EnviroPolitics Blog

GOP-led Appropriations committee approves slashing EPA budget, pulling back Environmental Justice grants

The committee called for more attention to chemical recycling, plastic-based fuel research and PFAS destruction technology.

By Megan Quinn, Senior Reporter, Waste Dive Published July 24, 2023

The sign for the EPA is pictured. — *Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via Getty Images*

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A budget approved by the House Appropriations committee Wednesday proposes major spending cuts to the U.S. EPA and environmental justice efforts, but also outlined support for chemical recycling, plastics research and other waste and recycling initiatives.

The Republican-controlled committee said the fiscal year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies budget bill was designed for “reining in” what it considers unnecessary discretionary spending by proposing a nearly $4 billion cut to the EPA’s budget, which would be a 39% reduction over 2023. It also called for rescinding $1.35 billion in environmental and climate justice grants funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Tracking the future of US recycling policy in Congress

Spurred by market challenges, the Hill has seen a historic influx of big bills. Keep up on all the latest developments with our legislative tracker.

House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said drastic cuts were necessary in part because of national debt and inflation issues. But ranking member Chellie Pingree, D- Maine, said the proposed bill “will completely debilitate America’s ability to address the climate crisis.”

Groups like the Clean Budget Coalition have spoken out against the appropriation committee’s call to rescind EJ grant funding, saying the proposed cuts will have a negative effect on environmental remediation programs and initiatives that battle legacy pollution. It’s also a hit to the federal Justice40 initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities, the coalition said.

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New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli to leave her post

From NJ Spotlight News

New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli will be stepping down from the post after a historic tenure overseeing the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Persichilli announced her plans in an interview with NJ.com, saying she planned to officially retire at the end of August.
Touted by Gov. Phil Murphy in his then-daily COVID press briefings as the women “who needs no introduction,” Persichilli became the public face of the state’s response to the pandemic — in both its triumphs and failures.
Persichilli, a former hospital administrator and the first nurse to serve in the state’s highest health position, mostly drew public praise from advocates today.
“Judy was the steady hand and calm voice we needed during the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes,” said Cathy Bennett, president of the state’s hospital association.

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Rich lode of lithium needed for electric car batteries could boost Taliban and its new Chinese partners

The Pentagon dubbed Afghanistan ‘the Saudi Arabia of lithium.’ Now, it is American rivals that are angling to exploit those coveted reserves.

CHAPA DARA, Afghanistan — Sayed Wali Sajid spent years fighting American soldiers in the barren hills and fertile fields of the Pech River Valley, one of the deadliest theaters of the 20-year insurgency. But nothing confounded the Taliban commander, he said, like the new wave of foreigners who began showing up, one after another, in late 2021.

Once, Sajid spotted a foreigner hiking alone along a path where Islamic State extremists were known to kidnap outsiders. Another time, five men and women evaded Sajid’s soldiers in the dark to scour the mountain. The newcomers, Sajid recalled, were giddy, persistent, almost single-minded in their quest for something few locals believed held any value at all.

“The Chinese were unbelievable,” Sajid said, chuckling at the memory. “At first, they didn’t tell us what they wanted. But then I saw the excitement in their eyes and their eagerness, and that’s when I understood the word ‘lithium.’”

A decade earlier, the U.S. Defense Department, guided by the surveys of American government geologists, concluded that the vast wealth of lithium and other minerals buried in Afghanistan might be worth $1 trillion, more than enough to prop up the country’s fragile government. In a 2010 memo, the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, which examined Afghanistan’s development potential, dubbed the country the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” A year later, the U.S. Geological Survey published a map showing the location of major deposits and highlighted the magnitude of the underground wealth, saying Afghanistan “could be considered as the world’s recognized future principal source of lithium.”

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An old, obscure federal law (the Jones Act) makes Philly Shipyard a player in offshore wind energy

By Frank Kummer, Philadelphia Inquirer

Few realized until President Joe Biden’s visit to the city Thursday that the Philly Shipyard could become a player in the offshore wind industry emerging off the Eastern seaboard.

The shipyard signed a contract as far back as 2021 to build the Acadia, a 461-foot-long, highly specialized vessel that’s needed to get the skyscraper-high turbines set in the seafloor. A key boost for the shipyard: An old and obscure federal law known as the Jones Act that requires vessels transporting cargo within the U.S. to be built in the U.S. instead of overseas.

Who is building the Acadia?

The Acadia is being built at the Philly Shipyard for the Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., the country’s largest dredging operation, which has jumped into the offshore wind business.

At least initially, the ship would be used for the Empire Offshore Wind project, a joint venture between Equinor and BP for wind farms approved off the New York coast.

Biden announced Thursday during a steel-cutting ceremony for the ship that it would be the first offshore wind vessel of its kind to be made in the United States.

The vessel would be built by the pool of 1,400 workers and nine unions based at the shipyard, according to Matthew Cassidy, a spokesperson for the shipyard. The ship’s steel plates will be made by United Steelworkers in Indiana. Biden said the activity surrounding the ship would generate an estimated $125 million a year as it is being built.

The ship is expected to be complete for delivery in 2025, according to the Philly Shipyard’s second quarter report, and is about 6% complete.

What will the ship do?

The vessel would be used as part of subsea rock installation work for the Empire Wind I and II wind farms to be built off the coast of New York, according to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock company literature. The two wind farms would have the capacity to provide power to more than one million homes in New York.

The rock installation will be used to protect and stabilize monopile foundations, electrical substructures, and export cables by the mid-2020s, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock said.

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Murphy signs bill allowing some small NJ water companies to build treatment facilities on Green Acres property

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Holly Schepisi that would help municipally-owned water companies comply with new DEP regulations while still being able to provide water to customers was signed into law today by Gov. Murphy. (Pixabay)

“I’m proud that Governor Murphy signed this much needed legislation into law. Due to New Jersey’s strict regulations concerning forever chemicals, water companies in the state are required by the DEP to engage in mitigation measures when any water well exceeds, or is expected to exceed, the maximum contaminant level for PFAS, said Schepisi (R-39).

“These measures can be extremely costly for small, municipally-owned water companies and can impair the ability of those companies to provide an adequate supply of water to the communities they serve. Many pre-existing wells exist on municipally-owned properties that are encumbered by Green Acres and are prohibited from constructing the very treatment vessels that are required. This new law would address the issue by allowing certain exemptions from Green Acres regulations.”

Schepisi’s measure, S-3444, would allow municipal water systems, under certain circumstances, to use lands preserved for recreation and conservation for pre-existing water wells and associated treatment equipment or facilities.

It would also allow a municipally-owned and operated water utility to use a pre-existing well for the supply of drinking water and certain associated treatment vessels located on lands acquired, by a local government unit, for recreation or conservation purposes.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a member of the group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), used as a processing aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers used in non-stick cookware and other products, as well as other commercial and industrial uses, due to its resistance to harsh chemicals and high temperatures.

In 2018, New Jersey became the first state to adopt a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for any PFAS, setting an MCL of 13 parts per trillion for perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA.

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Ford making big price cuts to its electric F-150 Lightning pickups

By John Rosevear, CNBC

Ford Motor on Monday cut prices for its electric F-150 Lightning pickup, saying its efforts to boost production and lower costs for battery minerals have paid off.

Ford said prices for some of the least expensive versions of the Lighting would fall by nearly $10,000. Prices for all versions, including the top-line Platinum trim, will drop by at least $6,000 from levels set in March.

The company had increased the Lightning’s prices several times since its 2021 debut, citing supply constraints and sharply higher prices for the minerals used in the electric truck’s batteries. Ford has worked to increase production of the truck in recent months, with factory upgrades that are expected to triple its output set to be in place by fall.

The Dearborn, Michigan factory that makes the Lightning will be closed for several weeks while the production upgrades are put in place, Ford said Monday.

Increasing production of the Lightning and other Ford EVs has been a key priority for CEO Jim Farley this year. But the effort to boost production hasn’t been a smooth one. Ford sold just 4,466 Lightnings in the second quarter after a fire in a just-completed truck in February led it to shut down production for five weeks.

At the time of its 2021 debut, the lowest-priced version of the Lightning – the work-truck Pro trim – was about $40,000. That price was increased several times, hitting about $60,000 in March; Monday’s cuts reduce the entry-level truck’s sticker price to about $50,000.

Read the full story here

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