THIS MORNING’S HEARING: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing today examining how the Environmental Protection Agency is conducting chemical reviews under the Toxic Substances Control Act. But both sides of the aisle aren’t happy – and Republicans along with Democrats are expressing concerns that the EPA is slow-walking the peer review process while agency officials are asking for further funding.
During opening remarks, ranking member Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia pressed for the EPA to hold firm to its deadlines of reviewing chemicals, noting that agency timeliness is crucial to maintaining global competitiveness, expanding industries, and onshoring domestic supply chains.
“For three years, the Biden administration has been implementing the 2016 TSCA amendments, and yet the slow pace … has not improved,” Capito said. “The scapegoat of blaming the prior administration is no longer holding water. … Approving submissions within the deadline is not an aspirational goal. It is a legal obligation for the EPA to ensure that innovation is not stifled by bureaucracy.”
Dr. Michal Freedhoff, the assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, testified that the EPA needs further resources in order to fully enact the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act – a bill passed under the Obama administration that looked to update TSCA in order to regulate the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. The amendment imposed a mandatory requirement for the agency to evaluate existing chemicals with “clear and enforceable” deadlines. The law also changed the standard of how chemicals are assessed, increased transparency for chemical information, and expanded the EPA’s authority to require the development of chemical information if necessary.
Freedhoff also defended the timelines, arguing that there shouldn’t be a choice between safety and speed – and stated that the agency needs further funding to help support the added workload since the 2016 law was implemented.
“We don’t need to change the law. We need funding to implement the law we have,” he said.
But it’s not just Republicans expressing concerns about the EPA’s peer review process – a number of Democrats questioned the EPA’s representative about the agency’s processes for evaluating chemical risks.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked the witness if there was “motivation to delay” the applications from chemical manufacturers and producers.
Freehoff responded that there was no such motivation – and reasoned that the delays come from miscommunication between the EPA and industry players during the application process.
Another committee member, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, cited peer review comments on an EPA white paper on evaluating asbestos, where commenters had noted that members of the EPA Science Advisory Panels were ordered not to speak to one another while reviewing the white paper – a practice that was considered “inconsistent” with the agency’s practices. Download that comment here.
Freedhoff said that the agency moved to do “letter” peer reviews for the legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos to streamline the evaluation process, as much of the science had been previously evaluated. Still, Merkley was still “not sold” and requested that the committee take a deeper look at this process.
Why this is important: Since 2016, the EPA has finished 10 priority chemical reviews, and began releasing subsequent rules regulating the substances. However, there are still 414 total active cases to be reviewed – all of which are required to be reviewed 90 days before a company manufactures or processes a chemical substance for a new use.
How it ties to funding: But further funding for the EPA to carry out this mission will be a tall order. The House Republicans’ appropriation bill outlined a nearly 40% cut to the agency – bringing it to 1991 levels. This will be one of many funding hurdles appropriators will have to figure out when passing a budget.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer dot com or nancy.vu@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
LOW-EMISSIONS POWER GROWTH TO KEEP PACE WITH DEMAND, IEA PROJECTS: A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that growth in the low-emissions power sector—which includes wind, solar, and nuclear power—is slated to expand at an “adequate” pace to meet growth in global demand through 2026, when it is expected to comprise more than 50% of the global power mix.
The Paris-based agency said renewable energy resources are on track to overtake coal power by early 2025, and will make up more than one-third of global energy generation.
And while power demand is slated to rise on average by 3.4% between 2024 and 2026, global emissions will see a drop of 2.4% beginning in 2024, followed by smaller emissions drop-offs in the next two years.
“The decoupling of global electricity demand and emissions would be significant given the energy sector’s increasing electrification, with more consumers using technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps,” the IEA said in its report. Read more on that here.
A REQUEST FOR MORE HOME HEATING AID: The head of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association asked members of Congress yesterday to provide additional funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, as one in six U.S. households is currently behind on its energy bills, and as Congress looks to pass a new spending deal to keep the government funded through March.
Speaking to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, NEADA executive director Mark Wolfe said that more than 17% of U.S. households were unable to pay their energy bills at least once in the last 12 months—upping the pressure on Congress to provide more energy aid, especially as energy costs for many American have soared amid extreme cold and heat in recent years.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said yesterday she’s prepared to work with Democrats in the chamber to “include the highest level of funding possible” for LIHEAP, according to the Associated Press.
Wolfe added that increasing the fund is crucial to ensuring some 1.5 million families do not get cut from the program in 2024. Read more here.
OIL NEARS $80 PER BARREL AMID MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS AND CHINESE CENTRAL BANK ACTIONS: Oil prices inched closer to $80 per barrel today amid ongoing Middle East tensions and as China’s central bank announced plans to stimulate lending a bid to jumpstart its stalled economic recovery.
Prices for international benchmark Brent crude rose to $79.95 per barrel by midday, an increase of 40 cents from the previous day of trading, while U.S. based West Texas Intermediate rose to $74.94 per barrel—a 57-cent increase.
The slight price hikes come one day after the U.S. and 23 other nations conducted new strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in an effort to stop further disruption in the Red Sea. Houthi rebels have mounted dozens of attacks on shipping vessels since late November, prompting most companies to reroute around Africa and away from the Suez Canal.
The U.S. also struck three Iranian militia-linked targets in Iraq yesterday after three U.S. forces were wounded in a weekend attack.
Meanwhile, China is “taking steps to try to shock and awe its beleaguered economy out of a tailspin,” Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn told CNBC, pushing oil prices slightly higher.
“Talk of a big rescue package is making the rounds and steps today by the Chinese government suggest that that could be coming sooner rather than later,” he added.
TESLA EXPECTED TO START PRODUCTION OF NEW ‘MASS MARKET’ EV IN 2025: Tesla is slated to begin production of a new mass market EV in mid-2025, and projects it will have the capacity to produce roughly 10,000 of the new vehicles weekly.
Reuters reports the vehicle has been described by several people familiar with the plans as a “compact crossover” vehicle, known internally by the code name “Redwood.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long mulled the possibility of the company making a more affordable EV in a bid to expand availability to more drivers—a goal that has taken on more importance as it looks to compete with Chinese automaker BYD, which surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker in the final quarter of 2023.
Currently, Tesla’s cheapest option is the Model 3 sedan, which carries a sticker price beginning at $38,990 in the U.S.
Sources told Reuters that Tesla sent requests for quotes to suppliers last year for its Redwood vehicle, and is targeting a production date in mid-2025. Read more from the outlet here.
TRIBES AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SUE TO BLOCK MASSIVE TRANSMISSION LINE IN THE WEST: A group of tribes and environmental groups asked a federal judge to block a $10 billion transmission line project in Arizona, arguing that the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately consider the “overwhelming evidence of the cultural significance” of the San Pedro Valley, and that the project will cause “serious, irreversible adverse effects on tribal cultural sites and sacred areas, including areas with human remains.”
Plaintiffs included the Tohono O’odham Nation and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, as well as the Center for Biological Diversity, and the group Archaeology Southwest. They filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, shortly after BLM granted project developer Pattern Energy limited approval to transmit electricity along the new route, which traverses 50 miles of the San Pedro Valley.
“The case for protecting this landscape is clear,” Archaeology Southwest said in a statement, saying the San Pedro Valley and river embody a “unique and timely story of social and ecological sustainability across more than 12,000 years of cultural and environmental change.”
Once completed, the $10 billion, 550-mile transmission line is expected to run from Pattern Energy-owned SunZia wind farm in New Mexico through Arizona’s San Pedro Valley, and provide power to residents as far West as California. The SunZia wind project is the largest of its kind in the West, and is slated to produce 3,500 MW of wind power once it begins operations.
The project is considered one of the biggest U.S energy infrastructure projects in construction since the Hoover Dam, and is slated to begin commercial service in 2026. But plaintiffs argue it does not comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to take into consideration projects’ effects on historic sites, and when relevant, conduct a review that allows for input from the public and interested local parties. Read more on the project here.
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