Exchanging Ideas to Build Success... Showcasing Environmental, Health & Safety Programs
October 16-18, 2002
Hilton Montreal Bonaventure
Montreal, Canada
The Forum is the preeminent event for corporate, facility and municipal EHS managers. It is your once-a-year opportunity to take advantage of highly regarded industry leaders and hands-on educational sessions. The Forum gives you immediately applicable ideas and strategies that can be effectively integrated into your EHS practices and improve business performance.
The goal of the Forum is to focus on you - the Environmental / EHS manager - as an individual and to assist you in enhancing your management skills and improve your organization's environmental and EHS management systems.
You directly benefit from benchmarking with peers and learning about actual examples of what other environmental and EHS managers have done with their respective EHS programs. Each year, more EHS Vice Presidents, Directors and Managers attend the Forum than any other environmental or EHS conference in a non-trade show venue.
This year the Forum is exceptionally cost effective due to the exchange rates. So, you will be able to enjoy a high quality learning program at a FIVE STAR hotel and pay less than you would for a comparable hotel. We also have negotiated great prices on air fare rates with Air Canada.
View the entire draft program and register on-line at http://www.naem.org
NAEM - The premiere EHS Management Association, formerly the National Association for Environmental Management, is the only national association created specifically to support the skills and educational awareness needs of corporate, facility and municipal environmental and EHS managers. With more than 1500 members, its mission is to promote sound environmental management principles & systems through peer-to-peer, business-to-business information sharing.
Specifically, NAEM works to: advance the integration of EHS into business as a value driver; promote the growth and implementation of EHS management systems worldwide, develop EHS professionals as leaders, and provide peer to peer networking for EHS professionals.
For more information contact NAEM at 202-986-6616 or visit the
NAEM website at http://www.NAEM.org
UPCOMING DEADLINES
CLEAN AIR ACT (CAA)
- August 14, 2002 - Each producer, importer, or exporter of a Class
II controlled substance must submit a report to EPA providing
information on the production, imports, and exports of such
chemicals during the previous quarter.
- August 29, 2002 - Existing sources subject to organic hazardous
air pollutant emission controls under 40 CFR 63, Subpart G, for
synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry production
processes must submit quarterly report to EPA.
TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT (TSCA)
- August 25, 2002- Quadrennial reporting period begins for chemical manufacturers and importers to submit current data on the production, volume, plant site, and site-limited status of certain substances listed on the TSCA chemical substances inventory.
KANSAS COMPANY CO-OWNER, MANAGER SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS
John Dillon, co-owner and manager of Environmental Services and
Products Inc., in Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced to serve five
years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for
his conviction for illegally storing hazardous wastes. More than
80 drums of ignitable hazardous wastes were illegally stored at
his facility. Illegally storing ignitable hazardous wastes can
potentially create a serious fire hazard and can be hazardous to
firemen responding to fires at sites where they are unaware of
the hazardous wastes stored there. The case was investigated by
EPA's Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of
EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center and was
prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Kansas City.
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE ADMITS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. (NCL), the world's fourth-largest cruise line, has signed a plea agreement with the United States acknowledging a felony violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and further agreeing to pay a $1 million criminal fine after turning itself in and cooperating with prosecutors.
NCL discovered the violations during an environmental audit ordered by new owners in April 2000, after the company learned that a former employee had reported the dumping of waste oil to the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a detailed factual statement filed in court. The cruise line's environmental consultant performing the audit actually witnessed an NCL engineer aboard the SS Norway in the act of circumventing the ship's Oil Water Separator, a required pollution prevention device. Ship officers deliberately used fresh water to trick the device designed to detect and limit the overboard discharges. NCL promptly reported the offense to the government, but after a whistle-blower had already made allegations to the EPA. The cruise line pledged its full cooperation with the United States in its ongoing investigation of potentially culpable individuals. NCL turned over its internal investigation and fired or accepted resignations from seven senior shore-side officials.
In a Joint Factual Statement and the plea agreement filed with the Court, NCL has admitted that it engaged in a practice of systematically lying to the United States Coast Guard over a period of years regarding the discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste from the SS Norway and at least one other ship, according to court documents. The false statements were contained in the ship's Oil Record Books, a required log in which overboard discharges must be recorded. The intentional falsification of log books required to be carried by ships and regularly inspected by the Coast Guard was designed to conceal that oil contaminated bilge waste was being dumped overboard. The deliberate failure to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book violates the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, a law which implements an international environmental treaty known as the MARPOL Protocol.
Both the Department of Justice and the EPA have voluntary disclosure programs under which a company can seek non-prosecution if it discovers violations and reports them in a timely manner prior to a government investigation. The proposed resolution of this case ? a single representative count in a single district ? gives NCL credit for its prompt disclosure and substantial cooperation.
Until 1998, the SS Norway had a single Oil Water Separator that was referred to by the engineers as "an old piece of junk." Other equipment was used to dump the waste directly overboard. Even after a new and second Oil Water Separator was purchased, ship engineers continued to circumvent the pollution prevention machine until May 2000, when NCL's new owners stopped the practice, according to the factual statement. Ship officers continued to pollute and maintain false records despite the prominent display in the engine room of newspaper articles about the prosecution of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd. for similar violations. NCL financially benefited by not expending the resources necessary to maintain its pollution prevention equipment, failing to properly offload waste oil in port and not purchasing adequate equipment in the first place, according to papers filed today in court.
If approved by the court, the NCL plea agreement will make the
seventh time a cruise line has been convicted of environmental
crimes. Under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, the court
may award the whistle-blower up to one-half of the proposed $1
million criminal fine for providing information leading to
conviction. If a reward is granted, it would be the fifth of its
kind and the third in the cruise ship industry. In addition to
the $1 million fine, NCL will also make community service
payments of $500,000 for designated environmental service
projects in South Florida.
EPA FINALIZES NON-CONFORMANCE PENALTIES RULE FOR DIESEL MANUFACTURERS
EPA has finalized a rule establishing monetary penalties that could be used by manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines unable to meet 2004 and later model year emission standards.
When EPA set the 2004 model year emissions standard for hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides for heavy duty trucks and buses, the Agency committed to establishing non-conformance penalties (NCPs) if the need became apparent. Under a penalty structure established by the Clean Air Act, manufacturers that cannot meet the standards can choose to pay a penalty on a per-engine basis. This rule allows a manufacturer that might be forced from the marketplace in the absence of NCPs to continue to produce and sell engines if the manufacturer cannot meet a particular emission standard due to technological (not economic) difficulties. In order to ensure that manufacturers strive for the lowest possible emissions level, the penalty increases with the amount of emissions in exceedence of the standard. The penalties range from a few hundred dollars for an engine close to meeting the emission standards, to more than $12,000 for an engine emitting the maximum pollution allowed. For example, an engine family that is certified at 3 grams level under the 2004 standard will be subject to an NCP of approximately $3,600. The NCPs also apply to engines covered under a 1998 settlement reached by the Department of Justice and EPA with six major manufacturers of diesel engines. The settlement resolved claims that the manufacturers installed illegal computer software on heavy-duty diesel engines that turned off the emission control system during highway driving.
The consent decrees require compliance with the 2004 NOx emission
limits by October 2002 and specify that manufacturers unable to
meet the emission limits that begin October 2002 pay penalties
based on their emissions level above the 2004 standard. EPA has
already certified two engines that meet the consent decree
guidelines. The final rule and supporting documents are available
at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/hd-hwy.htm.
SENATE CONFIRMS SUAREZ AS EPA ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
The U.S. Senate confirmed John Peter Suarez to be EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance on Aug. 1. He previously served in New Jersey as a federal prosecutor, Special Assistant to the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice and Director of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement.
During his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, from 1992 to 1998, he was the recipient of the Director's Award for his successful prosecution of an Atlantic City gang and the Professional Lawyer of the Year award from the N.J. State Bar Association. His assignments in the U.S. Attorney's office included the Fraud and Public Protection Division and Criminal Division, where he was on the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
In the state Division of Criminal Justice, where he served from January 1998 to January 1999, Suarez assisted the director in the management and supervision of the division and was an Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey, where he handled all criminal matters for the Governor and the Counsel's office.
Suarez became the Acting Director of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement in January 1999 and Director in March 1999. He was elected to chair the International Association of Gaming Regulators and served from October 2000 to January 2002.
A native of Flushing, N.Y., Suarez grew up in Old Bridge, N.J. He
holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a
bachelor's degree from Tufts University.
EPA MEETS PESTICIDE TOLERANCE REASSESSMENT GOAL
EPA has met a significant milestone in a multi-year regulatory process to reassess existing levels for allowable pesticide residues on food (called "tolerances"). This week marks the successful completion of the second phase of an intensive 10-year scientific and regulatory effort to ensure that all existing pesticide tolerances meet the tougher food safety standard called for in the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. That law required EPA to complete the comprehensive safety evaluation of over 66 percent of existing pesticide tolerances by Aug. 3.
In accordance with deadlines set in the law, EPA has reassessed over 6,400 tolerances for pesticide residues on food (tolerances are the maximum amount of a pesticide allowed to remain in or on a food commodity that has been treated with that pesticide). In conducting the safety evaluation, EPA prioritized the reassessment and risk mitigation specific pesticide classes which may pose the greatest risk, including the organophosphate, carbamate, organochlorine classes, as well as pesticides which show evidence of carcinogenicity. Depending on the specific class, EPA has completed tolerance reassessment for half and up to three-quarters of the individual pesticides in each of these various classes. Tolerance reassessment has also included numerous other individual pesticides which are not part of these specific classes. Additionally, the Agency has reassessed almost two-thirds of the tolerances for foods commonly eaten by children. As part of the reassessment process, EPA has revoked over 1,900 tolerances.
Throughout this process, EPA has sought extensive public involvement, including releasing risk assessments for comment, presenting technical briefings on risk assessments, inviting public comment on risk management options and seeking public comment on the science policies used by the Agency in its decision making. EPA convened advisory committees to ensure transparency in the decision process and increased its consultation with stakeholders. EPA developed methods for conducting effective assessments of combined (or "aggregate") exposures from food, water and residential sources of exposure, which provide a more complete picture of risk than had previously been possible. The Agency also developed methods for assessing the cumulative risk of multiple pesticides that have a common mechanism of toxicity. Together, these steps have significantly strengthened the scientific foundation and public participation supporting the US pesticide regulatory program.
In addition to meeting the tolerance reassessment goal, on July 31, EPA completed the evaluation of four individual pesticides, in compliance with a consent agreement with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). These pesticides are: benomyl, diazinon, endosulfan, and lindane.
Additional information on tolerance reassessment is available on
EPA's web site: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/tolerance/.
Information on chemicals undergoing EPA's pesticide
reregistration process is available at
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm
CDL FINAL RULE TOUGHENS PENALTIES AGAINST UNSATISFACTORY DRIVERS
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule that significantly strengthens the licensing and sanctioning requirements of the commercial driver's license (CDL) program for truck and bus drivers required to hold a CDL. The rule is effective Sept. 30, 2002.
This final rule, which implements provisions of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, combines two CDL rulemakings proposed in 2001.
With this final rule, FMCSA intends to make the CDL program more effective in preventing dangerous truck and bus drivers from continuing to drive. It strives to improve safety by improving the performance of drivers and removing unsafe drivers from the road.
Within three years after the rule's effective date, FMCSA will penalize states not in substantial compliance with licensing and sanctioning requirements of the CDL program by withholding Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) money. MCSAP funds provide financial assistance to states through federal grants.
The new rule allows FMCSA to prohibit states that do not comply with this rule from issuing, renewing, transferring, or upgrading CDLs and from issuing hardship licenses to truck and bus drivers who lose their driving privileges. States that comply with FMCSA CDL requirements will be permitted to issue non-resident CDLs to drivers living in states that have lost that privilege.
As a result of this final rule, FMCSA may now disqualify commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have been convicted of traffic violations while operating a passenger vehicle that result in their license being canceled, revoked or suspended, or of committing drug and alcohol-related offenses while driving a passenger vehicle. It also adds the following two new disqualifying offenses: driving a CMV after a CDL was revoked, suspended or canceled for operating a CMV; and causing a fatality through the negligent or criminal operation of a CMV.
The regulation expands the list of serious traffic violations to include drivers who fail to obtain a CDL, driving a CMV without a CDL in the driver's possession, and operating a CMV without proper class of CMV being driven or type of cargo being transported. The regulation authorizes FMCSA's Chief Safety Officer to disqualify, on an emergency basis, CDL drivers who pose an imminent hazard, a condition that presents a likelihood of death, serious personal injury or substantial danger to the public.
The final rule requires that applicants obtaining, transferring, or renewing a CDL tell their state driver-licensing agency where they previously held motor vehicle licenses. This enables the issuing agency to obtain a candidate's complete driving record.
A new requirement in the rule creates a new endorsement. Applicants wanting to operate a school bus must pass knowledge and skills tests before receiving a CDL for that purpose. States with school bus licensing programs that currently meet or exceed FMCSA requirements may continue to test and license school bus drivers.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Act (CMVSA) of 1986 established the CDL program and the Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS) to serve as a clearinghouse and repository of CDL information and traffic-conviction data. The CMVSA also requires state personnel to ensure that drivers convicted of certain serious traffic violations are prohibited from operating a CMV.
The final rule is on the Internet and can be viewed by searching
for docket numbers FMCSA-2001-9709 and FMCSA-00-7382 at
http://dms.dot.gov
CLEAR SKIES LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
The Bush Administration has sent legislation to Congress to implement the President's Clear Skies initiative, an aggressive plan to cut power plant pollution by 70 percent and protect public health. The legislation was introduced Monday by Senator Bob Smith and was introduced last Friday by Congressmen Tauzin and Barton.
On Feb. 14 of this year President Bush announced the Clear Skies initiative, which sets strict, mandatory emissions caps for three of the most harmful air pollutants -- sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury. Clear Skies will cut power plant emissions of these pollutants by 70 percent, eliminating 35 million more tons of these pollutants in the next decade than the current Clean Air Act.
Analytical data generated by state-of-the-art EPA computer modeling shows that nationwide reductions of these three harmful pollutants will have striking results: Every part of the country where power plants contribute significantly to air pollution, most notably, the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest, would see vast improvements in air quality. Many cities and towns would meet air quality standards for the first time in years.
Clear Skies would dramatically reduce emissions of the pollutants that cause smog, acid rain, haze, and mercury and nitrogen deposition. In 2020, Clear Skies would deliver $96 billion per year in health and visibility benefits, including preventing 12,000 premature deaths. Additional health benefits in 2020 include 10,500 fewer hospitalizations or emergency rooms visits per year and 13.5 million fewer days when Americans suffer from minor respiratory symptoms, including days out of work, missed classroom days, restricted activity days and days with asthma attacks. (Under an alternative estimate, Clear Skies would deliver $11 billion in benefits, including 7,000 avoided premature deaths annually in 2020.)
Clear Skies would also have significant environmental benefits, such as virtually eliminating the problem of chronic acidification of lakes in the Adirondack mountains of northern New York, and dramatically reducing nitrogen and mercury deposition in forests and water bodies.
NOx and SO2 contribute to premature deaths and serious respiratory illnesses due to the fine particles and ground-level ozone (urban smog) that they create. They also cause acid rain and nitrogen deposition, which kills fish and damages forests. Mercury can have neurological effects on humans including impaired motor and cognitive skills, particularly in young children. Mercury is also suspected to cause cardiac, respiratory and immune system impairment. Humans are affected primarily by eating contaminated fish.
Clear Skies, by dramatically reducing polluting emissions from power generators, will be the most significant improvement to the Clean Air Act since 1990, and the most comprehensive and ambitious effort ever to clean up air pollution from power plants. Clear Skies will also make great strides toward solving the persistent environmental problems of visibility impairment and ozone in national parks and cities around the country.
Clear Skies is modeled on America's most effective clean air program, the 1990 Clean Air Act's acid rain program. By using this proven, market-based approach, Clear Skies will dramatically reduce air pollution from power plants quickly and cost-effectively, keeping electricity prices affordable. Because of the nature of "cap-and-trade" programs, establishing a cap in 2010 will cause emissions reductions immediately, as companies act quickly to generate credits needed to meet the 2010 cap. Under the Acid Rain Program, emissions reductions began immediately, and exceeded the required level of reductions by approximately 25 percent.
Clear Skies will enhance American energy security by enabling the continued use of diverse fuels in generating electric power. Clear Skies will ensure that environmental goals are achieved and sustained over the long term, even while energy use increases.
Clear Skies would:
- Cut sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power plants by 73
percent, from current emissions of 11 million tons to a cap of
4.5 million tons in 2010, and 3 million tons in 2018.
- Cut emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from power plants by 67
percent, from current emissions of 5 million tons to a cap of 2.1
million tons in 2008, and to 1.7 million tons in 2018.
- Cut mercury emissions from power plants by 69 percent,
establishing the first-ever national cap on mercury emissions.
Emissions will be cut from current emissions of 48 tons to a cap
of 26 tons in 2010, and 15 tons in 2018.
- Emission caps will be set to account for different air quality
needs in the East and the West.
Additional information about Clear Skies, including legislative language and region-specific information about air quality and health benefits, can be found on EPA's web site at http://www.epa.gov/clearskies