality jobs, enhance the Nation's economic competitiveness, improve resilience against climate impacts, and help build a clean and secure energy future," he wrote. "However, we have a number of serious concerns about this legislation, which would underfund these important investments and includes highly problematic ideological riders."
As with previous spending bills, the White House objected to the overall spending level, which hews to the GOP budget and has drawn veto threats.
Specifically, Donovan cited the bill's reduction of almost $790 million, or 29 percent, for DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy compared with the requested level.
"This significantly reduced level of funding would slash the number of research, development, and demonstration projects supported in cooperation with industry, universities, and the national labs -- curtailing critical innovation and technological advancement in clean and renewable energy, as well as solutions to cut U.S. dependence on oil and reduce energy waste, all while also undermining the Nation's industrial competitiveness in the future global clean energy economy," he wrote.
Other cuts flagged in the letter as compared with the levels President Obama requested include the 68 percent reduction for wind energy programs, which were included by longtime wind critic Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who leads the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee; a 44 percent, or $118 million, reduction for grid modernization; the 10 percent cut leaving $291 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which Donovan called inadequate; as well as the $57 million, or 22 percent, reduction for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Among the objectionable policy riders, Donovan cites language that "would irresponsibly undermine Federal agencies' ability to protect Federal investments from flood risk."
The letter is the latest administration attempt to sway lawmakers on what is shaping up to be a bumpy appropriations season. The energy-water bill historically has been one of the least contentious spending bills, given that it includes funds for a variety of popular DOE programs and funding for Army Corps of Engineer water projects.
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Moderate Senators Remain Coy On WOTUS Rule
Jun 3, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Annie Snider
Moderate senators who are potential swing votes on the Obama administration's controversial water rule say they are still digging into the final version unveiled last week and are offering few hints about where they will land on it.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who joined opponents of the "Waters of the United States" rule in a test vote in March, said in a brief interview yesterday that she was still reading through the nearly 300-page rule and its preamble.
"I think they've made some changes about ditches that were important to me, but I need to look at it," she said.
Senate critics of the water rule are gearing up to launch their legislative assault this summer. Their primary legislation is S. 1140, from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), which would force the administration to scrap the current rule and go back to the drawing board to come up with a way of resolving long-running confusion around which streams and wetlands fall under the protection of the Clean Water Act (Greenwire, April 30).
Opponents also are preparing to attempt to block the rule's implementation through the appropriations process. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) agreed to keep his amendment on the water rule for the fiscal 2016 spending bill that funds U.S. EPA and the Interior Department rather than attempt to attach it to the funding bill for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy, which was marked up by the Senate Appropriations Committee late last month (Greenwire, May 21).
The vote margin for either approach is expected to be tight.
Klobuchar, who had voted in support of the Obama administration's work on the rule in 2013, offered what was essentially the 60th vote for opponents in the March roll call. But what she was actually voting on at the time was a vaguely worded amendment to the Senate's nonbinding budget resolution, and she was careful to say that she wasn't committing herself to anything more (E&E Daily, March 26).
Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted with opponents of the water rule in March. King's another prime target for environmental groups that think they can win back a handful of moderates.
Yesterday, he said he wasn't prepared to take a final stance but noted that the final rule released last week included a number of changes.
"I haven't seen it in detail," he said. "I know that they changed it from the preliminary rule and that they did a lot of listening, and I can't endorse it, but I'm not critical of it at this point either."
Greens are even hoping that they might persuade a Republican or two to back the rule, with their sights set on moderates facing re-election in 2016 like Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), whose state faced a major crisis last summer when a toxic algal bloom contaminated the city of Toledo's drinking water supply.
Portman offered little indication that he was swayable yesterday, though.
"I have concerns with it, but I have not seen the final version," he said.
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White House Begins Review Of ESPS, Opening Door To New Lobbying Push
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Lee Logan & Dawn Reeves
The White House is beginning its formal interagency review of EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for existing power plants, opening the door to a host of last-minute lobbying efforts from a variety of groups that hope to win major changes when the final rule is unveiled this summer.
The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) posted a notice on its website June 2 -- exactly one year after EPA issued the proposed rule -- saying it received the draft final rule one day earlier.
The move keeps the Obama administration on track toward an August release of the final existing source performance standards (ESPS), given that OMB reviews typically take 90 days -- but can sometimes be shorter or much longer.
Sources predict the rule's basic architecture remains largely unchanged, but that the agency might have made specific changes to state targets and other requirements that could still have significant impacts.
EPA even suggested such a prospect in a June 2 statement announcing the draft rule's submission to White House reviewers. The “draft final rule takes into account the unprecedented input we received on the proposed plan, including the 4.3 million comments that were submitted to the agency during the six-month public comment period,” EPA says.
Agency officials have already indicated, for example, that while they are likely to retain controversial “interim” targets that require states to meet emissions goals beginning in 2020, they will significantly overhaul their structure.
Given that major changes might have already been made, some of the upcoming advocacy -- as well as studies based on the proposal -- may be obsolete. For example, a recent study conducted by Duke University's Nicholas Institute on states' compliance choices found that a multi-state, mass-based approach “offers large cost savings opportunities,” and that neither a rate- or mass-based approach has a “big effect” on wholesale power prices.
But it is good to view “modeling results like this with a bit of skepticism,” one industry source says. “Even with the most sophisticated model, it's hard to develop reasonably accurate results when the underlying framework of the regulation -- and the goals themselves -- are still not set in stone.”
A similar argument could be made about the recent economic modeling conducted by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which found that the proposed version of the rule would spur a large increase in coal plant retirements but that the retail electricity price impacts were “surprisingly small.”
But EIA cautioned that its analysis looked only at the proposed ESPS, and notes that the rule could change significantly when it is finalized this summer.
OMB has been reviewing the companion new source performance standards (NSPS) for nearly a month. EPA has long planned to release both rules, along with a proposed federal implementation plan for the ESPS, around the same time in August.
Lobbying on the new source rule is expected to focus heavily on EPA's proposed requirement that new coal plants use partial carbon capture and sequestration, though EPA appears to have dropped that element from the rule, in part because doing so could shore up the legal basis for the ESPS.
Last-Minute Lobbying
EPA's proposed ESPS sets rate-based targets for each state, measured in pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) per megawatt hour, though states have the option of converting their rate-based targets to a mass-based goal that only measures tons of CO2 emissions.
State targets were crafted using four “building blocks,” or compliance strategies, that EPA assumed states could use: coal plant efficiency improvements, greater use of existing natural gas plants, more renewable energy and increased end-use energy efficiency. EPA says states can use those strategies, or they can consider other options that would reduce power sector GHGs, including market-based programs.
Given the existing source rule's reach, there could be much more advocacy -- and many more niche issues to address -- during OMB review of the ESPS, compared to the NSPS. An industry lawyer says there are “hundreds” of different issues -- compared with roughly 20 or 30 categories EPA has identified in past power sector rules -- and that EPA likely still has not completed its “massive” formal response to comments document.
That document will be important, the source says, because EPA will offer its rationale for rejecting or accepting stakeholders' suggestions, and that rationale will be the subject of court challenges to the rule.
The multitude of issues stakeholders have raised include: Interim targets. EPA has signaled that it will retain some version of “interim” GHG reduction targets, which states must meet on an average basis between 2020 and 2029. But it is also open to loosening them and last fall offered suggestions on how to do so, including allowing states to take credit for early emissions cuts and phasing in the natural gas component of state targets.
Based on public and private comments from the agency, the industry attorney says “it is pretty clear you will see pretty significant changes to the interim targets and that whole phase-in period. . . . I don't know how they adjust, but the one thing I think everyone believes is they have to adjust in terms of timing.”
As a further reason why compliance deadlines could be delayed, the source adds that some people have not considered “how much time and effort it will take EPA when state plans come in,” and that the agency will have to undergo a complicated regulatory process for approving plans. Building block assumptions. Industry has questioned multiple assumptions EPA made when crafting the four building blocks that it used to set state targets, and groups will likely further press their case that the blocks, as well as the targets they justify, should be weakened.
Industry groups, for example, have long claimed that EPA's assumptions that coal plants can achieve a 6 percent heat-rate improvement -- and existing gas plants can dispatch at up to 70 percent -- are unrealistic. By contrast, environmentalists have called on the agency to boost the renewables and efficiency portion of state goals, arguing new cost and technical potential data on those issues gives EPA a strong rationale for doing so.
The industry lawyer says changes to the building blocks could have varied effects for different states, but that EPA could still reach an overall reduction of power sector GHGs by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Even so, “I think you will see changes in individual state rates, some will go down and some will go up.”
Beyond broad changes to the building blocks, some state officials have also charged that EPA made errors when calculating their state's baseline emissions data, and sources have said the agency will be open to such state-specific adjustments if the state makes an adequate case. Compliance plan deadlines. Many states have complained that the one-year deadline to submit an initial compliance plan is far too short, even though EPA proposed to offer a one-year extension if plans would require legislative changes and another two years if states pledge to cooperate with other states.Emissions trading. Several groups are pushing EPA to make changes in the final rule that would make it easier for states to use emission credit trading for compliance, with options including an agency-approved set of “compatibility requirements” for states to trade without a formal compact, as well as a voluntary credit market that EPA could set up itself.New natural gas. EPA proposed to give states the option of whether to count emissions associated with new natural gas plants if such plants are used for ESPS compliance. Even though those plants would be regulated by the NSPS, some groups say that could create a loophole that allows overall power sector emissions to rise.Stranded assets. Some utility groups have complained that the proposal does not do enough to protect against “stranded” coal assets, in which plants are forced to retire before the end of their remaining useful life. Arizona has offered a novel way to shield the most up-to-date coal plants from being replaced with gas generation under the rule, potentially addressing utilities' concerns.
Arizona's plan, which could also aid states like Indiana and Florida that also have stranded asset risks, would alter EPA’s target-setting formula by shielding coal plants that have not yet reached their 40-year book life, as well as those that recently installed expensive pollution control equipment, from being displaced by gas generation under building block 2. Nuclear generation. Utilities with large nuclear fleets argue that EPA did not do enough in the proposal to ensure that states retain “at risk” existing nuclear plants, and will seek a greater incentive in the final rule. Also, three Southeast states argue EPA erroneously counted under-construction nuclear plants as “existing,” which makes compliance significantly more difficult than neighboring states.Interstate renewables and efficiency. EPA must determine which state can claim credit for renewable generation -- states where a facility is located, or states that spurred the generation through a renewable portfolio standard or similar policy.
Similarly, some states have complained that EPA should not have discounted the level at which electricity importing states can claim energy efficiency credits. The agency proposed to limit such credits to the percentage of power the state produces itself, unless the state can agree to allocate the credits with its neighbors. Biomass. Industry has offered cautious praise for a November memo in which EPA said it would count “sustainable” biomass generation as carbon neutral for ESPS compliance, because its GHG emissions would be re-sequestered by growing forest stocks -- though EPA has yet to define what it meant by “sustainable” biomass. That stance has drawn fierce criticism from environmentalists and some Democrats, who argue that some materials burned for energy -- such as whole trees, which emit carbon dioxide at a rate of about 3,000 pounds per megawatt hour -- release more GHGs than coal, and that those emissions can take decades to re-sequester.
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D.C. Circuit Broadly Backs EPA's Methods For NAAQS Attainment Findings
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has issued a sweeping ruling broadly upholding EPA's methods for designating areas as either attaining or violating its 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), providing a boost for the agency to replicate the method in future NAAQS designations.
The unanimous June 2 opinion underscores the validity of the designations for the 2008 ozone limit of 75 parts per billion (ppb), but could also be important for the attainment findings that EPA will eventually issue for its pending Oct. 1 final rule on whether to tighten the ozone standard down to a value within a range between 65 and 70 ppb. And the ruling could offer hints on approaches EPA could take for other NAAQS that the D.C. Circuit might find lawful.
The per curiam ruling in Mississippi Commission On Environmental Quality v. EPA, et al. rejects consolidated challenges from environmentalists seeking additional nonattainment designations; states seeking massively expanded nonattainment areas to curb interstate ozone pollution and states seeking to eliminate nonattainment designations that they oppose. The court also rejects attacks made on constitutional grounds by Texas and Mississippi on the NAAQS program as a whole.
A three-member panel consisting of D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland and Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Sri Srinivasan decided the case, hearing oral arguments in the litigation Oct. 21.
Nonattainment status brings with it Clean Air Act obligations to impose tough pollution controls on industry, which critics say discourage industrial expansion. States face the ultimate risk of losing federal highway funding if they do not comply with the NAAQS -- a provision Texas attacks as unconstitutionally coercive.
The court upholds EPA's interpretation of key statutory terms as “reasonable,” and defers to EPA's use of computer modeling and other techniques to designate areas in attainment or nonattainment with the NAAQS.
The panel also defers to EPA on which deadlines states must meet in order to have air monitoring data included in attainment reviews. EPA has discretion to reject data that is not certified as complete and correct by states, or which stems from unofficial private monitoring that fails to meet EPA's standards for auditing, the court finds.
Also, the court adheres to its precedent in upholding EPA's multi-step methodology for determining which outlying parts of a metropolitan nonattainment area should be included in that area. The panel says, “we have long since rejected the argument that the EPA violates the Act if it uses a holistic, multi-factor, weight-of-the-evidence test for determining whether a given area contributes to a NAAQS violation,” citing the court's 2012 holding in favor of EPA in ATK Launch Systems, Inc. v. EPA, a challenge to the agency's designations for the 2006 fine particulate NAAQS.
Nonattainment Areas
As part of the ruling, the court upholds EPA's selection of nonattainment areas based on whole or partial counties, often neighboring counties in or around an urban core.
Petitioners Connecticut and Delaware challenged this system, seeking instead a huge multi-state nonattainment area stretching from the Midwest to the East Coast. The two eastern states are recipients of air pollution from out-of-state, some of which drifts for hundreds of miles, typically from the west or south.
Because air pollution upwind contributes to NAAQS violations in their states, Connecticut and Delaware argue that nonattainment area should be defined so as to include the offending pollution sources. But this approach would require an expansive reading of the air law's definition for which sources are deemed “nearby” for attainment.
The court says that term is ambiguous and EPA's interpretation that rejected the approach sought by the two eastern states is reasonable and consistent with Congressional intent, and hence due deference under the long-established Chevron legal doctrine. The doctrine holds that where legislation is unclear, a federal agency is free to interpret the statutory language in any way that is reasonable and clearly explained.
The court says, “the designations are consistent with the EPA’s reasonable interpretation of the ambiguous statutory term 'nearby.'” EPA's approach is consistent with the dictionary definition of “nearby,” but “neither the dictionary nor common parlance would regard Missouri as 'nearby' to Connecticut or Delaware, as the petitioners’ proposals would require.” Also, the court notes that other regulatory mechanisms exist, such as the Ozone Transport Region of eastern states of which both states are members, to address pollutant transport.
'Unclassifiable' Designation
The court also rejects a challenge by environmental group WildEarth Guardians to EPA's designation of the Uinta Basin region of Utah as “unclassifiable.” The group argued that EPA had a duty to use data from private air quality monitors in its designation, and that had EPA done so it would have instead designated the area in nonattainment.
“EPA reasonably explained that the private monitoring data afforded an insufficient basis for a nonattainment designation because the agency was unable to perform post-collection quality assurance checks on the data,” the court says. The court is unpersuaded by environmentalists' argument that EPA should rely on the data because it has encouraged other agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, to take note of it.
EPA was justified in partially using the private data in reaching its conclusion that the region is “unclassifiable,” the court says. “We conclude that the EPA’s conclusion partially -- but not fully -- to credit the private data was reasonable and non-arbitrary, particularly in light of the 'extreme deference' we owe the agency.”
The agency rejects a push by Sierra Club to force the agency to use the most recent available data for classification of areas in multiple states, which would have resulted in more nonattainment designations due to different weather conditions and economic activity in the three years 2009-2011.
EPA instead relied on data from 2008-2010, when ozone levels were lower, in most cases. EPA allowed states to “early certify” monitoring data in order to allow the more-recent data to be used, but did not require this. Eight states adopted to early certify, and Sierra Club alleges this resulted in about 12 areas escaping nonattainment designations.
The court rejects Sierra Club's argument that EPA could have delayed its May 1, 2012, deadline for states to certify their data in order to allow 2009-2011 data to be used, but arbitrarily refused to do so.
The court finds that EPA was already late in conducting its designations for the 2008 ozone standard -- indeed, the designations were driven ultimately by a May 31, 2012, consent decree deadline after environmentalists sued EPA -- and that further delay would have been inappropriate. “EPA could reasonably conclude that the process must end at some point. We conclude that the agency did not act arbitrarily in ending it here,” the panel finds.
States' Challenges
The panel then rejects challenges by Mississippi and Indiana to EPA's nonattainment classification of outlying areas of the Memphis and Chicago metropolitan regions that fall within their states.
For DeSoto County, MS, the court agrees with EPA's decision to designate the area in nonattainment based on 2008-2010 data, in order to use harmonized data from all three states with territory in the Memphis nonattainment area -- Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee -- despite the availability of early-certified data from the latter two states showing compliance. Arkansas declined to supply 2009-2011 data, and DeSoto County therefore finds itself in nonattainment.
In the Chicago region, the court defends EPA's reliance on mixed 2008-2010 and 2009-2011 data to find the region, including portions of Indiana, in nonattainment. The court says that EPA reasonably applies a higher standard to evidence to find a area in attainment -- requiring harmonized data from all relevant air monitors -- than to a nonattainment designation, such as the Chicago designation, which can be based on a single monitor showing a NAAQS violation. Illinois' early-certified data showed such a violation.
The court further rejects efforts by Texas to reverse a nonattainment designation for Wise County, an outlying part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, defending EPA's discretion on the modeling approach it used for the finding.
Constitutional Concerns
Texas and Mississippi also raised constitutional challenges to the nonattainment designation, arguing that EPA's imposition of nonattainment status over state protests is contrary to the 10th Amendment, and attacking the NAAQS nonattainment sanction of withdrawing federal highway funds as contrary to the Spending Clause and unlawfully coercive.
But the court finds there is no 10th Amendment violation because EPA gives states the chance to submit their own air law implementation plans, and only then run air act programs itself in the absence of an approved state plan.
To support the second argument, petitioners cite the Supreme Court's 2012 plurality opinion in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) challenge National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius, saying the federal government cannot withdraw all of a state's federal medicaid funds for refusal to expand medicaid under the ACA.
There is some uncertainty as to whether an analysis of the air law's coercive character is necessary, the D.C. Circuit says, but such an analysis would show that the impact on Texas of lost highway funding would be minimal. In NFIB, states stood to lose more than 10 percent of their budgets, but here only funding for transportation projects in Wise County would be at risk, the court says. “In short, it is clear that Texas does not risk losing anywhere near the percentage of its federal funding -- either for the program at issue or of its overall budget -- that the Court found fatal in NFIB.” The court likewise rejects a Commerce Clause challenge by Texas, in which the state argues that Wise County's emissions are a purely in-state issue, without relevance to the interstate commerce the federal government is empowered to regulate. The D.C. Circuit finds that air pollution crosses state lines, and the health impacts of ozone pollution are felt in interstate commerce, among other factors linking air pollution to federal jurisdiction.
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EPA Asks Court to Reconsider Order For Discovery in Air Act Jobs Review Case
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency asked a federal district court to reconsider an order requiring the agency to provide additional staff depositions and documents in a lawsuit seeking to require a jobs impact review of Clean Air Act regulations (Murray Energy Corp. v. EPA, N.D. W.Va., No. 5:14-cv-00039-JPB, motion for reconsideration, 6/1/15).
The EPA in its June 1 motion told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia that it has already responded to 91 written discovery requests and that further responses are unnecessary. Instead, the EPA asked the court to narrow the order to only apply to 31 requests in which Murray Energy Corp. and other plaintiffs have sought additional details.
“To the extent that the court intended its order to apply only to the discovery responses that were challenged by plaintiffs, the United States seeks clarification on that point,” the EPA said.
The EPA had sought a protective order to block further discovery in the lawsuit, saying it was unnecessary to decide the narrow legal question of whether the jobs impact review sought by Murray Energy Corp. and 11 other coal companies is required under Section 321(a) of the Clean Air Act. Judge John Preston Bailey denied that request in a May 29 order requiring further discovery and holding in abeyance the EPA's pending motion for summary judgment (105 DEN A-3, 6/2/15).
Murray Energy and the other companies contend that regulations such as proposed carbon dioxide performance standards for power plants and air toxics emissions limits for power plants and industrial boilers are causing job losses in the industry.
As part of its motion for reconsideration, the EPA asked the court not to defer action on the motion for summary judgment until after the discovery process has been completed.
“The desire to supplement their opposition with additional evidence, which is what plaintiffs seek, is not a sufficient basis to grant a Rule 56(d) motion and defer ruling on a motion for summary judgment,” The EPA said.
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EPA Guide Touts Consideration Of Environmental Justice In Rulemakings
Jun 2, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
EPA has issued final guidance on how agency rule writers should weigh environmental justice (EJ) concerns when crafting regulations, touting a series of completed and ongoing rules where EJ issues are specifically addressed -- though the agency has yet to finalize complementary technical guidance on how to include EJ in regulations.
The new EPA document, “Guidance on Considering Environmental Justice During the Development of Regulatory Actions,” is intended to help EPA rule writers “consider EJ during the development of regulatory actions” by identifying “key steps throughout the [Action Development Process (ADP)] where EJ should be considered,” according to the guidance. It supersedes a 2010 interim guidance.
The document's release comes as EPA is accepting comments through June 15 on its draft framework for its Plan EJ2020. Agency EJ leaders have indicated their desire for “ambitious” goals for the agency, with an aim to apply tools created as part of former Administrator Lisa Jackson's Plan EJ2014. That earlier plan outlined the development of many of the policy and scientific tools needed to implement EJ consideration in EPA decision making, including the newly finalized guidance.
The guide focuses on helping rule makers meet environmental and civil rights laws' regulatory standards, as well as the EJ executive order 12898 and EPA's EJ policies, and it is in addition to existing guidance on considering children's welfare in regulation, EPA says. The document explains what disproportionate impacts and EJ concerns are, how EJ populations can be identified, when to perform EJ screening analyses in rulemaking and how to achieve meaningful public and EJ involvement in rulemaking, as well as providing rule writers a checklist for integrating EJ into the rulemaking process.
In a May 29 memo announcing the guide's release, half a dozen assistant administrators write EPA managers and staff to remind them they must consider core EJ questions in their decision making.
The interim guidance “has been effective at assisting EPA rule-making teams integrating [EJ] considerations into their work,” the memo says, outlining a list of “key improvements” in the final version. Among these are “improved definitions of populations of concern”; “refined direction on when and to what extent [EJ] needs to be considered in the rulemaking process” and new recommendations “for how to meaningfully engage minority, low-income and indigenous populations and tribes.”
Rulemaking Examples
The memo also includes an attachment listing completed and ongoing rules where the agency incorporated EJ issues in its analyses. Among the examples of completed rules is EPA's Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) rule, signed in December and published in the Jan. 13 Federal Register. The memo identifies the DSW rule as “a major [EJ] milestone by directly addressing impacts to communities, disproportionately borne by minority and low-income populations from the mismanagement of hazardous materials sent to recycling.”
The Obama EPA decided to modify a 2008 version of the DSW rule in part because of the results of the EJ analysis that examined locations of recycling facilities and proximity to neighbors, including minority and low-income communities, and found mismanagement of materials “could pose risk of fires, explosions, accidents and releases of hazardous constituents to the environment,” the memo says.
Industry, however, has criticized the consideration of EJ issues in the DSW rule, charging the agency's first-time EJ analyses “contain flaws and do not support the conclusion that recycling needs to be more heavily regulated.”
EPA points to its June 2014 proposed petroleum refinery risk and technology review rule as an example of an ongoing rulemaking where EJ issues have been analyzed and resulted in the agency considering additional controls on petroleum refineries' air emissions.
“Early engagement with communities indicated a particular interest in fenceline monitoring, which was supported by EPA's emissions inventory data indicating a significant portion of emissions from refineries came from fugitive sources,” the memo says. It adds that these discussions led to EPA's proposal, which would require fenceline air monitoring, “higher combustion efficiency for flaring operations” and “additional emission control requirements for storage tanks, flares and coking units.” The document adds that EPA is considering public comments as the rulemaking continues.
The memo also cites the agency's enforcement policy for its 2008 residential lead renovation, repair and painting rule as another example of EJ in rulemaking. “Recognizing that children in minority populations and children whose families are poor have an increased risk of exposure to harmful lead levels, EPA determined that effective implementation was one of the best ways to ensure that these populations are not exposed to additional leaded dust resulting from common, but improperly-performed, home renovation, repair, and painting work . . . we expect that this activity will have specific benefits to populations with [EJ] concerns,” the memo says.
Technical Guidance
The document explains that EJ efforts are expected to be broader than just the rulemaking, and addressing such concerns early in the regulatory process is important to success.
“While this Guide applies specifically to the rule-making stages in the development of regulatory actions, rule-writers consider EJ in the development of risk assessments, analytical tools, guidance documents and other actions that support development of regulatory actions. Rule-making efforts are likely to be more effective and timely if EJ is considered in such 'up-front' activities.”
However, EPA has yet to finalize a complementary technical guidance that informs rule writers how to incorporate EJ into rulemaking. According to schedules released in the last progress report on Plan EJ2014, both documents are months overdue.
EPA sought peer review of the technical guide by its Science Advisory Board (SAB), and that process took longer than anticipated, as advisors struggled to reach consensus on their recommendations. SAB released its final recommendations in late April, and EPA's proposed Plan EJ2020 indicates agency staff are scheduled to complete the technical guidance sometime in 2015. The agency explains its intent in crafting the two documents in the 2014 progress report, explaining that the technical guide is “a complement to the EJ Process Guide, and addresses the question of how to assess for EJ issues in national rules in an analytic fashion. It presents key analytic principles and definitions, best practices, and analytical questions to frame the consideration of EJ in regulatory actions. It is flexible enough to accommodate various data needs and limitations in Agency actions, while also adding rigor and consistency to the way EJ is considered in EPA actions.”
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D.C. Circuit Dismisses Industry Challenge To Carbon Sequestration Waste Exclusion
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
A federal appeals court ruled June 2 that industry petitioners have failed to establish standing and dismissed their challenge to a final Environmental Protection Agency regulation determining that carbon dioxide streams captured and sequestered underground can be excluded from hazardous waste regulation (Carbon Sequestration Council v. EPA, D.C. Cir. , No. 14-1046, ruling issued 6/2/15).
Neither Southern Co. Services Inc. nor Occidental Oil and Gas could show they were actively using a newly created class of injection well—Class VI wells—affected by the “narrow rule” issued by the EPA under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and therefore could not show sufficient injury, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said.
“The record is clear that neither Occidental nor Southern operates or plans to operate Class VI wells and neither is regulated in any way by the narrow rule at issue in this case,” Senior Circuit Judge Harry Edwards wrote for the court. “Since neither can show any injury attributable to EPA's disputed rule, they lack the standing necessary.”
The Carbon Sequestration Council, Southern Co. Services Inc. and the American Petroleum Institute were petitioners in the case. API asserted representational standing on behalf of Occidental, a member organization.
Judges said the petitioners had “serious standing problems” during oral arguments in March on the case. An attorney representing the government said any injuries claimed by the companies were “purely speculative,” while an industry attorney said upholding the rule would constrain the ability of industry to use Class VI wells and affect their business decisions (59 DEN A-1, 3/27/15).
‘Narrow' Regulation Issued in 2014
In December 2010, the EPA created a new class of underground injection wells—Class VI—explicitly for the purpose of carbon capture and sequestration activities (75 Fed. Reg. 77,230).
Carbon capture and sequestration, an emerging technology touted as a way to combat climate change, takes carbon dioxide from industrial sources, compresses it into a supercritical fluid and then injects that underground. Wells must meet Safe Drinking Water Act and RCRA requirements.
After creating the new well class, the EPA began the rulemaking under RCRA where it ultimately concluded carbon dioxide streams would be regulated as solid wastes because they were “discarded” under the waste statute's definition.
The January 2014 final rule was narrowly tailored and only applied to Class VI wells in January 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 350).
Industry groups contested that decision by the EPA, but the court never touched that argument because it found the organizations and companies lacked standing.
‘Devoid of Evidence' of Injury
The court said the record was “devoid of evidence” showing any current activities by Southern would be affected by the EPA exclusion. The company expressed concern the agency could expand its regulation to other injection wells, though the court said the EPA has “made it very clear” that the regulation was limited to Class VI wells.
Southern further expressed concern the regulation could potentially limit future business activities, but the court held such “unsupported assertions” were inadequate to demonstrate standing.
“Stated simply, the record is devoid of evidence showing that Southern is regulated or otherwise injured by EPA's solid waste determination,” the decision states.
Occidental faced similar challenges in its position, the court held. The EPA regulation did not affect any current activities by the company and speculative concerns about future regulatory actions are insufficient for standing, the court ruled.
“Occidental surely cannot claim injury sufficient to satisfy the requirements of [ ] standing based purely on a speculative concern that EPA may choose to regulate its business at some point in the indefinite future,” the decision states. “And any business decisions prompted by its misreading of the solid waste determination cannot reasonably be attributed to EPA.”
Thomas Sayre Llewellyn, who argued on behalf of the petitioners, did not respond to requests for comment.
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Veto Threat for Appropriations Bill Cites Lack of Adequate Energy Transport Funds
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The White House issued a veto threat for the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill that would include $227 million in funds for hazardous materials and pipeline safety programs.
The Obama administration took issue with what it called a lack of “adequate funding” for the Transportation Department to address safe transportation of energy products, according to the June 1 White House statement of administration policy. Specifically, the House would limit the Federal Railroad Administration's ability to hire safety inspectors for crude oil movement by not increasing the agency's safety and operations funding, according to the statement.
The administration also said it appreciated the $8 million increase from fiscal year 2015 levels for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's Hazardous Materials Safety account within Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (H.R. 2577).
“The Administration is concerned that the bill does not provide adequate funding for the [Transportation] Department to continue and further its focus on the safe movement of energy products throughout the transportation system by supporting enhanced inspection levels, investigative efforts, research and data analysis and testing in the highest risk areas,” the statement said.
The bill that was reported by the House Rules Committee June 1 by a 9-3 vote would fund PHMSA's pipeline programs at $145.9 million and its hazmat programs at $60.5 million, and offer the Transportation Department overall $17.2 billion in discretionary appropriations. Total funding for PHMSA proposed by the House is roughly $62 million below the White House's budget request (93 DEN A-20, 5/14/15).
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Highway Funding Patch to August Signed by Obama
Jun 3, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
President Barack Obama signed a highway bill May 29 that will authorize funding for surface transportation programs, including hazardous materials transportation programs, through the end of July. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (H.R. 2353), which will authorize $8.5 billion for surface transportation funding, was introduced by Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on May 15. The bill includes $11.8 million for hazmat transportation funding and is part of a congressional pattern of issuing temporary patches for its surface transportation programs. The House passed the bill on May 19 by a 387-35-1 vote and the Senate passed the bill by a voice vote on May 23 (101 DEN A-6, 5/27/15).
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