Blog

Apr 05, 2024

'Forever chemical' foes strengthen their hand

By DEBRA KAHN and JORDAN WOLMAN 05/16/2023 12:00 PM EDT Maine lawmakers want the state to continue cracking down on PFAS in products. | Gerry Broome/AP Photo REMEMBER THE MAINE — Manufacturing groups

By DEBRA KAHN and JORDAN WOLMAN

05/16/2023 12:00 PM EDT

Maine lawmakers want the state to continue cracking down on PFAS in products. | Gerry Broome/AP Photo

REMEMBER THE MAINE — Manufacturing groups are trying to water down a nation-leading law tackling “forever chemicals,” but Maine lawmakers are holding firm, Jordan reports.

State legislators unanimously rejected a bill in committee last week that would have eliminated the landmark ban on products containing intentionally added PFAS starting in 2030 unless granted an exemption.

Chemical, semiconductor, aerospace and automotive companies joined forces to back the legislation, which would have gutted the 2021 state law that set the nation’s strictest ban on PFAS, a class of chemicals that don’t easily break down in the environment and human bodies.

While a dozen or so states have adopted rules to eliminate PFAS in food packaging, cosmetics, textiles and firefighting foam, Maine’s blanket ban is easily the nation’s most stringent. (EPA in March proposed significantly lowering the amount allowable in drinking water and also proposed a rule last year to hold polluters liable for cleanup costs and other damages, but hasn’t even hinted at any sort of ban on its use in products).

Industry groups argue that not all PFAS chemicals have been linked to health effects and that they’re still needed in a wide range of consumer goods, including medical devices, electric vehicles and semiconductors.

“Some of these compounds may have characteristics that make them high-risk,” said Kevin Fay, executive director of the Sustainable PFAS Action Network, a trade group formed in 2021 that includes companies like Honeywell and Intel. “But a lot of them are not persistent or bioaccumulative or toxic. And so you don’t want to sweep in those compounds into that coverage.”

Environmental groups are crowing over the quick victory. “This is an everyone-knows-everyone type of state,” said Sarah Woodbury, director of advocacy at Defend Our Health, a Maine-based environmental group. “Flying someone up from D.C. for a day isn’t going to be very successful.”

Federal plans to regulate PFAS are nowhere near as ambitious as Maine's. | Environmental Protection Agency

Maine still faces hurdles in implementing the law. Chief among them is the sheer volume of regulatory manpower needed to sift through the thousands of variations of PFAS chemicals used in consumer and industrial products. Maine’s joint Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved a separate bill Wednesday that would delay until 2025 a requirement for all manufacturers selling products in the state to disclose any PFAS use.

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has already granted some 2,000 extension requests for the reporting requirement, which took effect in January.

“What we’ve heard from the DEP is that there’s two people working on this, and the pressure valve needs a little relief,” committee chair Sen. Stacy Brenner (D) said at the hearing.

On that point, industry agrees.

“There are probably hundreds of thousands of products that would technically fall into the category of being made with PFAS,” Fay said. “The Maine Department of Environmental Protection does not have the capacity to administer that kind of a program.”

SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It’s also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It’s not just climate or science chat, it’s your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.

ANTEING UP — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is making UBS Group AG pay for the privilege of being blacklisted over its ESG policies, Adam Aton reports for POLITICO’s E&E News.

See if you can keep up with this: UBS, which says it’s not boycotting oil and gas companies, agreed to pay $850,000 to a Texas school district that had to re-offer its bond underwriting contract to comply with the state’s anti-ESG blacklist, which includes UBS.

Paxton retroactively blocked Normangee ISD’s Aug. 8 contract for UBS to underwrite $18.6 million of the school district’s bonds, citing the Aug. 24 blacklist that Comptroller Glenn Hegar issued. He then went to UBS to recover the costs of rebidding the contract in September at a higher interest rate, resulting in the settlement announced Friday.

This isn’t the first time Texas’ law has resulted in higher borrowing costs for public entities, but it appears to be the first time the state has sought to recover those costs.

A spokesperson for UBS presented the settlement as amicable.

“UBS recognized the challenging circumstances in which Normangee ISD was placed and is pleased to support the school district following its bond reissuance,” said Erica Chase, head of UBS media relations for the Americas. “UBS does not boycott the energy industry, as we actively work with energy companies on an ongoing basis.”

CARBON CAPTURE CATCH — The Biden administration is pouring billions of dollars into carbon capture technology, but the regulatory infrastructure is lagging, Ben Lefebvre and Zack Colman report.

Agencies are expecting a flood of applications to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide underground. But both the federal government and the states are far short of the resources necessary to properly investigate and ensure the safety of a dangerous emerging technology, Ben and Zack write.

The prospect of EPA giving Texas regulators authority for determining the safety of carbon sequestration wells is worrying landowners. “It’s like giving a toddler who’s really into trucks a full-sized 18-wheeler and telling them to have fun on I-10,” said Texas rancher Ashley Watt. “They are going to crash into everything. They are not technical people. They don’t have the technical expertise.”

PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS — A lot of the money from the 2021 infrastructure law is going to widen highways, Mike Lee reports for POLITICO’s E&E News.

As much as 80 percent of the funding for a nearly $10 billion highway expansion in Houston could come from the Federal Highway Administration, which is flush with cash from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Not only do environmentalists argue the project will result in more emissions, it’s been the subject of an FHWA civil rights investigation over its plans to demolish hundreds of homes in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

“I-45 alone will not tip the balance on climate change,” said Beth Osborne, a former Transportation Department acting assistant secretary who now directs Transportation for America, a group that advocates for slower and safer roadways. “It is the fact that almost every state has an I-45 on the agenda, something the president and DOT secretary will not acknowledge.”

GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to keep you in the loop on sustainability.

Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporters Jordan Wolman and Allison Prang. Reach us all at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

Want more? Don’t we all. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free!

— The auto industry’s hunger for raw material for EV batteries is driving carmakers into the mining business, according to the Wall Street Journal.

— Can the U.S. and other countries produce EV batteries without China’s involvement? The New York Times takes a detailed look at why it won’t be easy.

— Reuters reports on four-day work week experiments that are attracting attention from economists and business looking for ways to boost productivity.

GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we’re your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.