GOVERNMENT & POLICY CONCENTRATES
CHLORINE INDUSTRY FEARS HIGHER SHIPPING COSTS
EPA WILL REVISIT NEW SOURCE REVIEW RULE
The chlorine industry is asking the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to fix what it calls a “faulty cost-benefit analysis” of a new regulation that requires freight railroads to install a new crash-avoidance technology by 2015. The industry fears that railroads could pass along potentially large costs for implementing the technology to shippers of chemicals that pose toxic inhalation hazards (TIH). In 2008, Congress ordered the use of positive train control (PTC) systems that are capable of preventing train-to-train collisions and derailments. FRA estimates the cost of installing PTC to be $10 billion to $13 billion over 20 years, with about a $500 million safety benefit. But the Chlorine Institute says that that analysis “drastically underestimates the rule’s benefits” and “could foster a situation that would allow railroads to impose on TIH shippers an unfairly large share of the costs of applying PTC technology.” Arthur Dungan, the trade group’s president, told FRA in a filing that railroads “have already announced that they will attempt to recover their investment in PTC from those shippers offering TIH materials for rail movement.” A railroad industry group says the high cost of the PTC mandate “is a direct result of the toxic nature of chlorine shipments.”—GH
EPA says it will reconsider a rule proposed in January 2009 that would regulate new sources of air emissions from existing facilities. The rule, under the New Source Review section of the Clean Air Act, would control how companies combine, or aggregate, multiple physical or operational changes at a plant into a single project for the purpose of obtaining an operating permit from EPA. The reconsideration is in response to a petition filed by the advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council that raised numerous objections to the proposed rule, which was published in the last days of the George W. Bush Administration. On the basis of these objections, EPA says the final rule “may have introduced ambiguities that reduce the effectiveness of our policy on combining emissions from plant modifications.” The result might have allowed facilities to increase emissions adversely impacting air quality without a thorough review. EPA plans to broaden the new source review factors so companies cannot avoid installation of pollution control equipment if air emissions are raised.—DJH
Bruce M. Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science, has received the 2010 Vannevar Bush Award for public service in science and technology, given by NSF’s National Science Board. Alberts was cited for his leadership in science education, international outreach, and tireless pursuit of a “scientific temperament” for the world. Alberts says he is flattered to be chosen for the award, and he Alberts encourages all scientists to be world citizens. “We need many more people to work on these issues because we have a long way to go,” he says. A past-president of the National Academy of Sciences, Alberts is also a professor emeritus of bio-
FDA REVISITS PHTHALATE IN BOTTLED WATER FDA is proposing to set a maximum allowable level of 6 ppb for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in bottled water. The agency first proposed such a standard in 1993, but the rule was put on hold in 1996. Because it has been so long since the rule was first proposed, FDA is reopening the proposal for public comment. DEHP is a suspected endocrine disrupter and probable human carcinogen. The Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act requires bottled water rules to be at least as stringent as EPA’s tap water rules. EPA’s limit for DEHP in tap water is 6 ppb. The International Bottled Water Association, a trade group representing much of the U.S. bottled water industry, has adopted the 6-ppb standard for DEHP in its guidance to industry, suggesting that U.S. manufacturers already meet this level. Previously, some bottled water was shown to have levels of DEHP higher than the proposed TOM KOCHEL
ALBERTS RECEIVES VANNEVAR BUSH AWARD
chemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. The award honors the memory of Vannevar Bush, who served as science adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt and who helped create NSF. Alberts will receive the award medal during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 4.—LW
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standard after storage for long periods; DEHP leached from caps and closures.— BEE
SAVING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATTS A two-year study by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change has found that carefully managed energy efficiency programs at several companies bring about huge cuts in energy use and spending as well as a smaller carbon dioxide footprint. The study surveyed 100 companies; six were reviewed in detail. Among those companies closely studied was Dow Chemical, whose energy efficiency program over the past 15 years saved the company $8.6 billion and helped it avoid 86 million tons of CO2 emissions. Toyota, another company investigated, has reduced the amount of energy used to build a car by 30% since 2002. The report notes a dramatic shift between the 1970s and today in efforts to cut energy use. In the 1970s, change was driven mostly by high costs, but today, climate-change concerns often fuel efforts toward energy reduction. Another change, the report says, is that today’s energy efficiency efforts have migrated from the “boiler room” to the rest of the plant, and even the supply chain. Today’s energy efficiency actions also have broader impacts, affecting productivity, product design, and other activities not directly related to energy use. The report is available online at pewclimate.org.—JJ
