Phillip Hoover Archives

Apr 7, 2022

EPA to Cease Accepting Expedited Corrections to TSCA Inventory

On February 24, the EPA announced that it will stop accepting streamlined requests to correct entries on the TSCA Inventory of Chemicals in Commerce as of April 26, 2022. Historically, the Agency has allowed corrections to chemical identities using the same forms and documentation used to add an existing chemical to the inventory. This practice greatly streamlined and expedited the ability of industries to correct mistakes made in initial filings. Under the EPA’s new policy; however, the Agency will require any changes to go through the same pre-manufacture notice (“PMN”) process required for completely new chemicals. The decision has already… Read more

Mar 28, 2022

Department of Energy Announces Domestic Battery Strategy

On Friday, March 18, Energy Secretary, Jenner Granholm announced a program to develop lithium batteries in the United States as a part of a broader strategy to help Appalachia amid a transition away from coal. The lithium batteries are necessary components of electric vehicles and are used for storage on the U.S. electrical grid; however, the U.S. relies almost entirely on international markets for the processing of most raw materials. As a part of its plan, the Department has announced $5,000,000 in funding for pilot projects to be located in the 13-state Appalachia region. One such project, the development of… Read more

Feb 14, 2022

EPA to List New Hazardous Air Pollutant

The Environmental Protection Agency has added a new chemical to the list of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) for the first time since the list was created in 1990. The chemical, 1 bromopropane (1-BP), is used as a commercial degreaser and in dry cleaning operations. Now that 1-BP is added to the list of HAPs, the EPA will begin the process of proposing final regulations governing emission limitations which could take several years. Companies emitting 1-BP should begin the process of accessing their emission potentials, and to consider alternative products to eliminate the use of 1-BP altogether. Specifically, facilities that are… Read more

Sep 10, 2019

U.S. Gas Plants will be Outperformed by Wind and Solar by 2035

Natural gas-fired power plants, which are largely responsible for undermining the economics of coal-fired plants, are expected to be undercut by renewable power by 2035. According to a September 9 report from the Rocky Mountain Institute, analysis performed on the cost of construction, fuel, and anticipated operations for 68 gigawatt gas plants compared to the cost of building a combination of solar farms, wind plants, and battery systems indicate that it will be more expensive to run 90% of the gas plants being proposed in the U.S. compared to sustainable energy plants. As gas plants lose their viability and power… Read more

Jun 20, 2018

EPA Soliciting Comments on BUILD Act

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to streamline the cleanup and reuse of National Priorities List sites with an emphasis on private party participation and private investment. NPL site designation was once a popular way for affected communities to secure federal funding for remediation, but the program has long suffered from lack of funding. Now, the Trump administration seeks to streamline the delisting of NPL sites in the same manner as the redevelopment of brownfields. One example of this initiative is the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development (BUILD) Act, which was enacted on March 23, 2018, and reauthorizes EPA’s… Read more

Jun 13, 2018

Wind and Gas Surpassed by Solar as Biggest Source of New U.S. Power

Solar Power: Technicians work on solar panels

In the first quarter of 2018, developers have installed 2.5 Gw of solar power – up 13% from the previous year. According to a report from the Solar Energy Industry Association and GTM Research, the 2.5 Gw increase accounted for 55% of all new power generation with solar panels beating new wind and natural gas turbines for a second straight quarter. The growth in the solar sector came despite tariffs on imported panels which were anticipated to increase costs for developers. According to GTM, total anticipated installations this year are expected to be upwards of 10.8 Gw. For more information,… Read more

May 15, 2018

EPA Announces New Carbon Neutral Policy for Forest Biomass Energy

Carbon Neutral Policy and Forest Biomass

On February 23, 2018, Scott Pruitt announced a new EPA policy which will treat forest biomass burned at power plants as carbon neutral in all future regulations. According to Pruitt, the policy will provide “much-needed certainty and clarity” on the carbon neutrality of forest biomass – a clarification that the forest and paper industries have long sought. Biomass involves obtaining energy by burning wood and other organic matter which is classified as renewable energy in the European Union and United Nations because plant stocks can be replaced with new growth. In the U.S., regulatory uncertainty regarding how the EPA would treat… Read more

May 9, 2018

Turning Poultry Waste and Scrapwood into Electricity

Veolia Environment SA has agreed to operate and maintain three power plants in the southeast that will generate electricity from burning wood and poultry waste. Veolia current has a short-term contract with Georgia Renewable Power LLC to manage a Lumberton, North Carolina power plant that burns poultry litter and wood biomass. In a deal announced on March 2, Veolia will get a 15 year operation and maintenance contract to operate the 25 MW facility and to oversee two additional sites in Georgia. Georgia Renewable Power plans to build two biomass facilities in Georgia, each of which will have capacity to… Read more

May 2, 2018

Guilt-Free Sara Lee: Renewable Energy Plans

Grupo Bimbo SAB (“GB”), the maker of Sara Lee Cakes and Thomas’ English Muffins, has announced plans to buy wind credits to erase its carbon footprint created by its baking operations. GB announced plans to convert to renewable energy for all its U.S. operations by 2020 and has just locked in credits for 100 megawatts of wind power from Invenergy LLC, a Chicago-based, renewable energy company. GB will begin offsetting its energy use with generation from Invenergy’s Santa Rita East wind farm in Iron County, Texas, in the third quarter of 2019. In a statement released by GB’s Chief Executive… Read more

Apr 18, 2018

EPA Posts Updated List of “Active” Chemical Substances

The Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory (“Inventory”) is a list of chemical substances manufactured (including imported) or processed in the United States. On April 12, 2018, EPA posted an updated version of the Inventory, designating nearly 31,000 chemicals on the public portion of the Inventory as “active” in U.S. commerce. TSCA regulation generally prohibits the manufacture, importation, or processing of “inactive” chemical substances. On June 22, 2016, Congress amended TSCA pursuant to the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The amended TSCA initiated an “Inventory reset” process, which required EPA to designate chemical substances as “active”… Read more