• Workplace Exposure Standard for Hexavalent Chromium Cut Ten-Fold
  
• U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up 1.7 Percent in 2004
  
• Pacific Fisheries Council May Remove Protections for Sea Turtles
  
• NOAA Expands Coastal Storm Flooding Prediction Tool
  
• Washington State Issues Streamlined Aquatic Pesticides Permit
  
• Yale Fined $30,000 for Financial HazWaste Failure
  
• Pennsylvania Finds Nuclear Plant Employees Awake - This Time
  

Workplace Exposure Standard for Hexavalent Chromium Cut Ten-Fold

Start-up date for all provisions, except engineering controls is 180 days from the effective date, and one year for employers with fewer than 20 employees. For more information, visit www.osha.gov

U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up 1.7 Percent in 2004

The EPA is seeking public comment on the draft report "Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2004." Comments are invited through March 29, 2006.

The EPA prepared the annual report required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in collaboration with experts from other federal agencies.

The report finds that total emissions of the six main greenhouse gases in 2004 were equivalent to 7,075 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Emissions of these gases form a layer in the atmosphere, trapping heat from the Sun close to the planet, raising its surface temperature.

Combustion of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - was the largest source of emissions, accounting for 80 percent of the total.

Overall, emissions have grown by 15.8 percent from 1990 to 2004, while the U.S. economy has grown by 51 percent over the same period, the EPA reports.

After responding to public comments, the United States will submit the final inventory report to the UNFCCC Secretariat, fulfilling its annual requirement as a party to the international treaty on climate change.

The treaty, ratified by the United States in 1992, sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change.

The report is available at: http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/emissions

Pacific Fisheries Council May Remove Protections for Sea Turtles

NOAA Expands Coastal Storm Flooding Prediction Tool

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Services Center, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Sea Island Software, Inc., have developed the software enhancement.

The new software component will address the growing threat of inland damages due to flooding caused by coastal storms and will allow emergency management personnel throughout New England to quickly compare flood inundation maps with forecasts of rainfall and river levels.

"We are very pleased to be able to continue the expansion of the services that HURREVAC brings to coastal managers," said NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher. "One of NOAA's central missions is to serve society's needs for weather and water information so that we can enhance the ability to plan and respond to natural events such as flooding caused by coastal storms."

The enhanced version of HURREVAC includes real-time NOAA National Weather Service river forecast information from 1,052 forecast points in a total of 22 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Additionally, 49 new maps have been added to HURREVAC, bringing the number of maps covering coastal states from Maine to Texas to a total of 346.

The expansion will improve the capabilities for coastal emergency planners to help facilitate better planning, decisionmaking and response efforts to manage impacts of inland flooding.

NOAA is currently developing 35 additional inundation maps for Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Derived from the words hurricane evacuation, HURREVAC is a restricted use computer program used by more than 4,450 official government emergency managers. The software combines FEMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hurricane evacuation study data with current weather forecast data from the NOAA National Weather Service.

This data allows users to estimate evacuation times as hurricanes and other associated hazardous weather approach.

Washington State Issues Streamlined Aquatic Pesticides Permit

OLYMPIA, Washington, March 1, 2006 (ENS) - The Washington state Department of Ecology has issued a new permit regulating the use of pesticides to control weeds in Washington's waters.

Aquatic pesticides include a wide assortment of chemicals that kill, attract, repel or otherwise control the growth of aquatic pests. Without the pesticide treatments, invasive colonies of aquatic plants can harm water quality, reduce fish habitat, block domestic and agricultural water supplies and interfere with boating and swimming.

Ecology previously addressed the treatment of noxious weeds growing in lakes in a permit separate from nuisance weeds and algae. The new permit will address all three. The permit will be issued as a joint National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and State Waste Discharge General Permit.

"The new permit protects water quality from aquatic pesticides and streamlines procedures," said Dave Peeler, Ecology's lead water-quality manager. "It also clarifies and simplifies requirements and better addresses issues pertaining to large water bodies such as Lake Washington."

Ecology is developing an on-line, electronic application that sends information directly into a database. To reduce errors, the application has fill-in fields with most information provided by Ecology. The new permit requires only one application every five years. The old permit required new applications every year.

Under the new permit, permittees must submit pre-and post-treatment notifications weekly, in one form. The old permit required pre-treatment, post-treatment, and treatment cancellation notification on three separate forms, resulting in up to 20-25 submittals per day.

The new permit provides templates for posting pre-treatment notices along private property and public access areas.

The new permit requires monitoring only if applicators are conducting a nutrient inactivation project or treating a water body listed as impaired for low dissolved oxygen.

Ecology received over 700 public comments during the draft review period. Based on these comments, the department set out separate conditions and treatment limitations for Lake Washington, Lake Union/Portage Bay and Lake Sammamish, and provided more protection for threatened, sensitive, and endangered plants.

The new permit becomes effective on April 1, 2006. The permit and related documents are online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/pesticides/index.html.

Yale Fined $30,000 for Financial HazWaste Failure

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, March 1, 2006 (ENS) - Yale University is facing a fine of nearly $30,000 for failing to meet financial assurance requirements of federal and state hazardous waste laws.

The complaint, filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states that Yale violated the financial assurance requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by failing to submit updated financial assurance information to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for the years 2003 and 2004.

The action is part of a new federal initiative to ensure that companies and institutions that handle hazardous waste have the funds available to properly clean up areas where the hazardous wastes have been treated, stored or disposed of when they stop the hazardous waste activity.

Yale University operates a greater-than-90-day storage facility at its Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory (WNSL), where it stores containers of hazardous waste mixed with radioactive waste.

As a facility that stores hazardous waste for greater than 90 days, Yale was required to comply with the requirements applicable to treatment, storage and disposal facilities, including the requirement to maintain financial assurance for closure of the WNSL storage area.

The EPA began the nationwide effort to enforce financial requirements of RCRA after the agency’s Inspector General issued a report indicating that many companies might not be in compliance with laws regarding financial assurance.

EPA's New England regional office conducted a review of the files of the Connecticut environmental agency to determine if facilities in that state were in compliance with the law. After reviewing the Connecticut DEP’s files, compliance problems were identified for many facilities, including Yale.

As a participant in EPA’s College and University Audit Initiative in 2002, Yale disclosed, among other violations, that it was not maintaining financial assurance for the WNSL. Later that year, Yale submitted to Connecticut DEP documents demonstrating that it met its financial assurance obligations. However, EPA’s file review found that Yale failed to provide annual updates to its financial assurance documentation for fiscal years 2003 and 2004.

Pennsylvania Finds Nuclear Plant Employees Awake - This Time

Governor Ed Rendell directed DEP to launch the unannounced, off-hour inspections in early February in response to public concern over reports of inattentiveness by a shift manager and plant security at Three Mile Island (TMI).

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week announced plans to investigate management of TMI security forces. And, the plant’s operator, AmerGen Energy, has reassigned a shift manager suspected of falling asleep on the job.

At least one inspection has been completed at each of the state’s nuclear facilities - Beaver Valley Power Station in Beaver County, Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County, Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in York County, Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Luzerne County and Three Mile Island in Dauphin County.

No instances of inattentiveness on the part of control room operators or plant security were found during the first wave of inspections by DEP’s Bureau of Radiation Protection. The inspections will continue through 2006, with at least two unannounced inspections planned each month at the plants.

"Residents deserve to know if these facilities are being operated in the safest possible manner to protect public health and the environment," said Governor Edward Rendell. "These surprise inspections are above and beyond all other normal oversight activities, adding another layer of protection to reassure the communities around these plants that everything is being done to keep residents and workers safe."

If DEP inspectors discover an incident of inattentiveness on the part of plant staff, they will document their observation and immediately notify both the plant operator and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has final authority over health and safety regulations at all commercial nuclear power plants in the country. DEP also would work with NRC and the company to investigate the incident.