Weekly News Bulletin: Aug. 11-17, 2021
Plan to Reduce GHG's in Transportation Leaves Out Biofuels
The Biden Administration announced an ambitious target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles to slash GHG emissions from transportation. The executive order and proposed rule issued on Aug.5, will include trucks and long-term light-duty standards. But neither the proposal nor the executive order mentions a role for biofuels in reducing GHGs or conventional air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). That omission drew fire from various industry groups...Read More »
Environmentalists Want EPA to Mandate "Clean Closure" of Ash Ponds
Earthjustice has released a report "Cleaning Up Coal Ash for Good" that addresses the closure of coal ash impoundments and urges so-called "clean closure" where ash is removed to lined landfills or for beneficial reuse and urges the EPA to bar cap-in-place closure.
EPA's 2015 coal combustion residual (CCR) rule explicitly regulates ash as solid waste under subtitle D of the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA). Since then, environmental groups have argued that leaving ash in an underground impoundment indefinitely all but guarantees that groundwater will eventually flow into the site and mingle with the waste...Read More »
Oregon Signs EPR into Law, Follows Maine
Oregon is now the second state to pass an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law. Gov. Kate Brown signed SB 582, known as the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, into law Aug. 6. Henceforth, producers of packaging, paper products and food service ware sold into the state will join and pay fees into stewardship organizations that will administer funding to support the improvement and expansion of recycling programs and infrastructure statewide...Read More »
Clean Harbors Buys HydroChemPSC for $1.25B
Clean Harbors Inc. (Norwell, MA) said it agreed to buy HydroChemPSC (Deer Park, TX), a provider of industrial cleaning, specialty maintenance and utilities services, from an affiliate of private-equity firm Littlejohn & Co. for $1.25 billion in cash. HydroChemPSC has more than 240 service locations throughout the U.S. and expects to generate revenue of about $744 million this year...Read More »
Anaergia Buys Largest Organic Digester in New England
Organic waste recovery company Anaergia, Inc. (Burlington, ON) acquired its indirect subsidiary, Rhode Island Bioenergy Facility LLC, formerly known as Orbit Energy Rhode Island LLC, which is the owner of the largest industrial anaerobic digester for recycling food and other organic wastes in New England. The facility, located adjacent to the state's Central Landfill in Johnston, RI, is capable of processing over 100,000 tons of organic waste per year...Read More »
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