The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Sept. 30 that it would use the Clean Air Act to potentially regulate greenhouse gasses. Industry sources say the proposal, which applies to stationary sources that emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gasses annually, could result in litigation and construction delays if it were to go into effect. The same day, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to address global warming in the Senate. The House of Representatives passed a global warming bill last spring, but the Senate has failed to move forward on a comparable bill until
Federal agencies have released seven draft reports aimed at creating a framework for the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay. Among the recommendations are new, more stringent regulations for controlling stormwater runoff and stricter enforcement of existing regulations. Despite efforts over the past 25 years to clean up the Chesapeake, the bay remains severely polluted with nitrogen and phosphorous from urban and agricultural runoff. The landmark Chesapeake Bay agreement—a voluntary pledge signed in 2000 by the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as by the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the mayor of Washington, D.C.—was the first
The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a not-for-profit applied research group supported by property insurers, issued a study of property damage from last September’s strike of Hurricane Ike near Galveston, Texas. It concludes that significantly more Gulf Coast homes and businesses are at risk of disastrous flooding from such storm surges than previously recognized. Photo: The Institute for Business and Home Safety Related Links: Damage Report: Study Claims Codes Are Still Weak The federal National Flood Insurance Program’s base flood-elevation requirement for homes on the area ranged from 13 ft for homes built in the 1970s and 17
The governing board of the South Florida Water Management District on Sept. 17 is scheduled to vote on a $12-million claim settlement for canceling the construction of the 25-sq-mile Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir A-1. The district canceled the project late last year, anticipating the state’s planned purchase of U.S. Sugar Corp.’s property in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee would result in substantial revisions of the plans for Everglades restoration. The district suspended construction on the reservoir in May 2008, citing uncertainty over its ability to continue constructing it because of a lawsuit by environmental groups against the
The economy’s dizzying downward spiral has left few unaffected, and contractors that work in the environmental sector are no exception. But firms report the lukewarm environmental market may be starting to heat up, due in part to an infusion of federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and expected increases in federal funding for water, wastewater and Superfund cleanup projects. Photo: MWH Water and wastewater projects are getting more money. Related Links: General Building: Shaky Economy Leaves Firms Unsettled About What Lies Ahead Manufacturing/Industrial Process: Squeeze Is On As Firms Fight For What Little Work Is Available
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comment through Nov. 10 on the agency’s new strategy for cleaner remediation of Superfund sites. EPA says the strategy, released on Sept. 8, is an initial effort to outline key activities that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other negative environmental impacts that might occur from processes and equipment used in cleaning up hazardous-waste sites. EPA says it intends to modify and refine the document, the culmination of a year’s worth of work by the agency’s Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation, as more becomes known on the issue. The current version of
California water agencies could be required to spend millions of dollars to remove hexavalent chromium if the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment draft health goal of 0.06 parts per billion is adopted. A study by the California Dept. of Health Services survey of 7,000 drinking water sources showed a third contained levels of at least 1 microgram per liter of chromium 6, a possible carcinogen made famous by a lawsuit successfully argued by environmental activist attorney Erin Brockovich. According to James Borchard, vice president and water technology expert for the Southern California office of MWH Americas, Inc., an
A new agreement between the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the states of Washington and Oregon imposes a new, enforceable schedule for the cleanup of underground single-shell storage tanks at the Hanford site in Richland, Wash., federal and state officials said on Aug. 11. Hanford currently stores 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks at the site. The proposed consent decree, which will be open for public comment once it is filed in federal court, would settle litigation filed last November by Washington state and Oregon to force the DOE to complete key aspects of
The Senate has confirmed Jo-Ellen Darcy, a veteran Senate aide, to be assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, the top Pentagon official overseeing the Corps of Engineers' non-military programs. Related Links: Georgia Slapped by Court In Tristate Water Dispute Darcy and more than 40 other nominees for various federal posts were confirmed by voice vote on Aug. 7, shortly before the Senate recessed for its August break. Her nomination went to the Senate April 2 and was cleared by the Armed Services Committee May 6. Darcy's nomination then was referred to the Environment and Public Works Committee, which
The Department of Energy plans to invest up to $6 million in an engineered geothermal demonstration project in Geysers Geothermal Field in Lake County, Calif. The project has been controversial because of concerns that the rock-drilling involved would trigger earthquakes. The project’s developer, AltaRock Energy Inc., would create a fractured reservoir by drilling an injection well into 500 F felsite rock at depths of up to 12,500 ft and then circulating water through it to harvest steam to run a turbine. The cooled water would then be returned to the hot rock. Electricity generated by the steam will be sold
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