Monday, January 13, 2014

WIMS Environmental HotSheet 1/13/14

<> President Obama Signs West Virginia Emergency Declaration - The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of West Virginia and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from a chemical spill beginning on January 9, 2014, and continuing. The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency 

·   Freedom Industries ordered to empty remaining tanks - The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water and Waste Management (DWWM) is requiring Freedom Industries Inc. to remove the contents in the 11 remaining above-ground storage tanks at its Etowah Terminal inCharleston.

·   Cease Operations Order Issued to Freedom Industries - The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water and Waste Management has issued a Cease Operations Order to Freedom Industries

·   Cease Operations Order issued for well pad in Tyler County - The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil and Gas (OOG) has issued a Notice of Violation, as well as a Cease Operations Order, to Jay-Bee Oil & Gas in connection with the company's Lisby gas well pad in Tyler County.

<> Green Bond Principles Created to Help Issuers and Investors Deploy Capital for Green Projects - Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Crédit Agricole CIB (EN Paris: ACA), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), BNP Paribas (PA: BNP), Daiwa (JP: 8601), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), HSBC (LSE: HSBA, NYSE: HBC, HK: 0005), Mizuho (NYSE: MFG), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Rabobank and SEB (SS: SEBA) A consortium of 

<> AEA Sends Letter to Sec. Moniz Urging Him to Reconsider Approval of New NatGasExport Applications - January 9, 2014, Dear Mr. Secretary: It is our understanding that the Department of Energy may be on the verge of approving another application to export American natural gas to non-FTA nations.  If permitted, it would mark the sixth. . . With all due respect, we are very concerned that exporting such a large volume of this strategic commodity, which is vital to U.S. competitiveness, is contrary to the national interest.

<> Battery Storage Breakthrough at Harvard Could Play Huge Role in Future of Renewables - By Tim Radford Scientists in the U.S. think they may be on the track of a new kind of battery technology that could store huge reserves of energy. One of the great problems of renewable energy generators such as photovoltaic cells and wind turbines is that they can't respond to demand. 

<> Leaked Wisconsin DNR report says mine poses threats to human health, water - The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' research bureau produced the report to brief agency regulators on what scientific literature says about extensive testing and environmental monitoring that are typically needed to prevent serious damage from acid runoff into streams and mercury emissions into the air.

<> McDonald's aims to begin purchasing verified sustainable beef in 2016 - "We cannot do this alone, so we will listen, learn, and collaborate with stakeholders from farm to the front counter to develop sustainable beef solutions."

<> Major win for the climate: Voluntary Market closes door to HFC-23 projects - WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA): In a major win for the climate, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the world's leading voluntary greenhouse gas program, has announced that it will no longer approve or accept for consideration...

<> Predicting the future of global water stress - The MIT researchers expect 5 billion (52 percent) of the world's projected 9.7 billion people to live in water-stressed areas by 2050. They also expect about 1 billion more people to be living in areas where water demand exceeds surface-water supply.

<> Fuel economy of vehicles sold last year at record-high - Gas mileage of new vehicles sold in the U.S. was 24.8 mpg in December, the same as the average for all of 2013 -- the best annual mark ever, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

<> More oil trains means more risk - The Columbian. More oil trains means more riskThe ColumbianData from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, show that crude-by-rail incidents climbed to 108 last year from 9 in 2010.