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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
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Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 12/12/05. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Executive Director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council Mary Ann Dickinson, today announced that the headquarters of a new water conservation organization will be in Chicago. The organization, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, will be a clearinghouse and advocate for water efficiency research, evaluation and education. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
4:01:20 PM Google It! 
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Source: Alternity Power via PR Newswire, 12/12/05. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlantic County's wastewater treatment plant will be the first in the United States to be powered by a system that combines solar energy arrays with a wind farm. By capturing energy from the sun and the Atlantic Coast winds, rather than burning fossil fuels, the hybrid solar-wind power plant will produce enough energy to power the equivalent of approximately 3800 homes and displace the need for an estimated 24,000 barrels of oil per year. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
4:00:17 PM Google It!
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Source: Gotham Gazette, 12/12/05. Stephen Boese, New York State director of the Healthy Schools Network, writes about environmental hazards at schools (often unknown or overlooked), progress that has been made toward improving school environmental conditions in New York, and what more can be done to make schools healthier. [Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) News]
3:56:22 PM Google It!
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Hoping to turn Washington's farm fields into veritable oil wells, Gov. Christine Gregoire yesterday announced a legislative proposal aimed at boosting state biodiesel production. By By Warren Cornwall. [Stateline.org RSS - Environment]
3:51:10 PM Google It!
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A new web page that addresses the relationship between lead and human health has been added to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Enviro-Health Links at http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/lead.html. This page provides links to selected web sites on exposure, treatment, and prevention of lead poisoning.
Lead is a naturally-occurring element that can be harmful to humans when ingested or inhaled. Lead poisoning can cause a number of adverse human health effects, but is particularly detrimental to the neurological development of children. People can be exposed to lead through the air, as well as through accidentally or intentionally eating soil or paint chips, and food or water contaminated with lead.
NLM also offers other Enviro-Health Links on topics such as:
For a complete list, see http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/envirohealthlinks.html.
3:41:20 PM Google It!
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Have Fries - Will Travel! is an adventure story for children of all ages. It features "Rock," an eco-rap singer, who buys "Tiny," a smelly diesel car, at a used car lot. Rock converts Tiny to run on biodiesel, usually made from soybean oil.
3:37:52 PM Google It!
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On Dec. 8, researchers announced the development of a vegetated rooftop recycling system has been developed that allows water to be used twice before it is flushed into the communal waste water system. The Green Roof Water Recycling System (GROW) uses semi-aquatic plants to treat waste washing water, which can then be reused for activities such as flushing the toilet. [Source: Water & Wastewater Products E-News]
3:36:23 PM Google It!
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The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) launched a free e-bulletin to announce new and significant developments in EERE's programs and research.
The EERE Progress Alerts will be sent via e-mail and posted online as new developments in technology research occur. The Alerts are designed to make efficiency and renewable energy advocates, lawmakers, consumers and the media aware of breakthroughs and efforts as they happen.
Subscribers will receive information on all EERE programs including renewable energy such as solar, geothermal, wind, hydropower, biomass and hydrogen along with vehicle technologies, buildings and industrial technologies and energy efficiency.
3:32:31 PM Google It!
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MB Industrial, a UK company based in Cheltenham, introduced bioprocessor units that produce diesel fuel from vegetable oil. Produced from new or used vegetable oil, the clean-burning biodiesel can be made for about 87 cents per liter including duty, a considerable savings on forecourt prices. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
3:30:59 PM Google It!
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Members of the Biodiesel Alliance, a free, voluntary program facilitated by the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) with support from the United Soybean Board, make up more than 1,300 organizations, companies and government agencies that support the use of biodiesel. Due to agricultural, environmental, and health benefits accrued from using biodiesel, another 4,100 individuals have joined the Biodiesel Backers program as well. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
1:42:07 PM Google It!
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Robins Air Force Base officially welcomed an alternative fuel technology of ten 5 kW fuel cells that could save the Air Force thousands of dollars in energy costs at an opening attended by base leaders and representatives from Plug Power, Logan Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center and others. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
10:52:08 AM Google It!
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As was evident in last week's climate change conference in Montreal, Canada, official Bush Administration policy remains staunchly against any mandatory multi-national agreements over the regulation of greenhouse gas reductions. In the U.S. Congress, however, there appear to be signs of a shift toward greater acceptance of emissions reductions. [Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
10:46:47 AM Google It!
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Applications due Mar 13, 2006 and February 7, 2007
MUSES is aimed at soliciting new multidisciplinary activities that encourage researchers in engineering, physical and life sciences, social and behavioral sciences, economics, mathematics, and education to reach beyond their disciplinary boundaries in order to address complex issues related to materials use in the environment. There are two challenges: (a) to propose exploratory research issues that are viable and (b) to create new teams of researchers with the necessary expertise who can work together.
10:43:04 AM Google It!
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The P3 competition will provide grants to teams of college students to research, develop, and design solutions to challenges to sustainability. P3 highlights people, prosperity, and the planet – the three pillars of sustainability – as the next step beyond P2 or pollution prevention. The P3 Award program is a partnership between the public and private sectors to progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the natural systems of the planet, and providing a higher quality of life for its people. EPA and its partners offer the P3 Award competition to respond to the technical needs of the developed and developing world in moving towards the goal of sustainability. Please see the P3 Award website (www.epa.gov/P3) for more details about this program.
10:41:01 AM Google It!
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Applications due Jan 20, 2006.
The EPA National Center for Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is managing the competition for the State Innovation Grants in collaboration with the National Program Offices at headquarters and the EPA Regional offices. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting pre-proposals for an assistance program (the “State Innovation Grant Program”), to support innovation by State environmental regulatory agencies.
10:38:51 AM Google It!
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson joined other federal, state, local and tribal officials at an event on Monday in Chicago to unveil the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy that will serve as a blueprint for prioritizing future actions to restore and enhance the lakes. The administrator also committed to specific actions among federal agencies to accelerate cleanup of contaminated sediment, return another 200,000 acres of wetlands to ecological health in equal partnership with the states, reduce the spread of invasive species and make beaches cleaner.
"One year ago, we accepted President Bush's unprecedented charge to devise a strategy for prioritizing future actions to protect the Great Lakes," Administrator Johnson said. "Today's blueprint is the next step in ensuring these majestic lakes remain an international treasure."
The Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002 authorizes $270 million in funding over five years for cleanups of contaminated hot spots at 31 areas of concern in the United States. In 2004, the first year funds were available, Congress appropriated $9.9 million. In 2005, Congress appropriated $22.3 million, and $30 million will be available in 2006. President Bush requested $50 million in 2006.
Last week, EPA announced the approval of a $50 million Legacy Act cleanup of the Ashtabula River in Ohio, a tributary to Lake Erie. Cleanups of Black Lagoon, an inlet of the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich., and Newton Creek/Hog Island Inlet in Superior, Wis., were completed last month. Another project is under way at Ruddiman Creek in Muskegon, Mich. More projects will be announced in the coming months.
Johnson also announced that EPA will work with Congress to ensure that the interim barrier halting the advance of Asian Carp to the Great Lakes system is made permanent.
In addition, EPA will work with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite projects to restore wetlands and aquatic habitat. This effort includes streamlining the wetlands permit process specifically for restoration and water quality projects in the Great Lakes basin. EPA and the states will also take action to restore another 200,000 acres in the basin so they can perform their indispensable, natural functions. Healthy wetlands support biological diversity, help maintain valuable economic resources like fisheries, provide flood control and filter pollution.
The agency will also supplement and bolster beach monitoring and notification programs in lakeside communities. EPA proposes a three-year, three-step effort to perform watershed-based sanitary surveys in Great Lakes recreational waters to help identify sources of pollution. Surveys will be done in 2006 and the first pilot projects should begin in the Great Lakes basin in 2007.
President George W. Bush's Executive Order 12240 (May 18, 2004) recognized the national significance of the Great Lakes, established a federal task force and supported the creation of a Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. Over the past year, more than 1,500 people from throughout the Great Lakes basin participated on eight strategy teams to develop the recommendations that form the basis of the strategy. Summit I was held in December 2004 in Chicago with conveners representing the federal government and Great Lakes states, cities, tribes and public interest groups as well as the region's congressional delegation.
At Summit II, representatives from the collaboration signed a resolution formally adopting the strategy and committing to continue to work together.
10:30:16 AM Google It!
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Based on recent analyses of health risks, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a rule to reduce emissions of perchloroethylene (perc) from dry cleaners.
"Risks from most dry cleaners across the country generally are low, and our proposed requirements would make them even lower," said Bill Wehrum, acting assistant administrator for air and radiation. "But based on what we now know about the risks from perc dry cleaners, a small group of dry cleaners located in apartment buildings requires closer examination. We are asking the public for additional information that could help us develop strategies to reduce these risks more quickly."
More than 28,000 dry cleaners of all sizes and types in the United States use perc, a solvent, in the dry cleaning process. Perc is one of 188 pollutants EPA regulates as air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants. Air toxics are pollutants known or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health problems. Since the implementation of EPA's 1993 air toxics standards, dry cleaners have reduced perc emissions by about 15,000 tons a year through increased use of alternative solvents, replacement of older dry-cleaning machines, and state and industry programs to improve efficiency and reduce perc use.
The proposal would amend EPA's 1993 air toxics standards to further reduce perc emissions from large industrial and commercial dry cleaners, freestanding small dry cleaners, and small dry cleaners located in apartment buildings.
In developing risk-based standards to reduce health risks from air toxics, EPA strives to ensure that those standards provide the maximum feasible amount of protection. The Agency does this two ways. First, EPA tries to limit an individual's cancer risk to approximately 100 in 1 million. This means that a person living near a facility and exposed to maximum concentrations of a pollutant for a 70-year-lifetime would have no more than a 100 in 1 million chance of getting cancer as a result. Second, the agency strives to protect the largest number of people possible so that their individual cancer risks are no higher than approximately one in 1 million.
The proposal includes the following requirements:
Large Industrial and Commercial Dry Cleaners: There are 15 large dry cleaners in the United States. These dry cleaners are covered by EPA's 1993 maximum achievable control technology standards. The proposed amendments would reduce risks by up to 90 percent by requiring that these dry cleaners meet equipment standards and conduct enhanced leak detection and repair on a monthly basis.
Freestanding Small Dry Cleaners: Freestanding small dry cleaners are the type of dry cleaner you might see in a strip shopping center or as a stand-alone building. Estimated risk to most people living near these dry cleaners generally is below 10 in 1 million. The proposed amendments would reduce these risks by about 20 percent by requiring that the approximately 27,000 freestanding dry cleaners meet equipment standards and conduct enhanced leak detection and repair. In addition, all existing small dry cleaners would have to eliminate machines that require clothing to be transferred from one machine to another for drying.
Small Dry Cleaners in Apartment Buildings: About 1,300 small dry cleaners using perc are located on the ground floor of residential buildings. Like freestanding small dry cleaners, these "co-residential" cleaners are covered by standards issued in 1993. Because apartments in these buildings are located very close to these dry cleaners, residents' exposures and their estimated cancer risks can be much higher than for typical area source dry cleaners. Based on the data evaluated for this proposal, estimated maximum cancer risks for people living in some of these buildings might be in excess of 100 in 1 million. EPA is proposing two options for addressing co-residential dry cleaners. Under a risk-based option, no new perc machines could be installed at these facilities. Dry cleaners eventually would have to phase out existing perc equipment as it wears out, eliminating risk from these facilities in about 15 years. Under a technology-based option, EPA would issue requirements based on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's dry cleaning regulations. These requirements would include equipment to recover perc solvent from vapors and to trap perc emissions from dry cleaning equipment. For both options, EPA is requesting additional information to help reduce risks more quickly.
The proposed rule would not affect dry cleaners that do not use perc, or those that send clothes off-site to be cleaned. EPA will accept public comments on this proposal for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
10:28:23 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2006
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
1/11/2006; 3:14:24 PM.
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