Dan Sealy, NEC Legislative Analyst
Omnibus Spending Bill – Not Such a Green Deal
There is a big battle being waged in Congress right now regarding the large Omnibus spending bill that includes some good old fashioned pork barrel, many parts aimed at preservation and water-related projects, and some that might be considered components of the Green New Deal. As the Senate passed its version of the bill, and sent it back to the House for reconciliation, some environmental groups are not happy pointing out the Green New Deal is missing from this final version after years of fighting for those elements. Though such a moderate approach is expected in an election year, especially one where both the House and Senate could favor Republicans, conservationists worry the future may hold few victories. Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) calmed his gas-producing constituency in a tweet saying the bill has “zero actual changes to USA Oil & Gas restrictions.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pointed out the legislation “unlocks more federal funding under our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — bringing transformational investments to roads, bridges, transit, water systems, airports, broadband and more across America.” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) hopes to bring home the bacon with about $260 million earmarked for several water projects and studies, including $8.6 million for the Channel Islands Harbor dredging project and another $33 million for California Bay-Delta Restoration. The final list of those water projects is not yet known and will be hashed out as the bill goes back to the house for revisions to reconcile the House and Senate versions. We trust Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA) will be working hard to keep any projects that would divert more water to Central Valley out of the final legislation.
Plastics
While plastic-generating companies such as Nestle are urging federal support for “chemical recycling” which basically uses incineration to break plastics down to their fossil fuel components, Congress has been stuck for over a year with Senate and House bills that would tackle the corporate side of plastic use. The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act (SB 984) and its companion bill (HR 2238) aim to provide national leadership to reduce the amount of wasteful plastic produced and reform our broken waste and recycling systems. The bill would shift the burden of cleanup and waste management to the corporations that produce plastic waste. The bill has a myriad of components and a lot of cosponsors. But the plastics industry, for both production of plastics in general and plastic bottles in particular, has very strong lobbying forces. Some components of that larger bill have been stripped into smaller bills such as the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act (SB 1507) which utilizes the Clean Water Act to regulate the discharge of plastic pellets (aka nurdles) into US waters. Most conservation groups support the larger bill but realize any portion is a win for now.
Last September, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking weighing whether plastic chemical recycling should be regulated as solid waste incineration.
Industries who are engaging in chemical recycling disagree that they are simply incinerating plastics. Joshua Baca, the American Chemistry Council’s vice president for plastics argues, “It’s a very flawed way of thinking about it. This is a process that breaks down material back to the molecular building block. Incineration implies that it’s the end of the life of a material.”
Denise Patel, a program director with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, or GAIA, says there could easily be hidden health concerns with the process and states, “I believe the general public has every right to be both skeptical and concerned.”
Meanwhile, in the California state legislature there are several bills to tackle waste from vape pens, cigarette filters, and used batteries as well as remove energy credits from trash incinerators.