EPA Restricts Use of HFC Refrigerants

The EPA recently finalized a rule to prohibit certain uses of chemicals that significantly contribute to climate change in favor of safer, more climate-friendly alternatives. 

“Today’s action delivers on the President’s Climate Action Plan and the administration’s commitment to acting on climate. And it is in line with steps leading businesses are already taking to reduce and replace HFCs with safer, climate-friendly alternatives,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “This rule will not only reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, but also encourage greater use and development of the next generation of safer HFC alternatives.”

In the United States, HFC emissions are expected to nearly double by 2020 and triple by 2030. New technologies and new climate-friendly refrigerants can significantly reduce these emission increases. EPA estimates this final rule will reduce GHG emissions of 54 to 64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025, equal to the carbon dioxide emissions from the annual energy use of more than 5.8 million homes.

The HFCs and HFC-containing blends affected by the recent rule are used in aerosols, foam blowing, motor vehicle air conditioning, retail food refrigeration, and vending machines.

The rule changes the status of certain high-global warming potential (GWP) HFCs that were previously listed as acceptable under the SNAP Program as unacceptable in specific end uses. These changes are based on information showing other alternatives are available for the same uses that pose lower risk overall to human health and the environment.

In developing and finalizing the rule, EPA received input from industry, environmental groups and others through workshops and meetings, and reviewed more than 7,000 public comments. Based on public comment on the proposal and additional information submitted to the agency, the agency’s final rule makes a number of changes from the proposal. These include giving manufacturers the time and flexibility they need to ensure a smooth transition to safer alternatives.

New Exclusions for Solvent Recycling and Hazardous Secondary Materials

EPA’s new definition of solid waste rule will present new opportunities for waste recycling outside the scope of hazardous waste regulation. Environmental Resource Center will present a webcast on the new Definition of Solid Waste rule on Monday, June 29th at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. This rule, which goes into effect on July 13, 2015, will maintain critical environmental protections while streamlining the regulatory burden for wastes that are legitimately recycled.

The first of the two exclusions is an exclusion from the definition of solid waste for high-value solvents transferred from one manufacturer to another for the purpose of extending the useful life of the original solvent product by keeping the materials in commerce to reproduce a commercial grade of the original solvent product.

The second, and more wide reaching of the two exclusions, is a revision of the existing hazardous secondary material recycling exclusion. This exclusion allows you to recycle, or send off-site for recycling, virtually any hazardous secondary material, and it will not meet the definition of solid waste. Provided you meet the terms of the exclusion, the material will no longer be hazardous waste.

• Learn how to take advantage of these exclusions at Environmental Resource Center’s live one-hour webcast. You will learn:
• Which of your materials qualify for the exclusion?
• What is a secondary material?
• Which solvents can be remanufactured, and which cannot?
• What is a tolling agreement?
• What is legitimate recycling?
• What are the generator storage requirements?
• What documentation must be maintained?
• What are the off-site shipping requirements?
• What are the training and emergency planning requirements?
• Can the recycler be outside the US?

EPA Issues New Industrial Storm Water General Permit

 If you were permitted under the 2008 MSGP and need to obtain coverage under the new permit, you must submit your Notice of Intent (NOI)—in accordance with the 2015 MSGP’s updated NOI requirements—by September 2, 2015.

At this interactive session, you will learn how to:

• Obtain a storm water discharge permit
• Develop and implement an effective SWPPP
• Select and implement effective control measures (including best management practices)
• Develop and document inspection procedures
• Implement an effective monitoring and sampling plan
• Meet your permit’s training requirements
• Comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements
• Certify no-exposure
• Comply with permit renewal requirements
• Terminate permit coverage

Raleigh EHS Regulations and Transportation Training

Macon RCRA and DOT Training

Cleveland RCRA and DOT Training

EPA Proposes to Cancel Some Uses of Common Insecticide

“Today, we are taking strong steps to protect human health—especially the health of children—from this widely used insecticide,” said Jim Jones, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “The agency will continue its work to reduce exposure from pesticides that pose the greatest risk to those who are the most vulnerable.”

From 1995 to 2013, EPA has reduced exposure from carbamates, the class of insecticide that includes propoxur. The use of carbamates has fallen by 70%.

EPA and the registrant reached an agreement to voluntarily cancel certain uses of propoxur. At the same time, EPA is proposing to cancel certain other pesticide registrations. Voluntary cancellation is the quickest way to fully address these risks, and best protect public health. EPA is proposing to cancel all indoor aerosol, spray and liquid formulations of propoxur inside hospitals and other commercial or institutional facilities where children may be present and all use in food-handling establishments.

After these cancellations, there would be no remaining food uses, and no tolerances levels for propoxur. In 2007, EPA cancelled the use of propoxur sprays inside homes, day care facilities, and schools, and in 2014, EPA cancelled propoxur pet collars. The recent action was conducted as part of the agency’s registration review program.

New York State Prohibits High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officially prohibited high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in New York State by issuing its formal Findings Statement, completing the state’s seven-year review of this activity.

“After years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts, prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonable alternative,” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “High-volume hydraulic fracturing poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated. This decision is consistent with DEC’s mission to conserve, improve and protect our state’s natural resources, and to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state.”

The Findings Statement concludes that there are no feasible or prudent alternatives that adequately avoid or minimize adverse environmental impacts and address risks to public health from this activity.

DEC based the Findings Statement on the vast research included in the Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FSGEIS) released last month. The FSGEIS included consideration of extensive public comment and the state Department of Health’s Public Health Review, which concluded there is considerable uncertainty as to potential health impacts from HVHF and that HVHF should not move forward in New York State.

The Findings Statement is the culmination of the environmental review process to fully evaluate the environmental impacts of this activity. The Findings Statement details the widespread potential impacts from the HVHF process, including impacts to water and air resources, ecosystems and wildlife, community character, and public health.

EPA Begins to Act on Banning Chlorpyrifos

Some 15 years after EPA banned chlorpyrifos from residential use, the agency announced recently that it may ban the neurotoxic pesticide from use in agricultural fields as well. The announcement came after a recent court of appeals decision directing the agency to act on a 2007 petition to ban the chemical.

Environmental health and farmworker advocates who brought the legal case are calling the announcement an important step in the right direction, and potentially more far-reaching, if the agency fully commits to a ban next year. EPA states in its report to the court:

“EPA intends to grant the Petition by publishing in the Federal Register not later than April 15, 2016, a proposed rule pursuant to 21 U.S.C. section 346a(d)(4)(A)(ii) to revoke all chlorpyrifos tolerances to address drinking water exposure concerns in small sensitive watersheds throughout the country.”

“By revoking all chlorpyrifos tolerances, EPA would ban all uses of chlorpyrifos on food. This is what we have been seeking for years. EPA’s own findings show that chlorpyrifos causes brain damage to children and poisons workers and bystanders,” said Patti Goldman, the Earthjustice attorney handling the case. “At long last, EPA is taking steps to protect children, workers and their families by banning this hazardous pesticide.”

In December 2014, EPA finally acknowledged the extensive body of peer-reviewed science correlating chlorpyrifos exposure with brain damage to children, including reduced IQ, delayed development, and loss of working memory. For 15 years, EPA has been allowing exposures at levels far greater than those leading to the harm to children’s brains. As a result, advocates continue to press for greater protections for children at both state and federal levels, until the agency cements its commitment to a ban.

EPA’s report to the court cites harm to workers as another reason to act on a ban.

“Every year, farmworkers and families in rural communities are exposed to chlorpyrifos, and EPA is finally acknowledging the damage this exposure can cause. It’s high time for EPA to follow the science and take action,” said Dr. Margaret Reeves, Senior Scientist at Pesticide Action Network. “A ban would ensure that both workers and families in rural communities are safe from this drift-prone, bad actor pesticide.”

“The types of brain damage chlorpyrifos causes are every parent’s worst fears—reduced IQ, attention disorders, delayed development,” said Jennifer Sass, senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council. “EPA must act to stop exposures to this pesticide and protect children’s brains from this type of egregious harm.”

“If EPA does ban chlorpyrifos, it’s a step forward on the path to environmental justice,” said Virginia Ruiz of Farmworker Justice. “Farmworkers and their families, who are predominantly poor and majority Latino, bear the brunt of poisonings from pesticides and pesticide drift.”

EPA to Propose Endangerment Finding on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Aircraft

 This finding will apply to the same six well-mixed GHGs—carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride—that together were defined as the air pollution in the 2009 Endangerment Finding under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act and that together constitute the primary cause of the climate change problem. The Administrator is also proposing to find that GHG emissions from certain classes of engines used in aircraft are contributing to air pollution--the mix of GHGs in the atmosphere—that endangers public health and welfare under section 231(a) of the Clean Air Act. Concurrent with these proposed findings, the EPA is issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to provide an overview of and seek input on a variety of issues related to setting an international CO2 standard for aircraft at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ICAO’s progress in establishing global aircraft standards that achieve meaningful reductions in CO₂ emissions, and (provided the EPA promulgates final endangerment and cause and contribute findings for aircraft engine GHG emissions) the potential use of section 231 of the Clean Air Act to adopt and implement corresponding aircraft engine GHG emission standards domestically, ensuring transparency and the opportunity for public comment.

EPA will hold a public hearing on August 11, 2015 in Washington, DC, at the William Jefferson Clinton East Building, Room 1153, 101 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004. 

2015 Revised Underground Storage Tank Regulations

EPA recently issued the 2015 underground storage tank regulation and the 2015 state program approval regulation. The revisions strengthen the 1988 federal underground storage tank (UST) regulations by increasing emphasis on properly operating and maintaining UST equipment. The revisions will help prevent and detect UST releases, which are a leading source of groundwater contamination. The revisions will also help ensure all USTs in the US, including those in Indian country, meet the same minimum standards. This is the first major revision to the federal UST regulations since 1988. 

EPA Issues Final Updated Human Health Ambient Water Quality Criteria

These 2015 criteria reflect the latest scientific information and EPA policies, including updated body weight, drinking water consumption rate, fish consumption rate, bioaccumulation factors, health toxicity values, and relative source contributions. The Agency accepted written scientific views from the public on the draft updated human health criteria from May to August 2014 and has published responses to those comments. EPA water quality criteria serve as recommendations to states and tribes authorized to establish water quality standards for surface waters under the Clean Water Act.

Ohio to Revise Hazardous Waste Regulations

The following is a list of the final federal RCRA Subtitle C (hazardous waste) FRs that are addressed in this rulemaking:

Ohio Proposes Cessation of Regulated Operations Rules

The Cessation of Regulated Operations (CRO) program was created in Ohio law to prevent companies from shutting down or abandoning facilities or no longer having regulated operations at facilities where regulated substances were used, stored, or treated. These rules require the responsible parties to secure these facilities until all regulated substances are properly removed.

NIST Documents Procedures for Nano-EHS Research and Testing

As engineered nanomaterials increasingly find their way into commercial products, researchers who study the potential environmental or health impacts of those materials face a growing challenge to accurately measure and characterize them. These challenges affect measurements of basic chemical and physical properties as well as toxicology assessments.

To help nano-EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) researchers navigate the often complex measurement issues, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a new website devoted to NIST-developed (or co-developed) and validated laboratory protocols for nano-EHS studies.

In common lab parlance, a “protocol” is a specific step-by-step procedure used to carry out a measurement or related activity, including all the chemicals and equipment required. Any peer-reviewed journal article reporting an experimental result has a “methods” section where the authors document their measurement protocol, but those descriptions are necessarily brief and condensed, and may lack validation of any sort. By comparison, on NIST’s new Protocols for Nano-EHS website, the protocols are extraordinarily detailed. For ease of citation, they’re published individually—each with its own unique digital object identifier (DOI).

The protocols detail not only what you should do, but why and what could go wrong. The specificity is important, according to program director Debra Kaiser, because of the inherent difficulty of making reliable measurements of such small materials. “Often, if you do something seemingly trivial—use a different size pipette, for example—you get a different result. Our goal is to help people get data they can reproduce, data they can trust.”

A typical caution, for example, notes that if you’re using an instrument that measures the size of nanoparticles in a solution by how they scatter light, it’s important also to measure the transmission spectrum of the particles if they’re colored, because if they happen to absorb light strongly at the same frequency as your instrument, the result may be biased.

“These measurements are difficult because of the small size involved,” explains Kaiser. “Very few new instruments have been developed for this. People are adapting existing instruments and methods for the job, but often those instruments are being operated close to their limits and the methods were developed for chemicals or bulk materials and not for nanomaterials.”

“For example, NIST offers a reference material for measuring the size of gold nanoparticles in solution, and we report six different sizes depending on the instrument you use. We do it that way because different instruments sense different aspects of a nanoparticle’s dimensions. An electron microscope is telling you something different than a dynamic light scattering instrument, and the researcher needs to understand that.”

The nano-EHS protocols offered by the NIST site, Kaiser says, could form the basis for consensus-based, formal test methods such as those published by ASTM and ISO.

NIST’s nano-EHS protocol site currently lists 12 different protocols in three categories: sample preparation, physico-chemical measurements and toxicological measurements. More protocols will be added as they are validated and documented.

EPA Releases Report: “Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action”

The report summarizes results from the Climate Change Impacts and Risk Analysis (CIRA) project, a peer-reviewed study comparing impacts in a future with significant global action on climate change to a future in which current GHG emissions continue to rise. The report shows that global action on climate change will significantly benefit Americans by saving lives and avoiding costly damages across the US economy.

Washington State to Update Construction Stormwater Permit

Although it’s summertime, the Washington Department of Ecology is preparing for the rain by updating a water quality permit to help construction sites prevent muddy runoff the next time it rains.

 Sediment and minerals in muddy runoff can feed plant growth and contribute to algae blooms that deplete oxygen in water.

Proposed changes to the permit are minor, but include:

• Required electronic submittal of the permit application.
• Special protections for areas that will be used for low-impact development.

EPA Orders City of North Las Vegas to Safeguard Las Vegas Wash from Potential Water Pollution

. Deficiencies in the management of its wastewater pretreatment program have the potential to lead to discharges of polluted water from the city’s Water Reclamation Facility into the Las Vegas Wash, which eventually feeds into Lake Mead.

EPA requires cities to develop a program to regulate pollutants coming from industrial users of the municipal wastewater treatment systems that may contaminate sewage sludge or interfere with the treatment. 

“Despite a tight budget, the city will be making a necessary and wise investment by bringing its wastewater pretreatment program into compliance with federal standards,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Additional resources will help ensure that the city’s wastewater infrastructure will be better protected from industrial pollution.”

In 2011, the City completed construction of a new wastewater treatment facility on Betty Lane in North Las Vegas, Nevada, but failed to develop and seek approval for its new pretreatment program. EPA found that the City of North Las Vegas did not evaluate its permitting process and ensure that it controls the contribution of each industrial user to the plant through current, unexpired permits. In addition, the city failed to allocate the proper resources and qualified personnel to adequately implement its pretreatment program.

The order requires a commitment of staffing and financial resources on behalf of the city to make improvements to its pretreatment program. Once implemented, it will be in compliance with EPA’s standards, which will prevent the introduction of pollutants that can cause environmental and public health concerns, and shorten the life of the infrastructure.

The order establishes federally enforceable timelines and requires the City of North Las Vegas to:

• Correct permit errors by re-permitting significant industrial users of their system
• Audit and make corrections to its compliance program
• Submit its program to EPA for approval under the Clean Water Act

EPA Requests Comments on Proposed Antimicrobial Site Use Index

 The Agency developed this document to provide guidance about antimicrobial pesticide use sites and general antimicrobial pesticide use patterns. This guidance document is intended to assist antimicrobial pesticide applicants and registrants by helping them to identify the 40 CFR 158 Subpart W data requirements that are necessary to register their product(s), and will likewise be used by Agency staff evaluating pesticide applications.

EPA Issues Vapor Intrusion Technical Guides

EPA has issued two technical guides to support vapor intrusion assessment and mitigation activities. The Technical Guide for Assessing and Mitigating the Vapor Intrusion Pathway from Subsurface Vapor Sources to Indoor Air applies to all sites being evaluated under federal land cleanup statutes by EPA, other federal agencies, state, and tribal governments and brownfield grantees. A companion document, the Technical Guide for Addressing Petroleum Vapor Intrusion at Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites addresses any sites where vapor intrusion related to petroleum contamination from underground storage tanks is a potential concern. Both guides are applicable to residential and non-residential settings. 

EPA Honors 2015 Energy Star Combined Heat and Power Winners

 High-efficiency CHP technology reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. CHP captures the heat produced when electricity is generated and utilizes that heat—which would otherwise be wasted—to efficiently provide space heating, cooling, hot water, and steam for commercial, institutional, and industrial use.

“Today’s award winners are advancing the President’s commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s electric power supply system,” said EPA Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe. “These winners have found CHP to be a powerful way to save money and better protect our health and climate.”

These three 2015 award winners demonstrate how CHP can partner with district energy systems to reduce pollutant emissions from electricity generation. District energy systems produce steam, hot water and chilled water at a central plant, which are piped underground to individual buildings for space heating, hot water heating, and air conditioning.

The CHP Awards were presented to the following facilities at the International District Energy Association’s 106th Annual Conference and Trade Show in Boston, Massachusetts:

• Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
• Pepco Energy Systems, Atlantic City, New Jersey
• Thermal Energy Corporation (TECO), Houston, Texas

Bowdoin College installed its CHP system to achieve the goal of eliminating carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions by 2020. The system provides space heating and hot water heating for 56 buildings totaling 1.4 million square feet. Bowdoin College reports they save $138,000 a year with their system.

Pepco Energy Systems’ Midtown Thermal Control Center uses the heat from electricity generation to provide space heating and cooling to buildings through an energy system that serves Atlantic City’s tourist district. The system also supplies efficiently produced electricity to the grid, with fewer emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants than conventional grid-supplied electricity.

CHP is instrumental to TECO’s sustainability strategy, which seeks to reduce emissions and ensure continuous heating and cooling to the Texas Medical Center’s 19.3 million square feet in the world’s largest medical complex. TECO believes that the best sustainability efforts reduce emissions by maximizing the efficiency of converting fuel to useful energy. TECO reports savings of six to $12 million annually.

These CHP systems achieved operating efficiencies of 68 to 86%, much higher than the efficiency of separate production of electricity and thermal energy (typically less than 50%). Based on this comparison, the CHP systems avoid carbon pollution equal to that from the generation of electricity used by more than 6,700 homes. With these systems, award winners are helping to advance the President’s goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s electric power supply system.

The Partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other clean energy stakeholders to facilitate the development of new CHP projects and to promote their environmental and economic benefits.

Ohio EPA Recognizes Eight Organizations with Environmental Excellence Awards

Ohio EPA has awarded eight environmentally innovative organizations with this year’s Encouraging Environmental Excellence (E3) Silver Awards. The E3 program recognizes organizations committed to environmental excellence.

The program provides three recognition levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Silver Award recipients have demonstrated a commitment to go beyond regulatory compliance, have integrated outstanding environmental management into their core business functions and have developed aggressive performance goals, including a process to communicate the company’s environmental progress to its community.

The eight organizations that are being recognized this year:

• GKN Driveline, Bowling Green – GKN machines and assembles drivelines for most of the major automobile manufacturers. The company is continually improving its environmental performance and uses many pollution prevention techniques including returnable packaging and preventative maintenance. Through process modification, GKN generates no hazardous waste at the site. GKN aims to become a zero waste facility and is currently achieving a recycling rate of 99%. The company reduced coolant waste in its machining process by separating contaminated coolant and metal chips more efficiently. The metal chips are recycled and the waste coolant mix is reused after a recharging process. This results in the use of less coolant, less water during refilling, less discharge of industrial wastewater and lower disposal costs.
• TimkenSteel’s Water Treatment Plant, Canton – TimkenSteel’s water treatment plant receives wastewater from the Harrison, Gambrinus, and Faircrest plants. The water is cleaned and returned back to the steel plants for use. The water plant team knew the treatment program that was in place was fully optimized and any further improvement could only be realized if the team was open to changing the long-standing and reliable chemical treatment program that had been in place for decades. Through evaluation and testing, an alternative to the current coagulant in use was found. With this change, the plant improved control of the clarifier effluent, while reducing chemical use by 90% or 777,000 lb per year, and reducing costs by $30,000 per year. Other benefits include producing less solids and a drier filter cake, by more than two million lb annually.
• University Hospital, Cleveland – University Hospitals’ Case Medical Center (UHCMC) is a 1,032-bed medical center and is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University. Together, they form the largest center for biomedical research in Ohio. UHCMC is committed to sustainable environmental improvements that extend throughout the system. UHCMC created a sustainability department, council and multidisciplinary committees that develop and execute system-wide sustainability initiatives and extends its environmental commitment into the community. New programs increased the annual recycling volume from 859 tons in 2009 to 3,178 tons in 2013, a 270% increase. UHCMC has reduced recycling costs associated with universal wastes by 46% over the last four years and reduced the volume of hazardous waste reaching landfills. UHCMC eliminated more than 38,000 lb of landfill waste by donating unused equipment and medical supplies in humanitarian efforts and disaster areas around the world.
• GOJO Industries, Cuyahoga Falls – GOJO Industries, Inc. is a leading global producer and marketer of skin health and hygiene solutions for away-from-home settings. Between 2010 and 2013, GOJO reduced water usage by 40%, solid waste by 36% and GHG emissions by 46%.
• Melink, Milford – Melink Corp., provides energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for commercial and institutional building industries. Melink constructed new headquarters that are certified gold for new construction under Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) by the US Green Building Council. The headquarters embodies the company’s vision and commitment to sustainable development. Melink continues implementing energy reduction practices and evaluating new sustainable energy production technologies at its headquarters. Highlights include: a geothermal heat pump, solar thermal system, solar photovoltaic systems, wind turbine, battery storage system, lighting efficiencies, automatic lighting systems, building insulation improvements, hybrid electric fleet vehicles and vehicle plug-in stations. The estimated direct energy costs savings is roughly $45,000 per year.
• CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc. – Northwest Ohio Trans-Shipment Terminal, North Baltimore – The CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc. NWOH Terminal is a 540-acre hub facility within CSX’s intermodal network. Operations include the transfer of freight containers between highway and railway modes of transport. Industrial activities include locomotive fueling and servicing, railcar maintenance, maintenance of equipment and yard trucks and material storage. The terminal—the first of its kind in the world–operates various cutting-edge technologies of green design including ultra-efficient wide-span electric cranes that lower emissions, optical scanners that reduce truck idling times, technologies which automatically track railcars and remote switches that increase operational efficiency. These technologies help CSX achieve its environmental stewardship goals at the terminal and its commitment to go above and beyond routine environmental compliance.
• Industry Products Company, Piqua – Industry Products Company (IPC) is a family-owned business in operation since 1966. It manufactures a large percentage of the trunk floors in North American-made automobiles and a growing percentage of cargo covers. Using a variety of paper, rubber and plastic products, IPC produces in-transit protection, water shields and acoustic parts for cars and trucks, and produces gaskets for refrigeration units and compressors. In 2012-2013, IPC recycled 70% of its waste, incorporating some in new IPC products. Rewiring buildings and replacing lights saved approximately 36% in energy use even with an increase in business. Monitoring propane lift truck emissions reduced carbon dioxide (CO₂) by 122 tons. Employee participation and training programs are used to reduce waste.
• Ford Sharonville Transmission Plant, Sharonville – The Ford Sharonville Transmission Plant (STP) manufactures and assembles automatic transmissions and gears for the motor vehicle industry. Operations include heat treating, machining and testing of transmissions and gears. Metal machining operations use oils to lubricate tooling and cool machined parts. Grinding operations generate a metal chip/abrasive fine machining mud waste called “swarf.” This solid waste stream is laden with oil stuck to the surfaces of the chips and abrasives. The grinding mud waste previously was sent to a landfill. STP now is reclaiming 45,000 gallons of machining oils annually for direct reuse. This reduced purchases of new machining oils resulted in an annual estimated cost savings of $540,000. Reuse of the oil and recycling of the swarf as a raw ingredient in pig iron manufacture has diverted 600 tons of waste from landfills and saved an additional $20,000 annually in landfill costs. Since 2008, STP has seen a 65% reduction in machining oil use.

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Trivia Question of the Week

Solar concentrating mirrors are able to convert how much of the sun’s energy into electricity?

a) 3%

b) 23%

c) 32%

d) 43%