Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Why You Have to Worry About Every AST Just a note before getting into preventing ruptures. Even if some of your ASTs do not contain a hazardous or regulated substance, their failure could damage nearby tanks that do contain hazardous substances and cause releases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can cite a number […]
ASTs are storage tanks that are aboveground, regardless of whether they are used to store petroleum products, hazardous waste, or other hazardous material. There are a variety of overlapping federal laws and regulations that govern ASTs, and most are highly regulated on the state and local level. There are specific inspection requirements for hazardous waste […]
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, […]
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 […]
So, are citizens’ tips a major component of enforcement programs? Primarily, the average citizen is not able to identify anything beyond the most blatant environmental problems. For example, the EPAinforms aspiring citizen inspectorsthat possible signs of an environmentalviolation include: Strong, offensive, or unusual chemical odors; Large numbers of dead animals, including birds or fish; Pipes […]
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 […]
Counting Hazardous Waste You know you generate hazardous waste at your facility and you want to keep your disposal costs down. Well, then, you have to keep down the amount of hazardous waste you have on-site each month. If you are a large quantity generator (LQG), your responsibilities and costs will be greater than if […]
Note: The OSHA industry standards for asbestos do not protect certain state and local government employees. The worker protection requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ensure that the OSHA General Industry and Construction Industry Standards under 29 CFR 1910.1001 and 29 CFR 1926.1101 are applied to such employees, including those performing asbestos-related work […]
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 […]
Civil Penalties With a few exceptions, most violations of RCRA’s hazardous waste regulations carry a civil penalty of up to $37,500 per day per violation and the possible suspension or revocation of the violator’s permit. Criminal Penalties Knowing violations of hazardous waste rules can result in fines of up to $50,000 per day per violation […]