Harold Hamm - Mitt Romney Energy Advisor

Mitt Romney's energy adviser, Continental Resources Inc. Chief Executive Harold Hamm supports billions of dollars of tax breaks for the U.S. oil and natural-gas industry.  He believes any elimination of existing tax credits would lead to dramatic cuts in production. Hamm's views, presented during a Senate hearing, stands in direct contrast with President Barack Obama, who has tried for several years to remove $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the five largest eenrgy companies.

Harold Hamm

Hamm is an American oilman who was ranked in the March 2012 issue of Forbes as the 30th richest person in America and 76th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $11 billion.  In 2012, presidental candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor.^[2] Hamm is a key player in Hiland Partners and Hiland Holdings as well as the oil-exploration company continental Resources, Oklahoma's fourth largest public company


Just one month after he was named Mitt Romney's top energy adviser, Oklahoma billionaire Harold Hamm contributed $985,000 to the top pro-Romney Super PAC -- a donation that was the second largest the group collected in April.

He has five children and lives in Enid, Oklahoma.  Hamm holds honorary degrees from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Enid High School.

(The Maddow Blog, 6/8/2012, NASDAQ, 6/15/2012, Wikipedia)

EPA Proposes Clean Air Standards for Harmful Soot Pollution

99 percent of U.S. counties projected to meet proposed standards without any additional actions 


In response to a court order, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed updates to its national air quality standards for harmful fine particle pollution, including soot (known as PM2.5). These microscopic particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and have been linked to a wide range of serious health effects, including premature death, heart attacks, and strokes, as well as acute bronchitis and aggravated asthma among children. A federal court ruling required EPA to update the standard based on best available science. Today’s proposal, which meets that requirement, builds on smart steps already taken by the EPA to slash dangerous pollution in communities across the country. Thanks to these steps, 99 percent of U.S. counties are projected to meet the proposed standard without any additional action.

EPA’s proposal would strengthen the annual health standard for harmful fine particle pollution (PM2.5) to a level within a range of 13 micrograms per cubic meter to 12 micrograms per cubic meter. The current annual standard is 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The proposed changes, which are consistent with the advice from the agency’s independent science advisors, are based on an extensive body of scientific evidence that includes thousands of studies – including many large studies which show negative health impacts at lower levels than previously understood. By proposing a range, the agency will collect input from the public as well as a number of stakeholders, including industry and public health groups, to help determine the most appropriate final standard to protect public health. It is important to note that the proposal has zero effect on the existing daily standard for fine particles or the existing daily standard for coarse particles (PM10), both of which would remain unchanged.

Thanks to recent Clean Air Act rules that have and will dramatically cut pollution, 99 percent of U.S. counties are projected to meet the proposed standards without undertaking any further actions to reduce emissions.

Meanwhile, because reductions in fine particle pollution have direct health benefits including decreased mortality rates, fewer incidents of heart attacks, strokes, and childhood asthma, these standards have major economic benefits with comparatively low costs. Depending on the final level of the standard, estimated benefits will range from $88 million a year, with estimated costs of implementation as low as $2.9 million, to $5.9 billion in annual benefits with a cost of $69 million – a return ranging from $30 to $86 for every dollar invested in pollution control. While EPA cannot consider costs in selecting a standard under the Clean Air Act, those costs are estimated as part of the careful analysis undertaken for all significant regulations, as required by Executive Order 13563 issued by President Obama in January 2011.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review its standards for particle pollution every five years to determine whether the standards should be revised. The law requires the agency to ensure the standards are “requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety” and “requisite to protect the public welfare.” A federal court ordered EPA sign the proposed particle pollution standards by June 14, 2012, because the agency did not meet its five-year legal deadline for reviewing the standards.

EPA will accept public comment for 63 days after the proposed standards are published in the Federal Register. The agency will hold two public hearings; one in Sacramento, CA. and one in Philadelphia, PA. Details on the hearings will be announced shortly. EPA will issue the final standards by December 14, 2012.  (EPA)

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Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

 Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

An aerial view of the construction of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013. The project’s three solar fields — occupying 3,600 acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management territory — will be able to generate about 392 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 140,000 homes.

The $2.2 billion solar thermal plant known as Ivanpah in the Mojave Desert in California will generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes when it is completed sometime in 2013. Nearly 350,000 mirrors on 3,600 acres will reflect light onto boilers. Steam will power turbines, which will generate electricity that flows to California homes. It will be the largest such plant in the world.

BrightSource Energy, one of Ivanpah’s developers, has benefited from a $1.6 billion government loan. It’s expensive harnessing the sun. And the costs go beyond construction. BrightSource says that it has spent more than $56 million relocating desert tortoises. (NY Times)

Greening The Media

Toby Miller and Richard Maxwell have just written a book called Greening the Media, from Oxford University Press. You'll never look at your cell phone, TV, or computer the same after reading this book. Greening the Media is a new way of conceptualizing and undertaking the history and political economy of the media that focuses on the ecological impact of print, cell phones, and everything in-between. They reveal the dirty secrets that hide inside our favorite electronic devices, to show how the physical reality of making, consuming, and discarding them is rife with toxic ingredients, poisonous working conditions, and hazardous waste.

The following is a link to the intro of the book.

ABOUT TOBY MILLER

Currently based in Los Angeles, Toby is a British-Australian-US interdisciplinary social scientist and the author of over 30 books. He has published essays in more than 100 journals and edited collections, and is a frequent guest commentator on television and radio programs. His teaching and research cover the media, sports, labor, gender, race, citizenship, politics, and cultural policy, as well as the success of Hollywood overseas and the adverse effects of electronic waste. Miller's work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Swedish, German, Turkish, Spanish and Portuguese.   Past interviews and talks.

ABOUT RICHARD MAXWELL

Based in New York, Richard Maxwell is a political economist of media and a Professor of Media Studies ant Queens College. He has published widely on a range of topics, from television in Spain's democratic transition to Hollywood's international dominance, from media politics in the post 9-11 era to how big political economic forces work in the mundane routines of daily life and culture. He recently spoke about Greening the Media at the New York TV Academy's "Mid-Morning Exchange."

EPA To Help Local Governments With Stormwater Runoff

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new framework to help local governments meet their Clean Water Act obligations. The Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework assists EPA regional offices, states, and local governments to develop voluntary storm and wastewater management plans and implement effective integrated approaches that will protect public health by reducing overflows from wastewater systems and pollution from stormwater. In developing the framework, the EPA worked in close coordination with a variety of stakeholders, including publicly owned treatment works, state water permitting authorities, local governments, and nonprofit environmental groups.

EPA's framework outlines new flexibility to pursue innovative, cost-saving solutions, like green infrastructure, and will help communities as they develop plans that prioritize their investments in storm and wastewater infrastructure.

The framework also highlights the importance of controlling and managing releases of storm and wastewater into the nation’s waters. When wastewater systems, many of which are aging, overflow they can release untreated sewage and other pollutants into local waterways. These overflows can carry a variety of harmful pollutants that can threaten communities’ water quality, including bacteria, metals, and nutrients, and can contribute to disease outbreaks, beach and shellfish bed closings, and fishing or swimming advisories. Stormwater discharges can also contain many of these pollutants, and municipalities are often faced with difficult choices about how to direct their funds to solve the most critical problems first.

The framework document is available on EPA's website, where the agency will also provide practical examples of how municipalities are implementing this approach, as they become available. (EPA)

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Palm Oil

Palm oil is an edible plant oil and is derived from the fruit of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit (raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red) .  Naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content, palm oil, along with coconut oil, is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats.  Like all vegetable oils, palm oil does not contain cholesterol. Palm oil is a common cooking oil in the tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil. Its increasing use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is buoyed by its lower cost^.

Palm oil products are made using milling and refining processes.  Melting and degumming removes impurities. Then the oil is filtered and bleached. Next, physical refining removes smells and coloration, to produce "refined bleached deodorized palm oil", or RBDPO, which are used as an important raw material in the manufacture of soaps, washing powder and other hygiene and personal care products.  RBDPO is the basic oil product sold on the world's commodity markets.

Palm oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodiesel. 

In 2008, global production of oils and fats stood at 160 million tonnes. Palm oil and palm kernel oil were jointly the largest contributor, accounting for 48 million tonnes or 30% of the total output. Soybean oil came in second with 37 million tonnes (23%). About 38% of the oils and fats produced in the world were shipped across oceans. Of the 60.3 million tonnes of oils and fats exported around the world, palm oil and palm kernel oil make up close to 60%; Malaysia, with 45% of the market share, dominates the palm oil trade.

Indonesia: As of 2009, Indonesia was the largest producer of palm oil, surpassing Malaysia in 2006, producing more than 20.9 million tonnes.

Malaysia: In 2008, Malaysia produced 17.7 million tonnes of palm oil on 4,500,000 hectares (17,000 sq mi) of land, and was the second largest producer of palm oil, employing more than 570,000 people. Malaysia is the world's second largest exporter of palm oil. About 60% of palm oil exports from Malaysia are shipped to China, the European Union, Pakistan, United States and India. They are mostly made into cooking oil, margarine, specialty fats and oleochemicals (analogous to petrochemicals derived from petroleum).

Nigeria: As of 2011, Nigeria was the third-largest producer, with more than 2.5 million hectares (6.2×10^⁶ acres) under cultivation. Until 1934, Nigeria had been the world's largest producer. Both small- and large-scale producers participated in the industry

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. RSPO is a not-for-profit association that represents stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.  It has over 450 member organisations that are from the different stakeholders in the palm oil supply chain from the Palm Oil Growers to the Palm Oil Processors and Traders, Banks and Investors, Consumer Goods Manufactures, Retailers, Environmental Organisations (NGOs) and Social Organisations (NGOs). The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with a satellite office in Jakarta.

The use of palm oil has become controversial with some environmental activist groups because it has led to removal of rainforests in parts of Indonesia in order to make space for oil-palm plantations. This has resulted in acreage losses of the natural habitat of the orangutan.

The Center believes palm oil can be produced in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. (Wikipedia)

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American Palm Oil Council

Green Palm

Greenpeace

Nestle

Malaysian Palm Oil Board

Neste Oil

Palm Oil HQ

Palm Oil Groups Retain Holland & Knight to Lobby EPA on Biofuels

Holland & Knight notified Congress this week (May 27) that it is lobbying for a trio of organizations that are looking to overcome U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerns about the use of biofuels from oil palm trees. Houston-based Neste Oil U.S. Inc., the Indonesian Palm Oil Board and Malaysian Palm Oil Council have hired the firm to advocate for the inclusion of palm oil-based biofuels in the EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard program. The program, which requires U.S. gasoline and diesel to have a minimum amount of renewable fuel, won't include palm oil if a proposal the EPA released in January goes into effect.

The Center opposes the EPA proposal.  Palm oil is a vital food resource and a very good greenhouse gas mitigation tool.

The EPA said in the proposal that palm oil-based biofuels failed to meet an emissions-reduction threshold that fuel blends must reach to join the program. In January, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding that biofuels derived from palm oil feedstocks failed to meet the standards set by the agency’s 2007 renewable fuels mandate. While they were found to have lower life-cycle emissions than conventional gasoline and diesel, palm oil came up short of the 20 percent reduction in related emissions that is required for inclusion in the new biofuel blends.

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The proposal’s public comment period, which ended on April 27, drew hundreds of submissions from Neste, the Indonesian Palm Oil Board, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and other supporters of palm oil, as well as its detractors, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, National Wildlife Federation and World Wildlife Fund. (Legal Times, 5/17/2012)

Mitt Romney's Energy Plan

Significant Regulatory Reform

The first step will be a rational and streamlined approach to regulation, which would facilitate rapid progress in the development of our domestic reserves of oil and natural gas and allow for further investment in nuclear power.

• Establish fixed timetables for all resource development approvals
• Create one-stop shop to streamline permitting process for approval of common activities
• Implement fast-track procedures for companies with established safety records to conduct pre-approved activities in pre-approved areas
• Ensure that environmental laws properly account for cost in regulatory process
• Amend Clean Air Act to exclude carbon dioxide from its purview
• Expand NRC capabilities for approval of additional nuclear reactor designs
• Streamline NRC processes to ensure that licensing decisions for reactors on or adjacent to approved sites, using approved designs, are complete within two years

Increasing Production

The United States is blessed with a cornucopia of carbon-based energy resources. Developing them has been a pathway to prosperity for the nation in the past and offers similar promise for the future.

• Conduct comprehensive survey of America’s energy reserves
• Open America’s energy reserves for development
• Expand opportunities for U.S. resource developers to forge partnerships with neighboring countries
• Support construction of pipelines to bring Canadian oil to the United States
• Prevent overregulation of shale gas development and extraction

Research and Development

Government has a role to play in innovation in the energy industry. History shows that the United States has moved forward in astonishing ways thanks to national investment in basic research and advanced technology. However, we should not be in the business of steering investment toward particular politically favored approaches. That is a recipe for both time and money wasted on projects that do not bring us dividends. The failure of windmills and solar plants to become economically viable or make a significant contribution to our energy supply is a prime example.

• Concentrate alternative energy funding on basic research
• Utilize long-term, apolitical funding mechanisms like ARPA-E for basic research

(Mitt Romney)

Watts Bar Over Budget & Schedule

Watts Bar

Tennessee Valley Authority on April 5 provided an update on the progress of construction at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear power plant near Spring City, Tenn. Expected to be completed by 2013 with a total cost of $2.49 billion, TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said the estimates on both cost and time were wrong.

Kilgore said the initial detailed scoping, estimating and planning study done on the unit in 2007 and approved by the TVA board appeared "aggressive but doable" at that time. The DSEP approved by the board in 2007 projected a 60-month construction schedule and a cost of $2.49 billion.

TVA now expects the project to cost an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion to complete, putting the total cost to complete Watts Bar 2 near $4 billion to $4.5 billion. TVA also said they will not complete the project by 2013 as expected. Officials said they now expect to have the unit operational between September and December 2015.

"We didn't do a good enough job when we started in 2007," Kilgore said. "While our intentions were well founded, our execution and progress reviews were not."

Kilgore said a new leadership team is now in place to correct the problems and successfully complete Watts Bar 2. Despite the sharp increase in costs, Watts Bar 2 remains a cost-effective solution to meeting the region's baseload power needs, Kilgore said. (Power Engineering, 5/1/2012)

Allison Macfarlane Nomination Hearing

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a nomination hearing on June 13 for Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s replacement, Allison Macfarlane. The hearing will also address the reappointment of Kristine Svinicki to the commission.

Cooking Oil: Renewable Biofuel

Excerpts from Anne Vazquez,

Biofuel can lower the amount of greenhouse gas emissions their buildings are responsible for producing.Biofuels can serve as a replacement for the traditional oily used to run boilers for space heating or process steam production. An alternative to conventional fossil based fuels, biofuel is derived from biological material (often called biomass) and can be solid, liquid, or gaseous.

Many biofuels are favored because they burn cleaner than conventional fuels. This results in less pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions. There are many materials that can be used to make biofuel. These include hemp seeds, soybeans, sugar cane, algae, agricultural waste (e.g. straw or wood), and used cooking oil. That last option—used cooking oil that has undergone treatment—is gaining increased attention and implementation in facilities.

Currently, this type of biofuel mainly replaces number 6 and number 2 fuel oil. Traditional number 6 and number 2 fuels are petroleum products; when they are burned, sulfur is released into the air along with particulates (e.g. ash content). Cooking oil fuel burns cleaner since no sulfur is released and ash content is in the range of .1% (versus about 2% with number 6 fuel).

One operational change is that the boiler can be set to a lower temperature to heat the fuel to a usable state. Conventional number 6 fuel requires continuous heating at about 220°F to 240°F for use, and our replacement fuel only requires heating to about 140°F.”

Meanwhile, the company’s number 2 fuel replacement does not require heating to remain liquid. However, Partanen explains it needs to be heated before being injected into the boiler. Facility managersinstall an inline heater to their systems in order to heat the fuel so it reaches proper atomization for igniting the boiler.

Biofuel isn’t currently price competitive for those using natural gas in their boilers. Natural gas prices are probably at an all-time low. However, that will swing considerably as the U.S. begins shipping shale gas overseas. But for those not using natural gas or who want to try biofuels for reasons other than cost, used cooking oil is a viable option.  (Today's Facility Manager, May 2012)

RGGI Auction Sells 20.9 Million CO2 Allowances

Current Control Period Allowances Sold at $1.93

20,941,000 carbon dioxide (CO₂) allowances were sold in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s (RGGI) 16th quarterly auction on Wednesday, announced the nine Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States participating in the second RGGI control period. The $40.4 million in funds generated by the auction will be reinvested by the RGGI States in energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, direct bill assistance, and other consumer benefit programs across the region.

Bids for the CO₂ allowances ranged from $1.93 to $6.14 per allowance, with a clearing price of $1.93, the minimum reserve price for the auction. Allowances sold represent 57 percent of the 36,426,008 allowances offered for sale by the nine states.

According to the independent market monitor’s report, electricity generators and their corporate affiliates have won 87 percent of CO₂ allowances sold in RGGI auctions since 2008. Additional details are available in the Market Monitor Report for Auction 16.

The RGGI states continue to analyze electricity generation and emissions trends as part of the comprehensive 2012 program review. CO₂ emissions in the ten-state region were 33 percent below the annual pollution cap of 188 million short tons during the first control period.

The next RGGI auction is scheduled for September 5, 2012.

Auction 16 Results At-A-Glance [CORRECTED]
Auction Date	June 6, 2012
Allowances Offered for Sale	36,426,008
Allowances Sold	20,941,000
Ratio of Bids to Supply	0.57x
Clearing Price	$1.93
Reserve Price	$1.93
Proceeds from Auction 16	$40,416,130.00
Total Cumulative Proceeds (All Auctions)	$1,034,168,168.19
Number of Bidders in Auction 16	24
Percent of Allowances Purchased by Compliance Entities & their Corporate Affiliates in Auction 16	95%

More data

About the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in the second RGGI control period (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont) have implemented the first mandatory market-based regulatory program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Power sector CO₂ emissions are capped at 165 million short tons per year through 2014. The cap will then be reduced by 2.5 percent in each of the four years 2015 through 2018, for a total reduction of 10 percent.

RGGI is composed of individual CO₂ budget trading programs in each state, based on each state’s independent legal authority. A CO₂ allowance represents a limited authorization to emit one short ton of CO₂, as issued by a respective state. A regulated power plant must hold CO₂ allowances equal to its emissions to demonstrate compliance at the end of each three-year control period. RGGI’s second control period began on January 1, 2012 and extends through December 31, 2014. CO₂ allowances issued by any state are usable across all state programs, so that the individual state CO₂ budget trading programs, in aggregate, form one regional compliance market for CO₂ emissions. For more information.

About Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc. (RGGI, Inc.) was created to provide technical and administrative services to the states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information.

The RGGI auctions are administered by RGGI, Inc. and run on an on-line platform provided by World Energy Solutions, Inc.

Natural Gas Prices at Historic Low

Natural-gas futures dropped to a one-month low this week after an increase in U.S. gas inventories renewed concerns about the massive domestic supply glut. Natural gas for July delivery fell 14.7 cents, or 6.1%, to settle at $2.274 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since May 2.

 

The U.S. Energy Department reported natural gas stockpiles rose by 62 billion cubic feet last week, above estimates calling for a 57-bcf jump. The increase pushed total U.S. stockpiles to 2.877 trillion cubic feet, the highest ever for this time of year and 33% above the five-year average.

The glut, caused by surging production in shale-gas fields, has pushed prices to near-decade lows.
Typically, gas storage rises through the spring and summer months, and starts to decline in winter as businesses and consumers burn the fuel for heat. But a mild winter across the U.S. this year led to record storage levels heading into the spring.  (WSJ, 6/7/2012)

Rio+20

About the Rio+20 Conference

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236), and will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. 

The Rio+20 Conference It is envisaged as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives. The Conference will result in a focused political document.

Themes of the Conference

The Conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.

Seven priority areas

The preparations for Rio+20 have highlighted seven areas which need priority attention; these include decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

How is Rio+20 being organized

Rio+20 is a joint endeavour of the entire UN System. A dedicated Secretariat is responsible for coordinating and facilitating inputs to the preparatory process from all UN bodies. The Rio+20 Secretariat is housed in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and headed by Conference Secretary-General Sha Zukang, who is supported by two Executive Coordinators: Elizabeth Thompson (former Minister of Environment of Barbados) and Ambassador Brice Lalonde (Former Minister of Environment of France). The preparatory process is led by an 11-member Bureau composed of UN Ambassadors from all regions of the world. The host country, Brazil, is leading the logistical preparations on the ground. (United Nations)

NRC Commissioner Bill Magwood Visits Indian Point

Bill Magwood, Norris McDonald

Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Bill Magwood visited the Indian Point nuclear power plant this week and toured the Hudson with Riverkeeper, the reactor's leading opponent. Based on a two-hour visit at the nuclear plant, William D. Magwood, one of the five members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, declared that Indian Point is "operating on a very high standard right now.

Magwood has visited a dozen plants around the country as part of his "personal education" and community outreach efforts. The commissioner praised Indian Point owner Entergy Corp. for taking some "very positive, very forward-leaning" steps by installing new equipment and procedures to deal with emergencies at a level that is not required in its current license.

Magwood's first-ever visit to the 250-acre Buchanan facility included a briefing with local media. Afterward, he and an aide drove to Peekskill's scenic Riverfront Green Park, where they boarded Riverkeeper's patrol boat.  Magwood is the first NRC official to ever go on the water with Riverkeeper.

Indian Point owner Entergy Corp. has filed an application to continue operating the nuclear power plant for another 20 years. The NRC released passing grades to the facility's two reactors earlier this month after an annual inspection. (Newsday, 5/29/2012)

Stephen Baldwin Kevin Costner Fight Over BP Deal

Kevin Costner’s attorney claims his client’s fame is the only reason why a fellow actor, Stephen Baldwin, sued him over their investments in a device used to try to clean up BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A trial opened Monday for Baldwin’s claims that Costner and business partner Patrick Smith duped him and a friend out of their shares of an $18 million deal for BP to buy oil-separating centrifuges after the April 2010 spill.

During opening statements, Costner’s attorney said his client played no role in Baldwin’s decision to sell his shares in a company that marketed the centrifuges to BP for $1.4 million. Baldwin’s lawyer told jurors that Costner and Smith spun a web of lies that cheated his client out of millions of dollars. (Wash Post 6/4/2012)

Sackett v. EPA: GOP Senators Inquiring

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Clean Water Act compliance orders are subject to judicial review before enforcement. In Sackett v. EPA, a couple was denied the right to a hearing by EPA to petition a ruling that they had violated the Clean Water Act. The court ruled that the Sacketts did have the right to the hearing and that EPA's compliance orders may be challenged in a civil action brought under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Congressional Research Service recently found that EPA issues more than 1,000 administrative compliance orders annually. The senators' letter said they don’t believe the Sacketts' case was an isolated incident.

A group of 16 Republican senators recently demanded an explanation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on how its practices will change after a recent Supreme Court ruling on the Clean Water Act. The want EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to respond to a comment by the water enforcement division that said the court’s decision on Sackett v. EPA will have little effect on the agency and that, “internally, it’s same old, same old.”  The senattors believe the court’s decision points toward a broader concern: that EPA should not use its enforcement authority to intimidate citizens into compliance. (The Hill, 6/1/2012)

World Environment Day

World Environment Day is June 5 and  the U.N. Environment Programme has designated the District as the North American host city.  The annual event is designed to showcase sustainability efforts and advances in green technology with events across the globe. This year, the main conference of world political, business and environmental leaders will be in Rio de Janeiro.

In the District, city and federal leaders have scheduled a week of seminars and demonstrations to mark the occasion.

On Sunday and Monday, the city will turn the Wilson High School athletic field into a free fair and environmental expo featuring music and more than 100 exhibits, including “green catering,” health screenings, smart cars, “live falcons and hawks” and other attractions. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.

On Wednesday, several panel discussions will be held at the National Press Club, including on sustainability issues facing cities.

In addition to recent local sustainability initiatives such as CapitalBikeshare, Gray announceda 20-year vision for the District last month that includes stringent new environmental standards, more urban farms and green roofs, a renewed effort to clean up the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and a 50 percent reduction in energy consumption and fossil fuel use by 2030. (Wash Post, 5/31/2012)

United States Puts Tariffs on Chinese Wind Turbine Towers

The U.S. Department of Commerce has put tariffs of between 13% and 26% on Chinese wind-turbine towers. The preliminary ruling, made in response to a complaint filed in December by a group of U.S. turbine-tower makers, found that Chinese firms enjoyed unfair government support, including grants, preferential tax treatment and cheaper prices for raw materials.

The Commerce Department announced tariffs of 13.74% on CS Wind and 26% on Titan Group companies. All other Chinese tower makers received preliminary tariffs of 19.87%. If the department affirms its preliminary findings later this summer and the U.S. International Trade Commission makes a separate determination that the subsidies are injuring U.S. companies, the tariffs could be final by October.

The Wind Tower Trade Coalition, the group of U.S. firms that filed the complaint, called the ruling "an important step in remedying the harm caused by unfairly traded wind tower exports. The tower coalition includes Broadwind Towers Inc., DMI Industries, Katana Summit LLC and Trinity Structural Towers Inc.

The outlook for the U.S. wind-energy market is uncertain because of the looming expiration of tax credits the industry needs to compete with traditional sources of electricity. American companies that make components for wind turbines are further battered by competition from Chinese and other foreign firms that have lower costs for labor and raw materials, making the massive towers cheap enough to ship around the world.

China is now the world's largest tower-manufacturing center. That has led to oversupply and falling prices for key components used in renewable-energy projects. Wind-tower manufacturers world-wide have production capacity that doubles global demand.  According to the Commerce Department, U.S. wind-farm developers imported $222 million worth of Chinese towers in 2011. Imported towers accounted for about half of the U.S. market. Chinese and Vietnamese towers together captured more than one-quarter of the U.S. market in 2011. (WSJ, 5/30/2012)

Pantex

The Pantex Plant, located 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas, in Carson County, is charged with maintaining the safety, security and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. The facility is managed and operated by B&W Pantex for the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration.

In 1942, the U.S. Army constructed the original Pantex Ordnance Plant on 16,000 acres. The mission of the Plant was to load and pack conventional artillery shells and bombs in support of the World War II effort. When the war ended in 1945, the site’s operations ceased and the land was sold to Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock.

In 1951, Pantex was reopened and refurbished for nuclear weapons, high explosive and non-nuclear component assembly operations. By 1960, Pantex Plant had taken on a new high explosives development mission in support of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Between 1965 and 1975, the Atomic Energy Commission moved various weapons modification, assembly and high explosives missions to the Plant from other facilities around the country.

Pantex workers assembled thousands of weapons during the Cold War. The last new nuclear weapon was completed in 1991. Since then, Pantex has safely dismantled thousands of weapons retired from the stockpile by the military and placed the resulting plutonium pits in interim storage.

Pantex has a long-term mission to safely and securely maintain the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and dismantle weapons retired by the military. Much of Pantex’s future workload includes life extension programs designed to increase the longevity of weapons in the stockpile. (Pantex)

Maryland & DC Water Bills To Double

Washington, DC

District residents will see their water bills more than double over the next six years in an effort to pay for a massive tunnel project aimed at stopping sewage from overflowing into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers.  Much of the increase is due to a dedicated tax to pay for a $2.6 billion tunnel that will run 13 miles from Northeast Washington, under the Anacostia, and end at D.C.'s Blue Plains treatment facility on the Potomac. The tax was implemented in 2009, but as construction ramps up, the average annual tax of $41.40 per household will increase to more than $345 by 2019, according to a recently released Brookings Institution report. Meanwhile, water bills are projected to increase from an average $576 per year to $1,248 per year for District residents.

Bills, bills, bills
Average monthly charge for:	2009	2011	2019	10-yr change
D.C. water retail rate	$37.53	$46.09	$70.45	88%
Impervious Area Charge*	$1.24	$3.45	$28.77	2,220%
Metering fee	$2.01	$3.86	$3.86	92%
* dedicated tax for tunnel project
Source: Brookings Institution

The tunnel project, which will collect sewage and other runoff that now overflows into the surrounding waterways during rainstorms, isn't slated to wrap up until 2025.  The District is locked into the project, which is federally mandated by a 2005 consent decree to reduce sewer overflows.

Federal help with the project has been unpredictable, as funding went from $20 million in 2010 to $11.5 million this year.

Maryland

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation on Mya 1st that will double the flush tax for most Marylanders. The flush tax, a fee used to renovate wastewater treatment plants in an effort to clean up the Bay, will double from $30 to $60 starting in July, raising roughly $56 million.

The tax as passed is a far cry from the governor's earlier proposed hikes to the fee -- a panel had originally suggested tripling the charge.

Lawmakers say the extra revenue will help the state comply with new federally led efforts to restore the Bay's water quality by 2025, and that the legislation keeps Maryland ahead of the curve when it comes to protecting the environment.

Another bill requires local jurisdictions to adopt development practices that move septic systems away from areas where water pollution is more likely to occur. And the governor signed legislation that requires locally funded projects to prevent storm water runoff from making its way from roads into rivers, streams and farmland. (Washington Examiner, 5/23/2012, Washington Examiner, 5/2/2102)

EPA Regulations on Fracking Air Emissions

EPA To Regulate Air Emissions from Hydraulic Fracturing As Industry Under Scrutiny

By Adam Orford

May 29, 2012

EPA will begin imposing new emissions control requirements on natural gas wells that are developed using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) under final regulations adopted last month. New hydraulically fractured wells, and older wells that are refractured, must immediately employ emissions combustion (flaring) technology, and must be fitted with emissions capturing devices, known as “green completion” technology, by 2015. The new rules also impose a number of additional technical requirements intended to reduce fugitive emissions from natural gas transmission, storage, and processing plants and equipment. These are the first significant updates to natural gas clean air regulations since 1999, and the first national environmental regulations to specifically address hydraulic fracturing. (Marten Law)

WIPP Can Supplement Or Replace Yucca Mountain

Carlsbad, New Mexico is a YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) city when it comes to storing nuclear waste.  This vibrant city of 25,000 would love to replace Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for high level nuclear waste.  The Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) already accepts low level nuclear waste.  WIPP is the nation’s only permanent, deep geologic repository for nuclear waste. The Nuclear Waste Fund has already collected about $30 billion from the ratepayers of nuclear reactor owners for a national repository.  Carlsbad wants this money.

Thanks to WIPP, unemployment sits at 3.8%, versus 6.5% statewide and 8.5% nationally. Also, New Mexico has received more than $300 million in federal highway funds in the past decade, $100 million of which has gone into the roads around Carlsbad.  The roads have to be good for the two dozen trucks a week hauling in radioactive drums brimming with the plutonium-laden detritus of America’s nuclear weapons production.

The Department of Energy’s $6 billion program created 1,300 permanent jobs, many of them high-paid engineering positions. Energy’s annual budget for WIPP is $215 million, much of which stays in the community as wages. The leaders of neighboring Lea and Eddy counties have established a 1,000-acre atomic industrial park.  On June 23, 2006, Louisiana Energy Services (LES) was issued a license to construct and operate a $3 billion gas centrifuge uranium enrichment/fabrication plant to be known as the URENCO USA facility, located five miles east of Eunice, New Mexico.

The Energy Department’s budget for the project has fallen in recent years from $250 million to $215 million; last year WIPP contractors shed 130 workers; those who remain are handling fewer shipments and less waste than before.

WIPP

Since opening in 1999, WIPP has operated so smoothly and safely that Carlsbad is lobbying the feds to ­expand the project to take the nuclear mother lode: 160,000 more tons of the worst high-level nuclear waste in the country—things like the half-melted reactor core of Three Mile Island and old nuclear fuel rods—that are residing at aging nuke plants.

Though taxpayers have already spent some $12 billion mining out and engineering Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas, power brokers in Nevada fought the congressionally approved project from the get-go. Bowing to Nimby—and Nevada’s powerful Senator Harry Reid—two years ago President Barack Obama’s Administration declared Yucca DOA. Contractors have since laid off some 1,000 workers there.

On Mar. 26, 1999 the townsfolk of Carlsbad gathered to cheer the first truck to deliver waste to WIPP.   New Mexico, in agreeing to WIPP, required that Congress enshrine in law a promise that the feds would not send high-level waste into the state. WIPP won’t be the next Yucca unless that issue is wrangled, and reversed, by Albuquerque and Washington, DC.

Carlsbad has perfect geology for the waste because it sits atop the biggest salt deposit in America, stretching from New Mexico clear to Kansas.  The 3,000-foot salt layer is the thickest in the country, is nearly impervious to seismic activity, quickly heals any cracks or faults and remains completely impermeable, with no way for any water to get in or for any radiation to escape.

The waste drums’ final resting place is down an elevator 2,150 feet into the salt.  WIPP’s tunnels and rooms have 15-foot ceilings, enough to stack drums three high. So far it’s swallowed 10,200 shipments totaling 200,000 tons impregnated with 5 tons of plutonium. To get that stuff to WIPP drivers have logged 12 million miles with loaded trucks and 10 million miles empty.

Low-level waste (LLW) is nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions for interemediate-level waste (ILW), high-level (HLW), spent nuclear nuclear fuel (SNF), transuranic waste (TRU), or certain byproduct materials known as 11e(2) wastes, such as uranium mill talings. In essence, it is a definition by exclusion, and LLW is that category of radioactive wastes that do not fit into the other categories. While the bulk of LLW is not highly radioactive, the definition of LLW does not include references to its activity, and some LLW may be quite radioactive, as in the case of radioactive sources used in industry and medicine.

High level waste (HLW) is very radioactive and contains many of the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core.  HLW accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced in the nuclear power process. In other words, while most nuclear waste is low-level and intermediate-level waste, such as protective clothing and equipment that have been contaminated with radiation, the majority of the radioactivity produced from the nuclear power generation process becomes high-level waste.  High level waste is very radioactive and, therefore, requires special shielding during handling and transport. It also needs cooling, because it generates a great deal of heat. Most of the heat, for the first several hundred years, is from the fission products cesium-137 and strontium-90.

(Wiki, Urenco, Forbes, 1/25/2012)

Obama Nominates Allison Mcfarlane To Chair NRC

Allison Mcfarlane

President Obama nominated George Mason University Professor Allison Macfarlane to serve as chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Allison Macfarlane is an associate professor of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She is also an affiliate of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT and the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

Allison received her PhD in Geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. She has held fellowships at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, the Centre for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University, and the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

From 1998-2000 Allison was a Social Science Research Council - MacArthur Foundation fellow in International Peace and Security. She has served on National Academy of Sciences panels on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons issues.

She is currently a member of the White House’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. She is also chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and serves on the Keystone Centre’s Energy Board.

Her research focuses on environmental policy and international security issues associated with nuclear energy, especially the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. In 2006, MIT Press published her book, Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste, which explores the unresolved technical issues for nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. (The Mark News, The Hill, 5/24/2012)

Northwest Coal Exports

Cherry Point, Wash. SSA Marine is planning to build and operate the Gateway Pacific Terminal, a new shipping facility north of Bellingham, Wash., that would be capable of handling 48 million tons of coal per year. Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private sector coal company, has already agreed to supply 24 million tons of coal.

Longview, Wash. Millennium Bulk Terminals, a subsidiary of the Australian coal mining company Ambre Energy, purchased a port site on the Columbia River. Arch Coal, a major American coal mining company, has a 38 percent stake in the site. Ambre hopes to export 44 million tons of coal, with 25 million tons in the first phase.

Grays Harbor, Wash. According to newspaper accounts, RailAmerica is planning to develop a coal export terminal at the Port of Grays Harbor’s Marine Terminal 3 that could handle 5 million tons of coal each year.

Port of St. Helens, Ore. Kinder Morgan is planning to build and operate a coal export terminal at the Port Westward Industrial Park near Clatskanie, Ore., that will be capable of handling 30 million tons of coal per year, with 15 million tons in an initial phase of development.

Port of Morrow, Ore. Ambre Energy is planning to construct a facility on the Columbia River in eastern Oregon that will transfer coal from rail to barges that will be towed downriver to Port Westward, where the coal will be loaded on ongoing vessels. The company says that the system will be capable of handling 8 million tons per year.

Coos Bay, Ore. The Port of Coos Bay is considering a mysterious proposal, known to the public only as “Project Mainstay,” that officials say could export 6 to 10 million tons of coal per year.

(Grist, 5/23/2012)