Thursday, December 19, 2013

Minnesota Environmental Auditing & Compliance Quarterly News

Air Quality – Air Permitting

 
In compliance with settlement agreements, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized revisions to emission standards for stationary engines that generate electricity and power equipment at industrial, agricultural, oil and gas production, power…
 
The EPA is proposing to take action on a petition for rulemaking filed by the Sierra Club in 2011 concerning the treatment of excess emissions in state rules by sources during periods of startup, shutdown, or malfunction (SSM). EPA is proposing to grant in part and to deny…
 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published a final rule revises the definition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). This revision adds four chemical compounds to the list of compounds excluded from the definition of VOC…
 
EPA has published its final decision on the reconsideration of certain aspects of the March 21, 2011, final rule "Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units…
 
In response to four petitions received for reconsideration, US EPA has provided notice that it will review the PVC NESHAP that was finalized in April 2012. The petitions identified notice and comment issues as well as several technical consistency issues with the rule.…
 
EPA Proposes FIP For Taconite Operations In Minnesota and Michigan
EPA is finalizing a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to implement emission limits that represent Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) for certain taconite ore processing facilities in Minnesota and Michigan. The Clean Air Act (CAA or the "Act") and the regional…
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the State of Arkansas’ program for permitting new and modified facilities that emit significant amounts of greenhouse gas pollution (GHG) into the air. The Arkansas Department of Environmental…
 
EPA has finalized proposed amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and the Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants. These amendments were proposed on July 18…
 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a new voluntary clean air program, 'PM Advance' to help communities continue to meet new PM2.5 air quality standards, improve air quality and protect public health. On December 14, 2012, EPA…
 

Wastewater – Water Quality

 
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has released its draft guidance document “TMDL Development and Implementation Guidance: Integrating the WPDES and Impaired Waters Programs” for a 21-day public comment period. In addition to providing…
 
The Kentucky Division of Water has been conducting the triennial review of the state’s water quality standards since early 2012. Recently, the agency had proposed regulations address a number of changes to the water quality standards and included proposed…
 
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is proposing to make some revisions to Minnesota Rules Chapters 7050, 7052 and 7053. The amendments proposed for this rulemaking are the result of the 2008 public review of Minnesota’s water quality standards. The scope…
 

Hazardous Material Management & Transport

 
US EPA has approved the delegation for its hazardous waste programs to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC or DEC) relating to used oil management. New York had applied to EPA for final authorization of changes to its…
 
In 2010, EPA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking concerning renovation, repair, and painting activities on and in public and commercial buildings. EPA is in the process of determining whether these activities create lead-based paint hazards. For…
 
EPA is proposing to add ortho-nitrotoluene (o-nitrotoluene) to the list of chemicals subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA). o-Nitrotoluene has…
 
EPA released the 2012 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) information on more than 7,600 chemicals in commerce. The CDR database contains use and exposure information on the most widely used chemicals in the United States. This report is for calendar year 2011…
 
EPA has announced that it is denying a petition to remove acetonitrile from the list of chemicals subject to reporting requirements under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution…
 

Stormwater Permitting & Compliance

 
The California Water Board has released an update regarding the status of the State Water Board’s reissuance of the NPDES General Permit for the Discharge of Storm Water associated with Industrial Activities (Industrial General Permit, or IGP). State Water Board…
 
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) has issued an industrial stormwater discharge permit specifically to cover marinas which would otherwise need to apply for coverage under the Ohio multisector general permit (MSGP). Marinas nationwide are…
 
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has announced it will add new rules, amend rules and repeal rules in 329 IAC 5 and 327 IAC 15 concerning National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits governed by 40 CFR…
 

Product Stewardship– Product Responsibility

 
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a final rule correcting its regulations that were amended by the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) final rule, published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2012. The corrections to…
 

Environmental Due Diligence

 
EPA is extending liability relief for tenants leasing property on brownfields or other contaminated properties, in response to liability concerns raised by developers who wish to participate in an EPA effort to place renewable energy projects on potentially…
 
EPA withdrawn a direct final rule National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; Revision to Increase Public Availability of the Administrative Record File because the agency received an adverse comment on the rule. The rule, which was …
 

Environmental Review – Impact Assessment

 
Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have published a final rule revising some of their Environmental review and Related Procedures. This final rule makes revisions to the joint FTA and FHWA regulations that implement the…
 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will begin assessments on 23 commonly used chemicals, with a specific focus on flame retardant chemicals. These assessments are part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan which…
 Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


E-Compliance & Assessment Notes (2013 Q4)

 

Air Quality – Air Permitting

 
EPA has approved revisions to the Wisconsin State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in 2008. WDNR submitted revisions exempting certain sources of air pollution from construction permit requirements…
 
On November 30, 2012, EPA published the proposed rule, "Reconsideration of Certain New Source and Startup/Shutdown Issues: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal- and Oil-fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards…
 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued updates to its oil and natural gas standards for storage tanks, in response to petitions for reconsideration of the 2012 New Source Performance Standards for Oil and Natural Gas Production. The updates will…
 
EPA has approved portions of the North Dakota State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission that demonstrate that North Dakota meets certain interstate transport requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the 2006 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) …
 
US EPA has initiated the reconsideration of recent changes to prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) regulations, which expects to complete by June 2014. This rulemaking is in response to the January 22, 2013, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.…
 
 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed Clean Air Act standards to reduce carbon emissions from new power plants. Under the proposal, new large natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour…
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed two rules to reduce exposure to formaldehyde, as required under a Federal law passed by Congress in 2010. These rules ensure that composite wood products produced domestically or imported…
 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to approve revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the state of Iowa. The purpose of these revisions is to update the Polk County Board of Health Rules and Regulations. These proposed revisions…
 
EPA is withdrawing a direct rule it had published in the Federal Register on February 15, 2013, to revise the definition of VOCs for purposes of preparing SIPs to attain the NAAQS for ozone under title I of the CAA. EPA published a direct final rule that excluded …
 

Wastewater – Water Quality

 
EPA is proposing rules that would require electronic reporting in place of the current paper-based NPDES reports. The proposed regulation would require permittees and regulators to use existing, available information technology to electronically report information and…
 
The Minnesota Depart of Health (MDH), Health Risk Assessment Unit has adopted revisions to the Rules relating to health risk limits (HRL) for groundwater standards in the Minnesota. The amendments add (to Part 4717.7860 of the rule) health-based guidance values for…
 
In response to a 2009 Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that vacated the 2006 NPDES Pesticides Rule, EPA has revised regulations to remove language added by the that rule. This language had exempted the application of pesticides from National Pollutant…
 
EPA has reached an agreement with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to make changes to Iowa’s Clean Water Act (CWA) permit and compliance program for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The agreement includes specific actions.…
 

Hazardous Material Management & Transport

 
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed to amend the hazardous materials procedural rules to prohibit a person who fails to pay a civil penalty as ordered, or fails to abide by a payment agreement, from performing activities.…
 
In this final rule, EPA requires facilities to report non-trade-secret Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) forms to EPA using electronic software provided by the agency. The final rule is effective on January 21, 2014. The only exception to this electronic reporting requirement…
 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has modified the hazardous waste management regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to conditionally exclude solvent-contaminated wipes from hazardous waste regulations…
 
US EPA has initiated rulemaking to process to add to the list of Categorical Non-Waste Fuels (Non-Hazardous Secondary Material). In the 2013 Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials (NHSM) final rule, the Agency established a rulemaking process for categorical…
 
EPA has updated its list of industrial codes of operations which may be subject to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting under EPCRA 313. (also referred to as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) In general, section 313.…
 

Stormwater Permitting & Compliance

 
The California State Water Board staff has released an updated analysis of the compliance costs for the proposed Industrial General Permit (2013 Final Draft IGP) This updates the prior analysis released in 2012. To conduct the 2013 cost update facilities were…
 
As part of ongoing federal and state efforts to restore Puget Sound, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced it is implementing focused enforcement actions in Seattle-area looking at companies discharging industrial stormwater to Puget Sound.…
 

Product Stewardship– Product Responsibility

 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) has added more than 130 chemicals to its Safer Chemical Ingredients List, including 119 fragrance chemicals for commercial and consumer cleaning products. The Safer Chemical Ingredients list was created in.…
 
As part of ongoing efforts to promote the design and use of safer chemicals, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a draft report on alternatives to a flame retardant chemical, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), which has persistent.…
 
EPA issued a proposed rule on June 10, 2013 concerning a third-party certification framework for the formaldehyde standards for composite wood products. The comment period for this proposed rule has been extended from August 9, 2013 to August 26, 2013…
 

Environmental Due Diligence

 
In advance of the revised ASTM standard being finalized, EPA has proposed to amend the Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries to reference ASTM International's E1527-13 "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I…
 
EPA withdrawn a direct final rule National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; Revision to Increase Public Availability of the Administrative Record File because the agency received an adverse comment on the rule. The rule, which was …
 

Environmental Review – Impact Assessment

 
Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have published a final rule revising some of their Environmental review and Related Procedures. This final rule makes revisions to the joint FTA and FHWA regulations that implement the…
 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will begin assessments on 23 commonly used chemicals, with a specific focus on flame retardant chemicals. These assessments are part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan which…
 

Other EH&S Topics

 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released an upgrade to the online energy management and tracking tool, Energy Star Portfolio Manager.  According to EPA, the new Energy Star Portfolio Manager delivers a more user-friendly interface, enhanced data…
 
 Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


Saturday, November 30, 2013

Phase 1 Environmental Assessments In Minnesota Using Revised ASTM Standard

Caltha LLP conducts Phase 1 environmental assessments for lenders, buyers, sellers and prospective tenants across Minnesota. [use this link to review summaries of Caltha LLP site assessment projects] The revised ASTM "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process" has been published in final form in November 2013. Caltha LLP is now conducting all Phase 1 ESAs fro our work in Minnesota using the revised standard.

Two of the key requirements that are significantly different compared to previous versions of this standard are:
  1. Requirement for physical review of agency file. If relevant information which may be useful in the assessment is only accessible in agency files, then a file review needs to be conducted.
  2. The standard now specifies three different categories for Recognized Environmental Conditions:
    • ASTM E 1527-13 defines recognized environmental conditions the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products in, on, or at a property: (1) due to release to the environment; (2) under conditions indicative of a release to the environment; or (3) under conditions that pose a material threat of a future release to the environment.
    • A historical recognized environmental condition is a past release of any hazardous substances or petroleum products that has occurred in connection with the property and has been addressed to the satisfaction of the applicable regulatory authority or meeting unrestricted use criteria established by a regulatory authority, without subjecting the property to any required controls.
    • A controlled recognized environmental condition is a recognized environmental condition resulting from a past release of hazardous substances or petroleum products that has been addressed to the satisfaction of the applicable regulatory authority with hazardous substances or petroleum products allowed to remain in place subject to the implementation of required controls.
Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs.

For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Minnesota OHSAS 18001 Consultant - RAB Certified OHSAS 18001 Lead Auditors

Caltha LLP offers the specialized expertise needed to assist our clients in Minnesota in developing and implementing a safety management system that meets the requirements set out in OHSAS 18001. This service ranges from helping the client understand the requirements to conform to and self-certify that they meet the requirements all the way to achieving certification by the international body and their registered third-party auditors that their SMS meets the Standard’s rigorous requirements.

Caltha LLP’s full service OHSAS 18001 program includes assistance in developing, implementing, and internally auditing an SMS to assure that all elements of the Standard have been met. This activity also includes providing training packages and the training needed to accomplish the desired goals. This service is provided by people who have developed and implemented single site and multi-site programs that have achieved certification and further, are RAB certified OHSAS 18001 Lead Auditors who have the background to assist with or conduct internal audits.

Caltha LLP provides expert EH&S consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Fee Reduction For HazMat Shippers In 2013-2014

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), US DOT will have a temporary reduction in registration fees it charges hazardous material shippers due to an unexpended balance that has accumulated in the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Fund.

For registration year 2013-2014 the fee for a small business or not-for-profit organization is revised to be $125 (plus a $25 processing fee), and for all other businesses the fee is $1300 (plus a $25 processing fee). After the 2013-2014 registration year, the registration fees will return to 2012-2013 registration year levels. PHMSA is issuing this final rule without a prior notice of proposed rulemaking and the final rule is effective immediately.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com 
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Proposal To Exclude Chemical From List of VOC Withdrawn

EPA published a direct final rule that excluded trans 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-ene from the definition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for purposes of preparing state implementation plans (SIPs) to attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone under title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The substance was proposed to be excluded from the definition of VOCs based on EPA’s determination that the compound makes a negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation.

However, because EPA received one adverse comment to the proposed rule, they are withdrawing the direct final rule effective April 18, 2013. The proposed rule will now go through normal rulemaking processes and all public comments that were received will be addressed in a final rulemaking action based on the proposed rule.

Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Penalties For Haz Mat Transportation Violations Changed

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is revising the references in its regulations to the maximum and minimum civil penalties for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law. These changes to the civil penalty amounts apply to violations occurring on or after October 1, 2012. Accordingly, PHMSA is revising the references to the maximum and minimum civil penalty amounts in its regulations to reflect the changes to Section 5123 of the Federal hazardous material transportation law, as follows:
  • Revising the maximum civil penalty from $55,000 to $75,000 for a person who knowingly violates the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law.
  • Revising the maximum civil penalty from $110,000 to $175,000 for a person who knowingly violates the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law that results in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of the property.
  • Removing the current $250 minimum civil penalty and revising the minimum penalty amount to $450 for a violation related to training.
Caltha LLP provides expert environmental consultant services in Minnesota to obtain air and wastewater permits, evaluate regulatory requirements, and to develop cost effective compliance programs. For further information, contact Caltha LLP at:
Email: info@calthacompany.com
Phone: (763) 208-6430
Website: http://www.calthacompany.com/
Two Minnesota offices - Minneapolis and Pine River