Environmental Consulting Blog

Indonesian Oil Business

Philip Zabel — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:53:00 GMT

The following is a link to photo essay about small time oil production in Indonesia. I imagine this how the oil business operated in the 1900s. These people are very resourceful. Too bad they don't understand the damage they are causing to the environment.

http://www.indianpad.com/story/223570

Website Redesign

Philip Zabel — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:48:00 GMT

With the chilling out of the real estate market, business has slowed somewhat. Perfect time to do some much needed marketing. I did a quick update of the website which is mostly cosmetic. I did add a form for customers to fill out for Phase I ESA orders. I did an update to the company brochure which is linked on my website.

Asbestos Abatement of Floor Tile Changes

Philip Zabel — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:47:00 GMT

New Interpretation of Arkansas Regulations Concerning Floor Tile and Adhesive Abatement Effective April 1, 2007

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has recently reevaluated it’s existing interpretation concerning when Category I non-friable asbestos-containing material (ACM), including floor tile and adhesive, becomes regulated ACM under the Asbestos Abatement Regulation 21. In the past, ADEQ considered removal of floor tile and adhesive a non-regulated activity, provided the material was in good condition and would be removed by manual means.

In a letter dated December 19, 2006, the ADEQ stated that Category I non-friable ACM (including floor tile and adhesive) becomes regulated if it has become friable or it will be or has been subjected to sanding, grinding, cutting or abrading, whether by manual or mechanized means.

In effect, floor tile and adhesive are now considered regulated ACM. Removal of regulated ACM require the following:

· Notice of Intent filed 10 days prior to abatement start

· Project Design completed by an ADEQ Licensed Designer

· Clearance Air Monitoring by an ADEQ Licensed Air Monitor

· Abatement Contractor and employees must be ADEQ Licensed

· Proper Disposal of Waste

The new interpretation will be phased-in (with enforcement discretion) from January to March 2007. The new interpretation will be in full effect on April 1, 2007.

New Phase I ESA Rules

Philip Zabel — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:59:00 GMT

New Phase I ESA Rules Effective November 1, 2006

In November of the 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) rule. The AAI rule established specific regulatory requirements and standards for conducting All Appropriate Inquiries (a.k.a. Phase I Environmental Site Assessments) to qualify for one of the three landowner liability protections under the CERCLA Brownfields Amendments. Shortly thereafter, the ASTM finalized it’s E 1527-05 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. The EPA has determined that Phase I ESAs performed according to ASTM E 1527-05 meet the requirements of the AAI rule. Starting November 1, 2006, all Phase I ESAs should be performed according to the AAI rule or ASTM E 1527-05.

Arkansas Certification Program Effective February 25, 2007

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is in the Process of preparing new regulations for certification of environmental consultants and contractors. Companies and individuals who perform Phase I ESAs, Phase II ESAs and Remediation must be certified by the State of Arkansas by February 25, 2007.

Having Dogs May Worsen Response To Air Pollution For Children With Asthma

Philip Zabel — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:08:00 GMT

This article hit home, since we have a dog and my daughter may have asthma. Here is the link to the original article.

Original Article:

Having a dog in the home may worsen the response to air pollution for a child with asthma, according to a new study from researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).

The study was published the last week of August in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

In "Dog Ownership Enhances Symptomatic Responses to Air Pollution in Children with Asthma," researchers looked at the relationship between chronic cough, phlegm production or bronchitis and dog and cat ownership among 475 southern California children with asthma who participated in the Children's Health Study, a longitudinal study of air pollution and respiratory health.

Children with dogs had significantly increased cough, phlegm production and bronchitis responses to the measured pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter and acid vapor. There were no increases of these symptoms in children who lived in homes without pets or who lived with only cats.

"Further work is needed to determine what it is about dogs that may increase an asthmatic child's response to air pollution," said Rob McConnell, MD, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and lead author of the study.

McConnell and colleagues speculated that the increased response to air pollution from a dog in the home may really be due to increased levels of endotoxin, which is more common in homes where there is a dog.

"Cats are highly allergenic, and children with asthma are often allergic to cats," McConnell said. "Therefore if an allergen were enhancing the lung's response to air pollution, we'd be more likely to see an association with cats. But in this study we see an effect of air pollution in homes with dogs, so we think endotoxin exposure is a more likely explanation for our results than allergen exposure."

Endotoxin is a part of the cell wall of common bacteria in the environment. The authors note that inhaled endotoxin produces a marked inflammatory response in the lungs, and it may cause the airways of people with asthma to constrict. In previous studies, endotoxin has been shown to enhance the inflammatory effect of diesel exhaust particulate, inhaled highway aerosols and ozone in the lungs of experimental animals.

"There's experimental literature that shows both allergens and endotoxin interact with air pollution and increase the effect of each other," McConnell said. "But there's been very little study to see if these experiments have relevance for the general population of children with asthma."

McConnell cautioned that much more study is needed to specify why, exactly, children with asthma living in homes with dogs had an enhanced response to air pollution.

"There are other possible explanations for the findings, and actual measurements of home allergen and endotoxin, in addition to air pollution, would be important to evaluate further our hypothesis," he said. "It could also be that something only indirectly related to dogs could explain these results, for example that kids with dogs exercise outside more so they have more exposure to air pollution."

Rob McConnell: http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/ksomnfl.html

Researchers: Brownfields Could Be Used To Grow Crops For Biodiesel

Philip Zabel — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:33:00 GMT

This is an interesting article on utilizing brownfields to grow biomass for production of biodiesel. A bonus is that this may also add in remediation.

REC OR NOT REC that is the question!

Philip Zabel — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:57:00 GMT

The most important part of a Phase I is to answer this seemingly easy question. Is it an REC or not. For those that don't know an REC is a recognized environmental condition. The ASTM define an REC as "the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products on a property under conditions that indicate an existing release, a past release, or a material threat of a release of any hazardous substances or petroleum products into structures on the property or into ground, ground water, or surface water of the property." The mere presence of a hazardous substance is not an REC. The hazardous substance must have leaked or is in danger of leaking.

Too often Phase I ESAs will state that an underground storage of petroleum is an REC. Unless the tank has records indicating a leak this should not be an REC. When determining if an environmental condition is an REC I usually ask myself if this condition has or could harm human health or the environment. Would the condition be subject to regulatory actions. If either of these is true than the condition is most likely an REC.

FISHING FOR LEAD

Philip Zabel — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 09:19:00 GMT

FISHING FOR LEAD: USING FISH BONES TO CLEAN SOILS AT FIRING RANGE SITES
Nosbisch, Bob, University Communications.
New Mexico State University News Release, 10 Oct 2005

Judith Wright uses fish bones to remove lead, uranium, TNT, and heavy metals during environmental remediation via a technology known as phosphate-induced metal stabilization (PIMS). Wright, of PIMS NW Inc., and James Conca, director of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center in New Mexico State University's College of Engineering, have developed Apatite II™, an efficient method of using processed fish bones to remove metal contaminants from water and soil. According to Conca, Wright discovered the possibilities of fishbone as a graduate student in geology at Oregon State University. She examined the fossils of tiny animals that first used apatite in the Cambrian period, more than 500 million years ago. These animals, called conodonts, were small creatures with tooth-like hard parts the size of a grain of sand that they used to eat their way into their prey. Teeth and bones are made up of the mineral apatite or calcium hydroxy-phosphate. Apatite has the ability to fit different elements into its structure by replacing one of its components with another element. Lead, uranium, manganese, plutonium, and strontium can replace calcium; carbonate can replace phosphate; and fluorine and chlorine can replace hydroxyl. By studying the conodont chemistry and that of more recent fish, Wright discovered that the fossils were full of heavy metals that had been taken up by their teeth and bones after death when they lay on the ocean bottom. She determined that once they were incorporated into the teeth and bones, these metals were stable for millions of years. When Wright began working in the field of environmental remediation, she realized that fish bones could be an ideal material for removing metals from contaminated water and soil. The bones can also buffer the acidity or alkalinity of water. Working with Conca at NMSU over a period of years, Wright has implemented this technology to clean up lead and copper at Camp Stanley, a military firing range in Boerne, TX, and lead, cadmium, and zinc in acid mine drainage at the Success Mine and Mill site in northern Idaho. Five pounds of fish bones will remove up to a pound of contaminants. Forty dollars' worth of fish bones will clean more than a million gallons of water contaminated with lead and more than a ton of contaminated soil. Wright and Conca have obtained a patent on this technology. In recent work, Wright, Geof Smith of NMSU's biology department, and student Marissa Martinez have examined the use of the technology to clean up TNT and perchlorate in contaminated military soils.

Impact Environmental is Officially Open for Business

Philip Zabel — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:30:00 GMT

Impact Environmental is officially open for business. After some negotiation with my former employer, Ecologic, Inc., I will be doing some subcontract work for them. Leaving a company you have been with for eight years can never be easy. Especially when you are starting your own company.

I set up the company fax number today 1-866-811-9156 with MyFax.com. For those customers that insist on using that dinosaur (the fax machine) I set up a fax to email account. For those that don't know, this a service that costs about $10 per month and allows you to send and recieve faxes through your email account. They even give you a toll free number. Preliminary tests indicate that it works very well.

ADEQ New Certification Program for Environmental Professionals

Philip Zabel — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 20:20:00 GMT

The Arkansas Department of Environmental quality is formulating a new regulation which will affect all environmental professionals working in the State of Arkansas. Click here to see a fact sheet on the new reg.

Act 2141 of the 2005 Legislative session (Senate Bill 936) establishes a professional certification program for individuals who conduct Phase I environmental site assessments and Phase II or Comprehensive Site Assessments (CSAs), as well as those contractors who undertake site investigations, response, and remedial actions pursuant to either the Arkansas Hazardous Waste Management Act (A.C.A. §§ 8-7-201 et seq.), the Arkansas Remedial Action Trust Fund Act (A.C.A. §§ 8-7-501 et seq.), or the Arkansas Voluntary Clean-Up Act (A.C.A. §§ 8-7-1101 et seq.).

ADEQ, with the advice of stakeholders, will be drafting a new Regulation to set out how these certifications will be implemented. Until these regulations are finalized, Contractors and Consultants may file a notice of intent with ADEQ that they intend and anticipate qualifying under the certification program. After the regulations are finalized, all site assessment consultants and remedial action contractors must meet the certification standards of the new regulation.