Hazardous Waste and Nuclear Waste
Class #8
Homework:
Research paper is due before take final!
Trends in hazardous and nuclear waste management.
1. Announcements
Last Class. Thank you.
Case Study due. If not submitted, stop, complete and submit to Auberle/Jeffery
Remember Research paper due before can take final exam.
2. Current Events
3. Trends in hazardous and nuclear waste management.
Trends:
Brownfields
Environmental Justice
Waste Minimization
Community Right to Know
Industry Initiatives (CMA’s Responsible Care.)
Brownfields
"Abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination."
Client example. Groundwater pollution migrated off-site, under neighboring industrial park. Not able to lease sites for development. Query result of market or of contamination. Negotiations re: financing. Bank loans? Cleanup and tenant.
EPA Brownfields Initiative
Brownfields Mission: " EPA’s Brownfields Initiative will empower States, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development to work together in timely manner to prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse brownfields."
Returning Brownfields to productive reuse requires integration many elements – financial issues, community involvement, liability considerations, environmental assessment and cleanup, regulatory requirements, and more – as well as coordination among many groups of stakeholders.
Cleanup strategy vary from site to site. Some sites cleanup completed before transfer to new owner. Other sites cleanup simultaneously with construction and redevelopment. Regardless how cleanup accomplished, challenge is to clean up sites quickly and redevelop land in ways that benefit communities and local economies.
EPA’s Technology Innovation Office encourages use innovative and cost-effective technologies to characterize and clean up sites.
b. Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice:
Because of close connection between urban revitalization, efforts associated with the Brownfields Initiative are rich with "environmental justice elements." Through EPA’s Brownfields Initiative, 78 communities taking steps to put abandoned properties back into productive use. Many of EPA’s efforts designed to directly or indirectly consider and address environmental justice concerns before become problems.
EPA Definition: "Fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."
Over last decade, attention to impact environmental pollution on particular segments our society steadily growing. Concern that minority populations and/or low income populations bear disproportionate amount of adverse health and environmental efforts, led President Clinton to issue Executive Order 12898 in 1994 focusing Federal agency attention on these issues.
E.g., hazardous waste sites.
EO 12898:
"1-101. Agency Responsibilities. To the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, . . . each Federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income populations . . . . "
E.g.:
EPA collecting data to assess concerns that minority and low-income populations exposed to greater risk because live in close proximity to toxic and hazardous waste sites.
EPA examining RCRA permit programs to see how can be improved. Environmental Justice public participation checklist.
EPA developing guidance for use at Superfund sites on establishment and use of Community Advisory Groups.
EPA working to incorporate environmental justice issues into UST and LUST programs. E.g., Indian Health Service working on pilot program to close USTs on Tribal lands serving hospitals, schools and clinics.
Waste Minimization:
EPA has worked with representatives many stakeholder organizations to develop Waste Minimization National Plan which focuses on reducing generation and subsequent release to environment of most persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals in hazardous wastes. Three goals:
1. Reduce, as a nation, presence of the most persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals in hazardous wastes 25% by year 2000 and 50% by year 2005. (as compared to baseline year of 1991).
2. Avoid transferring these chemicals across environmental media, and
3. Ensure that these chemicals are reduced at their source whenever possible, or, when not, that they are recycled in an environmentally sound manner.
d. Community Right to Know
Community Right to Know
Previously talked about Community Right to Know legislation. Recall Toxic Release Inventory. On June 18, 1998, EPA released TRI data for 1996.
EPA web page: Toxics Release Inventory: Community Right to Know. Links to Right-to-Know Network which offers free access to TRI data, along with health facts for each TRI Chemical. Searchable through WWW. By putting TRI data together with other related databases from several federal agencies, TRK NET promotes pollution prevention, data analyses, and communications among individuals concerned about toxics use reduction.
TRI used by:
Citizens: become more aware of toxic chemicals in own neighborhoods. Encourages dialogue between individuals and local companies.
Businesses: can use TRI data to cut cost and improve operations, can use to identify potential liability issues associated with particular parcel of lad, publicity has caused many companies to voluntarily pledge toxic chemical release reductions.
Educators: Academic researchers
Public Interest Groups: pressuring facilities to change, to educate citizens, and to prepare revealing company profiles. Use to bring pressure on companies and public officials.
E.g., EDF News Release: Quote. EDF Chemical Scorecard.
Labor: Concern for worker safety key factor original passage federal right-to-know legislation.
State and local agencies: Useful to hospitals, schools, and state and local governments for emergency planning and response at state and local levels.
US EPA: Baseline for measuring improvements in companies across nation.
Health Officials:
Media
International: E.g. Russian Federation Embassy has used TRI data to evaluate companies interested in opening facilities in Russia.
CA Prop 65:
Chemicals known to State of CA to cause cancer or reproductive toxin
Clear and reasonable warnings before exposure in amount greater than would cause significant risk . . . .
No discharge to drinking water or on land where enter drinking water in amount greater than would cause significant risk
Theory: current federal and state regulations not protect from exposure to toxic chemicals and products. (Not inclusive enough, too many exceptions, burden to prove unsafe is backwards, can use power of informed consumers to accomplish more than lawsuits and regulations.)
Must provide Clear and Responsible Warning to anyone before expose to carcinogen or reproductive toxin (List of chemicals known to state of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity) in amount greater than would cause significant risk. Burden on producer to show no significant risk.
No discharge listed chemical to drinking water or to land where could enter drinking water in amount greater than would cause significant risk. (Suit against manufacturers of two-cycle boat engines)
EG: Lead glaze on China. EDF and CA Attorney General sued 1991 for selling w/o clear and reasonable warning. Settlement agreement to eliminate lead from products to avoid warning stickers. Same result when makers submersible brass pumps sued over lead leaching out of pumps into drinking water.
Proposals for similar statutes other states, but typically defeated in legislature. California by initiative. Impact beyond CA.
Industry Initiatives:
CMA Responsible Care® Program
Begun by CMA in 1988 to respond to public concerns about manufacture and use of chemicals. Member companies commit to support continuing effort to improve industry’s responsible management of chemicals. Obligation of membership in CMA, requires member companies to:
Improve performance in health, safety and environmental quality
Listen to public concerns
Assist each other to achieve optimum performance
Report progress to the public
Six Codes of Management Practices heart of Responsible care. Outline practices that cover virtually every aspect of chemical manufacturing, transporting and handling. Text of Codes on WWW from CMA. Follow Case Study to link to SCI to link to Responsible Care to link to CMA.
Community Awareness and Emergency Response Code
Pollution Prevention Code
Process Safety Code
Distribution Code
Employee Health and Safety Code
Product Stewardship Code
See also ISO 14000 in Water module. International standard for Environmental Management systems. Used more widely in Europe and Japan, but importance growing here in US.
Reminders:
Good luck on final
Thank you. Welcome comments on course. Content, delivery. What worked and what didn’t.
ENV 410C - Lectures