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05/31/2013 10:30 AM EDT By Michael Dexter Growing up in Florida the threat of extreme weather brought a rush of last minute preparations, and I clearly remember the urgency involved with preparing for such events. We would clear portions of the house likely to flood, park the car on high ground, and ready an inflatable dinghy. Like many people, [...]
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Friday, May 31, 2013
Bathtub Preparedness Planning
News Release: EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan to Remove Lead at Raritan Bay Superfund Site in Old Bridge and Sayreville, New Jersey; $79 Million Cleanup Will Remove Lead from Popular Beach and Public Park
| EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan to Remove Lead at Raritan Bay Superfund Site in Old Bridge and Sayreville, New Jersey
$79 Million Cleanup Will Remove Lead from Popular Beach and Public Park
Contact: John J. Martin, (212) 637-3662, martin.johnj@epa.gov, 646-256-6710 cell
(New York, N.Y. – May 31, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to clean up lead contamination at the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site in Old Bridge and Sayreville, New Jersey. EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck announced the plan today at the site in Old Bridge, New Jersey. She was joined by Congressmember Frank Pallone and Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry. Lead is a toxic metal that is especially dangerous to children because their growing bodies can absorb more of it than adults. Lead in children can result in I.Q. deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and other behavioral problems. The plan requires the removal of contaminated material and its replacement with clean material to make the beach and jetty areas accessible to the public. The Raritan Bay Slag site was significantly impacted by Hurricane Sandy, but work to address those impacts is under way and has not altered EPA’s plans for an overall cleanup at the site.
The EPA held a public meeting in Old Bridge, New Jersey on October 17, 2012 after it proposed the cleanup plan. The EPA accepted public comments for 60 days and considered public input before finalizing its decision.
“Lead can cause serious health problems, especially in young children, which makes it so important to clean up this area where children regularly play,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The cleanup plan announced today is a major step that brings us closer to a restoration that will make it possible for everyone to enjoy the beach safely. No one should have to worry about being exposed to toxic substances when they visit a public beach.”
The cleanup of the Raritan Bay Slag site will be conducted in three sectors that contain lead slag, a byproduct of metal smelting. The lead slag was used to construct a seawall in the 1960s and a jetty along the southern shore of the Raritan Bay in Old Bridge and Sayreville. The first sector includes the Laurence Harbor seawall adjacent to the Old Bridge Waterfront Park in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge Township. The second sector consists of the western jetty in Sayreville and extends from the Cheesequake Creek Inlet into Raritan Bay. The third sector is approximately 50 acres of Margaret’s Creek and has elevated lead levels along with areas of slag and battery casings. The estimated cost of the cleanup plan is $79 million.
For both the Laurence Harbor seawall and the western jetty sectors, contaminated soil, sediment and waste including slag and battery casings will be dug up or dredged, and the material will be disposed of at facilities licensed to handle hazardous waste. Excavated areas will be restored with clean material. Within the Margaret’s Creek sector, the EPA will remove slag and battery casings, along with areas of contaminated soil associated with these materials. Clean material will be placed as needed in the excavated areas. Throughout the cleanup, monitoring and testing will be conducted to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.
In 2007, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection found high levels of lead along the southern shoreline of the Raritan Bay adjacent to the Old Bridge Waterfront Park. As a result of these findings, NJDEP worked with Old Bridge officials to notify the public about health concerns stemming from the lead waste material and restricted access through signs and some fencing. The EPA added the Raritan Bay Slag site to the federal Superfund site list in 2009 after sampling confirmed contamination. The EPA installed a security fence in contaminated areas to keep people, especially children, out of those areas and placed signs in English and Spanish warning the public of the hazards.
Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge resulted in significant damage to the site. The peninsula at Margaret’s Creek was severely eroded, the top of the seawall at Old Bridge Waterfront Park was damaged, approximately 2,000 feet of security fence and many of the warning signs were destroyed. Hundreds of tons of potentially contaminated debris and sand were deposited onto areas of the park. Immediately following the storm, the EPA began to clean up and repair damage from the storm. The EPA sampled the sand for lead in over 100 locations within the site, including at a playground, the restricted beach at Old Bridge Waterfront Park, the beaches east of Cheesequake Creek, the beach at Margaret’s Creek and areas in the vicinity of the western jetty located in Sayreville. The sampling results were posted online and shared with the Community Advisory Group. Lead was identified at concentrations above the residential limit at several locations. The EPA used the sampling results to determine where to re-position the fence and warning signs. In addition, the EPA installed new mulch in the playground, removed debris and filled-in eroded areas at the top of the seawall with the sand that washed onto the Old Bridge Waterfront Park.
The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. After sites are placed on the Superfund list of the most contaminated waste sites, the EPA searches for parties responsible for the contamination and holds them accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. NL Industries has been identified as potentially liable for the cost of cleanup. The EPA will require that the cleanup be carried out and paid for by those responsible for the contamination at the site.
For more information on the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/raritanbayslag.
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
News Release: Tesoro to pay $1.1 million to resolve Clean Air Act violations
| Tesoro to pay $1.1 million to resolve Clean Air Act violations
Contact: Dale Kemery (News media only) kemery.dale@epa.gov 202-564-7839 202-564-4355
(Washington – May 30, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Tesoro Corporation, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC, and Tesoro Alaska Company have agreed to pay a $1.1 million penalty to resolve claims that Tesoro failed to comply with requirements under the Clean Air Act at four of its refining facilities that produce conventional gasoline.
In its complaint, EPA alleged that Tesoro failed to comply with recordkeeping, reporting, sampling, and testing requirements at its facilities in Anacortes, Washington; Kenai, Alaska; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Mandan, North Dakota.
"EPA’s fuel regulations are vital safeguards that protect our nation’s air quality,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "By taking action against violations of these regulations, EPA is not only protecting people’s health, but is also ensuring a level playing field for refiners that play by the rules.
The settlement requires that Tesoro implement an environmental compliance and auditing plan designed to prevent future violations and ensure compliance with EPA’s fuels regulations. The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.
EPA fuel regulations require that all fuel produced, imported and sold in the U.S. meet certain standards. Fuel that does not meet the standards can lead to increased emissions of harmful pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds and cancer-causing air toxics.
The fuel sampling, testing, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements provide the foundation for EPA’s compliance program. Refiners that violate these requirements undermine the integrity of the fuel regulations and hinder EPA’s ability to ensure gasoline complies with fuel quality and performance standards, potentially increasing harmful air pollution.
More information on the settlement: www.epa.gov/enforcement/air/cases/tesoro.html
Follow EPA Region 10 @EPAnorthwest on Twitter! https://twitter.com/EPAnorthwest
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News Release: EPA Proposes Rules to Protect Americans from Exposure to Formaldehyde
| EPA Proposes Rules to Protect Americans from Exposure to Formaldehyde WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed two rules to help protect Americans from exposure to the harmful chemical formaldehyde, consistent with a Federal law unanimously passed by Congress in 2010. These rules ensure that composite wood products produced domestically or imported into the United States meet the formaldehyde emission standards established by Congress. Formaldehyde is used in adhesives to make a wide range of building materials and products. Exposure to formaldehyde can cause adverse public health effects including eye, nose and throat irritation, other respiratory symptoms and, in certain cases, cancer. “The proposed regulations announced today reflect EPA’s continued efforts to protect the public from exposure to harmful chemicals in their daily lives,” said James J. Jones, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “Once final, the rules will reduce the public’s exposure to this harmful chemical found in many products in our homes and workplaces." In 2010, Congress passed the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act, or Title VI of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which establishes emission standards for formaldehyde from composite wood products and directs EPA to propose rules to enforce the act’s provisions. EPA’s proposed rules align, where practical, with the requirements for composite wood products set by the California Air Resources Board, putting in place national standards for companies that manufacture or import these products. EPA’s national rules will also encourage an ongoing industry trend towards switching to no-added formaldehyde resins in composite wood products. EPA's first proposal limits how much formaldehyde may be emitted from hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard, particleboard and finished goods, that are sold, supplied, offered for sale, manufactured, or imported in the United States. The emitted formaldehyde may be left over from the resin or composite wood making process or be released when the resin degrades in the presence of heat and humidity. This proposal also includes testing requirements, laminated product provisions, product labeling requirements, chain of custody documentation, recordkeeping, a stockpiling prohibition, and enforcement provisions. It also includes a common-sense exemption from some testing and record-keeping requirements for products made with no-added formaldehyde resins. The second proposal establishes a third-party certification framework designed to ensure that manufacturers of composite wood products meet the TSCA formaldehyde emission standards by having their composite wood products certified though an accredited third-party certifier. It would also establish eligibility requirements and responsibilities for third-party certifier's and the EPA-recognized accreditation bodies who would accredit them. This robust proposed third-party certification program will level the playing field by ensuring composite wood products sold in this country meet the emission standards in the rule regardless of whether they were made in the United States or not. More on Formaldehyde Proposals: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/chemtest/formaldehyde/index.html More on EPA’s TSCA Work Plan chemical effort: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/workplans.html
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News Release: EPA Region 8 - Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc. to pay penalty for chemical reporting violations at Aragonite, Utah facility
| Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc. to pay penalty for chemical reporting violations at Aragonite, Utah facility
Industrial waste incinerator resolves failure to report chemicals to Toxic Release Inventory
Contact: David Cobb, 303-312-6592; Matthew Allen, 303-312-6085
“The failure of a facility to appropriately file toxic release forms deprives the public its right to know and undermines efforts to prevent pollution and respond to potential emergencies,” said Mike Gaydosh, EPA’s enforcement director in Denver. “EPA will take steps to ensure that companies provide citizens, elected officials, and public safety personnel with information about the chemicals they use and generate.”
Today’s agreement stems from an EPA inspection of the Clean Harbors facility on December 14, 2011 which found the facility manufactured and/or used sixteen regulated chemicals in excess of established reporting thresholds. EPA determined that Clean Harbors did not correctly report the presence or emissions of these chemicals at the Utah facility in 2010 by failing to file required Toxic Release Inventory forms for specific chemicals and providing inaccurate emission data. Clean Harbors has since addressed these deficiencies.
Community right- to-know requirements defined under EPCRA provide the public with critical information regarding the presence, use, and disposal of toxic chemicals in communities and help inform important pollution prevention and emergency response activities. EPA’s action is expected to improve compliance with EPCRA reporting requirements and ensure that facilities provide specific information about chemicals they process, manufacture, or otherwise use on site.
More information on EPCRA available at: http://www.epa.gov/tri/triprogram/whatis.htm
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News Release: EPA Region 8 - Reddy Ice Corporation to pay penalty and improve accident prevention and preparedness at Denver facility
| Reddy Ice Corporation to pay penalty and improve accident prevention and preparedness at Denver facility Contact: David Cobb 303-312-6592; Mathew Allen 303-312-6085
(Denver, Colo. – May 30, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a Clean Air Act settlement in which the Reddy Ice Corporation (Reddy Ice), based in Dallas, Texas, has agreed to pay a $61,500 penalty and correct deficiencies associated with the risk management program at its facility in Denver, Colo.
According to the settlement, Reddy Ice allegedly violated the risk management plan provisions of the Clean Air Act by failing to ensure storage vessels containing hazardous chemicals were constructed according to industry standards and providing insufficient documentation in plans designed to mitigate on-site hazards. These deficiencies were discovered during an EPA inspection of the ice manufacturer’s facility in north Denver on December 5, 2010.
“Facilities that use chemicals and substances that pose a potential danger are responsible for having a robust risk management program in place,” said Mike Gaydosh, director of EPA’s enforcement program in Denver. “Failure to do so places the environment, employees, and nearby communities at risk.”
The Reddy Ice facility is subject to the risk management provisions of the Clean Air Act due to its on-site quantity of anhydrous ammonia, an acutely toxic chemical. As a result of the agreement, the company will take steps to ensure that process vessels containing ammonia are properly constructed and will update the facility’s risk management plan. Ready Ice has agreed to correct the deficiencies within 60 days.
Under the Clean Air Act, operations such as the Reddy Ice facility must develop and implement a risk management plan to assist with emergency preparedness, chemical release prevention, and minimization of releases that occur. EPA Inspectors found that the facility had not adequately implemented these regulations.
EPA’s action will benefit residents, including significant low-income and minority populations, in the vicinity of the Reddy Ice facility by reducing the possibility of exposure to anhydrous ammonia. This settlement will also ensure proper safety practices are in place to protect employees and first responders from the threat of dangerous chemical releases.
For more information on the Clean Air Act and risk management requirements: http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/rmp/caa_faqs.htm
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EPA News Release (Region 7): Public Comments Sought on Proposed Coal Ash Cleanup Settlement with Rotary Drilling Supply in Jefferson County, Mo.
| U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, KS 66219
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations
Public Comments Sought on Proposed Coal Ash Cleanup Settlement with Rotary Drilling Supply in Jefferson County, Mo.
Contact Information: David Bryan, 913-551-7433, bryan.david@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Lenexa, Kan., May 30, 2013) - EPA Region 7 and Rotary Drilling have reached a proposed agreement to address environmental impacts from the unauthorized disposal of approximately 140,000 tons of coal ash from the Rush Island Power Plant owned and operated by Union Electric Company (d/b/a Ameren Missouri). EPA is accepting public comment on the settlement pursuant to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
In an administrative order on consent (AOC), EPA alleges that the dumping of the coal ash on property owned by Rotary Drilling Supply, Inc., located in Jefferson County, Mo., impacted wetlands, an unnamed tributary to Plattin Creek, and a portion of Willers Lake. The coal ash contains environmentally harmful metals that migrate into adjacent surface waters.
Between October 2004 and September 2008, Rotary Drilling and another company, Mineral Resource Technologies, Inc., contracted with Kleinschmidt Trucking, Inc., to haul and dispose of approximately 95,000 tons of coal ash to the Rotary Drilling site. During that time period, Mineral Resource Technologies, Inc., contracted with Union Electric Company to find and secure locations for coal ash disposal. In 2007, Union Electric contracted directly with Kleinschmidt Trucking, Inc., to haul and dispose of approximately 45,000 tons of coal ash from the Rush Island Power Plant at Rotary Drilling’s property.
EPA’s proposed settlement, issued pursuant to federal RCRA authority, requires Rotary Drilling to abate impacts of the coal ash disposal by placing a protective cap over the coal ash piles and installing controls to prevent the continued migration of coal ash constituents into wetlands and other surface waters.
Additionally, Rotary Drilling must mitigate for lost wetland functions by purchasing wetland mitigation bank credits. Wetland mitigation bank credits involve the restoration, creation, enhancement, or preservation of a wetland, stream, or habitat conservation area to offset adverse impacts to similar nearby ecosystems. The goal is to replace the function and value of the specific wetland habitats that have been adversely impacted.
A copy of the Administrative Record is located at the Crystal City Public Library, 736 Mississippi Ave., Crystal City, MO 63019. EPA invites the public to comment on the AOC. The 30-day public comment period opens on May 30, 2013, and runs through June 28, 2013.
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Learn more about EPA’s waste, chemical and cleanup enforcement efforts
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