Archive for the ‘Agriculture’ Category
May 16th, 2012 | 
Author: Release Date: 03/16/2012Contact Information: Dave Bary or Jennah Durant at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov
(DALLAS – March 16, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $300,000 to Santa Fe Community College to provide funding for its Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program. The funds will be used to recruit, train and place unemployed or underemployed residents throughout the Santa Fe, New Mexico, region in environmental careers. Those selected to participate in the program will be trained and develop skills needed to safely conduct cleanup work at solid and hazardous waste contaminated sites.
Additional Information on EPA grants: http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm
More about activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html
EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/mar2012.html
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Release Date: 04/17/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. – April 17, 2012) – The owner and operator of a hazardous waste management facility in Providence, R.I. face an EPA penalty for violating federal and state hazardous waste laws.
According to the recent complaint filed by EPA’s New England office, Northland Environmental and PSC Environmental Services (operator and owner of the facility, respectively) violated state and federal hazardous waste laws, as well as their state issued permit to operate a commercial hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste treatment, storage and transfer facility located on Allens Avenue in Providence.
The facility is located in a densely populated Environmental Justice (EJ) area of Providence. EPA considers it an EJ area due to the high proportion of minority and low-income population, which historically has had higher exposure to pollutants than other segments of the population.
In its complaint, EPA details 16 counts of hazardous waste management violations at the facility. The most significant violations were that the companies failed to properly determine that some of the wastes managed and shipped off site as non-hazardous wastes, were in fact, hazardous. This resulted in hazardous wastes being disposed of at facilities not designed or permitted to handle hazardous wastes. In addition, Northland Environmental and PSC Environmental Services failed to properly list all hazardous waste constituents on required notification and shipping documents. These violations could result in hazardous wastes not being properly managed and treated by the final disposal facilities. Moreover, many incompatible hazardous wastes were stored next to one another without adequate means of separation or protection, potentially resulting in fires or explosions.
PSC Environmental Services owns and Northland Environmental operates the facility, which accepts and handles a variety of wastes, including acids, alkalis, flammable wastes, water reactive wastes, cyanides, sulfides, oxidizers, toxic wastes, oily wastes, photochemical wastes and laboratory packs. Hazardous and non-hazardous wastes are received at the facility, stored and or consolidated and then shipped off site for treatment and/or disposal. The affiliated companies face a penalty of up to $37,500 per violation per day.
More information:
- EPA enforcement of hazardous waste laws (http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/waste/index.html)
- Addressing Environmental Justice in New England: (http://www.epa.gov/region1/ej/index.html)
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Release Date: 05/09/2012Contact Information: Dave Bary or Jennah Durant at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov
(DALLAS – May 9, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding $25,000 to the Asombro Institute for Science Education. This program in Las Cruces, New Mexico, promotes increased awareness and understanding of the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem through an innovative schoolyard program.
This year-long program will test student’s critical thinking skills and teach them environmental stewardship as they study the ecosystem right outside their classrooms. Partnering with New Mexico State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this program supports 15 teachers and 1,200 students in the Las Cruces Public School District.
More information on the EPA’s environmental education grant program is available at http://www.epa.gov/education/grants.html
More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html
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Release Date: 03/13/2012Contact Information: Elias Rodriguez, 212-637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed adding the Orange Valley Regional Ground Water site in Orange and West Orange, New Jersey to its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. Ground water under the site, which includes heavily populated urban and suburban areas of Orange and West Orange, is contaminated with the chemicals tetrachloroethylene or PCE, trichloroethylene or TCE and cis-1,2-dichloroethylene. Exposure to PCE, TCE and cis-1,2-dichloroethylene, which are common industrial solvents, can have serious effects on people’s health including liver damage and an increased risk of cancer. The ground water contamination has impacted public wells used to supply drinking water to local residents. Some of the wells have been taken out of service and water from others is treated to remove the contamination and provide the community with water that is safe to drink.
“Ensuring that people have a safe source of drinking water is essential to protecting public health and is an EPA priority,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By placing the Orange Valley Ground Water site on the Superfund list, EPA can do the extensive sampling needed to find the best ways to address the contamination and protect people’s health.”
The ground water pollution has impacted several public water supply wells. The Orange Park and Gist Place wells serve a combined population of more than 10,000 people. After discovering the contamination in the early 1980s, the Orange Water Department installed a treatment system on the wells to remove the contaminants and provide the community with safe drinking water. Water from these wells is regularly monitored to ensure that the treatment system is effective and that people’s health continues to be protected. The former Brook Lane public supply well, which is located between the Orange Park and Gist Place wells, was taken out of service to protect the public from the contamination.
In 2011, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection asked EPA to consider the Orange Valley Regional Ground Water site for inclusion on the federal Superfund list. EPA conducted an initial assessment and is today proposing that the site be included on the list. The EPA is continuing its investigation to identify sources of the ground water contamination.
Nationwide, EPA is proposing to add 10 other sites to the Superfund list today and is designating nine others as final on the list.
With the proposal of this site to the Superfund list, a 60-day comment period will begin during which the EPA is soliciting public input on this proposed action. For instructions on how to submit comments, go to: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/pubcom.htm.
For the Federal Register notice and supporting documents on the proposed Superfund listing, on the day of publication, visit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm. Comments can be submitted, identified by Docket number EPA-HQ-SFUND-2011-0068, by one of the following methods:
· Online: http://www.regulations.gov – Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
· Email: superfund.docket@epa.gov
Mail: Mail comments (no facsimiles or tapes) to Docket Coordinator, Headquarters; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CERCLA Docket Office; (Mail Code 5305T); 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW; Washington, DC 20460
Hand Delivery or Express Mail: Send comments (no facsimiles or tapes) to Docket Coordinator, Headquarters; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CERCLA Docket Office; 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW; EPA West, Room 3334, Washington, DC 20004. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket’s normal hours of operation (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays).
For more information on the Superfund listing process, visit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm or contact Ildefonso Acosta, Region 2 NPL Coordinator, at 212-637-4344, acosta.ildefonso@epa.gov.
For more information on Superfund, go to http://www.epa.gov/superfund/.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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Release Date: 03/28/2012Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027
(Boston, Mass. – Mar. 28, 2012) – BOSFuel Corp. and Swissport Fueling, Inc., operators of an oil storage facility at Boston’s Logan Airport, will pay a $90,000 penalty for failing to take adequate precaution to contain oil spills. The Logan facility is operated by BOSFuel, a consortium of major airlines, and has an oil storage capacity of over seven million gallons. Swissport Fueling operates the facility on a day-to-day basis.
In a Sept. 2011 complaint, EPA asserted that the companies had not properly prepared for possible oil spills at the Logan facility in violation of federal oil pollution prevention regulations issued under the Clean Water Act. These Facility Response Plan (FRP) regulations require certain facilities, such as the one at Logan, to have a response plan for containing and cleaning up an oil release.
EPA’s action stemmed from a May 2011 unannounced exercise at the facility carried out by EPA, the Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The objective of this exercise – a simulated oil spill – was to determine whether a facility can successfully respond to an oil release. As a result of the exercise, EPA determined that the companies were unable to properly implement the facility’s FRP and its personnel were not adequately trained, resulting in an “unsuccessful” overall rating for the exercise.
Since EPA filed its action, the companies have worked cooperatively with EPA, as well as the USCG and Mass DEP to correct the deficiencies noted during the exercise.
Federal law requires that facilities that have the potential for spills take every step possible to prevent, before they occur, oil discharges to the nation’s rivers, lakes and oceans through implementation of Spill Prevention Control & Countermeasure (SPCC) plans. Any facility with more than 1,320 gallons of above-ground oil storage capacity and meeting certain other criteria must develop and implement SPCC plans to prevent and contain spills, such as by installing impervious secondary containment around storage tanks and transfer areas. Facilities also need to know how to react to a spill to minimize environmental damage when one does occur. The FRP regulations require response planning and spill preparation especially for facilities with more than one million gallons of storage capacity. To ensure that a facility can adequately response to a spill, it must have adequate employee training, spill response equipment, and a contingency plan for containing and cleaning up a release.
While EPA’s action against the Logan Airport oil storage operators is not based on an actual oil release but on the unsuccessful May 2011 unannounced exercise, other facilities should be aware that EPA will continue to pay unannounced visits to conduct simulated spill exercises at facilities throughout New England.
More information:
FRP Requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/frps/index.htm )
SPCC Requirements (http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/spcc/index.htm)
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Release Date: 04/17/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. – April 17, 2012) – The owner and operator of a hazardous waste management facility in Providence, R.I. face an EPA penalty for violating federal and state hazardous waste laws.
According to the recent complaint filed by EPA’s New England office, Northland Environmental and PSC Environmental Services (operator and owner of the facility, respectively) violated state and federal hazardous waste laws, as well as their state issued permit to operate a commercial hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste treatment, storage and transfer facility located on Allens Avenue in Providence.
The facility is located in a densely populated Environmental Justice (EJ) area of Providence. EPA considers it an EJ area due to the high proportion of minority and low-income population, which historically has had higher exposure to pollutants than other segments of the population.
In its complaint, EPA details 16 counts of hazardous waste management violations at the facility. The most significant violations were that the companies failed to properly determine that some of the wastes managed and shipped off site as non-hazardous wastes, were in fact, hazardous. This resulted in hazardous wastes being disposed of at facilities not designed or permitted to handle hazardous wastes. In addition, Northland Environmental and PSC Environmental Services failed to properly list all hazardous waste constituents on required notification and shipping documents. These violations could result in hazardous wastes not being properly managed and treated by the final disposal facilities. Moreover, many incompatible hazardous wastes were stored next to one another without adequate means of separation or protection, potentially resulting in fires or explosions.
PSC Environmental Services owns and Northland Environmental operates the facility, which accepts and handles a variety of wastes, including acids, alkalis, flammable wastes, water reactive wastes, cyanides, sulfides, oxidizers, toxic wastes, oily wastes, photochemical wastes and laboratory packs. Hazardous and non-hazardous wastes are received at the facility, stored and or consolidated and then shipped off site for treatment and/or disposal. The affiliated companies face a penalty of up to $37,500 per violation per day.
More information:
- EPA enforcement of hazardous waste laws (http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/waste/index.html)
- Addressing Environmental Justice in New England: (http://www.epa.gov/region1/ej/index.html)
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Learn More about the Latest EPA News & Events in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/newsevents/index.html)
Follow EPA New England on Twitter (http://twitter.com/epanewengland)
More info on EPA’s Environmental Results in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/results/index.html)
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Release Date: 04/11/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. – April 11, 2012) – The Boston metropolitan area continued to be ranked in the top 25 metropolitan areas of the country for Energy Star labeled buildings in 2011. Boston was ranked number 10, up from number 12 in 2010.
During 2011, 161 buildings in the Boston area, with more than 44 million square feet of floor space, earned the Energy Star designation. EPA estimates that these buildings saved $61 million in energy costs and avoided emissions equivalent to the electricity usage in 4000 homes. The Boston Metropolitan area includes Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, Middlesex, and Essex Counties in Massachusetts, and Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.
Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at cost of more than $100 billion per year. Buildings that earn the Energy Star certification must perform in the top 25 percent of buildings nationwide compared to similar buildings and must be independently verified by a licensed professional engineer or registered architect each year. Energy Star certified buildings use 35 percent less energy than their peers.
Buildings earning Energy Star labels in the Boston metropolitan area included a wide variety of building types including banks, hotels, office buildings, retail stores, warehouses, houses of worship and senior care facilities. Notable in 2011, 25 K-12 schools earned labels. Retail companies receiving multiple labels included Target (18), Staples (17), and Sears Holding Company (6). Also notable were the number of office buildings that received labels, those under management by Boston Properties (13), CBRE New England (13), and Jones Lang LaSalle (12).
“We applaud the sound energy management and innovation shown by these companies and institutions in their efforts to reduce operating costs and energy demand,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Energy efficiency also remains one of the most effective methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Launched in 1992 by EPA, Energy Star is a market based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. This year marks Energy Star’s 20th anniversary. Over the past 20 years, with help from Energy Star, American families and businesses have saved about $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon pollution. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products, and more than 1.3 million new homes and 16,500 buildings across America have earned EPA’s Energy Star certification.
More information:
- Top cities in 2011 with Energy Star certified buildings: http://www.energystar.gov/TopCities
- EPA’s real-time registry of all Energy Star certified buildings: http://www.energystar.gov/buildinglist
- How to earn the Energy Star for commercial buildings: http://www.energystar.gov/labeledbuildings
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Learn More about the Latest EPA News & Events in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/newsevents/index.html)
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More info on EPA’s Environmental Results in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/results/index.html)
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Release Date: 03/27/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
(Boston, Mass. – March 27, 2012) – CSG Holdings, Inc. of Columbia, N.H. faces a possible fine of up to $532,500 from EPA for allowing polluted stormwater and process water from its Columbia facility to flow into nearby waters, in violation of the Clean Water Act. CSG Holdings is the former operator of Columbia Sand and Gravel, a mining facility on the banks of the Connecticut River.
According to allegations in the complaint, CSG Holdings discharged process waste waters and stormwater from the facility without proper permits and violated the federal Oil Pollution Prevention Regulations by failing to prepare and implement a Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Plan. The recent complaint against CSG Holdings states that the violations were discovered by EPA’s New England office in 2010.
Stormwater monitoring by CSG Holdings confirmed that stormwater discharges from its sand and gravel mining and aggregate processing operations contain total suspended solids at levels that exceed permit benchmarks for their industrial sector. When a facility’s stormwater discharges exceed benchmark levels, the facility must review its stormwater control measures to determine if changes are necessary and make these changes as needed.
The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of process waste waters without a permit. The law also requires that industrial facilities, such as sand and gravel facilities, have controls in place to minimize pollutants from being discharged with stormwater into nearby waterways. Each site must have a stormwater pollution prevention plan that sets guidelines and best management practices that the company will follow to prevent runoff from being contaminated by pollutants. Without on-site controls, runoff from sand and gravel facilities can flow directly to the nearest waterway and can cause water quality impairments such as siltation of rivers, beach closings, fishing restrictions, and habitat degradation. As stormwater flows over these sites, it can pick up pollutants, including sediment, used oil, and other debris. Polluted process water discharges or stormwater runoff can harm or kill fish and wildlife and can affect drinking water quality.
Every year, thousands of gallons of oil are spilled from oil storage facilities, polluting New England waters. Even the effects of smaller spills add up and damage aquatic life, as well as public and private property. Spill prevention plans are critical to prevent such spills or, if they do occur, adequately address them.
In May 2011, CSG Holdings sold its Columbia, N.H. facility to another owner/operator. The new owner maintains the facility’s stormwater management system and is authorized to discharge stormwater under a general permit covering discharges from industrial facilities.
More information: Stormwater control for Industrial facilities (http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/indust.cfm)
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Release Date: 04/02/2012Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn (News Media Only)
Milbourn.cathy@epa.gov
202-564-7849
202-564-4355
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the first applications for registration of ethanol for use in making gasoline that contains up to 15 percent ethanol – known as E15. Ethanol is a renewable fuel that can be mixed with gasoline. For over 30 years ethanol has been blended into gasoline, but the law limited it to 10 percent by volume for use in gasoline-fueled vehicles. Registration of ethanol to make E15 is a significant step toward its production, sale, and use in model year 2001 and newer gasoline-fueled cars and light trucks.
To enable widespread use of E15, the Obama Administration has set a goal to help fueling station owners install 10,000 blender pumps over the next 5 years. In addition, both through the Recovery Act and the 2008 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture have provided grants, loans and loan guarantees to spur American ingenuity on the next generation of biofuels.
Today’s action follows an extensive technical review required by law. Registration is a prerequisite to introducing E15 into the marketplace. Before it can be sold, manufactures must first take additional measures to help ensure retail stations and other gasoline distributors understand and implement labeling rules and other E15-related requirements. EPA is not requiring the use or sale of E15.
Ethanol is considered a renewable fuel because it is generally produced from plant products or wastes and not from fossil fuels. Ethanol is blended with gasoline for use in most areas across the country. After extensive vehicle testing by DOE and other organizations, EPA issued two partial waivers raising the allowable ethanol volume to 15 percent for use in model year 2001 and newer cars and light trucks.
E15 is not permitted for use in motor vehicles built prior to 2001 model year and in off-road vehicles and equipment such as boats and lawn and garden equipment. Gas pumps dispensing E15 will be clearly labeled so consumers can make the right choice.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/additive/e15/
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