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Heart Attack Victim Spills Oil Into Hyannis Harbor BOSTON, Massachusetts, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Coast Guard has reopened the Hyannis, Massachusetts inner harbor an estimated 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled at a ferry dock Saturday was contained.The accident occurred early Saturday morning when a Scudder-Taylor Gas Company employee suffered a fatal heart attack as he was refueling the Hy-Line ferry boat Gray Lady at the dock. Dead is Kurt Garland, 48, of Hyannis. Coast Guard Marine Safety Field Office Cape Cod personnel responded to the scene after the Hyannis Fire Department called the Coast Guard to report oil in the water around the ferry. Coast Guard personnel working with cleanup contractors from Fleet Environmental and Clean Harbors, Inc. deployed containment boom around the ferry and 70 percent of the oil has been sucked from the water by specially equipped tanker trucks. The oil remaining in the water has been contained. The harbor was closed to marine traffic for most of the day on Saturday for safety reasons. Ferry service to Hyannis resumed Sunday morning. Cleanup efforts continue into Saturday evening to recover as much remaining oil as possible from the water. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident. The Coast Guard says it responds to 38 oil spills and hazardous waste releases in U.S. coastal waters every day.
Alcoa Settles Mercury Violations in Texas' Lavaca Bay WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - Alcoa Inc. and Alcoa World Alumina L.L.C. have agreed to address mercury contaminated sediments in Lavaca Bay, Texas; ongoing unpermitted discharges of mercury into Lavaca Bay; and soil contamination at the Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay Superfund Site, according to four federal and three state agencies.Under two settlement agreements filed Friday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas the corporations will spend approximately $11.4 million to complete the remaining cleanup actions in addition to the $40 million they already have spent conducting early response actions. To restore ecological losses, Alcoa will cause the transfer of 729 acres of land to be preserved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, create 70 acres of intertidal salt marsh within the refuge, and create 11 acres of new oyster reef habitat in Lavaca Bay. The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced the two settlement agreements. Alcoa will act in cooperation and under the oversight of the agencies in carrying out these projects. Alcoa will also provide funds at settlement to cover future oversight costs and to reimburse past assessment and restoration planning costs incurred by these natural resource trustee agencies. The restoration actions included in this settlement were identified through a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process for the site that was undertaken cooperatively with Alcoa. That cooperative assessment process permitted comprehensive coverage of all NRDA issues associated with the site and led to good working relationships between the trustees, Alcoa, and the local community. Sediments in Lavaca Bay were contaminated with mercury from past operations at Alcoa’s Point Comfort facility. Alcoa Inc. owned the Point Comfort Plant from 1948 until 1994, when it was purchased by Alcoa World Alumina. For several years during its period of ownership, Alcoa operated a chlorine-alkali processing unit at the plant and discharged wastewater containing mercury into Lavaca Bay. Other areas around the facility were contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as a result of the processing of coal tar at the facility. In the early 1970s, mercury levels in oysters in Lavaca Bay were elevated and the Texas Department of Health closed parts of the bay to the harvesting of oysters. In 1988, the Department issued a closure order prohibiting the taking of finfish and crabs for consumption from a portion of Lavaca and Cox Bays, based on mercury levels found in these resources. Following early cleanup actions initiated by Alcoa in 1998, the health department reopened Cox Bay in January 2000, after additional sampling showed mercury levels in finfish and crabs had decreased to levels acceptable for human consumption. The closure order remains in effect for part of Lavaca Bay. Under the cleanup consent decree, Alcoa will dredge mercury contaminated sediments, operate a ground water recovery system at the former chlorine-alkali plant, cap portions of the plant and monitor sediments and fish to confirm the recovery of sediment and fish tissue to acceptable levels. In the past few years, Alcoa has paid more than $1 million for cleanup costs incurred by EPA and TCEQ. As part of today’s settlement, Alcoa also will pay past costs of $404,726 to the United States and $100,000 to Texas. The companies also agreed to pay the governments’ future costs. "Because of cooperative efforts by state and federal agencies, and Alcoa’s willingness to alleviate early-identified risks through removal action, we are already well on our way to completing the work to be done in Lavaca Bay," said EPA Region 6 Administrator Richard Greene. "For example, design work was completed as part of consent decree negotiations, so field work for remedial action can begin as soon as the court enters the decree." "Through the continued clean up of the site and the natural resource construction projects, both the priceless ecological balance and the recreational opportunities in Lavaca Bay are being restored. We are pleased to have played a lead role in both of these efforts, and will continue to work with our partners through these Consent Decrees to ensure all areas of the bay are fully restored," said TCEQ Executive Director Glenn Shankle. "The collaborative settlement efforts resulting in this land transfer and the creation of an intertidal salt marsh will be of tremendous benefit to all species that inhabit Aransas National Wildlife Refuge," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Director Dale Hall. To offset recreational fishing losses due to the closure, Alcoa will construct new fishing piers, replace a boat ramp and construct new timber docks.
EPA Plan to Blend Treated with Untreated Sewage Raises Stink WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to reverse a requirement that all wastewater facilities treat sewage to a secondary treatment level, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).For the last 50 years, standard sewage treatment has involved a two-step process - removal of solids, and biological treatment to kill bacteria, viruses and parasites. The new policy allows facilities to routinely bypass the second step and "blend" partially treated sewage with fully treated wastewater before discharging it into waterways, the nongovernmental organization says, warning that an increased threat of bacteria, viruses and parasites in American waterways will be the result. On November 4, 2003, the EPA proposed changes to the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements for municipal wastewater treatment during wet weather conditions allowing routine discharges of largely untreated sewage during rain events. The draft policy was issued for public comment. The EPA calls this proposal its "blending" policy because it would allow sewer operators to mix largely untreated sewage with treated sewage before discharging it into waterways. Untreated sewage contains pathogens - bacteria such as E.coli, viruses such as hepatitis A, protozoa such as cryptosporidium and giardia. The new proposal has not met with the approval of public health officials, state environmental officials, shellfishermen, or marina operators. Among those commenting negatively against the proposal were state environmental agencies in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and Washington, the American Public Health Association, the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers, several county public health agencies, and the Children’s Environmental Health Network. But Larry Jaworski, president of the Water Environment Federation said his organization is "pleased that EPA is providing national guidance on blending at municipal wastewater treatment plants during wet weather." "Blending is a longstanding, sensible practice used to manage high flow events at wastewater treatment plants while maintaining compliance with NPDES permit limits," Jaworski said. "EPA’s guidance will support local governments in planning and operating wastewater facilities which provide environmentally sound and cost effective treatment during a variety of conditions, leading to improvements in water quality." A November 2003 NRDC commissioned study by Michigan State University biologist Joan Rose concluded that the EPA's new policy would pose a significant threat to public health. Dr. Rose, an expert in water pollution microbiology and waterborne diseases, determined that "[t]he risks associated with swimming in waters receiving the blended flows were … 100 times greater than if the wastewater were fully treated." The new policy is illegal, said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC's Clean Water Project. The Clean Water Act requires sewer operators to fully treat sewage before discharging it except in an emergency, she said. Blended sewage does not meet this requirement, and the EPA has taken enforcement actions against sewer operators in which the agency has clearly stated in writing that blending violates the Clean Water Act. "The Bush administration claims that the blended sewage will meet all Clean Water Act standards, but that's not good enough to protect the public," Stoner said. "In fact, the law does not specifically cover many dangerous viruses and parasites, but biological treatment - the step the administration is making optional whenever it rains - removed those contaminants." The Bush administration's fiscal year 2005 budget called for cutting $492 million from the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund, which loans money to states to help pay for sewage treatment. Congress ultimately cut $250 million from the fund. Stoner said substantially more funding is needed to adequately protect the public. "The federal government should require treatment plants to upgrade their aging sewer systems and help them out with more funding," she said. "Instead, it cut funding and now will allow these facilities to discharge viruses and bacteria directly into our water." Ken Kirk, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, thinks the blending policy is a good idea, calling it "an excellent example of environmental policymaking that protects both the nation's waters and public health." Read the draft policy online at: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/cso/blending.cfm
Wisconsin Brings Small Sites Under Stormwater Permit Regulations MADISON, Wisconsin, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - Wisconsin is about to require small construction sites and municipalities, recycling facilities, and vehicle scrapping yards to obtain stormwater permits.The proposed permits aimed at reducing pollutants entering Wisconsin waters are the topic of statewide public hearings this month. The proposed permits carry out a federal law requiring smaller cities, villages, towns, and counties and smaller construction sites to meet the same kind of requirements for controlling stormwater that larger cities and construction sites have faced since the early 1990s. They also help enact standards Wisconsin adopted in 2002 to reduce polluted runoff and stormwater from entering lakes, streams, groundwater and wetlands. "Getting these permits developed is a big step toward helping reduce the impacts of urban areas on the Wisconsin waters that receive their stormwater," says Eric Rortvedt, who leads the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) stormwater program. "The majority of municipalities will now be required to reduce pollutants in their stormwater to meet their permit conditions, as will smaller construction sites and other activities with stormwater discharges," said Rortvedt. For construction sites disturbing one or more acres, the proposed general permit requires the landowner to submit an erosion control plan spelling out the best management practices that, by design, reduce by 80 the amount of sediment carried from the site in stormwater if no controls were in place. The landowner also must complete a plan for controlling stormwater from the site once construction is complete. Previously, such requirements applied to construction sites disturbing five acres or more. A general permit is proposed for municipalities in urbanized areas or with more than 10,000 people. It would require municipalities to meet federal requirements and state standards for reducing by 40 percent the total suspended solids carried in their stormwater discharge by 2013. About 60 municipalities are already covered by individual permits. The DNR expects to regulate the remaining 180 under this general permit. Municipalities would be required to reduce pollutants discharged through their stormwater sewers through efforts including public education and outreach, efforts to detect and eliminate illegal hookups to the sewer system, to develop construction site erosion control ordinances, and practicing pollution prevention in their municipal operations. Reissuance of an existing general permit will apply to facilities that assemble, break up, sort and wholesale distribute scrap and waste materials. Facilities dismantling vehicles for parts sales and salvage will also have to get a general permit, under the new requirements. Research on urban streams in Wisconsin has shown high concentrations of suspended solids, bacteria, heavy metals, oil and grease and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the discharges from municipal stormwater sewers, which empty directly into lakes with no treatment. Small construction sites, as well as large ones, are potential sources of large amounts of sediment erosion unless they have controls in place. Research by the U.S. Geological Survey research in Dane County showed that while construction sites make up 0.3 percent of the annual land use, they contributed 23 percent of the sediment load. Issuing general permits cuts paperwork for the Department of Natural Resources and for the municipalities and developers who will need them, Rortvedt says. The general permits will be good through 2009. The first public hearing was held in Eau Claire on Friday. This week hearings will take place:
Find out more at: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/nps/stormwater/ind.htm
Stormwater Best Management Practices Database to Be Upgraded ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - An award-winning comprehensive database of best management practices (BMPs) for dealing with stormwater has attracted a new coalition of partners to help in the funding and management of the project - the International Stormwater Best Management Practices Database.The database will be useful as communities, departments of transportation, and private parties plan to spend "potentially billions of dollars over the next several years as they implement BMPs for compliance with water quality regulatory programs," said Jeff Moeller, program director at the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), one of the coalition partners. Other coalition partners are the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Public Works Association, and two federal agencies - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Highway Administration. "The formation of a diverse coalition of organizations jointly committed to improving the knowledge and understanding of BMPs represents a new phase in the evolution of the BMP Database," said Jeff Moeller, program director at WERF. "These organizations represent the combined interests of municipalities, stormwater agencies, highway agencies, regulatory authorities, and consulting firms among others all working together on a significant endeavor," Moeller said. This database provides access to BMP performance data in a standardized format for about 200 BMP studies conducted over the past 15 years. The database may be searched and/or downloaded online and is available on CD-ROM. The coalition has contracted with Wright Water Engineers and GeoSyntec Consultants to operate the database, grow it through the addition of new data on best management practices, and develop protocols for integrating low impact development techniques into the database. Jon Jones of Wright Water Engineers and Eric Strecker of GeoSyntec Consultants will serve as co-principal investigators for the project. The project team has already identified over 35 new BMP data sets to be included in the database. Initially developed under grants from the EPA by a team of stormwater experts associated with the American Society of Civil Engineers' Urban Water Resources Research Council, the database provides a mechanism for scientifically based collection and management of data needed to evaluate the effectiveness of stormwater runoff BMPs. Information on the database is currently accessible through the project's website: http://www.bmpdatabase.org.
Solar Industry: Rooftop Photovoltaics Not in National Report WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - Solar industry leaders today found fault with the National Commission on Energy Policy report, "Ending the Energy Stalemate," for misreporting on current solar market trends in the United States. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade association of the solar industry, said that the report did not include electricity generation from homeowners’ and businesses’ rooftop solar systems."Consumer owned rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems are the fastest growing sector of the U.S. solar market," said Rhone Resch, executive director of SEIA. "These distributed clean technologies have high value for their ability to generate electricity at the point of consumer use. Leaving out solar rooftops is like doing a telecommunications usage survey and leaving out cell phones." Including rooftop systems, the U.S. has approximately 185 MW of grid connected PV capacity, four times greater than the number cited in the National Commission on Energy Policy report. The industry association estimates that more than 80 MW of grid-connected photovoltaics were installed in 2004 alone. The National Commission on Energy Policy is a bipartisan group of energy experts from industry, government, labor, academia, and environmental and consumer groups that December 8 released a consensus strategy, more than two years in the making, to address major long term U.S. energy challenges. Given the burgeoning market for rooftop photovoltaics, the SEIA questioned the National Commission on Energy Policy report's preference for an existing 1.8 cents / kWh production tax credit as a vehicle for commercialization of solar energy. "For rooftop solar, a 1.8 cent production tax credit is just not worth the transaction costs," said Colin Murchie, SEIA director of government affairs. "In large scale generation – concentrating solar thermal energy, for example – a production credit makes sense. But you can't pay for a home system by having the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] come out and read your meter to garner $40 a year." As an alternative, the solar industry is calling for simple, sustained, annually declining tax credits for homes and businesses that purchase solar energy systems. The industry argues that this mechanism would accelerate the deployment of solar energy systems, make solar cost competitive with conventional energies by 2015, and stimulate over 260,000 jobs in this clean energy industry by 2030. The National Commission on Energy Policy report won solar industry approval with its call for $300 million annually for solar research and development by 2010. "With the global solar industry doubling in size every two years, maintaining U.S. technology ownership is more critical than ever," said Resch. "Increasing the solar budget to $300 million annually will allow the U.S. to leverage our research and development excellence - and grow solar markets at home and abroad." SEIA is the national trade association of solar energy manufacturers, dealers, distributors, contractors, installers, architects, consultants and marketers, working to expand the use of solar technologies in the global marketplace.
Door Open to Florida's New Green Lodging Locator Wabsite WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2004 (ENS) - TALLAHASSEE, Florida, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Earth 911 have opened the Florida Green Lodging Locator, a new online resource to help travelers locate environmentally friendly hotels and motels in Florida that are participating in the DEP Green Lodging Certification program. "This new site is a useful new tool for the tourism industry in Florida and for organizations interested in supporting environmental awareness and conservation," said DEP Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs and Energy Allan Bedwell. "By choosing Green Lodging, Florida’s residents and visitors can exhibit their environmental stewardship while traveling." Launched last March, the Florida Green Lodging Certification program assists hotels and motels in adopting practices which conserve water and electricity, reduce waste and safeguard the environment. In March four hotels were certified to the program - Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville, Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs, and both Disney’s Boardwalk and Coronado Springs Resorts in Orlando. At the Hyatt Regency, for example, there is a new linen reuse program and a state of the art laundry facility that recycles water and steam and uses an automated system to optimize water and chemical use. In addition the resort optimizes the energy efficiency of their heating and cooling systems such as an ice storage air conditioning system and automated air temperature controls in public areas. Heat recovery systems utilize waste heat from condensers and recover the heat that rises to corridor ceilings. The Florida Green Lodging Locator provides the location of both certified lodges and those in the process of becoming certified, assisting users in locating a green facility, and also providing information about each lodge’s environmental conservation efforts. Visitors to the site may also provide feedback to the DEP on their experience with a certified hotel or motel. For more information on the Florida Green Lodging Program and web locator tool, visit: www.floridagreenlodging.org or www.earth911.org.
Tritium Exit Light Maker Denied License Renewal WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2004 (ENS) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has denied applications to renew the two licenses of the Safety Light Corporation in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. The agency has also issued an order suspending the licenses when they expire at the end of this month.Presently, the company manufactures self-luminous exit signs using the radioactive element tritium under one of its NRC licenses. The other license authorizes characterization and decommissioning of contaminated facilities, equipment and land from previous operations at the site. The low energy beta radiation from tritium cannot penetrate human skin, so tritium is only dangerous if consumed in large quantities. Small amounts are used with phosphors for self-illuminating devices such as watches and exit signs. But in its application requesting the renewal of the two licenses, the company did not provide a decommissioning funding plan, as required. Instead, the company requested that the NRC grant an exemption from this requirement. The company made a similar request when renewing its licenses in 1999. The Commission granted that request with two conditions - that the company make payments to the decommissioning trust fund at a set schedule, and that the company demonstrate compliance with NRC requirements regarding decommissioning funding at the time of its next renewal. Because the company did not fully comply with those requirements, it has failed to satisfy both of the conditions for renewal of the licenses. The NRC says it issued the order suspending the company’s licenses when they expire on December 31, because the agency found that the failure to make the required payments was "willful and adversely affected the safe conduct of activities under the company’s licenses." The order also requires Safety Light to submit to the NRC by December 20 a plan for an orderly shutdown of its licensed activities. Because Safety Light did not comply with the Commission's substantive requirements, "The staff does not have the requisite assurance in Safety Light's ability to comply with those requirements in the future," said Jack Strosnider, director of the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards. "Consequently, the staff is unable to make the requisite findings to grant an exemption." Safety Light has 20 days to request a hearing on this issue. |
AmeriScan: December 13, 2004
