A limited number of hard copies are also available through
the National Service Center for Environmental Publications.
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In the Air
News of Air Pollution Control
and Air Related Issues
with Larry Simmons
You can contact Larry at SimmonsLL @ e2minc.com
___________________________________
Plug-in
Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released an assessment that suggests
widespread use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
in the United States
could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and potential for improved ambient
air quality.
Among study's key findings were:
* Widespread
adoption of PHEVs can reduce GHG emissions from
vehicles by more than 450 million metric tons annually in 2050 -- equivalent to
removing 82.5 million passenger cars from the road.
* PHEVs can improve nationwide air quality and reduce
petroleum consumption by 3 million to 4 million barrels per day in 2050.
Current hybrid vehicles use nickel-metal-hydride
batteries. These batteries are not
capable of achieving the improvements listed above. Auto companies are experimenting with lithium
ion batteries as the next technology leap.
However, this technology may be several years away because of fire
potential and length of time to recharge.
Wind Energy to Reduce Oil Consumption?
Wind energy proponents have suggested that wind energy will
reduce U.S.
dependence on foreign oil. Wind turbines
generate electricity, but little oil is used to generate power in this
country. Approximately, 1 percent of the
electricity generated in the U.S.
was produced by using oil.
If our goal is to reduce dependence on foreign oil, then we
may be better served to look other places.
Transportation accounts for approximately 69 percent of oil use in the U.S. Deployment of existing hybrid vehicles would
cut into that oil use.
EPA Proposes New Ozone Standard
EPA is proposing to strengthen the nation's air quality
standards for ground-level ozone, revising the standards for the first time
since 1997. According to the agency, the proposal is based on the most recent
scientific evidence about the health effects of ozone. The proposed standard is
being made under a court-supervised settlement with the American Lung
Association, Environmental Defense, the Natural Resources Defense Council and
the Sierra Club.
The United
States has made significant progress
reducing ground-level
ozone in the past quarter century.
Since 1980, ozone levels have dropped
21 percent nationwide. The proposal recommends an ozone standard
within a range of 70 to 75 parts per billion (ppb). That is lower than the
current eight-hour standard of 80 ppb but higher than the 60 to 70 ppb
unanimously recommended by the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee
last October.
EPA Updates Air Quality Website
EPA has made several air quality maps available depicting
the current air quality conditions of the Mid-Atlantic region. The maps use the
latest Air Quality Index (AQI) values for ozone and particulate matter, and can
be found at EPA's "Air Quality" web page at http://www.epa.gov/reg3artd/airquality/airquality.htm#currentcond.
The AQI describes the daily extent of pollution in the air, what associated
health effects might be present, and what health effects may be experienced a
few hours or days after breathing polluted air. For more information on the AQI
visit EPA's AirNow web site at http://www.airnow.gov.
APD Web Sites Get New Format
The EPA Air Protection Division (APD) has converted its
public Web sites with an improved, "new look and feel" format that
provides accurate and up-to-date regulatory information to the public in a
familiar and more accessible way. The main part of APD's
web site was converted earlier in May, including the home page at http://www.epa.gov/reg3artd. The new
Web site includes a full text compilation of the EPA-approved State
Implementation Plan (SIP) air quality regulations for all regional state and
local air agencies, and is accessible at http://yosemite.epa.gov/r3/r3sips.nsf/SIPIndex!OpenForm.
PM2.5 Implementation Report
On May 09, 2007 EPA released a report on implementation of
the PM2.5 standard. This document can be
found at:
http://opencrs.cdt.org/document/RL32431/2007-05-09%2000:00:00.
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International
Focus
News of
Environmental Trends and Regulations
in Other Countries
with Kim Walker
You can contact me at Kimberly.walker @ erm.com
___________________________________
Biofuels Must Be Made Sustainably,
Says European Commission
The European Energy Commissioner indicated at the recent
International Biofuels Conference in Brussels, Belgium
(July 5th and 6th) that the European Commission is
seeking to develop legislation that will require minimum sustainability
standards for biofuels development. In keeping with their ongoing energy
strategy, the European Union (EU) has agreed on an action plan to have biofuels comprise at least 10 percent of the region’s
transport fuel use by 2020. "It is, of course, essential to ensure that
this increase is fulfilled in a sustainable way; we cannot just sit back and
assume this will happen automatically," European Energy Commissioner Piebalgs said.
A review of current data trends indicate that 60 percent of
the increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union between 2005 and
2020 will come from transport. Piebalgs emphasized that "biofuels
are not the panacea for all our energy problems," but identified that the
renewable fuels—primarily biodiesel and ethanol—can
help tackle climate change and other environmental challenges if developed
correctly. Piebalgs
further noted that biofuels deliver solid greenhouse
gas savings, but that “there exist inefficient production techniques that do
not. The use of these production techniques must be avoided.”
The directive currently under development will give legal
backing to the 10-percent goal for biofuels and will
include a set of minimum sustainability standards. The directive will indicate
that only biofuels that meet these standards will
count toward the 10-percent target and be eligible for European Union tax
exemptions. The rules will apply equally to imports as well as to biofuels produced domestically. Debate continues within the
EU on what the sustainability standards should include, particularly on issues
such as bringing new land into cultivation and developing
"second-generation" biofuels that can be
derived from straw, organic waste, and woody material.
According to Piebalgs, the
European Commission’s biofuels directive will be
ready by the end of 2007. The legislation is part of a larger European Union
push to have renewable energy sources account for 20 percent of the region’s
energy market by 2020. After the draft directive is completed, it will be
passed on to the European Council and Parliament for a final decision.
(Source: http://www.enn.com/agriculture/article/22443)
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Solid Waste Views
with John Scrabis, P.E.
You can contact me at: jmscrabis @ mactec.com
___________________________________
EPA Announces the Winners of the 2007 Brownfields Grants Competition
On
May 14, EPA announced the 2007 brownfields
assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund grants national winners.
Applicants from 39 states received a total of $70.7 million to revitalize
former industrial and commercial sites, and turn them into productive use.
Regional firms received a total of $5 million, including in Pennsylvania:
Allegheny County, the Borough of Central City, the City of Johnstown, the
Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., the Borough of Steelton, and the
North Side Industrial Development Co.; in West Virginia: the Jefferson County
Parks and Recreation Commission, Monongalia County, and the city of Nitro; and
in Virginia: the city of Roanoke. For additional information on the regional brownfields grant recipients, go to http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/07arc/fy07_brownfields_selected_grantees.pdf
Expansion of RCRA Comparable Fuel Exclusion
EPA is proposing to expand the comparable fuel exclusion underthe rules implementing subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for fuels that are produced from hazardous waste but which generate emissions that are comparable to emissions from burning fuel oil when such fuels are burned in an industrial boiler (see Federal Register, June 15, 2007, Volume 72, Number 115, Proposed Rules, Pages 33283-33334).
Such excluded fuel would be called emission-comparable fuel (ECF). ECF would be subject to the same specifications that currently apply to comparable fuels, except that the specifications for certain hydrocarbons and oxygenates would not apply. The ECF exclusion would be conditioned on requirements including:
Design and operating conditions for the ECF boiler to ensure that the ECF is burned under the good combustion conditions typical for oil-fired industrial boilers; and
conditions for tanks storing ECF which conditions are typical of those for storage of commercial fuels, and are tailored for the hazards that ECF may pose.
New Web Site Encourages Recyling of
Construction and Demolition Material
A new Web site is available to provide opportunities for the reuse and
recycling of construction materials from demolitions. The Web site contains
information about building deconstruction, architectural salvage, and the use
of recovered building materials in new projects. The Mid-Atlantic Consortium of
Recycling and Economic Development Officials (MACREDO) funded the new Web site
with the help of an EPA Source Reduction Assistance grant. The Web site is
available at www.unbuild-rebuild.org.
For
information on EPA's pollution prevention efforts in the construction industry,
go to http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/solidwasteresourcesc&d.htm
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ENVIROCABULARY
Environmental Acronyms, Obscure Words
and Other Lingo
with Kim Walker
You can contact me at Kimberly.walker @ erm.com
___________________________________
Each month, the Envirocabulary staff will scour the latest environmental literature for new and breaking terms of interest to our readers. This month's term is…
Organotins: Chemical compounds used in anti-foulant paints to protect the hulls of boats and ships,
buoys, and pilings from marine organisms such as barnacles.
(Source: Environmental Protection Agency Terms of Environment:Glossary,
Abbreviations and Acronyms, http://www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/oterms.html)
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P2 Forum
News on Pollution Prevention,
Recycling and Related Issues
with Michael Stepaniak
You can contact me at michaels @ ccicenter.org
___________________________________
This
Month:
Second Allegheny County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Scheduled for September
Department of Energy Releases First Annual Report on Wind Power Market
Calculate How Energy
Use Contributes to Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Air Pollution
SECOND
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER – According to
the U.S. EPA, an average home can easily contain more than one hundred pounds
of cleaners, pesticides, paints, automotive fluids, and other products
containing hazardous components. As summer ends, western Pennsylvania residents will have a few more
opportunities to safely and cost effectively dispose of hazardous products at
the remaining HHW collections sponsored by the Southwestern PA Household
Hazardous Waste Task Force. The next event will take place on Saturday,
September 29th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Boyce Park Ski Slopes parking lot
in Allegheny County. Participants dropping off waste
materials will pay a fee of $2 per gallon (cash
only). The Boyce Park collection will accept virtually
any chemical product found in the home including but not limited to: aerosols;
automotive fluids; batteries (household, automotive); chemistry sets; cleaners
of all types; mercury thermometers; paint and paint products; pesticides and
lawn and garden products; and photo and pool chemicals. The collection will not
accept ammunition and explosives; commercial waste; compressed gas cylinders;
medical waste (including sharps); PCBs or dioxins; radioactive waste; smoke
detectors; and tires. Following each household hazardous waste collection, a
certified contractor processes the hazardous waste. Materials may be recycled,
incinerated, or safely buried in specially constructed hazardous waste
landfills. “This year the Task Force is celebrating a very important milestone.
To date, we’ve collected and disposed of more than one million pounds of household
hazardous waste,” according to Dave Mazza of the
Pennsylvania Resources Council, which serves as the Task Force’s administrator.
“While a significant number, this just begins to scratch the surface of the
problem of safe disposal of these materials. Since its first collection in
2003, the group has collected 1,275,000 pounds of materials from more than
13,000 households,” said Mazza. “The Task Force has
partnered with numerous groups and organizations to provide the public with an
opportunity to dispose of hazardous materials in a safe, cost effective, and
environmentally friendly manner.” Each large event requires a significant
number of volunteers to direct traffic, collect surveys, distribute educational
materials, and perform many other important tasks. Choose to volunteer for an
entire day or a half-day shift. The Task Force, a recent recipient of a 2007
Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, formed in 2002. It secures
funding, organizes events, and creates a partnership of individuals representing
governmental, private, and public organizations. Numerous organizations support the household
hazardous waste collection and education campaign by providing financial or
in-kind support of the events. For more information regarding the remaining 2007
collections or to volunteer at a collection, call the Pennsylvania Resources
Council at (412) 488-7452. Visit the SW PA HHW Task Force at www.swpahhw.org.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RELEASES
FIRST ANNNUAL REPORT ON WIND POWER MARKET - The Department of Energy (DOE)
recently released its first annual report on developments and trends in the U.S. wind power
market. The publication, "Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation,
Cost, and Performance Trends: 2006," examines trends in the marketplace,
including project costs, turbine sizes, and developer consolidation. The report
asserts that wind power is competitive and has been consistently priced at or
below the price of electricity produced at fossil-fueled or nuclear power
plants. In addition, wind project performance has been increasing due to
improved project siting as well as technological
advances in wind turbines. The report points out that U.S. wind power capacity increased by 27% in
2006 and that the United
States had the fastest growing wind power
capacity in the world in 2005 and 2006. For the second straight year, the United States
led the world by installing 2,454 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity in
2006, equal to 16% of the capacity installed worldwide that year. Other
countries that led the way with installations in 2006 were Germany, India,
Spain, and China. National
leaders in annual capacity growth are Texas, Washington, and California.
The report also notes that GE Energy is the dominant wind turbine manufacturer
for the U.S. market, even
though it is facing increasing competition from both domestic and foreign
companies, many of which are building manufacturing facilities in the United States.
To view the entire DOE Wind Power report visit http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41435.pdf.
CALCULATE HOW ENERGY
USE CONTRIBUTES TO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND AIR POLLUTION – Just by
entering a ZIP code, individuals can see how their energy use is affecting the
earth. EPA's Power Profiler calculates how much air pollution results from
individual electricity use, the fuels used to produce that electricity, and how
to reduce the impact. EPA has updated the web-based Power Profiler with up to date
data on emissions and fuels. In addition to learning the emissions from their
individual electricity use, users can see how they compare with national
averages. The air pollutants used in the calculator are carbon dioxide (CO2),
sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). CO2
contributes to global warming or climate change, while NOx
and SO2 contribute to unhealthy air quality and acid rain in many parts of the
country. Power Profiler displays the fuel mix in percent coal, oil, gas,
nuclear, hydro-electric (water), and other renewable sources including biomass,
wind, solar, geothermal, and landfill gas. With information from the calculator
on their monthly electricity use, consumers can assess their annual emissions.
The site also guides users to other web-based information showing how to reduce
emissions from one's home or business through greater energy efficiency and use
of renewable energy. Power Profiler uses information from EPA's Emissions &
Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID), a
comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of nearly all
electric power generated in the United
States. Visit http://www.epa.gov/solar/powerprofiler.htm
to view the Profiler.
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Compliance Corner
What's New with Regulatory Compliance,
Environmental Management
and Related Issues
with Dan Hagerty, CHMM
You can contact me at daniel_hagerty @ hotmail.com
______________________________
AIHA
Introduces New Digital Library at Annual Conference
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) unveiled OEHS
Library Central, a comprehensive, new digital library of knowledge,
information, resources, and research for occupational and environmental health
and safety (OEHS) professionals at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference
and Exposition (AIHce 2007) in Philadelphia, Pa.,
June 2-7.
OEHS Library Central will offer downloadable versions of all AIHA
print publications to site subscribers and will link to abstracting and
indexing databases for more than 150 science and technical journals, such as
Medical Physics. More than four years in the making, a task force of AIHA
members analyzed input from four focus groups to prioritize desired features
and ultimately selected AIP Publishing Services as the vendor to build, host,
and service OEHS Library Central.
AIHA members will continue to receive The Synergist by mail and will
have access to it on the AIHA Web site. Similarly, the Journal of Occupational
and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) will be available at OEHS Library Central, as
well as on the current site, and will continue to be offered in print. AIHA
members will pay no additional charge to download these publications.
For other publications, AIHA members will be able to view abstract
information and the table of contents without a subscription. To view or
download them, a subscription is necessary. AIHA will continue to offer print
copies of its publications at the Marketplace on the AIHA Web site.
Non-AIHA member users of OEHS Library Central may view abstract
information and the table of contents of publications without a subscription.
To view or download the chapter or article, a subscription is needed.
Subscriptions will be sold on a per-download basis, with a download
defined as a chapter or article. A variety of subscription options will be
available; including single and multiple downloads for members, nonmembers, and
students.
In addition to the comprehensive OEHS information, subscribers will
enjoy robust Google search features by author, title, and topic. What's more,
subscribers will have the option to set up a user profile to receive content
alerts by e-mail and to allow them to manage a personal user library. Other
subscriber features include the ability to save favorites and send links to
others.
EPA's TRI Form R Software
Updated and Online
On June 4, EPA released TRI-MEweb, the new
Internet-based reporting application, to facilities in states that were
participating in the TRI State Exchange Network as of April 2007. Facilities in
Colorado, Delaware,
Illinois, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky,
Michigan, Minnesota,
Oklahoma, Oregon,
South Carolina, Utah,
Virginia, and Washington are eligible to use TRI-MEweb if they have reported in previous years. New
facilities are not eligible to use TRI-MEweb for
reporting year 2006.
Facilities located within these 14 states that have provided valid
e-mail addresses in previous TRI submissions will receive an e-mail with
instructions on how to access TRI-MEweb. Facilities
that have not provided a valid e-mail address will receive a letter with
instructions. Facilities that have not received instructions by June 11 should
contact the TRI-ME/CDX help desk at epacdx@csc.com or (888) 890-1995.
Facilities that are not located within one of these 14 states should
continue to report using the desktop version of the TRI-ME reporting software
available at www.epa.gov/tri/report/software.
OSHA Ordered to Release Toxic
Chemical Exposure Data
OSHA has wrongfully withheld data documenting years of toxic
exposures to workers and its own inspectors, according to a federal court
ruling. As a result, the world’s largest compendium of measurements of
occupational exposures to toxic substances – more than 2 million analyses
conducted during some 75,000 OSHA workplace inspections since 1979 – should now
be available to researchers and policymakers. Each year, an estimated 40,000 U.S. workers
die prematurely because of exposures to toxic substances on the job.
The June 29, 2007, federal court ruling came in a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Dr. Adam M. Finkel,
a former chief regulator and regional administrator at OSHA from 1995 to 2003,
and now a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Public Health, and a
visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. His
career at OSHA came to an end after disclosing OSHA’s
secret decision in 2002 not to offer medical testing to its own inspectors who
had been exposed to beryllium dust. Beryllium dust can cause a unique and
often-fatal lung disease, known as chronic beryllium disease (CBD).
In June 2005, Dr. Finkel filed a request
under FOIA for release of the entire contents of the OSHA database on toxic
exposures, which contains the concentration of each substance found (e.g.,
asbestos, lead, benzene, silica dust), the company where the sample was taken,
and an encrypted code for the inspector who took the sample. He also requested
coded information about the results of beryllium sensitization tests conducted
on OSHA inspectors. OSHA denied both requests, claiming that among the sampling
results there may have been trade secrets and that releasing the encrypted
codes could somehow compromise inspectors’ privacy.
Judge Mary L. Cooper of the Federal District Court in Trenton, N.J.,
held that the rationales offered up by OSHA to justify withholding the data
lacked any merit. Moreover, she found that “the public interest in disclosing
information that will increase understanding about beryllium sensitization and OSHA’s response thereto is significant.”
“OSHA forgot a long time ago that it exists to protect workers, not
to protect its own executives,” stated Dr. Finkel,
noting his gratitude to Peter Dickson from the Princeton
law firm of Potter & Dickson who argued the case. “Ordinary citizens paid
to collect these data, and I look forward to analyzing this public database to
help OSHA find its way back to its original mission.” According to Peter
Dickson, “This well-balanced and thoughtful decision is a welcome brake on
efforts by the government to prevent public scrutiny of what agencies are
doing, and more importantly in this case, not doing.”
The validity of Dr. Finkel’s disclosures
has been confirmed in tests showing an unexpectedly high incidence of blood
abnormalities among a small group of OSHA inspectors, who finally were offered
the medical tests in 2004. This finding has serious implications for the
majority of current and former OSHA inspectors who still have not been offered
testing, as well as for an estimated 130,000 private-sector workers who are
exposed to beryllium daily. OSHA’s permissible
beryllium exposure limit was developed almost 60 years ago and has not been
updated. Experts agree that the equivalent of one day’s exposure at the current
limit can cause CBD.
DOT Proposes to Revise
Emergency Phone Number Requirements for Shipping
Papers
The DOT is proposing to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to
clarify requirements governing emergency response information services provided
by arrangement with hazardous materials offerors. In
order to preserve the effectiveness of these arrangements for providing
accurate and timely emergency response information, DOT's Pipeline and
Hazardous Material Safety Administration is proposing to require that basic
identifying information (offeror name or contract
number) be included in shipping papers. This information will enable the
service provider to identify the shipper on whose behalf it is accepting
responsibility for providing emergency response information in the event of a
hazardous materials incident.
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