• Chevron Phillips Fined for Two Deadly Explosions
  
• Anitra Oil Spill Off New Jersey Settled Eight Years Later
  
• Power Restored to Many of Florida's Hurricane Victims
  
• California Victims of Pesticide Drift to Get Medical Costs
  
• Sinking Obsolete Ships as Artificial Reefs Poses Toxic Risk
  
• Utilities Get Serious About Green Power Marketing
  
• Cargill Salt Pond Restoration Wins Bay Area Award
  
• Western Gray Squirrel Denied Endangered Protection
  

Chevron Phillips Fined for Two Deadly Explosions

Th $1.8 million fine is the largest civil penalty ever assessed for a case of this type, according to the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In addition, as part of the settlment Chevron Phillips will spend at least $1.2 million on two environmental projects for a total of $3 million in fines and compensation to the community.

“This is a great result for public health, the environment and worker safety,” said Thomas Sansonetti, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

In the complaint filed simultaneously with the consent decree, the federal agencies alleged that Chevron Phillips, and/or its predecessor Phillips Chemical Company, failed to exercise enough care to prevent and address accidental releases of chemicals at the Pasadena Plastics Complex, a plastic resin and specialty chemical manufacturing facility.

Chevron Phillips acquired the facility from Phillips Chemical Company shortly after the second explosion and has worked to improve the facility’s safety precautions.

The settlement filed in the federal court in Houston, Texas, requires Chevron Phillips to follow extensive work practice requirements designed to ensure that the facility is operated in the future in a manner that prevents accidental releases of chemicals.

In addition, Chevron Phillips will perform two Supplemental Environmental Projects at a cost of at least $1.2 million. The first project requires Chevron Phillips to buy and arrange for the installation of a fuel cell to provide electricity for the operation of Moody Gardens, a nonprofit conservation, education, and research institution.

The fuel cell will operate on natural gas or on methane gas extracted from the wastewater sludge generated at Moody Gardens. This project will reduce the use of electricity from the grid in the Houston/Galveston non-attainment area and Moody Gardens’ boilers, resulting in an annual emissions reduction of approximately 20 tons per year of nitrogen oxides.

The second project requires Chevron Phillips to purchase hazardous material equipment and provide hazardous materials training to the Pasadena Volunteer Fire Department.

EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene said, “EPA will continue to work with Chevron Phillips and the regulated community to ensure that accidents like these are not repeated.”

The consent decree lodged Thursday in federal court in Houston is now subject to a 30 day public comment period.

Anitra Oil Spill Off New Jersey Settled Eight Years Later

The U.S. Coast Guard first reported an oil spill on May 10, 1996, from the 846 foot Bahamian flagged Anitra, which was anchored at the Big Stone Anchorage.

The ship was in the process of unloading more than 40 million gallons of light crude oil. By May 19, the Coast Guard concluded that over 40,000 gallons of oil had been released from the vessel.

The Coast Guard attributed the spill to an apparent misalignment of valves, causing a leak from the Anitra below the surface of the bay.

Although the Coast Guard reported that 12,000 gallons of oil were recovered from the waters near the vessel, the rest of the oil floated to 50 miles of beaches over the two weeks following the spill. The oil fouled several state wildlife management areas, two state parks, and the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Cold and stormy weather during the spill caused the oil to form tarballs, which washed along eight miles of shoreline in Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle and Ocean City, New Jersey.

At the time, the governor declared a limited state of emergency in Cape May County, limiting public access to beaches.

The spill dirtied beaches that function as breeding and forage areas for local and migratory shorebirds, including the piping plover, listed by New Jersey as endangered and by the United States as a threatened species. Many birds were oiled as a result of the spill.

“This settlement compensates New Jersey residents for substantial damage to 50 miles of the state’s coastal beaches caused by the Anitra oil spill,” said Bradley Campbell, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. “These funds will improve the habitat for the abundant shorebird population along the coast for thousands of visitors to enjoy each year.”

The trustees for the fine include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which served as the lead response agency, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The trustees intend to use approximately $1.25 million of the settlement amount to fund restoration measures for the birds.

“This settlement allows for a focused, joint agency effort that will benefit migratory shorebirds, including federally threatened piping plovers, by improving and protecting vital coastal habitat. We are on track to put these funds into proactive projects,” said Marvin Moriarty, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service from his office in Hadley, Massachusetts.

Some of the funds will be spent to establish a protective management program for piping plovers, including fencing and predator control.

For migratory shorebirds, the trustees intend to clear beach debris from Thomson Beach, New Jersey to provide horseshoe crabs with egg laying habitat. Horseshoe crabs are an important source of food for the birds.

About $250,000 of the $1.5 million payment will be used to reimburse investigative costs of the natural resource trustees.

The proposed consent decree outlining the settlement was lodged in court Thursday. It is subject to a 30 day public comment period and final court approval.

Power Restored to Many of Florida's Hurricane Victims

California Victims of Pesticide Drift to Get Medical Costs

Farm workers are celebrating, but growers fear increased insurance liabilities and higher costs.

The new law authorizes the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and County Agricultural Commissioners to require a violator of the pesticide laws to reimburse the medical costs of individuals who suffer acute injuries and illness caused by agricultural pesticide use violations.

The law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to establish minimum standard protocols for the purposes of amending area plans. It requires all certified uniform program agencies to incorporate a pesticide drift component upon the next scheduled update of the area plan.

This bill is intended to provide treatment for pesticide exposure victims and ensure immediate and proper response to each incident. The California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the sponsor of this bill, states that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are affected annually by pesticide exposures. Illnesses and ailments include rashes, vomiting, irritation of the eyes, fainting, and respiratory problems.

The law is also supported by California Communities Against Toxics, the Consumer Federation of California, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But the California Farm Bureau Federation, the Western Growers, and the Wine Institute are against the law. They argue that liability insurance for farmers will become more expensive, that this bill expands the authority of DPR to impose fines, and that the protocols are mandated, limiting regulators' discretion.

Governor Schwarzenegger recognized that there may be insurance problems for some companies under this law, so he said followup legislation is needed. "I am concerned that the liability provisions in SB 391 may be viewed as overly broad and may lead to the inability for some entities to obtain insurance," the governor said on Thursday as he signed the bill into law. "These provisions need to be addressed in follow up legislation to remediate these unintended consequences."

California farm workers have a higher incidence of cancer with greater exposure to pesticides, a recent study shows. "Hispanic farm workers with relatively high levels of exposure to organochlorine pesticides (lindane and hepatachlor), organophosphate pesticides (dichlorvos), fumigants (methyl bromide), or triazine herbicides (simazine) experienced elevated risk of prostate cancer compared to workers with lower levels of exposure."

The 2003 study was conducted by P.K. Mills and R. Yang of the Cancer Registry of Central California, the University of California, San Francisco, and the Fresno Medical Education Program.

Sinking Obsolete Ships as Artificial Reefs Poses Toxic Risk

BAN fears that the proposal will allow ships to be scuttled that still contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are globally banned persistent organic pollutants.

"The Draft National Guidance: Best Management Practices for Preparing Vessels Intended to Create Artificial Reefs," was co-authored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).

The EPA and MARAD issued the draft guidance document in June, saying, "Options for managing obsolete and decommissioned military and commercial vessels include reuse of the vessel or parts of the vessel, recycling or scrapping, creating artificial reefs, and disposal on land or at sea."

The guidance document discusses the preparation of vessels for use as artificial reefs. "Artificial reefs should be developed such that they enhance marine resources and benefit the marine environment," the agencies state. "Strategically sited artificial reefs can not only enhance aquatic habitat, but also provide an additional option for conserving, managing, and/or developing fishery resources."

The guidance document recommends the removal of all solid material containing PCBs greater than or equal to 50 parts per million (ppm) unless a disposal permit has been granted; and removal of all liquid materials containing PCBs.

But because it does not require the removal of all PBCs, BAN considers the guidance to be fatally flawed. “EPA’s plan to allow the dumping of PCBs into the marine environment is a shocking and singularly bad idea. PCBs are known to be toxic, they are known to cause cancer, they are known to cause hormonal disruption, and once in the marine environment they are known to accumulate in fish and…guess what, people are known to eat fish,” said Jim Puckett, coordinator of BAN.

The guidance document acknowledges that PCBs are likely to contaminate the waters near a sunken ship and that fish might become contaminated.

The guidance also lists many vessel components that contain more than 50 ppm of PCBs - cable insulation; rubber and felt gaskets; thermal insulation material including fiberglass, felt, foam, and cork; transformers, capacitors, and electronic equipment with capacitors and transformers inside; voltage regulators, switches, reclosers, bushings, and electromagnets; electronic equipment, switchboards, and consoles - for example.

If equipment or components contains more than 50 ppm PCBs, the guidance says "either remove the equipment or component from the vessel, provide proof that the equipment or component is free of PCBs, or apply to EPA for a PCB disposal permit."

But BAN is not satisfied with that standard. The environmental group says the cost of removing PCBs may be prohibitive, so disposal permits may be granted for the toxic material. “The Bush administration is proposing yet another dangerous dumping scheme to save a buck. But what is a contaminated fishery worth?” said Richard Gutierrez, of BAN. “This scheme is especially callous when one realizes that we can utilize domestic ship recyclers to recover the steel, while providing much needed jobs.”

There is considerable pressure placed on the EPA to allow the U.S. Navy and MARAD to get rid of about 225 obsolete naval vessels that contain asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous substances. Congress has given MARAD a deadline of 2006 to get rid of most of these vessels.

A report by the RAND Corporation in 2001 estimated that the total cost to the government for disposal of these vessels would be $1.87 billion if they are recycled in the United States, $170 million to export them to Asia, and $500 million to dump them as artificial reefs."

BAN believes that "regardless of the costs, the dumping of toxic wastes on developing countries or in our oceans is contrary to international law and fundamentally misguided and immoral."

Utilities Get Serious About Green Power Marketing

"The green power industry is growing as a result of the effective collaborative efforts of green power marketers, utilities, renewable energy advocates and government agencies," said Jan Hamrin, executive director of the Center for Resource Solutions. "The conference provides a great opportunity for networking among industry leaders."

New York Governolr George Pataki will address the participants along with Suedeen Kelly, commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; William Flynn, chairman of the New York Public Service Commission; and Peter Smith, president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

The conference is organized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS).

"In recent years, market demand created by voluntary green power markets has brought on-line nearly 2,000 megawatts of new renewable generating capacity," said Blair Swezey of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, one of the DOE's 29 national labs. "The green power market is playing an important role in spurring new renewables development nationwide."

Expert panels will offer marketing tips and discuss state policy opportunities. A webcast on purchasing green power will be available to colleges and universities nationwide.

"Conventional electricity generation is the nation's single largest industrial source of air pollution," said Kurt Johnson of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Fortunately, more and more leading U.S. organizations are purchasing green power - recognizing it as a logical step in responsible corporate environmental management."

The Green Power Partnership, an EPA voluntary program which encourages organizations to buy green power, now has more than 500 Partners - including Fortune 500 companies, universities, states, cities, and federal agencies - collectively purchasing about two billion kilowatt hours of green power annually.

Cargill Salt Pond Restoration Wins Bay Area Award

The project is a first step in a decades long restoration effort, the San Francisco Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, - the largest tidal wetland restoration project on the West Coast. The project will convert several clusters of salt evaporation ponds back into tidal marshes, mudflats and other wetland ecosystems that pre-date human development of the area.

"This project has such importance and long-lasting value that we created the Environmental Engineering Award just to honor Cargill’s outstanding effort," said Tony Akel, one of the judges of the engineering society which represents civil engineers from Fresno to the Oregon border.

"Although the other projects were quite impressive, many judges championed Cargill’s Initial Stewardship Phase (ISP) project because of its profound and lasting benefits to the San Francisco Bay environment,” said Akel.

"We had a huge opportunity to combine an industrial re-design with an extraordinary wetland restoration,” said civil engineer Robert Douglass, property manager for Cargill Salt. “This project showcases what civil engineers can do to improve the environment. Everyone at Cargill is very proud of this work and grateful for this recognition."

The ISP is the first step of the San Francisco Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project which “even now rivals the Florida Everglades restoration project in terms of national significance," said Marge Kolar, manager of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Water gates were opened in July connecting South San Francisco Bay salt ponds to the Bay and launching restoration of the South Bay’s shoreline. In this initial lifting of the tide gates, 1,350 acres of salt ponds behind Moffett Field were, for the first time since the 1940s, opened to the Bay.

Restoring much of the South Bay’s marshlands was made possible by Cargill’s sale and donation of 16,100 acres to the state and federal governments in March 2003. To date, the project has involved five years of planning and review, including four years of technical evaluations centered on state-of-the-art hydrodynamic modeling as well as wildlife monitoring.

“What the ISP actually does is introduce tidal action and the circulation of bay water to selected ponds under strict wildlife monitoring,” said Douglass. “It involves an innovative design-build approach that brought construction of 14 major water conveyance and related structures, valued at over $4 million, on-time and on-budget.

“Cargill will continue to operate the 150 year old salt industry in the South San Francisco Bay, by streamlining operations. But, at the same time, we are sculpting the landscape anew for the benefit wildlife, the enjoyment generations to come, as well as the economic efficiency of the company,” Douglass said.

Engineer Kirk Wheeler, a principal in Schaaf and Wheeler of Santa Clara, was named Outstanding Civil Engineering Mentor by the ASCE, SF for his pivotal role in modeling and re-designing the salt pond system. He steered the project through a multi-tiered approval and permitting process that involved environmentalists, regulators, saltmakers, and other stakeholders.

This year's overall Civil Engineering winner was the BART Extension to the San Francisco Airport - a multi-billion dollar engineering and design feat.

For more information, visit: www.southbayrestoration.org and www.cargillsalt.com/sfbay

Western Gray Squirrel Denied Endangered Protection

The Service evaluated a petition by the Institute for Wildlife Protection of Eugene, Oregon and found that it does not present substantial information to list the squirrel "based on the best scientific and commercial information available, including material provided by the petitioners and materials in the Service's files," the agency said.

In a petition, the Service looks for a detailed justification that provides past and present numbers, distribution and range of the species involved, and that describes any threats faced by the species.

In this case, the Service found that the petition and other available data were not substantial to determine the habitat requirements of the western gray squirrel and whether there are continued threats to this species.

The western gray squirrel is the largest native tree squirrel in the Pacific Northwest. It is silver gray on the back and creamy white on the underside. The long bushy tail is edged with white. The ears are long, with a light reddish brown area on the back, and are not tufted.

Other common names include the silver gray squirrel, California gray squirrel, Oregon gray squirrel, Columbian gray squirrel, and gray squirrel.

The Institute for Wildlife Protection has failed in several other petitions to the Fish and Wildlife Service over the past two years. Its petition to list greater sage grouse in the Mono Basin area under the emergency provisions of the Endangered Species Act, was turned down in January 2003.

In February 2003, the Service turned down a petition by the Institute for Wildlife Protection to list the western sage grouse.

The Institute's petition to list the eastern sage grouse was denied in January 2004, when the agency’s regional director in Denver, Ralph Morgenweck, found that, “new biological information indicates that the eastern sage grouse is not a valid subspecies of the greater sage grouse, nor does it merit listing as a separate population.”