EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher announced 40 pilots totaling $3.8 million in grants to 26 states and three tribes to clean up properties contaminated from leaking underground storage tanks.
At an event in Philadelphia, Fisher said, "One of our biggest opportunities for cleanup and redevelopment is thousands of old, abandoned gas stations that are found in communities across the country. While our Brownfields program has been extremely successful, it has been unable to address abandoned petroleum tanks due to statutory restrictions under the Superfund law. These new pilots are building on the successful Brownfields program by bridging the gap."
(Brownfields are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.)
These pilot projects, called USTfields, involve abandoned or underused industrial and commercial properties with perceived or actual contamination from petroleum that has leaked from underground storage tanks. Of the estimated 450,000 Brownfields sites in the United States, about half of these properties are thought to be impacted by underground storage tanks or by some type of petroleum contamination.
These 40 pilot grants are being awarded to states and tribes to demonstrate what can be accomplished in the assessment and cleanup ? and ultimate reuse ? of petroleum-impacted sites when federal, state, tribal, local and private entities work together. Each of the pilots will receive up to $100,000 for assessing and cleaning up petroleum contamination from underground storage tanks.
All of these pilots are intended to provide states, tribes, municipalities and communities with useful information and strategies to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties. These grants spur partnerships among state and local governments, community groups, investors and developers to get sites cleaned up and ready for community use instead of remaining a liability to the community and a continuing threat to public health and the environment.
Earlier this year, President Bush signed bipartisan legislation that will encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of old industrial properties, including abandoned petroleum storage tanks. The new law will help clean up the environment, create jobs and protect small businesses from unnecessary lawsuits. In addition, the President's fiscal year 2003 budget request doubled the funds available through EPA in fiscal year 2002 ? from $98 million to $200 million ? to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize Brownfields and USTfields properties.
This announcement of 40 USTfields pilots locations, combined with EPA's November 2000 announcement of 10 USTfields pilots, brings to 50 the total of USTfields pilots locations nationwide.
For more information, visit EPA's web site at
http://www.epa.gov/oust/ustfield.
FAA FINES MALAYSIAN AIRLINES $110,000 FOR IMPROPER SHIPMENT OF OXYGEN GENERATOR
FAA assessed a $110,000 civil penalty against Malaysian Airlines of Subang, Malaysia, for violating U.S. Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulations.
The FAA alleged that on July 5, 2001, Malaysia improperly offered a passenger service unit with an attached and undeclared chemical oxygen generator for transportation by air. The hazardous materials were not declared, the crew was not notified the flight was carrying such materials and the shipment was in packages that did not meet specifications for its transport.
The shipment flew on a passenger carrying flight from Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia via Narita, Japan to Los Angeles. The shipment
was transported via ground transportation from Los Angeles to
Seattle, and delivered to the Boeing Commercial Repair Facility
where it was opened. The FAA alleged that Malaysia offered,
accepted, and transported hazardous materials that were not
properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled, or in a
condition for shipment required by the hazardous materials
regulations. FAA also alleged that Malaysia did not provide
required emergency response information.
FAA PROPOSES $247,500 FINE AGAINST CHINESE AVIATION FIRM FOR IMPROPER SHIPMENT OF OXYGEN GENERATOR
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed to assess a $247,500 civil penalty against Hainan Provincial Aviation (HPA) of Haikou, Hainan, China, for allegedly violating U.S. Department of Transportation hazardous materials regulations.
The FAA alleges that on July 19, 2001, HPA improperly offered a passenger service unit with an attached and undeclared chemical oxygen generator for transportation by air. The hazardous materials were not declared, the crew was not notified the flight was carrying such materials and the shipment was in packages that did not meet specifications for its transport. Oxygen generators are prohibited from being transported as cargo on passenger aircraft.
The route of this package was Haikou to Beijing. The shipment then flew on a United Airline passenger flight from Beijing, to Narita, Japan, to San Francisco, Calif., arriving on July 20, 2001. In the United States the shipment was transferred to ground transportation and arrived in Seattle, July 23, 2001. The Boeing Seattle Service Center opened it and discovered the oxygen generator.
FAA alleged that HPA offered as cargo hazardous materials that were not properly classed, described, packaged, marked, labeled, or in a condition for shipment required by the hazardous materials regulations. FAA further alleged that HPA did not provide required emergency response information.
HPA will have 30 days from its receipt of the FAA's enforcement
letter to respond to the agency.
UPCOMING DEADLINES
CLEAN AIR ACT (CAA)
- July 21, 2002 - Existing sources subject to organic hazardous air
pollutant emission controls under 40 CFR 63, subpart H, for
equipment leaks from Group V chemical process units must submit
semiannual report to EPA
- July 22, 2002 - Existing sources subject to organic hazardous air
pollutant emission controls under 40 CFR 63, subpart H, for
equipment leaks from Group I chemical process units must submit
semiannual report to EPA
- July 23, 2002 - Existing sources subject to organic hazardous air
pollutant emission controls under 40 CFR 63, subpart H, for
equipment leaks from Group III chemical process units must submit
semiannual report to EPA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DOT)
- June 30, 2002 - HAZMAT registration due
TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT (TSCA)
- July 15, 2002 - Annual PCB report due
EPA'S TEST METHODS FOR CHARACTERIZING HAZARDOUS WASTE ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
EPA publication SW-846 contains many different methods for the sampling and analysis of waste to determine if it is hazardous waste. All of the documents found in the Third Edition of SW-846, as updated by Updates I, II, IIA, IIB, III and IIIA, are located at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/test/main.htm. SW-846 methods are recommended (and sometimes required) for characterization of solid waste to determine if it is hazardous waste. You'll find sampling methods that generators should use to classify liquid and solid wastes, analytical methods, and methods for characterizing contaminated soil.
The SW-846 documents found at this site are complete copies of
the EPA's official published versions and thus include all
figures and tables.
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SHIPPING PAPER RETENTION RULE AMENDED
DOT's Research and Special Projects Administration (RSPA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to require shippers and carriers to retain a copy of each hazardous material shipping paper, or an electronic image thereof, for a period of 375 days after the date the hazardous material is accepted by a carrier.
The previous requirement for retention was one year. The new rule was proposed to require shipping papers to be retained for 375 days (one year plus 10 days) for consistency with the statutory requirement that shipping papers be retained for one year after transportation ends. Over 95 percent of hazardous materials shipments are delivered within 10 days after they are offered to a carrier.
The final rule was published in today's Federal Register. The
effective date is August 12, 2002.
COLORADO MAN SENTENCED TO 17-YEARS IMPRISONMENT, $100,000 FINE
In a Colorado state case co-investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC), Hormoz Pourat was sentenced on July 3 to serve 17 years in prison and pay a $100,000 fine for violating Colorado's Organized Crime Control Act. He is one of the principal managers and owners of a hazardous waste management company known as AAD, which operated in Colorado and California. He also was ordered to pay cleanup and the investigative costs of Colorado's Jefferson County District Court.
AAD was a dry cleaning waste disposal company that accepted waste perchloroethylene dry cleaning solvent from dry cleaners throughout the western United States. AAD operated a hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility in Vernon, Calif., and operated a transfer facility in Lakewood, Colo., which also received waste from California and repackaged it for shipment to hazardous waste landfills in Idaho and Nevada.
The defendant pleaded guilty to different charges: that AAD's waste handling activities resulted in the illegal storage of hazardous wastes in Colorado; false descriptions of shipments of untreated wastes in order to have the waste illegally buried in Idaho and Nevada; misrepresentations to public servants, including Colorado Department of Health inspectors; and theft of money from dry cleaners who paid for legal waste disposal.
Improper handling and disposal of dry cleaning wastes can present
a significant health hazard. EPA's CID and NEIC, environmental
agencies of Colorado and California, investigated the case and
Jefferson County, Colo., law enforcement agencies. It was
prosecuted by the Colorado Attorney General's office in Denver.
NATIONAL MERCURY THERMOMETER BAN BILL RISES OUT OF U.S. SENATE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
Health and environmental groups praised members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for supporting S.351, a bill to phase out mercury thermometers and improve management of surplus mercury. The bill unanimously passed the Committee.
"Thermometers contain about one gram of mercury, which is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake, and thereby require fish advisories," said Michael Bender, Director of the Mercury Policy Project. "While ten states have banned mercury thermometer sales, we need a comprehensive national and global strategy to eliminate all mercury uses and keep surplus quantities out of commerce."
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one-in-ten women of childbearing age have mercury levels in their bodies above what is considered protective for the developing fetus. Presently, 41 states have fish consumption advisories for mercury and ten states Maine, Oregon, Indiana, California, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have banned the sale of mercury fever thermometers. In addition, 11 of the top 15 national retailers have stopped selling mercury fever thermometers.
The bill prohibits sale of mercury fever thermometers, except by prescription, within 180 days of enactment and also authorizes EPA to spend $20 million to implement a national mercury thermometer collection and exchange program. S.351 also directs EPA to keep the mercury collected from thermometers out of commerce, creates a Federal task force to make recommendations regarding the long-term management of surplus mercury and authorizes EPA to spend $1 million per year to properly manage surplus mercury.
Presently, no mercury thermometers are made anywhere in the U.S.--the primary mercury thermometer factories are in India and China. Non-mercury thermometers are readily available and have proven to be just as accurate as mercury thermometers. The bill does not apply to basal, industrial, or any other type of thermometer or mercury products.
To see S.351 as presented to the U.S. Senate EPW Committee or a summary of the bill, see http://www.mercurypolicy.org. To see state laws and local ordinances banning sales of mercury fever thermometers, as well as resolutions on mercury by various health groups, see http://www.noharm.org/index.cfm?page_ID=14#state.