Environmental Engineering Newsletter 16 June 2014
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ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER 16 JUNE 2014 This week's edition includes: If you need older URLs contact George at [email protected]. Please Note: This newsletter contains articles that offer differing points of view regarding climate change, energy and other environmental issues. Any opinions expressed in this publication are the responses of the readers alone and do not represent the positions of the Environmental Engineering Division or the ASME. George Holliday This week's edition includes: 1. ENVIRONMENT A U.S. SUPREME COURT HOLDS STATUTE OF REPOSE IS NOT PREEMPTED BY CERCLA FEDERALLY REQUIRED COMMENCEMENT DATE On June 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision that a North Carolina statute of repose is not preempted by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). CTS Corp. v. Waldburger et al., No. 13-399 (June 9, 2014). The North Carolina statute of repose requires that tort lawsuits must be brought within 10 years after the defendant’s last culpable act. The Supreme Court, reversing the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, distinguished statutes of repose from statutes of limitations, which are preempted by CERCLA in certain circumstances. CERCLA preempts state statutes of limitations to the extent that they conflict with CERCLA’s approach that the limitations period begins to run only when the plaintiff discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, that the harm was caused by the contaminant. The Supreme Court distinguished the objective of a statute of repose—to provide finality to defendants after a legislatively-determined period of time following the culpable conduct—with the objective of a statute of limitations—to encourage plaintiffs to bring lawsuits in a timely manner. Based on this distinction, the Supreme Court determined that CERCLA’s preemptive language is not applicable to statutes of repose. The lawsuit at issue involved contamination of well water, alleged by a group of landowners to have originated from storage of chemicals at CTS’s electronics facility in Asheville, North Carolina. The district court had dismissed the suit after determining that CTS’s 1987 sale of the facility placed the last alleged act or omission of that company outside the North Carolina statute of repose’s 10-year window. Env140616 Rodger Zygmunt B. WHITE HOUSE CONTINUES TO BOAST 'ALL OF THE ABOVE' STRATEGY IN NEW REPORT Robin Bravender, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, May 29, 2014 The Obama administration wants to have it all when it comes to energy production and climate change. In a new report released today, the White House touts President Obama's "all of the above" energy strategy -- alongside the administration's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. "The President continues to push on multiple fronts to strike the right balance of energy sources that will power our economy forward," the White House said today in a statement. "The President's plan is three-pronged: to support economic growth and job creation, to enhance energy security, and to lay the foundation for -- and take critical steps towards -- a low-carbon energy future." The report comes as the administration prepares next week to propose major new rules to clamp down on power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. Obama yesterday framed climate change as "a creeping national security crisis" during a major foreign policy speech at the U.S. Military Academy's graduation ceremony (Greenwire, May 28). In the new report, the White House touts trends in beefed-up production across sectors like oil, natural gas and renewables -- noting that some of those trends predate the Obama administration. The administration is supporting those trends through "environmentally responsible" production of oil and natural gas, the White House said, while advancing the growth of energy sources with low or zero carbon emissions like wind, solar, other renewables and nuclear power. The White House notes that natural gas consumption has risen 18 percent since 2005; total energy from wind, solar and geothermal has more than doubled since 2009; and the United States is a leading producer of petroleum and natural gas. Meanwhile, the United States has cut its total carbon dioxide emissions more than any other nation since 2005, and the administration says it is promoting energy efficiency and supporting "an ambitious program" of carbon capture, utilization and storage for coal and natural gas power plants and for industrial facilities, according to the report. The "all of the above" rhetoric from the White House has come under fire from critics on the left and right. A coalition of major environmental organizations earlier this year wrote to Obama, asking him to scrap the phrase and arguing that it is "fundamentally at odds" with his stated goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions (E&E Daily, Jan. 17). But the administration didn't budge. Obama's adviser John Podesta -- whose arrival at the White House this year was hailed as a victory for green groups -- shot back with a letter critical of the groups' request. "The president has been leading the transition to low carbon energy sources and understands the need to consider a balanced approach to all forms of energy development, including oil and gas production," he wrote back (Greenwire, Jan. 20). Shortly afterward, the "all of the above" approach made its way into Obama's State of the Union speech, prompting more criticism from the left in addition to attacks from the right that the administration isn't truly committed to boosting fossil fuel production (E&E Daily, Jan. 29). Arnold Feldman C. NETL's May 2014 Carbon Storage Newsletter Dear Carbon Storage Newsletter subscriber, Check out the May 2014 edition of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Carbon Storage Newsletter to stay up to date on recent public and private sector carbon storage news from around the world. Carbon Storage News from Around the World: · The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Tampa Electric Company announced the startup of a pilot project to demonstrate carbon capture technology in a coal gasification unit at the Polk Power Plant Unit-1 in Tampa, Florida. · The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership (BSCSP) broke ground for the first production well for the Kevin Dome Carbon Storage project. · Company officials announced that construction on Shell Canada’s Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has reached the halfway point and the facility is expected to begin operation in late 2015. · Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced it will expand carbon dioxide (CO2) infrastructure in Colorado and expand the Cortez Pipeline for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. · Shell has joined a joint industry project to study a potential CO2-EOR industry in the North Sea. · The Energy Technologies Institute is developing a CO2 monitoring system using marine robotics. · Elk Petroleum announced that it has acquired wells in Nebraska to conduct CO2-EOR operations. · CO2 Solutions Inc. announced that it has achieved technical performance milestones for its oil sands project. · Ricardo-AEA won a contract to study the European Union Directive on CCS technology. · Representatives from CMC Research Institutes, Inc. and the United Kingdom Carbon Capture and Storage Research Center signed a memorandum of understanding. Research Articles: · Resolving or managing uncertainties for carbon capture and storage: Lessons from historical analogues · When to invest in carbon capture and storage technology: A mathematical model · Perceptions of sub-seabed carbon dioxide storage in Scotland and implications for policy: A qualitative study · Predictors of risk and benefit perception of CCS in regions with different stages of deployment · Experimental Observation of Permeability Changes In Dolomite at CO2 [Storage] Conditions · Inverse Modeling of Water-Rock-CO2 Batch Experiments: Potential Impacts on Groundwater Resources at Carbon [Storage] Sites · Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Mobilization of Metals from [Formations] · Control of CO2 Permeability Change in Different Rank Coals during Pressure Depletion: An Experimental Study · 3D geomechanical modeling for CO2 geological storage in faulted formations. A case study in an offshore northern Adriatic reservoir, Italy · Microfluidic Studies of CO2 [Storage] by Frustrated Lewis Pairs · Pyrogenic carbon stocks and storage mechanisms in podzolic soils of fire-affected Quebec black spruce forests · Soil carbon stock and accumulation in young mangrove forests · Reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions by energy efficiency measures and international trading: A bottom-up modeling for the U.S. iron and steel sector SAVE THE DATE! DOE/NETL Carbon Storage R&D Project Review Meeting. DOE’s 2014 Carbon Storage R&D Project Review meeting will be held at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on August 12-14, 2014. Among a number of other technical sessions, this year’s meeting will include plenary sessions on a number of carbon storage topics and lessons learned over the past 10 years from the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs). Participants will share knowledge and resources to assist in planning future carbon storage efforts. Based on past attendance, this meeting is expected to attract 200 or more attendees. Did you know that the United States has at least 2,400 billion metric tons of potential CO2 storage resources in saline formations, oil and gas reservoirs, and unmineable coal? Download DOE’s United States Carbon Storage Atlas to learn more. Be sure to read current event information and other special announcements in your May 2014 Carbon Storage Newsletter from DOE’s NETL. Learn more about DOE's Carbon Storage Program. Please share this email with anyone interested in carbon storage technology news, projects, and events. Arnold Feldman D. WHY CLIMATE CHANGE DOESN’T SCARE ME Posted on June 7, 2014 by Guest Blogger Guest essay by Walter Starck Be scared, the experts tell us, be very scared. Well there is certainly cause for concern, but not about those “rising” temperatures, which refuse to confirm researchers’ computer models.