Colorado aligning with California on stricter auto emissions

Fourteen states have now bucked the EPA to adopt stricter emissions standards.


Jack Ferrell charges his Nissan Leaf in Paonia, Colorado, at one of only a handful of electric vehicle charging stations in Western Colorado. Brooke Warren/High Country News

By Alex Davies

[This article was originally published by WIRED and is reproduced in High Country News as part of the Climate Desk collaboration] 

Colorado just moved away from Washington, D.C., and it’s headed toward California. On Monday, Governor John Hickenlooper ordered his state’s Department of Public Health and Environment to establish a Low Emission Vehicle program that goes beyond the federal standards to align with the Golden State’s more stringent rules.
Hewing to California’s emissions rules will keep Colorado on the track the EPA set for the country as a whole during the Obama administration: Each automaker’s fleet must get about 36 miles per gallon on average by 2025. And this move lets the state — whose many valleys can trap smog and exacerbate its effects — make sure that whatever happens in Washington, it’s still moving toward the goal Hickenlooper set last year, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2025.
“Colorado has a choice,” Hickenlooper said in a statement accompanying his signature of Executive Order B 2018 006. “Every move we make to safeguard our environment is a move in the right direction.”
A choice between two paths. The federal rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles apply in every state. But California, by virtue of Section 177 of the 1963 Clean Air Act, has the right to set its own standards, as long as they’re stricter than the national rules. The other 49 states can’t do that, but they can decide to follow California’s rules instead of those set by the feds.
Now, California’s right to go its own way — and other states’ right to follow — has become a bulwark against the EPA’s move to roll back emissions standards. Because California is the country’s largest market, automakers design their cars to meet its rules. It’s less expensive than making one version of a car for clean California and another for the other dirtier states.
That also explains why climate change skeptic and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has talked about going after that special status. “Cooperative federalism doesn’t mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country,” he said in a statement in April.
That kind of fight would require a messy legal and legislative process, but whether or not Pruitt makes the move, California has friends on this road trip. Colorado is the 14th state to adopt its standards. It also happens to be the first that isn’t on the East or West Coast and the first to make the move since Donald Trump became president and Pruitt took over the EPA.
“It makes sense that Colorado would follow California,” says Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research. And it makes sense that the state adopted the Low Emission Vehicle rules but did not take on Cali’s Zero Emission Vehicle program, which demands automakers sell at least some vehicles that don’t pollute at all. Given the mountain state’s topography, lots of people drive trucks and SUVs, which don’t lend themselves to electric propulsion. Tesla, with its Model X, and Jaguar, with its I-Pace, may not agree. But for Colorado, one step away from D.C., and one step toward California, is probably enough for now.
Alex Davies covers transportation for WIRED. He was previously a reporter for Business Insider. A New York native, he lives in San Francisco.

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Pennsylvania waste company partners with chemical industry to test recycling of flexible plastic packaging

JP Mascaro & Sons to participate in MRFF pilot

DeAnne Toto edits for Waste Today:

The Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF) research program has partnered with Audubon, Pennsylvania-based J.P. Mascaro & Sons Inc. to pilot single-stream curbside recycling of flexible plastic packaging (FPP). The company’s TotalRecycle material recovery facility (MRF) in Berks County, Pennsylvania, will process the material, demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of recycling FPP from residential single-stream recycling programs.
[EP Editor’s Note: Single-stream is the residential system in which all designated recyclables – metal/glass/plastic + papers – are placed at the curb in a single bin and non-recyclable waste is put in a separate bin]
MRFF is a project of the Foundation for Chemistry Research and Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington. Its members include The Procter & Gamble Co., Target, The Dow Chemical Co., PepsiCo, Nestlé USA, Nestlé Purina PetCare, Amcor, ACC, Flexible Packaging Association, LyondellBasell Industries, The Plastics Industry Association, Sealed Air, SC Johnson, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association and the Association of Plastic Recyclers. Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. also recently joined the program, according to the ACC.    
“Our MRFF collaborative is excited to partner with J.P. Mascaro and demonstrate the recyclability of flexible plastic packaging,” says Steve Sikra, MRFF chairperson and associate director of global research and development for Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati. “We are all committed to the success of this program and look forward to adding recycled flexible packaging into the circular economy.
Sikra adds, “As a side benefit, we expect to see the quality of J.P.’s other recycling streams improve as the flexible plastics are processed.”
FPP—which includes films,wraps, bags and pouches—is not widely recycled today; however, it is a growing fraction of the packaging stream because of its light weight and ability to provide enhanced product performance and protection. According to Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan, the recycling system consultancy which conducts the MRFF research program, 12 billion pounds of the material is introduced into the market for consumer use every year, and it is the fastest growing form of packaging.
RRS estimates TotalRecycle will produce 3,100 tons per year of high-quality postconsumer FPP feedstock for various end market uses that are being tested.
The pilot is expected to generate data to help inform municipalities and the recycling industry on the most efficient and economical ways to recycle FPP. This will turn used FPP materials, typically destined for disposal, into a bale that can be sold to a variety of end markets, the ACC says.
Mascaro Director Of Sustainability and TotalRecycle General Manager Joseph P. Mascaro says, “Our company is thrilled to partner with the MRFF partners on this project. We are confident that the pilot will be successful and will generate industry data to show FPP generators, municipalities and the recycling industry that FPP can be efficiently and economically recycled and marketed instead of being landfilled.”
Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, Stamford, Connecticut, will add equipment in the form of optical sorters to Mascaro’s TotalRecycle facility that will target FPP and direct the material out of the single-stream material flow, the ACC says.
The pilot program will begin in late 2018 with the installation of the sorting equipment, according to the association. After an internal testing period, TotalRecycle will begin accepting FPP for recycling from the municipal residents it serves. From equipment order to acceptance of FPP in curbside carts, the pilot program is expected to last two years’ time, the ACC adds.
More information about the pilot or on joining MRFF is available from the ACC’s Emily Tipaldo at emily_tipaldo@americanchemistry.com.

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Supreme Court hands Twitterer-in-Chief a Wow moment

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Donald Trump‘s ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, rejecting a challenge that it discriminated against Muslims or exceeded his authority.
The 5-4 decision Tuesday is the court’s first substantive ruling on a Trump administration policy, and the president quickly tweeted his reaction: “Wow!”
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by his four conservative colleagues.
Roberts wrote that presidents have substantial power to regulate immigration. He also rejected the challengers’ claim of anti-Muslim bias.But he was careful not to endorse either Trump’s provocative statements about immigration in general or Muslims in particular.
“We express no view on the soundness of the policy,” Roberts wrote. 

ACLU 'disappointed' in travel ban ruling; Trump calls it 'profound vindication'

The travel ban has been fully in place since December, when the justices put the brakes on lower court rulings that had ruled the policy out of bounds and blocked part of it from being enforced.
In a dissent she summarized in court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “History will not look kindly on the court’s misguided decision today, nor should it.” Sotomayor wrote that based on the evidence in the case “a reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus.” 

She said her colleagues in the majority arrived at the opposite result by “ignoring the facts, misconstruing our legal precedent and turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering the Proclamation inflicts upon countless families and individuals, many of whom are United States citizens.”

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Do we need new Category 6 for big, climate-fueled storms

A spate of record-breaking storms has spurred a call for expanding the hurricane scale for better warnings that could save lives.


Hurricane Katia in 2011, viewed from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

A new analysis of global hurricane data since 1980 shows the number of storms with winds over 124 mph has doubled, and those with winds over 155 mph has tripled. Credit: NASA
Bob Berwyn reports for InsideClimate News:2018 Atlantic hurricane season begins, scientists are worried that U.S. coastal communities could face more super storms with winds, storm surges and rainfall so intense that current warning categories don’t fully capture the threat.This year’s forecast is about average and much more subdued than last summer’s hyperactive season turned out to be, partly due to cooler ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic, as well as a nascent El Niño pattern. But that doesn’t mean an individual storm won’t blow up to exceptional strength, as Andrew did before striking Florida in 1992, an otherwise relatively quiet year.Heat trapped by the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is raising the chances of that happening, said Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann.A new review of global data on hurricanes shows that since 1980, the number of storms with winds stronger than 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph, or a strong Category 3) have doubled, and those with winds stronger than 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) have tripled.The analysis, published this week by four prominent climate scientists, also shows other clear trends, including a poleward migration of the areas where storms reach peak intensity, which puts new areas at risk, including New England and even Europe.Storms are also intensifying more quickly, with a greater chance they will drop record amounts of rain, especially if they stall out when they hit land, as Hurricane Harvey did in Houston last year.”The weight of the evidence suggests that the 30-year-old prediction of more intense and wetter tropical cyclones is coming to pass. This is a risk that we can no longer afford to ignore,” wrote the authors—Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Kerry Emanuel of MIT, Jim Kossin of NOAA and Mann.

Chart: Strongest Hurricanes Have Grown More Common Since 1980

Mann advocates for adding a new Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to describe the extremely powerful super storms seen in recent years—storms that can be fueled by global warming.”The current intensity scale doesn’t capture the fact that a 10 mph increase in sustained wind speeds ups the damage potential by 20 percent,” Mann said. “That’s not a subtle effect. It’s one that we can see.” Based on the spacing of Categories 1-5, there should be a Category 6 approaching peak winds of 190 mph, he said.Creating a new warning level for unprecedented storms could help save lives. When Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, hit the Philippines in 2013, people died in shelters that had been designed to withstand a historic storm surge but still flooded.Read the full storyLike this? Click to receive free updates

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Environmental bills on the move in New Jersey Legislature



Bills subject of action in the NJ State Legislture today:


A1033 – Makes Palisades Interstate Park Commission eligible for certain open space and historic preservation funding.
06/25/2018 Substituted for S-1760
06/25/2018 Passed in Senate and sent to Governor 37-0

A1053 – Substituted for S-2140 – Revises and expands laws on trespass and vandalism on agricultural and horticultural lands.
06/25/2018 Substituted for S-1429
06/25/2018 Passed in Senate and sent to Governor 39-0


A1675 – Authorizes prescribed burning in certain circumstances.

06/25/2018 Passed in Senate and sent to Governor 38-0

A4243 – Establishes Mercer Regional Water Services Commission as oversight body over certain Trenton Water Works operations.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee 

A4246 – Requires State parks, forests, State-owned beaches, and MVC offices to remain open to public if emergency is declared due to failure to enact general appropriation law as prescribed by NJ Constitution.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee 

ACR144 – Condemns EPA decision to withdraw from “once-in-always-in” policy under the Clean Air Act.
06/25/2018 Substituted for SCR-121
06/25/2018 Ps File  26-12

AJR144 – Designates May of each year as “Monarch Butterfly Month.”
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee 

AR178 – Urges U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list monarch butterfly as threatened species.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee 

S1429 – Revises and expands laws on trespass and vandalism on agricultural and horticultural lands.
06/25/2018 Substituted by A-1053

S1760 – Makes Palisades Interstate Park Commission eligible for certain open space and historic preservation funding.
06/25/2018 Substituted by A-1033

S2140 – Authorizes prescribed burning in certain circumstances.
06/25/2018 Substituted by A-1675 (1R)

S2329 – Re-establishes former NJ Commission on Science and Technology as NJ Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology.
06/25/2018 Substituted by A-3652 (1R)

S2776 – Prohibits use of plastic carryout bags, expanded polystyrene, and single-use plastic straws.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee 

S2778 – Concerns disclosure by homeowner of lead plumbing prior to home sale.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee 

S2781 – Requires State parks, forests, State-owned beaches, and MVC offices to remain open to public if emergency is declared due to failure to enact general appropriation law as prescribed by NJ Constitution.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee 

S2782 – Authorizes issuance of multi-species depredation permit for wildlife control on farmland.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee 

SCR121 – Condemns EPA decision to withdraw from “once-in-always-in” policy under the Clean Air Act.
06/25/2018 Substituted by ACR-144

SCR128 – Urges DEP to replace current lethal population control methods for foxes on Brigantine Island with non-lethal deterrence methods.
06/25/2018 Introduced and referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee


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Group that sued Flint over lead water now suing Newark

Image result for lead faucets images
Karen Yi reports for NJ.com:
Citing “dangerous” levels of lead in Newark’s drinking water, an environmental nonprofit that sued Flint, Michigan over lead contamination is now threatening to sue New Jersey’s largest city.
The group says about 20 percent of water samples taken from across Newark last year exceeded acceptable federal lead levels, raising serious health concerns over safe drinking water.
City officials have staunchly denied the claims, insisting that lead issues are limited to buildings with aging infrastructure.
“These lead levels are shockingly high,” said Sara Imperiale, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the city and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday.
The Newark Education Workers Caucus, a group of Newark educators, also plans to join the suit.
“Access to safe drinking water is maybe even more important in low-income communities of color where residents often face multiple sources of exposure and cumulative environmental burdens that can harm their health,” she said.
But Andrea Adebowale, Newark’s director of water and sewer utilities, which is in charge of lead testing, said it was “absolutely and outrageously false” that residents were being exposed to dangerous levels of lead.

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