We can't trust a chemical industry hired gun to put our health first. C4. MCAF. Regional.

We can't trust a chemical industry hired gun to put our health first. C4. MCAF.

We can't trust a chemical industry hired gun to put our health first. C4. MCAF.

This post was co-authored with Beia Spiller Since 2000, major flood and hurricane disasters have cost the nation $499.5 billion – that’s more than double what floods cost us from 1980 to 1999 – and doesn’t even reflect damages from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, or Maria. You’d think that at a time when our nation faces […]

By Shannon Cunniff

This post was co-authored with Beia Spiller

Since 2000, major flood and hurricane disasters have cost the nation $499.5 billion – that’s more than double what floods cost us from 1980 to 1999 – and doesn’t even reflect damages from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, or Maria. You’d think that at a time when our nation faces greater threats from extreme weather, reducing the economic and social costs of flood disasters would be a top priority.

Instead, President Trump rescinded a requirement that federal agencies take future flood risks into greater consideration for federal projects in or affecting floodplains, setting us up for future fiscal disaster. Given the number and size of this year’s hurricanes, and the devastation they have wrought to millions of American’s, it’s clear that we aren’t doing enough to reduce the costs of these disasters. Yet, President Trump’s action, if uncorrected, will increase the costs to our country. Instead of rolling back common-sense rules meant to protect taxpayers, Congress and the administration should be ensuring that our federal investments can better withstand the impacts of flooding.

Where and how we build helps us better cope with disasters and saves money

The two best ways to minimize flood damage losses are: building outside of floodplains and building structures capable of coping with flooding. Federal agencies should be held accountable for implementing these proven best practices.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), benefits of implementing stronger building codes for natural hazards include savings from lowered insurance rates, increased property values, and reduced losses during floods. When building codes offer enhanced protection against the threats of flood-related disasters, communities recover faster and reduce the fiscal pressure on governments responding to damages.

Furthermore, designing for resiliency can be cost-effective. According to one study evaluating the effectiveness of flood building codes, constructing new buildings to withstand floods by increasing their elevation usually costs less than 1% of the total building cost for each foot they are raised. And, given the risks of flooding over time, these investments were found to pay for themselves in as little as one or two years for those areas with the highest risk of flooding. It’s noteworthy that buildings constructed after Andrew, following the more rigorous codes, withstood Irma.

In light of this, it is ironic that the most hurricane-prone state in the country could retreat from its renowned building code system given that Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law changes to state’s system that had been adopted after Hurricane Andrew. The changes include reducing inspections and the frequency of code updates, and allowing for fewer votes from the state’s Building Commission to make further code revisions. The latter is seen by many as an opportunity for the Commission, which is dominated by contractors and construction firms, to further weaken the codes that have been seen as some of the best in the country.

From 1978-2016, FEMA paid out more than $59 trillion (in 2016 dollars) for losses associated with significant floods, with 76% of those payments occurring after 2004. Importantly, the average paid loss increased by almost 2.5 times since 1978 (even after accounting for inflation). These moves toward lowered building codes and standards will only ensure more and more costly FEMA payouts, with taxpayers footing the bill. In the long run, these actions are ultimately at odds with administrations preaching fiscal conservatism.

Investing now to save in the future

Instead of taking such unnecessary risks, cities and states should adopt more stringent risk-informed building codes and zoning, so we can start building now for a more reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Similarly, the administration should enhance flood resilience standards for federal investments, including those made as part of disaster recovery, to reduce the costs of flooding today and in the future. Doing so will improve long-term protection of human health and welfare. If we build smarter now, communities, taxpayers and nature will reap rewards in the future.

This post was co-authored with Beia Spiller Since 2000, major flood and hurricane disasters have cost the nation $499.5 billion – that’s more than double what floods cost us from 1980 to 1999 – and doesn’t even reflect damages from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, or Maria. You’d think that at a time when our nation faces […]

By Andrew Williams

Yet again, another energy company is serving up tangible proof that some in the industry fail to take steps to operate responsibly and protect public health from oil and gas pollution.

According to a September 24 Associated Press article, a malfunction at a natural gas compressor station in Northeastern Pennsylvania resulted in a massive gas leak that — in just a few hours — produced more air pollution than most facilities emit in an entire year.

Most Pennsylvanians never know about these types of malfunctions. In fact, if it were not for the AP story, you might not have heard about this leak in part because DTE Energy – the out-of-state energy company that owns the facility – failed to immediately notify the Susquehanna County Emergency Management Agency. Instead, they waited over a week to report the problem to the county and downplayed the magnitude of the episode, referring to it as a merely a “minor” leak.

This isn’t the first time a DTE compressor station has had a major blow out. And the company’s failure to properly respond runs counter to consistent claims made by some companies and their lobbyists that the industry is doing everything they can to keep emissions down. Incidents like this are a clear indication that some companies prioritize business interests over direct risk to public health and the environment.

Fortunately no one was injured in the event, though there seems to be a pattern developing here, one that should be alarming to approximately 1.5 million Pennsylvanians that live within half a mile of an oil or gas facility. This episode proves the industry cannot be trusted to self-police, and that Pennsylvania officials should develop oversight procedures to prevent these type of incidents.

Governor Wolf proposed to do just that in his plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, but he appears to be undermining his own commitments. A budget bill passed by the Senate — and supported by the governor — is larded with bad provisions that create huge environmental loopholes for the oil and gas industry and put Pennsylvanians communities at risk.

The most problematic policy in the bill is a provision that would allow a private committee to approve oil and gas permits – taking power away from the state and giving it to political appointees, many of whom are hand-picked by oil and gas companies.

The DTE gas leak proves that Pennsylvania needs to hold the worst industry actors accountable by implementing strong controls that reduce methane emissions. Companies should be required to check their facilities regularly for harmful gas leaks and they should be required to quickly address them and report them to the appropriate authorities.

Since 2012, sloppy operations at Pennsylvania gas sites have resulted in more than 2.7 million tons of methane and other harmful pollutants being pumped into the air. If the bad environmental loopholes in the current state budget become law, that number will get even bigger and we will possibly see more incidents like this one.

 

By Andrew Williams

Yet again, another energy company is serving up tangible proof that some in the industry fail to take steps to operate responsibly and protect public health from oil and gas pollution.

According to a September 24 Associated Press article, a malfunction at a natural gas compressor station in Northeastern Pennsylvania resulted in a massive gas leak that — in just a few hours — produced more air pollution than most facilities emit in an entire year.

Most Pennsylvanians never know about these types of malfunctions. In fact, if it were not for the AP story, you might not have heard about this leak in part because DTE Energy – the out-of-state energy company that owns the facility – failed to immediately notify the Susquehanna County Emergency Management Agency. Instead, they waited over a week to report the problem to the county and downplayed the magnitude of the episode, referring to it as a merely a “minor” leak.

This isn’t the first time a DTE compressor station has had a major blow out. And the company’s failure to properly respond runs counter to consistent claims made by some companies and their lobbyists that the industry is doing everything they can to keep emissions down. Incidents like this are a clear indication that some companies prioritize business interests over direct risk to public health and the environment.

Fortunately no one was injured in the event, though there seems to be a pattern developing here, one that should be alarming to approximately 1.5 million Pennsylvanians that live within half a mile of an oil or gas facility. This episode proves the industry cannot be trusted to self-police, and that Pennsylvania officials should develop oversight procedures to prevent these type of incidents.

Governor Wolf proposed to do just that in his plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, but he appears to be undermining his own commitments. A budget bill passed by the Senate — and supported by the governor — is larded with bad provisions that create huge environmental loopholes for the oil and gas industry and put Pennsylvanians communities at risk.

The most problematic policy in the bill is a provision that would allow a private committee to approve oil and gas permits – taking power away from the state and giving it to political appointees, many of whom are hand-picked by oil and gas companies.

The DTE gas leak proves that Pennsylvania needs to hold the worst industry actors accountable by implementing strong controls that reduce methane emissions. Companies should be required to check their facilities regularly for harmful gas leaks and they should be required to quickly address them and report them to the appropriate authorities.

Since 2012, sloppy operations at Pennsylvania gas sites have resulted in more than 2.7 million tons of methane and other harmful pollutants being pumped into the air. If the bad environmental loopholes in the current state budget become law, that number will get even bigger and we will possibly see more incidents like this one.

 

By Andrew Williams

Yet again, another energy company is serving up tangible proof that some in the industry fail to take steps to operate responsibly and protect public health from oil and gas pollution.

According to a September 24 Associated Press article, a malfunction at a natural gas compressor station in Northeastern Pennsylvania resulted in a massive gas leak that — in just a few hours — produced more air pollution than most facilities emit in an entire year.

Most Pennsylvanians never know about these types of malfunctions. In fact, if it were not for the AP story, you might not have heard about this leak in part because DTE Energy – the out-of-state energy company that owns the facility – failed to immediately notify the Susquehanna County Emergency Management Agency. Instead, they waited over a week to report the problem to the county and downplayed the magnitude of the episode, referring to it as a merely a “minor” leak.

This isn’t the first time a DTE compressor station has had a major blow out. And the company’s failure to properly respond runs counter to consistent claims made by some companies and their lobbyists that the industry is doing everything they can to keep emissions down. Incidents like this are a clear indication that some companies prioritize business interests over direct risk to public health and the environment.

Fortunately no one was injured in the event, though there seems to be a pattern developing here, one that should be alarming to approximately 1.5 million Pennsylvanians that live within half a mile of an oil or gas facility. This episode proves the industry cannot be trusted to self-police, and that Pennsylvania officials should develop oversight procedures to prevent these type of incidents.

Governor Wolf proposed to do just that in his plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, but he appears to be undermining his own commitments. A budget bill passed by the Senate — and supported by the governor — is larded with bad provisions that create huge environmental loopholes for the oil and gas industry and put Pennsylvanians communities at risk.

The most problematic policy in the bill is a provision that would allow a private committee to approve oil and gas permits – taking power away from the state and giving it to political appointees, many of whom are hand-picked by oil and gas companies.

The DTE gas leak proves that Pennsylvania needs to hold the worst industry actors accountable by implementing strong controls that reduce methane emissions. Companies should be required to check their facilities regularly for harmful gas leaks and they should be required to quickly address them and report them to the appropriate authorities.

Since 2012, sloppy operations at Pennsylvania gas sites have resulted in more than 2.7 million tons of methane and other harmful pollutants being pumped into the air. If the bad environmental loopholes in the current state budget become law, that number will get even bigger and we will possibly see more incidents like this one.

 

Yet again, another energy company is serving up tangible proof that some in the industry fail to take steps to operate responsibly and protect public health from oil and gas pollution. According to a September 24 Associated Press article, a malfunction at a natural gas compressor station in Northeastern Pennsylvania resulted in a massive gas […]

The post Massive Pennsylvania gas leak proves industry requires more oversight appeared first on Energy Exchange.

By Andrew Williams

Yet again, another energy company is serving up tangible proof that some in the industry fail to take steps to operate responsibly and protect public health from oil and gas pollution.

According to a September 24 Associated Press article, a malfunction at a natural gas compressor station in Northeastern Pennsylvania resulted in a massive gas leak that — in just a few hours — produced more air pollution than most facilities emit in an entire year.

Most Pennsylvanians never know about these types of malfunctions. In fact, if it were not for the AP story, you might not have heard about this leak in part because DTE Energy – the out-of-state energy company that owns the facility – failed to immediately notify the Susquehanna County Emergency Management Agency. Instead, they waited over a week to report the problem to the county and downplayed the magnitude of the episode, referring to it as a merely a “minor” leak.

This isn’t the first time a DTE compressor station has had a major blow out. And the company’s failure to properly respond runs counter to consistent claims made by some companies and their lobbyists that the industry is doing everything they can to keep emissions down. Incidents like this are a clear indication that some companies prioritize business interests over direct risk to public health and the environment.

Fortunately no one was injured in the event, though there seems to be a pattern developing here, one that should be alarming to approximately 1.5 million Pennsylvanians that live within half a mile of an oil or gas facility. This episode proves the industry cannot be trusted to self-police, and that Pennsylvania officials should develop oversight procedures to prevent these type of incidents.

Governor Wolf proposed to do just that in his plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, but he appears to be undermining his own commitments. A budget bill passed by the Senate — and supported by the governor — is larded with bad provisions that create huge environmental loopholes for the oil and gas industry and put Pennsylvanians communities at risk.

The most problematic policy in the bill is a provision that would allow a private committee to approve oil and gas permits – taking power away from the state and giving it to political appointees, many of whom are hand-picked by oil and gas companies.

The DTE gas leak proves that Pennsylvania needs to hold the worst industry actors accountable by implementing strong controls that reduce methane emissions. Companies should be required to check their facilities regularly for harmful gas leaks and they should be required to quickly address them and report them to the appropriate authorities.

Since 2012, sloppy operations at Pennsylvania gas sites have resulted in more than 2.7 million tons of methane and other harmful pollutants being pumped into the air. If the bad environmental loopholes in the current state budget become law, that number will get even bigger and we will possibly see more incidents like this one.

 

By Samantha Lovell

Samantha Lovell is a Project Specialist.

[Use this link to see all of our posts on Dourson.]

Next Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Michael Dourson – who has made a career as a chemical industry hired gun – to lead the EPA toxics office.

In past blogs, we have documented deep concerns about Dourson’s extensive, longstanding ties to the chemical industry in addition to his earlier work for the tobacco industry. Dourson and his company Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) were paid for their work by more than three dozen companies or trade associations, involving at least three dozen different chemicals.

Several recent news stories and reports have identified examples where Dourson or TERA helped industry play down health concerns about chemicals, including Dourson’s work in West Virginia involving the “Teflon” chemical PFOA and his study funded by Koch Industries in Chicago involving petroleum coke.

To illustrate the real-world impacts of his work, we have identified locations across the country where eight of the chemicals that Dourson has “blessed” have stirred concerns from residents about polluted water, soil, and air or poisoned residents and workers.

Using local and national news articles, and limiting our search to only eight of the many chemicals Dourson has been paid by industry to study, we identified 107 locations in 49 states. Each location is a place where a news story refers to one of the eight chemicals polluting the water, soil, or air or poisoning residents or workers in the area.

Our results – displayed in the map below – are by no means comprehensive, and represent only a fraction of locations affected by chemicals Dourson has worked on for industry clients. The map reveals that the entire country has experienced direct impacts from chemicals that Dourson has argued should have less health-protective standards.

While we didn’t identify a contamination location involving one of the eight chemicals in North Dakota, residents are still likely impacted by many of these chemicals. And, given Dourson’s work on chemicals like flame retardants that have pervaded every home in America, no one can escape the impacts of the chemicals Dourson has “blessed.”

For a full list of the news articles and chemical contamination locations by state, click here. In addition, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has posted interactive maps showing the extent of tap water contamination with 2 of these chemicals, 1-4 dioxane and PFOA, across the nation.

A few examples of the stories represented by the points on the map above include:

• 1,4-dioxane in southeastern Los Angeles County, California: Based on testing by the U.S. Geological Survey reported by EWG, southeastern LA County is one of the hot spots for 1,4-dioxane contamination in tap water across the country. Concentrations found in area water systems ranged from 4-14 times the EPA’s cancer risk level.
• 1-Bromopropane (1-BP) in North Carolina: From the 1990s through the 2000s, OSHA found employees at Royale Comfort Seating Plants in North Carolina were exposed to dangerous levels of 1-BP while working. As of 2011, the company had paid nearly a half-million dollars in court settlements and necessary upgrades.
• Alachlor degradates in Wisconsin groundwater: Statewide testing in Wisconsin revealed degradation products of alachlor –which is a widely used herbicide – across the state in groundwater and wells. The “ESA” degradate of alachlor was the second most commonly detected pesticide in the wells tested.
• Chlorpyrifos in Kauai, Hawaii: EPA filed a complaint with the pesticide producer, Syngenta, in 2016 following a pesticide poisoning on a farm in Kauai. Several farmworkers were hospitalized after dangerous exposure to chlorpyrifos.
• Perchlorate in the Southwest: In 1997, EPA discovered high perchlorate levels in the lower Colorado River and Lake Mead, which provides drinking water to millions in the region. The contamination came from two perchlorate manufacturing facilities in the area, and efforts to clean up the tainted surface water and groundwater are ongoing.
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in Hoosick Falls, NY: High levels of PFOA were discovered in the Hoosick Falls community’s groundwater, originating from the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics facility. In 2017, EPA added the location to the Federal Superfund List.
• Petroleum coke (Petcoke) in Plaquemines Parish area, Louisiana: United Bulk, a coal export facility, was sued in 2014 for discharging coal and petcoke from its facility in Plaquemines Parish into the Mississippi River. The lawsuit was settled in 2015.
• Petcoke in Chicago, Illinois: In 2013, Chicago residents reported concern over windblown dust from piles of petcoke owned by KCBX terminals – a Koch subsidiary – on the city’s Southeast side. One of the facilities has since closed and the other no longer stores petcoke in the open.
• Trichloroethylene (TCE) in the Cheyenne area, Wyoming: TCE was found in the groundwater around several of the Atlas Missile sites – used during the Cold War to hold and prepare nuclear missiles – in the early 2000s. A plume from one site had concentrations of TCE approximately 48,000 times the legal limit.

Senators on the EPW committee should ask tough questions of this nominee next Wednesday, and communities affected by Dourson “blessed” chemicals should urge their Senators to oppose Dourson’s appointment.

We need strong leadership in the EPA toxics office to ensure successful implementation of the newly reformed TSCA and to protect the health of all Americans from toxic chemicals and pesticides.

Otherwise, with Michael Dourson in charge, we’ll just see an even bigger toxic wake.

 

Samantha Lovell is a Project Specialist. [Update added November 17: On October 25, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works voted to advance Michael Dourson’s nomination to oversee chemical safety at the EPA. The fight is now in the full Senate, where two Republican senators have already come out against Dourson. With Democrats standing in strong […]

Unraveling the relationship between air quality and human health has been a critically important task for protecting public health. Traditional stationary air monitors have played a central role in tracking toxic air pollutants and ensuring levels remain below legal standards, but the data they generate cannot be used to create fine-scale maps of air quality […]

By Ryan O'Connell

Unraveling the relationship between air quality and human health has been a critically important task for protecting public health. Traditional stationary air monitors have played a central role in tracking toxic air pollutants and ensuring levels remain below legal standards, but the data they generate cannot be used to create fine-scale maps of air quality over local areas.

An ongoing, multi-group project initiated by Environmental Defense Fund and Google Earth Outreach aims to fill this information gap by deploying Google Street View cars equipped with air quality monitors to amass one of the largest sets of mobile air pollution measurements ever assembled.

In this episode of our podcast, we talked with one of our project partners, Dr. Joshua Apte, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, about the first round of data collection, which took place in West Oakland, California. Dr. Apte walked us through the initial findings and shared his thoughts on what they mean for public health, as well as for local communities that may be disproportionately affected by air pollution.

 

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By Dick Munson

The U.S. electricity industry is experiencing unprecedented innovation and change. The grid is getting smarter and customers can play a more active role in how their electricity is made, moved, and used. Between all the initiatives that utilities, cities, and states are pursuing and the new services and products that entrepreneurs are creating, it can be difficult to keep up.

That’s why I enjoy connecting with and learning from colleagues at events like the Demand Response and Distributed Energy Resources World Forum. Held in Costa Mesa, California on Oct. 10-11 this year, the forum brings together stakeholders from across the clean energy industry to discuss the latest technology and business strategies for increasing distributed energy resources – like solar panels and batteries – and demand-side resources like demand response. This year at the forum, I’ll be speaking on the power of data, which undoubtedly has a large role to play in our grid’s transformation. With the deployment of modern sensors and smart meters across the U.S., there are enormous quantities of energy-use data at our fingertips for the first time ever. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) believes this data can revolutionize the grid, but only if people have access to data, as well as to the tools needed to control their energy use and electricity bills. With the first-of-its kind Open Data Access Framework, Illinois is making that a reality.

The power of energy data in Illinois and beyond
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Illinois’ open data

Conceived by EDF and our partners at the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), the Open Data Access Framework is made up of guidelines for securely authorizing and sharing energy-use data. By clarifying the type of electricity data that customers and authorized third parties have access to and how the data should be delivered, the framework opens the door for innovators to create new tools and services that lower electricity bills and cut pollution.

The framework opens the door for innovators to create new tools and services.

The Open Data Access Framework was finalized by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) earlier this year, and can serve as a playbook for other states interested in providing electricity customers with secure data access.

The ICC also recently approved an energy data-sharing program for Illinois’ largest electric utility, ComEd. The program allows companies and researchers access to anonymous energy-use data from ComEd’s nearly 4 million smart meters, which will further encourage the development of energy-saving products and services designed to help Illinoisans save money. EDF and CUB look forward to using that data to help answer important policy questions, unlock innovation, and make our grid smarter and cleaner.

I’ll be discussing all of these pieces and more at the Demand Response and Distributed Energy Resources World Forum, so come say hi.

The U.S. electricity industry is experiencing unprecedented innovation and change. The grid is getting smarter and customers can play a more active role in how their electricity is made, moved, and used. Between all the initiatives that utilities, cities, and states are pursuing and the new services and products that entrepreneurs are creating, it can […]