EPA also asked the court to allow the agency until June 14, 2012, to sign a proposed rule and to postpone a June 11 hearing to determine a timeline for signing the final revised NAAQS. Formerly, the US District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered EPA to sign the proposed PM NAAQS by June 7, 2012, expedite the rule’s publication in the Federal Register, and accept public comments for a period of nine weeks. The case was filed by the American Lung Association and National Parks Conservation Association, along with the states of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, to compel EPA to issue the revised NAAQS. The tentative settlement agreement calls for parties to draft a proposed consent decree by June 15, 2012.
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EPA Launches First Waste to Biogas Mapping Tool
“This innovative mapping tool, the first of its kind in the nation, helps restaurants, hotels, and other food waste generators to connect with large energy producers,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Harvesting this energy prevents waste from ending up in landfills or clogging sewer lines.”
The tool is an interactive map created to link food and other biodegradable waste sources with facilities such as wastewater treatment plants that can enhance energy production with their existing infrastructure. Wastewater treatment plants and some dairies manage waste with anaerobic digesters, which produce methane-rich biogas as a natural byproduct.
By adding food scraps or fats, oils, and grease to an anaerobic digester, facilities can increase biogas production to make money while providing a renewable energy source, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These business and environmental opportunities may present a largely unrealized potential.
The tool is designed for decision-makers with technical expertise in the fields of waste management, wastewater treatment, and renewable energy. This includes businesses, state and local governments, and non-profits. The tool allows users to determine the types of facilities in their area, where clusters are located, and the distance between a waste producer and an anaerobic digester. The tool also functions in reverse—allowing generators of organic waste to find partner facilities that will accept it.
Features include:
- Fats, oils, and grease (FOG) hauler information for California, Arizona, and Nevada
- California landfill information
- On-site energy generation for California dairies with digesters (in kilowatt hours per year)
- Energy estimates for wastewater treatment facilities, with and without co-digesting FOG (in kilowatt hours per year for California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii).
- A correct record option that allows facilities to change information presented on the map.
A study performed by the Northern California Power Agency in 2008 determined that agricultural, wastewater, and food processing wastes could be digested to obtain 453 megawatts of energy—enough to run a utility-scale power plant while also preventing 3.7 million dry tons of organic material from ending up in a landfill. This use of biogas to displace natural gas would have a climate change abatement potential equal to taking approximately 160,000 cars off the road.
A prime example is in Millbrae, California. Grease is collected by a licensed material hauler, transported to the wastewater treatment facility in 3,000 to 5,000 gallon tanker trucks, and added to a FOG-condition system, where it is converted into biogas used to meet 80% of the facility’s needs. Millbrae has increased biogas production by nearly 100%, reducing their utility energy bill by 75 to 80%, preventing some 589 tons of green house gas from being emitted into the atmosphere annually, and reducing annual dewatered bio-solids hauling by 35%.
Wastewater treatment plants in the region’s four Pacific Southwest states are co-digesting more than FOG. Organic materials—including food waste, yard trimmings, soiled paper, and green waste—comprise two-thirds of the solid waste stream. According to the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), food waste has up to three times as much energy production potential as biosolids. An EBMUD demonstration project indicated that 100 tons of food waste digested per day produces enough energy to power up to 1,400 homes.
Financial assistance provided by federal, state, and private sources can make on-site generation affordable and practical. The federal government provides grants, loans, and rebates. State agencies also provide grants, loans, rebates, renewable credits, and stand-by rates for energy generation. Local utility districts provide private sources of funding as do private third-party leasing arrangements and pooled bond financing.
New Technique for Detecting Mold Contamination in Homes and Other Buildings
With mold contamination of homes an ongoing concern—and a special threat to the 2.5 million foreclosed houses in the US, shuttered with little ventilation—scientists are reporting a new method to detect and identify low levels of airborne mold.
Sutapa Ghosal and colleagues indicate that mold contamination of homes, especially after water damage from storms and floods, is an ongoing concern. Although most molds are harmless, scientists have linked some with health risks to humans. Traditional methods for detecting mold contamination involve identifying the spores that mold release into the air. Those tests are labor- and time-intensive, often requiring that the mold grow in the laboratory. Moreover, not every mold can grow under these conditions. That’s why the researchers have sought to develop a fast and easy method that can reliably detect and identify low levels of airborne mold—even single spores.
The scientists describe a new method, which involves collecting air samples on a piece of commercially available aluminum foil, and then analyzing the spores with a technique called Raman microspectroscopy (RMS). They used the method to detect and identify single spores from seven common types of mold. The team says that use of the new test could help with many problems in the public health, forensics sciences, and environmental fields.
Climate Change and Water Supply in California’s Central Valley: A Model Approach
Scientists have developed a new method to help resource managers plan for possible changes in water supplies due to climate change, and have applied the technology to forecasting water supplies in California’s Central Valley. Although it is not possible to provide exact forecasts of future climatic conditions, the new computer model projects that declines in precipitation, increases in temperatures, more frequent and longer droughts, and increased urban water demand, could result in significant reductions in streamflows. This would reduce the water available for animal and plant habitats, and for agricultural irrigation, and could result in a fundamental shift to dependence on groundwater.
“Climate-change-induced aridity will prompt countless seemingly independent decisions in California’s fields, factories, and homes to adjust sources of water supply that summed together can have a major impact on the state’s environment, economy, and infrastructure,” said US Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt. “The value of this new model is that it provides far-sighted managers and alert stakeholders with a view to that future such that negative impacts can be anticipated and mitigated before they become problems.”
“This transition to using more groundwater may cause additional land subsidence that could be hazardous to agriculture, environmental habitat, and canal systems, as well as transportation and urban infrastructure, and could ultimately require water use limitations,” said USGS hydrologist and lead author, Randall Hanson.
The Central Valley is one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, providing the US with one quarter of the nation’s food, including 40% of the nation’s fruits, nuts, and other table foods.
From 1961 to 2003, surface water supplied 53% of total water delivered to the Central Valley except during droughts. The Central Valley study demonstrates that the new method, coupling computer models of supply-and-demand-driven groundwater and surface-water systems, with global climate models, can show potential vulnerabilities in hydrologic systems and potential trends due to changes in climate.
The unique model connects many environmental and human factors, such as water runoff from surrounding mountains, the demands, uses, and movements of water for irrigation and natural vegetation, and the changes of groundwater and stream-flow supply under a climate change scenario. The model gives scientists and resource managers the ability to analyze the impacts of combined surface and groundwater use throughout the entire Central Valley hydrologic system.
The USGS and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted the study using the existing Central Valley regional hydrologic model to develop the new tool. The tool could eventually be used as a blueprint for climate adaptation efforts for major aquifers across the US and internationally, where there are complex agricultural, ecological, and urban water demands.
Poisoning the Great Lakes: 25 Coal-fired Power Plants Responsible for Half the Region’s Mercury Pollution
Just ahead of a major US Senate vote on the EPA’s authority to clean up mercury and other toxic air pollutants, a Natural Resources Defense Council () report shows that the 25 worst coal-fired power plants account for more than half of the dangerous mercury pollution emitted by the total of 144 electricity generation facilities in the Great Lakes region. The report also finds that almost 90% of the toxic emissions could be eliminated with off-the-shelf technologies.
The remaining five states in the region rank as follows: Michigan (14%); Illinois (11%); Wisconsin (9.5%); Minnesota (6.5%); and New York (2%). Plants from outside the region also contribute to mercury pollution in the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes region’s five worst coal-fired power plants for mercury pollution are: Shawville (Clearfield County, Pennsylvania); Monroe (Monroe County, Michigan); Homer City (Indiana County, Pennsylvania); Cardinal (Jefferson County, Ohio); and Sherburne County (Sherburne County, Minnesota). (See the complete list below of the worst 25.) A dozen power plants in Ohio and Indiana—owned in whole or part by American Electric Power—accounted for 19% of all mercury emitted in 2010 from the total of 144 coal-fired power plants in the region.
US Senator James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, recently filed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J. Res. 37) to void health standards reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants and to permanently block EPA from re-issuing similar safeguards.
Cindy Copeland, report author and formerly with the EPA Air Program, said: “Mercury is poisoning the Great Lakes and the three states—Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania—that impose no rules are by far the worst offenders. Airborne mercury from coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes Region harms our health, and the benefits of reducing mercury emissions are well worth the cost. With a reduction of health costs to the economy at up to $90 billion, it is hard to say no to this.”
In the Great Lakes region, there are more than 144 coal-fired power plants which pumped over 13,000 lb of mercury into the air in 2010. Mercury pollution from these plants region accounts for close to 25% of the nation’s total. The Great Lakes region is comprised of the five Great Lakes (Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the eight surrounding states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin).
Eating poisoned fish is the primary cause of mercury poisoning of humans. Mercury is a neurotoxin that harms the brain, heart, central nervous system, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. Young children and developing fetuses are most at risk, and can suffer developmental problems from mercury poisoning.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, the 25 Great Lakes region coal-fired power plants with the greatest emissions are:
- Shawville (Clearfield Cty, Pennsylvania, slated to close by 2015)
- Monroe (Monroe Cty, Michigan)
- Homer City (Indiana Cty, Pennsylvania)
- Cardinal (Jefferson Cty, Ohio)
- Sherburne County (Sherburne Cty, Minnesota)
- Muskingum River (Washington Cty, Ohio)
- Hatfield’s Ferry (Fayette Cty, Pennsylvania)
- Walter C Beckjord (Clermont Cty, Ohio, slated to close by 2015)
- Wabash River (Vigo Cty, Indiana)
- Newton (Jasper Cty, Illinois)
- Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha Cty, Wisconsin)
- Belle River (St. Clair Cty, Michigan)
- Clifty Creek (Jefferson Cty, Indiana)
- Columbia (Columbia Cty, Wisconsin)
- St Clair (St Clair Cty, Michigan)
- Rockport (Spencer Cty, Indiana)
- Gavin (Gallia Cty, Ohio)
- Bruce Mansfield (Beaver Cty, Pennsylvania)
- South Oak Creek (Milwaukee Cty, Wisconsin)
- Kyger Creek (Gallia Cty, Ohio)
- State Line (Lake Cty, Indiana)
- J M Stuart (Brown Cty, Ohio)
- Tanners Creek (Dearborn Cty, Indiana)
- Boswell (Itasca Cty, Minnesota)
- Joppa Steam (Massac Cty, Illinois)
The EPA recently issued nationwide rules to require coal-fired power plants to limit airborne mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants by 2015. The technologies to meet the EPA’s mercury limits are widely available and effective.
Based on projected reductions in fine particulate emissions due to the combined benefits of various air toxic pollution controls, the EPA has projected that the benefits of its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far outweigh the costs of pollution controls. The health benefits of the MATS are projected to be worth $37 to $90 billion in 2016 alone. The EPA has projected that the majority of the benefits would be reaped in the eastern US, including the Great Lakes region.
Mercury emitted into the air from coal-fired power plants is by far the leading man-made source of mercury reaching the Great Lakes and the lakes, rivers, and streams of the Great Lakes region. This report lists the top 25 mercury emitting plants in the region. Mercury pollution from plants outside the region also contributes to the overall quantity of mercury found in the Great Lakes. When coal is burned to produce electricity, mercury is emitted into the air. The EPA estimates that coal-fired power plants are the largest man-made source of mercury pollution, accounting for 50% of mercury air emissions in the US.
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to Upgrade Sewer System to Resolve CWA Violations
This is the first judicial action addressing violations of this type of permit.
Arecibo’s violations include releases of storm water, untreated sewage and sewage sludge, and other pollutants into the Rio Grande de Arecibo in violation of its permit and the CWA. Arecibo will pay a penalty of $305,643 and will invest an estimated $56 million in repairs and upgrades to its existing infrastructure.
Under the settlement, Arecibo is required to comply with its Municipal Separate Sewer System Permit and the CWA, improve its storm water management program, and build a new pump station and three retention basins. The new pump station and retention basins will enable Arecibo to better manage its storm water flow and prevent flooding in the downtown Arecibo area. Arecibo will further be required to repair, replace, or construct storm sewer pipes as necessary, and eliminate interconnections with the sanitary sewer systems. Replacing sewer pipe and eliminating interconnections will reduce discharges of sanitary wastes to the Rio Grande de Arecibo and eliminate sewer backups in residential homes.
Municipal storm sewer systems collect rain from streets and drain to local rivers and streams. Sewage lines or industrial discharges can be improperly connected to the storm sewer, leading to raw sewage or other pollutants reaching water bodies. Discharges from municipal storm sewer systems can also include infiltration from cracked sanitary systems, spills collected by drain outlets, or paint or used oil dumped directly into a drain. These discharges contribute bacteria, heavy metals, toxics, oil and grease, solvents, nutrients, viruses, and bacteria to receiving water bodies.
The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.
Perth Amboy to Upgrade Sewer System to Address Violations of the CWA
The city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, has agreed to make major improvements in its combined sewer system to protect people’s health and water quality under a legal agreement with the EPA.
Perth Amboy violated the CWA and its New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) discharge permit by failing to properly maintain and operate its sewer system, conduct regular inspections, and have a pollution prevention plan in place. The city also violated a previously issued EPA order to address CWA violations.
“This settlement will require vital investments in sewer infrastructure that will help the City of Perth Amboy achieve compliance with the nation’s Clean Water Act. More than 70% of these repairs will take place in and benefit lower-income areas of the city,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ. “This agreement will ensure that Perth Amboy’s Combined Sewer System is properly operated and maintained to minimize the number of untreated discharges to the Raritan River and the Arthur Kill River.”
During periods of heavy rainfall or snow melt, the volume of wastewater in a combined sewer system can exceed the capacity of the sewer system or wastewater treatment plant. When this happens, combined sewer systems overflow and discharge sewage directly to nearby water bodies. These overflows can contain not only storm water, but also untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials, and debris. It is estimated that almost 370 million gallons of sewage flow into the Raritan River and Arthur Kill River through Perth Amboy’s combined sewer system each year.
Under the agreement, Perth Amboy will spend about $5.4 million for the repair, upgrade, and expand the city’s combined sewer system, and will additionally pay a $17,000 penalty. The city has agreed to increase the amount of wastewater that reaches the treatment plant and reduce its combined sewer overflows into the Raritan River and Arthur Kill. In addition, under the agreement, Perth Amboy will conduct annual inspections of all of its combined sewer system control facilities and will develop and implement a combined sewer overflow pollution prevention plan.
In response to the EPA’s earlier enforcement efforts, Perth Amboy has already completed a thorough inspection and engineering assessment of its sewer system. As a result of that study, the city will develop a plan to fix problems identified and do further work to separate the pipes so that some pipes will only carry wastewater from buildings to the wastewater treatment plant instead of a combination of domestic wastewater and stormwater. Work already underway and work that will be conducted under today’s agreement will be completed by December 31, 2016.
West Virginia City Settles Storm Water Violations with EPA
The EPA has announced a settlement of alleged CWA violations by the City of Huntington, West Virginia. In a consent agreement with EPA, the city has agreed to pay a $15,000 penalty, and implement environmental projects to improve water quality in the Ohio River. The projects will have the added benefit of creating green space and reducing flooding in the city.
EPA’s complaint alleged that the City violated the terms of the statewide MS4 permit by failing to: identify and address improper discharges to the system; control stormwater from newly developed and redeveloped sites; and, provide employee training in reducing pollution in municipal operations.
In addition to the cash penalty, the city has agreed to complete several environmental projects, at an estimated cost of $84,000, which will improve local environmental conditions and safeguard water quality in the Ohio River. The projects include:
- Removing a large part of an asphalt parking lot and creating more green space in Harris Riverfront Park.
- Installing rain gardens in Harris Riverfront Park, Spring Hill Cemetery, and along the Paul Ambrose Trail for Health.
- Planting 50 urban appropriate trees on 8th Street to reduce runoff pollution in this area which has a history of flooding.
These projects are beneficial to the environment because large portions of impervious surfaces such as roads, rooftops and parking lots in the city channel stormwater directly into local streams, and the Ohio River. Improperly managed stormwater runoff can damage streams, cause significant erosion, and carry excessive nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, toxic metals, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants downstream and into the River.
Panther Creek Resources, LLC Resolves CAA Violation
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has settled its administrative enforcement action against Panther Creek Resources, LLC, for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) of Montana.
Panther Creek owns the AM Cooley 16-28 oil and gas well facility in Richland County, Montana. Owners or operators of an oil and gas well facility with the potential to emit 25 tons per year or greater of a regulated air pollutant, must apply for a Montana Air Quality Permit or register the facility within 60 days after the initial well completion. In addition, volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors must be captured and routed to proper air pollution control equipment. Panther Creek failed to register the AM Cooley facility and install the proper VOC control equipment.
Larry Alheim of the DEQ’s Enforcement Division said that to resolve the violation, Panther Creek registered the AM Cooley facility, installed the proper VOC air pollution control equipment, and paid a $5,316 penalty.
Shopping Center Owner Penalized, Required to Upgrade Drinking Water System
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) assessed a $6,000 penalty against Linear Retail Stow #1, LLC, owner and operator of the Stow Shopping Center, to correct violations of the Drinking Water regulations that occurred at its Public Water System (PWS) that serves the shopping center.
On October 13, 2011, Linear Retail Stow notified MassDEP that a malfunction in the water treatment system had resulted in a chemical overfeed of sodium carbonate, an approved drinking water treatment chemical, into the drinking water serving the shopping center. The over-feed resulted in an elevated pH level, and created uncertainty about the fitness of the drinking water supply.
MassDEP immediately issued a Do Not Use order. The shopping center was closed until the source of the problem was corrected, the water supply lines flushed, and MassDEP determined that the pH levels in all the businesses being served by the water source were within the acceptable range. MassDEP did not receive any reports of injury from this event.
Through a consent order, the owners have agreed to a number of upgrades to the PWS, and improvements to the alarm systems that monitor chemical usage for the treatment added to the water. At this time, the corrective actions required in the order have been put in place, and the owners have applied for and received a system modification permit for additional improvements and upgrades to the PWS.
MassDEP has also agreed to suspend $3,000 of the assessed penalty as long as there are no further violations over the next year.
Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. Fined $5,700 for Air Pollution Control, Hazardous Waste Violations
MassDEP has assessed a $5,700 penalty to Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc., which manufactures power control and radar detection modules at its facility in Littleton, Massachusetts, for violating MassDEP’s Air Pollution Control and Hazardous Waste Management regulations.
During an inspection conducted by MassDEP personnel in October 2011, it was determined that the company failed to comply with its existing Air Pollution Control plan approval, and failed to post a sign and delineate its hazardous waste accumulation area. In a consent order finalized with MassDEP, the company agreed to maintain compliance with all applicable regulations and pay the penalty.
Gasoline Station Site Owner Fined $3,500 for Failure to Cleanup Contamination
MassDEP has fined Anthony J. Crea $3,500 for his failure to comply with a consent order requiring the completion of the cleanup of contamination on his property. The site is a former gasoline station and auto repair facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from which several businesses now operate.
Following the discovery of petroleum constituents in soil at the site, MassDEP issued a Notice of Responsibility in February 2002 to Mr. Crea informing him of his responsibilities and liabilities as the owner of a confirmed oil and/or hazardous materials release site. Mr. Crea was notified that further investigations were needed to address the contamination on his property. MassDEP subsequently issued multiple notices and orders to Mr. Crea.
In November 2008, Mr. Crea and MassDEP finalized an agreement that required additional work to be conducted at the site and fined Mr. Crea $4,500 for failure to conduct work up to that point. Mr. Crea did complete initial response actions and continued to conduct additional settlement discussions with MassDEP. These discussions resulted in a second consent agreement, finalized in November 2010, where MassDEP agreed to reduce the fine to $1,000 and suspend the remaining $3,500 fine provided Mr. Crea complete the agreed upon cleanup at his property by September 30, 2011. Mr. Crea failed to complete the cleanup at his property and MassDEP has now demanded payment of the suspended penalty amount of $3,500.
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Trivia Question of the Week
According to EPA, in 2010 the US recycled almost 8 million tons of metals (including aluminum, steel, and mixed metals), and thus eliminated greenhouse gas emissions totaling more than 26 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2E). This is equivalent to removing how many cars from the road for one year?a. 1 million
b. 3 million
c. 5 million
d. 7 million