Short Takes – 1-3-25 – Federal Register Edition

Formaldehyde; Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSC); Notice of Availability. Federal Register EPA notice. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of the final risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for formaldehyde. The purpose of risk evaluations under TSCA is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or non-risk factors, including unreasonable risk to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by EPA, under the conditions of use. The Agency used the best available science to prepare this final risk evaluation and has determined, based on the weight of scientific evidence, that formaldehyde presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health. Under TSCA, EPA must initiate risk management actions to address the unreasonable risk.”

EPA’s Final TSCA Risk Evaluation for Formaldehyde Potentially Jeopardizes Domestic Production and Critical American Industries. AmericanChemistry.com press release. Pull quote: ““Government agencies like Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Small Business Administration and EPA-selected expert peer reviewers have raised concerns about the shortened timeline, scientific shortcomings, and potential devastating effects of a flawed TSCA risk evaluation. Ignoring these concerns could result in overly restrictive regulation of this building block chemistry, handicapping America’s economy and creating reliance on overseas production.”

Federal Acquisition Regulation: Strengthening America's Cybersecurity Workforce. Federal Register FAR notice of proposed regulation. Summary: “DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to incorporate a framework for describing cybersecurity workforce knowledge and skill requirements used in contracts for information technology support services and cybersecurity support services in line with an Executive Order to enhance the cybersecurity workforce.” Comments due March 4^th, 2025.

Request for Comment on the National Cyber Incident Response Plan Update. Federal Register DHS comment extension notice. Summary: “On December 16, 2024, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a request for comment in the Federal Register on a draft National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP) Update, which requests feedback on the draft update. CISA is extending the public comment period for the draft update for an additional thirty days through February 14, 2025.”

Transportation Chemical Incidents – Week of 11-30-24

Reporting Background

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall).

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency.

Incidents Summary

• Number of incidents – 344 (324 highway, 17 air, 3 rail, 0 water)

• Serious incidents – 1 (1 Bulk release, 0 evacuation, 0 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 1 fire/explosion, 18 no release)

• Largest container involved – 25,660-gal (no link available) Railcar {Styrene Monomer, Stabilized.} Bottom outlet valve cap loose and minor leak past BOV seal.

• Largest amount spilled – 150-gal Plastic IBC {Corrosive Liquid, Acidic, Inorganic, N.O.S.} Load shift in transit.

NOTE: Links above are to Form 5800.1 for the described incidents.

Most Interesting Chemical: Isobutyl methacrylate, stabilized – Isobutyl methacrylate is a colorless liquid with a flash point of 120°F. When heated to high temperatures it may release acrid smoke and fumes. If it is subjected to heat for prolonged periods or becomes contaminated, it is subject to polymerization. If the polymerization takes place inside a container, the container may violently rupture. The vapors are heavier than air. It may be irritating to skin and eyes and produce a narcotic effect. It is used in making acrylic resins. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

 

Short Takes – 1-3-25 – Before the Vote –

The Pundits looks at the vote for Speaker of the House on the morning of the vote.

Johnson battles for the Speakership: 5 things to watch. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “That’s because a protracted effort to win over Johnson’s critics — or to locate an alternative candidate capable of winning enough votes to replace him — would run quickly into the process of certifying Trump’s presidential victory, which is slated for Jan. 6. That ritual requires the meeting of a joint session of Congress, which would be impossible to convene without a Speaker in place, not least because the members of the new Congress can’t be seated before the Speaker is appointed to swear them in.”

Whip list: Lawmakers to watch in Friday’s Speaker vote. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Assuming all members of the House are present and voting for a candidate, Johnson can afford to lose only one Republican.” This will make vote counting easy, two Republicans voting for someone other than Johnson will mean another vote.

Johnson tries to avoid McCarthy pitfalls as he preps for a speaker showdown. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “There’s a real risk for Johnson if he bends to the demands of his hardliners. His predecessor, McCarthy, cut a flurry of deals before and during the 15 rounds it took him to win the gavel, including making it easier to oust a speaker and giving his hardliners plum positions on the Rules Committee. But those agreements ultimately planted the seeds for the House GOP’s perennial chaos over the past two years, and centrists accused McCarthy of bowing too far to his antagonists, sacrificing leadership’s power and still getting ousted just 10 months later.”

There’s a big problem with trying to replace Johnson — no clear alternates. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “There is another option, of course. When Johnson won the speakership, he was a low-level GOP leader, hardly a top name under consideration. But critically, he came in when the GOP was tired of fighting and he had no enemies to stand in his way.” The unnamed alternative would probably only become named after failure of multiple votes for Johnson.

As Trump's Republicans take congressional majority, Mike Johnson faces test. Reuters.com article. Pull quote: “"He won’t tell the President what is achievable and what is not achievable in the House, and he lacks the situational awareness himself to know what can pass and what cannot," Massie said, "The emperor has no clothes and the entire conference knows it but few will say it. The general public knows it too."”

Here’s How Mike Johnson’s Speakership Bid Could Come Undone. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “If there is no speaker in place by Monday, there would also be consequences for Mr. Trump himself. Without a functioning House, Congress could not meet for the constitutionally mandated joint session on Jan. 6 to certify the results of the 2024 presidential election. Mr. Johnson has been reminding Republicans of that fact early and often.” The complicating factor that was not involved in the 2023 votes.

Short Takes – 1-2-25

Why EVs are (mostly) set for solid growth this year. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “As noted, there is a revamped Chevy Bolt on the way for US consumers, as well as a $25,000 Jeep. But the actual price tags won’t be clear until these vehicles hit dealerships and the Trump administration translates its campaign rhetoric into policies.”

The Descent of an Army Vet Turned Corporate Consultant Named in the New Year’s Attack. WSJ.com article (free). Pull quote: “Jabbar was born in 1982 and raised in Beaumont, Texas, a city about an hour east of Houston and not far from the Louisiana border. Records show his family has longstanding ties in East Texas and other parts of the South.”

Scientists predict an undersea volcano eruption near Oregon in 2025. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “Geophysicist Michael Poland of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., agrees. Because most of today’s efforts rely on recognizing patterns, he says, “there’s always the risk that a volcano will follow a pattern that we haven’t seen before and do something unexpected.” Both Poland and Acocella hope that forecasts will evolve to be based on the physics and chemistry of the magma systems that underlie a volcano.”

Johnson doesn’t have the votes to remain speaker. But his allies insist it’s trending his way. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “Still, Johnson and his allies are putting Trump at the center of their two main arguments as they try to sway the holdouts. First, they point out that a messy, drawn-out speaker's race risks a delay in certifying Trump’s presidential win on Jan. 6. Second, if Republicans are consumed with trying to iron out their own leadership it overshadows the start of the second Trump administration, right at a time when leaders want to look unified. In recent weeks, Trump has privately warned GOP lawmakers against doing anything that takes away from the start of his second presidency, according to one GOP lawmaker who has spoken with him, granted anonymity to speak frankly.”

Conservatives seek commitments as Johnson scrambles for Speaker votes. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “The undecided House Republican told The Hill on Thursday that Johnson was “making some progress,” noting that the Speaker acknowledged “some of the failures of the past, and is trying to course correct and create some systemic changes in the way his office functions, which is what we need to hear.””

Building Consensus: Making the Business Case for OT Security. LinkedIn.com/pulse/ article. Pull quote: “Involve cross-functional teams in roadmap development to foster buy-in. Engaging operations, finance, and compliance leaders ensure the plan is practical and aligned with broader business priorities. When stakeholders see their input reflected in the strategy, they’re more likely to support it.”

In 2025, People Will Try Living in This Underwater Habitat. Spectrum.IEEE.com article. Pull quote: “Deep’s agenda has a major milestone this year—the development and testing of a small, modular habitat called Vanguard. This transportable, pressurized underwater shelter, capable of housing up to three divers for periods ranging up to a week or so, will be a stepping stone to a more permanent modular habitat system—known as Sentinel—that is set to launch in 2027. “By 2030, we hope to see a permanent human presence in the ocean,” says Krack. All of this is now possible thanks to an advanced 3D printing-welding approach that can print these large habitation structures.”

Stanford researchers' flu vaccine breakthrough could help US fight bird flu. SFGate.com article. Ability to target multiple strains. Pull quote: ““Overcoming subtype bias this way can lead to a much more effective influenza vaccine, extending even to strains responsible for bird flu,” Davis said in the blog. “The bird flu could very likely generate our next viral pandemic.”

Review - Making ChemLock Safety Act Compliant – ChemLock Program Background

Earlier this week, in my post “CFATS is Dead” I suggested that Congress needs to authorize CISA’s ChemLock program to protect it from the budget cutters. The reason being that without the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, there is no broad federal program to help the chemical industry to protect itself from potential terrorist attacks. And news reports from the early morning of January 1^st reinforce the idea that terrorists still have an interest in attacking the United States.

In that earlier piece, I go on to explain, that as an incentive for chemical facilities to participate in the voluntary ChemLock program, Congress should provide in the program authorization automatic Safety Act (6 USC 441 et seq) protections for participating facilities, noting:

“The legislation authorizing the establishment of the ChemLock program could authorize DHS to declare that any facility that employs a minimum level of security measures defined under the program to have employed qualified anti-terrorism technology under the Safety Act and thus eligible for risk management and litigation management protections of the Act.”

In this series of posts, I would like to look at what that term “employs a minimum level of security measures defined under the program” could look like. Let’s start by looking at the existing ChemLock program.

ChemLock

The existing ChemLock program was established in November 2021. It provides chemical facilities with a wide range of resources to help them identify and mitigate their chemical facility security risks. These include:

ChemLock Resources,

ChemLock Exercises,

ChemLock Training, and

Special Access to Other CISA Services

But, most importantly for this discussion, ChemLock provides On-Site Assessments and Assistance. CISA’s Infrastructure Security Division notes that:

“Using CISA’s extensive knowledge of chemical security best practices, CISA chemical security personnel under the ChemLock program can provide on-site assistance and assessments that help facilities identify the specific security risks their on-site chemicals present and offer scalable, tailored suggestions for security measures that will best enhance their security posture based on their unique circumstances and business model.”

 

For more information on the current ChemLock program, including links to publications, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/making-chemlock-safety-act-compliant - subscription required.

DHS Publishes Civil Penalty Adjustment for 2025 Final Rule

Today, DHS published a final rule in the Federal Register (90 FR 1-14) on “Civil Monetary Penalty Adjustments for Inflation”. This is the congressionally mandated annual ‘cost of living’ adjustment of civil penalties that can be assessed by components of DHS. Lists of individual civil penalty adjustments for agencies of interest here are listed below.

• US Coast Guard, and

• Transportation Security Administration

CISA is listed in this final rule, but currently the only regulatory program (the CFATS program) that CISA had operated which allowed for civil penalties has been shutdown by inaction in Congress. DHS explains the issue this way:

“The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) administers the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS). CFATS is a program that regulates the security of chemical facilities that, in the discretion of the Secretary, present high levels of security risk. DHS established the CFATS program in 2007 pursuant to section 550 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 109-295) [Link added]. Pursuant to section 5 of the Protecting and Securing Chemical Facilities from Terrorist Attacks Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113-254, as amended by Pub. L. 116-150; 6 U.S.C. 621 note) [Links added], authorization had been granted for CFATS until July 27, 2023. Congress did not act to reauthorize the program in time and, as such, the authorization expired on July 28, 2023. Therefore, regulations written pursuant to CFATS authority are not currently active. While regulatory text for the CFATS regulation, including a civil penalty, is located in part 27 of title 6 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the text is inactive due to the lapse in authority. For that reason, we are not adjusting the maximum civil penalty amount that CISA may assess at this time.”

Identical language was included in last year's adjustment final rule, so this is not any special sign of movement in the Department about the finality of the end of the CFATS program. Still whistling past the graveyard.

The effective date of this final rule is January 2^nd, 2025, for penalties assessed after January 2, 2025, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015.

Short Takes – 1-1-25

Republicans Propose Rules for the 119th Congress. FirstBranchForecast.Substack.com article. Pull quote: “I've skimmed the separate orders and the only new separate order concerns artificial intelligence. In essence, the provision instructs the House Admin Committee, Clerk, CAO, and others to integrate the use of AI into the operations and functions of the House.” Changes could still be made as part of the horse trading in the Speaker race.

1 Dead After a Cybertruck Explodes Outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. NYTimes.com article (free).  Pull quote: “Sheriff McMahill said the authorities had found gas canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars in the back of the truck. It was unclear how they had been ignited, Sheriff McMahill said.”

Canadian Teen Recovers From Severe H5N1 Bird Flu Infection. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “"The past weeks have seen more cases detected in more states as well as more persons with respiratory illness acquired through exposure to poultry or from an unknown source," they noted. "Without a clearer understanding of the extent of exposure, infection, viral evolution, and transmission, we will be unable to properly protect our communities from a pathogen that has proven to be a formidable challenge to human and animal health."”

Review – CSB Updates Status of Seven Accident Investigation Recommendation – 12-19-24

Yesterday the Chemical Safety Board updated their Recent Recommendation Status Updates page to reflect actions the Board took on December 19^th, 2024 on seven accident investigation recommendations. Five of those recommendations were closed, the other two were changed to ‘Open – Acceptable Response’. Last month’s actions left 133 recommendations open (out of 1,000 recommendations made to date).

The six recommendations addressed last month were:

Pryor Trust Fatal Gas Well Blowout and Fire - 2018-01-I-OK-R11 - Patterson-UTI,

BP – Husky Oregon Chemical Release and Fire - 2022-01-I-OH-R1 - Ohio Refining Company,

BP – Husky Oregon Chemical Release and Fire - 2022-01-I-OH-R2 - Ohio Refining Company,

BP – Husky Oregon Chemical Release and Fire - 2022-01-I-OH-R4 - Ohio Refining Company,

Caribbean Petroleum Refining Tank Explosion and Fire - 2010-02-I-PR-R5 - International Code Council (ICC),

Husky Energy Superior Refinery Explosion and Fire - 2018-02-I-WI-R10 - Cenovus Energy, Inc., and

Chevron Richmond Refinery Fire - 2012-03-I-CA-R31 - American Petroleum Institute

 

For more information on these recommendations, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/csb-updates-status-of-seven-accident - subscription required.

Regulations Pending OMB Review as of January 1st, 2025

The table below shows the regulatory actions pending at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) that I would expect to cover when published in the Federal Register.

11/21/2024	1625-AC77	1625-DHS/USCG	Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System
04/11/2023	1670-AA01	1670-DHS/CISA	Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)
10/21/2024	2137-AF51	2137-DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Gas Pipeline Leak Detection and Repair
02/01/2024	2137-AF60	2137-DOT/PHMSA	Pipeline Safety: Safety of Carbon Dioxide and Hazardous Liquid Pipelines
12/05/2024	2060-AU73	2060-EPA/OAR	National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Chemical Manufacturing Area Source Technology Review
1/08/2024	1218-AC46	1218-DOL/OSHA	Infectious Diseases
12/17/2024	0694-AJ56	0694-DOC/BIS	Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Connected Vehicles

Note: The dates shown were the dates the actions were submitted to OIRA for review.

These were all (obviously) Biden Administration submitted rulemakings, so they are subject to review by the incoming Trump Administration after January 20^th, 2025. At some point we will see the CFATS rulemaking withdrawn, marking an official decision that the program is beyond resurrection.

Bills Introduced – 12-31-24

Yesterday, with the House meeting for the last time in 2024, there were three bills introduced. None of the bills would have been followed in this blog.

I would like to mention one bill in passing:

H Res 1626 Expressing the profound regret and sorrow of the House of Representatives on the death of James Earl Carter, Jr., thirty-ninth President of the United States of America. McHenry, Patrick T. [Rep.-R-NC-10]

This resolution was passed by ‘unanimous consent’. There was at least one member (McHenry, who was appointed the Speaker pro tempore for the day) present when this resolution was passed. A pro forma resolution passed in pro forma session, the last action of the year was a subtle commentary on the 118^th Congress.