... ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Chemicals Bills Approved by House Committees

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee recently approved H.R. 4591, the Stockholm and Rotterdam Toxics Treaty Act of 2005, along party lines by a vote of 28-15.

The bill amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and deals with the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (or POPs) and other international toxic agreements.

A related bill, H.R. 3849, was passed by voice vote by the House Agriculture Committee yesterday. H.R. 3849 would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and is basically a companion bill to H.R. 4591.

Both bills deal with three treaties to be ratified by the U.S. Senate (if this legislation passes the House):
........... • The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP's);
........... • The POPs Protocol to the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP); >>>>>>>and
........... • The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain >>>>>>>Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.

All three of these treaties have entered into force since May 2004, with the United States as a signatory to them, but the Senate has not ratified the measures, due to the lack of legislation.

The House must pass both bills this fall and then send them to the Senate for that body to be able to ratify these treaties. Such action will thus allow the United States, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to actively participate in future international talks over the banning of select chemicals considered highly hazardous in the Stockholm and the other related treaties.

The legislation itself provides the legal authority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict the use of new chemicals—and thereby gives the EPA its legal ability to participate in international discussions related to adding any new toxins to this list—which EPA is currently unable to do.

The Stockholm treaty contains language related to the use of "hazardous wastes" in cement production, and is therefore being monitored for any changes to the legislation that may have adverse effects on plant operators.

Click here to view the Stockholm treaty language and additional information. Click here to view the text of H.R. 4591 (and then enter "Stockholm and Rotterdam" or simply "4591" into the locator).

Contact: John Shaw.

Presidential Nominations for the Bureau of Reclamation

Last week President Bush nominated Robert W. Johnson, currently the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region director, to be the next Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.

Johnson is a 31-year veteran of the bureau and if confirmed by the Senate would replace Mr. John W. Keyes, who recently retired.

Contact: John Sullivan.

International Commission Issues Report on Pollutant Releases with Chapter on Cement Industry

The Commission on Environmental Cooperation, a multi-lateral body established as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), this week issued its annual report on pollutant emissions and releases.

The document, titled Taking Stock, has been produced for a number of years. It catalogues the releases of pollutants to environment from industries in Canada, Mexico, and the United States—the three nations that are parties to NAFTA.

Each year the CEC includes a chapter highlighting a single industry sector or issue present in or affecting each NAFTA nation; last year, the focus was on lead emissions.

PCA and the Cement Association of Canada were made aware earlier this year that there would be a chapter on cement, and to that end, provided comment to CEC on a draft version of the chapter.

The emission information in the document is largely derived from the national pollutant release databases, including the Toxics Release Inventory in the United States, as well as the National Pollutant Release Inventory in Canada.

Overall, the report concludes that releases of toxics chemicals by all industry sectors fell between 1998 and 2003 by more than 20 percent.

Click here for a copy of the press statement that accompanied the release of the document. Click here for the full report in English; here for the full report in French; or here for the full report in Spanish.
(Note: the report is approximately 344 pages or 9MB).

Contact: Andy O'Hare.

Texas Administrative Law Judge Denies Motion to Reconsider

Judge William G. Newchurch, a Texas state administrative law judge (ALJ) with the State Office of Administrative Hearings, last week denied a motion filed on behalf of KBDJ, L.P., a limestone producer, to reconsider his July 12th decision with respect to demonstration of compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

In his order denying KBDJ's motion, Judge Newchurch asserted that the federal and state rules relating to the air dispersion modeling standards for particulate matter equal to or less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) are distinct.

Judge Newchurch dismissed a 1997 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memo that equated a PM10 NAAQS standard with a PM2.5 NAAQS standard for non-attainment areas.

He stated that the EPA memo reflected "implementation considerations" and was not reflective of scientific or technical analysis.

Instead, he stated: "[t]his is not an obscure bureaucratic point. The history of their adoption shows that the PM2.5 NAAQS are not only protective of public health, etc., but are essential to such protection.

"With no PM2.5 evidence, the ALJ cannot find that KBDJ's emissions will not likely adversely impact the Protestants' health, welfare, or physical property; cause nuisance conditions; or adversely impact plants and wildlife."

Historically, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the EPA have allowed for PM10 to be used as a surrogate for PM2.5 in an effort to demonstrate compliance with NAAQS.

The TCEQ's Office of Commissioners has yet to rule on Judge Newchurch's order. (Source: Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association.)

For more information, contact: Tom Harman or Robert Sullivan.

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