Blogs

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 16, 2018, scientists at the Israeli Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev announced the discovery of a new technique to produce biofuel from human excrement. In an attempt to reduce carbon footprint and address poor sanitation in Global South countries, scientists at BGU developed a technique called hydrothermal carbonization. By hydrothermally carbonizing raw solid human waste biomass, hydrochar, a coal-like sterilized substance, can be produced and used for...

By Lynn L. Bergeson Climate Transparency, a global partnership of international organizations to stimulate G20 climate action and empower zero carbon technologies through transparency, published in early November 2018 their annual “G20 Brown to Green — The G20 Transition to A Low-Carbon Economy” report. The report summarizes carbon-reducing activities across all G20 countries, utilizing 80 indicators. In an assessment of the climate policy and efforts performance of each G20...

By Lynn L. Bergeson As some may recall, on October 29, 2018, DOE announced the topic areas for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) for research and development (R&D) proposals for funding by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in fiscal year (FY) 2019. The original timeline for the nine topics proposed by EERE intended for the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) was scheduled to be released on...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 19, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in New Mexico, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in California, received the Excellence in BioPreferred Procurement Awards for Fiscal Year 2018. Both LANL and LLNL are U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories and have been awarded for the testing and adoption of biobased products within their operations. The awards reflect...

On November 29, 2018, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a hearing on the nomination of Alexandra Dapolito Dunn to be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator (AA) for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP).  The hearing was webcast and is available on the EPW Committee website. In a rare sharing of bipartisan support for a Trump Administration nominee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)...

On November 29, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has scheduled the first public meetings of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC).  The first meeting, a preparatory virtual meeting, and will be held on January 8, 2019, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (EST).  The second meeting, a four-day in-person meeting, will be held on January 29, 2019, from 1:00 p.m. (EST) to 5:30 p.m. and...

On November 26, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) announced that Lek Kadeli joined OCSPP’s Immediate Office as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator (AA) (Management).  EPA states that Lek has extensive experience managing and supporting a wide range of environmental and human health related programs.  Lek has worked at EPA previously; for eight years he was the Principal Deputy AA in EPA’s Office of...

On November 19, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Stakeholder Forum will take place on December 4, 2018, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. (EST) and on December 5, 2018, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST) at the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place, in Washington, D.C.  The RCC brings together senior regulatory officials, industry, and other members of the public from...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Federal Register notice on November 15, 2018, announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on the first draft chemical risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg).  The draft risk evaluation for Colour Index (C.I.) Pigment Violet 29 is intended to determine whether C.I. Pigment Violet 29 presents an...

The European Union (EU) released the EU US Roadmap Nanoinformatics 2030 on November 15, 2018.  The Roadmap, developed by scientists from the EU, U.S., and a few other countries, is a compilation of state-of-the-art commentaries from multiple interconnecting scientific fields, combined with issues involving nanomaterial risk assessment and governance.  The Roadmap states that in bringing these issues together into a coherent set of milestones, the authors address three recognized challenges...

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) will hold a hearing on the nomination of Alexandra Dapolito Dunn to be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator (AA) for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) on Thursday, November 29, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. (EST) in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.  The hearing will be webcast and will be available on the EPW Committee website. Ms. Dunn has...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 13, 2018, the European Parliament (EP) announced its approval of new targets for renewables and energy efficiency rates to be achieved by 2030.  According to the press release, “by 2030, energy efficiency in the [European Union (EU)] has to have improved by 32.5%, whereas the share of energy from renewables should be at least 32% of the EU’s gross final consumption.”  Highlighting the crucial role of second generation biofuels...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 13, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the submission for review of an information collection request (ICR) on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  83 Fed. Reg. 56319.  The Federal Register notice states that purpose of this submission is to obtain OMB approval of an ICR that consolidates some existing collections.  By consolidating the existing collections and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 9, 2018, DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Steven Winberg, announced the new director of the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL): Brian J. Anderson, Ph.D.  Dr. Anderson will serve, as of November 11, 2018, as the new director of NETL.  Dr. Anderson founded and headed the West Virginia University Energy Institute prior to taking the role of NETL director.  Winberg highlighted that Dr. Anderson’s background in...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 13, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the topic areas for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) for research and development (R&D) proposals for funding by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in fiscal year (FY) 2019.  The topics include:  advanced manufacturing; bioenergy; buildings; fuel cells; geothermal; solar; vehicles; water; and wind.  They also...

On November 7, 2018, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published the tenth revision of The SCCS Notes of Guidance for the Testing of Cosmetic Ingredients and Their Safety Evaluation.  The guidance contains relevant information on the different aspects of testing and safety evaluation of cosmetic substances in Europe.  The document states that it is designed to provide guidance to public authorities and to the cosmetic industry to...

On November 7, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was ordering Pool Water Products Inc. to stop selling an improperly registered pesticide, ALL CLEAR 3” Jumbo Chlorinating Tablets.  The announcement states that even though the ALL CLEAR 3” Jumbo Chlorinating Tablets product was registered with EPA, Pool Water Products was selling and distributing an unregistered version of the product made in China that has not been evaluated by EPA. EPA’s...

In September 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a consent agreement with Chevron USA, Inc. (Chevron) related to an alleged violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  EPA’s issuance of a consent agreement for the alleged TSCA violation is not especially newsworthy.  Neither is the agreed upon penalty for the violation, which could be considered minor based on the penalty provisions allowed under TSCA.  What is newsworthy here is that...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On October 31, 2018, the Canadian National Energy Board released its 2018 report on energy supply and demand projections to 2040: “Canada’s Energy Future 2018: An Energy Market Assessment.” Based on a set of assumptions about technology, energy, climate, human behaviors, and the structure of the economy, the assessment identifies five key findings as follows: Canada’s energy demand growth is slowing, while the sources to meet these demands are becoming...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On November 6, 2018, Neste, a BRAG member, announced its partnership with Clariant to develop new sustainable material solutions. While Clariant concentrates on specialty chemicals, Neste consists of one of the leading companies providing renewable diesel and drop-in chemical solutions. In the announcement, Neste outlined the phases of the partnership, as follows:   Phase 1: The companies will start to replace fossil-fuel based ethylene and propylene with monomers from...