• Alaska Fur Brokerage House Charged in Bid-Rigging Conspiracy
  
• Mississippi Escaped Some Hazardous Discharges After Katrina
  
• California Approves $2.9 Billion Solar Power Initiative
  
• Walgreens to Equip 112 Stores With Solar Power
  
• Tribes Invited to Submit Proposals for Nonpoint Source Pollution Grants
  
• Pennsylvania Governor Opposes Curb on Access to Toxic Release Data
  
• Twenty Miles of Puget Sound Shoreline Buffered for Salmon
  

Alaska Fur Brokerage House Charged in Bid-Rigging Conspiracy

Mississippi Escaped Some Hazardous Discharges After Katrina

The agency sampled soil and sediments collected near facilities that handle hazardous substances and hazwaste facilities to determine if flooding from the storm surge released hazardous constituents and materials.

The facilities being investigated are located in the storm surge impacted portions of in Mississippi's Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

The sampled sites include Sonford Products; Chemfax, Inc.; DuPont DeLisle at Pass Christian; Chevron Pascagoula; First Chemical; Mississippi Phosphates; Omega Protein at Moss Point; Port Bienville Industrial Park where Polychemie, Inc. is located; and Ershigs Fiberglass, Inc.

Based on the sampling results, EPA does not believe these sites were impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

The EPA's conclusions regarding the impact of the hurricane on these sites are based on a comparison of post-hurricane data to available past sample data collected during facility investigations or routine monitoring activities, the agency said.

In addition, the results were compared to EPA Region 9 Preliminary Remediation Goals to determine if conditions at the sites might represent previously unrecognized risks to human health and the environment.

EPA Region 9 Preliminary Remediation Goals, oneline at: http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/sfund/prg/index.html, are described by the agency as conservative risk-based concentrations based on long-term exposures in either a residential or commercial/industrial setting.

They are considered by EPA to be protective for people, including sensitive groups, over a lifetime.

Hurricane Katrina struck the central Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005 and was the sixth strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Storm surge from Katrina caused catastrophic damage along the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

s Katrina is estimated to be reponsible for $75 billion in damages, making it the costliest hurricane in United States history.

California Approves $2.9 Billion Solar Power Initiative

Walgreens to Equip 112 Stores With Solar Power

The new systems will generate more than 13.8 million kilowatt-hours per year, making this the largest solar project ever completed in the United States, Walgreens said announcing the project on January 11. The first systems are expected to be operational early this year.

"Climate change, air pollution and depletion of natural resources are some of the most significant environmental problems facing the world today," said Tom Bergseth, divisional vice president of facilities, planning and design for Walgreens. "We're excited about implementing this progressive approach toward using clean, renewable energy to benefit the communities we serve."

Solar roof tiles will enable each facility to generate between 20 and 50 percent of its own electricity on site.

The stores will host solar electric systems that will replace energy equivalent to more than 22 million gallons of gas and avoid hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide emissions comparable to growing more than five million tree seedlings.

"This is an unprecedented environmental initiative," said ImaginIt founding president Patrina Eiffert. "Walgreens is demonstrating a level of social responsibility that could make a significant difference for our future."

ImaginIt Inc. provides innovative solutions based on its expertise and understanding of energy technologies, science, design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and strategic planning.

Four percent of ImaginIt's profits from this project will fund ImaginIt Now, a nonprofit dedicated to providing solar electric systems to rural health clinics in developing countries currently operating without electricity. ImaginIt is online at: www.ImaginIt.cc. Find Walgreens at: www.walgreens.com

Tribes Invited to Submit Proposals for Nonpoint Source Pollution Grants

For the seventh year in a row, Congress has authorized the EPA to award grants in FY 2006 to handle nonpoint source pollution (NPS) in an amount that exceeds the statutory cap.

"There is continuing recognition that Indian tribes need increased financial support to implement NPS programs that address critical water quality concerns on tribal lands. EPA will continue to work closely with the tribes to assist them in developing and implementing effective tribal NPS pollution programs, the agency said in its January 17 Federal Register notice of request for proposals.

The EPA said it was "pleased" by the quality of the tribes' work plans that formed the basis of the grants awarded to Tribes in FY 2005, which included approximately $2.8 million in base grants awarded to 84 Tribes and $4.2 million awarded to 31 Tribes for specific watershed projects through a competitive process.

"We believe that the FY 2005 grants were directed towards high-priority activities that will produce on-the-ground results that provide improved water quality. We look forward to working with tribes again in FY 2006 to implement successful projects addressing the extensive NPS control needs throughout Indian country," the agency said.

The EPA anticipates awarding approximately 30 competitive grants, subject to availability of funds and the quality of applications submitted.

Eligible Tribes may apply for the competitive funding by submitting a proposal up to a maximum budget of $150,000 of federal section 319 funding, plus the additional required match of the total project cost.

The EPA believes that watershed-based plans provide the best means for preventing and resolving NPS problems and threats. Watershed-based plans provide a coordinating framework for solving water quality problems by providing a specific geographic focus, integrating strong partnerships, integrating strong science and data, and coordinating priority setting and integrated solutions.

The watershed-based plan submitted for funding should address a large enough geographic area so that its implementation addresses all of the significant sources and causes of impairments and threats to the waterbody in question.

EPA recognizes that many tribes may face jurisdictional limitations outside reservation boundaries. To the extent possible, EPA encourages tribes to engage other partners and include mixed ownership watersheds when appropriate to solve the water quality problems on tribal, federal, state and private lands.

"While there is no rigorous definition or delineation for this concept," the EPA says, "the general intent is to avoid single segments or other narrowly defined areas that do not provide an opportunity for addressing a watershed's stressors in a rational and economic manner. At the same time, the scale should not be so large as to minimize the probability of successful implementation."

Eligible tribes must submit to the appropriate EPA Regional Tribal NPS Coordinator applications for base funding by 5 p.m. local time on March 1. Each EPA Region will review the proposed work plan for base funding and, where appropriate, recommend improvements to the plan by March 15. The tribe must submit a final work plan by April 14, 2006.

Proposals evaluated, but not selected for this funding, may be retained for consideration for possible future awards if additional funding materializes.

For detailed requirements and instructions for submission of proposals, see fr17ja06N Guidelines for Awarding Clean Water Act Section 319 Base Grants in the Federal Register Online at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/

Pennsylvania Governor Opposes Curb on Access to Toxic Release Data

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, January 18, 2006 (ENS) - Pennsylvania is opposing proposed federal regulations that would limit public access to information about the chemicals companies legally release into the air, Governor Edward Rendell said Friday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to raise the threshold for reporting the release of certain chemicals in the Toxic Release Inventory from 500 pounds to 5,000 pounds, and change the reporting requirements to every other year instead of yearly, weakening a tool that empowers residents to fully assess the health of their communities.

“The federal Toxic Release Inventory has been tremendously successful at using the influence of public information to encourage facilities to reduce their emissions,” said Governor Rendell, a Democrat.

“The inventory puts information about chemical releases in a community at the fingertips of residents and holds companies accountable to their neighbors. Rolling back reporting requirements and exempting more chemicals from the requirements is a mistake.”

The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), created by Congress in 1986, is available on the EPA’s website. With a few keystrokes, residents are able to gather information about the character of certain chemicals and dispersion of toxic substances from specific manufacturing plants both nationally and locally.

Companies currently report releases by July 1 each year, although there is a delay of about 18 months between the end of a reporting year and public availability of the data.

For several years, the EPA has solicited ideas from state and local air agencies on means to reduce that delay. But now the federal agency is proposing reporting biennially instead of annually, not only adding to delays but cutting in half the amount of new information available to the public each year.

EPA recently enhanced its online database, giving stakeholders more direct access to information. EPA now is attempting to justify curtailment of TRI by stating, “citizens will benefit from the redirection of federal and state taxpayer dollars to improve the quality, clarity usefulness and accessibility of TRI information products and services.”

In reality, Rendell said, the initiative will reduce the amount of important information available and double the amount of time between reports by reducing reporting frequency to every other year.

“As we move forward to address the serious health threat that mercury poses, it is critical that this information remain available,” said state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty. “The proposed rule would clearly be a step in the wrong direction.”

Raising the threshold for reporting the release of certain chemicals would result in a loss of information, says McGinty. Only five of Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants would need to report their mercury and mercury compound emissions under the proposed changes. Thirty-four currently report those emissions.

For the 2003 calendar year, the owners and operators of 109 facilities located in Pennsylvania reported TRI data on mercury and mercury compounds. If the final rule raises the eligibility threshold, TRI reporting may only apply to 10 of those facilities.

For more information about the Toxic Release Inventory, log on to: http://www.epa.gov/tri/

Twenty Miles of Puget Sound Shoreline Buffered for Salmon

SEATTLE, Washington, January 18, 2006 (ENS) - Twenty miles of shoreline will be protected for salmon with 100 foot buffers in Pierce County as a result of a legal challenge to the county’s critical areas law. The new ordinance that protects salmon habitat along the Puget Sound shoreline in Pierce County was approved Friday by the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board.

The salmon protections were added after People for Puget Sound and Citizens for a Healthy Bay, represented by Earthjustice, successfully challenged Pierce County’s failure to include those protections in its previous ordinance.

“We all must do our part to protect and restore Puget Sound,” said Naki Stevens, director of programs at People for Puget Sound. “This case should spur other cities and counties to do the right thing for salmon and water quality.”

Pierce County’s new ordinance amends various provisions of Pierce County Code to designate and protect Marine Shoreline Critical Salmon Habitat, a new category of shorelines protected by 100 foot buffers. Buffers are shoreline areas, measured landward from the high water mark, where limited development activity is allowed.

Over 20 miles of shoreline will be protected with the new Marine Shoreline Critical Salmon Habitat designation.

The Board ordered Pierce County last July to draft a new ordinance that complied with the Growth Management Act after the conservation groups challenged the county’s first ordinance because it failed to protect important salmon habitat.

“The best science tells us that buffers along Puget Sound’s marine shorelines will help protect the salmon that inhabit our waters,” said Leslie Ann Rose, the senior policy analyst at Citizens for a Healthy Bay. “Pierce County’s new ordinance is a step in the right direction to keep healthy salmon populations here.”

The two conservation groups will continue to track shoreline critical areas ordinances around Puget Sound. Washington’s Growth Management Act requires counties and cities to enact critical areas ordinances that designate and protect important natural areas including wetlands, and fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas.