Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
february 2014
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environment
Senate addresses chemical spill and water contamination in WV
On February 4, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held a hearing on safe drinking water supplies. This was one of a series of hearings convened as a direct result of the Freedom Industries chemical spill in West Virginia in January 2014 that spilled up to 10,000 gallons of 4-Methylcyclohexene Methanol (MCHM) and polyglycol ethers (PPh) at Elk River near Charleston, WV. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a field hearing in Charleston, WV, to examine the same issue.
Freedom Industries has filed for bankruptcy in order to finance class action lawsuits from some of the 300,000 citizens whose drinking water was contaminated when the chemical plume reached the downstream supply intake of American Water Company utility.
EPW Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in her opening statement articulated that the current Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) classifies MCHM as “low priority.” She argued the currently debated Chemical Safety Improvement Act introduced in 2013, would preclude states from acting and citizens from pursuing litigation on a low-priority contamination, such as the Freedom Spill. Sen. Boxer’s bill, the Chemical Safety and Drinking Water Protection Act, would improve state inspections of above ground storage facilities and implement emergency response protocols in the event of a spill.
Sources: American Water Utility Company; E&E Daily; Environmental Protection Agency; Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; USA Today
Administration teams with France on climate change
The U.S. and France have teamed up to lead an international initiative to address climate change. During a visit to the White House this February, French President Francois Hollande and President Obama committed to “pursue concrete actions” to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in preparation for the U.N.’s 21st Conference of the Parties on Climate Change to be held in Paris in 2015.
The goal of the Conference is to engage both developed and developing nations in a binding climate agreement to reduce GHG emissions. The terms of any agreement would be implemented beginning in 2020.
Sources: ClimateWire, E&E Daily, France Diplomatie, White House Press Office
U.S. and India attempt to come to a climate change agreement
Notable senior officials including Indian Ambassador to the United States S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor to President Obama, Susan Rice, among other industry leaders, environmental activists and government officials attended a sponsored U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue to facilitate cooperation on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards between the two nations.
Tension stems from disagreement on 2007 adjustments to the Montreal Protocol, which was created in 1989 to reduce global emissions of ozone-depleting substances. Indian officials have publicly resisted including hydroflourocarbons (HFC’s) produced by fossil fuel energy production under the Protocol because HFC’s are not ozone-depleting substances even though they are powerful GHG’s, according to Bloomberg. The adjustments created timelines for reduction of HFC emissions, hoping to reach global baseline levels by 2030. Indian Premier Manmohan Singh stated last year that India’s current lack of viable non-HFC producing energy substitutes make the Protocol’s HFC phasedown unfeasible.
In the dialogue, Rice highlighted recent cooperative developments between the countries. These include progress in nuclear power utility negotiations under the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which aims to use American investments to build reactors powering New Delhi and Mumbai to decrease GHG’s. Rice also praised the largest off-grid renewable power project in the world, Ladakh Renewable Energy Inititative, which aims to provide 20,000+ MW of power to northern rural India by 2022.
Conference attendees hope to turn dialogue into concrete progress before the UN Climate Summit in September.
Sources: E&E News; Aspen Institute; U.S. Dept. of State; Energy Information Administration; Nuclear Regulatory Council; Bloomberg News; Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency
EPA reviews nuclear radiation limits; NRC reviews nuclear waste storage
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of updating some of its nuclear energy regulations, including nuclear operation and waste storage standards.
On February 4, the EPA issued a request for public comment on its Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Nuclear Power Operations. The standards have not been updated since their formation in 1977. Advancements in radiation dose, risk methods and detection tools, as well as improved nuclear technologies have led the EPA to revise the rules. The EPA is also considering re-examining surface and groundwater contamination protections for reactor sites. The standards are open for comment until June 4.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is in the process of revising its generic determination on the environmental impacts of the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel beyond a reactor’s licensed life for operation and prior to ultimate disposal. The NRC has prepared a Waste Confidence Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which suggests that it is feasible to store spent nuclear fuel safely beyond the licensed life of operation of a reactor.
Advances in scientific understanding and technology combined with concern about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have renewed interest in nuclear power as a viable non-GHG-producing energy source.
Sources: E&E News; Environmental Protection Agency; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Government Printing Office