Following one of the worst droughts in history, several states asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waiver the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS)—which requires a certain amount of renewable fuel in standard fuels—in order to provide economic relief.  The EPA released its decision on November 16, 2012. 

According to the EPA, there is no evidence that “severe economic harm” has been caused by the droughts, and thus the agency has decided not to waiver the RFS.  The EPA made its decision after an economic analyses and modeling was performed by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). 

The economic analyses looked directly as the financial harm caused by the drought to the agricultural sector and energy sector.  The EPA and USDA concluded that lifting the mandate would only reduce current prices by about one percent.  Additionally, the EPA and DOE concluded that lifting the mandate would not impact household energy costs at all. 

Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, stated: “We recognize that this year’s drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers.  But our extensive analysis makes clear that Congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact.” 

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) requires the EPA to make renewable fuel standards and make sure all fuel used for transportation contains a certain amount of renewable fuel.  The mandate can only be lifted if the EPA finds that serious economic harm is caused by the RFS.  No such evidence was found. 

The EPA reported that that it looked at the harm to state and regional economies as well as the national economy during the years of 2012 and 2103, but no evidence of severe economic harm was found. 

The recent waiver request is the second such request submitted to the EPA since the EPAct was passed in 2005.  The state of Texas asked for a waiver in 2008, but the EPA also denied the request. 

This year’s request is the first time multiple states have asked for relief.  The drought experienced in 2012 was one of the worst in history. Although the Dust Bowl drought in the 1930s and droughts during the 1950s were even worse, the drought in 2012 caused severe damage to crops and significantly increased costs for feeding and raising livestock.  Some have blamed the droughts on global warming. 

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

On November 9, 2012, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services declared that the last unlined landfill in the state stopped operations.  Before officially closing, the Farmington landfill made improvements to grading and drainage, and a low-permeability soil cap was put into place. 

Thomas S. Burack, the NH DES Commissioner, made note that a large percentage of landfills in the state used methods that affected the land, air, water, and human health before the Department of Environmental Services was created in 1987. 

Burack noted that before the formation of the DES, “Residents [in most towns] brought their trash to the “town dump,” where it was burned in the open or in low-tech incinerators, or dumped on the land directly.”  He went on to say that “Partially burned and unburned waste was often left uncovered, inviting vermin and posing a risk of disease transmission.”

Open burning stopped in New Hampshire by the mid-1980s, but many of the landfills remained unlined.  Most landfills would simply cover the trash with soil by the end of each day, and 108 unlined municipal landfills were still operating in 1987.  All these landfills contaminated groundwater—some more than others. 

State and federal laws encouraged New Hampshire municipalities to stop operating unlined landfills by the early 1990s, but the closing of the landfills put a large amount of financial burden on some towns because of capping, drainage, and groundwater monitoring requirements. 

In order to address the financial strain, the Unlined Municipal Landfill Closure Grant Program was passed in 1994.  Under the grant, towns became eligible for a 20 percent matching grant if they closed their unlined landfill properly.  The program was embraced more and more, and with the closing of the last unlined landfill in Farmington, the program has provided $30 million to a total of 116 towns to help close 107 unlined landfills. 

Thomas Burack praised the closing of the last unlined landfill, but he made clear that the state still faces huge challenges in solid waste management.   The state still needs to address how to reduce the overall amount of waste and how to increase recycling and composting.  Additionally, the state needs to embrace more waste-to-energy technologies, land-filling procedures, and incineration techniques.

The state of New Hampshire is responsible for roughly 1.3 million tons of solid waste each year.  It is estimated that each person is accountable for about four pounds of solid waste every year. 

Source: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services

Investigative work by federal, state, and local agencies led to the conviction of Rodney Hailey, a man who ran a fraudulent bio-diesel company in order to collect renewable energy credits from the government.

When a Baltimore detective first heard that there were a large number of luxury cars parked outside of a single residence in Maryland, he sent someone to investigate.  The tip turned out to be real.  Maryland resident Rodney Hailey had amassed a collection including a Rolls Royce, a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, a Maserati, and multiple BMWs and Mercedes Benz.

What he found out next surprised him: Hailey had made all of his money relatively recently, from the new industry of renewable bio-diesel fuels.  Hailey's company sold RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers) to companies that were required by federal law to offset some of their emissions with renewable fuel credits.

When investigators came to the address Hailey had on file for his business, however, there was no bio-diesel processing occurring anywhere on site.  Hailey was asked where the bio diesel production facility was located.  According to Hailey, the bio-diesel fuels came from many different restaurants in the area, and was driven to the fuel procesisng plant by drivers.  However, he was unable to name any of these drivers—or, indeed, the restaurants which the company supposedly was buying used cooking oil from.

Instead of finding any bio-diesel fuel manufacturing processes, investigators found mounting evidence that Hailey had used the money only to fuel an excessively lavish lifestyle, including not only a dozen sports cars but also $80,000 worth of jewelry and a home in Maryland worth $650,000, which he paid for using checks written with company funds.

According to federal prosecutors, Hailey's scheme not only cost over $40 million to large energy producers who bought the fraudulent credits, it may also have put small manufacturers of actual bio-diesel out of business.

After being convicted of 42 total offenses, including 32 counts of money laundering, eight counts of wire fraud, and two counts of Clean Air Act violations, Hailey was ordered to spend the next 12 years and six months behind federal prison bars.  He will also be ordered to pay restitution in the amount of over $40 million.  His property, including the cars, house, and jewelry, has already been forfeited to the federal government and will be auctioned off.

Source: epa.gov

Climate changes in the Arctic have led to results that so far have been at times chaotic and unpredictable.  This February, the White House announced a five year research plan that will make it easier for scientists to understand the effects of global climate change on delicate Arctic ecosystems.

The five year plan was developed by the Obama administration in conjunction with 14 federal agencies as well as several state agencies and non-profits in the state of Alaska.  Indigenous communities were also consulted when drafting the Arctic Reseearch Plan.  

According to the administration, immediate action and planning was required because the effects of global climate change are already being felt by both people and wildlife living in the Arctic regions of the United States.  The report will examine the changes to the Arctic using several perspectives, including looking at public health consequences of recent pollution and changes to the sea ice and water levels.

For the first time in thousands of years, new Arctic passageways are opening due to a lack of sea ice.  These changes have significantly altered the way that water and ice flow in the Arctic, and may have severe impacts on local wildlife populations and the lives of indigenous people.  Indigenous people in the Arctic already have substantially lower life expectancies than other people living in the United States

One of the biggest issues being caused by the reduction in sea ice is a new lack of some types of fish that many Inuit and other indigenous people in Alaska and northern Canada depended on.  When these fish harvests become more limited, it is likely that some of these indigenous people will suffer from a lack of food or be forced to adopt a diet significantly different from their native one.

Storm patterns may also change in Alaska as a result of the new climate patterns.  The five year plan produced by the Obama administration would examine the likelihood of any of these storms hitting the United States directly or indirectly.

Using the five year plan for gathering information, the White House intends to have agencies draft predictions of what the Arctic may look like in the near and mid term future.  This will help the federal government to prepare for potential disasters as well as the more inevitable small changes that will come about as a result of global climate change in the Arctic.

Source: whitehouse.gov

On November 19, 2012, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a significant step for the cleanup of the Quanta Resources Superfund site located in Edgewater, New Jersey.  The EPA has reached an agreement with Honeywell International Inc and 23 other parties to start design work before construction for the project begins.  The agreement also requires Honeywell to handle cleanup procedures with oversight from the EPA. 

The Quanta Site cleanup is expected to allow the facility to operate again in the future, but there is a long road to recovery.  The site’s soil and ground water are currently contaminated with lead, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds—all capable of causing serious health problems and even cancer.

Once the project’s design is completed, cleanup will begin on the site beside the Hudson River.  The cleanup will take about two to three years and cost an estimated $78 million. 

The EPA split the investigation and cleanup into two different phases—one for contaminated soil and groundwater, and the other for the river and its sediment.  The first plan was finalized by July 2010, and as required by law, the EPA addressed public comments on the proposed cleanup project for 60 days.  The second part of the cleanup was finalized today on November 19, 2012, and the EPA is currently accepting public comment. 

The site was used as a coal tar facility starting in the 1880s.  In the 1970s, the site was used as a “tank farm” for storing waste oil before reprocessing, but the site was closed down in 1981 by the state of New Jersey after polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in the waste oil.  The waste oil, sludge, and contaminated water in the tanks were removed immediately, and the tanks were eventually taken off the site. 

Today, it is estimated there are 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil beneath the site.  The EPA has approved a plan to solidify areas around the soil contaminated with arsenic and oily liquid by introducing leak-proof blocks around the soil. 

The following companies have agreed to the EPA’s consent decree as well:

·  BASF Corporation

·  Beazer East Inc.

·  BFI Waste Systems of New Jersey Inc.

·  BorgWarner Inc.

·  Chemical Leaman Tank Lines Inc. (Quality Carriers)

·  Colonial Pipeline Co.

·  Consolidated Rail Corp.

·  Exxon Mobil Corp

·  Ford Motor Company

·  General Dynamics Land Systems Inc.

·  Hess Corp.

·   MillerBrewing Co.

·   NEAPCO Inc.

·   Northrup Grumman Systems Corp.

·   Petroleum Tank Cleaners Inc.

·   Rome Strip Steel Co. Inc.

·   Quanta Resources Corp.

·   Stanley Black & Decker Inc.

·   Textron Inc. 

·   United Technologies Corp.

EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck explained how the Superfund program works: “The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers.  “The EPA searches for parties responsible for the contamination and holds them accountable. This agreement is an important part of that process and a step in the right direction.”

Source: Department of Justice

On October 1, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced that they reached settlement for 4,300 Clean Water Act violations in 15 mobile home parks in PA and 900 Safe Drinking Water Act violations at 30 mobile home parks in the state.

The complaints were filed against Frank Perano who owned, operated, and managed mobile home parks in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia.  The state and federal government will split the monetary compensation.  

Mr. Perano faced Clean Water Act violations for illegally discharging partially treated or untreated sewage into streams nearby while failing to properly operating or maintaining treatment facilities.  The Safe Drinking Water Act violations stem from Mr. Perano allowing certain pollutants to exceed federal standards and failing to inform residents of the water problems.  

Mr. Perano is also ordered to take the following steps as part of the plea agreement:

•    hire an approved environmental consultant to perform audits at each park on the treatment, collection, and drinking water systems
•    correct the violations in a timely manner with supervision from the EPA and PADEP
•    undergo monthly compliance evaluations
•    work with an environmental consultant to help teach Perano how to decrease his impact to the environment and from repeating similar violations in the past
•    pay penalties for any future violations

According to Shawn M. Garvin, the EPA Regional Administrator, “This settlement protects human health and the environment by requiring the defendants to improve their environmental management systems, and achieve compliance at their numerous mobile home parks.  While reinforcing our commitment to environmental justice for rural communities, the case demonstrates the benefits of federal and state agencies working together to hold chronic violators of environmental regulations accountable for their actions.”  

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

In October 1, 2012, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that New England residents experienced more smog and poor air quality this year compared to 2011.  According to data from April to September, New England experienced 29 days where ozone monitors recorded air quality above the health standard.  There were only 16 days of bad air quality in 2011.

The EPA specifies that the increased number of days with unhealthy air is directly attributed to the large number of hot days in the 2012 summer.  Large amounts of sunshine and hot temperatures create ozone, but pollution from ozone continues year around.  Ground-level ozone classifies as unhealthy when concentrations are over 0.075 parts per million during an 8-hour period.  

The EPA released the following numbers of unhealthy ozone days for each state in New England:

Connecticut: 27 days in 2012, 14 days in 2011
Massachusetts: 17 days in 2012, 10 days in 2011
Rhode Island: 12 days in 2012, 6 days in 2011
Maine: 4 days in 2012, 3 days in 2011
New Hampshire: 4 days in 2012, 2 days in 2011
Vermont: 0 days in 2012, 1 day in 2011

Even though unhealthy ozone days increased in 2012, the EPA reports that air quality is getting better in the long term.  For example, there were a total of 113 unhealthy days in 1983 compared to 29 days this summer.  Even with increased amount of commuter traffic, the air quality is still getting better.  The EPA reports that cars, motorcycles, trucks, and busses give off the most pollution that creates ozone.  Even though there are more cars, the combination of cleaner fuels, more efficient vehicles, and car pulling initiatives helping the air quality.  

Curt Spalding, a regional administrator for the EPA’s New England regional office, states: “When we look back to the air quality conditions a generation ago, we can feel proud of the advances we have made in reducing air pollution.”

Source: Environmental Protection Agency

On November 20, 2012, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) approved $994,878 of urban forestry grants for communities around New York.  The grants were made available by Governor Cuomo’s funding of $134 million to the New York Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). 

The grants will help communities plant more trees, take tree inventories, and develop management plans as well.  A total of 66 cities, villages, towns, and not-for-profit organizations received large and small community grants. 

9 other communities received a $1,000 Quick Start grant to help plan tree planting programs and activities on Arbor Day. 

Large Community Grants totaled $382,299, small community grant totaled $603,589, and “Quick Start” grants totaled $8,990. 

The following recipients receive large community grants:

·  City Parks Foundation

·  City of Rochester, Forestry Division

·  Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project LDC

·  Trees New York

·  New York Restoration Project

·  CEC Stuyvesant Cove d/b/a Solar one

·  Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Program

·   County of Onondaga

·   Wave Hill Incorporated

·   Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry

·   Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Inc

·   Friends of Mount Hope Cemetary

The recipients of the rewards were chosen after population density, economic status, and the needs of underserved communities were accounted. 

The following cities, towns, villages, and not-for-profits received small community grants:

·   City of Geneva

·   City of Oswego

·   City of Plattsburgh

·   City of Poughkeepsie

·   City of Rome

·   Town of Cheektowaga

·   Town of Greece

·   Town of Huntington

·   Town of Irondequoit

·   Town of Lancaster

·   Town of Tonawanda

·   Village of Freeport

·   Town of Amherst

·   Nassau County Department of Public Works

·   Village of Webster

·   City of Tonawanda

·   City of Fulton

·   City of Rome, New York

·   Village of Williamsville

·   Village of Penn Yan

·   Village of Bath

·   Parks and Forestry, City of Ithaca

·   Town of Cortlandville

·   Village of Great Neck Plaza, Inc.

·   Town of Clarkson

·   Village of Adams, New York

·   City of Elmira

·   Village of Canton

·   Town of Monroe Conservation Commission

·   Village of Fayetteville

·   Village of Owego

·   Town of Ulster

·   Village of Fairport

·   City of Norwich

·   City of Newburgh, c/o Shade Tree Commission

·   Town of Trenton

·   Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

·   Village of Homer

·   Village of Scottsville

·   The Village of Saugerties Tree Commission

·   Town of Forestport

·   Village of Angola

·   Village of Pelham

·   Village of Brockport

·   Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau

DEC Commissioner Joe Martens stated, “Urban forestry programs are vital in promoting clean air, clean water, energy savings, habitat creation and improved quality of life for New York residents.”

Source: New York Department of Environmental Conservation

On November 21, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that four seafood processing vessels failed to comply with federal Clean Water Act permits.  The processors were all operating in federal waters off of the Alaska coast, and they each violated the Clean Water Act during seafood waste discharges. 

The EPA has reached a recent settlement with the following companies: Aleutian Spray Fisheries, Inc, United States Seafoods, LLC, and Ocean Peace Inc.  The EPA was able to conclude that these companies and their vessels dumped millions of pounds of seafood waste into the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and the North Pacific Ocean. 

Under the Clean Water Act, seafood processors are required to ground certain types of seafood into certain sizes before discharge into the water to allow for the greatest amount of dispersion.  Under the companies’ specific permit for remote areas of Alaska, the seafood waste had to be ground to a maximum of ½ inch. 

The vessels were processing Pacific cod, Atka mackerel, flathead sole, Pacific Ocean perch, yellowfin sole, and rock sole. 

Aleutian Spray Fisheries, Inc.

The company violated its permits between 2007 and 2011.  The EPA is requiring the company to pay a $120,000 fine after an inspection of the F/V Siberian Sea and F/V US Liberator proved the company was not keeping records of its discharges nor having its seafood waste treatment systems inspected. 

Ocean Peace, Inc.

During an inspection in December of 2010, the EPA concluded the F/T Ocean Peace was not fulfilling the 1/2 inch grind requirement.  The company also failed to take samples of the waste and failed to keep proper records showing the treatment systems were inspected.  The company violated the Clean Water Act permits from 2007 to 2010 and agreed to pay a fine of $98,000. 

United States Seafoods, LLC

The EPA inspected the F/T Ocean Alaska in September of 2011.  During the inspection, the EPA concluded the vessel failed to keep records showing the waste treatment was regularly inspected.  The violations took place between 2007 and 2010, and the company agreed to pay a $98,000 fine. 

Jeff KenKnight, EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Compliance Unit manager in Seattle, stated: “These permits are intended to protect Alaska's marine habitat and species.  Companies processing seafood must all play by the same rules and comply with the permit conditions.  In general, we find that seafood processing vessels are staying in compliance, but when they don’t, it can have negative consequences.”

Source: Environmental Protection Agency