Blogs

On February 16, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order granting plaintiffs’, the Sierra Club and A Community Voice-Louisiana, motion for summary judgment.  The court determined that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule delaying the compliance date for the formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood products (Delay Rule) exceeded EPA’s authority under the Formaldehyde Standards in Composite Wood Products Act...

On February 15, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added resources to its website regarding the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) and the Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) requirements of the WPS.  As of January 2, 2018, full compliance is required with all of the AEZ-related requirements in the WPS. The new EPA website resources include: A WPS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that includes answers to questions on implementation and...

On March 20, 2018, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP) will meet at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.  The focus of the meeting will be to consider the observations from the February 28, 2017, ANSI-NSP meeting on graphene standards, including the following issues: Terminology; Characterization methods; and Information sharing. Participants will discuss recommendations for future standardization...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On February 12, 2018, Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced a strategic partnership with Versalis, a producer of polymers and elastomers, to develop a comprehensive technology package to commercialize guayule in the agricultural, sustainable-rubber, and renewable-chemical sectors.  Through the agreement, Bridgestone and Versalis will develop proprietary, highly productive varieties of guayule using the latest genetic technologies to position guayule as...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On February 13, 2018, Neste, a member of BRAG, announced that the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority (WestCAT) will operate exclusively on Neste MY Renewable DieselTM.  WestCAT is a California public transportation service that serves the cities of Pinole and Hercules, as well as communities along the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay.  The entire fleet of 45 heavy duty buses, which operates 14 fixed routes and carries over 1.3 million passengers...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On February 16, 2018, AkzoNobel, a member of the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®), announced that a consortium of companies signed a project development agreement to develop a waste-to-chemistry facility in Rotterdam, Netherlands.  The facility will convert non-recyclable mixed waste, including plastics, into syngas and then into clean methanol for use in the chemical industry and for the transportation sector.  An estimated...

By Kathleen M. Roberts On February 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the release of the Co-Optimization of Engines & Fuels (Co-Optima) report titled Fuel Blendstocks with the Potential to Optimize Future Gasoline Engine Performance (Fuel Blendstocks report), along with the companion report on Efficiency Merit Function for Spark Ignition Engines.  The Fuel Blendstocks report identifies eight blendstocks that have the potential to improve gasoline...

On February 12, 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted its Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Performance Report.  According to the Report, in fiscal year (FY) 2017, CPSC exceeded its target of five collaborations by establishing seven research collaborations on the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials.  The collaborations “will increase knowledge of the potential exposure to consumers from products that contain nanomaterials and explore methods to...

The European Commission (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) has opened a call to access its Nanobiotechnology Laboratory.  The Nanobiotechnology Laboratory features state-of-the-art equipped facilities designed to foster interdisciplinary studies, with a special emphasis on the characterization of nanomaterials, nanomedicines, advanced materials and their interactions with biological systems, as well as on the detection, identification, and characterization of nanomaterials in food...

On February 14, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Amazon Services LLC (Amazon) entered into a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) whereby Amazon agreed to pay $1,215,700 in civil penalties for approximately four thousand alleged violations under Section 3 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for the distribution of unregistered pesticide products.  Amazon neither admitted nor denied the specific factual allegations, which...