The letter includes suggestions for future actions.
Because hazardous wastes regulated under RCRA are exempt from the hazardous chemical inventory reporting requirements of Sections 311 and 312 of EPCRA, the letter recommends that state Governors and SERCs use their authority under Sections 302 and 303 of EPCRA to require TSD facilities to provide chemical inventory information for RCRA-regulated hazardous wastes to State and local officials.
With biofuels becoming more prevalent at retail gas stations, the letter indicates that the Agency has recently received a number of questions related to the reporting of these alternative fuels. Therefore, the letter includes a clarification indicating that the general threshold for reporting under EPCRA Section311 and 312 is 10,000 lb, except for gasoline and diesel fuel where the threshold is 75,000 gallons and 100,000 gallons, respectively. However, this higher threshold is not applicable to alternative fuels containing more than 10% of ethanol. Those fuels are reportable at the lower 10,000 lb threshold. EPA will be developing a short document on this issue for use by SERCs, LEPCs and others to educate people who handle these fuels.
EPA Wants Your Input on Its Enforcement Priorities
The public is invited to provide feedback through the EPA website until December 1, giving them a forum to submit ideas for EPA to consider for new areas of enforcement focus. All ideas will be evaluated and considered for recommendation to the EPA administrator about the future direction of EPA’s national enforcement and compliance priorities.
EPA Carbon Footprint Tool
This tool will allow the user to develop an estimate of their GHG emissions from a variety of sources including company-owned vehicle transportation; purchased electricity; waste disposal; and leased assets, franchises, and outsourced activities. The tool is not intended to be used by manufacturing operations or service-oriented businesses that use significant quantities of chemicals (e.g., cleaning services).
This tool includes examples of carbon-cutting actions such as recycling, waste prevention, and green power purchasing. The Office Carbon Footprint Tool follows the framework that is documented by the World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WRI/WBCSD) GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. This tool is not meant to compile or create inventories and is strictly a tool designed to assist offices in making decisions on how to reduce the GHG emissions associated with their activities. Offices that are interested in creating a GHG inventory for reporting purposes should use the tools provided by EPA’s Climate Leaders program.
EPA Extends Comment on Science Assessment for Particulate Matter
EPA has announced an extension of the public comment period for the draft document titled, “Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter—Second External Review Draft” (EPA/600/R-08/ 139B and EPA/600/R-08/139BA). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA’s Office of Research and Development as part of the review of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter.
On July 31, 2009 , EPA released this draft document to seek review by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and the public (meeting date and location to be specified in a separate Federal Register notice). The draft document does not represent and should not be construed to represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint, or determination. EPA will consider any public comments submitted in response to this notice when revising the document.
The public comment period started on July 31, 2009.
EPA Watershed Academy Webcast—Second in Clean Water Act Series
EPA will be presenting a webcast from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, September 10, 2009, titled, “Introduction to Water Quality Standards.” This webcast is the second in a series of EPA webcasts on the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The CWA is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States and it sets broad goals for restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s water. Water quality standards (WQS) are aimed at translating the broad goals of the CWA into water body-specific objectives. The webcast will highlight the three major components of state and tribal water quality standards (i.e., designated uses, water quality criteria, antidegradation), and will include a case study of how one state is working to strengthen its WQS program.
Future EPA Watershed Academy webcasts will highlight other aspects of the CWA including monitoring and assessment, total maximum daily loads, programs for managing point sources and nonpoint sources, and wetland protection.
Speakers for the September 10 webcast will include: Dr. Thomas Gardner, Environmental Scientist, U.S. EPA’s National Water Quality Standards Branch; Heather Goss, Physical Scientist, U.S. EPA’s National Water Quality Standards Branch; and William (Bill) Cole, Research Scientist, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Water Quality Standards Unit.
The Watershed Academy is now offering a certificate to participants who attend at least 1 hour and 30 minutes of the webcast.
Ohio EPA to Hold Hearing on Water Quality Rules
Ohio’s rules that protect lakes, rivers, streams, and other surface water bodies from pollution were recently drafted and released for public comment in three comprehensive rules packages. While Ohio EPA reviewed these public comments, the Agency is proposing a stand-alone separate rule-making to allow time-sensitive items to move forward.
A public hearing to take public comments on the proposed changes will be held on September 10, 2009, at 2 p.m. The hearing will be in the 6th floor conference room B, Ohio EPA Lazarus Government Center, 50 West Town Street, Suite 700, Columbus. All visitors to Ohio EPA must register upon arrival. Please bring photo identification and plan to arrive early to complete registration procedures.
The proposed changes include:
Antidegradation
Change the submittal, public notice and public hearing requirements for some water quality certifications. The change would exempt Lake Erie projects from the requirement for mandatory public hearings for all projects impacting superior high quality waters, and instead would require hearings when there is significant public interest. Many of these projects are for shoreline work being done by individual homeowners; Ohio EPA has held dozens of hearings on such projects that no one attended. If implemented, this change would avoid using taxpayer resources to hold hearings when there is no public interest. There would continue to be a comment period for all projects, with written comments carrying the same weight as comments spoken at a public hearing.
Water use designations
Revise the designations for recreational contact to include three classes that would reflect the intensity and frequency of recreational use. Class A waters would be Ohio’s most used canoeing streams and would have criteria comparable to those for beaches. Class B and C waters would have slightly less stringent criteria comparable to the current primary contact level.
Statewide criteria
In addition, the fecal coliform water quality criteria would be replaced with a standard for E. coli to reflect U.S. EPA’s recommendations. This is due to scientific studies that link E. coli with incidences of illness among swimmers, which would make it a better health-based indicator. This strain of E. coli bacteria is not the food contaminant, but naturally occurs in people’s intestines, and when found in water, can be used to indicate water pollution.
Written comments should be mailed to Bob Heitzman, Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049, no later than September 10, 2009.
Plastics in Oceans Decompose, Release Hazardous Chemicals
In the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world’s oceans, scientists are reporting that plastics—reputed to be virtually indestructible—decompose with surprising speed and release potentially toxic substances into the water.
Reporting at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the researchers termed the discovery “surprising.” Scientists always believed that plastics in the oceans were unsightly, but a hazard mainly to marine animals that eat or become ensnared in plastic objects.
“Plastics in daily use are generally assumed to be quite stable,” said study lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido, Ph.D. “We found that plastic in the ocean actually decomposes as it is exposed to the rain and sun and other environmental conditions, giving rise to yet another source of global contamination that will continue into the future.”
He said that polystyrene begins to decompose within one year, releasing components that are detectable in the parts-per-million range. Those chemicals also decompose in the open water and inside marine life. However, the volume of plastics in the ocean is increasing, so that decomposition products remain a potential problem.
Saido, a chemist with the College of Pharmacy, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan, said his team found that when plastic decomposes it releases potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer into the water, causing additional pollution. Plastics usually do not break down in an animal’s body after being eaten. However, the substances released from decomposing plastic are absorbed and could have adverse effects. BPA and PS oligomer are sources of concern because they can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals and can seriously affect reproductive systems.
Some studies suggest that low-level exposure to BPA released from certain plastic containers and the linings of cans may have adverse health effects.
Saido described a new method to simulate the breakdown of plastic products at low temperatures, such as those found in the oceans. The process involves modeling plastic decomposition at room temperature, removing heat from the plastic and then using a liquid to extract the BPA and PS oligomer. Typically, he said, styrofoam is crushed into pieces in the ocean and finding these is no problem. But when the study team was able to degrade the plastic, it discovered that three new compounds not found in nature formed. They are styrene monomer (SM), styrene dimer (SD), and styrene trimer (ST). Styrene is a suspected human carcinogen. BPA ands PS oligomer are not found naturally and, therefore, must have been created through the decomposition of the plastic, he said. Trimer yields SM and SD when it decomposes from heat, so trimer also threatens living creatures.
D.D. Williamson & Company, Inc., to Pay $600,000 for CAA Violations
In this action, both the United States and the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District sought civil penalties and injunctive relief from D.D. Williamson & Company, Inc., for its violations of the CAA and its implementing regulations. D.D. Williamson is obligated to:
- Hire an independent engineering consultant to conduct a full hazard operability study of its manufacturing operations;
- Implement the study’s recommendations; and
- Train its managers in process-hazard assessment techniques.
The consent decree also obligates D.D. Williamson to pay $600,000 in civil penalties which will be divided equally between the United States and the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District.
Shell Cited by EPA for CWA Violations in Puerto Rico
For the second time in less than a year, EPA has cited Shell Chemical Yabucoa in Puerto Rico for violating the federal CWA. For this most recent violation, EPA has issued both a complaint—in which it has proposed a penalty of $153,057—and a compliance order. The complaint alleges that Shell violated the CWA by improperly maintaining its deep ocean outfall equipment and discharging unauthorized pollutants. The compliance order requires Shell to remedy those violations.
“Water is central to the health of Puerto Rico’s economy and its people, and Shell’s violation of the Clean Water Act is unacceptable,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “EPA will continue to hold accountable anyone who violates the laws that protect Puerto Rico’s valuable waters.”
Shell’s petrochemical facility, located in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, has a permit from EPA to discharge treated stormwater, wastewater, and sewage-related wastewater under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The permit is a requirement of the CWA, which regulates discharges into surface waters of the United States. Shell’s permit allows it to discharge from a deep ocean outfall, which discharges by utilizing a multi-port diffuser—a pipe with multiple openings that aids in the dilution of pollutants. But the complaint alleges that Shell violated the permit in two ways:
First, it unlawfully discharged pollutants into navigable waters for 14 days without authorization.
Second, it did not properly operate and maintain the diffuser pipeline for 105 days.
According to the complaint, Shell admitted that a leak from its diffuser pipeline began on or about February 25, 2009, and claimed that it stopped discharging from the pipe on March 2. But the corporation later reported that it discharged through the pipeline during 14 days from February 27 to March 30.
Shell’s alleged failure to properly maintain the diffuser pipeline is not an isolated incident; the most recent penalty is in addition to a penalty of $1,025,000 Shell paid in May for similar violations. A report issued on December 31, 2008, indicated that two or three of Shell’s diffuser ports were totally covered by sand. Blockage by sand can prevent dilution of pollutants and cause a violation of water quality standards. Accordingly, EPA issued an Administrative Compliance Order (ACO) in March that required Shell to submit a plan to repair the leak and properly operate all ports of the diffuser. Despite the ACO, Shell failed to properly operate and maintain the diffuser from at least December 31, 2008 to April 15, 2009. That failure, in conjunction with the unauthorized discharges in February and March, led EPA to issue the most recent complaint.
President of Missouri Pesticide Company Sentenced for Dumping Pesticide into Public Sewers
William Garvey, the president of HPI Products Inc., a pesticide company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, was sentenced in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, for violations of the CWA and hazardous waste storage laws related to the company’s pesticide production, the Justice Department has announced. Garvey was sentenced to serve six months in prison, six months of home confinement and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for having disposed of pesticide waste water down the sewers of the city of St. Joseph. Sentencing for the company was delayed by the court.
Garvey pleaded guilty on January 27, 2009, to a felony violation of the CWA for disposing of the pesticide waste. The company pleaded guilty on the same day to the same violation of the CWA as well as a felony violation of the hazardous waste storage laws.
According to court documents, HPI Products maintained warehouses at various locations in St. Joseph where it stored wastes from its operations for years without notifying the proper regulatory agencies. Many of the stored wastes were considered hazardous based upon their ingredients or their characteristics. In addition, HPI employees under Garvey’s supervision disposed of waste waters from the production of pesticides down floor drains and into the city of St. Joseph’s sewers for several years without permit.
“Compliance with our regulatory requirements is essential if we are to protect the environment,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This company and its president obtained an economic advantage over its competitors by violating the law and placing the environment and the public safety at risk. That is unacceptable.”
“By routinely violating federal safeguards for nearly 20 years, this company threatened the environment and put at risk the health and safety of the community,” said Matt Whitworth, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. “When doing ‘business as usual’ means breaking the law, we will prosecute the offenders and hold them accountable for their actions.”
In a related case, Hans Nielsen, vice president of HPI Products, pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of violating federal pesticides law designed to provide proper regulatory oversight and prevent improper storage of pesticides.
HPI began production of pesticides in 1980 at 417 S. 4th Street in St. Joseph. From the beginning HPI would wash its waste waters from pesticide production down floor drains and into the city’s sewers. HPI expanded its operations to 424 S. 8th Street in 1986. It eventually relocated and consolidated its operations to 222 Sylvanie Street in 1990. Its practice of using the city’s sewer system for disposal continued at all locations until EPA and Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) inspections in 2007.
In addition the two former HPI facilities and three other locations in St. Joseph were used as warehouses to store pesticides and process waste it didn’t dump into sewers. The pesticides and wastes were left for years in unmaintained buildings without the proper notification to state and federal authorities.
When authorities did discover the warehouses many of the containers were found to have leaked or spilled onto the warehouse floors and ground underneath the warehouses. Samples taken at the storage facilities indicated many of the containers held hazardous wastes. The buildings have been cleaned up by HPI under an EPA order. Further investigation of pollution of the soil around the building is pending.
The investigation was conducted by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division and MDNR. The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Sunbelt Rentals Fined $98,500 for Emissions Violations in California
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has fined Sunbelt Rentals $98,500 for emissions violations in 2007 and 2008 around the state of California. During a routine investigation, ARB investigators found that Sunbelt Rentals, headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, failed to conduct diesel truck smoke tests in 2007 and 2008 at 20 of its California fleet facilities.
Under the penalty, Sunbelt Rentals must:
- Ensure that staff responsible for compliance with the diesel truck emission inspection program attend California community college diesel emissions education courses and provide certificates of completion within one year, or provide proof that any contractor used to do the annual smoke tests has taken this course within the last four years;
- Complete heavy-duty diesel engine software and control technology upgrades in compliance with regulations;
- Comply with the ARB’s anti-idling regulations and all other applicable regulations;
- Supply all smoke inspection records to ARB for the next four years; and,
- Properly label engines to ensure compliance with the engine emissions certification program regulations.
Pennsylvania Glass Manufacturer Fined $31,650 for Air Quality Violations
PQ Corp., a glass manufacturer in Chester, Pennsylvania, will pay $31,650 in civil penalties for exceeding allowable emission rates at its manufacturing facility. Additionally, as part of its September 1 agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), PQ will provide an additional $31,650 toward the completion of a community asthma screening project by Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
“This agreement includes corrective actions that PQ must take to ensure continued compliance with our air quality regulations, including the installation of continuous emission monitoring devices on its equipment,” Southeast Regional Director Joseph A. Feola said. “Additional penalties are stipulated for failing to meet any milestone deadline, as well as for failing to perform and pass annual stack testing.”
PQ Corp. manufactures sodium and potassium silicate used as a filler material in commercial products, and operates a glass melting furnace under a DEP facility-wide air permit. Stack testing performed on this furnace in November 2007 revealed that particulate matter emissions exceeded allowable rates. A February 2008 test of this same unit noted a continuing violation, resulting in a DEP citation issued May 22, 2008.
In response, the company installed a batch wetting system on the unit to control particulate matter emissions. This work was performed during a unit shutdown in March and April.
Under terms of the agreement, PQ would pay stipulated penalties of $500 per day for each missed milestone, including annual stack tests to ensure compliance with all emission limits.
The asthma screening project is a continuation of work performed by the Crozer-Chester Medical Center to screen and treat children for asthma in the Chester Upland School District. This current project is for the 2009-2010 school year, and costs an estimated $131,384. Crozer-Chester has agreed to provide the balance necessary to fund the project.
PQ paid $46,196 in penalties in 2007 for stack testing violations, for exceeding its annual emission limit and submitting incorrect emission inventory information to DEP. Violations noted in 2006 resulted in a $4,500 penalty for exceeding an emission limit on a facility boiler.
Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel Fined $12,000 for Violations of State CWA
Washington State’s Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel Co., Inc., (Salmon Bay) $12,000 for violations of its water quality permit and the state CWA at its Ballard waterfront facility in Seattle.
The violations include ongoing spills of aggregate—a sand and gravel mixture—from shore-side bunkers into the Lake Washington Ship Canal. State law outlaws the discharge of foreign material to state waters. Sand and gravel discharges can release fine silt into the water, which damages habitat and can clog and injure gills, the breathing organs of fish.
The company made no response to repeated attempts by Ecology to discuss water-quality problems observed by state inspectors at the site in 2008. Salmon Bay also failed to answer a Notice of Violation—a formal notification requiring a response within 30 days—issued by Ecology in February.
“This case escalated into a penalty because Salmon Bay did not respond,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, Ecology’s regional water-quality supervisor. “Most of the violations themselves require fairly straightforward corrections.”
Other violations include lack of a spill-response plan for the facility and having no record of required twice-yearly storm water inspections.
Oregon DEQ Issues Penalty to Troutdale Truck Stop for Storm Water Permit Violation
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has issued a $4,672 penalty to TA Operating, LLC for violating the storm water permit for its Troutdale Travel Center truck stop.
DEQ issued the penalty because the company failed to take all of the grab samples required during the 2007/2008 monitoring year to ensure that their storm water discharges meet the water quality benchmarks of their NPDES Storm Water Discharge permit.
A grab sample is a single sample collected at a particular time and place which represents the composition of the storm water runoff from the facility. Grab sample monitoring may reveal the presence of harmful levels of industrial pollutants that could enter rivers and streams. These discharges can damage aquatic species and their habitat and reduce the safety of rivers and streams for public use.
Oregon DEQ Fines Chevron $1,400 for Hazardous Waste Violation
DEQ has issued a $1,400 penalty to Chevron USA for a hazardous waste violation at the Chevron-Willbridge Distribution facility located at 5924 NW Front Ave. in Portland. The penalty is for failing to properly label mercury-containing fluorescent lamps.
DEQ issued the penalty because the company previously received a notice of noncompliance in 2004 for the same violation at this facility. State and federal law requires proper identification and management of fluorescent lights because they pose a threat to public health and the environment when improperly characterized, managed, or disposed of.
EPA Publishes Pandemic Influenza Fact Sheet for the Water Sector
Pandemic flu could affect the capability of water system operators to operate and maintain their systems adequately due to increased absenteeism at their systems and at other interdependent sectors that provide essential materials and supplies.
This fact sheet provides information to assist the water sector in integrating pandemic planning into existing business continuity and emergency response plans and reducing the risk to public health that would be caused by disruption in operation of water systems. In addition to background information on pandemic flu, its potential impacts, and possible interventions, the fact sheet provides references to tools and guidance materials offered by EPA and other organizations.
Individual Waste Reduction Model
The energy savings are translated into the equivalent amount of electricity, estimating how long that amount of electricity will operate a variety of household appliances. For example, recycling an aluminum beverage can rather than landfilling it saves enough energy to operate a 60W incandescent lamp for 4.3 hours, or to operate the equivalent compact fluorescent lamp for 20 hours.
Pennsylvania Accepting Comment on New Erosion, Sediment, and Storm Water Regulations
Pennsylvania’s Environmental Protection Secretary, John Hanger, has announced that the Environmental Quality Board will accept public comment on proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s erosion and sediment control and storm water management regulations, which are expected to significantly improve and protect water quality in Pennsylvania.
The proposed changes include requirements for establishing and protecting existing streamside and riverside forest buffers and increasing protection for exceptional value waterways, incorporate existing post-construction storm water management requirements into state regulation to bring Pennsylvania into line with federal requirements, and enhance agricultural storm water management provisions beyond plowing and tilling to include animal heavy-use areas.
The new regulations also include an updated permit fee structure and a new permit-by-rule option offers a simplified permitting process for eligible low-risk construction projects that will reduce permitting delays while improving oversight of projects by the department.
The Environmental Quality Board, which promulgates Pennsylvania’s environmental regulations, will conduct three public hearings to accept public comment on the proposed amendments. Prior to the hearings, DEP will conduct public meetings to explain the proposed rulemaking and to respond to questions from participants. The 90-day public comment period extends through November 30.
The public meetings and hearings will be held on September 29, October 1, and October 5, 2009.
Environmental News Links
Trivia Question of the Week
If every household in U.S. replaced a 4 pack of 400 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue, with 100% recycled paper, we would save how many trees?
a. 1,450
b. 14,500
c. 145,000
d. 1,450,000