EPA regulations spike energy bills for millions of Americans

The Environmental Policy Alliance announced the launch of EPA Facts, a project devoted to educating the public about the harmful policies of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The launch features a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal and a new website that details ways in which the EPA uses agenda-driven science and opaque operations to increase the cost of energy for millions of American households.
The ad features a picture of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy with the headline, "Your Electricity Bill May Soon Skyrocket…" with McCarthy's EPA's advice on how to deal with it: "Suck it up."
The ad goes on to read, "Obama's EPA, led by McCarthy, is moving full steam ahead with oppressive energy regulations to make higher costs a reality," then prompts readers to learn more at the EPA Facts website.
"The EPA's proposed and planned regulations to regulate power plants will deal a devastating blow to the diversity of America's energy portfolio," said Anastasia Swearingen, senior research analyst for the Environmental Policy Alliance. "With its sweeping plan to effectively eliminate new coal plants, the EPA's actions could increase annual electricity costs for families in some states by over $1,000 per year."
States most likely to feel the pain are those which use coal-fired power plants. Currently, 22 states rely on coal as their largest source of energy and 48 states rely on coal to produce at least some of their electricity. If the price of electricity from coal were to increase by 80 percent - as representatives from the Department of Energy have estimated if proposed regulations go into effect - it would significantly increase household electricity bills across the U.S. The largest increases would be felt across the rustbelt and Midwest, topping out at $1,104 per year in Pennsylvania.
The EPA Facts website focuses on three ways in which the EPA's policies add millions of dollars to Americans' energy bills and pushes a green agenda that goes beyond its mandate:

• High costs of red tape - With the power to impose rules affecting every U.S. industry, the EPA's extensive regulations cost the economy more than $350 billion per year - a full two percent of gross domestic product in 2013
• Transparency problems - The EPA often shields its activities from public view, particularly by participating in so-called "sue and settle" legal strategies that involve foregoing the traditional rulemaking process and colluding with environmental activists behind closed doors
• Agenda-driven science - Whether ignoring cost/benefit analyses, employing questionable rulemaking justifications, or outright bullying scientists, the EPA's "scientific method" is far from objective and sometimes deliberately skewed
Swearingen concluded, "No one is saying we should kill the environment to save an extra buck. But we shouldn't kill the middle-class to create a green utopia, either."

Balchem and Taminco announce a production joint venture for choline chloride

Taminco Corp. and Balchem Corp. have reached an agreement to build and operate a choline chloride facility in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, where both companies operate existing production facilities. Balchem will contribute its current St. Gabriel choline chloride production assets to the joint venture and both parties will invest into expanding these assets into a world scale production unit, which is expected to come on stream in 2015.
The joint venture will manufacture choline chloride. Balchem and Taminco will market the product   through separate and fully independent channels. Both parties are very pleased with the joint production model as this will lead to a state-of-the-art unit. Using the most advanced technology, it will generate advantages of scale, providing customers a high quality product and reliable supply chain at a competitive cost.
This new capacity will help to serve the growing North American market, which is underpinned by increasing demand for choline chloride, a quaternary compound functioning as a clay stabilizer in oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing applications. The safe and benign profile of choline chloride contributes to reducing the environmental footprint for oil and gas development projects. Choline chloride is a trimethyl amine derivative, also widely used as a feed ingredient additive for a variety of animals.

UK pig industry secures tax rebates to document energy savings

New Climate Change Levy targets may save the UK pig industry an estimated £18.5 million over the next 10 years. The National Pig Association ,NPA, and the Farm Energy Centre have been working closely with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to set a 22.7 percent energy saving target for pig producers, which will run from 2014 until 2023.
UK pig farmers who meet this target will be able to claim a discount on the Climate Change Levy of 90 percent on electricity and 65 percent on other eligible fuels. The Department for Energy and Climate Change had proposed a target of 31 percent but Farm Energy Centre and the NPA presented evidence that a lower target of 22.7 percent was more realistic of what producers could achieve by 2020. This change in percentage will mean the scheme will cost members £200,000 less to participate and will generate over £2.75 million in tax rebates. In addition, the reduced energy use by the sector will lead to a collective reduction in energy bills of over £15.5 million
“We are pleased that the government has accepted our evidence and this has resulted in a realistic and achievable target that will help to motivate pig farmers to continue saving energy and money,” said Lizzie Press, regions manager of the NPA.

UK pig industry secures tax rebates to document energy savings

New Climate Change Levy targets may save the UK pig industry an estimated £18.5 million over the next 10 years. The National Pig Association ,NPA, and the Farm Energy Centre have been working closely with the Department for Energy and Climate Change to set a 22.7 percent energy saving target for pig producers, which will run from 2014 until 2023.
UK pig farmers who meet this target will be able to claim a discount on the Climate Change Levy of 90 percent on electricity and 65 percent on other eligible fuels. The Department for Energy and Climate Change had proposed a target of 31 percent but Farm Energy Centre and the NPA presented evidence that a lower target of 22.7 percent was more realistic of what producers could achieve by 2020. This change in percentage will mean the scheme will cost members £200,000 less to participate and will generate over £2.75 million in tax rebates. In addition, the reduced energy use by the sector will lead to a collective reduction in energy bills of over £15.5 million
“We are pleased that the government has accepted our evidence and this has resulted in a realistic and achievable target that will help to motivate pig farmers to continue saving energy and money,” said Lizzie Press, regions manager of the NPA.