Compliance Resources to Help you Stay Current

Western Refining Southwest Inc has been fined by the U.S Environmental and Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to monitor benzene discharges and illegally disposing of hazardous waste. This amounts to violation of a Consent Agreement and Final Order (CAFO) filed in August 2009.

In Florida, nutrient pollution has contributed to severe water quality degradation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has laid down protective standards to check water pollution. Phosphorus and nitrogen pollutants, leaching into waterways from excess fertilizer, storm water and wastewater, foster harmful algae blooms. These blooms produce toxins that can harm the flora and fauna across the state. Currently, more than 1,900 rivers and streams, 375,000 acres of lakes, and 500 square miles of estuaries are known to have been polluted by nutrients.

The standards will help reduce nutrient pollution in lakes and flowing waters - Florida’s communities and businesses all set to benefit from strong environmental protection and significant flexibility.

General Mills set for itself new five-year environmental goals recently. The goals are meant to make its operations more efficient by 2015. The firm desires to bring down greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. It will bring down consumption of water and energy too –by 20 percent in each case. By 2015, it intends to bring down solid waste generation by 50 percent. Normalized per metric ton of the product, these efficiency goals imply that the firm can consume more energy and water in absolute terms even as they help the firm achieve its goals.

Commercial production of Chevrolet Volt has commenced at the Detroit plant of General Motors. These cars are intended for sale or lease to consumers. But the actual sale has to wait – until the issue concerning the EPA fuel economy label is resolved, that is.

EPA commenced site mobilization for removal of soil at the Parker Street Waste Site, last week. Involving removal of contaminated soil from residential properties, the activity will continue until December. Work commenced last week to establish EPA’s command post and equipment staging areas and interact with property owners on specific plans.

134 chemical were identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for screening. The purpose is to identify possible disruptive effects on the endocrine system. Chemicals that may interference with the body’s endocrine system, disrupting its development, reproduction, neurology, and immunity are called endocrine disruptors. The safety of the identified chemicals is crucial, and the next step in the EPA process.

The Special Symposium on Climate Change and Impact Assessment held at the World Bank was hosted by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) at Washington, D.C. Experts talked about the impact of climate change on projects. They went further to discuss impact assessment and how it can be applied to responding to climate change and understanding associated risks. Ken Markowitz, the Managing Director for INECE commented on the topic.

As many as three pesticide distributors working in Washington State – Skyline Chemical, LLC, Axss USA and Pace International – will be fined more than $35,000 for the illegal import of pesticides as well as misleading labelling of products. These distributors will pay penalties violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

The U.S Agency for International Development and Global Health Bureaus collaborated to prepare the report: Changing Glaciers and Hydrology in Asia: Addressing Vulnerability to Glacier Melt Impacts. Climate change has long been in the news, and it is time for development agencies to educate regional communities on the impact of the slowly melting Himalayan glaciers. The report indicates the necessity to integrate education, environment, health, and social organizations in different programs.

The 2011 Fuel Economy Guide was released by the Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The guide provides information on fuel costs and estimated mileage for vehicles released in 2011.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought out the first national standards to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as well as to improve fuel efficiency in buses and heavy-duty trucks starting from the model year 2014.
 

Sony Corporation, one of the world's largest media conglomerates has announced its new mantra ‘Road to Zero’ which the company is going to follow for the next forty years.

“Road to Zero”, as described by the CEO Sir Howard Stringer, is a green model which not only Sony will follow for the coming years but will inspire other companies to follow for achieving a zero environmental footprint by 2050. With a backcasting method to set specific mid-term environmental targets for the next five years in line, Sony aspires to neutralize carbon emission, stop producing waste and end using virgin materials. To achieve the goal, a first mid-term targets, starting from fiscal year 2011 to end of fiscal year 2015, will be put into practice globally across the Sony Group. In the first five years tenure, the company strives to achieve:

Outstanding performance in as participants in the Energy Star efficiency program has brought awards from the U.S. Environmental Agency for manufacturers, retailers, real estate services firms, local governments, schools, builders and other enterprises.

The annual award program categorized three levels of awards. The first is Sustained Excellence category, which 50 companies received, the Partner of the Year category – won by 40 enterprises, followed by the Award for Excellence – won by 20 companies.

EPA has decided to launch a study of hydraulic gas drilling or fracking. The focus of the study will be on finding the impact of the shale gas drilling on human health and environment.

The Obama administration is making a push for tighter emission standards to control causing of smog. Driven by EPA's resolution to bring in stricter standards who have valued the Human Health Benefits at $13 billion to $100 billion by 2020 if all counties comply with the new standard. But industry expertes feel it is going to be additional cost burden to comply. The Bush administration had set the standard at 0.075 parts per million which was not well accepted by EPA scientific panel and environmental advocates who pushed for tighter standards. The new standards is likely to be set at 0.060 to 0.070 parts per million. The onus greatly falls on manufacturers, oil refineries and utilities to bear the cost of compliance.

Green energy is the term used to describe sources of energy that are considered to be environmentally friendly and non-polluting, such as geothermal, wind, solar, and hydro. Sometimes nuclear power is also considered a green energy source. All energy producing technology has some impact on the environment, but Green energy sources are often considered "green" because they are perceived to lower carbon emissions and create less pollution.

The increased awareness on global warming and the alarming statistics on environment depletion by human activity over the years, has increasingly motivated people to engage in green activities. All sectors are contributing their might to this cause. The way you build your buildings to living in them, alternate energy use, conservative use of resources, recycle and reuse are all part of the initiatives to reduce the impact on environment.

Electronic waste (e-waste) now makes up five percent of all municipal solid waste worldwide, nearly the same amount as all plastic packaging, but it is much more hazardous. Not only developed countries generate e-waste; Asia discards an estimated 12 million tonnes each year.

Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) identifies six hazardous substances that should not exceed a certain threshold limit in a product. But lead being a major ingredient in all electronic equipments by way of solders, chips etc, and has the potential to be a health hazard by way of contamination has resulted in RoHS being referred to as Lead-free RoHS.

To make electronic manufacturing lead-free, use of RoHS qualified printed circuit component packages and use of lead free solders is being accepted and practiced. But these approached have given rise to new challenges of finding right material composition for other components.

An integrated effort is required to achieve RoHS compliance in its full essence. Read more on this.

RoHS – Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive - This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic e-waste. -