US settles with Costco to cut ozone-depleting and greenhouse gas refrigerant emissions nationwide

EPA News Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 3, 2014

US settles with Costco to cut ozone-depleting and greenhouse gas refrigerant emissions nationwide

WASHINGTON– Costco Wholesale Corporation, the nation’s second largest retailer, has agreed to cut its emissions of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gas chemicals from refrigeration equipment at more than half of its stores nationwide.

In the settlement announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ), Costco will pay $335,000 in penalties for federal Clean Air Act violations and improve refrigerant management at 274 stores at an estimated cost of $2 million over the next three years.

“Cutting harmful greenhouse gas emissions is a national priority for EPA, and this settlement will lead to significant reductions of an ozone-depleting gas that is 1,700 times more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Fixing leaks of refrigerants, improving compliance and reducing emissions will make a real difference in protecting us from the dangers of ozone depletion, while reducing the impact on climate change.”

“Compliance with the nation’s Clean Air Act is key to protecting all Americans from air pollution that damages our atmosphere and changes our climate,” said Sam Hirsch, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Industry needs to lead the way in abandoning harmful chemicals in favor of using and developing greener, environmentally friendly alternatives to protect our health and our climate.”

Costco violated the federal Clean Air Act by failing to repair leaks of the refrigerant R-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon and a powerful ozone-depleting substance, between 2004 and 2007. Costco also failed to keep adequate records of the servicing of its refrigeration equipment, required by the Clean Air Act to prevent harmful leaks.

Under the settlement, Costco will implement a refrigerant management system to prevent and repair coolant leaks and reduce its corporate-wide average leak rate by one-fifth (from 24 percent in 2011 to 19 percent or less by 2017). Costco will install and operate environmentally friendly glycol secondary loop refrigeration systems and centrally monitored refrigerant leak detection systems at all new stores for three years.  As required by the settlement, Costco will retrofit commercial refrigeration equipment at 30 stores, reducing ozone-depleting and greenhouse gas emissions.

The measures required of Costco by the settlement are expected to prevent more than 105,000 pounds of future releases of ozone-depleting refrigerants that destroy the ozone layer. Destroying the ozone layer results in dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet solar radiation striking the earth, increasing skin cancers and cataracts.

R-22 is also a potent greenhouse gas with 1,700 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide or CO2.  The measures required by the settlement are expected to reduce Costco’s greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of approximately 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. 

The settlement is part of EPA’s national enforcement initiative to control harmful air pollution from the largest sources of emissions, including large grocery stores. 

Clean Air Act Title VI requires owners or operators of commercial refrigeration equipment with over 50 pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerants, and with an annual leak rate greater than 35 percent, to  repair all leaks within 30 days.

Corporate commitments to reduce emissions from refrigeration systems have been increasing in recent years. EPA’s GreenChill Partnership Program works with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer and climate change by transitioning to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, using less refrigerant and eliminating leaks, and adopting green refrigeration technologies and best environmental practices.

Costco, headquartered in Issaquah, Wash., operates 466 stores in 43 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and additional stores worldwide, with revenues of $105.2 billion in 2013. The settlement covers 274 Costco stores that have commercial refrigeration equipment regulated by the Clean Air Act.

The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

Read the proposed settlement at: http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/costco-wholesale-corporation-clean-air-act-settlement

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U.S. EPA Approves Carbon Sequestration Permits in Central Illinois

EPA Press Release:

U.S. EPA Approves Carbon Sequestration Permits in Central Illinois

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

For Immediate Release         No. 14-OPA106 

(CHICAGO – September 2, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved permits allowing the FutureGen Industrial Alliance Inc. to inject carbon dioxide deep underground near Jacksonville, Illinois. This process – known as “carbon sequestration” – is a means of storing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. These four identical permits are the nation’s first Class VI underground injection permits for carbon sequestration.

FutureGen plans to capture carbon dioxide produced by a retrofitted coal-fueled power plant formerly operated by Ameren Energy Resources in Meredosia, Illinois. The captured carbon dioxide would then be transported and injected deep underground via the four proposed wells, which would be constructed in Morgan County. FutureGen’s goal is to capture and inject 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year for 20 years. Sequestering 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year is the equivalent of eliminating carbon emissions from 232,000 cars.

EPA completed a technical review of the permits and responded to over 280 public comments before approving the permits. FutureGen can begin drilling the wells next month in preparation for injecting liquefied carbon dioxide. The four wells will be drilled from the same location to a depth of approximately 4,000 feet underground. FutureGen must demonstrate the integrity of the wells before injecting carbon dioxide and conduct extensive monitoring at the location.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/futuregen/

Trans Energy Inc. to Restore Streams and Wetland Damaged By Natural Gas Extraction Activities in West Virginia

EPA News Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2014

Trans Energy Inc. to Restore Streams and Wetland Damaged By Natural Gas Extraction Activities in West Virginia

Company will also pay $3 million civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced a settlement with Trans Energy Inc., requiring the oil and gas company to restore portions of streams and wetlands at 15 sites in West Virginia polluted by the company’s unauthorized discharge of dredge or fill material.

Trans Energy will pay a penalty of $3 million to be divided equally between the federal government and WVDEP.  The Clean Water Act requires a company to obtain a permit from EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to discharging dredge or fill material into wetlands, rivers, streams, and other waters of the United States.

“As part of our commitment to safe development of domestic energy supplies, EPA is working to protect wetlands and local water supplies on which communities depend,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “By enforcing environmental laws, we’re helping to ensure a level playing field for responsible businesses."

“Today’s agreement requires that Trans Energy take important steps to comply with state and federal laws that are critical to protecting our nation’s waters, wetlands and streams,” said Sam Hirsch, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “We will continue to ensure that the development of our nation’s domestic energy resources, including through the use of hydraulic fracturing techniques, complies with the Clean Water Act and other applicable federal laws.”

In addition to the penalty, the company will reconstruct impacted aquatic resources or address impacts at 15 sites, provide appropriate compensatory mitigation for impacts to streams and wetlands, and implement a comprehensive program to ensure future compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and applicable state law. Among other requirements, the company will work to ensure that all aquatic resources are identified prior to starting work on future projects in West Virginia, and that appropriate consideration is given at the design stage to avoid and minimize impacts to aquatic resources. It is estimated that Trans Energy will spend more than $13 million to complete the restoration and mitigation work required by the consent decree.

The federal government and WVDEP allege that the company impounded streams and discharged sand, dirt, rocks and other materials into streams and wetlands without a federal permit to construct well pads, impoundments, road crossings and other facilities related to natural gas extraction. The government alleges the violations impacted approximately 13,000 linear feet of stream and more than an acre of wetlands.

Filling wetlands illegally and damming streams can result in serious environmental consequences. Streams, rivers, and wetlands benefit the environment by reducing flood risks, filtering pollutants, recharging groundwater and drinking water supplies, and providing food and habitat for aquatic species.

EPA discovered the violations in 2011 and 2012 through information provided by WVDEP and the public, and through routine field inspections. In summer 2014, the company conducted an internal audit and ultimately disclosed to EPA alleged violations at eight additional locations, which are also being resolved through this Consent Decree.

The settlement also resolves alleged violations of state law brought by WVDEP.

The consent decree has been lodged in the Northern District of West Virginia and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.

For more information:  http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/trans-energy-inc-clean-water-act-settlement

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Un-Paving the Way to Successful Outdoor Education in Urban Settings

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Chris Strebig and Kate Jerman, Rocky Mountain Region, U.S. Forest Service, on September 2, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Children from Warren Village discover hiding spots for bugs at Warren Village’s new Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom in Denver. (Courtesy of Dexter Lane, Nature Explore)

Mothers sit and laugh together, shaded by newly planted trees. They look on while their children play and explore in dirt and grass at the new Outdoor Nature Explore Classroom of Warren Village in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

A U.S. Forest Service grant of $100,000 and a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation made the outdoor classroom possible.

This new outdoor space is un-paving the way to outdoor education opportunities for urban children in Denver, planting the seeds of inspired outdoor learning through the use of nature play spaces. In contrast to the previous hardened playground with sticky asphalt and hot metal slides, children of Warren Village are now immersed in a nature play zone of trees, shade, dirt, flowers, plants, stumps, stones and water.

Here, getting your hands dirty is encouraged and part of the first-hand learning process that goes along with exploring natural surroundings.

“The gift of hope and possibility is what you have set course to do with this great Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom,” said Forest Service Associate Chief Mary Wagner, who cut the ribbon with children from the Village earlier this summer. “And so for the teachers and the parents who are going to back and support students in this experience – thank you – because you are changing lives and you may possibly be changing the world.”

During the ceremony, Wagner announced an additional $55,000 in funding from the Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Colorado State Forest Service and the Arbor Day Foundation. These resources will transform the remaining hardened landscape, creating an expanded certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom this fall.

Warren Village provides transitional housing for refugees and previously homeless, single-parent families, helping them to achieve personal and economic self-sufficiency. Warren Village supports programs that move families from public assistance to personal and economic self-sufficiency through subsidized housing, on-site child care, educational guidance and career development.

Many of these families have not been exposed to natural settings, nor had the opportunity to connect to nature in any real way. This space fosters that connection to the natural world in a safe and inviting environment.

Cultivating this connection to nature between urban families and the outdoors will have lasting effects for a child’s development. Experts from Nature Explore, a collaborative program of the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, designed the outdoor classroom for creative exploration.

“We think that this program will help to nurture creativity more than anything we could have done before with a playground made of plastic and metal. As cute as it was, we think this will be so much better,” said Sharon Knight, chief executive officer and executive director of Warren Village.

Children will learn about ecosystems and food systems by helping to plant and grow flowers and vegetables, explore native critters and bugs within seasonal cycles, and explore the importance of natural places to the health of communities.

“These are truly transformational spaces for children,” said John Rosenow, founder and executive director of the Arbor Day Foundation. We need to have a lot of people who have a connection and a love of nature in their heart to become the future generation of environmental stewards.”

A short video about Warren Village’s new Nature Outdoor Explore Classroom offers more information about how it works.

EPA Reduces Hazardous Air Pollutants in New Mexico

EPA News Release:

EPA Reduces Hazardous Air Pollutants in New Mexico  

                                          

DALLAS – (Sept. 2, 2014) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reducing hazardous air pollutants released into the environment by awarding $598,224 to the New Mexico Department of Environmental Quality. The grant will promote and support sustainability and pollution prevention in the state.

Pollution prevention, or reducing pollution at the source, is an integral component to becoming more sustainable over time. Sustainability involves understanding and evaluating environmental performance and impacts, economic productivity, and individual and societal needs.

For more than forty years, the Clean Air Act has cut pollution as the U.S. economy has grown. It has also lowered levels of six common pollutants -- particles, ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide -- as well as numerous toxic pollutants. The progress of the Act reflects efforts by state, local and tribal governments; EPA; private sector companies; environmental groups and others.

For more info on the progress of the Clean Air Act visit:http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/progress.html#pollution 

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

Connect with EPA Region 6:

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eparegion6 

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/EPAregion6

Activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.htm 

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Governor Quinn Announces $14.4 Million Investment in Chicago’s Southland

Illinois.gov - Illinois Government News Network (IGNN) - Search the News Results

Remembering Martha « Commentary Magazine

On the afternoon of September 1, 1914—one hundred years ago today—the dead body of a bird was found lying on the floor of its cage in the Cincinnati Zoo. That was, and is, not unusual. Birds mostly have short life expectancies. But this one was special. It was frozen in a 300-pound block of ice and shipped by fast train to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington where it was stuffed and mounted.



Remembering Martha « Commentary Magazine