Visibility to Improve at 18 National Parks and Wilderness Areas

Press release:

For Immediate Release: July 2, 2012

Contact:  Margot Perez-Sullivan, (415) 947-4149, perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov

Visibility to Improve at 18 National Parks and Wilderness Areas

More than 11 million Arizona park visitors will benefit annually

SAN FRANCISCO – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to approve Arizona’s air quality plan to control sulfur dioxide and soot at three power plants in the state. EPA is also proposing additional pollution controls for nitrogen oxide at those plants. These actions will improve visibility and human health at 18 national parks and wilderness areas, including the Grand Canyon, Saguaro National Park and the Petrified Forest.

More than 11 million people visit national parks in Arizona every year. Yet for many visitors the spectacular vistas are veiled in haze, dulling the natural beauty. Ninety percent of the time, the Grand Canyon’s air is impaired by pollution. On average, pollution reduces the Grand Canyon's pristine natural visual range by more than 30 percent.


EPA is proposing to approve Arizona’s plan that controls emissions of sulfur dioxide and coarse particles from the older boilers at three power plants located in eastern Arizona. In addition, EPA is proposing a federal plan to limit nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions at these same three plants. Specifically, the proposal is designed to cut NOx emissions by 7,800 tons per year at the Cholla Power Plant, 4,700 tons/year at the Apache Generating Station, and 4,500 tons/year at the Coronado Generating Station.


“Visitors to magnificent national parks in Arizona like the Grand Canyon are critical to the state’s economy,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “This proposal will make scenic vistas clearer while cleaning the air that Arizonans breathe.”


Under the Clean Air Act, Congress set a long-term goal of restoring natural visibility conditions in numerous national parks and wilderness areas throughout the United States, known as Class 1 Areas. One of the strategies for achieving this goal is the use of Best Available Retrofit Technology at older power plants that cause or contribute to visibility impairment at Class I areas. The three power plants impact 18 of these areas.


In addition to reducing visibility, NOx reacts with other chemicals to form ozone and fine particles, both harmful to the public’s health. Ozone forms when NOx and volatile organic compounds react in the presence of heat and sunlight. Children, the elderly, people with lung diseases such as asthma, and people who work or exercise outside are at risk for adverse effects from ozone and particulate matter.  


EPA is soliciting public comments on the proposal through August 31, and will host a public workshop and hearing Tuesday July 31 in Phoenix. The deadline for final EPA action is November 15, 2012.


For more information, including a map, please go to the e-media kit at: www.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/azfip/
For additional information on the proposed rulemaking and opportunities to provide input, please go to: www.epa.gov/region9/air/actions/az.html#all

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$59,876 Grant to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Press release:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

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

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

$59,876 Grant to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

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

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., July 3, 2012) - EPA is providing a $59,876 urban waters grant to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) to evaluate the effectiveness of neighborhood green infrastructure in metropolitan St. Louis, Mo.

SIUE and partners, including the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, the City of St. Louis and Habitat for Humanity of St. Louis, will conduct a study in the JeffVanderLou neighborhood in north St. Louis. Previously installed rain gardens and planter boxes are examples of green infrastructure practices that will be evaluated for their impact on reducing stormwater runoff to combined sewers. The grant also will be used for workshops for neighborhood residents on how to effectively maintain rain gardens and planter boxes.

“This project will benefit JeffVanderLou neighborhood residents, university students and the entire St. Louis community,” said Karl Brooks, regional administrator. “Rain gardens help remove pollutants and reduce stormwater runoff.”

Many urban waterways have been polluted for years by runoff from city streets and contamination from abandoned industrial facilities. Healthy and accessible urban waters can help grow local businesses and enhance educational, economic, recreational, employment and social opportunities in nearby communities. By promoting public access to urban waterways, EPA will help communities become active participants in restoring urban waters while improving and protecting their neighborhoods.

EPA’s Urban Waters Program supports the goals and principles of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, a partnership of 12 federal agencies working to reconnect urban communities with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies and collaborating with community-led revitalization efforts.

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EPA Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Maintain Focus on Largest Emitters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2012

EPA Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Maintain Focus on Largest Emitters
Steps to streamline process will ease burden on state and local permitting authorities
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will not revise greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds under the Clean Air Act. Today’s final rule is part of EPA’s common-sense, phased-in approach to GHG permitting under the Clean Air Act, announced in 2010 and recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The final rule maintains a focus on the nation’s largest emitters that account for nearly 70 percent of the total GHG pollution from stationary sources, while shielding smaller emitters from permitting requirements. EPA is also finalizing a provision that allows companies to set plant-wide emissions limits for GHGs, streamlining the permitting process, increasing flexibilities and reducing permitting burdens on state and local authorities and large industrial emitters.

After consulting with the states and evaluating the phase-in process, EPA believes that current conditions do not suggest that EPA should lower the permitting thresholds. Therefore, EPA will not include additional, smaller sources in the permitting program at this time.

Today’s final rule affirms that new facilities with GHG emissions of at least 100,000 tons per year (tpy) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) will continue to be required to obtain Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits. Existing facilities that emit 100,000 tpy of CO2e and make changes increasing the GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy of CO2e, must also obtain PSD permits. Facilities that must obtain a PSD permit, to include other regulated pollutants, must also address GHG emission increases of 75,000 tpy or more of CO2e. New and existing sources with GHG emissions above 100,000 tpy CO2e must also obtain operating permits.

EPA’s GHG permitting program follows the same Clean Air Act process that states and industry have followed for decades to help ensure that new or modified facilities are meeting requirements to protect air quality and public health from harmful pollutants. As of May 21, 2012, EPA and state permitting authorities have issued 44 PSD permits addressing GHG emissions. These permits have required new facilities, and existing facilities that make major modifications, to implement energy efficiency measures to reduce their GHG emissions.

The GHG Tailoring Rule will continue to address a group of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The PSD permitting program protects air quality and allows economic growth by requiring facilities that trigger PSD to limit GHG emissions in a cost effective way. An operating permit lists all of a facility’s Clean Air Act emissions control requirements and ensures adequate monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting. The operating permit program allows an opportunity for public involvement and to improve compliance.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/

R119

PUB Singapore Upgrades Changi Water Reclamation Plant with GE Advanced Technology

Press release:

03 July 2012

PUB Singapore Upgrades Changi Water Reclamation Plant with GE Advanced Technology

 

• GE to Supply EPC UES Holdings Pte Ltd with ZeeWeed* Advanced Membrane Bioreactor Technology
• Part of Singapore’s Master Plan for Water Sustainability over the next 100 Years, the Changi Facility is at the Heart of Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System
• ZeeWeed is an Advanced Filtration Technology that Separates Particles, Bacteria and Viruses from Water and Wastewater

Singapore International Water WeekBooth #PO2
SINGAPORE—July 3, 2012—GE (NYSE: GE) today announced at Singapore International Water Week 2012 that it will supply PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, with its advanced membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater-treatment technology for an expansion of PUB’s Changi Water Reclamation Plant. GE will supply its ZeeWeed* technology to engineering, procurement and construction company UES Holdings Pte Ltd (UESH) for the Changi upgrade.

The Singapore-based Changi Water Reclamation Plant was first constructed in 2007 to initially treat 800 MLD or 800,000 m³/d. Once operational, the expanded plant will be able to handle a maximum wastewater flow of about 860 MLD or 860,000 m³/d.
Under the contract with UESH, GE will supply the Changi Water Reclamation Plant with MBR technology and equipment featuring ZeeWeed 500reinforced, hollow-fiber membranes, which have more than two decades of wastewater treatment and water reuse experience. GE also will provide cassettes, engineering design and commissioning support.

“Using GE’s advanced ZeeWeed MBR technology, the expanded Changi Water Reclamation Plant will provide superior effluent quality for both direct discharge to the environment or as feed water to Singapore’s NEWater program,” Johnson Tang, managing director, UESH.

As part of Singapore’s master plan for water sustainability over the next 100 years, the Changi Water Reclamation Plant is at the heart of Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS), a superhighway for collecting used water. The conceptual plan for the DTSS consists of two large deep tunnels that span the island conveying wastewater to two centralized wastewater treatment facilities. Phase 1 of the DTSS system was completed in 2008 and conveys wastewater from North and East Singapore to the Changi Water Reclamation Plant. It comprises a 48 km long deep tunnel sewer running from Kranji to Changi, a centralized water reclamation plant at Changi, two 5 km long deep sea outfall pipes and 60 km of link sewer.

The treated used water from the Changi Water Reclamation Plant will then be discharged into the sea through deep sea outfall pipes or channeled to the Changi NEWater factory on the rooftop of the reclamation plant where it is further purified through advanced membrane technologies into NEWater, Singapore’s own brand of reclaimed water.

ZeeWeed 500 technology is an advanced filtration technology that separates particles, bacteria and viruses from water or wastewater. Nearly 1,000 plants worldwide use this technology to produce superior quality drinking water and to meet or exceed stringent wastewater treatment and water reuse standards.

Combined with the Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant, the expanded Changi Water Reclamation Plant will be GE’s second MBR plant for Singapore’s PUB. Counting drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment, the Changi Water Reclamation Plant expansion will be GE’s fifth ultrafiltration/microfiltration membrane project with Singapore’s PUB. GE will ship the equipment to Singapore in the second and third quarter of 2013, and the expanded Changi Water Reclamation Plant is expected to be operational during the third or fourth quarter of 2013.

“PUB is one of the most influential public water agencies in the world and is known as an innovator that stays on the cutting edge of technology. With today’s announcement, GE’s ZeeWeed technology will be in two of Singapore’s water reclamation plants,” said Jeff Connelly, vice president, engineered systems—water and process technologies for GE Power & Water. “MBR systems are considered the best available technology for virtually all wastewater treatment applications and GE’s ZeeWeed MBR systems are the most widely used, reinforced, hollow-fiber ultrafiltration technologies available today.”

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

GE Energy works connecting people and ideas everywhere to create advanced technologies for powering a cleaner, more productive world. With more than 100,000 employees in over 100 countries, our diverse portfolio of product and service solutions and deep industry expertise help our customers solve their challenges locally. We serve the energy sector with technologies in such areas as natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear energy; wind, solar, biogas and water processing; energy management; and grid modernization. We also offer integrated solutions to serve energy- and water-intensive industries such as mining, metals, marine, petrochemical, food & beverage and unconventional fuels.

Follow GE Energy on Twitter @GE_Energy.

* Trademark of the General Electric Company, may be registered in one or more countries.

EPA Awards $200,000 for Environmental Job Training Grant in Hartford, Conn.

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
July 2, 2012

Contact:  David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

EPA Awards $200,000 for Environmental Job Training Grant in Hartford, Conn.

(Boston, Mass. – July 2, 2012) – A $200,000 EPA grant will assist North Star Center for Human Development, Inc. in Connecticut to train 60 students, and place at least 54 graduates in environmental jobs. The grant is available through EPA’s Brownfields “Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training” program.

North Star will use the EPA funding to recruit, train and place local unemployed and underemployed residents from Hartford’s historically disadvantaged North End in environmental jobs. These neighborhoods have been plagued with high unemployment, high poverty, and low per-capita income rates. Hartford is one of the poorest cities in Connecticut with per capita income of less than $17,000.


The training program will offer courses in green and renewable energy, brownfields remediation technology, OSHA HAZWOPER, wastewater and storm water treatment technology and sustainable urban agriculture.  The comprehensive program will train 60 students, and place at least 54 graduates in environmental jobs.  The program will also track graduates for two years to ensure program efficacy.


“EPA’s Brownfield Job Training grants can be a real catalyst helping to change peoples’ lives for the better,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Our investments to provide people with the skills to earn a good living are also helping to protect the health of the local community by targeting historically disadvantaged neighborhoods where environmental cleanups and jobs are often most needed.”


North Star will target displaced workers, veterans, ex-offenders, and other disadvantaged residents for this job training program.  Participants who complete the core training will earn eight federal worker certifications. North Star was the past recipient of a 2007 Brownfields Job Training Grant and a 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Job Training Grant.  North Star has developed a system that delivers introductory level environmental remediation and green technology job training to students and has effectively placed participants in green jobs that benefit both the students and their community.

“North Star is extremely excited by this opportunity to continue to offer environmental remediation and green technology training to the residents of the City of Hartford, especially those residing in its North End neighborhoods. Presently, we have trained and graduated a total 192 trainees, and we have an 80 percent placement rate in industries including hazardous waste management, spill response, and lead and asbestos abatement contractors,” said Jewel Brown, Executive Director, North Star Center for Human Development, Inc.

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $42 million nationally under the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program. As of June 2012, approximately 10,300 individuals had completed training and approximately 7,300 obtained employment in the environmental field, with an average starting hourly wage of $14.12. The development of this green workforce will allow the trainees to develop skills that will make them competitive in the construction and redevelopment fields.

Graduates of the program are equipped with skills and certifications in various environmental fields including lead and asbestos abatement, environmental site sampling, construction and demolition debris recycling, underground storage tank removal, ecological restoration, and green building techniques. Graduates use these skills to improve the environment and people’s health while supporting economic development in their communities.

More information: EPA environmental workforce development and job training grants: 


(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot_grants.htm)

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EPA Education Grant of $150,000 Awarded to Earth Force

Press release:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

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

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

EPA Education Grant of $150,000 Awarded to Earth Force

Contact Information: Denise Morrison, (913) 551-7402, morrison.denise@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., July 2, 2012) - EPA has awarded a $150,000 Environmental Education Grant to Earth Force, of Denver, Colo.

Earth Force, a non-profit organization, will use the grant to make 19 small grant awards up to $5,000 each to organizations that apply with a joint application and agree to work together as a team. Each team applicant will identify partner organizations within their community to meet the specific goals identified in their application. These awards will be used for the development and implementation of projects, programs and solutions to meet a variety of educational and environmental priorities. Four of the 19 awards will be made to organizations working directly on the development of environmental literacy plans.

“The variety of organizations and diversity of projects to receive these environmental education sub awards will exhibit the commitment of communities to creating and sustaining a healthy environment,” said Karl Brooks, Region 7 administrator. “The rewards to be reaped from these sub awards will be visible in a stronger earth, cleaner air, reduced pollution, environmentally astute citizens, and healthier people.”

These projects will bring together diverse organizations working on a number of environmental issues that will meet the needs of their community. Sub award applicants will have the flexibility to support the strategic initiatives identified through one or more EPA educational priorities such as community projects, human health and the environment.

The Environmental Education Grant Program is a competitive grant program that supports EPA’s efforts to enhance the public’s awareness and knowledge about environmental issues. This grant program supports environmental education projects to increase the skills that help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality and to take responsible actions toward the environment.

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Midwest ranchers, lawmakers protest EPA flyovers

Midwest ranchers, lawmakers protest EPA flyovers