Energy

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump EPA ripped over approach to chemical risk evaluations in new report | Fetterman pledges not to accept fossil fuel money in Pennsylvania Senate race | | 15 states sue over Trump plan to limit penalties on automakers failing to meet


HAPPY TUESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.

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THE RESULTS ARE IN:The Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) said it is changing the way it evaluates risk from introducing chemicals, following a new report that criticized the agency’s approach under the Trump administration.

The new report, released Tuesday by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, said that the approach outlined in a 2018 guidance document “does not meet the criteria of ‘comprehensive, workable, objective, and transparent.’”

The report said that the approach outlined in the document led to broad questions, resulting in complicated analyses and challenges in drawing conclusions.

It particularly said that the agency’s review of trichloroethylene (TCE), was “of critically low quality” and said it shouldn’t be relied on as an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the studies available. 

The report said that in general, conceptual models used under the approach are “not consistently accounting for all exposure pathways.”

For the TCE evaluation, it said that land wastewater discharges weren’t considered even though this practice leaves chemical contaminants in soils. 

TCE has been linked to impacts on the central nervous system, liver and kidneys. 

In response to the report, the EPA said in a statement that it will “refine its approach to selecting and reviewing the scientific studies that are used to inform … chemical risk evaluations.”

The agency added that it is not using the approach evaluated in the report and that it will not use the approach again. 

Read more about the report and the EPA’s move here. 

NO THANKS! Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who announced a 2022 Senate bid earlier this month, said in a statement Tuesday that he will not accept donations from the fossil fuel industry in his run.

Fetterman said in the statement obtained by The Hill via email that he had signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, under which candidates vow not to accept more than $200 from executives, lobbyists or PACs connected to the oil, gas or coal industries.

“I never have and never will take a dime from the fossil fuel industry,” Fetterman, who signed a similar pledge in his 2018 lieutenant governor run, said in a statement.

“Climate change is an existential threat, and we need to transition to clean energy as quickly as possible. And as we do this, we must ensure that we have a just transition that honors and upholds the union way of life for workers across Pennsylvania and creates thousands of good-paying union jobs in the process,” he continued. 

Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock, has long said that practical environmental solutions must incorporate the energy industry’s role in economies like Pennsylvania’s.

He is one of three declared Democratic candidates for the Pennsylvania Senate seat, which Sen. Pat ToomeyPatrick (Pat) Joseph ToomeyToomey censured by several Pennsylvania county GOP committees over impeachment vote Toomey on Trump vote: ‘His betrayal of the Constitution’ required conviction Romney on impeachment vote to convict: ‘Trump incited the insurrection’ MORE (R-Pa.) has said he will leave at the end of his second term.

Reached for comment, former Norristown Borough Council President John McGuigan, one of the other declared candidates in the race, told The Hill he intends to sign the pledge as well as another backing a Green New Deal.

Read more about the commitment here. 

SUIT UP: A group of 15 attorneys general is petitioning the courts to block the Biden administration from fulfilling automakers’ last minute request to the Trump administration to limit penalties for those who do not meet emissions standards.

A Jan. 14 rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved automakers’ request to delay taking into account inflation when fining car manufacturers for failing to comply with federal emissions regulations.

“NHTSA should not let automakers who fail to comply with Congress’s mandate to improve the fuel efficiency of their vehicles off the hook. No detour — no matter how roundabout — can bypass Congress’ directive,” said Bethany Davis Noll, executive director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, which highlighted the petition, adding that the standards are “a win-win-win for drivers, public health and the climate.”

The Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council filed a similar suit last month.

NHTSA did not respond to request for comment.

The case presents a chance for the Biden administration to signal its willingness to reverse course on Trump’s auto policy.

During the Trump administration NHTSA made multiple attempts to reduce penalties for automakers, finalizing a rule that lowered penalties for manufacturers from $14 to $5.50 for every tenth of a mile per gallon (mpg) they fall below fuel efficiency standards. 

Read more about the lawsuit here. 

COMING SOON, TO A HOUSE FLOOR NEAR YOU: Next Wednesday, the House is expected to vote on a package of bills on public lands and waters, according to the chamber’s Natural Resources Committee

In a statement Tuesday, the committee said that the package would include bills introduced in the last Congress and this year. It will include measures aimed at conservation in Arizona, Colorado, California and Washington state.  

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Trump’s California water plan troubled federal biologists. They were sidelined, The Sacramento Bee and The Guardian report

150 years of spills: Philadelphia refinery cleanup highlights toxic legacy of fossil fuels, Reuters reports

Biden aims to isolate China on coal — but it could blow back on the U.S., Politico reports

ICYMI:Stories from Tuesday and the long weekend…

15 states sue over Trump plan to limit penalties on automakers failing to meet emissions standards

Democrats propose executive actions on electric vehicle acquisitions

Photos from around the world show cities hit by record-setting snowstorms

Texas storm could spark increase in gas prices

IBM pledges net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Oklahoma bill would push mountain lion hunting in response to increased sightings

Bill Gates: Rich nations should move to ‘100 percent synthetic beef’

Fetterman pledges not to accept fossil fuel money in Pennsylvania Senate race

7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Japan

Trump EPA ripped over approach to chemical risk evaluations in new report





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