EnviroPolitics Blog

U.S. grants another import extension for Chinese autoshredder wear parts

On March 23, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced its determination to reinstate certain previously granted and extended product exclusions in the China Section 301 Investigation. The determination reinstates the tariff exclusion on shredder wear parts, retroactive to Oct. 12, 2021, and extends the exclusion through Dec. 31, 2022. Shredder wear parts imported from China will not be assessed the additional 25% tariff during this period.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has advocated on behalf of its members and the industry since the Trump administration imposed the tariff in July 2018. USTR granted an exemption on April 18, 2019, and in 2020 the government allowed companies and organizations to request the continuation of the exemption for one year, which was granted to all that requested it.

In October 2021, when USTR invited public comments on whether to reinstate previously extended exclusions which included shredder wear parts, ISRI was quick to submit comments. The association explained why the exclusion for shredder wear parts should be reinstated and how the tariff has caused economic harm to U.S. small businesses, employment, manufacturing output, and critical supply chains.

Wear parts are essentially the heart of a shredder. But they need to be replaced almost daily, so having them in bulk is vital for U.S. recyclers.

Since more than 85% of shredder wear parts are sourced from China, and those costs amount to 60–70% of the cost of operations in this sector, the 25% tariff would make a huge difference—especially to smaller operators.

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200 property owners in a flood-prone NJ town told to raise their homes or sell to the state

And, no, it’s not a town on the Jersey Shore

Maryann Morris, 43, walks through her gutted single-story home in the Lost Valley section of Manville, damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

By Karen Yi, Gothamist

When the remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled across New Jersey, Maryann Morris had just started to settle into her newly purchased home on a quiet residential block in Manville.

Less than a year after she moved in with her 7-year-old daughter, Ida’s floodwaters inundated her basement and sloshed up another four feet on the first floor.

“There were still my daughter’s baby blankets and stuff from the hospital when she was born,” Morris, 43, said. “There were presents down there that she hadn’t gotten to open from her birthday.”

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Seven months after the storm, Morris and her daughter, Ember, are still living in a nearby rented apartment as they wait to settle an insurance dispute and receive a government loan to start construction. Morris said her insurance company agreed to cover part of the repairs but it isn’t cooperating with the U.S. Small Business Administration, which will make up the rest.

“I have run out of ways to answer my daughter about when we’re going home,” Morris said. “Because I don’t even know.”

The recovery for Morris has been slow; the inside of her house is completely gutted. But even when she returns home, she’ll have to decide whether it’s safe enough to stay. She’s one of 200 home and business owners in Manville who received letters from the Somerset County borough telling them they have to elevate their properties or sell to the state’s buyout program, known as Blue Acres.

Read the full story here

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Walmart signs up for West Coast food waste-reduction project

By Catherine Douglas Moran Waste Dive

Walmart has signed on to the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, which is working to reduce food waste by 50% along the West Coast by 2030, according to an announcement on Monday.

Walmart’s data on food loss and waste, which will be anonymized and aggregated with data from the PCFWC’s other retail signatories, will help provide a more precise estimate of waste across the retail sector. That data will then be used to identify key waste “hot spots” to focus on.

For Walmart, the latest pledge builds on its more than 15 years of sustainability work and a company-wide effort, called Project Gigaton, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Dive Insight:

By signing on to the food waste pledge under the Pacific Coast Collaborative, Walmart is joining several other major retailers as part of one of the largest public-private partnerships dedicated to food waste reduction.

“Better data can identify scalable ways for us to accelerate these efforts further, and it is incumbent on retailers like Walmart to join efforts such as the PCFWC to address these systemic issues,” Jane Ewing, senior vice president of sustainability at Walmart, said in a statement.

In the announcement, PCFWC also said foodservice company Sodexo US signed on to its pledge, noting the participation of the two “industry leaders” will not only impact waste reduction with their own operations but also can influence the suppliers they partner with and perhaps inspire other food companies to join as well.

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The war in Ukraine exposes a risk for the future of electric vehicles: Price shocks in precious metals

After the nickel market goes haywire, the United States and its allies launch a critical minerals energy security plan, with stockpiling an option.

A view shows nickel sheets at Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company, a unit of Russia’s metals and mining company Nornickel, in the town of Monchegorsk in the Murmansk region on February 25, 2021. Credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

By Marianne Lavelle Inside Climate News

A silver sedan rolled off of the General Motors assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee, last Monday that represented the $35 billion bet the company is making on the future inside the chassis of its most storied brand.

It was GM’s first all-electric Cadillac Lyriq, launched nine months earlier than scheduled and signaling that the automaker is charging full speed ahead on its transition to electric vehicles, despite tumultuous times.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has roiled global commodities markets—including those for nickel and other metals used in EV batteries—and laid bare how vulnerable the world is to price shocks in the metals essential to the EV future. That volatility comes on top of the pandemic-triggered supply chain woes that have dogged the auto industry for months.

President Joe Biden’s pledge to catalyze the electric vehicle transition has been only partly fulfilled, with consumer EV tax credits, much of the money for charging stations, and other assistance stalled with the rest of his Build Back Better package in Congress.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the linchpin for any effort to revive the legislation, this month said he is particularly reluctant to invest in an EV future because of U.S. dependence on imported metals for electric transportation. “I don’t want to have to be standing in line waiting for a battery for my vehicle because we’re now dependent on a foreign supply chain,” Manchin said at the annual CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

But last week, automakers, the Biden administration, and U.S. trading partners and allies were doubling down on their commitment to vehicle electrification—not only to address climate change but because of concerns about energy insecurity in a world reliant on oil for transportation. Skyrocketing prices at gasoline pumps have made clear that U.S. drivers are not insulated from spikes in the global oil market, even though the United States is producing more oil domestically than ever.

Read the full story here

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As Lake Powell hits landmark low, Arizona looks to a $1 billion investment and Mexican seawater to slake its thirst

Gov. Doug Ducey hopes to solve the state’s water woes during his last year in office as decades of drought strain water supplies from the Colorado River

Glen Canyon Dam is seen, behind which are record low water levels at Lake Powell, as the drought continues to worsen on July 2, 2021 near Page, Arizona. Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

By Aydali Campa Inside Climate News

During his last year in office, Gov. Doug Ducey is trying to create a legacy of water security in drought-stricken Arizona. But his most ambitious effort in that quest could end up being in Mexico.

In his last state of the state speech in January, he proposed an investment of $1.16 billion over the next three years to make the state “more resilient to drought, secure a sustainable water future and allow for continued growth.”

The goal, he said, is to “secure Arizona’s water future for the next 100 years.”

The governor’s office shared a plan with lawmakers late last month to create a new statewide water authority tasked with boosting water supplies by developing and supporting innovative water augmentation efforts.

Among the potential projects that the agency could develop are desalination plants in Mexico, which would create freshwater by removing salt from seawater. Arizona and other Lower Basin states would take some of Mexico’s shares of Colorado River water in exchange for the water they financed desalinating south of the border, according to Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke.

“We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve and make sure that we have resilient water supplies, for the growing economy, for the people, for the environment and for the lifestyle that Arizona people are used to seeing,” said Butschatske.

Historic Threshold Adds Urgency to Water Woes

Staying in front of that curve is increasingly difficult in the Southwest.

Last week, for the first time since it was filled 50 years ago, the water level in Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the country, dropped so low that it threatens the ability of Glen Canyon Dam to generate electricity for some 6 million customers that depend on it.

Read the full story here

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#BILLYPENNGRAM – 3/27/22

#BILLYPENNGRAM – 3/27/22 Read More »