Metro Metals Corp., and Avista Recycling, Inc., have been ordered to properly dispose of computer waste they attempted to illegally export from Minnesota to Vietnam through the Port of Seattle, according to the EPA. The agency is simultaneously seeking a $31,600 penalty against the companies for violating federal hazardous waste laws.
Metro Metals Corp., a Toronto, Canada, based company, and Avista Recycling, Inc., a recycling company operating in Hopkins, Minnesota, arranged for the export of a shipment of 913 discarded computer monitors to Vietnam on December 6, 2010. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted the shipment, which had been incorrectly identified in shipping paperwork as “scrap plastic,” at the Port of Seattle for inspection before it could leave the United States.
“Companies that collect discarded cathode ray tubes must be held accountable to manage these wastes in compliance with our laws which ensure that they will be properly handled, and not sent abroad to countries that have not agreed to receive waste from the U.S.” said Edward Kowalski, EPA’s Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement in Seattle.
Some televisions and computer monitors contain cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Color computer CRT monitors contain an average of four lb of lead. CRTs may also contain mercury, cadmium, and arsenic.
EPA alleges that the companies violated several federal hazardous waste management requirements designed to ensure the proper management and transport of such wastes. First, the companies failed to evaluate their waste and identify it as hazardous. They also failed to manifest the waste or comply with other pre-transit requirements for such shipments. Even more importantly, the companies failed to notify EPA of their intent to export the waste to Vietnam and, consequently, attempted to bypass the process required for Vietnam to consent to receive hazardous wastes from the U.S. before it can leave the country.
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Southern Maine Specialties Fined for Hazardous Waste Violations
Southern Maine Specialties in Saco, Maine, has agreed to pay $38,250 to settle claims it violated state and federal hazardous waste laws.
The company violated state hazardous waste laws as well as federal RCRA by improper storage, labeling, and other management of hazardous waste, as well as by not providing adequate employee training, according to the settlement between EPA and the company.
The violations included:
- Failing to determine whether waste generated on-site was hazardous;
- Storing containers of hazardous waste next to incompatible material;
- Failing to manage hazardous wastes in accordance with requirements by storing two 55-gallon containers of sodium hydroxide sludge together, in excess of the 55-gallon limit for hazardous waste accumulation areas; and
- Storing hazardous waste in a tank that was not designed for that purpose and that was not being managed in accordance the required tank operating standards.
The complaint grew out of an inspection of the facility in January 2010 by EPA. After the inspection, Southern Maine quickly brought its facility into compliance with state and federal waste management laws.
$32,500 Penalty for Failure to Report Lead on TRI Report
A company in Saugus, Massachusetts, that manufactures metal roofing equipment has agreed to pay a fine of $32,000 to settle EPA claims that it failed to file required reports, in violation of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
The February 4 settlement with EPA’s New England office stems from a July 9 inspection of Lamb & Ritchie’s facility. The facility was targeted for inspection based on information from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
The law is meant to ensure that the community can be informed of chemical releases in their neighborhood that may affect public health and the environment. It also ensures that neither the validity of health studies based on the Toxic Release Inventory data nor the effectiveness of emergency response planning by federal, state, and local authorities will be compromised.
EPA Seeks Public Comment on the 16th Annual U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory
This report will be open for public comment for 30 days after the Federal Register notice is published.
The draft report shows that in 2009, overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 6% since 2008. This downward trend was attributed to a decrease in fuel and electricity consumption across all U.S. economic sectors. Total emissions from GHGs were about 6,640 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. Overall, emissions have grown by 7.4% from 1990 to 2009. Emissions in 2009 represent the lowest total U.S. annual GHG emissions since 1995.
The inventory tracks annual GHG emissions from 1990 to 2009 at the national level. The gases covered by this inventory include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. The inventory also calculates carbon dioxide emissions that are removed from the atmosphere by “sinks,” e.g., through the uptake of carbon by forests, vegetation, and soils.
This annual report is prepared by EPA in collaboration with experts from other federal agencies. After responding to public comments, the U.S. government will submit the final inventory report to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The report will fulfill the annual requirement of the UNFCCC international treaty, ratified by the United States in 1992, which sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change.
Hearings on Reissuance of Army Corp of Engineers Connecticut General Permit
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) will hold a public informational meeting March 3 on the reissuance of the U.S. ACOE Connecticut General Permit.
The public meeting will take place from 1:00–3:00 p.m. at DEP Headquarters, 5th Floor Phoenix Auditorium, at 79 Elm Street, in Hartford.
The Connecticut General Permit (GP) currently referred to as the Programmatic General Permit (PGP) will allow for minimal-impact activities within the waters of the United States within the State of Connecticut and lands located within the exterior boundaries of an Indian Reservation.
The existing GP expires on May 31, 2011 and the proposal is to reissue the GP for another five years. The reissued GP will continue the review process for activities under the Clean Water Act; the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899; and of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. The proposed GP is separated into two sections, one for activities occurring within Inland Waters and Wetlands and one for activities occurring within Tidal, Coastal, and Navigable Waters.
The ACOE will accept written comment on the GP through the close of business on March 11, 2011. Comments may be mailed to: Regulatory Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751 to the attention of Ms. Diane M. Ray or e-mailed to diane.m.ray@usace.army.mil. All comments submitted to the ACOE in writing will be considered in the development of the GP.
EPA Seeks Public Comment on Plan to Review Regulations
EPA is inviting the public to provide input on a plan that will guide EPA’s retrospective reviews of regulations as part of the agency’s response to President Obama’s January 18, 2011 Executive Order (EO) 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.”
EO 13563 directs each federal agency to consider “how best to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.” The EO calls on every agency to develop “a preliminary plan, consistent with law and its resources and regulatory priorities, under which the agency will periodically review its existing significant regulations to determine whether such regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded or repealed to make the agency’s regulatory program more effective and or less burdensome in achieving its regulatory objectives.”
EPA will also provide opportunities for input through a public meeting in Washington, D.C., on March 14, and listening sessions in other parts of the country. These outreach efforts will allow the public to provide EPA with feedback on specific issues, impacts, or programs. More information about these meetings will be announced soon.
By late May, EPA will provide the public with its retrospective review plan, as well as the initial list of regulations it plans to review.
Environmental Compliance Solutions, LLC, and Former Iberia Parish Sheriff Sentenced in Clean Water Act Violation
On February 17, Sidney J. Hebert, former Iberia Parish Sheriff, and owner of Environmental Compliance Solutions, LLC, (ECS), appeared before United States Magistrate Michael Hill for sentencing in connection with pleading guilty to federal environmental crimes on September 22, 2010. Hebert was sentenced to 3 years of supervised probation, 120 hours of community service, and a $1,800 criminal fine. Hebert’s company, ECS, was sentenced to pay a $50,000 criminal fine.
ECS was formed for the purpose of wastewater treatment and discharge pursuant to a permit issued by the State of Louisiana. The permit allowed ECS to operate as a centralized waste treatment facility.
On September 22, 2010, Hebert, who was the on-site manager at ECS, pled guilty to charges and admitted that he was negligent in the operation procedures at ECS. An inspection of ECS on June 2, 2009, by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the EPA, revealed that wastewaters were bypassing the filtration system and ultimately being discharged into the Commercial Canal located in the Port of Iberia. Hebert, who was also part owner, president, and the responsible corporate officer of ECS, failed to maintain the required documentation, prepare reports, implement plans, and perform proper testing as mandated by the permit.
“The department takes environmental crimes seriously,” said DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch. “It’s unfortunate that there are people who try to bypass environmental regulations. DEQ will continue to work closely with its federal, state and local partners to create an atmosphere where people better understand why it’s important for everyone to abide by environmental laws.”
“Instead of properly treating commercial waste oil and wastewater as it was licensed to do, ECS bypassed the treatment system and diluted wastewater with well water,” said Ivan Vikin, Special Agent-in-Charge for EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement for the Louisiana region. “The defendants’ illegal actions threatened human health and endangered fish and wildlife habitat by polluting the environment. This case, which was worked jointly with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Criminal Investigation Division and the Louisiana State Police, illustrates that companies and their senior executives will be held responsible for environmental crimes.”
Hudson Color Concentrates to Pay Fine after Lead Found in Plastic Pellet Concentrates
Hudson Color Concentrates, a manufacturer of plastic dye pellets has agreed to pay $17,409 to settle claims it violated state and federal hazardous waste management laws.
The company, located at 50 Francis St., produces custom color plastic pellet concentrates for the plastics industry working with mixtures of color pigments. Hudson is a division of L&A Molding.
This settlement resolves EPA's allegations that Hudson Color violated the federal RCRA by failing to adequately determine the contents of the waste pigment containing high concentrations of lead. These waste pigments were found in the facility’s raw material storage areas, pigment room, and blending area.
In addition, EPA alleged that the company did not properly manage mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs in a way that would prevent bulbs from breaking.
As a result of a September 1 complaint by EPA, Hudson has eliminated the use of lead pigments in its processes. Hudson has also disposed of the bulbs as hazardous waste.
Supermarket Chain Faces EPA Penalty for Environmental Disclosure Violations
The action stems from a December 2008 inspection and a subsequent investigation. According to EPA’s complaint, the company failed to submit a material safety data sheet for Genetron 22, or a list of chemicals including Genetron 22, a hazardous chemical, to the State Emergency Response Commission, the Local Emergency Planning Committee, and the local fire department with jurisdiction over the facility. The federal law requires the owner of a facility to report within three months information about hazardous chemicals present at the facility in amounts that exceed minimum threshold levels. Records indicated that the company acquired the chemical on March 4, 2008. Genetron 22 is a chemical containing chlorodifluoromethane and is used to service refrigeration systems.
DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc., also failed to file required chemical inventory forms on March 1, 2008 for the calendar year 2007 for sulfuric acid, considered an extremely hazardous chemical, and for lead, gasoline, diesel fuel, and R507, all considered hazardous chemicals. Sulfuric acid is extremely corrosive and presents significant risks from contact, including lung damage from inhalation of vapors. Diesel fuel is a flammable liquid and vapor and poses health risks from contact, including skin irritation and lung damage. Lead presents a reactivity risk and a threat to response personnel from contact, including skin and lung contact.
Lack of chemical inventory forms can compromise proper emergency planning and response by state and local emergency officials. Failure to file these forms also deprives the community of its right to know about chemicals present in the neighborhood. The company faces a possible penalty of up to $42,171 for the violations.
Ozone Layer’s Future Linked Strongly to Changes in Climate
The ozone layer—the thin atmospheric band high-up in the stratosphere that protects living things on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, not to be confused with damaging ozone pollution close to the ground—faces potential new challenges even as it continues its recovery from earlier damage, according to a recently released international science assessment.
The report finds that over the past decade, global ozone levels, and ozone levels in the Arctic and Antarctic regions are at a turnaround point—no longer decreasing but not yet increasing. The abundances of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are responding as expected to the controls of the Montreal Protocol, with many now declining in both the lower and upper atmosphere.
By successfully controlling the emissions of ozone-depleting substances, the Montreal Protocol also has been beneficial for the climate, because many of these substances are heat trapping, or GHGs that are linked to the Earth’s warming.
“The Montreal Protocol has succeeded in protecting the ozone layer from much higher levels of depletion,” said A.R. Ravishankara, director of NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Division and co-chair of the Scientific Assessment Panel that produced the report. “But the ozone layer will increasingly be influenced by other factors related to the changing climate.”
For example, climate change alters the atmosphere’s temperature and circulation patterns, which in turn affect the processes that deplete the ozone layer. One projected outcome of this relationship is that ozone in the Arctic, where the most severe changes in climate are being observed, is projected to be more sensitive to climate changes than ozone in the Antarctic, where climate change is relatively less of an influence on the ozone layer.
Effects also work in reverse. Changes in the ozone layer have been linked to observed shifts in seasonal surface winds over the Southern Hemisphere, contributing to the Antarctic Peninsula warming and the high plateau cooling.
As pointed out in the report, the size of the Antarctic ozone hole appears to have reached a turnaround point, whereby the hole is not getting worse each year, but at the same time it is not decreasing.
The Antarctic ozone hole was discovered in 1985. Soon after, scientists established that the recurring springtime ozone hole was caused by human-made substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, used in refrigeration and halons used in fire extinguishers. The findings became a “science success story” as governments recognized the need for measures to reduce the production and consumption of a number of CFCs, halons, and other ozone-depleting substances.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1987 and came into force in 1989. It was designed so that the schedules for phasing out ozone-depleting substances could be revised based on periodic scientific and technological assessments, be amended or adjusted to introduce other kinds of control measures, and to add new controlled substances to the list. The 2010 scientific assessment just released provides information needed by the Protocol’s decision-makers during the coming few years as they consider possible further actions to protect the ozone layer.
A return to pre-1980 levels of ozone is expected around mid-century in mid-latitude regions and the Arctic, with recovery in the Antarctic expected to follow later this century, according to the assessment.
The ozone layer’s continued protection depends on future adherence to the provisions of the Montreal Protocol, as well as potential new influences, such as possible unintended consequences of proposals to deliberately add compounds to the atmosphere to counteract warming due to heat-trapping gases.
“The Montreal Protocol is doing what it was designed to do and we are seeing less of the ozone-depleting substances covered by the agreement,” said Ravishankara. “This has protected the ozone layer. But the atmosphere and climate are changing, so the ozone layer will not exactly retrace its steps.”
NOAA scientists and colleagues contributed findings that were critical to the assessment report. Namely, they led studies that determined the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole and elucidated the processes involved in ozone depletion in other regions of the globe. Teams have also tracked the state of the ozone layer and the abundances of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere, and modeled the past and projected future state of the ozone layer.
The 2010 assessment was conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. It involved more than 300 international scientists as authors and reviewers.
Biomass Power Plants Fined More than $830,000 for Clean Air Act Violations
The United States, on behalf of the EPA, and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District lodged consent decrees against two biomass power plants in Chowchilla and El Nido, California. The two companies have agreed to pay a combined civil penalty of $835,000 to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and District rules, including excess emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides—a precursor to ozone—and fine particulates.
“EPA is committed to doing our part to tackle the worst air quality in the nation. Today’s enforcement actions are a victory for human health,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “San Joaquin Valley communities can now breathe easier as a result of the significant pollution controls won in these settlements.”
The settlements require the facilities to install devices to improve monitoring and reporting of air pollutants; enhance automation of the control systems for nitrogen oxides emissions; and prepare more stringent control plans to minimize emissions of air pollutants. As a part of this action, the companies have installed controls that reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by up to 180 tons per year and carbon monoxide by up to 365 tons per year. The EPA and District will continue to monitor both facilities for an additional two years to ensure completion of all requirements.
Ampersand Chowchilla Biomass, LLC, (ACB), and Merced Power, LLC, (MP), located within 12 miles of each other in the San Joaquin Valley, are required to pay $328,000 and $492,000, respectively; EPA and the District will split the penalty equally. ACB is also required to pay an extra $15,000 to the District for a District-only violation.
After refurbishing the plants in 2007-2008, ACB and MP initiated operations in 2008. A joint investigation by the EPA and District found that ACB and MP violated the air permits issued to them by the District by:
- Emitting air pollutants including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide in excess of the permit limits;
- Failing to perform timely source testing to measure emissions of various air pollutants;
- Failing to properly install and operate emissions control systems for nitrogen oxides, a precursor to ozone; and
- Failing to certify the continuous emissions monitoring systems.
The plants also violated various District rules including requirements for emissions control plans.
Biomass power plants use green waste from farms and other operations that would otherwise be subject to open burning and construction debris that might have gone to a landfill to generate power.
The San Joaquin Valley exceeds the national health standards for ozone and particulate matter. Nitrogen oxides react with other chemicals to form ozone and small particles, both harmful to the public’s health. Ozone and particulate matter affect the human respiratory system, and are linked to a variety of significant health problems ranging from aggravated asthma to premature death in people with heart and lung disease.
Both proposed consent decrees are subject to a 30-day public comment period and final approval by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Bluff City Materials Cited for Salt Discharge
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Doug Scott has asked the Illinois Attorney General’s office to proceed with an enforcement action against Bluff City Materials, Inc., (BCM), in Bartlett, Illinois, for a discharge from a salt storage pile into waters of the State, including into the Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve.
The BCM facility is located at 1950 Vulcan Boulevard, in Bartlett, with their headquarters located at 2252 Southwind Boulevard, in Bartlett.
Illinois EPA inspections show that BCM began receiving salt via railcar in August 2010. BCM has stockpiled as much as 50,000 tons of salt at one time. While BCM began transferring salt out of the Bartlett site in September, BCM continues to receive shipments of salt.
In response to concerns communicated by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission about BCM’s salt storage practices, the Illinois EPA has conducted several inspections. The initial inspection was conducted on December 21, 2010. Although snow cover prevented a thorough inspection, it revealed that the salt storage pile was only partially covered. A subsequent inspection on December 23, 2010, found the entire east side of the salt pile uncovered. In addition, Illinois EPA found that the salt was being loaded from the northern portion of the pile, which is closest to Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve.
Research conducted by Illinois EPA hydrogeology experts found previous sand and gravel mining in the area of the BCM site. In addition, well logs provided by BCM show significant amounts of sand in the area of the BCM site. Sand allows the groundwater, with any pollutants, to move more quickly.
BCM is located in a Class III Groundwater Recharge Area, which is demonstrated to be unique or discharges into a dedicated nature preserve. Spring Bluff Fen is a dedicated nature preserve. While the salt is now being stored properly, the residual from the previously improperly stored salt still poses a threat to groundwater.
The Illinois EPA has requested that the Attorney General require BCM to collect as much of the rock base above the milled asphalt subgrade as possible to prevent precipitation from contacting the rock/salt mixture and carrying contaminants off the BCM site; to collect samples from the monitoring wells up gradient and down gradient of the BCM salt storage area to be analyzed for chloride to determine what, if any, impact to groundwater resources currently exists; and to use a geomembrane on the storage area, under the salt piles and a layer of ground limestone, but above the milled asphalt subgrade, in order to prevent infiltration of any water that comes in contact with the salt piles.
Construction Manager of Iowa Building Renovation Pleads Guilty to Asbestos Violations
The construction manager for a renovation project at the Equitable Building in Des Moines, Iowa, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to violate the CAA and for violating the CAA’s work practice standards related to asbestos removal, the Department of Justice announced.
Russell Coco, 51, of Des Moines, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James E. Gritzner for the Southern District of Iowa to one count of conspiracy to violate the CAA and one count of failing to remove all regulated asbestos containing material from the Equitable Building before commencement of the renovation project.
The CAA requires contractors who remove asbestos from public buildings to follow federally established work practice standards to ensure the safe removal of the asbestos. The required standards include providing notice to the EPA before commencing asbestos removal, adequately wetting the asbestos during the removal and before disposal and properly disposing of the asbestos at an EPA-approved disposal site.
According to a plea agreement filed with the court, from 2006 through February 2008, Coco acted as the construction manager for the renovation project which involved converting several floors of the building into luxury residential condominium units, and renovating other floors to attract additional commercial tenants.
According to the facts contained in the plea agreement, Coco was employed as the construction supervisor and reported directly to the building owner Bob Knapp. Coco admitted that he conspired with Knapp to remove asbestos containing materials from the building without complying with the requirements of the CAA. While Coco was the construction manager for the project, more than 260 feet of steam pipes with asbestos containing insulation and more than 160 square feet of floor tile containing asbestos were removed from the building and disposed of in an uncovered dumpster. None of the workers involved in removing and disposing of the asbestos containing materials were properly accredited to perform asbestos abatement work.
According to the plea agreement, Coco has agreed to face up to one year in prison and, under the law, is subject to a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing date has been set for May 20, 2011.
An indictment is pending against Knapp, alleging conspiracy and multiple violations of the CAA, and his case is scheduled for trial on February 28, 2011. The allegations in the indictment are mere accusations and all persons are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Two Ohio Companies Fined for Particulate Emission Violations
MGQ Aggregates Inc., and Maple Grove Materials Inc., have agreed to improve record keeping, limit emissions from a product handling line, and pay a $125,000 civil penalty for multiple violations of Ohio’s air pollution control regulations at four Seneca County plants. The companies are under common ownership.
Three of the facilities process limestone aggregate. Violations at MGQ’s 2000 West County Road facility involved visible particulate emissions, failing to immediately report a malfunction of the air pollution control equipment (i.e., a baghouse) and failing to route emissions from the fines storage area to the baghouse. The company also installed or modified various lines without first obtaining permits from Ohio EPA.
At MGQ’s 1525 West County Road 42 facility, violations included failing to have certain operation records available at the time of the inspection. At MGQ’s portable plant located in Jackson Township near Millersville, the company failed to conduct timely emissions testing for all material transfer points, screens, and crushers in the timeframe outlined in its permit. The violations have been corrected.
At all three locations, the company did not maintain proper records of company-performed inspections for particulate emissions. At the Maple Grove Materials asphalt plant, 2100 West County Road 42, the company did not conduct required particulate emission testing within the timeframe required by Ohio regulations.
The settlement requires MGQ to submit a permit-to-install application to limit production for the product handling line. Until the permit is issued, the company must maintain daily records for the unit documenting the total amount of stone processed, actual hours of operation, and average production rate.
PPL Fined $28,500 for Residual Waste Violations
Pennsylvania DEP announced it has fined PPL $28,500 for residual waste violations at the company’s power plant in Derry Township, Montour County, and recreation facility in Madison Township, Columbia County that occurred in 2009 and 2010.
“PPL cooperated with the department and corrected all the violations in a timely manner,” said DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber.
While inspecting PPL’s ash disposal impoundment in October 2009, DEP staff observed several large erosion gullies in the south side dike. One gully was observed to be about three feet in depth, and two other gullies were observed to be deeper than one foot in depth. There also were cracks on the south slope. If not corrected, the gullies and cracks could have threatened the integrity of the impoundment.
PPL submitted a repair plan and implemented it following DEP’s approval.
In early February 2010, PPL notified DEP that Stabil-Fill material spilled out of a sedimentation trap at its Montour Recreation Facility. Stabil-Fill is a trademarked product, consisting of fly ash and hydrated lime, which is beneficially used as construction material.
A DEP investigation determined the release was the result of heavy precipitation. PPL had been constructing recreation fields using Stabil-Fill and the heavy precipitation caused this material to spill out of a sedimentation trap and flow about 500 feet down gradient. It was deposited intermittently throughout an unnamed tributary of the East Branch of the Chillisquaque Creek, but no waste residue was evident within 100 feet of the creek.
PPL used a vacuum truck to clean-up the majority of the waste Stabil-Fill and employed a silt fence down gradient of the sedimentation trap to prevent any further release to the tributary. An estimated 80% of the sedimentation trap was dredged to allow for efficient capacity in the event of another large precipitation event.
A follow-up inspection by DEP determined that PPL had corrected the violations.
Streamlined Rules and Reduced Fees for Rock Crushing Plants in New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will offer a workshop for non-metallic mineral processing plants, commonly known as rock crushing plants or rock crushers. The workshop will be on Thursday, March 24, in Concord.
If you are involved in gravel pit operations or any other type of rock crushing (non-metallic mineral processing plants that grind or crush any non-metallic mineral, such as stone, sand, gravel, clay, rock, salt, and vermiculite), you should attend this workshop to learn about the new rules and how they apply to you and your business. Municipal officials may want to attend this if they have any rock crushing operations in their municipality.
To register, contact Sara J. Johnson, Small Business Technical Assistance Program, at 603-271-1379 or sara.johnson@des.nh.gov.
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Trivia Question of the Week
The movement of hazardous materials through the transportation system represents about what percent of total weight for all freight shipments, according to the DOT?
a. 1%
b. 8%
c. 18%
d. 81%