Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The Clean Air Act required the EPA to develop NAAQS for six pollutants commonly found throughout the United States. These pollutants, referred to as “criteria pollutants,” are: Sulfur dioxide; Particulate matter (PM-10 and PM-2.5); Carbon monoxide; Ozone; Nitrogen dioxide; and Lead. The EPA established a primary and a secondary NAAQS for each criteria pollutant. The […]
Employer Trip Reduction (ETR) Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, states that have areas designated as extreme or severe nonattainment for ozone were required to revise their state implementation plan (SIP) by adopting regulations to implement ETR programs and reduce work-related vehicle trips and miles traveled by employees. In 1995, Congress amended the law, […]
Compliance with refrigerant handling and appliance and equipment repair requires a lot of paperwork and recordkeeping. Exclude Purged Refrigerants Tip 8: If you own refrigeration equipment and want to exclude purged refrigerants that are destroyed from annual leak rate calculations, keep these records: Records sufficient to support the amount of refrigerant you claimed you sent […]
EPA’s regulations for safeguarding and repairing the stratospheric ozone layer include provisions for the servicing and disposal of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment. Under these regulations, a “refrigerant” is defined as any substance consisting of, or is part of, a Class I or Class II ODS that is used for heat transfer purposes and provides a […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends conducting these inspections at least monthly and, while not as thorough as an operations and maintenance (O&M) inspection, each inspection should be recorded by date and initialed. 9 Steps for Inspecting Your USTs Step 1. Release Detection System—Check the release detection system to ensure it is working properly. […]
Note: The current health-based ozone standard is 75 parts per billion (ppb). The groups discussed in this article all recommend that the EPA retain the current ozone standard. National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) NAM commissioned a study concerning the costs of EPA’s proposed ozone standards. The initial (July 2014) and updated (February 2015) study was […]
By law, the EPA cannot consider costs when setting a health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Nonetheless, to inform stakeholders, the Agency typically calculates the costs of meeting the NAAQS as well as the monetary benefits. Note: The current health-based ozone standard is 75 ppb. The EPA estimates costs at $3.9 billion in 2025 […]
After a Flood If your UST has been in a flood, take the following actions, depending on site-specific conditions: Do not assume everything is OK because water didn’t actually flood over the station. The water table could have risen and caused problems. Make sure the power to any UST-related equipment is off (such as power […]
Even if you have insurance to cover repairs, bringing a damaged UST back up to code can be a lengthy process, particularly if the flooding is widespread and qualified UST contractors are in high demand. Damages could include piping connections broken by movement, compromised electrical and leak prevention/detection systems, infiltration by water, and loss of […]
Penalty—$3,650; Cost to Come into Compliance—$30,000 An onshore oil production company in Illinois racked up a rather small penalty of $3,650 for SPCC violations. However, its cost to come into compliance was a substantial $30,000. Their violations can be divided into seven main categories: Problems with the Plan itself: The facility diagram was inadequate. The […]