This one’s for environmental-chemistry PBT geeks only

Environmental Protection Agency webinar on PBT chemicals, 2 p.m., September 7

EPA is hosting a webinar for interested parties to explain the process for gathering use and exposure information on five persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This webinar will take place on Thursday, September 7, 2017 at 2 pm EDT. It will provide background on new requirements for regulating certain PBT chemicals and explain how interested parties can provide use information to EPA on these five chemicals:

  • Decabromodiphenyl ethers (DecaBDE), used as a flame retardant in textiles, plastics, wiring insulation, and building and construction materials;
  • Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), used as a solvent in the manufacture of rubber compounds and as hydraulic, heat transfer or transformer fluid;
  • Pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP), used as a mercaptan (sulfur) cross-linking agent to make rubber more pliable in industrial uses;
  • Phenol, isopropylated, phosphate (3:1), used as a flame retardant in consumer products and as lubricant, hydraulic fluid, and other industrial uses; and
  • 2,4,6-Tris(tert-butyl) phenol, an antioxidant that can be used as a fuel, oil, gasoline or lubricant additive.
Under TSCA section 6(h), EPA is required to take expedited regulatory action to address risks and exposures from certain PBT chemicals. By June 22, 2019, EPA must propose rules for the above five PBT chemicals that have been identified under TSCA section 6(h)(1).  EPA is currently identifying where these chemicals are used and how people are exposed to them.
Following EPA’s presentation, participants will have an opportunity to provide their comments on uses of these five chemicals. 
EPA has also established public dockets for each PBT chemical which and can be found at: https://www.regulations.gov. See below docket numbers:
  • Decabromodiphenyl ethers (DecaBDE): EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0724
  • Pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP): EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0739
  • Hexachlorobutadience (HCBD): EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0738
  • Phenol, isopropylated, phosphate (3:1): EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0730
  • 2,4,6,-Tris(tert-butyl) phenol: EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0734
Preliminary information on exposure and use for each of the five PBT chemicals, as well as information that the Agency expects to consider in the development of proposed rules, will be made available in each chemical’s docket.  EPA is requesting that any information be submitted to the docket by December 9th, 2017 so that the information can inform any regulatory action.
For more on planned regulatory actions under TSCA, visit EPA’s Assessing and Managing Chemicals under TSCA website at https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca.

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NJ ahead of other states in setting limits for two toxic chemicals found in some drinking water supplies

Department of Environmental Protection announces new proposed maximum contaminant limits for two likely carcinogens, PFNA and TCP


Jon Hurdle reports
 for NJ Spotlight:

New Jersey’s new plan to impose tough limits on two carcinogenic chemicals in drinking water puts it in the forefront of national efforts to control the substances, and is the state’s first such effort for seven years, analysts said.
The Department of Environmental Protection on Monday proposed maximum contaminant limits (MCLs) for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and 1,2,3 trichloropropane (TCP), which are both classified by the federal government as likely carcinogens.
The plan, which would allow the state to regulate the chemicals for the first time, includes a requirement for monitoring and treatment, if necessary, for water systems of all sizes.

Recommending parts per billion

The proposal conforms with a recommendation by the Drinking Water Quality Institute, a panel of scientific advisors to the DEP, that has advocated MCLs for lifetime exposure of 0.013 parts per billion (ppb) and 0.030 ppb for PFNA and TCP, respectively.
The DEP’s plan comes more than two years after the DWQI recommended the limit for PFNA, and seven months after the DEP made its first public statement, in comments to NJ Spotlight, that it had accepted the panel’s proposal.
The lengthy process of accepting and adopting the measure has prompted accusations from environmental groups that the DEP was dragging its feet on a recommendation that could add to costs for water system operators.

Welcomed by Delaware Riverkeeper

But the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a leading advocate for stricter limits on PFNA and related chemicals, welcomed the DEP’s latest move, saying it would help to reduce a threat to public health.
“New Jersey is finally proposing a maximum contaminant level to remove it,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the DRN, referring to PFNA. “NJDEP is the first government agency in the nation to take this action and they are doing so based on scientific evidence of PFNA’s dangerous health impacts, even at tiny levels, and the fact that some NJ communities have extremely high concentrations.”
PFNA, which was used in textile coatings, stain repellants, and food packaging, has been linked to some cancers in humans and to reproductive and developmental problems in animals. It has been phased out by U.S. manufacturers but is still made in China and other countries, and can still legally be in products imported to the United States, Carluccio said.

Increased costs

New Jersey American Water, which supplies water to about 2.7 million people, welcomed the DEP’s proposal, and said it is already monitoring for unregulated contaminants, as required by an EPA program.
Denise Venuti Free, a spokeswoman, said any new requirement for monitoring and treatment will increase costs. For example, she said the company spent $13 million on carbon filters to remove “trace amounts” of PFCs from water at treatment plants in Gloucester and Salem Counties in 2012 and 2014.

Read the full story here


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NFL veteran is scoring TDs for clean energy in Hawaii

Ex- NFL guard, present mayor of  the Hawaiian island of  Kauai, Bernard Carvalho

Bernard Carvalho might be the least jaded politician in the United States of America right now.
True, it might not seem too hard to keep a sunny disposition when you’re the mayor of a laid-back Hawaiian island that runs on tourism and surfing — especially one that’s making the transition to clean energy faster than just about anywhere else in the country.
But when President Trump made the announcement that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord — an international agreement backed by 194 countries, with the goal of forestalling disastrous levels of global warming — Carvalho knew he had to do something.
A 6-foot-5-inch former NFL guard, Carvalho threw his weight behind the international agreement. In early June, Kauai’s mayor joined Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige and other Hawaiian state and county officials to independently sign support for the agreement, making Hawaii the first state to enact laws enforcing the treaty’s commitments in their own communities.
“Now, in football terms — sorry,” he interrupts himself, laughing, “it’s just how it is! I’m always telling my team, we’re on the 10-yard line! You gotta pass that ordinance or pass that policy, because climate change is coming!
“And a field goal is unacceptable, by the way,” Carvalho adds. “Only a touchdown!”
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Sunoco settles with enviro groups over Pa. pipeline drilling

Sunoco’s Mariner East 1 pipeline right-of-way in the Tuscarora State Forest. Photo by Harvey Nickey.


Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board yesterday approved a settlement that Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and Delaware Riverkeeper Network reached with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and Sunoco Pipeline L.P. The agreement provides protection to the public from Sunoco’s horizontal directional drilling operations associated with its Mariner East 2 pipelines.

In a news releases announcing the settlement, the Clean Air Council said:

“Since April, Sunoco has had at least 90 spills of drilling fluid as a result of horizontal directional drilling, a process used to install the pipelines under waterways, roads, or other sensitive areas.  Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 drilling operations have also resulted in damage to water supplies in at least five locations.  The settlement agreement strengthens plans to prevent and respond to problems during construction, requires Sunoco to use experts to evaluate and improve plans for drilling at over 60 locations prior to starting or restarting drilling, and expands the identification and free testing of private water supplies.”

The settlement comes after Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board granted a request by the environmental organizations on July 25, 2017 to temporarily halt Sunoco’s drilling operations along the pipeline. A hearing on the matter, scheduled for August 9 -11, has been postponed. The settlement agreement does not affect the remainder of the appeal of the permits, which will still move ahead toward trial.

More details on the settlement in Andrew Maykuth’s story
in PhillyNews.com

“The harms that Sunoco’s recklessness is causing the public and the environment should have never happened,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council. “The governor instructed the PA DEP to issue these permits by a specific date despite the many flaws in the applications.  DEP caved to the pressure and ignored the deficiencies. Unless our elected officials start taking the public health threat from building natural gas infrastructure seriously, this is bound to continue to happen,”

“With this settlement, we are getting better protections for our community and the environment which is good,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “But it is wrong that our organizations had to bring this legal action to get us to this point..”


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‘Zero waste’ is a lofty goal but how will Philly get there?

Philadelphia has released a new action plan for becoming a “zero waste” city by 2035. While the goal may be lofty, the steps to get there are more measured.


Cole Rosengren reports for WasteDive:


Unlike other “zero waste” cities that have set benchmarks or targets they may not always hit, Philadelphia’s Zero Waste & Litter Cabinet intentionally created a timeline that only looks one year into the future. Though that doesn’t mean officials don’t have plans for figuring out how to divert 90% of the city’s residential and commercial waste — derived from a 2015 baseline — and rethink the city’s waste infrastructure.

Curbside organics pick-up, new data collection efforts and possibly even some form of organized commercial waste collection, are all on the table. First, the city just wants to see what can be done by maximizing all the resources it has in place and engaging the public in the process.

Nic Esposito, director of zero waste and litter for the city, told Waste Dive that since the cabinet was formed by Mayor Jim Kenney in December 2016, their goal has been to create a framework that will sustain efforts for decades to come. This entailed looking at how 1.5 million tons of commercial and residential waste are created in the city each year, why the overall diversion rate for that material has plateaued around 40% and what can be done to start making progress while the feasibility of a larger change is analyzed.
“People need to be connected back to the waste that they create. So it can’t just all be on city government,” said Esposito. “People need to kind of be thinking about what they’re creating, what they’re producing.”
The plan lays out five main target areas that will drive the city’s work going forward: Zero waste, litter enforcement and cleaner public spaces, data, behavioral science, and communications and engagement.
The first step is getting a handle on what’s happening with the city’s waste now. Philadelphia’s residential material is collected from 540,000 households by the Streets Department and about 20% of it was diverted in 2014. Recyclables are sorted at a facility operated by ReCommunity. The majority of residential refuse is sent to Covanta’s Delaware Valley waste-to-energy (WTE) facility. For multi-unit and commercial buildings, the diversion rate in 2014 was 45%, with a portion of refuse going to Waste Management’s SpecFUEL facility in the city. Overall, about 26% of city waste is sent to landfills.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenny. Photo: Greg Thompson/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

According to Esposito, the primary goal is to eventually eliminate any use of landfills and reduce WTE use over time. The city’s goal of 90% diversion by 2035 does allow for the remaining 10% to be processed by WTE facilities. The use of WTE to achieve “zero waste” goals has elicited a range of opinions in other cities.
In order to reach that point, the plan calls for a broad reassessment of material flows, consumption habits and reuse or recycling opportunities. This will include waste audits at municipal buildings (and eventually commercial buildings), as well as better diversion systems at special events.
The city is also in the process of finishing a feasibility study on curbside organics collection. Esposito described this idea as a question of “when,” not “if,” though cautioned that details were still in the very early stages. This summer, the Philadelphia Water Department issued a request for information about potentially co-digesting organic material at two of its wastewater treatment plants.


Read the full story here


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FERC gets a quorum, will PennEast get its pipeline?

Two commissioners have been approved at agency, opening way for project to use eminent domain to gather environmental data along its route

natural gas pipeline



Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:

After months of setbacks, the PennEast Pipeline is looking
to get back on track, and last week’s approval of two new commissioners to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission might be the ticket.
With the confirmation of the commissioners by the U.S. Senate, the agency now has a quorum, allowing it to take up an estimated $14 billion in energy infrastructure projects awaiting action — including the $1 billion, 120-mile project in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that has provoked such an outcry.
PennEast is hoping to have a staff-proposed Final Environmental Impact Statement approved by the commission, a step that could lead to a certificate of necessity and allow it to exercise eminent domain authority to access properties along its proposed route.
With many property owners balking at granting access to their land, the company has been unable to provide crucial data to state environmental officials to begin reviewing permits it needs for the project to move forward.

The company anticipates it will obtain approval from the commission for the final EIS and the issuing of a certificate this summer, according to Pat Kornick, a spokeswoman for PennEast.
The developer submitted information to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in June for two key permit it needs, but the state rejected the applications because the company failed to provide information along the proposed route.
The project is widely opposed on both sides of the Delaware River due to fears it will adversely affect drinking water and traverse farmland and open space set aside for preservation, according to opponents. They also argue that the pipeline is unnecessary.
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