RESEARCH FUNDING
▸ Lawmakers call for more NSF support The National Science Foundation needs $8 billion in fiscal 2017 to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy, a pair of congressmen say. Reps. G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) are circulating a letter that asks their fellow House of Representatives members to support increased funding for NSF. They propose $8 billion, a figure slightly above the President’s fiscal 2017 budget request and 7.2% higher than the agency’s fiscal 2016 appropriation of $7.5 billion. “We feel this amount is the minimum level of funding needed to prepare future generations to help our nation remain a world economic leader and to reflect the rising costs of research,” their letter says. Their goal may be a challenge because House Republican appropriators last week put forward a budget proposal that calls for steep funding cuts across the government. The letter writers may have their constituents at heart: McKinley’s district includes West Virginia University, and Butterfield’s is home to Duke University and part of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.—ANDREA WIDENER
ENERGY
SHUTTERSTOCK
▸ Pilot power plant reuses waste CO2 Carbon dioxide will play a critical role in generating electricity at a privately funded pilot project at La Porte, Texas. NET Power, the project’s developer, says that at the 50-MW demonstration power plant, CO2 will turn a turbine rather than merely being a difficult-to-handle waste product. The facility uses an oxy-fuel technology, which burns natural gas in a pure oxygen environment, creating heat and CO2 as a combustion by-product. This CO2 is then concentrated and pressurized in the combustion system to a supercritical state. This pressurized CO2 runs a turbine and generates electricity. The used CO2 could be recycled into the pressurizing system, used for enhanced oil recovery, or sequestered deep underground, NET Power spokesman Walker Dimming says. The facility will cost about $140 million, which is being provided by international energy, technology, and construction firms, Dimming says. If the project is successful, it will be followed
Many beverage bottles are made from PET resin.
POLYMERS
PET resin dumped in U.S., government finds The Commerce Department has concluded that imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from Canada, China, India, and Oman have been sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The department began the investigation last year after DAK Americas, M&G Chemicals, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. America filed complaints. The U.S. manufacturers claimed that imports of the resin from the four countries have been unfairly priced to undercut domestic producers and, except for those in Canada, foreign companies benefited from improper government subsidies. Although Commerce agreed that PET resin from China and India has been unfairly subsidized, it found no evidence that producers in Oman had received subsidies. Commerce says it will impose punitive duties if the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA) finds that low-priced imports of PET resin from any of the four countries have damaged the U.S. industry. ITA is scheduled to make its final injury determinations on April 18. PET resin is a basic building block for plastic packaging materials, beverage containers, and other consumer products.—GLENN HESS, special to C&EN
by a 295-MW plant. The demonstration project is a collaboration of CB&I, Toshiba, Exelon, and 8 Rivers Capital, a technology developer.—JEFF JOHNSON, special to
C&EN
GREENHOUSE GASES
▸ U.S., Canada commit to methane reductions from oil and gas production U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month jointly committed their nations to reduce methane emissions from existing oil and natural gas sources by 40 to 45% from 2012 levels by 2025. Their agreement notes that the oil and gas sector
is the world’s largest source of industrial emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The Environmental Defense Fund, an activist group, says the oil and gas industry is responsible for 90% of U.S. methane emissions. Obama says EPA will begin developing regulations and start a formal process to require companies to provide data on methane emissions. Canada will propose rules by early 2017. In the past, EPA proposed to limit methane emissions from various sources, including oil and gas production facilities, but ran into industry opposition. The American Petroleum Institute says regulations would curb the current U.S. oil and gas bonanza, adding that the petroleum industry’s methane emissions are declining. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers supports a bilaterally aligned regulatory approach to limit methane as spelled out in the agreement.—JEFF JOHNSON, special
to C&EN MARCH 21, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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