Short Takes – 11-7-25

FAA to restrict commercial launches during government shutdown. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “In an order issued Nov. 6, the FAA said it will restrict commercial launches to between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time. That curfew will take effect at 6 a.m. Eastern Nov. 10.”

Deal to reopen government falters over Democrats’ distrust of Trump. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““It’s made it easier for people to stick together that Trump has treated the whole process with such disrespect — leaving the country, putting out videos of the Democratic leaders with sombreros on, refusing to meet, refusing to engage,” Kaine said. “Trump seems to think in his mind I can bludgeon you by threatening you. That doesn’t really work.””

The first new subsea habitat in 40 years is about to launch. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “Although Deep hopes Vanguard itself will enable decades of useful science, its prime function for the company is to prove out technologies for its planned successor, an advanced modular habitat called Sentinel. Sentinel modules will be six meters wide, twice the diameter of Vanguard, complete with sweeping staircases and single-occupant cabins. A small deployment might have a crew of eight, about the same as the International Space Station. A big Sentinel system could house 50, up to 225 meters deep. Deep claims that Sentinel will be launched at some point in 2027.”

Trump administration is planning new mission in Mexico against cartels, current and former U.S. officials say. NBCNews.com article. Pull quote: “The early stages of training for the potential mission, which would include ground operations inside Mexico, has already begun, the two current U.S. officials said. But a deployment to Mexico is not imminent, the two U.S. officials and one of the former U.S. officials said. Discussions about the scope of the mission are ongoing, and a final decision has not been made, the two current U.S. officials said.”

Climate Change Made Hurricane Melissa 4 Times More Likely, Study Suggests. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “The findings echo similar reports released earlier this week on how global warming contributed to the likelihood and severity of Hurricane Melissa. Each of the analyses add to a growing body of research showing how ocean warming from climate change is fueling the conditions necessary for stronger tropical storms.”

Backlog List

• Trump’s rare earth problem,

• Shutdown Stalemate: How EPA’s Pause Could Reshape Chemical Regulatory Timelines,

• This startup is about to conduct the biggest real-world test of aluminum as a zero-carbon fuel,

• America's Private Sector Is Hacking for Godot, and

• Elon Musk Discovers What Hierarchy Actually Means.

Transportation Chemical Incidents – Week of 10-4-25

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 – 480 (445 highway, 28 air, 7 rail, 0 water)

• Serious incidents – 5 (2 Bulk release, 4 evacuation, 0 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 1 fire/explosion, 25 no release)

• Largest container involved – 31,640-gal DOT 117R100W Railcar {Alcohols, N.O.S.} Damaged in derailment.

• Largest amount spilled – 15,000-gal DOT 117R100W Railcar {Alcohols, N.O.S.} BOV sheared off in derailment, car laying on its side. Note: identical, but separate reports filed on four rail cars that were involved in derailment.

• Total amount reported spilled in all incidents – 17,049.8-gal

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

Most Interesting Chemical: Butyl Acetates: A clear colorless liquid with a fruity odor. Flash point 72 - 88°F. Density 7.4 lb / gal (less than water). Hence floats on water. Vapors heavier than air. BUTYL ACETATE is an ester. Esters react with acids to liberate heat along with alcohols and acids. Strong oxidizing acids may cause a vigorous reaction that is sufficiently exothermic to ignite the reaction products. Heat is also generated by the interaction of esters with caustic solutions. Flammable hydrogen is generated by mixing esters with alkali metals and hydrides. Attacks many plastics. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

 

Review - HR 3488 Introduced – Valve Standards Expansion

Back in May, Rep Carbajal (D,CA) introduced HR 3488, Valve Safety Fairness Act of 2025. The bill would require PHMSA to take such actions as are necessary to apply the final rule of the Administration, titled “Pipeline Safety: Requirement of Valve Installation and Minimum Rupture Detection Standards”, to Type A gas gathering lines. While the rulemaking did apply to Type A gas gathering lines, that specific coverage was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for The District of Columbia Circuit. No new funding is authorized by the bill.

This bill is essentially identical to HR 6496, the Valve Safety Fairness Act of 2023, that was introduced by Carbajal in November 2023. No action was taken on the bill in the 118^th Congress.

Congressional Response

The short text in this bill would provide PHMSA with the authority to bypass the pubic comment and response process with a directed final rule to implement the requirements in the rulemaking for application to Type A gas gathering lines.

Moving Forward

Carbajal and his sole cosponsor {Rep Brownley (D,CA)} are both members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which the bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I expect that there will be significant Republican opposition to this bill as it would shortcut industry efforts to stop application of this final rule to Type A gathering lines. I do not expect the Committee to take up this bill.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill and its legislative and legal background, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-3488-introduced-valve-standards - subscription required.

EPA Sends Perchlorate NPDWR NPRM to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the EPA on “National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for Perchlorate”. An explanation of the convoluted route to this rulemaking is provided here by the EPA with a separate link to the DC Court decision here.

According to entry for this rulemaking in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda:

“The EPA is developing a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for perchlorate under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and as required by a court order. The EPA has committed to issuing a proposed NPDWR for perchlorate by November 21, 2025, and a final regulation by May 21, 2027.”

Note: It will be interesting to see if Trump's OIRA will facilitate the publication of this rulemaking by the November 21st, 2025 deadline.

I do not expect that I will be covering this rulemaking in any detail, but as it may be illustrative of a Trump EPA’s response to a court mandate on an environmental issue, I will at least mention its publication in the appropriate ‘Short Takes’ post.

Review – 3 Advisories and 1 Update Published – 10-6-25

Today CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published three control system security advisories for products from ABB, Ubia, and Advantech. They also updated an advisory for products from Hitachi Energy.

Advisories

ABB Advisory - This advisory describes four vulnerabilities (with publicly available exploits) in the ABB FLXeon Controllers.

Ubia Advisory - This advisory describes an insufficiently protected credentials vulnerability in the Ubia Ubox camera.

Advantech Advisory - This advisory describes four vulnerabilities in the Advantech DeviceOn/iEdge, an IoT management platform.

Updates

Hitachi Energy Update - This update provides additional information on the Asset Suite advisory that was originally published on October 9^th, 2025.

Note: I briefly discussed the updated Hitachi Energy advisory on November 1^st, 2025.

 

For more information on these advisories, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/4-advisories-and-1-update-published-2dc - subscription required.

Review - Bills Introduced – 11-5-25

Yesterday with just the Senate in Washington, and the House still on extended vacation, there were 13 bills introduced. One of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

S 3109 A bill to amend titles 46 and 49, United States Code, to require that individuals who commit human trafficking violations be permanently disqualified from obtaining certain licenses issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation, and for other purposes. Blackburn, Marsha [Sen.-R-TN]

 

For more information on these bills, including legislative history for similar bills in the 118^th Congress, including a mention in passing of adding political speech to special circumstances for the federal death penalty, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/bills-introduced-11-5-25 - subscription required.

Review - HR 5857 Introduced – FARM Act

Last month Rep Perez (D,WA) introduce HR 5857, the Freedom for Agricultural Repair and Maintenance (FARM) Act. The bill would require original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to provide owners and repair providers with the tools, parts, and documentation required “for use in order to diagnose, maintain, or repair farm equipment”. It would make the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) responsible for enforcing rules related to the requirements of this legislation. No additional funding authorization is provided in the bill.

This bill is similar in intent and scope to HR 5604, the Agricultural Right to Repair Act, that was introduced by Perez in September 2023. No further action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress. Most of the changes were differences in wording that would be of interest only to litigators, but there were two significant differences. First HR 5857 added definitions of two new terms; ‘maintenance’, and ‘repair’, as well as removing the definition of the term ‘embedded software’. Secondly, it added potential civil penalties to the FTC enforcement provisions.

Moving Forward

Neither Perez, nor any of her three cosponsors, are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there would not be enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee. While I expect that this bill would have significant bipartisan support in the agricultural community (and that is a large block of Congress), there would be significant opposition to the provisions of this bill among original equipment manufacturers and their authorized dealers. The Ag community support in the Energy and Commerce Committee (selected for primary consideration because of the FTC provisions in the bill) would probably not be strong enough to overcome the OEM influences. I doubt that this bill would be reported favorably in that Committee without significant changes being made.

Commentary

An important provision (for the purposes of this blog at least) is quietly buried in §3(c)(1)(C). It specifically allows for security researchers to “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under” the copyright protections of 17 USC. Allowing such researchers access to the underlying software for the purposes of identifying vulnerabilities is an important part of the right-to-repair movement. I was very happy to see this provision included in the bill.

 

For more information about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5857-introduced-farm-act - subscription required.