EPA issues complaint to Tahiti Nui for failing to close cesspools

Press release:

EPA issues complaint to Tahiti Nui for failing to close cesspools

Kauai restaurant failed to respond to demands to comply with requirements

HONOLULU – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated an enforcement action under the Safe Drinking Water Act against Christian Marston and Tahiti Nui Enterprises, Inc. LLC for failing to close three large capacity cesspools in Hanalei, Kauai.

“EPA is committed to protecting Hawaii’s vital water resources by closing these illegal large capacity cesspools,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Although almost 3,000 cesspools have been closed, an alarming number are still in use.”

EPA has inspected Marston’s property, including the Tahiti Nui Restaurant and Cocktail Bar, multiple times and notified Marston that his establishment was in violation of the federal regulations. In 2006, the owner acknowledged the operation of large capacity cesspools and retained the services of a professional engineer to design a state-approved individual wastewater system to replace the cesspools.

However, in 2010 EPA determined that Marston had failed to comply with the requirements to close and convert the three cesspools serving his property. As a result of the continued noncompliance, EPA is now seeking penalties of up to $177,500, the amount authorized under the Safe Drinking Water Act, in addition to prompt closure and replacement of the cesspools with an approved wastewater system.

The facility is located in a "priority watershed," as designated by the State of Hawaii and EPA, where use of the large capacity cesspools poses a significant risk to underground sources of drinking water and nearby surface waters.

A large capacity cesspool discharges untreated sewage from multiple dwellings, or a non-residential location that serves 20 or more people per day. EPA regulations prohibited new large capacity cesspool construction after April 2000 and required closure of existing large cesspools as of April 2005. The regulations do not apply to single-family homes connected to their own individual cesspools or to non-residential cesspools that do not have the capacity to serve 20 or more people.

Cesspools, which are used more widely in Hawaii than any other state, discharge raw sewage into the ground, where disease-causing pathogens and other contaminants can pollute groundwater, streams and the ocean.  Large capacity cesspools are used by restaurants, hotels, office complexes, and multiple dwellings, such as duplexes, apartments and condominiums, to dispose their sanitary waste.

For more information on this particular complaint visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/enforcement/pubnotices/pubnotice-tahiti-nui.html

For more information on the large capacity cesspool ban, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/groundwater/uic-hicesspools.html

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EPA Awards Over $16.9 Million to the State of Louisiana to Assist in Funding Safe Public Drinking Water Systems

Press release:

EPA Awards Over $16.9 Million to the State of Louisiana

to Assist in Funding Safe Public Drinking Water Systems

(DALLAS – August 23, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals $16,962,000 to provide low cost loan assistance to eligible public drinking water systems for infrastructure improvements. The funds are being granted through the EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to ensure safe drinking water for Louisiana residents.

The Safe Drinking Water Act established the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to make funds available to drinking water systems for infrastructure improvements. The program also emphasizes providing funds to small and disadvantaged communities and programs that encourage pollution prevention as a tool for ensuring safe drinking water.

Additional Information on EPA grants is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm

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

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EPA Releases Draft Permitting Guidance for Using Diesel Fuel in Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 4, 2012
EPA Releases Draft Permitting Guidance for Using Diesel Fuel in Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

Guidance will clarify means of compliance with 2005 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft underground injection control (UIC) program permitting guidance for class II wells that use diesel fuels during hydraulic fracturing activities. EPA developed the draft guidance to clarify how companies can comply with a law passed by Congress in 2005, which exempted hydraulic fracturing operations from the requirement to obtain a UIC permit, except in cases where diesel fuel is used as a fracturing fluid.

The draft guidance outlines for EPA permit writers, where EPA is the permitting authority, requirements for diesel fuels used for hydraulic fracturing wells, technical recommendations for permitting those wells, and a description of diesel fuels for EPA underground injection control permitting. The draft guidance describes diesel fuels for these purposes by reference to six chemical abstract services registry numbers. The agency is requesting input on this description.

While this guidance undergoes public notice and comment, decisions about permitting hydraulic fracturing operations that use diesel fuels will be made on a case-by-case basis, considering the facts and circumstances of the specific injection activity and applicable statutes, regulations and case law, and will not cite this draft guidance as a basis for decision.

EPA continues to work with states, industry and other stakeholders to help ensure that natural gas is developed safely and responsibly.

EPA will take public comment on the draft guidance for 60 days upon publication in the Federal Register to allow for stakeholder input before it is finalized.

More information: http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/class2/hydraulicfracturing/hydraulic-fracturing.cfm
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EPA agreement with oil production companies ensures safe drinking water for Poplar, Montana

EPA agreement with oil production companies ensures safe drinking water for Poplar, Montana

Agreement with Murphy, Pioneer and Samson requires continued groundwater monitoring and contingencies for treatment or alternate supply

(Denver, Colorado—March 26, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with three oil production companies operating on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana requiring the companies to address groundwater contamination threatening the City of Poplar’s public water supply system.

The agreement with Murphy Exploration & Production Co. (Murphy), Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc. (Pioneer), and Samson Hydrocarbons Co. (Samson) requires the companies to continue to monitor the City of Poplar’s public water supply monthly and provide treatment or an alternate drinking water source if water quality degrades to a point that presents a public health risk. These requirements will remain in effect until a new and safe source of drinking water is secured by the City of Poplar. The agreement also requires the companies to pay $320,000 to the City to reimburse costs related to water infrastructure and relocating water wells.

The administrative order, issued under the Safe Drinking Water Act, replaces an emergency order issued by EPA in December 2010. The companies had previously appealed this order in federal court, which referred the case to a mediation process. The agreement announced today is a result of that process.

“Murphy, Pioneer and Samson have made a commitment to ensure that the City of Poplar’s taps remain safe,” said Jim Martin, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver. “The companies will continue to monitor water quality and will take all actions necessary to maintain an uninterrupted supply of safe water to residents.”

Over the past several years, groundwater sampling results indicate that contamination related to production in the East Poplar oilfield has reached the City of Poplar’s water supply.

The source of this contamination is produced brine, highly saline wastewater containing trace metals, inorganic salt concentrations, and volatile organic compounds. EPA estimates that more than 40 million gallons of brine entered the drinking water aquifer over the span of five decades. The direction of the brine plume movement is generally toward the City of Poplar.

While treated water from the City of Poplar’s water system is currently safe to drink, monthly samples collected by the oil companies indicate an upward trend in total dissolved solids, chloride and sodium. Under the order announced today, EPA and the companies have identified trigger values that will allow time for action before the public water supply presents any health risks. If these values are met, the companies will take immediate steps to secure additional treatment or provide alternative water to ensure contamination levels are below human health thresholds.

A long-term alternative water source for the City of Poplar is currently being developed through construction of a pipeline from the Missouri River. The City also has plans to relocate its water wells to secure a back-up supply. These efforts are expected to be completed as early as this year.

EPA, the State of Montana, the Fort Peck Tribes, the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies have been aware of groundwater contamination in the East Poplar oil field for several decades. Various studies have been done in the area, and the nature, extent and movement of the plumes are relatively well known. EPA has addressed past contamination through four Safe Drinking Water Act orders issued to production companies between 1999 and 2004. Murphy, Pioneer and Samson are, directly or through corporate acquisition, historic oil producers in the East Poplar oil field.

Poplar is the seat of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. The Poplar-area public water system, the Fort Peck Tribe Water Resource, serves approximately 3,000 people, including tribal and non-tribal households.

News Release from Progress Energy

03/08/2012

Progress Energy implementing post-Fukushima lessons learned

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 8, 2012) – In the year since the tsunamis that caused accidents at nuclear power plants in Fukushima, Japan, Progress Energy has worked with the U.S. nuclear industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute and global resources to understand the events and implement changes to make the company’s plants even safer and better protected.

The company’s response includes in-depth inspections and analyses, physical changes, additional equipment to monitor and respond to potential emergencies, and plans for additional safety and security initiatives.

Progress Energy Chief Nuclear Officer James Scarola has been named as a special liaison for the U.S. nuclear industry’s Fukushima response. In that role, Scarola is helping lead the continuing effort to analyze lessons learned from the Fukushima events and response, and work with regulatory agencies, the industry and other stakeholders to implement enhancement plans at each of the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear plants.

Immediately following the March 11, 2011, accident at Fukushima Daiichi, Progress Energy conducted thorough inspections at each of its four nuclear sites located in the Carolinas and Florida. Plant personnel reviewed each plant’s emergency-response capabilities, written procedures and engineering specifications to verify each site’s ability to respond in the unlikely event of station blackout or record flood.

In 2012, Progress Energy is working to establish industry best practices and improve the safety standards and margin. The U.S. approach to safety at nuclear power plants is based on three layers of safety: protection, mitigation and emergency response. A revised strategy represents a significant expansion of the second layer — the ability to protect the plant and public in extreme external events that may exceed those for which the plant was designed.

Meanwhile, the nuclear industry is in the process of reanalyzing natural disasters, including earthquakes and flooding, to assess the state of readiness in light of the Japan events. U.S. nuclear companies are also adding emergency equipment, such as portable pumps and generators, to perform key safety functions if off-site electrical supplies and several backup power sources are lost to permanently installed safety systems due to natural and/or man-made causes.

Among the additional pieces of equipment, Progress Energy is adding, at each station, a high-capacity pump to maintain the ability to cool the reactor core in an unlikely accident, additional diesel generators for power restoration to critical equipment, and other associated support components (i.e., lights, fans, small generators, direct-current power supplies, pre-staged tool kits, fuel transfer equipment, hoses, cords, fittings, etc.). These systems and pieces of equipment are in addition to the numerous layers of safety measures and systems previously in place.

“At Progress Energy, we are committed to the relentless pursuit of safety,” Scarola said. “We know we need to learn every possible lesson from Japan, and apply those lessons in our quest for continuous improvement. While our nuclear power plants are built to the highest standards, it’s our job to continue to raise those standards by learning from Fukushima — just as we have from best practices and past challenges alike. While there are numerous studies that have validated the safety of our U.S. nuclear plants, our commitment is to make the future operation even safer than it is today.”

Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 500 energy company with 23,000 megawatts of generation capacity and approximately $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve about 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. The company has earned the Edison Electric Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in recognition of its operational excellence, and was the first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award for customer service. The company is pursuing a balanced strategy for a secure energy future, which includes aggressive energy-efficiency programs, investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. Progress Energy celebrated a century of service in 2008. Visit the company’s website at www.progress-energy.com.

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Viet Nam's Nuclear Dreams

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Friday, March 02, 2012

Vietnam’s Nuclear Dreams Blossom Despite Doubts

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

HANOI, Vietnam — Inside an unheated classroom at the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology here about 20 young government technicians from Vietnam’s incipient nuclear power industry kept on their winter jackets on the first morning of a 10-day workshop on radiation.

The workshop, sponsored by the semigovernmental Japan Atomic Energy Agency, started with Radiation Physics 101. The students then collected radiation samples with the help of Japanese specialists and analyzed them in a lab built by Japan.

“Nuclear power is important for Vietnam’s energy security, but, like fire, it has two sides,” said one of the students, Nguyen Xuan Thuy, 27. “We have to learn how to take advantage of its good side.”

As Vietnam prepares to begin one of the world’s most ambitious nuclear power programs, it is scrambling to raise from scratch a field of experts needed to operate and regulate nuclear power plants. The government, which is beefing up nuclear engineering programs at its universities and sending increasing numbers of young technicians abroad, says Vietnam will have enough qualified experts to safely manage an industry that is scheduled to grow from one nuclear reactor in 2020 to 10 reactors by 2030.

But some Vietnamese and foreign experts said that was too little time to establish a credible regulatory body, especially in a country with widespread corruption, poor safety standards and a lack of transparency. They said the overly ambitious timetable could lead to the kind of weak regulation, as well as collusive ties between regulators and operators, that contributed to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last year.

Drinking Water Grant to Plattsburg, MO

News release from EPA, Region 7:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

$364,000 Grant to Plattsburg, Mo., for Drinking Water Improvements

Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, (913) 551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov (news media only)

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Feb. 9, 2012) - EPA has awarded $364,000 to Plattsburg, Mo., for improvements to its drinking water system. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013.

EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks said, “The City of Plattsburg recognized the need for drinking water improvements and is taking proactive measures to provide safe drinking water now and in the future. This grant will partially fund the construction project which is estimated to cost $661,800.”

The purpose of the project is to increase the capacity of the current water transmission main which conveys water from the water treatment plant to the distribution system. The construction will include approximately 9,200 feet of 16-inch iron pipe, water valves and fire hydrants. This will reduce numerous leaks that have recently occurred. Such leaks can cause low water pressure and introduce contaminants to the water.

EPA oversees the protection of water quality and public health. The Safe Drinking Water Act protects human health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. The responsibility for ensuring safe drinking water is shared by EPA, states, tribes, water systems, and the public.

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Safe Drinking Water for Louisiana

News Release from EPA Region 6:

EPA Awards Over $470,000 to Provide Safe, Reliable Drinking Water to Louisiana Residents

(DALLAS – January 25, 2012)   A new grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will help provide safe, reliable drinking water to the people of Louisiana.  The grant for $474,382, given to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH), will be used to manage the state’s drinking water program.  These activities include attaining and maintaining safe drinking water quality standards, supporting the state’s public drinking water systems, and compliance, enforcement and technical assistance.

Additional information on EPA grants:  http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm
More about activities in EPA Region 6:  http://www.epa.gov/region6
EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/jan2012.html

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