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Texans Breathing Easier After Big EPA Enforcement Settlement The recent enforcement action against a Port Arthur, Texas chemical manufacturer once again proves the EPA’s dedication to getting industrial facilities to clean up their act, and their community’s air, or face penalties and costly improvements. The company, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a […]
Post-Closure Requirements for Waste-In-Place TSDFs When a TSDF cannot “clean close,” or completely decontaminate equipment, structures, and soils before closure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established specific post-closure requirements under 40 CFR Part 264/265, Subpart G. These requirements were developed for land disposal units (LDUs), such as landfills, land treatment units, and surface impoundments […]
TSDF Closure: Know the Basics Before You Begin The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulates the closure of TSDFs under 40 CFR Part 264/265, Subpart G Closure and Post-Closure, with Part 264 regulating permitted facilities and 265 covering interim status facilities. Regardless, both sets of regulations are divided into two sections that are intended […]
MSW Waste Recovery is Making a Difference Waste from homes and businesses comprises the MSW produced in the United States and in 2012 that waste amounted to about 251 million tons. On a daily basis, each of us generated about 4.38 pounds of trash in 2012, which while coming down from a high of 4.69 […]
Landfill GHG Emissions Showing Improvement Since our beginning, people have thrown things away, leaving a trail of waste debris behind us for millennia. As populations have grown however, our local “dumps” have become MSW landfills – massive, manmade mountains of decomposing trash where nature take its course over weeks, months and years, all the while […]
Big Fines Levied for Illegal Vehicle Imports In early March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with a Minnesota-based power sports company and its two sister companies based in China for violations of CAA requirements. According to the EPA, between 2007 and 2013 the companies imported more than 12,000 highway motorcycles and recreational […]
Educating Tenants about Energy Efficiency – A Win-Win In the commercial real estate sector, the disconnect between building owners and tenants can slow the switch to energy efficiency. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Energy Star® program, a significant portion of a building’s energy use is under the direct or indirect control of the […]
Upgrading Your Commercial Building Energy Efficiency? Pick a Partnership! Three words have always been considered the keys to real estate success: location, location, location. While location is still important, two new words, energy efficiency, have become essential as well, not only to property owners but to tenants too. Energy efficient buildings not only save money, […]
CAA Section 112(r) Violators on EPA’s Hit List Protecting communities from hazardous chemical releases is a priority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the requirements of the CAA Section 112(r) is at the center of many related violations. In announcements made in January and March, the EPA highlighted how several companies violated the GDC, […]
Conventional power generation is a notoriously wasteful operation in the United States where the average efficiency of fossil-fueled power plants is just 33 percent, the same as it has been since the 1970s. The remaining energy produced is simply released in the form of heat, a curious fact when you consider that so much of […]