NOAA Analysis Says Data Show no Recent Slowdown in Global Warming

 The study refutes the notion that there has been a slowdown or "hiatus" in the rate of global warming in recent years.

The study is the work of a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) using the latest global surface temperature data.

"Adding in the last two years of global surface temperature data and other improvements in the quality of the observed record provide evidence that contradict the notion of a hiatus in recent global warming trends," said Thomas R. Karl, L.H.D., Director, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. "Our new analysis suggests that the apparent hiatus may have been largely the result of limitations in past datasets, and that the rate of warming over the first 15 years of this century has, in fact, been as fast or faster than that seen over the last half of the 20th century."

The apparent observed slowing or decrease in the upward rate of global surface temperature warming has been nicknamed the "hiatus." 

Since the release of the IPCC report, NOAA scientists have made significant improvements in the calculation of trends and now use a global surface temperature record that includes the most recent two years of data, 2013 and 2014—the hottest year on record. The calculations also use improved versions of both sea surface temperature and land surface air temperature datasets. One of the most substantial improvements is a correction that accounts for the difference in data collected from buoys and ship-based data.

Prior to the mid-1970s, ships were the predominant way to measure sea surface temperatures, and since then buoys have been used in increasing numbers. Compared to ships, buoys provide measurements of significantly greater accuracy. "In regards to sea surface temperature, scientists have shown that across the board, data collected from buoys are cooler than ship-based data," said Dr. Thomas C. Peterson, principal scientist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information and one of the study's authors. "In order to accurately compare ship measurements and buoy measurements over the long-term, they need to be compatible. Scientists have developed a method to correct the difference between ship and buoy measurements, and we are using this in our trend analysis."

In addition, more detailed information has been obtained regarding each ship's observation method. This information was also used to provide improved corrections for changes in the mix of observing methods.

New analyses with these data demonstrate that incomplete spatial coverage also led to underestimates of the true global temperature change previously reported in the 2013 IPCC report. The integration of dozens of data sets has improved spatial coverage over many areas, including the Arctic, where temperatures have been rapidly increasing in recent decades. 

Lastly, the incorporation of additional years of data, 2013 and 2014, with 2014 being the warmest year on record, has had a notable impact on the temperature assessment. As stated by the IPCC, the "hiatus" period 1998–2012 is short and began with an unusually warm El Ni?o year. However, over the full period of record, from 1880 to present, the newly calculated warming trend is not substantially different than reported previously [0.68?C/Century (new) vs. 0.65?C/Century (old)], reinforcing that the new corrections mainly have in impact in recent decades.

Learn DOT’s New Rules for Lithium Battery Shipments

• Enhance packaging and hazard communication requirements for lithium batteries transported by air
• Replace equivalent lithium content with Watt-hours for lithium ion cells and batteries
• Adopt separate shipping descriptions for lithium metal batteries and lithium ion batteries
• Revise provisions for the transport of small and medium lithium cells and batteries including cells and batteries packed with, or contained in, equipment
• Revise the exceptions for small cells and batteries in air transportation
• Revise the requirements for the transport of lithium batteries for disposal or recycling
• Harmonize the provisions for the transport of low production and prototype lithium cells and batteries with the ICAO Technical Instructions and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code
• Adopt new provisions for the transport of damaged, defective, and recalled lithium batteries

If you ship batteries by ground or air, you must comply with the latest DOT and IATA/ICAO regulations that specify how the batteries must be packaged, marked, labeled, and transported. The rules apply not only to batteries, but also to equipment or vehicles that contain batteries as well as batteries packed along with equipment. Virtually all types of batteries are regulated, including lithium, lead-acid, nickel cadmium, and metal hydride alkaline. According to 49 CFR 172.704, all personnel involved in the classification, packaging, marking, labeling, or shipment of batteries must receive initial and recurrent transportation training.

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New York DEC Announces Final Revised Regulation on Emissions of Toxic Air Contaminants

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens has announced that a revised New York state regulation on the emissions of toxic air contaminants takes effect June 14. The revised rule, 6 NYCRR Part 212 Process Operations, will streamline the existing regulatory process by integrating federal and state air toxics programs’ facility reporting requirements and requires that facilities implement pollution control technologies and prevention measures to limit toxic air emissions. The regulation applies to manufacturing, industrial, commercial, and other facilities.

"These regulations meet New York's environmental and business goals by providing cleaner air to all New Yorkers while streamlining procedural requirements," Commissioner Martens said. "The revised regulation will better control harmful emissions and provide clarity to facilities on how to comply with emissions standards."

The regulation also further protects New York's natural resources from degradation caused by air pollution by:

• Requiring new facilities, or those renewing permits, to evaluate the potential for further emission reductions of high toxicity air contaminants, such as arsenic, benzene, mercury, and trichloroethylene
• Establishing a Toxics Best Achievable Control Technology (T-BACT) program for toxic air contaminants
• Incorporating pollution prevention opportunities
• Requiring air cleaning for contaminants that may cause serious adverse effects on people or the environment

DEC released a pre-proposal of the regulation in October 2013 and held three stakeholder meetings to provide an opportunity for regulated entities and the public to ask questions and submit comments. DEC issued the proposed regulation on December 31, 2014, and received 17 comments during the public comment period that ended on February 17, 2015.

EPA Releases Draft Assessment on the Potential Impacts to Drinking Water Resources from Hydraulic Fracturing Activities

The EPA is releasing a draft assessment on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources in the US. The assessment, done at the request of Congress, shows that while hydraulic fracturing activities in the US are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, there are potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact drinking water. 

“EPA’s draft assessment will give state regulators, tribes and local communities and industry around the country a critical resource to identify how best to protect public health and their drinking water resources,” said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, EPA’s Science Advisor and Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “It is the most complete compilation of scientific data to date, including over 950 sources of information, published papers, numerous technical reports, information from stakeholders and peer-reviewed EPA scientific reports.”

EPA’s review of data sources available to the agency found specific instances where well integrity and waste water management related to hydraulic fracturing activities impacted drinking water resources, but they were small compared to the large number of hydraulically fractured wells across the country. The report provides valuable information about potential vulnerabilities to drinking water resources—some of which are not unique to hydraulic fracturing, but was not designed to be a list of documented impacts.

These vulnerabilities to drinking water resources include:

• Water withdrawals in areas with low water availability
• Hydraulic fracturing conducted directly into formations containing drinking water resources
• Inadequately cased or cemented wells resulting in below ground migration of gases and liquids
• Spills of hydraulic fluids and hydraulic fracturing wastewater, including flowback and produced water

 These reports were a part of EPA’s overall hydraulic fracturing drinking water study and contributed to the findings outlined in the draft assessment. 

Where EPA’s exemptions exist, states may have authority to regulate unconventional oil and gas extraction activities under their own state laws.

EPA’s draft assessment benefited from extensive stakeholder engagement conducted across the country with states, tribes, industry, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community and the public to ensure that the draft assessment reflects current practices in hydraulic fracturing and utilizes all data and information available to the agency.

Greenhouse Gas-Caused Warming Felt in Just Months

The heat generated by burning a fossil fuel is surpassed within a few months by the warming caused by the release of its carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere contributes to the trapping of heat that would otherwise be emitted into outer space.

When a fossil fuel is combusted, or burned, heat is released. Some of this heat is used to make electricity or heat human-built structures, but eventually all of that energy escapes into the environment and warms the planet. But this combustion process also produces carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that accumulates in the atmosphere for thousands of years and traps heat that would otherwise escape into space, causing global climate change, according to the study’s authors.

In a modeling study of coal, oil, and natural gas, the study’s authors compared the warming caused by combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas to the warming caused by the carbon dioxide released by a single instance of burning each fossil fuel, such as one lump of coal, and by a power plant that is continuously burning fuel.

They found that the carbon dioxide-caused warming exceeds the amount of heat released by a single lump of coal in just 34 days. The same phenomenon is observed in 45 days for an isolated incident of oil combustion, and in 59 days for a single instance of burning natural gas.

“Ultimately, the warming induced by carbon dioxide over the many thousands of years it remains in the atmosphere would exceed the warming from combustion by a factor of 100,000 or more,” said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, and a co-author of the new study.

For a power plant that is continuously burning, the warming caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide exceeds the heat released into the atmosphere by combustion in less than half a year for all types of fossil fuels, and in just three months for coal plants. With this kind of steady continuous combustion, it takes 95 days for the warming caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide to exceed the heat released into the atmosphere by combustion using coal, 124 days using oil, and 161 days using natural gas.

“If a power plant is burning continuously, within 3 to 5 months, depending on the type of power plant, the carbon dioxide from the power plant is doing more to heat the Earth than the fires in its boiler,” Caldeira said. “As time goes on, the rate of burning in the power plant stays the same, but the carbon dioxide accumulates, so by the end of the year, the GHGs will be heating the Earth much more than the direct emissions from the power plant.”

Comparing the amount of warming caused by combustion of fossil fuels and the GHGs they produce could help people better understand the magnitude of the greenhouse effect and the impact fossil fuels are having on the Earth, he said.

The energy released by the burning of fossil fuels is now about 1.71% of the warming caused by carbon dioxide that has accumulated in the atmosphere as a consequence of historical fossil fuel combustion, according to the study.

“It’s important to note that heat emissions from combustion are not negligible, particularly in urban areas,” said Xiaochun Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, and lead author of the study. “But carbon dioxide-caused warming is just that much greater. Our results drive home the urgency of cutting emissions immediately.”

Funding for this work was provided by the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER) and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Millard Refrigerated Services Fined over $3 Million for Ammonia Release that Sickened Workers

 Millard will pay a $3 million penalty for the violations that sickened 152 people responding to the BP oil spill.

“EPA is serious about holding companies that threaten people’s health and safety accountable,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “It’s imperative that companies that use and store potentially-hazardous materials like ammonia ensure their operations do not pose a health risk to their employees or the public.”

“This settlement underscores how lapses in environmental management can have serious consequences, and today we are holding Millard accountable for this failure to ensure the safety of its workers and the surrounding community.”

“The Clean Air Act exists to protect all of us from preventable threats to our health and safety, such as what happened in this case,” said Keyon R. Brown, US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. “On behalf of the citizens of our district, I commend the hard work of the EPA and the Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division in achieving such a significant settlement that vindicates these interests."

On August 23, 2010, the Millard Refrigerated Service warehouse in Theodore released approximately 32,000 lb of anhydrous ammonia, to which exposure in high concentrations can be lethal, into the air after refrigeration equipment malfunctioned. The ammonia travelled directly over a site where more than 800 people were working on decontaminating ships responding to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mobile, Alabama, Emergency Management Agency ordered an evacuation of the surrounding area and a one mile shelter in place situation following the ammonia release. One hundred fifty-two people working at the site and on ships were treated for symptoms of ammonia exposure at hospitals in the Mobile area, four of whom were admitted into intensive care units. One Millard employee sustained injuries after briefly losing consciousness from ammonia inhalation.

During its investigation of the warehouse after the ammonia release, EPA discovered that Millard failed to adequately address a well-known risk for ammonia production systems called hydraulic shock, which can cause catastrophic equipment failures. These failures can lead to hazardous releases of anhydrous ammonia. The company’s failure to address this risk, in addition to other deficiencies in its production and safety systems, amounted to 37 distinct violations of the Clean Air Act’s Risk Management Program and General Duty Clause. These requirements compel companies that store or use potentially-hazardous substances like ammonia to identify the hazards posed by their operation, design and maintain a safe facility, and minimize the consequences of any releases that might occur. The company’s failure to immediately report a release of anhydrous ammonia above the reportable quantity to the National Response Center amounted to one CERCLA violation. 

EPA also discovered that Millard had two prior smaller ammonia releases caused by hydraulic shock, which should have signaled a need to take steps to prevent a catastrophic release like the one that occurred at the Theodore warehouse. Millard sold the Theodore warehouse facility, which is no longer in operation.

Encinitas Fined $430,851 for Stormwater Violations

 The San Elijo Lagoon is a designated natural preserve by the State Park and Recreation Commission and is a federally listed impaired water body for damage to the salt marshes caused by excess sedimentation and silt.

The polluted runoff resulted in part because of a failure to implement adequate management practices during construction and the city’s failure to properly oversee the construction project. The statewide construction stormwater permit and the San Diego Water Board’s municipal stormwater permit require management of sediment during construction to avoid the type of discharges that occurred from the project. The maximum penalty for the violations could have been $2.7 million.

The settlement agreement allows Encinitas to use up to $206,393 of the liability for a supplemental environmental project to fund native habitat restoration in San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve, which will be conducted by the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy.

The remaining Administrative Civil Liability of $224,458 will be deposited into the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account to be used for the remediation of pollution in the state’s waters. The Cleanup and Abatement Account was created by the legislature to provide public agencies with funds for the cleanup or abatement of pollution when there are no responsible parties available to undertake the work. Eligible entities that can apply for this funding include public agencies, as well as certain nonprofit organizations and tribal governments that serve a disadvantaged community and have the authority to clean up or abate the effects of waste.

The mismanagement at this construction site was really unexpected given the level of experience of both the contractor and the city of Encinitas,” said Chiara Clemente, the Water Board’s enforcement coordinator. “The wetland restoration project, however, reflects the keen interest in the health of San Elijo Lagoon and coastal waters of the community.”

Sediment from construction activities poses a large threat to local waters because so much exposed dirt can wash off during a storm. That excess sediment can alter or obstruct flows, resulting in flooding, and it can damage local ecosystems. Abnormally high levels of sediment in the water can smother aquatic animals and habitats, and it can reduce the clarity of water, which harms the ability of organisms to breath, find food and refuge, and reproduce. Sediment can also act as a binder, carrying toxic constituents, such as metals, pesticides, and other synthetic organic chemicals with it.

The San Diego Water Board protects and restores water quality in the southwest portion of the state, including parts of San Diego, Riverside, and Orange counties. Its vision is to have healthy waters realized through collaborative, outcome-focused efforts that support both human uses and sustainable ecosystems.

Hecla Limited Fined $600,000 for Clean Water Act Violations

The EPA, US DOJ, and Hecla Limited—owner of the Lucky Friday Mine and Mill, have reached a settlement concerning water pollution violations near the headwaters of the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River. The South Fork Coeur d’Alene River runs through the heart of North Idaho’s “Silver Valley,” ambitiously recovering from a century of mining pollution. Hecla will pay a $600,000 penalty as part of the settlement.

Hecla’s violations, occurring between 2009 and 2014 at its Lucky Friday Mine and Mill, cover both effluent limit violations and unpermitted discharges to the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River and two of its tributaries. Hecla’s tailings pond 3 was found seeping metals-laden water that Hecla discharged into Harris Creek. During construction of a tailings pond 4, Hecla failed to install adequate controls to ensure that stormwater runoff was properly managed and soon turbid runoff destroyed a water intake at a downstream fish hatchery. In both cases, Hecla failed to properly report the event to EPA. In all, EPA inspections documented close to 500 combined (effluent limit, unpermitted, and reporting) violations.

“The last thing rivers like the South Fork Coeur d’Alene need are unpermitted discharges and permit violations,” said Ed Kowalski, Director of Compliance and Enforcement at EPA’s Seattle office. “Compliance with wastewater discharge permits is critical to protecting Idaho’s waterways. By maintaining the integrity of its discharges and ponds, and reporting problems quickly, Hecla can help protect and restore the health of the South Fork and its tributaries.”

The South Fork Coeur d'Alene River is already severely compromised due to dissolved metals from historic mining activities. Major tributaries are devoid of aquatic life due to high concentrations of dissolved zinc and cadmium, while other areas only partially support fish and other aquatic species, offering migration routes but not spawning and rearing habitat. The Lucky Friday mine operations are seen as the highest single contributor of metals to the South Fork above Mullan. 

The NPDES permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States. Wastewater discharges from industrial sources like mining may contain pollutants at levels that could affect the quality of water bodies and waterways.

State Helps Minnesota's Small Businesses Clean Up the Air

Smokestacks are not the only contributors to air pollution. In fact, less than a third of it actually comes from such sources, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The rest is from a wide range of small, individual sources like vehicles, backyard fires, and the widespread use of household and industrial chemicals.

So far, 12 small businesses in Minnesota have received more than $400,000 in grants. Their combined efforts will cut about 6.2 tons of VOCs, equal to more than 13,000 cans of spray paint.

“The challenges we face with air quality today are mainly from the smaller but numerous sources all around us,” MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said. “They form the biggest part of our air pollution and are largely unregulated, so voluntary actions are an important part of the solution. Most small-business owners know how to cut down on their harmful air emissions, and we’re glad to offer some support to help get things rolling.”

VOCs are typically found in solvents used in paint, metal finishing, printing, and other industrial processes. If you’ve ever walked past an auto body shop and smelled the fumes, those are VOCs. When released into the air, they combine with small particles to form harmful smog.

Rupp’s Unique Auto Body, a paint and repair shop in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, received a grant that helped it switch from solvent-based paint to a water-based paint system. Manager/estimator Thomas Rupp said that while the installation isn’t yet complete, tests so far “have been impressive.”

“It smells much better, unlike the solvents we’ve been using, which can give you a headache. Another advantage we see is that it dries faster. With everyone wanting things faster and faster today, that’s big for us.” Rupp estimates the new system will reduce their VOC emissions by more than 40%.

Rupp credited the MPCA grant with helping them make the switch sooner.

“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for several years, but it’s tough to pull together the needed cash,” he said. Without the grant, Rupp said it could have taken considerably longer to make the switch on their own.

Medications, Cosmetic Ingredients, and Endocrine Disruptors Found in Minnesota Lakes and Streams

A new study released by the MPCA confirms that lakes and streams across Minnesota are contaminated by a variety of pharmaceuticals, ingredients from personal care products, and endocrine-disrupting compounds. This is the latest in a series of studies investigating the presence of these chemicals in Minnesota’s surface water.

Even in remote areas of the state, chemicals such as antibiotics, nicotine breakdown products, antidepressants, and medications to regulate diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure were detected. The insect repellent DEET was detected in 91% of the lakes studied. These results are consistent with previous studies of Minnesota lakes and rivers.

“We have known for some time that these compounds frequently turn up downstream from wastewater treatment plants,” said the study’s lead author, Mark Ferrey. “And recent research has shown that a surprising number are found even in remote lakes or upstream waters. But we have a lot to learn about how they end up there.”

While it is not yet clear how these compounds are entering more remote lakes and streams, Ferrey noted that it is possible that these contaminants are sometimes being distributed by rainfall or atmospheric transport of dust to which these chemicals are attached.

The study tested 11 lakes and 4 streams that were previously sampled for the presence of 125 different compounds—mostly pharmaceutical products, but also some ingredients that are used in cosmetics, detergents, and hygiene products. Some of the compounds were included in a 2008 round of testing, but the most recent report tested for many new chemicals. This study was the first in Minnesota to look for the x-ray contrast drug iopamidol, which was found in 73% of the lakes studied. Interestingly, the highest concentration of iopamidol was found in Lake Kabetogama, located in the Voyageurs National Park.

“We know more now than we have in the past about what contaminants consistently show up in surface water,” said Ferrey. “And we’re also beginning to better understand how these contaminants can affect fish and other organisms in the environment.”

Research into how these compounds might affect human health through long-term, low-level exposure is still in its early stages. The MPCA works with the Minnesota Department of Health in evaluating potential human health impacts of these chemicals. Ferrey noted that it is especially difficult to predict environmental and health effects of exposure to multiple pharmaceuticals in combination.

Because some pharmaceutical contamination of surface water is due to wastewater, the MPCA advises that people avoid flushing unwanted medicines down the toilet. Better alternatives include taking the drugs to a medication collection site, or mixing them with vinegar or cat litter to discourage ingestion and throwing them in the trash in a sealed container. Special recommendations apply to liquid chemotherapy drugs.

Agencies, Cities Get Creative to Protect Lakes and Streams

Reducing phosphorus that causes algae in lakes and rivers is the goal of innovative approaches proposed in wastewater permits for the city of Princeton, Minnesota, and Metropolitan Council Environmental Services. Phosphorus “trading” provisions in the Princeton permit and a watershed approach to the Metropolitan Council permits will allow them to achieve water quality goals more efficiently and economically.

“Our ultimate goal is always clean water. This is just an easier, more cost-effective route for permitted operations as small as the city of Princeton, or as large at the Metropolitan Council,” said Katrina Kessler, water assessment section manager for the MPCA, the agency responsible for issuing the permits.

North of Minneapolis, the city of Princeton, population 4,700, discharges its treated wastewater to the Rum River, a tributary to the Mississippi River upstream of Lake Pepin. To offset the phosphorus in the discharge to the rivers and lake, the city is restoring and maintaining stream banks on the Rum River in five areas. These efforts have reduced the amount of soil—and phosphorus attached to it—released into the river. The city’s draft permit gives them credit for the reduction that serves as an offset for the phosphorous load discharged from the wastewater facility.

This is the first trade of this kind involving a municipal wastewater facility in Minnesota, using unregulated pollution (nonpoint source) to make up for regulated pollution (point source).  MPCA officials are hopeful that this will serve as a successful example for other communities around the state looking to meet low phosphorus discharge limits without installing additional treatments at wastewater facilities.

The Princeton permit includes a trade ratio that requires the city to remove 2.6 times the amount of phosphorus through the restoration projects than the discharge amount permitted from its facility. The five stream bank restoration projects are preventing sediment, containing about 10,700 L of phosphorus per year, from entering the Rum River. This innovation reflects statutory changes made by the 2014 Legislature to support pollutant offsets between permitted and non-permitted sources.

“The amount of phosphorus added to a watershed from a wastewater treatment plant can border on insignificant when compared to the amounts contributed from nonpoint sources. Therefore, if a city is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for phosphorus reduction, it only makes sense to use those funds to address phosphorus from non-point sources,” said Mark Karnowski, Princeton’s city administrator. “The city of Princeton truly appreciates the MPCA’s willingness to try a new approach to improve the quality of Minnesota watersheds.”

Water quality goals for Lake Pepin—and the Mississippi River—require significant reductions of phosphorus from many upstream wastewater facilities. In addition to the trading provisions for Princeton, a pending permit establishes one phosphorous limit for five Met Council facilities, allowing the council to manage its phosphorous load among the five facilities. This flexible permitting approach is designed to achieve the overall water quality goals for the Mississippi and Lake Pepin, while allowing the Met Council to optimize its investments and accommodate future needs in a growing metropolitan area.

To understand the concept, think of the limit in the permit as a pie that represents the total amount of phosphorus that the five facilities can discharge to the Mississippi. This permit allows the Met Council to decide which facilities get the bigger pieces—more of the phosphorus pie—and which get smaller pieces—less of the phosphorus pie. The end result—the total phosphorus level discharged from the five plants combined—is the same but Met Council has the ability to decide how they will manage their phosphorous treatment to achieve the required reductions.

“The Metropolitan Council appreciates the work MPCA has put into developing and implementing this umbrella approach to phosphorus management,” said Leisa Thompson, general manager of Metropolitan Council Environmental Services. “This approach will maximize our flexibility to meet water quality standards, and in the process will save money that we can use to further improve wastewater treatment, and thus water quality, in the region.”

Oelkers Inc. Agrees to Resolve Underground Storage Tank Act Violations

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced that Oelkers, Inc., has agreed to resolve violations of the Montana Underground Storage Tank Act that occurred at Oelkers Service Center in Culbertson, Montana.

Oelkers failed to conduct a compliance inspection in a timely manner, conduct leak detection monitoring, and correct violations within the allotted timeframe established by DEQ. Shasta Steinweden of DEQ’s Enforcement Division explained that without proper leak detection, regulated substances could be released into the environment without the owner’s knowledge.

Oelkers has agreed to conduct leak detection monitoring, submit results of the leak detection monitoring to DEQ, obtain a reinspection, and pay a $960 penalty.

High Altitude Enterprises Inc. Agrees to Resolve Underground Storage Tank Act Violations

Montana DEQ recently announced that High Altitude Enterprises, Inc., has agreed to resolve violations of the Montana Underground Storage Tank Act that occurred at Glacier Center in Coram, Montana.

High Altitude failed to conduct a compliance inspection in a timely manner, conduct leak detection monitoring, and correct violations within the allotted timeframe established by DEQ. High Altitude has agreed to conduct leak detection monitoring, submit results of the leak detection monitoring to DEQ, obtain a reinspection, and pay a $750 penalty.

DEP Reaches Agreement with Hyndman Borough to Resolve Safe Drinking Water Violations

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has announced that Hyndman Borough in Bedford County has agreed to make necessary improvements that will address ongoing monitoring, treatment, and recording issues at its water treatment plant. Hyndman Borough operates a community water system that serves approximately 1,000 customers, including Hyndman Elementary School in the Bedford Area School District.

Hyndman Borough and DEP entered into a Consent Order and Agreement on June 3, 2015, requiring corrective actions and improvements to the plant. In settlement of DEP’s claim for civil penalties, Hyndman Borough agreed to pay a civil penalty of $10,000. DEP issued a Public Water Supply Permit to Hyndman Borough on April 29, authorizing construction of the needed improvements.

During a routine Filter Plant Performance Evaluation in October 2014 to evaluate the plant’s operation and determine its compliance with Safe Drinking Water regulations, significant violations were discovered. The evaluation revealed that on numerous occasions, Hyndman had not maintained proper chlorine levels that ensured adequate disinfection, had not properly maintained monitoring equipment—which resulted in inaccurate readings, and failed to record monitoring results.

“Previous inspections in 2008 and 2011 uncovered some areas of concern with the plant’s operational procedures which resulted in a ‘needs improvement’ rating,” said DEP South-central Regional Director Lynn Langer. “The operator’s past attempts were not successful at resolving all of those issues. The recent discovery of additional acute issues now requires the operator to take more rigorous actions to ensure the plant is operating in an effective manner, and is capable of supplying water to its customers that meets current safe drinking water standards.”

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Trivia Question of the Week

Commercial airlines account for how much of the transportation sector’s GHGs?

a) 3%

b) 11%

c) 23%

d) 41%