Logic suggests that online shopping is greener than traditional shopping. After all, when people shop from home, they are not jumping into their cars, one by one, to travel to the mall or the big box store. But a multi-year regional study at the University of Delaware suggests that home shopping has a greater impact on the transportation sector than the public might suspect.
The study, which focused on the city of Newark, Delaware, was led by Arde Faghri, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Delaware Center for Transportation (DCT). The project included data collection through a survey to identify shopping behavior and summary of the survey results by product category, followed by simulation and analysis. “Our simulation results showed that home shopping puts an additional burden on the local transportation network, as identified through four measures of effectiveness—travel time, delay, average speed, and greenhouse gas emissions,” says co-author Mingxin Li, a researcher at DCT.
While it’s true that e-stores require less space and use less energy, Faghri points out that online shopping puts more delivery trucks on the roads, which translates into more wear-and-tear on pavements and increased environmental pollution through the emission of fine particulate matter from diesel engines. An additional problem is that residential and downtown streets were not designed to accommodate frequent truck stops, parking, loading and unloading, so trucks can interfere with through traffic, causing delays and compromising safety.
But what may be the most surprising finding of the study has nothing to do with increased truck traffic.
“We found that the total number of vehicles miles traveled hasn’t decreased at all with the growth of online shopping,” Faghri says. “This suggests that people are using the time they save by shopping on the internet to do other things like eating out at restaurants, going to the movies, or visiting friends.” Faghri cautions that his study looked only at residential commerce, not purchases made by commercial and industrial businesses, and that the data his team collected was limited to a very small geographic area. However, he emphasizes that local, state, regional, and national planners need to keep a close eye on the impacts of the home shopping trend when planning and budgeting for infrastructure needs.
“The increase in online shopping also affects land use patterns such as the number and size of stores in large shopping malls with vast parking spaces, as well as changes in labor markets, with, for example, less demand for sales personnel and more for truck drivers,” he says.
Hazardous Waste Generator Improvement Rule
In the first major modification to the hazardous waste regulations in over 10 years, EPA plans to modify and reorganize the hazardous waste generator rule. When adopted, the rule will provide greater flexibility in how hazardous waste is managed and close important gaps in the regulations.
Attend Environmental Resource Center’s live, online session to learn:
- New requirements for documenting hazardous waste determinations
- Revised requirements for when and how to submit the Notification of Generator Status form to EPA
- How to take advantage of the episodic generation exclusion to avoid reclassification to a larger generator status
- Definitions of important new terms – “Very Small Quantity Generator” and “Central Accumulation Area”
- How to mark containers, tanks, and containment buildings with new information required at central accumulation areas and satellites
- New conditions under which containers can be left open at satellite accumulation areas
- Updated time and volume limits for satellite accumulation areas
- New documentation requirements for contingency plans and biennial reports
- New requirements for shipping hazardous waste from a VSQG to another facility owned by the same organization
New Exclusions for Solvent Recycling and Hazardous Secondary Materials
EPA’s new final rule on the definition of solid waste creates new opportunities for waste recycling outside the scope of the full hazardous waste regulations. This rule, which went into effect on July 13, 2015, streamlines 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 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. 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 webcast on February 16 where you will learn:
- Which of your materials qualify under the new exclusions
- What qualifies as a hazardous secondary material
- Which solvents can be remanufactured, and which cannot
- What is a tolling agreement
- What is legitimate recycling
- Generator storage requirements
- What documentation you must maintain
- Requirements for off-site shipments
- Training and emergency planning requirements
- If it is acceptable for the recycler to be outside the US
Dallas RCRA and DOT Training
Nashville RCRA and DOT Training
San Jose RCRA and DOT Training
Washington Proposes New State-Led Clean Water Rule
The new draft rule aims to protect the health of Washington’s people, fish, and the economy. Ecology continues to work with researchers and manufacturers to find safer chemical alternatives, eliminating these toxics at the source.
Ecology expects to adopt a final rule in August 2016.
The Environmental Protection Agency also is preparing a rule for Washington in case the state’s rule is not finalized. EPA released its draft rule in September 2015.
The state’s new draft rule helps Washington maintain control over how to meet federal requirements to ensure the state is protecting human health while providing businesses and local government sensible tools to comply with updated standards.
Both the state’s and EPA’s draft rules agree that water quality standards should be based on a daily average fish consumption rate of 175 grams and a one-in-1-million cancer risk rate.
The state’s new draft rule offers implementation tools to wastewater dischargers giving them time to come into compliance while working on reducing toxics in their waste streams. EPA’s rule proposal does not contain these options.
EPA’s draft rule contains overly stringent limits for PCBs and arsenic, and adds a new limit for methyl mercury that will be difficult for Washington dischargers to meet. The Ecology rule would maintain the current standards, as proposed in its initial rule, for PCBs and mercury. Arsenic would align with the federal drinking water standard.
MPCA Completes 10 Enforcement Cases in Fourth Quarter of 2015
In its ongoing efforts to promote environmental compliance, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency concluded 10 enforcement cases in 11 counties throughout Minnesota during the fourth quarter of 2015. Penalties from all 10 cases totaled $225,258. In all of 2015, the MPCA concluded 149 cases, totaling just over $999,000.
Environmental enforcement investigations often take several months, and in highly complex cases, more than a year. Although, in rare instances, they can involve courts, they are most often negotiated settlements where the goal is compliance with environmental rules. Fines issued are targeted to match the environmental harm, economic advantage gained or environmental corrective actions.
In addition to these 10 recently completed cases, the MPCA also has 57 ongoing enforcement investigations, nine of which were opened as new cases during the fourth quarter of 2015. Not all investigations lead to fines or other official action.
Imposing monetary penalties is only part of the MPCA’s enforcement process. Agency staff continue to provide assistance, support, and information on the steps and tools necessary to achieve compliance for any company or local government that requests it.
The following is a brief summary of all 10 cases completed during the fourth quarter of 2015:
- ColorWare, Winona, for air quality violations, $70,000
- Riley Bros. Construction, Inc., Ghent, for stormwater violations, $4,800
- Medford Sand and Gravel, LLC, Medford, for wastewater violations, $2,860
- Cambria Co., Le Sueur, for wastewater violations, $2,000
- Bio Wood Processing, LLC, Faribault, for air quality violations, $1,687
- MacDonald World, Inc., Aitkin, for air quality violations, $1,687
- Veblene-Protein, Inc., Clarkfield, for air quality violations, $1,562
- Fairview Southdale Hospital, Edina, for air quality violations, $1,562
Diamond-Vogel Paint Company Fined $21,700 for Hazardous Waste Violations
In a settlement filed by EPA in Lenexa, Kansas, the company will pay a $21,700 civil penalty to the United States.
EPA representatives inspected the facility in March 2012 and determined the company failed to perform waste determinations on approximately 9,625 gallons of waste paint materials. The company also failed to conduct weekly inspections of the facility’s hazardous waste storage area, and identify secondary and/or alternate emergency coordinators in their contingency plan.
Mismanagement of hazardous waste has the potential to harm human health by unnecessarily exposing workers to harmful materials and to harm the environment through possible improper disposal of hazardous materials. In neglecting to conduct weekly inspections of its hazardous waste storage areas, Diamond-Vogel failed to ensure its hazardous waste was managed correctly, and that there were no releases exposing workers and the environment to toxic chemicals.
In the event of an emergency, it is critical that first responders have access to multiple contacts within the company in case the primary contact cannot be reached. This is to ensure first responders are able to respond with the necessary safety precautions to protect the community.
In addition to the penalty, Diamond-Vogel is required to provide photographic evidence that storage containers are kept closed, and that hazardous waste containers are labeled. The company is also required to submit an updated contingency plan. Lastly, Diamond-Vogel is required to provide EPA, for a period of three months, documentation demonstrating that it properly performed weekly inspections of the hazardous waste storage area.
By agreeing to the settlement, Diamond-Vogel Paint Company has certified that it is now in compliance with all requirements of RCRA and its implementing regulations.
Leaf-Mimicking Device Harnesses Light To Purify Water
For years, scientists have been pursuing ways to imitate a leaf’s photosynthetic power to make hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight. In a new twist, a team has come up with another kind of device that mimics two of a leaf’s processes—photosynthesis and transpiration—to harness solar energy to purify water.
More than 1 billion people around the world live in areas where clean water is hard to come by, and that number will likely rise as the population grows. One possible solution to the shortage is to clean up wastewater or other water sources that would otherwise not be drinkable or usable for agriculture. But methods to scrub contaminants from water mostly rely on conventional energy sources. To address the water problem without adding to the dependence on fossil fuels, Peng Tao, Wen Shang, and colleagues developed a way to purify water by copying the way green leaves work.
The researchers built a tri-layer membrane out of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and a supporting layer of anodized aluminum oxide. The membrane cleans water in two ways. In a photosynthesis-like process, the TiO2 layer captures light, and that energy spurs the breakdown of toxic pollutants in a water sample. Testing showed it degraded about 60% of a model pollutant after two hours in simulated sunlight. The gold layer performs the transpiration role of a leaf—it harnesses solar energy and drives water at the sample surface to evaporate. The resulting vapor rises, leaving contaminants behind. The scientists then condensed the vapor to make purified water.
EPA Study Finds Electronics Recycling Standards Are Well Implemented
The EPA recently released a study assessing the implementation of the two third-party certification programs for electronic waste recyclers in the United States. EPA’s study found that the certification standards are being implemented by auditors with thorough knowledge of the standards.
“EPA’s study affirms that e-Stewards and R2 certification programs are helping to improve the responsible management of used electronics in the United States,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management. “We remain committed to continuing the dialogue started by this study to identify opportunities for continued improvement in management of used electronics.”
The Responsible Recycling Standard for Electronics Recyclers (R2) and the e-Stewards® Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment (e-Stewards?) are accredited third-party standards for the management of used electronics to protect human health and the environment. The limited study assessed whether the standards are being implemented transparently and consistently, and if they are achieving the intended results. Both standards include strong environmental requirements that maximize reuse and recycling, minimize exposure of toxics to human health or the environment, ensure safe management of materials by downstream handlers, and require destruction of all data on used electronics.
The study’s findings are based on the stakeholder interviews EPA conducted and the audits EPA observed, which reflect a small percentage of all certified electronics recycling facilities and auditors working in the electronics recycling industry. Though limited in number, the audits EPA observed reflected the range of audit types, facility sizes, and services offered by facilities seeking to obtain or maintain certification to the standards.
The study identified a number of strengths in implementation of the standards, such as clear and effective roles and responsibilities among the key implementers, and opportunities for constructive feedback integrated throughout the system. The study also offers recommendations for improving the overall effectiveness of implementation, including providing additional training and guidance materials in key topic areas, providing regular updates to the standards and increasing audit times to allow for more thorough audits.
The study was conducted in collaboration with the U.S. General Services Administration and the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board. It fulfills a key commitment under the 2011 National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship (NSES), which tasks the federal government to lead by example by encouraging the greener design and responsible management of used electronics.
Pacific Steel, Inc. to Pay $138,000 to Settle Hazardous Waste Violations
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the state’s Attorney General’s Office announced that Pacific Steel, Inc. (PSI), a scrap metal recycler in National City, will pay $138,000 dollars to settle hazardous waste violations. The ruling was finalized by a superior court judge in San Diego County on January 5.
As part of the corrective action, PSI completed the removal of approximately 8,000 tons of federally-regulated contaminated soil. As part of prior corrective actions, PSI completed the removal of 27,000 tons of state-regulated contaminated soil. PSI’s violations included the following: unlawfully stored hazardous waste at six soil piles, unlawfully treated contaminated soil, and unlawfully disposed of contaminated soil.
DTSC had previous enforcement action against the facility in 2004 when PSI paid DTSC $235,000 for hazardous waste violations as part of that agreement. DTSC found that PSI had violated some terms of that agreement during the inspections from 2010–13.
Lithium Battery Catalyst Found To Harm Key Soil Microorganism
The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota is an early signal that the growing use of the new nanoscale materials used in the rechargeable batteries that power portable electronics and electric and hybrid vehicles may have untold environmental consequences.
Researchers led by UW-Madison chemistry Professor Robert J. Hamers explored the effects of the compound nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), an emerging material manufactured in the form of nanoparticles that is being rapidly incorporated into lithium ion battery technology, on the common soil and sediment bacterium Shewanella oneidensis.
“As far as we know, this is the first study that’s looked at the environmental impact of these materials,” says Hamers, who collaborated with the laboratories of University of Minnesota chemist Christy Haynes and UW-Madison soil scientist Joel Pedersen to perform the new work.
NMC and other mixed metal oxides manufactured at the nanoscale are poised to become the dominant materials used to store energy for portable electronics and electric vehicles. The materials, notes Hamers, are cheap and effective.
“Nickel is dirt cheap. It’s pretty good at energy storage. It is also toxic. So is cobalt,” Hamers says of the components of the metal compound that, when made in the form of nanoparticles, becomes an efficient cathode material in a battery, and one that recharges much more efficiently than a conventional battery due to its nanoscale properties.
Hamers, Haynes, and Pedersen tested the effects of NMC on a hardy soil bacterium known for its ability to convert metal ions to nutrients. Ubiquitous in the environment and found worldwide, Shewanella oneidensis, says Haynes, is “particularly relevant for studies of potentially metal-releasing engineered nanomaterials. You can imagine Shewanella both as a toxicity indicator species and as a potential bioremediator.”
Subjected to the particles released by degrading NMC, the bacterium exhibited inhibited growth and respiration. “At the nanoscale, NMC dissolves incongruently,” says Haynes, releasing more nickel and cobalt than manganese. “We want to dig into this further and figure out how these ions impact bacterial gene expression, but that work is still underway.”
Haynes adds that “it is not reasonable to generalize the results from one bacterial strain to an entire ecosystem, but this may be the first ‘red flag’ that leads us to consider this more broadly.” The group, which conducted the study under the auspices of the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology at UW-Madison, also plans to study the effects of NMC on higher organisms.
According to Hamers, the big challenge will be keeping old lithium ion batteries out of landfills, where they will ultimately break down and may release their constituent materials into the environment. “There is a really good national infrastructure for recycling lead batteries,” he says. “However, as we move toward these cheaper materials there is no longer a strong economic force for recycling. But even if the economic drivers are such that you can use these new engineered materials, the idea is to keep them out of the landfills. There is going to be 75 to 80 pounds of these mixed metal oxides in the cathodes of an electric vehicle.”
Hamers argues that there are ways for industry to minimize the potential environmental effects of useful materials such as coatings, “the M&M strategy,” but the ultimate goal is to design new environmentally benign materials that are just as technologically effective.
Battery Technology Could Charge Up Water Desalination
The technology that charges batteries for electronic devices could provide fresh water from salty seas, says a new study by University of Illinois engineers. Electricity running through a salt water-filled battery draws the salt ions out of the water. Illinois mechanical science and engineering professor Kyle Smith and graduate student Rylan Dmello published their work in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.
“We are developing a device that will use the materials in batteries to take salt out of water with the smallest amount of energy that we can,” Smith said. “One thing I’m excited about is that by publishing this paper, we’re introducing a new type of device to the battery community and to the desalination community.”
Interest in water desalination technology has risen as water needs have grown, particularly in drought-stricken areas. However, technical hurdles and the enormous amounts of energy required have prevented wide-scale implementation. The most-used method, reverse osmosis, pushes water through a membrane that keeps out the salt, a costly and energy-intensive process. By contrast, the battery method uses electricity to draw charged salt ions out of the water.
The researchers were inspired by sodium ion batteries, which contain salt water. Batteries have two chambers, a positive electrode and a negative electrode, with a separator in between that the ions can flow across. When the battery discharges, the sodium and chloride ions—the two elements of salt—are drawn to one chamber, leaving desalinated water in the other. In a normal battery, the ions diffuse back when the current flows the other direction. The Illinois researchers had to find a way to keep the salt out of the now-pure water.
“In a conventional battery, the separator allows salt to diffuse from the positive electrode into the negative electrode,” Smith said. “That limits how much salt depletion can occur. We put a membrane that blocks sodium between the two electrodes, so we could keep it out of the side that’s desalinated.”
The battery approach holds several advantages over reverse osmosis. The battery device can be small or large, adapting to different applications, while reverse osmosis plants must be very large to be efficient and cost effective, Smith said. The pressure required to pump the water through is much less, since it’s simply flowing the water over the electrodes instead of forcing it through a membrane. This translates to much smaller energy needs, close to the very minimum required by nature, which in turn translates to lower costs. In addition, the rate of water flowing through it can be adjusted more easily than other types of desalination technologies that require more complex plumbing.
Smith and Dmello conducted a modeling study to see how their device might perform with salt concentrations as high as seawater, and found that it could recover an estimated 80% of desalinated water. Their simulations don’t account for other contaminants in the water, however, so they are working toward running experiments with real seawater.
“We believe there’s a lot of promise,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of work that’s gone on in developing new materials for sodium ion batteries. We hope our work could spur researchers in that area to investigate new materials for desalination. We’re excited to see what kind of doors this might open.”
Lumber Liquidators Inc. to Pay $13 Million for Illegal Importation of Hardwood and Related Environmental Crimes
Virginia-based hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators, Inc., was sentenced last week in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, and will pay more than $13 million in criminal fines, community service, and forfeited assets related to its illegal importation of hardwood flooring, much of which was manufactured in China from timber that had been illegally logged in far eastern Russia, in the habitat of the last remaining Siberian tigers and Amur leopards in the world, announced the Department of Justice.
In total, the company will pay $13.15 million, including $7.8 million in criminal fines, $969,175 in criminal forfeiture, and more than $1.23 million in community service payments. Lumber Liquidators has also agreed to a five-year term of organizational probation and mandatory implementation of a government-approved environmental compliance plan and independent audits. In addition, the company will pay more than $3.15 million in cash through a related civil forfeiture. The more than $13.15 million dollar penalty is the largest financial penalty for timber trafficking under the Lacey Act and one of the largest Lacey Act penalties ever.
Lumber Liquidators pleaded guilty and was charged in October 2015 in the Eastern District of Virginia with one felony count of importing goods through false statements and four misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act, which makes it a crime to import timber that was taken in violation of the laws of a foreign country and to transport falsely-labeled timber across international borders into the United States. The charges describe Lumber Liquidators’ use of timber that was illegally logged in Far East Russia, as well as false statements on Lacey Act declarations, which obfuscated the true species and source of the timber. This is the first felony conviction related to the import or use of illegal timber and the largest criminal fine ever under the Lacey Act.
“The case against Lumber Liquidators shows the true cost of turning a blind eye to the environmental laws that protect endangered wildlife,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This company left a trail of corrupt transactions and habitat destruction. Now they will pay a price for this callous and careless pursuit of profit.”
“This prosecution has been the result of hard work of federal agents and prosecutors who have been dedicated to protecting our natural habitats in the United States and around the world,” said U.S. Attorney Dana Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia.
“Today’s sentence—which includes the largest financial penalty ever under the Lacey Act—demonstrates the consequences companies will face if they knowingly accept illegally sourced materials and violate U.S. customs laws,” said Special Agent in Charge Clark E. Settles of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) in Washington, D.C.
“By knowingly and illegally sourcing timber from vulnerable forests in Asia and other parts of the world, Lumber Liquidators made American consumers unwittingly complicit in the ongoing destruction of some of the world’s last remaining intact forests,” said Director Dan Ashe of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Along with hastening the extinction of the highly endangered Siberian tiger and many other native species, illegal logging driven by the company’s greed threatens the many people who depend on sustainable use of these forests for food, clean water, shelter and legitimate jobs. These unprecedented sanctions show how seriously we take illegal trade, and I am grateful to the Service special agents and wildlife inspectors, Homeland Security agents, and Justice Department attorneys who halted Lumber Liquidators’ criminal acts and held the company accountable under the law.”
According to a joint statement of facts filed with the court, from 2010 to 2013, Lumber Liquidators repeatedly failed to follow its own internal procedures and failed to take action on self-identified “red flags.” Those red flags included imports from high-risk countries, imports of high-risk species, imports from suppliers who were unable to provide documentation of legal harvest and imports from suppliers who provided false information about their products. Despite internal warnings of risk and non-compliance, very little changed at Lumber Liquidators.
For example, Lumber Liquidators employees were aware that timber from the Russian Far East was considered, within the flooring industry and within Lumber Liquidators, to carry a high risk of being illegally sourced due to corruption and illegal harvesting in that remote region. Despite the risk of illegality, Lumber Liquidators increased its purchases from Chinese manufacturers using timber sourced in the Russian Far East. In 2013, the defendant imported Russian timber logged under a concession permit that had been utilized so many times that the defendants’ imports alone exceeded the legal harvest allowance of Mongolian oak, Quercus mongolica, by more than 800%. The investigation revealed a prevalent practice in timber smuggling enterprises, where a company uses a seemingly legitimate government permit to log trees. Corruption and criminal activity along the supply chain results in the same permit being used multiple times and in areas outside of the designated logging area, sometimes vastly exceeding its legal limits.
On other occasions, Lumber Liquidators falsely reported the species or harvest country of timber when it was imported into the United States. In 2013, Lumber Liquidators imported Mongolian oak from Far East Russia, which it declared to be Welsh oak and imported merpauh from Myanmar which it declared to be mahogany from Indonesia.
The illegal cutting of Mongolian oak in far eastern Russia is of particular concern because those forests are home to the last 450 wild Siberian tigers, Panthera tigris altaica. Illegal logging is considered the primary risk to the tigers’ survival, because they are dependent on intact forests for hunting and because Mongolian oak acorns are a chief food source for the tigers’ prey species. Mongolian oak forests are also home to the highly endangered Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, of which fewer than 50 remain in the wild. In June 2014, in response to illegal logging and the decline in tiger populations, Mongolian oak was added to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix III.
The $1,230,825 in community service payments is being provided to two Congressionally-chartered recipients, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NWFW) and the USFWS Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund. One project that will be funded is the development of a wood identification device that if successful, could fill a critical gap in enforcement when it comes to identifying the species of timber at a border or in an enforcement scenario. The device would be able to identify timber species that are listed on the CITES Appendices, including the species that were at issue in this case. If U.S. border officials would have had access to such a device in 2011, then perhaps Lumber Liquidators could have been flagged for violation years ago, thus averting the flow of money back to China and Far East Russia in support of illegal logging. Other projects would involve protecting, researching, and preserving the Siberian tiger, Amur leopard, and their habitat.
The case was jointly investigated by agents of the USFWS and HSI as part of Operation Oakenshield. The case is being prosecuted by Patrick M. Duggan and Christopher L. Hale of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Stephen Haynie and Kevin P. Hudson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Norfolk.
EPA Reminds Flint Residents to Take Steps to Reduce Potential Lead Contamination
The EPA is reminding Flint residents to take steps to remove debris that may have accumulated in faucet aerators, hot water heaters, and whole-house water filtration systems.
When water flows from the distribution system to your tap, many factors in the system and household plumbing can affect your water quality. EPA is recommending that homeowners take the following steps to reduce any potential lead contamination that may be present in the drinking water system:
- Residents should clean out their faucet aerators by unscrewing the aerator at the tip of the faucet, and removing any debris that has collected there. Aerators are located at the tip of household faucets and have a screen to collect particles and sediment. Until the system has recovered, EPA recommends that Flint residents clean aerators once a week.
- Flush hot water tanks to remove sediments that may have been deposited into the tank.
- Clean whole-house water filtration systems by flushing the system and changing the cartridge.
- Pregnant women and children under six should drink bottled water until they get results showing their water is below 150 parts per billion. After that point, they should only drink water that has been through an NSF-certified, lead removal filter.
- Residents are encouraged to have their water tested to be sure lead levels are below 150 parts per billion. Y EPA is also sampling drinking water in households with known lead levels of 100 parts per billion or higher, in order to test the effectiveness of filters rated to remove total lead.
- Residents may contact the newly established hotline or email address for information about EPA’s water sampling efforts. The hotline will provide immediate, telephonic translation in multiple languages.
Stormwater Violations Lead to $280,000 Fine for Salt Lake County
This agreement, lodged recently as a consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, requires the county to take specific measures to reduce illegal stormwater and non-stormwater discharges to Jordan River Valley surface waters by thoroughly implementing the requirements of its municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit. The county will also pay a civil penalty of $280,000.
“Preventing and managing polluted runoff in urban areas is essential to protecting water quality,” said Assistant Regional Administrator Suzanne Bohan for EPA’s Enforcement Program. “The rivers and streams in the Jordan River watershed support growing populations and provide significant economic and recreational benefits in Salt Lake County’s communities. EPA will continue to take steps to ensure that municipalities have viable stormwater programs in place to reduce polluted runoff and protect water resources.”
“This agreement is good news for water quality in Salt Lake County and the people and wildlife that depend on it,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The settlement today is the result of a joint enforcement action by the State of Utah and the United States that will protect the area’s precious water resources from contaminated runoff for many years to come.”
“Protecting the water quality in Salt Lake County is a priority for all of us,” said U.S. Attorney John W. Huber for the District of Utah. “Salt Lake County, working together with the State of Utah, the EPA, and the Department of Justice, has agreed to take several measures that will help protect the Jordan River watershed going forward.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Salt Lake County will secure adequate resources to fully maintain and implement its stormwater program, including training and maintaining full-time staff. The county will also take measures to remedy several identified deficiencies, including procedures to review construction site stormwater control plans, inspect sites with active construction or industrial activity and enforce sediment and erosion control requirements. In addition, the county will ensure structural controls are properly installed and maintained and will improve efforts to identify and eliminate illegal discharges to stormwater infrastructure.
The volume of annual runoff in the Jordan River Valley is estimated at 190 million cubic meters per year, a figure that underscores the importance of local efforts to manage stormwater so it does not become contaminated before reaching surface waters. The Jordan River watershed supports fish, migratory bird species, and wildlife and provides water for recreation, irrigation, and public supply.
Stormwater runoff from rain and snowmelt events can pick up pollutants like trash, chemicals, oils and sediment as it flows over land and impervious surfaces, such as industrial storage areas, paved streets and parking lots. These pollutants can damage the health of a watershed and cause changes in the water quality, resulting in impaired drinking water sources, habitat modification and loss, increased flooding, decreased aquatic biological diversity and increased sedimentation and erosion. Stormwater controls—also known as best management practices—filter out pollutants and prevent pollution by controlling it at its source.
These permits are designed to prevent runoff from rain and snowmelt events from washing harmful pollutants into local surface waters. MS4s are systems of conveyances for storm water that include infrastructure such as storm drains, pipes, ditches and roads. MS4 permits are designed to reduce the release of contaminated runoff into MS4s and the waters into which they discharge. EPA and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality inspected the County’s MS4 in 2012 and identified numerous violations of the County’s MS4 permit.
The consent decree agreement requires the county to pay a one-time civil penalty of $280,000, including $140,000 to the United States and $140,000 to the State of Utah, with an opportunity to offset a portion of the state amount through the completion of supplemental environmental projects.
Loveland Products Fined $145,000 for Stormwater Violations
Under the settlement, Loveland will pay a civil penalty of $145,000.
An EPA inspection in September 2014 revealed unauthorized discharges and that the facility exceeded its industrial stormwater permit discharge limits for cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc into Brawner Creek. Loveland also failed to analyze the pH levels of its discharges within the required time frame, and update its Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).
Prior to reaching this settlement, Loveland addressed structural issues of the outfall that led to unauthorized discharges, installed a water filtration system, and updated the SWPPP. The SWPPP is designed to ensure appropriate measures are taken to reduce pollutants discharged to Brawner Creek.
In addition to the civil penalty, the company will seek to increase the use of stormwater in manufacturing operations, and evaluate additional steps toward becoming a zero discharge facility. By agreeing to the settlement, the company has certified that it is now in compliance with all requirements of the Clean Water Act, it is implementing regulations and the applicable permit.
Pollutants in stormwater can violate water quality standards, pose risks to human health, threaten aquatic life and its habitat, and impair the use and enjoyment of waterways. The Clean Water Act seeks to protect streams and wetlands that form the foundation of the nation’s water resources. Protecting streams and wetlands is also part of adapting to climate change impacts like drought, sea level rise, stronger storms, and warmer temperatures.
The consent agreement for penalties is subject to a 40-day public comment period before it becomes final
Illinois EPA Grants Trunkline Gas Company LLC Provisional Variance From Hazardous Waste Accumulation Periods
The need for the provisional variance is due to the need to identify an appropriate disposal treatment facility for three 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste at its facility in Tuscola, Illinois. The drums were generated as part of maintenance cleaning of a spill prevention control and countermeasures tank.
The three drums are being properly stored and managed in a secure hazardous waste designated storage area at the Tuscola facility.
Environmental regulations allow a generator to seek an extension of up to 30 days from the Illinois EPA if hazardous waste must remain on-site for longer than 90 days due to unforeseen, temporary, and uncontrollable circumstances. The 90-day hazardous waste holding period for the three drums ends on February 8, 2016. It is unlikely that arrangements for shipment of these drums to a proper disposal treatment facility can be finalized and implemented by that date. Illinois EPA has determined that such facts and circumstances exist in this situation and grants Trunkline Gas Company a provisional variance for a period of 30 days.
Contractor Fined $18,000 for Construction Runoff
A Renton, WA company doing construction near Snoqualmie Pass has been fined $18,000 for failing to properly manage storm- and wastewater generated at the large-scale construction site on the Interstate 90 corridor between the town of Easton and the summit.
The Washington Department of Ecology issued the penalty to Guy F. Atkinson Construction, LLC, for allowing high pH concrete runoff water and loose concrete materials to wash into waters of the state without proper treatment.
The water quality violations were documented by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) environmental inspectors on November 9 and 10, 2015, and confirmed by an Ecology water quality specialist. Samples of the concrete wastewater taken on both days were in excess of criteria set for pH to protect aquatic life. The high alkaline reading of 10 pH was above the 6.5 to 8.5 pH allowable range for water quality.
WSDOT received a notice of violation for failing to adequately prepare and implement a stormwater pollution prevention plan as required under state water quality laws.
Atkinson Construction has 30 days to pay the penalty or file an appeal with the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Home Pro Violates Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule
EPA Region 7 conducted a recordkeeping inspection in response to a tip and complaint regarding Home Pro in Joplin, Missouri, that revealed violations of the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. As part of a settlement with EPA filed in Lenexa, Kansas, the company has agreed to pay a $5,978 penalty to the United States.
The rule regulates lead-based paint activities, including renovation of residences built prior to 1978, and the certification of individuals and firms who are involved in these activities.
The recordkeeping inspection conducted in October 2014 at Home Pro, a home renovation company, revealed that the company failed to obtain written acknowledgement from homeowners that they received a Renovate Right pamphlet prior to renovations, and to retain records documenting lead safe work practices.
Lead exposure can cause a range of adverse health effects, from behavioral disorders and learning disabilities to seizures and death, putting young children at the greatest risk because their nervous systems are still developing. A national survey of lead and allergens in housing conducted by HUD estimates that 38 million occupied housing units (about 40% of all housing units) in the United States contain some lead-based paint.
There are approximately 500,000 U.S. children ages 1–5 with blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL), the reference level at which the Centers for Disease Control recommends public health actions be initiated.
City of Alhambra Fined $795,000 for Discharge of Raw Sewage
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) has entered into a settlement agreement with the city of Alhambra and issued a civil penalty of $795,000 for the alleged discharge of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the state’s waters.
Alhambra violated the terms of its General Waste Discharge Requirements for Sanitary Sewer Systems by allegedly discharging raw sewage on five separate occasions, from March 2011 to July 2013, into storm drain systems that led to the Los Angeles and Rio Hondo rivers, as well as other water bodies. In one instance, a sewer line was accidentally connected to a storm drain, funneling 6,084,529 gallons of raw sewage into the Laguna Wash.
An additional $1.8 million in penalties will be suspended upon completion of several improvement projects that have been identified in the settlement agreement. Some of those projects include improving the city’s gravity sewer system; rehabilitating or replacing lift stations in the sewer system; and complete “severe” and “major” sewer system repairs.
“The potential for sewer overflows from aging collection systems in our region and around the state present a serious threat to public health and the environment,” said Samuel Unger, Regional Water Board executive officer. “The action we have taken today is an effective first step in reducing future overflows and bringing the city back into compliance with their permit.”
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Trivia Question of the Week
Europeans’ lower carbon footprint can be attributed to efficient design to encourage walking, cycling, and use of public transportation.
a) True
b) False