American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 23

IndustryDigest
brakes have been set will help stop
preventable accidents," says acting FRA
Administrator Sarah Feinberg. "While
today's rule comes out of a lesson
learned from the Lac-Mégantic
derailment, FRA will not hesitate to
take additional actions to keep the rail
system in the United States safe." ❒

Business Groups Argue
Against Ozone Standards

WASHINGTON-Hundreds of state
trade associations have written to the
Obama administration, contending that
the Environmental Protection Agency's
proposal to lower the ozone National
Ambient Air Quality Standard costly
and unnecessary to continue improving
air quality, the American Petroleum
Institute reports.
According to the institute, in August,
370 business groups from across the
nation, including more than 70 upstream
and downstream oil and gas associations,
cosigned a letter to White House Chief
of Staff Dennis McDonough.
EPA's present regulations are
proving effective as air quality
continues to improve, and the United
States is the leading country in reducing
emissions, the letter states. "New ozone
standards could damage the economy
significantly by imposing unachievable
emissions limits and reduction targets
on almost every part of our country,
including rural and undeveloped areas,"
the business groups continue. "The
current ozone standards need an
opportunity to work."
The groups' letter also emphasizes
that states are committing substantial
amounts of time and financial resources
to achieving emission reductions under
EPA's present NAAQS, and more than
25 states have voiced their concerns
about the proposal.
"Despite more than three decades of
cleaner air, and before states can catch up
with EPA's delays in implementing
existing ozone standards, EPA now is
proposing new standards of 70 to 65 parts
per billion that would bring vast swaths
of the country into nonattainment," the
associations say. "This proposal's
hardship to the American worker could
be real and imminent."
The letter remarks that, if finalized,
the proposed standard could limit
business expansion in nearly every

populated region of the country, and risk
U.S. companies' ability to create jobs. It
also asserts that even if an area comes
into attainment, it still would "face a
legacy of EPA regulatory oversight."
The associations also suggest that
stricter standards could affect public
health negatively by increasing the cost
of necessary goods and services-such as
energy-and decreasing disposable
incomes, especially for
socioeconomically challenged
individuals. ❒

Five Companies Bid On
Gulf Of Mexico Leases

NEW ORLEANS-The Department
of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management says it received bids for
more than $22 million for U.S. Outer
Continental Shelf tracts offered in
Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 246.
According to the BOEM, five
companies submitted bids on 33 tracts

White House Funding
Solar Power Research

WASHINGTON-The U.S.
Department of Energy announced two
solar power funding initiatives on Aug.
24 that it indicates are intended to
supplement President Obama's "clean
energy" and climate change strategies
such as his Clean Power Plan to limit
carbon dioxide emissions from fossil
fuel power plants, and methane capture
rule for the oil and natural gas industry
(see stories pages 36 and 158).
"The announcements made today
will help spur innovative clean energy
technologies that will be central to the
president's Clean Power Plan and
combat climate change," confirms
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
DOE says its Loan Program Office
will make up to $1 billion in loan
guarantees available to support
commercial-scale distributed energy
projects such as rooftop solar with
storage and smart grid technology. In
addition, through its Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy,
DOE says it is awarding $24 million in
funding for 11 high-performance solar
power projects aimed at lowering the
cost and improving the performance of
solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems.
Dubbed the MOSAIC (microscale
optimized solar-cell arrays with
integrated concentration) program,
DOE says it has selected projects in
North Carolina, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, California, Texas,
Washington and New York that will
attempt to develop microscale
concentrated solar power systems that
integrate more affordable materials and
manufacturing techniques into PV solar
panels that can be adopted in more
locations. r
SEPTEMBER 2015 23
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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