Legislative Update: DOE’s Strategy of Plastics Innovation Report Highlights R&D Chemical Recycling Opportunities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released its Strategy for Plastics Innovation (SPI) report, which calls for developing certain chemical recycling technologies and improving mechanical recycling. The report also recommends investing in research and development that focuses more on environmental justice, while improving existing plastics recycling technologies, making greater use of biodegradable and bio-based plastics technologies, and developing new methods to meet the expected high demand for plastics in the coming years. DOE outlines priorities as a path to more responsible production and managing existing plastic while developing “new classes of plastic that are recyclable and upgradeable by design.” The report is an update to the agency’s 2019 Plastics Innovation Challenge and is part of the DOE’s long-term effort to boost the viability of plastics recycling and reduce energy consumption. The DOE’s goal is to develop technologies that can handle the end-of-life fate of over 90% of plastic materials and cut energy usage in half.

The DOE sees chemical recycling as a promising area for future research, and names flexible plastics and multilayer packaging as materials that could benefit from additional research. The report mentions various “chemical deconstruction” methods that could benefit from further R&D. However, the report also acknowledges that chemical recycling may have negative impacts on the environment and vulnerable populations and recommends that a life-cycle analysis be conducted for each technology to determine its long-term advantages.

The DOE report also incorporates environmental justice considerations, including equitable siting of recycling and materials production facilities, community engagement, and inclusive policies for jobs created by such technologies. It recommends reducing or eliminating health disparities and greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring that any benefits from improved plastics production are returned to disadvantaged communities.

Energy and Commerce Discuss 17 Bills about Lowering Energy Costs and Strengthening Supply Chains

The new Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee held a joint subcommittee hearing on February 7, to discuss 17 Republican-backed bills that primarily oppose President Biden’s energy and environmental policies. The bills focused on long-standing GOP provisions to support the fossil fuel industry and remove onerous regulatory barriers, such as lifting restrictions on natural gas exports, preventing a ban on fracking and potentially rolling back two measures—repealing the methane emissions fee and eliminating the Greenhouse Gas Reduction program—established by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Other bills would scale back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) requirements for “critical” energy facilities by creating a new category of “critical energy resources” designated by DOE and EPA. The new category would allow certain energy resources or chemical facilities to circumvent regulatory laws such as the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Republicans argue that such a change could be significant for facilities and mines that produce materials critical to solar and wind energy products. Another bill, affecting EPA, would exempt refineries that use hydrofluoric acid in alkylation units from requirements under EPA’s chemical safety risk management program (RMP).

Republicans argue that their goal is to enact policies that deliver affordable, reliable, and clean energy to all Americans. They say the bills are necessary to stop the Democrats’ aggressive “rush to green” agenda, which threatens security by creating vulnerabilities in the energy supply chain and making the U.S. more dependent on its adversaries for energy and critical minerals.

Democrats criticized and expressed disappointment with the partisan approach and not having the opportunity to weigh in on the bills being considered. They argued that House Republicans are stuck in the past and are failing to address today’s energy challenges and opportunities. Instead, they said the GOP is focusing too much on expediting only fossil fuel projects or too much on dismantling environmental regulations. Several Democrats urged Republican members of the panel to work in a way that achieves their shared goals, saying there are steps they could take together with more focused hearings to wrestle with the complex energy issues.

House and Senate Republicans Introduce Legislation to Reverse Biden WOTUS Rule

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer (R-NC) led 147 House Members, many of whom are members of the Congressional Western Caucus, in introducing a joint resolution of disapproval of the Biden Administration’s “flawed and burdensome” Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA is a mechanism by which Congress can overturn certain final agency actions within 60 days of their implementation. This rule will result in sweeping changes to the federal government’s authority to regulate what is considered navigable water. Republicans say the rule will have a tremendous impact on small businesses, manufacturers, farmers, home and infrastructure builders, local municipalities, water districts, and private property owners.

Lawmakers introduced the bill when Rep. Rouzer held a hearing on Feb. 8 to examine the effects of the new WOTUS rule and its implications for those affected. Stakeholders included a representative from the National Association of Home Builders, as well as witnesses who represented legal, environmentalist, and agriculture perspectives.

At the hearing, Democrats cautioned that Republicans’ attempt to revoke the recent rule could lead to further turmoil and uncertainty. That’s in part because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers would be prevented from creating a new rule to clarify and update the current tests used by the agencies. The CRA “could block agencies from helping stakeholders comply with any new jurisdictional test that might be announced by the Supreme Court,” Larsen warned. “If that were the case, stakeholders could be left with an invalidated rulemaking and a framework for a new judicially-led test, but no guidance on how to apply that test in the field.”

In the Senate, Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), led 49 senators in introducing an identical bill. Republican lawmakers criticized the administration for rushing to issue a new rule despite the impending Supreme Court decision in the Sackett case, making the same argument as Democrats, namely that the new rule creates additional confusion and uncertainty. “As American families and businesses continue suffering under the economic crises caused by the disastrous Biden policies of the last two years, this Administration has inexplicably decided to move the country back toward the costly and burdensome WOTUS regulations of the past,” said Graves. “In an unnecessary drain on federal resources, the Administration clumsily put forward its rule before the Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the Sackett case, which will affect and alter what the Administration has put forward.”