The SPCC regulations require covered facilities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to oil discharges. The final rule will provide alternative compliance options for certain regulated facilities.
This final rule provides streamlined options for specifically qualified facilities and exemptions from the SPCC regulations for certain vehicle fuel tanks and other on-board bulk oil storage containers. EPA is also exempting mobile refuelers from the sized secondary containment requirements for bulk storage containers, and removing requirements for animal fats and vegetable oils that pertain to onshore and offshore oil production facilities, oil drilling, and workover facilities.
In the final rule, EPA is also extending the compliance date for farms to either prepare and implement new SPCC plans or amend existing (maintained) SPCC plans and implement the amended plans until EPA publishes a future rule specifically addressing how farms should be regulated under the SPCC rule.
To provide the regulated community time to implement these modifications, as well as anticipated additional modifications, EPA is also issuing a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates to July 1, 2009 for owners and operators of facilities (with the exception of farms) to amend and implement an existing SPCC plan or in the case of new facilities, time to prepare and implement a new SPCC plan.
Nothing in the final rule and the proposed rule removes any regulatory requirement for owners or operators of facilities in operation before Aug. 16, 2002 to have developed, implemented and maintained a SPCC plan in accordance with the SPCC regulations then in effect. Such facilities continue to be required to maintain their plans during the interim until the applicable date for amending their existing plans and implementing their amended plans.
What’s on EPA’s RCRA Regulatory Agenda?
On December 11, EPA published its regulatory agenda. The agenda identifies the agency’s plans for new regulations over the next few years. Listed below are the hazardous waste regulations that EPA is working on.
Prerule Stage
- Standards for the Management of Coal Combustion Wastes Generated by Commercial Electric Power Producers
Proposed Rule Stage
- Management of Cement Kiln Dust (CKD)
- Modifications to RCRA Rules Associated with Solvent-Contaminated Industrial Wipes
- Land Disposal Restrictions: Modifying the Land Disposal Treatment Standard for Radioactive Lead Solids and Hazardous Debris; Definition of Macroencapsulation
- Hazardous Waste Management System: Identification and Listing of Hazardous Waste (F019 Listing Amendment in Wastewater Treatment Sludges from Zinc Phosphating Processes in Automotive Assembly Plants)
- Expanding the Comparable Fuels Exclusion under RCRA
- Definition of Solid Wastes Revisions
- Revisions to Land Disposal Restrictions Treatment Standards and Amendments to Recycling Requirements for Spent Petroleum Refining Hydrotreating and Hydrorefining Catalysts
- Project XL Site-Specific Rulemaking for the IBM Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility in Hopewell Junction, New York
- RCRA Incentives for Performance Track Members
Final Rule Stage
- Revisions to the Comprehensive Guideline for Procurement of Products Containing Recovered Materials
- Regulation of Oil-Bearing Hazardous Secondary Materials from the Petroleum Refining Industry Processed in a Gasification System to Produce Synthesis Gas
- Hazardous Waste Manifest Revisions—Standards and Procedures for Electronic Manifests
- Criteria for Safe and Environmentally Protective Use of Granular Mine Tailings
Long-Term Actions
- Standards for the Management of Coal Combustion Wastes—Non-Power Producers and Minefilling
- RCRA Smarter Waste Reporting
- E-Cycling Pilot Project for Region 3 States (ECOS); Streamlining RCRA Regulations to Encourage Reuse, Recycling, and Recovery of Electronic Equipment
- Revisions for Transboundary Shipments of Hazardous Waste for Recovery within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
- RCRA Subtitle C Financial Test Criteria (Revision)
- Revisions of the Lead-Acid Battery Export Notification and Consent Requirements
- Rulemaking to Streamline Laboratory Waste Management in Academic and Research Laboratories
EPA Cuts Mercury and Hydrocarbon Emissions for New Portland Cement Production
These limits will help protect public health from mercury and total hydrocarbon emissions from portland cement kilns, through amendments to an air toxics standard issued on Dec. 8.
The amendments set mercury and hydrocarbon emission limits for all cement kilns built after Dec. 2, 2005, and they will reduce annual mercury emissions by about one ton and annual hydrocarbon emissions by about 1,100 tons. Kilns built before that time must meet work practice requirements, such as removing cement kiln dust when it can no longer be recycled and operating kilns properly to ensure complete combustion.
In addition, the amendments prohibit all cement kilns from using fly ash from utility boilers equipped with certain types of mercury emission controls, unless the cement kiln can demonstrate that use of that fly ash will not increase its mercury emissions.
While EPA proposed setting limits for hydrogen chloride for cement kilns, the agency has determined they are unnecessary. Hydrogen chloride emissions at cement kilns are better than levels considered protective of public health.
In a separate action, EPA announced that it will reconsider the mercury and hydrocarbon emissions for new kilns and take immediate steps to obtain additional information about mercury reductions achieved at kilns equipped with wet scrubbers. EPA is taking this step to consider new information about mercury and hydrocarbon controls at cement kilns. The agency will make this information available for public review and comment.
Portland cement manufacturing is an energy-intensive process that produces cement by grinding and heating a mixture of materials such as limestone, clay, sand, iron ore and fly ash in a rotary kiln. That product, called clinker, is cooled, ground and then mixed with a small amount of gypsum to produce cement.
EPA Updating Its Libraries
Retrieving materials will be more efficient and easier to locate by using EPA's online collection and reference services.
"When libraries go digital, everyone benefits," said Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock. "By modernizing our libraries, EPA is bringing our cutting edge science to your fingertips, whether you live across the street, or on the other side of the world."
. Documents from libraries within the network that no longer have physical space will be online as of January 2007.
EPA documents remain available via interlibrary loans during the digitization process. Materials that are not EPA-unique remain available through the archive at EPA headquarters or through the interlibrary loan program.
Since 2003, EPA has been examining ways to modernize the library system. EPA is adhering to the American Library Association's guidance and criteria for reviewing its library collection.
EPA's National Framework for HQ and Regional Libraries was posted on EPA's Web site and an internal memo went out to all EPA employees regarding the library plan.
EPA Authorizes Critical Uses of Methyl Bromide for 2007
EPA also authorized uses that qualify for the 2007 critical use exemption. The exemptions for continued production and import of methyl bromide will honor the U.S. commitment to obtain methyl bromide for American farmers, in a manner consistent with the Montreal Protocol, while protecting the ozone layer.
This action is authorizing 6,230,655 kilograms (6,230.7 metric tonnes, or 24.4% of baseline) of methyl bromide for approved critical uses during 2007, such as strawberry and tomato production, as well as commodity fumigation. The United States originally requested an amount equivalent to 29% of historic 1991 baseline consumption. A total of 26.4% of baseline, or 6,749,060 kilograms (6,749 metric tonnes), was authorized at the 17th Meeting of the Parties in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2005. The authorized amount was adjusted to account for the increased use of alternatives among methyl bromide users.
Critical use exemptions are permitted under the Montreal Protocol for circumstances where there are no technically and economically feasible alternatives to methyl bromide. Further, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 direct the EPA to issue regulations to implement the provisions of the Montreal Protocol within the United States.
Allowance decisions for 2008 were made at 18th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in New Delhi, India during Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2006. For 2008, the U.S. request was revised to 23% of baseline, and a total of 21% was authorized. EPA is beginning the notice-and-comment rulemaking process for the 2008 calendar year.
EPA Orders Arizona Property Owner to Remove Illegal Fill from Virgin River
The EPA also required the property owner to immediately stop discharging dredged and fill materials into the river and to develop a restoration plan for the site.
“Unauthorized filling of waterways and damming of open waters can have serious environmental consequences,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPA’s Water Division director for the Pacific Southwest region. “The Virgin River supports a very diverse number of bird populations, including two endangered species, and is critical habitat for two endangered species of fish. The EPA’s action underscores our commitment to protecting this very important water resource.”
From January to April 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers received calls and written complaints stating that Reber was illegally constructing a dam across the Virgin River, which adversely altered the river’s natural flow pattern and characteristics, increasing the potential for bank erosion. At the request of the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA inspected the site in October and confirmed that Reber constructed the earthen dam with a bulldozer without an Army Corps of Engineers permit.
The Virgin River, which courses through Reber’s property, is an interstate river. Its headwaters are found in Utah, and the Virgin continues through Arizona before it joins Lake Mead in Nevada. It connects the Great Basin region to the Colorado Plateau, and the Mohave Desert to the Sonoran Desert ecosystems. The Virgin River and its riparian zone is a uniquely rich area for biodiversity due to its location at the intersection of these bioregions.
The Clean Water Act prohibits the placement of dredged or fill materials into wetlands, rivers, streams and other waters of the United States without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
EPA Fines Bio Rad Laboratories $29,900 for Waste Violations in Richmond, Calif.
EPA recently settled with Bio Rad Laboratories, located in Richmond, Calif, for $29,900 for hazardous waste storage violations. The EPA inspected the company’s facility in April 2005 and found the company was not complying with requirements to control air emissions from hazardous waste, a violation of the agency’s hazardous waste regulations.
Bio-Rad is a large quantity generator of hazardous waste and distributes over 200 life science research products, such as buffers, reagents, dyes, and ion exchange beads, for the biotechnology industry.
“We are pleased the company has taken responsibility for its violations and now understands what it needs to do in order to manage its hazardous waste,” said Jeff Scott, the EPA’s director for the waste management programs in the Pacific Southwest region. “All companies, generating hazardous waste must follow the rules to protect its employees, the public, and the environment.”
The company also failed to:
- Determine what kind of hazardous waste was generated
- Properly train its workers in managing and handling hazardous waste
- Have a hazardous waste spill response plan
- Store hazardous waste in required containers with proper labels
EPA and Larry Boyer Land and Cattle Reach Settlement for Federal Pesticide Rules Violations
The Seattle office of the EPA has announced last week that Larry Boyer Land and Cattle has agreed to pay a penalty of $774.40 in order to settle claims for two alleged violations of the federal pesticide law (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act ()) on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. EPA previously issued a warning letter for a drift incident involving Boyer in 2001.
According to EPA, in July of 2005, the improper drift of pesticides occurred following Boyer’s aerial application of Nufarm Credit Extra Systemic Herbicide and AMINE 4 2,4-D WEED KILLER to fields on the Nez Perce Reservation. This drift of pesticides affected trees and shrubs on neighboring property. The labels for these pesticides contain instructions prohibiting drift onto desirable ornamental plants and vegetation.
“It is important that users of pesticide products follow directions on labels,” said Chris Gebhardt, a FIFRA enforcement officer in EPA’s Regional Office in Seattle. “Ensuring proper use of pesticides on tribal reservations through tribal pesticide programs is a priority for EPA.”
Boyer avoided a more substantial fine by taking measures to prevent the drift, including spraying the perimeter of the target field in advance of the aerial application with a ground sprayer and by trying to avoid poor weather conditions. Boyer also compensated the neighboring property owner for plant damage.
Statements prohibiting drift prevent inadvertent contamination of people, plants, water and sensitive areas. Ensuring proper use of pesticides on tribal reservations through tribal pesticide programs remains an EPA priority.
$11,900 Penalty for Hazardous Waste Violations
During a routine inspection, EPA investigators found the company was improperly storing ignitable hazardous waste and had 19 open containers of hazardous waste, both violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
“The improper storage of ignitable hazardous waste is a serious violation with potentially dire consequences,” said Jeff Scott, the EPA’s director for the waste management programs in the Pacific Southwest region. “We are pleased the company has corrected its violations. All companies generating hazardous waste must follow the rules to protect their employees, the public and the environment.”
GKN Aerospace is a large quantity generator of hazardous waste that includes spent solvents and sludge from its wastewater treatment system. The company produces aluminum, stainless steel and titanium parts for rockets and jets by using an acid solution containing hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids.
The company also failed to store hazardous waste with proper labels and keep required records showing the amount of hazardous waste produced.
The EPA’s hazardous waste rules require facilities to properly store, label, and seal hazardous waste containers.
EPA Fines Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC Nearly $16,000 for Clean Air Act Violations
The EPA has announced last week that Flint Hills Resources Alaska, LLC (Flint Hills) has agreed to pay $15,867 for alleged federal Clean Air Act (CAA) emergency planning violations. Flint Hills operates a refinery near the City of North Pole, Alaska.
EPA alleged ten separate violations of the CAA including failure to establish procedures for reviewing and updating the company’s emergency response plan, and failure to establish procedures for informing the public and local emergency response agencies about accidental releases of flammable substances.
As part of the settlement with the EPA, Flint Hills has agreed to correct all alleged violations, pay the penalty and spend at least $60,000 on a supplemental environmental project (SEP) involving the purchase of two hazardous substance spill response trailers and one incident command post trailer for the Fairbanks/North Star Borough.
"The program is designed to protect public health and the environment in the event there is an accidental release of hazardous or flammable substances."
The federal Clean Air Act, Section 112(r), requires the development of a risk management program and submittal of risk management plans for all public and private facilities that manufacture, process, use, store, or otherwise handle greater than a threshold amount of a regulated substance(s). Flammable gases and toxic chemicals, such as ammonia and chlorine, are covered by the program.
The risk management program requires the development of an emergency response strategy, evaluation of a worst case and more probable case chemical release, operator training, review of the hazards associated with using toxic or flammable substances, operating procedures and equipment maintenance. These requirements are in place to protect the public from the accidental release of flammable gases and toxic chemicals.
EPA Region 5 Rounds Up RCRA Violators
EPA Region 5 cited Detroit Edison's River Rouge facility for late notification of a hazardous chemical release. A $144,412 penalty is proposed. In other actions, EPA recently settled chemical release reporting cases with BP Products North America, Whiting, Ind.; Colors Inc., Indianapolis; and Crystal Valley Cooperative, Lake Crystal, Minn.
In the Detroit Edison case, EPA alleges that the facility at 1 Belanger Park Drive failed to immediately notify the National Response Center (NRC) of a 10,559-pound release of sodium hydroxide on May 6, 2003. The company neglected to contact the NRC, the Michigan emergency response commission and local emergency planning committee, until more than 20 hours after it knew of the release. A required written follow-up report to the Michigan emergency response commission was also filed late, 10 days after the release. A follow-up report to the local emergency planning committee was never filed. The incident occurred when a maintenance crew left a process valve open. The sodium hydroxide flowed through the process line and mixed with cooling water, which was then released from the facility, potentially affecting the Detroit River and the Rouge River ecosystems.
Sodium hydroxide is commonly used in metal cleaning and processing. Exposure to it can irritate or burn the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract. Inhaling large amounts can be fatal. Sodium hydroxide releases greater than 1,000 pounds must be reported immediately.
BP Products North America, 2815 Indianapolis Blvd., Whiting, Ind., paid $13,203 for failure to immediately notify the NRC of a 606-pound anhydrous ammonia release from the facility on Dec. 8, 2004. EPA alleged the company did not contact the NRC for more than nine hours after it knew of the release. The incident occurred when a storage tank over-pressurized.
Anhydrous ammonia causes burns to the skin and irritation to the eyes, nose and throat and can be fatal if inhaled for long periods of time. Anhydrous ammonia releases greater than 100 pounds must be immediately reported.
Colors, a specialty aluminum products business at 5780 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis, paid $19,214 for failure to immediately notify the NRC of a 45,906-pound sulfuric acid release on July 6, 2005. EPA alleged the company did not contact the NRC for more than eight days after it knew of the release. The incident occurred when a storage tank being filled by a tanker truck overflowed.
Sulfuric acid causes burns to the skin and irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. Releases greater than 1,000 pounds must be immediately reported.
Crystal Valley Cooperative, an agricultural cooperative business at 721 W. Humphrey, Lake Crystal, Minn., paid $18,789 for failure to immediately notify the NRC of a 2,200-pound anhydrous ammonia release on April 16, 2005. The incident occurred when an ammonia tank rolled off a truck into a ditch and broke open while in transit to the facility. The only response agency notified at the time was the local fire department, which responded to the incident and helped shut off the valve.
FMC Ordered to Reduce Levels of Dangerous Gases from Former Waste Pond
The EPA has issued an enforcement order to FMC Idaho, LLC (FMC) to install a gas treatment system to reduce phosphine and other gases to safe levels at Pond 16S at FMC’s closed facility near Pocatello, Idaho. This interim action is needed to reduce potential risks to human health and the environment from the build up of gases beneath the pond’s cap.
Phosphine gas and hydrogen sulfide gas have been measured at levels of concern at the temperature monitoring ports located on top of the Pond 16S cap. EPA conducted air sampling the week of Thanksgiving and found elevated concentrations of phosphine gas and hydrogen sulfide that could endanger onsite FMC personnel, workers, and visitors. The order requires FMC to identify and characterize any other gases that may need treatment and requires ambient air monitoring in the vicinity of the closed pond.
“EPA issued this order to ensure that FMC addresses the gas build up at Pond 16S as quickly as possible,” said Lori Cohen, associate director of the Office of Environmental Cleanup in EPA’s Seattle office. “EPA will provide oversight of the cleanup activity and is coordinating this oversight work with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.”
Phosphine gas when inhaled may affect cardiovascular and respiratory systems. High levels of phosphine gas may also ignite spontaneously upon contact with air creating phosphorus pentoxide, a severe respiratory tract irritant.
Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas that is characterized by the odor of rotten eggs. Exposure to even low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide may cause irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and may cause difficulty in breathing for asthmatics.
The FMC site is located in Southeastern Idaho on Highway 30 in Power County, approximately 2.5 miles northwest of Pocatello, Idaho. The site was used to manufacture elemental phosphorus from phosphate ore from the late 1940’s until December 2001. This site is part of the Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund site that was listed on the National Priorities List of the nation’s most contaminated sites in 1990. Various surface impoundments, including Pond 16S, were used to manage process wastewater containing elemental phosphorus. Since the plant closure at the end of 2001, FMC has dismantled and removed the manufacturing plant.
Ohio EPA Fines Materials Processing Inc. for VOC Emissions
Materials Processing, Inc. will pay a $20,000 civil penalty for emission limit, permitting, and reporting violations at its former Bradner, Ohio, facility. The Riverview, Mich., company agreed to the penalty in a settlement with Ohio EPA.
The violations occurred between 1999 and 2005. The company operated a coating line to paint brake rotors for General Motors trucks. The facility ceased operations in May 2005.
The violations included failing to comply with the volatile organic compound (VOC) emission limitation for the paint coating lines; failing to file one quarterly deviation report; failing to notify Ohio EPA that it was using noncomplying coatings; and filing quarterly reports claiming it was meeting VOC emission limits when it wasn't. The company also failed to submit biannual emission fee reports or to pay emission fees for 1998-99 and 2000-01.
DEQ Issues $7,200 Penalty for Air Quality Violation at Asphalt Plant Near Pilot Rock
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently issued a $7,200 penalty to McCafferty-Whittle Construction Co. of Gladstone for exceeding the opacity (visual air pollution density) limitations of its air quality permit. The company operated a portable asphalt plant near U.S. Highway 395, south of the Umatilla County community of Pilot Rock.
On Sept. 22, 2005, DEQ staff observed what appeared to be excessive dust emitting from the asphalt plant. A visual emission reading taken over a 10-minute period revealed that the dust cloud averaged greater than 70% opacity. Upon closer inspection, DEQ also noted that the dust from the plant was generated at a transfer point where lime and aggregate were being mixed.
A condition of the company’s permit prohibits opacity level emissions at the facility to equal or exceed 20% opacity for an aggregate period of no more than three minutes in one hour. Oregon air quality regulations and permits establish density limitations as a guide to keep particulate emissions at minimum levels. Particulate matter, when emitted in excess, can contribute to respiratory distress in members of the public, create nuisance conditions for others in the surrounding area and decrease visibility.
Additionally, the lime component in the dust has corrosive characteristics and may cause skin rashes, as well as eye and throat irritation.
DOT to Require Railroads to Route Hazardous Materials Based on Safety and Security Factors
The secretary said the notice of proposed rulemaking, issued by the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), would make shipments of certain high-risk hazardous materials, including explosives, radioactive substances, and toxic-inhalation risk materials, safer and more secure by adding to and strengthening existing federal regulations.
“These materials are fueling our economy and vital to the prosperity of our nation, which is exactly why we want to establish a clear and stronger baseline for determining the safest, most secure way to move them by rail,” Secretary Peters said noting that the type and quantity of hazardous materials covered by the proposed rule present the greatest potential safety and security risks.
Under the proposed rule, rail carriers would be required to compile annual data clearly identifying route segments and the total number and type of hazardous materials shipments transported over each route and use the information to analyze the safety and security risks present on each route. Railroads would then be required to use this data to select the route that provides the highest possible degree of safety and security.
“We want to leave nothing to chance when it comes to the safety and security of the communities that are close to railroad tracks,” Secretary Peters said.
Secretary Peters added that the proposed rule would require shippers to develop consistent plans for safely and securely storing hazardous materials while en route and to ensure that within a specified time period a rail carrier informs the final recipient of a hazardous materials rail car that it has delivered.
The department’s proposal was developed in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which also issued proposed rules designed to address a range of rail hazardous materials transport security issues. The TSA’s proposal would, among other things, require rail carriers and certain facilities to report the location and provide information about hazardous materials shipments to TSA upon request. Public comments on the DOT proposal will be accepted until February 20, 2007.
DOT Issues Fraud Alert
Contractors and and/or potential contactors are receiving fraudulent letters (often signed by an individual claiming to be a senior DOT procurement official) purporting to be issued by DOT requesting the recipient to perform some type of action involving the submission of business sensitive financial information.
All of these types of letters are fraudulent. Do not release any information to the facsimile numbers cited in these letters or enter any data to any website links that may be referenced in these letters. Should you have any questions about any such letters that you may receive please feel free to contact the PHMSA Office of Contracts and Procurement at 202-366-6986.
Please contact the Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General Hotline at 1-800-424-9071 if you receive one of these letters.
The following is a list of some of the previous letter scams:
Central Contractor Registration System (CCR): These fraudulent letters request current or potential contractors to register in the DoD Central Contractor Registration System (CCR). Please be aware that DOT does not require any confidential information to be submitted to verify CCR registration and that all companies should verify personally that they are sending information to an authorized DOT official before submitting confidential company information.
The latest letters are dated December 19th, 2005 signed by "Frank M. Orell"; February 8, 2006 signed by "Randy Cohen"; and April 27, 2006 signed by "Dan Jacobs, Senior Procurement Officer". Do not complete the requested CCR worksheet that is attached to the letter and do not release any information to the facsimile number cited in the letter.
The CCR is a legitimate government system. To register, contractors should go directly through the CCR website, not through a third party. There is no requirement to send information directly to DOT.
Financial Information Release Form: These fraudulent letters request the current or prospective contractor to fill out a form containing the company’s banking information and fax it to a number provided in the letter. This letter was dated November 8, 2006 signed by “Lisa Johnson”, Senior Procurement Officer”.
NOAA Reports 2006 Marked by Severe Heat Waves and Drought
The year is noted for widespread drought and record wildfires, as well as heavy precipitation and flooding in some parts of the country. Following the warmest year on record for the globe in 2005, the annual global temperature for 2006 is expected to be sixth warmest since recordkeeping began in 1880.
Three months (January, April and July) were either warmest or second warmest on record, while only September and October were cooler than average.
The warmer-than-average conditions impacted residential energy demand for the U.S. in opposing ways as measured by the nation's Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index. Using this index, NOAA scientists determined that the nation's residential energy demand was approximately 9% less during the winter and 13% higher during the summer than that which would have occurred under average climate conditions.
The near-record warm summer was highlighted by a July heat wave that peaked during the last half of July. All-time records were set in a number of locations across the central and western U.S., breaking records that had stood for decades in many places.
For the contiguous U.S. as a whole, five of the first seven months of the year were drier than average. Combined with unusually warm temperatures, drought conditions persisted in much of the country. By late July, half of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to exceptional drought, as reported by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Above average precipitation from August through November helped end drought in many areas, although in places such as western Washington, record rainfall in November led to extensive flooding. Drought coverage fell from the July peak to 25% by early December. Widespread severe drought remains over much of the southern Plains, the northern High Plains and northern Rockies, as well as parts of Arizona and Minnesota. Drought and anomalous warmth contributed to a record wildfire season for the nation, with more than 9.5 million acres burned through early December, most of it in the contiguous U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The 2006 hurricane season was classified as near-normal. This activity was far less than most other seasons since the current active Atlantic hurricane era began in 1995. There were nine named storms during the 2006 season, the second lowest number since 1995. Only the below-normal 1997 season had fewer. This reduced activity in both years is attributed largely to the rapid onset of El Nio in the equatorial Pacific, which suppresses conditions conducive to hurricane formation in the Atlantic.
Also related to El Nio, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season showed a sharp increase in activity compared to the below-normal levels seen since 1998. Through early December, 19 named storms (1971-2000 average is 15-16) had formed, with three making landfall along the Pacific coast of Mexico, including major Hurricane Lane, which made landfall in Sinaloa state as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
The global annual temperature for combined land and ocean surfaces for 2006 is expected to be sixth warmest on record. Some of the largest and most widespread warm anomalies occurred in southern Asia and North America. Canada experienced its warmest winter and warmest spring since its national records began in 1948.
Including 2006, six of the seven warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 and the ten warmest years have occurred since 1995. The global average surface temperature has risen between 0.6 degrees C and 0.7 degrees C since the start of the 20th Century, and the rate of increase since 1976 has been approximately three times faster than the century-scale trend.
The extent of Arctic sea ice was second lowest on record in September, when annual sea ice extent is at its lowest point of the year. This was only slightly higher than the record low extent measured in 2005. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, this is part of a continuing trend in end-of-summer Arctic sea ice extent reductions of approximately eight percent per decade since 1979, when recordkeeping began.
El Nio conditions developed in September, and by the end of November, sea surface temperatures in most of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific were more than 1.8 degrees F (1 degrees C) above average.
Gold and Silver Refiner, Top Managers Charged with Conspiracy to Violate Environmental Laws
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on December 13 that a superseding indictment was returned by federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, charging the parent company of gold and silver refiner Johnson Matthey Inc. with conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA). The UK-based corporate parent, Johnson Matthey PLC is a diversified multi-national specialty chemicals producer.
On Mar. 22, 2006, Johnson Matthey Inc. and two senior company managers were charged in a 29-count indictment with conspiracy, concealment by trick, scheme and device, and violations of the CWA. Specifically, the defendants conspired to conceal the high level of pollutants they discharged by cheating on required tests and submitting false information about the amount of selenium released into wastewater. The December 13 superseding indictment alleges that the parent company played a role in conspiring to conceal the release of the contaminated wastewater into the sewers.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum fine of $500,000 for the corporate defendants. Charges in an indictment are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in federal court.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Lambert and Jared Bennett and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Aunnie Steward for the District of Utah, and Richard Poole, trial attorney in the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice in Washington.
UK Adopts WEEE Legislation
Beginning July 2007, producers of electrical goods will be required to meet the environmental costs of dealing with waste products under new rules published on December 12, 2006.
Laying the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations before Parliament, Science Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "Electrical waste such as toasters, fridges, and washing machines are a growing environmental problem here in the UK with over 2m tons being dumped in landfill last year alone. There is currently no incentive for those that produce them to care about the life cycle of their products. These regulations will mean they can no longer shirk this responsibility."
"When I announced the clear implementation timetable in the summer it was to give business as much time as possible to prepare. Some responsible producers are already factoring the cost of recycling their product into the design process and recognizes that caring about what happens to the goods they sell needn't cost the earth."
All companies who import, manufacture, and re-brand electrical and electronic equipment will have to finance its treatment, recovery, and environmentally safe disposal. It recognizes that this is the responsibility of those who produce the goods, and supports broader government initiatives for dealing with waste that focus on producer responsibility.
By March 15, 2007 producers will need to join an approved producer compliance scheme to ensure that they are able to comply with the directive from July 1, 2007. The regulations will:
- Enable consumers to dispose of their electrical waste free of charge at accessible and appropriate places. Consumers will start to see changes from July 2007, with new signage at their local council refuse centers, in shops, and on new electrical products.
- Give distributors the choice of how to meet their obligations under the directive by either joining the Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) or by offering customers in-store take-back.
- Allow existing relationships currently managing electrical waste to continue. This is consistent with the government's overall approach to regulation, which is to be as “light touch” as possible.
- Enable any operator of a designated collection facility (DCF) to arrange with a producer compliance scheme (PCS) to have the electrical waste deposited at their site taken away for treatment and recycling by that PCS, free of charge.
- Allow for and encourage the re-use of equipment after it has been discarded where possible.
- Allows for the continued collection of old equipment at the same time of delivering new goods by retailers, and some producers.
Also announced is the appointment of Valpak Retail WEEE Services as the operator of the Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) funded by £10m from retailers. The scheme will establish a network of designated collection facilities where consumers can get rid of their electrical waste. The money will primarily be paid to local authorities to assist in the improvement of civic amenity sites so that electrical waste can be separately collected there.
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