EPA Recognizes Seven Communities for Smart Growth Achievement

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2012

EPA Recognizes Seven Communities for Smart Growth Achievement

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes seven communities with its 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. The Smart Growth awards are given for creative, sustainable initiatives that better protect the health and the environment of our communities while also strengthening local economies.

The 2012 award winners are being recognized in four categories: Overall Excellence in Smart Growth, Equitable Development, Main Street or Corridor Revitalization, and Programs and Policies. Specific initiatives include improving transportation choices, developing green, energy-efficient buildings and communities, and providing community members with access to job training, health and wellness education, and other services.

The 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement winners are:

Overall Excellence - Winner
BLVD Transformation Project, Lancaster, Calif.
The redesign of Lancaster Boulevard helped transform downtown Lancaster into a thriving residential and commercial district through investments in new streetscape design, public facilities, affordable homes, and local businesses. Completed after eight months of construction, the project demonstrates how redesigning a corridor guided by a strategic vision can spark new life in a community. The project has generated almost $300 million in economic output and nearly 2,000 jobs.

Equitable Development - Winner
Mariposa District, Denver, Colo.
The redevelopment of Denver’s historic and ethnically diverse La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood is turning an economically challenged area into a vibrant, transit-accessible, district. The community’s master plan preserves affordable housing while adding energy-efficient middle-income and market-rate homes. Because of extensive community engagement, development will include actions to improve the health of residents, reduce pollution, and control stormwater runoff.

Main Street or Corridor Revitalization - Winner
The Cooperative Building, Brattleboro, Vt.
The Brattleboro Food Co-op, the town’s only downtown food store, made a commitment to remain at its downtown location by constructing an innovative, four-story green building on Main Street with a grocery store, commercial space, offices, and affordable apartments. The Main Street location provides healthy food, new jobs, and housing within walkable distances of downtown businesses and public transit.
Programs and Policies - Winner
Destination Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Va.The city of Portsmouth revised its comprehensive plan and undertook a broad review of its development and land use regulations. As a result, Destination Portsmouth prepared a package of new plans, zoning ordinances, and other development policies in collaboration with community stakeholders. The overhaul of the city’s codes encourages development in targeted growth areas and helps businesses to locate in the city while also protecting the character of Portsmouth’s historic neighborhoods.

Equitable Development - Honorable Mention
Northwest Gardens, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Through safer streets, job training and education programs, and high-quality, affordable homes, the once struggling Northwest Gardens neighborhood is rapidly becoming a model for economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The redesigned neighborhood offers a range of energy-efficient, affordable housing choices and is one of the first communities in the nation to receive LEED for Neighborhood Development certification. A local housing authority program also provides disadvantaged youths with construction training as they complete their GEDs.

Main Street or Corridor Revitalization - Honorable Mention
Larkin District, Buffalo, N.Y.

Community organizations and a local developer partnered with the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning to help revitalize the Larkin District, an old manufacturing district located one mile from downtown Buffalo. Architectural students worked with the developer and the city to create a master plan for an urban village that now features new office space, restaurants, apartments, parks, and plazas. New sidewalks, lighting, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, and bus shelters reduce pollution from vehicles by making walking, biking, and public transit more appealing.

Programs and Policies - Honorable Mention
Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, San Francisco, Calif.The Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund is providing loans for developers to build affordable homes near public transportation. At this point, the fund has provided loans for a 153-unit high-rise for low-income families located two blocks from a major transit station, and for a 64-unit building for seniors close to a light rail station that will provide free transit passes for all residents.

This year’s winners and honorable mentions were selected from 47 applicants from 25 states. The winning entries were chosen based on their effectiveness in creating sustainable communities; fostering equitable development among public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders; and serving as national models for environmentally and economically sustainable development.

EPA created the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement in 2002 to recognize exceptional approaches to development that protect the environment, encourage economic vitality, and enhance quality of life. In the past 11 years, 54 winners from 26 states have shown a variety of approaches that states, regions, cities, suburbs, and rural communities can use to create economically strong, environmentally responsible development. EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities manages the awards program.

EPA will host a ceremony on December 5th to recognize these seven award winners. Please RSVP for the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement ceremony here.

More information on the winners: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/awards.htm


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Fostering Environmental Leadership, Stewardship

EPA Press Release:

November 27, 2012

EPA and Delaware State University to Sign MOU

Fostering Environmental Leadership, Stewardship

WHAT: EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin and Delaware State University President Dr. Harry L. Williams will sign a memorandum of understanding pledging their commitment to enhancing environmental learning and stewardship at DSU and in the surrounding community. The MOU will formally establish an EPA-founded program called LEAP -- Linking Environmental and Academic Programs -- at the university.

WHEN: Thursday, November 29, 2012

1:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.

WHERE: Delaware State University campus

Administration and Student Services Building

1200 N. DuPont Highway

Dover, DE 19901

BP Temporarily Suspended from New Contracts with the Federal Government

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2012

BP Temporarily Suspended from New Contracts with the Federal Government

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it has temporarily suspended BP Exploration and Production, Inc., BP PLC and named affiliated companies (BP) from new contracts with the federal government. EPA is taking this action due to BP’s lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill, and response, as reflected by the filing of a criminal information. On November 15, 2012, BP agreed to plead guilty to eleven counts of Misconduct or Neglect of Ship Officers, one count of Obstruction of Congress, one misdemeanor count of a violation of the Clean Water Act, and one misdemeanor count of a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, all arising from its conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

For the Deepwater Horizon investigation, EPA was designated as the lead agency for suspension and debarment actions. Federal executive branch agencies take these actions to ensure the integrity of Federal programs by conducting business only with responsible individuals or companies. Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility question is raised by action in a criminal case.

The BP suspension will temporarily prevent the company and the named affiliates from getting new federal government contracts, grants or other covered transactions until the company can provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets Federal business standards. The suspension does not affect existing agreements BP may have with the government.

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Cottonwood, Idaho paving and asphalt company violates federal clean air laws

EPA Press Release:

Cottonwood, Idaho paving and asphalt company violates federal clean air laws

CONTACT: Hanady Kader, EPA Public Affairs, 206-553-0454, kader.hanady@epa.gov

(Seattle—Nov. 27, 2012) Valley Paving & Asphalt, Inc. operated asphalt mixing equipment on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho and released air pollutants without an authorized Clean Air Act permit, according to a settlement between the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company is based in Cottonwood, Idaho.

“The law requires companies that produce air pollution get the proper permits before they start work,” said Kim Ogle, Manager of the Inspection and Enforcement Unit at EPA’s Seattle office. "Permits are fundamental to protecting people and the air they breathe, and companies need to play by the rules.”

The company operated the asphalt mixing equipment for paving roads on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho in September 2011 without a required permit. In addition, the company did not submit an annual registration report to EPA under the Federal Air Rules for Reservations. Asphalt mixing machines and similar equipment release pollutants that are regulated by the Clean Air Act. EPA Region 10 is the Clean Air Act permitting authority on tribal reservations in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The company has agreed to pay $36,360 to settle the violations.

For more information on the Clean Air Act and Federal Air Rules for Reservations, visit:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/tribal.nsf/programs/farr

Meriden, Conn. Company Agrees to Provide Emergency Response Equipment to settle Environmental Concerns

EPA Press Release:

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
November 26, 2012

Contact: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Meriden, Conn. Company Agrees to Provide Emergency Response Equipment to settle Environmental Concerns

(Boston, Mass. – Nov. 26, 2012) – The Miller Company, Inc. of Meriden, Conn. has agreed to spend $25,000 to purchase and provide emergency response equipment for the Meriden Fire Department under a settlement with EPA for claims that the company violated the Clean Water Act and federal regulations designed to prevent oil spills from reaching waterways. 

The “supplemental environmental project” will improve the fire department’s ability to respond to oil spills and other releases, which will help protect the environment and public health as well as enhance the safety of first responders.  As part of the settlement, the company will also pay $7,500.

The Miller Company manufactures copper base alloys at its Meriden facility.  According to the EPA complaint, the facility has a total oil storage capacity of over 50,000 gallons.  On Dec. 21, 2010, an oil sheen was discovered in Harbor Brook, approximately 1.25 miles from the company’s facility.  Subsequent investigations by the company, the Conn. Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection, and by EPA identified the source of the oil spill as an overfilled tank at the company’s facility.

EPA’s complaint asserts that the company violated the Clean Water Act by discharging a harmful quantity of oil into Harbor Brook, and for failing to fully maintain and implement a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan, as required by the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Prevention regulations.

The oil spill prevention regulations require that specific preventative measures be taken at facilities that store more than 1,320 gallons of oil, and which could reasonably be anticipated to release oil products into nearby surface waters or shorelines. These regulations help ensure that tank failures or accidental spills do not lead to oil contamination of surface waters, such as rivers or streams, which could harm human and ecological health. 

More information on federal oil spill prevention requirements (http://www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/er/oilstor.htm) and (http://www.epa.gov/oilspill)

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EPA Recommends New Recreational Water Quality Criteria to Better Protect Public Health

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 26, 2012
EPA Recommends New Recreational Water Quality Criteria to Better Protect Public Health
WASHINGTON -- Pursuant to an order from a U.S. District Court and as required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today recommended new recreational water quality criteria for states that will help protect peoples’ health during visits to beaches and waters year round. The science-based criteria provide information to help states improve public health protection by addressing a broader range of illness symptoms, better accounting for pollution after heavy rainfall, providing more protective recommendations for coastal waters, encouraging early alerts to beachgoers and promoting rapid water testing. The criteria released today do not impose any new requirements; instead, they are a tool that states can choose to use in setting their own standards.

The criteria provide states and communities with the most up to date science and information that they can use to determine whether water quality is safe for the public and when to issue an advisory or a beach closure. EPA has provided a variety of other tools to help states evaluate and manage recreational waters.

The new criteria are based on several recent health studies and use a broader definition of illness to recognize that symptoms may occur without a fever, including a number of stomach ailments. EPA also narrowed from 90 days to 30 days the time period over which the results of monitoring samples may be averaged. This produces a more accurate picture of the water quality for that given time, allowing for improved notification time about water quality to the public. This shortened time period especially accounts for heavy rainfall that can wash pollution into rivers, lakes or the ocean or cause sewer overflows.

The strengthened recommendations include:

• A short-term and long-term measure of bacteria levels that must be used together to ensure that water quality is properly evaluated.

• Stronger recommendations for coastal water quality so public health is protected similarly in both coastal and fresh waters.

• A new rapid testing method that states can use to determine if water quality is safe within hours of water samples being taken.

• An early-alert approach for states to use to quickly issue swimming advisories for the public.

• Tools that allow states to predict water quality problems and identify sources of pollution, as well as to develop criteria for specific beaches.

More information: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/criteria/health/recreation/index.cfm

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New Haven Company Will Pay Penalty for Hazardous Waste Violations

EPA Press Release:

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
November 26, 2012

Contact:  David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

New Haven Company Will Pay Penalty for Hazardous Waste Violations

(Boston, Mass. – Nov. 26, 2012) - A New Haven, Conn. company that makes door hardware has agreed to pay $39,705 to settle EPA’s claims that it violated state and federal hazardous waste laws.

The Sargent Manufacturing Company violated state hazardous waste laws as well as the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  These laws are designed to help protect public health and the environment by promoting the proper management of hazardous wastes.

The complaint grew out of an inspection of the facility in March 2011 by EPA. Sargent violated RCRA by failing to: have an adequate hazardous waste training program, close containers of hazardous waste, maintain adequate aisle space between containers of hazardous waste, mark containers with the date that accumulation of hazardous waste began, update and submit a revised contingency plan to local authorities, and otherwise manage hazardous waste in accordance with the requirements.

Sargent’s failure to have an adequate hazardous waste training program increased the likelihood that wastes generated may not be properly managed and that Sargent personnel may not be able to adequately coordinate all emergency response measures in the event of emergency.

After the inspection, Sargent brought its facility into compliance with state and federal waste management laws. 

More information:  Enforcing hazardous waste laws in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcement/waste/index.html)

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Swallowing Rain Forest, Brazilian Cities Surge in Amazon

The following is an excerpt from:


The New York Times
Sunday, November 25, 2012

Swallowing Rain Forest, Brazilian Cities Surge in Amazon

By SIMON ROMERO

PARAUAPEBAS, Brazil — The Amazon has been viewed for ages as a vast quilt of rain forest interspersed by remote river outposts. But the surging population growth of cities in the jungle is turning that rural vision on its head and alarming scientists, as an array of new industrial projects transforms the Amazon into Brazil’s fastest-growing region.

The torrid expansion of rain forest cities is visible in places like Parauapebas, which has changed in a generation from an obscure frontier settlement with gold miners and gunfights to a sprawling urban area with an air-conditioned shopping mall, gated communities and a dealership selling Chevy pickup trucks.

Scientists are studying such developments and focusing on the demands on the resources of the Amazon, the world’s largest remaining area of tropical forest. Though Brazilian officials have historically viewed the colonization of the Amazon as a matter of national security — military rulers built roads to the forest under the slogan “Occupy it to avoid surrendering it” — deforestation in the region already ranks among the largest contributors to global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Brazil has shifted away from colonization, but policies that regularize land claims by squatters still lure migrants to the Amazon. And while the country has recently made progress in curbing deforestation, largely by enforcing logging laws and carving out protected forest areas, biologists and other climate researchers fear that the sharp increase in migration to cities in the Amazon, which now has a population approaching 25 million, could erode those gains.

“More population leads to more deforestation,” said Philip M. Fearnside, a researcher at the National Institute for Amazon Research in Manaus, an Amazonian city that registered by far the fastest growth of Brazil’s 10 largest cities from 2000 to 2010. The number of residents grew 22 percent to 1.7 million, according to government statistics.

Of the 19 Brazilian cities that the latest census indicates have doubled in population over the past decade, 10 are in the Amazon. Altogether, the region’s population climbed 23 percent from 2000 to 2010, while Brazil as a whole grew just 12 percent.

For more, visit www.nytimes.com.

U.S. EPA Reaches $2 Million Settlement with 290 Parties to Further Clean Santa Barbara County Toxic Dump Site

EPA Press Release:

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS BRIEF

For Immediate Release: November 20, 2012

Contact: Michael Ardito, 415-972-3081, ardito.michael@epa.gov

U.S. EPA Reaches $2 Million Settlement with 290 Parties to Further Clean

Santa Barbara County Toxic Dump Site

Casmalia facility collected more than 5 billion pounds of waste

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a $2 million settlement with 290 small parties, called de minimis parties, for the Casmalia Resources Superfund Site (CRSS). It is a former hazardous waste disposal facility that accepted approximately 5.6 billion pounds of waste from nearly 10,000 generators between 1973 and 1989.

This is the ninth in a series of de minimis settlements at the site. CRSS is located approximately 10 miles southwest of the City of Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County. To date more than $110 million has been collected toward cleanup from generators of hazardous waste disposed at the site and from the site’s former owner-operators.

The settlement requires the 290 parties to pay their share of the estimated $284 million total cost of cleaning up the site and resolves their liability for the more than 23 million pounds of waste they collectively sent to CRSS. EPA will collect a total of over $2 million in response costs, equating to approximately nine cents per pound of waste that the parties sent to the site. This settlement also resolves the parties’ liability for potential natural resource damage claims by various government agencies, including claims for threats to endangered species and other habitats.

EPA assumed the role of the lead regulatory agency in 1992 after the facility's owners and operators abandoned efforts to clean up the site. EPA undertook emergency response action activities, while concurrently seeking participation in site work by former customers of the facility.

The site was placed on the National Priorities List in September 2001. Notice of this proposed Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent is available for a 30-day public comment period following the Nov. 20, 2012 publication in the Federal Register found at website at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-11-20/html/2012-28223.htm . The Federal Register Notice is in Volume 77, issue number 224 on pages 69620 to 69622. For more information on the Casmalia Resources Superfund Site, please visit: www.epa.gov/region9/casmalia.

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EPA Fellowships Awarded to 25 Ariz., Calif., Nev. Students

EPA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2012

MEDIA CONTACT: David Yogi, yogi.david@epa.gov, (415) 972-3350

EPA Fellowships Awarded to 25 Ariz., Calif., Nev. Students

$5.3 Million Awarded Nationwide for Environmental Studies

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded academic fellowships, as part of its Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) and Science to Achieve Results (STAR) programs, to six undergraduate and 19 graduate students in Arizona, California, and Nevada pursuing degrees in environmental studies.

These 25 fellowships, worth up to nearly $2.5 million, are among 33 GRO and 69 STAR fellowships awarded nationally to encourage leadership in the nation’s environmental science, research, restoration, pollution prevention and sustainability efforts. In total, $5.3 million was awarded across the country for both fellowship programs as part of EPA’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education program.

“EPA is proud to support some of the most outstanding young thinkers in the environmental field,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Investing in the development of our students will better equip us as a society to tackle the environmental challenges facing us and future generations.”

“These fellowship awards enable undergraduate and graduate students all over the country to pursue research and education opportunities that would otherwise be beyond their means,” said Dr. Jim Johnson, Director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Research. “Many of the fellowship opportunities springboard aspiring scientists and engineers into careers in environmental protection.”

Celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year, the GRO fellowship program encourages promising undergraduate students to pursue careers in environmental fields and to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate level. Supporting graduate environmental study for masters and doctoral students, the STAR fellowship program provides resources for students performing new environmental research in engineering and in the physical, biological, health, and social sciences.

Applications for the fiscal 2013 GRO Program and STAR fellowships are currently open and applicants have until November 27, 2012 to apply.

For more information on the GRO program and STAR fellowships, visit: http://epa.gov/ncer/fellow/

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Boeing Receives Environmental Recognition from Wildlife Habitat Council

Boeing Press Release:

Educational programs certified at Santa Susana Field Laboratory

SIMI HILLS, Calif., Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing's (NYSE: BA) Santa Susana Field Laboratory, once a rocket engine testing and energy research facility for the federal government, recently received the Wildlife Habitat Council's prestigious Corporate Lands for Learning™ certification for providing public wildlife habitat preservation and restoration education programs.

The Wildlife Habitat Council, which works with corporations and conservation organizations to create wildlife habitat enhancement education programs, presented the award to Boeing at the Council's 24th Annual Symposium on Nov. 8 in Baltimore.

"Santa Susana employees may take pride in knowing that they have made an important contribution to conservation education," said Margaret O'Gorman, president of the Wildlife Habitat Council, noting Santa Susana's educational programs showcase the site's unique human, natural and technological history.

The certification affirms the site's numerous educational opportunities that highlight wildlife conservation including:

• Avian studies through the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society's bird counting and banding program
• Wildlife habitat protection and California native plant restoration
• Frequent guided bus and walking tours for community members, environmental groups, elected officials and reporters
• Community events and children's programs that highlight pollinator habitats
• Santa Susana specific curriculum taught by local colleges and universities

Santa Susana features oak woodlands, rare plants, sandstone formations, abundant wildlife and a history rich in Native American cultural heritage. A transformation is underway at the 2,850-acre site as it evolves from a legacy of testing and research toward a future as open space benefitting the community.

"Most people are aware of the site's significant role in the historical research of rocket engine propulsion development and energy research," said Tom Gallacher, Boeing site director, Santa Susana Field Laboratory.  "What surprises most people is that this site is a key habitat for a variety of native plants, flowers and wildlife." 

Santa Susana Field Laboratory was a rocket engine and energy research site started by the federal government in 1950 as the United States began its national space program. The site was critical to rocket engine testing that supported nearly every major space program in U.S. history, from the earliest satellites through the Space Shuttle.

Once cleanup on Boeing's property is complete, Santa Susana will create one of the few remaining wildlife corridors in Southern California, connecting the Sierra Madre ranges to the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

For more information, visit www.boeing.com/santasusana.com
Photo available here: boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=13&cat=48
B-roll video available upon request.

Contact:
Kamara Sams, Boeing Communications
+1 818-466-8793
kamara.sams@boeing.com  

Follow us on Twitter: @Boeing

SOURCE Boeing

EPA Partners with Universities to Reduce Food Waste

EPA Press Release:

EPA Partners with Universities to Reduce Food Waste

(DALLAS – November 16, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Agency will partner with universities in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas to reduce food waste as part of the EPA’s national Food Recovery Challenge.

The goals of this voluntary program are to limit the 34 million tons of food wasted nationwide annually by reducing unnecessary consumption and increasing composting and donations to charity. By joining the Food Recovery Challenge, participating schools pledge to reduce food waste by five percent in one year.

Food accounts for 25 percent of all waste sent to landfills nationwide—more than any other single material. In addition to using landfill space and the energy needed for transport, food waste becomes a significant source of greenhouse gas by giving off methane as it decomposes.

In addition to higher education institutions, the EPA is also working with grocery stores, entertainment venues, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, convention centers and federal facilities to reduce food waste. Every university and college is invited to join the Food Recovery Challenge, with several institutions already participating.  

The committed university partners include:

• University of Texas at Arlington
• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Baylor University—Waco, Texas
• University of Houston
• University of Texas at Austin
• Rice University—Houston, Texas
• New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

The Food Recovery Challenge is part of the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of food and other widely-used everyday items through their entire life cycle, including how they are extracted, manufactured, distributed, used, reused, recycled, and disposed.

For more information on the Food Recovery Challenge, visit: http://www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge/ 

For additional information on EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, visit: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/smm/index.htm

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

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CDC Influenza Activity Update

Received Nov. 16, 2012.

CDC Influenza Activity Update

Big Tex Grain Site in San Antonio is Ready for Reuse

EPA Press Release:

Big Tex Grain Site in San Antonio is Ready for Reuse

(DALLAS – November 16, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency today announced the Big Tex Grain site in San Antonio has been awarded a certificate by the EPA signifying that the site has been cleaned and ready for reuse. Potential uses for the site include residential, retail or commercial, but remain subject to local zoning ordinances and all other applicable laws.

The Big Tex Grain site, owned by Big Tex San Antonio, L.P., is located in the 300 block of Blue Star Street and is bordered by grain silos converted to artist studios to the north-northwest, by Union Pacific tracks to the south and west and by the San Antonio River to the north and east.

The 7.5 acre site is a former W.R. Grace exfoliation plant and operated from 1961 to 1989. Approximately 124,000 tons of vermiculite ore was processed at the plant and was shipped from the Zonolite Mountain Mine in Libby, Montana.

In January 2006 the EPA was asked to determine if there was contamination at the location that would pose a risk to workers and the surrounding neighborhoods. Beginning in June 2007 the EPA took samples at the site which identified the presence of asbestos in soil, subsurface soils, air samples and sediments bordering the San Antonio River. In April 2008 the EPA and its contractor began cleanup operations at the site and completed all cleanup activities in January 2009.

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

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EPA Keeps Renewable Fuels Levels in Place After Considering State Requests

CONTACT:
Cathy Milbourn (NEWS MEDIA ONLY)
Milbourn.cathy@epa.gov
202-564-7849
202-564-4355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 16, 2012

EPA Keeps Renewable Fuels Levels in Place After Considering State Requests

WASHINGTON---The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that the agency has not found evidence to support a finding of severe “economic harm” that would warrant granting a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The decision is based on economic analyses and modeling done in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
“We recognize that this year’s drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “But our extensive analysis makes clear that Congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact.”

To support the waiver decision, EPA conducted several economic analyses. Economic analyses of impacts in the agricultural sector, conducted with USDA, showed that on average waiving the mandate would only reduce corn prices by approximately one percent. Economic analyses of impacts in the energy sector, conducted with DOE, showed that waiving the mandate would not impact household energy costs.

EPA found that the evidence and information failed to support a determination that implementation of the RFS mandate during the 2012-2013 time period would severely harm the economy of a State, a region, or the United States, the standard established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct).

EPAct required EPA to implement a renewable fuels standard to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel. A waiver of the mandate requires EPA, working with USDA and DOE, to make a finding of “severe economic harm” from the RFS mandate itself.

This is the second time that EPA has considered an RFS waiver request. In both cases, analysis concluded that that the mandate did not impose severe harm. In 2008, the state of Texas was denied a waiver.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/notices.htm

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EPA Announces Regional Food Recovery Challenge Awards on America Recycles Day

EPA Press Release:

CONTACT: Joshua Singer, 312-353-5069, singer.joshua@epa.gov

For Immediate Release   No. 12-OPA095

EPA Announces Regional Food Recovery Challenge Awards on America Recycles Day

(CHICAGO – Nov. 15, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes regional office is marking America Recycles Day with the announcement of six Food Recovery Challenge Achievement Awards. Through the Food Recovery Challenge, EPA encourages organizations to donate food and recycle food scraps to reduce waste, feed the needy and save money.

  

"These sports stadiums and universities -- in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio -- have prevented more than 350 tons of food scraps from entering landfills," said Regional Administrator Susan Hedman.  "Food Recovery Challenge Achievement Award winners are using food to feed people, not landfills."

Food disposed of in landfills rapidly decomposes and becomes a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The following Recovery Challenge Achievement Award winners are being recognized for significantly cutting food waste below previous years’ levels:

• Minnesota Twins Baseball Club – Target Field, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Saint Paul River Centre/Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.
• City of Eagan Event Center, Eagan, Minn.
• Village of Rosemont – Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill.
• Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
• Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio

For more information about the Food Recovery Challenge: www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge

PNNL Press Release

Airborne particles smuggle pollutants to far reaches of globe

November 15, 2012 

• Mary Beckman, PNNL, (509) 375-3688

Symbiotic relationship between pollutants and airborne particles explains how city pollution ends up in Arctic

• Download Original Image
  Alla Zelenyuk developed SPLAT II, which allows scientists to characterize millions of tiny particles one by one. SPLAT II provided the data needed to determine what's happening to the airborne particles over their lifetimes.

 1 of 3 

RICHLAND, Wash. – Pollution from fossil fuel burning and forest fires reaches all the way to the Arctic, even though it should decay long before it travels that far. Now, lab research can explain how pollution makes its lofty journey: rather than ride on the surface of airborne particles, pollutants snuggle inside, protected from the elements on the way. The results will help scientists improve atmospheric air-quality and pollution transport models.

The results also show that the particles that envelop pollutants also benefit from this arrangement. The new study in Environmental Science & Technology shows that the airborne particles, made from natural molecules mostly given off by live or burning plants, last longer with a touch of pollutant packed inside. The pollutants are known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, and are regulated by environmental agencies due to their toxicity.

"What we've learned through fundamental studies on model systems in the lab has very important implications for long-range transport of pollutants in the real world," said physical chemist Alla Zelenyuk of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "In this study, we propose a new explanation for how PAHs get transported so far, by demonstrating that airborne particles become a protective vessel for PAH transport."

Floating in the air and invisible to the eye, airborne particles known as secondary organic aerosols live and die. Born from carbon-based molecules given off by trees, vegetation, and fossil fuel burning, these airborne SOA particles travel the currents and contribute to cloud formation. Along for the ride are pollutants, the PAHs, that have long been thought to coat the particles on their surface.

For decades, atmospheric scientists have been trying to explain how atmospheric particles manage to transport harmful pollutants to pristine environments thousands of miles away from their starting point. The particles collected in areas such as the Arctic also pack higher concentrations of pollutants than scientists' computer models predict.

The predictions are based on the assumption that the particles are like liquid spheres, whose fluidity allows PAHs to escape. But they don't escape, and one recent advance has helped to pin down why PAHs are remaining stuck in their particle lairs. Zelenyuk and her colleagues at EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL, developed an ultra-sensitive instrument that can determine the size, composition and shape of individual particles.

Called SPLAT II, the instrument can analyze millions of tiny particles one by one. The ability of this novel instrument to characterize individual particles provides unique insight into their property and evolution.

Using SPLAT II to evaluate laboratory-generated SOA particles from alpha-pinene, the molecule that gives pine trees their piney smell, Zelenyuk has already discovered that SOA particles aren't liquid at all. Her team's recent work revealed they are more like tar — thick, viscous blobs that are too solid to be liquid and too liquid to be solid.

Armed with this data, Zelenyuk and researchers from Imre Consulting in Richland and the University of Washington in Seattle set out to determine the relation between the SOA particle and the PAHs. Again they used alpha-pinene for the SOA. For the PAH, they used pyrene, a toxic pollutant produced by burning fossil fuels or vegetation such as forests.

They created two kinds of particles. The first kind exemplified the classical SOA: first they produced the particles with alpha-pinene and then coated them with pyrene. The second kind resembled what likely happens in nature: they mixed alpha-pinene and pyrene and let the particles form with both molecules present. Then they sent the particles through SPLAT and watched what happened to them over time.

With the pyrene-coated particles, the team found the PAH pyrene evaporating off the surface of the particle quickly, all of it gone after four hours. By the next day, the particle itself had shrunk by about 70 percent, showing that the alpha-pinene SOA also evaporates, although more slowly than pyrene.

When they created the particles in the presence of both SOA and PAH, the PAH evaporated much more slowly. Fifty percent of the original PAH still remained in the particle after 24 hours. In addition, the SOA particle itself stayed bulky, losing less than 20 percent of its volume.

These results showed the team that PAHs become trapped within the highly viscous SOA particles, where they remain protected from the environment. The symbiotic relationship between the atmospheric particles and pollutants surprised Zelenyuk: SOAs help PAHs travel the world, and the PAHs help SOAs survive longer.

Zelenyuk and her colleagues performed comparable experiments with other PAHs and SOAs and found similar results.

In the real world, Zelenyuk said, the evaporation will be even slower. These results will help modelers better simulate atmospheric SOA particles and transport of pollutants over long distances.

This work was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science and PNNL's Chemical Imaging Initiative.

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Reference: Alla Zelenyuk, Dan Imre, Josef Beránek, Evan Abramson, Jacqueline Wilson and Manish Shrivastava, Synergy between Secondary Organic Aerosols and Long-Range Transport of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Environmental Science & Technology, Nov. 7, 2012, doi: 10.1021/es302743z.

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DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.  For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

Tags: Fundamental Science, Atmospheric Science, Aerosols

National labs integrate technologies to trap contaminants, protect workers

INL News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 15, 2012

NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Reuel Smith, 208-521-4910, reuel.smith@inl.gov
Misty Benjamin, 208-351-9900, misty.benjamin@inl.gov

National labs integrate technologies to trap contaminants, protect workers

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – The U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) recently entered into a partnership that merges their respective innovations into a one-of-a-kind contamination containment tool. The tool captures radioactive particles in nuclear facilities to reduce airborne contamination hazards during reactor decommissioning.

The one-year, $250,000 project – funded by the U.S. Department of Energy – will test and demonstrate how these two technologies can be successfully designed and engineered into one functioning unit.

“Combining these two technologies is a terrific fit in terms of fostering international nuclear collaboration and resolving airborne contamination and contaminated particle issues in old facilities,” said INL Program Director Richard Rankin. “And, it’s a high-impact win for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Program.”

Over the past several years, INL researchers Rick Demmer and Julia Tripp developed a new contamination capture coating and fogging agent, dubbed FX1. This fogging fixative contains a sticky base and surfactant that behaves similar to a gas and can be introduced into targeted spaces at low pressure and low velocity to increase its penetration into hard-to-reach areas. It then captures and fixes radioactive materials, metals and other contamination in place. The technology improves safety during nuclear facility decommissioning by assuring that contamination does not escape or expose workers during cleaning operations.

The UK’s NNL team was independently working with its partner, Pursuit Dynamics plc (PDX), to develop the nuclear applications of its patented, and superior, misting technology that performs a more complete atomization of high-solid solutions at very high volumes.

“This atomization technology offers a game-changing delivery mechanism for reagents, fixatives and decontaminants,” said NNL scientist Jeremy Edwards. “The PDX technology delivers a droplet size of 1 to 4 microns, with the resultant turbulent mist behaving in a gas-like manner to ensure dispersion that can quickly fill a 300-cubic-meter space in two minutes. This system enables the application of fixatives/strippable coatings/reagents, etc., to areas where there is no manned access.”

By advancing fogging contamination controls, worker safety and performance margins will increase. This approach enables a reduction in the physiological burden associated with working in these environments, improving the ability to address human operator considerations and therefore improve safety.

INL is one of the DOE's 10 multiprogram national laboratories. The laboratory performs work in each of DOE's strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation's leading center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.

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About NNL

The UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory is a leading nuclear technology services provider. The business specializes in providing customers with tailored solutions by applying the right level of technical innovation and intellectual support. NNL provides services to customers across three key areas:

• Fuel Cycle Solutions – provides fundamental technical solutions to the nuclear industry, including fuel cycle performance and technology development, spent fuel disposition, plant integrity and inspections, nuclear security, safety management, engineering services, and modeling and simulation;

• Waste Management and Decommissioning – provides products and services to help customers reduce their through life liabilities via the development and application of technologies and techniques that assist with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Key services include environmental management, measurement and analysis, effluent management, waste management and processing, and immobilization technology; and

• Reactor Operations Support – provides support to customers in areas such as post-irradiation examination of reactor fuel and components. Key services include endoscopy, fuel and graphite performance, metallography, post-irradiation examination and power station chemistry.

For more information about NNL, go to: www.nnl.co.uk, and/or contact Adrian Bull, director of External Relations, National Nuclear Laboratory, +44 (0) 7894 836553; adrian.j.bull@nnl.co.uk