Biden EPA revives justification for coal utility mercury rule

The Environmental Protection Agency a proposed rule restoring the legal foundation for limiting coal-fired power plants’ mercury emissions under the Clean Air Act, a finding the Trump administration sought to axe.

The rule reinstates the agency’s finding that it is “appropriate and necessary” for EPA to regulate power plant emissions using authority established in the 1990 amendments to the landmark air law. The Obama EPA in 2011 finalized the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS, rule which is credited with dramatically reducing mercury and other emissions from coal-fired utilities.

“This decision returns sanity and science to EPA’s efforts protecting children and other vulnerable populations from extremely dangerous pollution like mercury,” said EWG President Ken Cook.

“Although reversing the insidious anti-health policies of the former Trump administration should be celebrated, it’s a stark reminder of what happens when critical environmental safeguards are eviscerated and scientific consensus is rejected just to placate the coal industry,” Cook said.

The MATS rule required electric utilities that burn coal and oil to install technologies to cut emissions of mercury and other heavy metal air pollutants, including arsenic.

Utilities estimated the cost of the pollution-trapping equipment at around $18 billion. But it was money well spent: The rule had an almost immediate impact on air quality, with a  70 percent drop in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. The EPA estimated the health benefits of the rule from $37 billion to $90 billion every year.

The states that saw the most significant decreases in mercury emissions because of the Obama rule include those that rely heavily on electricity generated from coal-fired power plants: Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.

The Trump administration in 2020 scrapped the appropriate and necessary finding, and the Biden EPA’s rule starts the process of reversing that decision. The Trump EPA did not scrap the MATS rule itself, but observers had feared that revoking the appropriate and necessary finding was a prelude to an attempt to undo the entire emissions rule.

#Biden EPA #revives justification #coal utility

USGS detects forever chemicals in 16 states water wells

The U.S. Geological Survey has detected the toxic “ forever chemicals ” known as PFAS in public and private drinking water wells in 16 Eastern states.

USGS announced the findings in a new study designed to assess the contamination of five aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. PFAS were detected in public and private drinking water wells in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The study detected 14 different PFAS, and most frequently found PFOA, PFOS, and PFBS, some of the most notorious and well-studied PFAS.

USGS took 254 samples and found PFAS in 60 percent of wells serving public water systems. It found PFAS in 20 percent of wells serving individual households. Water was most likely to be contaminated with PFAS if the aquifer was newly filled, the well was near a fire training site or urban area, or had increased organic material.

At least one type of PFAS was detected in 54 percent of the samples, and two or more PFAS were found in 47 percent of the samples.

In addition to PFOA and PFOS, the most common PFAS detected include PFBS, PFHxS, PFHpA, PFNA, PFBA, PFPeA, and PFHxA.

“It’s very troubling that PFAS were detected so frequently,” said Scott Faber , EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs.

The highest detection collected was 1,500 parts per trillion, or ppt, of PFOA, found in community water well in West Virginia.

PFAS  are found in the blood of virtually everyone,  including newborn babies. Very low doses of PFAS have been linked to the suppression of the immune system and are associated with an elevated risk of cancer, increased cholesterol, reproductive harm, and other health concerns.

Thousands of communities have already detected these toxic forever chemicals in their water, and PFAS have been confirmed at nearly  400  military installations.  EWG  estimates that more than 200 million Americans are drinking water contaminated with PFAS.

“No one should have to worry about toxic forever chemicals in their tap water,” said Faber. The Environmental Protection Agency has known of the risks to communities posed by PFAS since at least 1998 but has failed to act .

The Biden EPA’s PFAS “ roadmap proposes to set a drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS by 2023 and take steps to restrict industrial releases of PFAS into the air and water.

The USGS should help with identifying private wells that are contaminated with PFAS, but more needs to be done. “A drinking water standard will not address the PFAS in private wells,” Faber said. “It’s very troubling that 20 percent of private wells that were sampled contained PFAS. Millions of people living in rural households could be drinking contaminated tap water.”

#USGS #PFAS #16states #foreverchemical

Myanmar to accept Thai baht for border trade, eyes using rupee

Myanmar will start accepting the Thai baht currency for settling border trade transactions and is also looking at a similar plan to use the Indian rupee for such trade, the ministries of information and investment said on Tuesday.

Myanmar’s military-controlled government has already said it would also accept China’s renminbi as an official settlement currency.

“By reducing dependence on the U.S. dollar, we will mitigate the risk of sudden exchange rate swings due to external geopolitical factors,” the ministries said in a statement, adding the move would help reduce inflation caused by the appreciation of the dollar.

The arrangements would also help support economic recovery, the statement said, adding that – even with rising energy prices – Myanmar should record “modest” gross domestic product growth in the fiscal year ending October 2022.

Myanmar’s economy has slumped since the army overthrew an elected government a year ago and launched a bloody crackdown on opponents, with a struggle to impose order amid widespread civil unrest and armed resistance from pro-democracy militias and ethnic minority rebels.

Last year, the Central Bank of Myanmar briefly tried tethering the kyat currency to a reference rate against the dollar after a slump in the exchange rate.

The statement accused opponents of trying to trigger distrust in the banking and financial system and said a weaker kyat last year was “stoked by economic sabotage”.

Registered merchants along the Thai border with Myanmar could from this month conduct trade based on the kyat-baht exchange rate announced daily by Myanmar’s central bank, said the statement.

Thai deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the government was not involved in the arrangements but said “usage of baht-kyat is something that two sides have been discussing… and matched demand from the Thai private sector.”

However, Sobkasem Ngaemngam of the Tak province chapter of the Federation of Thai Industry, said the move was unlikely to change much since businesses on both sides of the border had been using baht in trade for decades. Tak province borders Myanmar.

Indian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thailand is Myanmar’s second-biggest trading partner behind China. Trade in the 2020-2021 fiscal year was worth $5.3 billion, the statement said.

Myanmar’s main exports included gas, metals, pulses, and garments, it said, adding the country mainly imported machinery, transport equipment, and manufactured goods from Thailand.

#Myanmar  #accept Thai baht #border trade

Myanmar’s sea trade surges in interim budget period

Myanmar’s maritime trade increased by over US$770.2 million in the first four months of the interim budget period, compared to the same period of the last fiscal year of 2020-2021, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The sea-route foreign trade amounted to over US$8.7 billion as of Feb. 11 in the six-month interim budget period which started in October last year.

The South-East Asian country announced changing its fiscal year from the original October-September to April-March beginning 2022-2023, producing a six-month interim budget period from October last year to March this year.

From Oct. 1 last year to Feb. 11 this year, the country’s maritime foreign export saw an increase of more than US$671.8 million while its maritime import saw an increase of over US$98.4 million.

Sea-route export of the country amounted to over US$3.9 billion while its sea-route import totaled over US$4.8 billion during the interim budget period.

About 80 percent of the country’s trade with foreign countries is usually done through sea route as the country boasts a long coastline. Its border trade is conducted with neighboring China, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.

Despite the sea trade surge, the border trade dropped more than US$2.01 billion in the interim budget period from a year earlier.

The country’s border trade totaled over US$2.4 billion in the interim budget period. Border trade in the same period of last fiscal year amounted to over 4.4 billion U.S. dollars. Myanmar, which is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and one of the 15 signatories of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), has been experiencing social and economic problems because of the Covid-19 pandemic and political crisis.

The country’s total foreign trade in the interim budget period declined more than US$1.2 billion compared to the same period of a year earlier when its trade value totaled more than 12.4 billion U.S. dollars.

The South-East Asian country earned more than half of its total foreign revenues from the export of manufacturing goods, which brought in over 3.2 billion U.S. dollars during that period.

The county’s sales of export goods brought in more than US$5.7 billion of foreign revenues in the interim budget period.

Myanmar’s commerce ministry has set a target of US$17 billion for total foreign trade in the six-month interim budget period, an official of the ministry told Xinhua last year.  The country’s total foreign trade in over four months of the six-month interim budget period has now exceeded US$11 billion, the ministry’s data showed. Therefore, the country will need another nearly US$6 billion foreign trade value in the next nearly two months to meet its target.

The country exports agricultural products, animal products, fisheries, minerals, forest products, manufacturing goods, and others to foreign countries while capital goods, intermediate goods, and consumer goods are imported into the country.

#Myanmar’s #seatrade #interim budget period

Cambodia-EU trade up 4.6 percent to $4.98 billion last year

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and the European Union (EU) was valued at 4.5 billion euros ($4.98 billion) in 2021, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier, said a joint press release on Thursday.

The main products Cambodia exported to the EU are agricultural products, including milled rice, textiles, footwear, travel goods, and bicycles, while key items the kingdom imported from the EU include construction materials, food, beverage, electronics, and pharmaceutical products, among others.

The joint press release was issued at the end of the 11th Cambodia-EU Joint Committee Meeting, which was held here in a hybrid format and co-chaired by the Cambodian foreign ministry’s secretary of state Luy David and Paola Pampaloni, deputy managing director for Asia and Pacific of the European External Action Service.

The meeting discussed economic recovery measures, bilateral trade and investment relations, technical cooperation, market access issues, and the ongoing efforts to further improve the business environment, including the new Law of Investments, and diversify Cambodia’s economy, it said.

“The two sides also committed to further strengthen cooperation to ensure that Cambodia’s investment climate remains open, well facilitated, competitive, and conducive to sustainable socio-economic development,” the release said.

“The meeting also exchanged views on regional and global trade development including updates on economic integration in ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and across the wider Asia-Pacific region, EU-ASEAN regional trade relations, and the updates on WTO reforms, among others,” it added.

The next meeting will be held in 2023 in Brussels, the release said.

#Cambodia-EU trade #4.6 percent #$4.98 billion

Meghna Industrial EZ receives $100m in foreign investment – highest in private zones

A total of 12 foreign companies from seven different countries finalized agreements to put their money in the industrial hub near the Dhaka-Chattagram Highway in Narayanganj’s Sonargaon, while four firms – Australian TIC Manufacturing and TIC Industries Pty, Japanese Sakata Inx, and German Siegwerk Limited – have started their factory operations, according to officials of the economic zone.

“Apart from the common facilities of economic zones, our zone has some extra privileges, which is why it became the centre of attraction for foreign investors,” said Suman Bhowmik, senior deputy general manager of Meghna Group of Industries, owner of the economic zone.

As it is situated in a prime location near the capital city, transportation to or from the zone was very easy, he told The Business Standard. The zone has its own power plant to supply electricity to factories, a central effluent treatment plant to process industrial waste, and a fire hydrant system and other amenities.

“Besides, we are now increasing the capacity of solar panels, from which we expect 13-megawatt electricity, and developing a rainwater harvesting system to utilize natural water,” added Suman.

Currently, 14 factories, including 10 local ones, are manufacturing different types of products – from beverage to garment accessories – in the zone, while their investments have amounted to $400 million. Of the amount, local companies, mostly Meghna Group subsidiaries, invested $300 million and the rest came from abroad.

Approved in 2017 by the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza), the 90-acre industrial hub saw its first factory establishment by Meghna Beverage in late 2018. In the following year, the two Australian facilities went into operation.

 According to the authorities, all the plots, except a two-acre one, have already been allotted. “Now, we are expanding the area of the zone by 33 more acres to 123 acres of land as many local and foreign firms are still approaching us about setting up their facilities here,” said Suman Bhowmik. He added that there will be 14 more plots.

“We hope the investment in the zone will be increased to $700 million and jobs to 16,000 with the completion of the zone development in the next one and a half years,” he added. Currently, 8,000 people are working in different factories in the zone.

“We saw 9 foreign companies investing in the Meghna Industrial Economic Zone during the pandemic and some starting operations, which proves that the country has a good investment atmosphere,” Shaikh Yusuf Harun, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza), told The Business Standard.

He hoped that the foreign investment would inspire other companies to invest in economic zones. China ahead of others, Australia makes debut Of the 12 foreign companies, two Chinese firms invested the highest amount of $23 million in the economic zone, followed by $17.5 million by two Australian companies.

Besides, three German firms invested $15.9 million, an Indian firm $16 million, two Japanese $14 million, a Swiss $6 million, and a Norwegian company made a $5 million investment in the industrial hub. They will produce a range of products, such as garment accessories, inks, paints, chemicals, drugs, and mobile phones.

The Chinese investor Ismatu Technology alone has invested $18.00 million to produce mobile handsets and accessories. It is expected to complete setting up its facility by June this year. Approximately, 3,400 jobs will be generated in the factory. Officials said the two Australian companies – TIC Manufacturing and TIC Industry Pty – produce plastic hangers for garments, with a workforce of 1,000 people.

“The two facilities are producing 2 million hangers every day; they are being exported to Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, and other countries,” said Rafiquzzaman, director and country manager of TIC Manufacturing (Bangladesh) Pty Limited.

He said Australia has invested in Bangladesh for the first time with the two companies. Indian Sun Pharmaceuticals was making its facility. It said it would be able to go into operation by July this year. The company has invested $16.056 million. Besides, other factories in the zone are expected to start production within this year.

“In the meantime, a Netherland firm expressed its keen interest to have a factory in our economic zone. It wants 4 acres of land,” Suman Bhowmik told TBS. Meghna Group subsidiaries majority in local 10. Out of the local 10 companies in the zone currently in operation, subsidiaries of the local conglomerate Meghna Group are the majority, 7 in number.

The firms are producing beverage items, cement bags, jumbo bags, and different consumer items such as biscuits, noodles, chanachur, and others. The other local companies in the economic zone are Thai Foils and polymer Industries, S2S Chemicals Limited, and Meghna Star Cables and Electrical Appliances Limited (not a concern of Meghna Group).

Meghna Industrial Economic Zone is one of the country’s existing 11 privately run economic zones. The Beza is working toward establishing 100 economic zones across the country by 2030.

 The goal is to create employment for 10 million people. The Beza also expects to produce and export products worth $40 billion annually in and from these economic zones.

Investors can avail of tax holidays, duty-free imports of raw materials and machinery, exemption from dividend tax, VAT-free electricity, gas and water, and other fiscal facilities in the zones. Besides; they enjoy some other non-fiscal advantages, such as bond facility, repatriation of disinvestment, unlimited telephonic transfers, and separate customs procedures.

#$100m in foreign investment #Meghna Industrial  #Investors

Recycling plastic bottles to make garments

Bangladesh is set to become a major source of recycled yarn and fabrics made from plastic bottles as the country looks to capture more market share of global high value-added garment items such as activewear, outerwear, padding, and quilting.

Seven local mills have already set up plants investing Tk 1,670.73 crore collectively in order to make flakes from waste plastic bottles in order to make recycled yarn and fabrics, according to the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).

Globally, the recycling of plastic bottles for clothes is a growing trend, as conscious consumers in the western markets are demanding more garment items be made from recycled yarn in order to save the earth from plastic pollution.

As a result, international retailers and brands are increasingly asking suppliers to add 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the raw material to the finished garment items.

Another factor is the cost of production in China, the biggest producer of yarn made from plastic bottles has increased a lot. This has prompted Bangladeshi millers to pump thousands of crores of taka into producing yarn and fabrics from plastic items.

Debonair Group, located in Bhaluka of Mymensingh, collects 30 tonnes to 40 tonnes of plastic bottles daily from vendors to make chips, then fibre, and then yarn before producing garment fabrics.

Ayub Khan, managing director of the group, says he is hopeful that the group can start manufacturing plastic flakes in the new plant by 2022.

The construction of the plant has been delayed for a year because of the fallouts of Covid-19.

Currently, Debonair Group imports $20 million worth of fibre and yarn made from plastic bottles mainly from China to make quilts, jackets, padding, and outerwear for its international buyers in Europe and in the US.

Once the production in the new plant starts, Khan is expecting to collect a significant quantity of plastic bottles from the domestic market.

The initiative of Debonair Group is helping save the environment by reusing plastic bottles, Khan said.

Singair, Manikjganj-based Mumanu Polyester Industries Ltd has a daily production capacity of 120 tonnes of yarn from plastic chips and fibres. But it is running at half of the capacity because of the shortage of raw materials, said Managing Director Abul Kalam Mohammad Musa.

The company collects plastic bottles from the local vendors, who buy them from small traders in villages and urban areas. Musa started his factory in 2017.

Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd also makes yarn and fabrics from the flakes of plastic chips imported from China, said Mokhlesur Rahman, senior executive for product development of the company.

The international buyers of the company select the recycled yarn to be mixed with the woven fabrics before manufacturing apparel items. So, at Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, 25 percent recycled yarn is added with the woven fabrics to get better prices from its global clients.

The company also purchases recycled fibres from Repreve, a global platform for recycling plastic bottles, which are collected from the oceans in order to turn them into fibres.

“We import the fibre as per the requirement of international retailers and brands,” said Rahman, adding that woven, activewear like jerseys, and outerwear are made from recycled plastic yarn.

He says a company can collect plastic bottles from the seabed of the Bay of Bengal to process them into yarn to be used in making garment items.

Monsoor Ahmed, chief executive officer of the BTMA, says local mills collect plastic bottles and turn them into chips and yarn as the demand for plastic yarn is growing worldwide because of the comfort, durability, and longevity of the dresses made from such raw materials.

As a result, international buyers are asking suppliers to add 25 per cent to 30 percent recycled plastic yarn to cotton yarn.

The BTMA urged the National Board of Revenue to waive the duty on the imported recycled plastic fibre and yarn so that local producers can grab more share of the global recycled garment market.

#Recycling plastic bottles  #make garment  # local vendors  # global clients.