Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Major Findings from the Second Integrated Urban Air Report to Congress Under the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990, the EPA was tasked with taking action to reduce toxic air emissions and associated human health risks. In 1999, the EPA developed the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy for reducing air toxics risks from all […]
Six Tips for a Successful LUST Closure Tip #1: Understand how the UST program works. Because of the number and diversity of underground storage tanks (USTs) in use nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized early on that state and local governments were in the best position to oversee UST programs. To ensure state programs […]
Overall Strategies for Flood Recovery and Resilience—Part 2 After fully assessing policies and regulations at both the local and state levels, the next strategy is amending zoning, subdivision, and stormwater policies and regulations to match plans. Although the team recommends tailoring options to the specific needs and attributes of each community, they established four categories […]
Highlights of Expanded UST Operator Training The Energy Policy Act of 2005 amended Subtitle I of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which is the federal statute authorizing the UST program. One of the provisions is UST operator training that is required for all states receiving Subtitle I funds, whether the state is approved to […]
UST O&M—Release Detection Changes in the Works Leak detection is a key component of a compliant UST operation, but one that is often found to be lacking when it comes to ongoing system O&M. According to the EPA, although inspectors often find release detection equipment installed on UST systems, they also routinely find that it […]
UST O&M—Changes in the Works Historically, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) UST regulations were focused on improved equipment, with not a lot of attention given to O&M practices. However, based on more than 20 years of regulatory experience, the EPA acknowledges that a higher level of O&M, in addition to better equipment, is required to […]
Chemical accidents involving ammonium nitrate are rare, but have the potential for significant property destruction, injury and death. Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) all have regulations in place, they apparently are not adequate to prevent accidents or ensure emergency response is prepared. […]
What we know about ammonium nitrate is that it is commonly used both for fertilizer in agriculture and for explosives in mining and other industries, and that significant quantities of the chemical are stored throughout the country. What we do not know is exactly how much ammonium nitrate is in storage and where this storage […]
For Americans, clean water that is available in almost unlimited quantities any time of the day or night is something we have grown to expect as normal. But there are many factors changing our water landscape and the EPA is acting now to define present and future water use, problems to address and how to […]
