Environmental attorney Sanders says here are the current members of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works.

Did you ever wonder who currently sits as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works?

Senate Majority Committee members are: Barbara Boxer (Chairman)Max Baucus Joseph I. Lieberman Thomas R. Carper Hillary Rodham Clinton Frank R. Lautenberg Benjamin L. Cardin Bernard Sanders Amy Klobuchar and Sheldon Whitehouse

Senate Minority Committee MembersJames M. Inhofe John Warner George V. Voinovich Johnny Isakson David Vitter John Barrasso Larry E. Craig Lamar Alexander and Christopher S. Bond

The composition of the Senate Committee will change when the Senate re-convenes in 2009.

Environmental attorney Sanders says energy efficient hot water heaters now available for residential use.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the availability of ENERGY STAR® residential water heaters. Introduction of this product provides significant potential savings to consumers. Water heating represents up to 15.5 percent of national residential energy consumption, the second largest end use of energy in homes, following heating and cooling. Using one of five specified water heating technologies, ENERGY STAR® qualified water heaters can reduce water heating bills from 7.5 percent to as much as 55 percent.

In five years, the new water heater criteria are expected to save Americans consumers $823 million in utility costs, avoid 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and achieve cumulative energy savings of more than 3.9 billion kilowatt-hours and 270 million therms of natural gas – enough energy to power more than 375,000 homes for a year.

Environmental lawyer Sanders says ExxonMobile to pay $6.1 million penalty for violating CAA consent decree.

ExxonMobil has agreed to pay nearly $6.1 million in civil penalties for violating the terms of a 2005 court-approved Clean Air Act agreement. The 2005 settlement already required ExxonMobil to pay a $7.7 million civil penalty, perform an additional $6.7 million in supplemental environmental projects in communities around the company's refineries, and install pollution controls at six of its U.S. refineries.

The agreement penalizes ExxonMobil for failing to comply with the 2005 settlement at four refineries in Beaumont and Baytown, Texas; Torrance, Calif.; and Baton Rouge, La. Most of the penalties are for failure to monitor and control the sulfur content in certain fuel gas streams burned in refinery furnaces, as required by the 2005 settlement and EPA regulations.

Environmental attorney Sanders says ExxonMobile Pipeline popped for $6.1 million in criminal penalties for discharging diesel oil in Mystic River.

The Department of Justice announced that a criminal information was filed in federal court against a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation with violating the Clean Water Act in connection with a spill of approximately 15,000 gallons of diesel oil into the Mystic River from ExxonMobil’s oil terminal in Everett, Mass.

ExxonMobil Pipeline Company was charged with a criminal violation of the Clean Water Act in connection with the January 2006 spill and has signed a plea agreement in which it will pay a total monetary payment of more than $6.1 million and agree to have the Everett terminal monitored by court appointed observer. The plea agreement is subject to court approval.

As part of its plea agreement, ExxonMobil has agreed to pay the maximum possible fine of $359,018 (twice the cost of the clean up), cleanup costs of $179,634, and a community service payment of $5,640,982 to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act fund to be used to restore wetlands in Massachusetts.

Environmental attorney Sanders says EPA is coordinating response to TVA's billion gallon release of fly ash sludge.

U.S. EPA Region 4 continues to assist in Harriman, Tennessee as part of the Unified Command response operation for the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant fly ash release. Unified Command consists of EPA, the Roane County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), Tennessee EMA, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

It is estimated that approximately 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash and water were released on to land adjacent to the plant and into the nearby Clinch and Emory Rivers on Monday, December 22, 2008. The initial release of materials from the plant’s retention pond created a tidal wave of water and ash which destroyed several homes and ruptured a major gas line in a neighborhood located adjacent to the plant.

EPA continues to assist in monitoring response operations and reviewing sampling data by TVA. EPA initiated a sampling program on December 23, 2008, which included surface water, sediment and fly ash. Samples were submitted to a laboratory for analysis of total and dissolved metals and total suspended solids.

Current environmental data from surface water sampling indicates that several heavy metals are present in the surface water slightly above drinking water standards in the area of the spill, but not in the area of the Kingston water supply intake. Drinking water standards are designed to be conservative, and results to date are below concentrations EPA knows to be harmful to humans.

One sample of river water out of numerous samples taken indicated an elevated level of arsenic, however arsenic has been found to be naturally occurring in the environment and further investigation is in progress. Arsenic was not detected in samples taken close to the Kingston Water Intake. Unless people regularly drink untreated river water, the arsenic should not cause any adverse health effects. Surface water sample results in the area of the drinking water intakes did not indicate standards exceedances, but sampling will continue.

EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation continue to sample drinking water wells, municipal water, soils, river-water and river sediment. Response officials are currently evaluating the potential for health effects associated with dust from dry fly ash material, and both EPA and TVA have begun monitoring for levels of fly ash in the air.

TVA continues to manage the river flows of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers to minimize the possibility of water from the plant flowing past the Kingston water supply intake and continues the removal of displaced fly ash.

A hotline for health effects information is being established by the Tennessee Department of Health, in consultation with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The hotline should be operational on December 29, 2008.

Environmental lawyer Sanders says federal panel reverses course and allows Clean Air Act Interstate Rule to remain in effect for the time being.

In a surprise move, a federal appellate panel ruled that U.S. EPA regulations that limit certain air pollutants from coal-fired electric generating power plants will remain in effect until new administrative rules are drafted by EPA. Coal powered plants are located in 28 states, including Kentucky.

The rules at issue are known as the Clean Air Act Interstate Rule. These regulations attempt to limit the amount of certain air pollutants that are carried by the wind across state lines. The intent of the rules is to reduce acid rain falling downwind coal power plants.

The three-judge panel of the court in Washington unanimously struck down the same regulations in July 2008, saying U.S. EPA went beyond its legal authority in 2005 when it created the Clean Air Interstate Rule. The appellate court still believes the rules are legally flawed, but apparently believe something is better than nothing in matters dealing with air pollution from coal power plants. Thus, the flawed rules will remain in effect until the EPA redrafts them.

However, the appellate panel rejected a request by several states to set a deadline for EPA to revise the rules. Here is Christmas surprise contained in a 4-page opinion on rehearing. The 60-page July 11th opinion is here. This opinion originally vacated the same rules.

Environmental attorney Sanders says TVA fly ash sludge spill may be largest environmental disaster of its kind in USA.

TVA’s massive coal ash spill in eastern Tennessee may be the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States. Indeed, TVA is now admitting the spill was more than three times as large as initially estimated according to TVA’s updated survey of the colossal mess.

Faced with the bright lights of international news coverage, TVA now estimates that more than a billion gallons of coal fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal, spilled when an earthen dike burst on a retention pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant. The spill covered 300 acres with sludge in Harriman, about 35 miles west of Knoxville.

More worrisome to many, a mixture of fly ash and water spilled in the Emory River, causing residents of nearby Kingston to worry about the safety of their drinking water. To no one’s surprise, TVA has said the water is safe to drink.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said last week that the mixture of coal fly ash and water didn't pose an immediate risk to residents unless they ingested it. Elevated contaminant levels were found in water samples in the immediate area of the spill, but not around the intake for the Kingston Water Treatment Plant, which supplies drinking water to residents, Tennessee officials told residents.

Because of the potential health risks from heavy metals in the sludge, TVA is taking water samples from the river near the raw water intake for the drinking water plant.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Scientific American reports that fly ash contains 100X more radiation than nuclear waste.

Scientific American reports that several studies conducted in recent years have found that waste produced by coal plants is more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, according to the article, fly ash—a by-product from burning coal for power—contains up to 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste.

You can read the article at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste.

Environmental attorney Sanders says watch an aerial videotape of the devastation near Chattanooga caused by collapse of TVA fly ash pond.

An aerial videotape of the devastation from the collapse of a TVA fly ash pond near Chattanooga, TN can be seen here.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to all of the families who have been affected by this disaster in the Christmas season. God bless each and everyone of them and good luck to the cleanup crew, who will be working overtime this holiday season.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Tetra-Tech award contract to remediate sediments of Lower Fox River contaminated with PCBs.

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. The Lower Fox River links Lake Winnebago with the Bay of Green Bay. The Lower Fox River is home to many industrial plants, including a number of paper mills.

Some of these paper mills produced carbon-less copy paper, which contained PCBs as an integral ingredient. The use of PCBs in making and recycling of carbon-less paper stopped in the 1970s. The paper mills use of PCBs contaminated the river’s sediments and the Fox River was placed on the National Priority List by U.S. EPA in the 1990s.

Looking back, the NCR Corporation and Appleton Paper Company began discharging PCB-contaminated wastewater into the Fox River, as a by-product of their joint production of PCB-coated carbonless copy paper in 1954. Shortly thereafter, five other paper companies started recycling the PCB-contaminated trimmings and wastepaper originating from Appleton Paper Company, and they also began dumping PCBs into the Fox River with their wastewater.

PCBs, which are a chemical family of more than 200 different highly toxic compounds, accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals, including fish, waterfowl, and humans.

To clean up the river’s heavily polluted sediments, seven paper companies (collectively known as the “Fox River Group”) are being held responsible for the contamination. The companies are Appleton Papers Inc., NCR, Fort James Corp. (now Georgia-Pacific Corp.), P.H. Glatfelter Co., Riverside Paper Corp., Wisconsin Tissue Mills Inc. (now WTM1), and U.S. Paper Mills Corp.

After much intense wrangling, heated debate, and planning over the past 25 years, the Fox River Group selected Tetra Tech, Inc. for the first phase of a design-build sediment remediation program for the Lower Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin —one of the largest sediment remediation programs in the world.

Tetra Tech plans to remediate approximately 4 million cubic yards of sediment contaminated with PCBs. The cleanup is estimated to cost about $600 to $700 million, which will be spread out over about 10 years. Let’s hope that Tetra-Tech is successful in remediating PCB contamination in the bottom the Lower Fox River.

Environmental attorney Sanders says U.S. EPA notifies Kentucky that nine counties fail fine particulate standards under Clean Air Act.

U.S. EPA notified Kentucky’s Division for Air Quality that nine Kentucky counties do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for 24-hour levels of fine particle pollution. The Kentucky counties are: Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Boyd, Bullitt, Jefferson, McCracken, a portion of Lawrence and two portions of Muhlenberg.

Particle pollution, also called particulate matter or PM, is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets in the air. When breathed in, these particles can reach the deepest regions of the lungs. Exposure to particle pollution is linked to a variety of significant health problems, ranging from aggravated asthma to premature death in people with heart and lung disease. Particle pollution also is the main cause of visibility impairment in the nation’s cities and national parks.

The 2006 standards tighten the 24-hour fine particle standard from 65 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) to 35 µg/m3, and retain the current annual fine particle standard at 15 µg/m3.

PM2.5 is a criteria pollutant. EPA establishes national ambient air quality standards for each of the criteria pollutants. These standards apply to the concentration of a pollutant in outdoor air. If the air quality in a geographic area meets or is cleaner than the national standard, it is called an attainment area; areas that don’t meet the national standard are called nonattainment areas.

In order to improve air quality in a nonattainment area, Kentucky must develop a plan that outlines the measures that it will take in order to improve air quality in these nine counties. Such a plan may impact industrial and economic development in these areas in the future.

So, EPA’s finding of non-conpliance is not good for Kentucky, busineses already located in these nine counties, or those business seeking to locate industrial operations in any of the nine counties. Just as important, the finding is just plain BAD for everyone breathing air in these nine counties.

Once a nonattainment area meets the standards and additional redesignation requirements in the Clean Air Act [Section 107(d)(3)(E)], EPA will designate the area to attainment as a “maintenance area.”

Environmental lawyer Sanders says fly ash pond collapse at TVA coal-fired electric plant buries 15 homes in several feet of ashy sludge.

Today, a massive slug of mud, water and fly ash sludge buried 15 homes when an earthen dike collapsed at a large fly ash pond at TVA’s Kingston coal-fired plant. The 40-acre fly ash pond collapsed in a rural area located outside of Chattanooga, TN. The ensuing mess covered hundreds of acres downstream from the fly ash pond.

News stations are reporting that the force of the massive wall of water, ash, and mud knocked one home off its foundation and buried everything in its wake with 4 to 6 feet of sludge over an area of 250 acres to 400 acres.

U.S. EPA Region 4 staff in Atlanta made an initial estimate that 2.6 million cubic yards of fly ash were released. EPA reported that the pond was designed to contain around 40 million gallons of water, but the agency admitted that it doesn’t know how much water or sludge was actually released.

No injuries have reported at this time. Latest reports claim that about 15 homes have been affected by the failure of the fly ash pond. In response, TVA is mobilizing approximately 30 pieces of equipment and 90 individuals to place barriers to prevent the movement of the ash and to begin clean-up. Teams also will be sampling water in the area and conducting damage assessments.

Environmental attorney Sanders says President-elect Obama names his nominees to head U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE.

On Dec. 15, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama held a press conference where he named his latest nominees who will help "transform our economy so that our people are more prosperous, our nation is more secure, and our planet is protected."

The nominees are Steven Chu, Ph.D., secretary of energy; Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Carol Browner, assistant to the president for Energy and Climate Change; and Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for Energy and Climate Change.

Environmental attorney Sanders says environmental groups file suit to protect new stream buffer rule that favors dumping mine spoil in waterways.

A coalition of environmental groups filed suit today to challenge the Bush administration over a controversial rule change pushed through the Office of Surface Mining December 12 after having been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the waning days of the Bush administration's power.

The legal challenge would overturn the last-minute repeal of the stream buffer zone rule -- an environmental law that, since 1983, has prohibited surface coal mining activities within 100 feet of flowing streams.

Attorneys with Earthjustice, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Sierra Club, and Waterkeeper Alliance filed the legal challenge today in federal district court in Washington, DC on behalf of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Tennessee-based Save Our Cumberland Mountains, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and two other West Virginia-based groups: Coal River Mountain Watch and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Congressional report details EPA's discharge of Clean Water Act violations from enforcement docket.

The results of a Congressional investigation details the deterioration of the Clean Water Act enforcement program in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that called into question whether certain rivers, streams, wetlands and other waters remain protected from pollution. The U.S. Supreme Court case is Rapanos v. United States, 373 F.3d 626 (2006).

The investigation, by Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar, uncovered information EPA is keeping hidden from Congressional investigators and the public: namely the details of over 500 clean water enforcement cases that have been dropped or stalled in the wake of the 2006 Rapanos decision -- almost half of the agency's annual water enforcement docket.

A leaked EPA memo reported that in the period between July 2006 through December 2007, 305 Clean Water Act enforcement cases were dropped and 147 were officially "de-prioritized." In 63 additional instances, polluters have used the Bush administration's interpretation of the Supreme Court decision as a shield against enforcement.

The regions with the most lost enforcement actions are EPA Region 6, which includes the states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, where 138 enforcement cases were dropped, and EPA Region 8, which includes the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, where 106 enforcement cases have been dropped.

The Congressional report is at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20081216113810.pdf.

Environmental attorney Sanders says coal-fired utility plants are a major source of airborne mercury emissions in U.S. according to EPA report.

U.S. EPA issued a report in 1998 citing mercury emissions from electric utilities as the largest remaining anthropogenic source of mercury released to the air. EPA estimated that about 50 tons of mercury are emitted each year from U.S. coal-burning power plants, with lesser amounts coming from oil- and gas-burning units. According to EPA estimates, emissions from coal-fired utilities account for 13 to 26 percent of the total (natural plus anthropogenic) airborne emissions of mercury in the United States.

In the natural environment, mercury can go through a series of chemical transformations that convert elemental mercury to a highly toxic form called methylmercury. This natural process is called methylation and is driven by bacteria that convert inorganic mercury to methylmercury.

The rate of methylation is dependent on many factors, including mercury availability, bacterial population, nutrient load, acidity and oxidizing conditions, sediment load, and sedimentation rates (National Research Council, 1978).

Once in an organic form, mercury enters the food chain, particularly in aquatic organisms, and bioaccumulates via the food chain. Cases of mercury poisoning have been documented in people who eat mercury contaminated fish for prolonged periods, both in the United States and abroad. Thus, the reason that EPA, FDA, and the states issue mercury advisories for fish.

Environmental attorney Sanders says think ahead for planting garden plants to attract butterflies to your home and garden in the spring.

If your goal is to attract the maximum number of both butterflies and species of butterfly to your garden, you must plant a variety of butterfly garden flowers. The best place to plant flowers which attract butterflies is in full sun. Butterflies prefer warm sunny areas and are thought to like pink, red, orange, and yellow flowers the most. They like trumpet-shaped flowers and those with broad petals that provide a good place to land.

Some perennial butterfly garden plants and flowers include: aster, bee balm, black eyed Susan, chives, coreopsis, daisy, hibiscus, lobelia, milkweed, phlox, sedum, and yarrow. Some annual butterfly garden plants and flowers include: cosmos, impatiens, marigold, nasturtium, sunflower, verbena, and zinnia.

Butterfly garden host plants are where the butterflies prefer to lay their eggs. They are chosen because of what the larvae, or caterpillars, eat after hatching. Obviously, these plants will be chewed up by the larvae, and might do better at the back of the garden or hidden behind another tall plant.

Different butterfly species need different butterfly garden host plants. Some of them include alfalfa, clover, herbs such as dill, fennel, and parsley, plantains, cabbages, sunflowers, milkweed, and nettle.

Some butterflies prefer to lay their eggs on trees. While planting new trees just for your butterfly garden can be impossible, having these varieties around will help attract more of the colorful insects. Some of the most popular trees for butterflies include sycamores, willows, locust trees, aspen, elm, and flowering fruit trees such as cherry and peach.

Planting the two types of butterfly garden plants will ensure that you attract the maximum number of butterflies to your garden. You must provide both nectar producing flowers and butterfly garden host plants for the caterpillars.

Butterflies also need a shallow source of water and a flat surface to sit in the sun in the morning to warm up. There are fewer joys in the world greater than watching butterflies dance among the flowers in Kentucky. The joy is even greater when introducing your child or grandchild to the dance of the butterflies.

Environmental attorney Sanders says FDA draft report recommends pregnant women and children eat more seafood despite health risks from mercury.

The U.S. Food& Drug Administration (“FDA”) is urging amendment of a 2004 mercury advisory that warns women and children to limit how much fish they eat, saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks. According to the FDA’s new approach, people should eat more fish, even if it contains mercury.

That is a whopping 180-degree-change in the federal agency’s position. Currently, the government warns that women of childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children, can be harmed by mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.

Mercury occurs naturally in the environment and it can also be released into the air through industrial pollution. Mercury falls from the air and can get into surface water, accumulating in streams and oceans.

Bacteria in the water cause chemical changes that transform mercury into methylmercury that can be toxic. Fish absorb methylmercury from water as they feed on aquatic organisms. Methylmercury is the most toxic form of mercury to humans.

In its draft report, FDA proposes to update the existing health advisory. The report claims that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals could boost a child's IQ. The greatest benefits, the FDA report said, would come from eating more than 12 ounces of fish a week, which is above the current limit advised for pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children.

1. Currently, the FDA and EPA make these three recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, women and young children will receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish and be confident that they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of mercury.


2. Do not eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.


3. Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury.
   

Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.

Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.

The FDA and the EPA have different roles in protecting the public from mercury contamination. EPA investigates and regulates mercury and other contaminants in recreationally caught fish, while the FDA regulates mercury in seafood sold in markets and restaurants. States rely on the federal agencies in issuing their own advisories.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife and the Kentucky Division of Water issue advisories for eating recreationally caught fish in Kentucky. The current mercury advisory for fish is at http://fw.ky.gov/fishadvisory.asp?lid=900&NavPath=C101.

Environmental Attorney Sanders says Peabody ends quest for coal fired utility plant in Central City and begins new plan to convert coal to natural gas

Peabody Energy has formally ended its bid to build the Thoroughbred coal-fired electric generating plant in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The proposed 1,500-megawatt coal-fueled electricity generation project was supposed to be built near Central City, Kentucky.

Now, Peabody Energy Co. and ConocoPhillips announced plans to locate a new multibillion dollar plant to convert coal to natural gas in Muhlenberg County. If it passes the regulatory hurdles, the plant would be built on the 80-acre site Peabody had set aside for its Thoroughbred Energy Campus, which has been tied up in the permitting process and courts for years.

Sounds to me like the Environmental Lawyers at Greenebaum Doll & McDonald are rejoicing this Christmas Holiday Season. Congratulations Jack, David, Rusty, Carl, and Carol and happy holidays.

Environmental attorney Sanders says methane hydrate has promise of solving energy problem for America in the future.

Gas hydrate is a crystalline solid consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, surrounded by a cage of water molecules. That is, frozen water crystals trap large quantities of methane gas. Because of the presence of methane, the hydrate will burn when ignited. If gas hydrate is either warmed or depressurized, it will decompose to water and natural gas.

Methane hydrate was discovered only a few decades ago, and little research has been done on it until recently. Because of the sheer abundance of gas hydrate in our environment, some scientists estimate that the energy locked up in methane hydrate deposits is more than twice the global reserves of all conventional gas, oil, and coal deposits combined.

What that estimate sounds exciting, no one has figured out how to recover methane gas from the frozen crystalline structure in a cost-efficient manner. In addition, no one really knows how much energy is actually recoverable. Still, gas hydrates occur abundantly in nature, both in Arctic regions and in marine sediments.

Because of the enormous potential of gas hydrate as an energy source, we will be hearing a lot about this compound in the future.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Irish pork products subject to recall in 25 countries due to doxin contamination in animal feed.

The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency is advising consumers not to eat pork or pork products, such as sausages, bacon, salami and ham, which are labeled as being from the Irish Republic or Northern Ireland, while it continues to investigate whether any products contaminated with dioxins have been distributed in the UK.

The warning came after the Irish Government's announcement that it is recalling all pork products made in the Irish Republic since September 2008 after dioxins were found in slaughtered pigs that are thought to have eaten contaminated feed.

Dioxins are chemicals that get into food from the environment and they are associated with a range of health effects when there is long term exposure to them at relatively high levels. Dioxin contaminated Irish pig meat could have been exported to 25 countries, including France and the Netherlands, Irish government officials said.

Tests on Irish pork products contained showed toxic dioxins levels 200 times higher than “accepted” safety limit. Dioxin is believed to have come from “contaminated oil,” used by Millstream Power Recycling Limited, which recycles food products into pig meal. The chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Alan said that investigations were ongoing into how dioxin got into the feed.

Dioxins are not intentionally produced. However, they formed as unwanted by-products in a variety of industrial and combustion processes, including incineration of wastes. Dioxins accumulate in humans, primarily in fatty tissues. Many believe that dioxins are one of the most toxic synthetic substances known that have no known commercial or industrial uses.

Dioxins are formed when substances containing chlorine or bromine and carbon are burned, or otherwise processed - as in the burning of medical or municipal waste in incinerators, various metallurgical processes or in chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Dow Chemical is slashing 5,000 employees, closing 20 chemical plants, and idling 180 plants in great recession.

Dow Chemical Company will eliminate approximately 5,000 full-time jobs, close 20 facilities in high-cost locations and divest several non-strategic businesses. The job reductions represent a reduction of roughly 11 percent of Dow’s global workforce.

In addition, reflecting poor current market conditions, Dow will temporarily idle approximately 180 plants and significantly reduce its contractor workforce worldwide by approximately 6,000 as predicated by reduced operations.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Asian Development Bank approves $500 million loan to improve water quality of Citarum River in Indonesia.

Indonesia's efforts to clean up the Citarum River, perhaps the world's most polluted river, received a major boost following the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) approval of a $500 million multi-tranche loan package.

The Citarum River Basin Territory supports a population of 28 million people, delivers 20% of Indonesia’s gross domestic product, and provides 80% of the surface water supply to Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta. Over the past 20 years, rapid urbanization and industrial growth have resulted in growing quantities of untreated domestic sewage, solid waste and industrial effluents being dumped in the Citarum. Pollution levels now compromise public health, and the livelihoods of impoverished fishing families have been jeopardized by widespread fish kill.

The loan agreement requires compliance with ADB safeguards on the environment, resettlement and indigenous persons, as well as good governance requirements and other conditions set out in ADB policies. Clean water has been a major area of ADB assistance to Indonesia.

As of year-end 2007, ADB had provided Indonesia with 103 loans totaling $4.17 billion and 151 technical assistance projects totaling $68.8 million in the area of water, including related areas such as agriculture, irrigation, livestock, fisheries, forestry and rural development.

Environmental attorney Sanders says EPA is under pressure to revamp 1986 risk assessment model for asbestos.

U.S. EPA may be in the midst of changing the basic assumptions in its 1986 risk assessment model for asbestos. Currently, EPA’s risk assessment model considers all asbestos mineral types and all asbestos fibers greater than five microns in length to be equally capable of causing mesothelioma and lung cancer.

The model is under intense attack from industry types and insurers, who want to do away with EPA’s assumption that all asbestos fibers greater than five microns in length are dangerous to humans. However, changing underlying assumptions in the model would be a radical change for EPA. Since 1986, EPA’s approach to assessing disease risk from asbestos exposures drew no distinctions among fiber types or fiber sizes.

Many different kinds of asbestos were used in building materials, paper products, plastics, and other products. The principal forms of asbestos include chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite. All but chrysotile are classified as amphiboles, which tend to have a thin, needle-like appearance.

Exposure mainly occurs in indoor air where it may be released from asbestos-containing materials. Effects on the lung are a major health concern from asbestos, as chronic exposure to asbestos in humans via inhalation can result in asbestosis.

Cancer is also a major concern from asbestos exposure, as inhalation exposure can cause lung cancer and mesothelioma (a rare cancer of the thin membranes lining the abdominal cavity and surrounding internal organs), and possibly gastrointestinal cancers in humans.

U.S. EPA has classified asbestos as a Group A, known human carcinogen. Asbestos litigation has swelled in recent years and many companies are facing millions of dollars in potential liability and cleanups.

If a new risk assessment model for asbestos is approved by EPA, the new model would likely classify chrysotile asbestos as a lower risk of harm than other types of asbestos minerals. There is really no secret to the underlying rationale for this change. Chrysotile was the most widely used type of asbestos in the U.S.

To the skeptical, EPA is under pressure to change a basic assumption in its risk assessment model to reduce the financial risk to defendants in asbestos litigation and cleanup, rather than as a result of new or convincing scientific evidence on the topic.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Kentucky officials oppose loosing of restrictions on dumping mining wastes into Kentucky waterways.

In November 2008, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear formally objected to a proposed move by the Bush Administration to weaken restrictions that prohibit dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams. The formal written objection, contained in a letter from Beshear to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, contends that the proposed rule change would threaten the commonwealth's ability to protect its natural resources, including water and streams.

Gov. Beshear was joined in his objection by Attorney General Jack Conway and Congressmen Ben Chandler, of Lexington, and John Yarmuth, of Louisville, all of whom wrote individual letters of concern to the EPA. These publicly elected officials contend that the proposed waivers would weaken a 1983 federal regulation that restricts where mining waste can be dumped, a so-called “Excess Spoil minimization – Stream Buffer Zone” rule. The proposed rule change would erase that restriction, making it easier to dump waste near homes and potentially into waterways and streams.

"Kill the rivers and kill the land" is what my grandfather used to tell me. Of course, what did he know, he was just a poor farmer that loved and respected his land and that of his neighbors.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Elizabeth R. Schmitz elected president of Kentucky Association for Environmental Education.

The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (www.KAEE.org) elected Elizabeth Robb Schmitz, environmental education specialist for the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, as its president during the association’s annual conference

Since 1976, the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education has worked to build a sustainable environment through education. The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE) is one of the country’s oldest associations supporting environmental education and the first affiliate of the North American Association for Environmental Education.

KAEE relies on the skills and talents of the many dedicated educators of our state to build environmental education into their curricula and programs. The educational principles that KAEE promotes were developed through the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, sponsored by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). KAEE advocates for legislation in the Commonwealth so education about the environment will be taught in every classroom in Kentucky.

Let's all wish Ms. Schmitz the best of luck in this position of responsibility. All of us know deep down that environmental education should be taught in every school district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Environmental attorney Sanders congratuates John Lyons, director of Kentucky Division for Air Quality, for election to board of directors of NACAA.

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) has elected John Lyons, director of the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, to its board of directors. NACAA represents air pollution control agencies in 53 states and territories and over 165 major metropolitan areas across the United States.

NACAA was formed more 30 years ago to encourage information exchange among air pollution control officials, to enhance communication and cooperation among federal, state, and local regulatory agencies, and to promote good management of our air resources. To learn more about NACAA, visit its Web site at www.4cleanair.org.

Congratulations to John!

Environmental attorney Sanders says embattled FDA releases report detailing its efforts to protect America's food supply.

In a report released today, the embattled U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) says that it's increasing up its inspection staff by at least 130 people. But that is not all; in response to the tomato scare during the summer 2008, the agency is also developing a safety plan to reduce the risk of infection-causing salmonella bacteria.

Because of a real fear of other food-borne illnesses, the agency is drafting enforcement rules to prevent listeria bacteria, which causes fever, muscle aches and digestive symptoms, in prepared food. To prevent the outbreak of new bacterial infections, FDA also approved irradiation technology to kill E. coli and salmonella.

Food-borne illnesses are caused by eating food or drinking beverages contaminated with bacteria, parasites, or viruses. Harmful chemicals can also cause food-borne illnesses if they have contaminated food during harvesting or processing. Food-borne illnesses can cause symptoms that range from an upset stomach to more serious symptoms, including diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and dehydration. Most food-borne infections are undiagnosed and unreported, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens, or disease-causing substances, in food. Of these people, about 5,000 die.

Environmental attorney Sanders says California is ending use of lead weights to balance tires as part of court settlement.

Almost everyone knows that lead is a neurotoxin that is extremely harmful to infants and young children, but did you know that lead is still used to balance tires in motor vehicles? Well, that may change in the coming decade. The news from California is that “lead is out and steel is in for balancing tires” as part of a large federal court settlement.

Lead weights falling from tire rims are a huge source of this nasty neurotoxin in our environment. Did you know that:

Wheel weights are clipped to the rims of every automobile wheel in the United States in order to balance tires?

Lead weights will be phased out in California by the end of 2009 under a court settlement between Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health against Chrysler and the three largest makers of lead wheel weights for the U.S. market: Plombco Inc. of Canada, Perfect Equipment Inc. and Hennessey Industries?

There are 200 million autos and light trucks on the nation's roadways, with 16 million new autos produced annually in the United States?

An average of 4.5 ounces of lead is clipped to the wheel rims of every automobile in the United States?

Approximately 50 million pounds of lead is used annually to produce tire weights worldwide in autos and light trucks?

About 1.6 million pounds are lost in the United States when wheel weights fall off during normal driving conditions (e.g., hitting a pot hole)?

Half a million pounds of lead each year is released into the environment in California from wheel weights falling off vehicles?

Local service stations may have steel weights available, and consumers can request them in lieu of lead weights?

Environmental attorney Sanders says EPA is amending SPCC regulations.

Newly announced amendments to the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Rule will clarify regulatory requirements, tailor requirements to particular industry sectors, and streamline certain requirements for facility owners or operators subject to the rule. With these changes, U.S. EPA expects to encourage greater compliance with the SPCC regulations, thus resulting in increased protection of human health and the environment.

The amendments do not remove any regulatory requirement for owners or operators of facilities in operation before August 16, 2002 to develop, implement and maintain an SPCC plan in accordance with the SPCC regulations then in effect. Such facilities continue to be required to maintain their plans during the interim until the applicable date for revising and implementing their plans under the new amendments.

EPA also is announcing a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates for all facilities to November 2009 and to establish new compliance dates for farms (November 2009), certain qualified farms (November 2010) and marginal oil production facilities (November 2013) subject to SPCC. These revised compliance dates will provide owners or operators of the various kinds of facilities the opportunity to fully understand the regulatory amendments offered by revisions to the SPCC rule from 2006 and 2008.

Finally, EPA is announcing a final rule that vacates the July 17, 2002 definition of “navigable waters” and restores the definition of “navigable waters” that EPA promulgated in 1973. This is in accordance with an order issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (D.D.C) in American Petroleum Institute v. Johnson, 571 F. Supp.2d 165 (D.D.C. 2008). This final rule does not amend the definition of “navigable waters” in any other regulation that EPA has promulgated. An "unofficial copy of the new rule" is at: http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/spcc/SPCC_Final%20Rule_signed.pdf.

The link is to an unofficial pre-publication copy of the Federal Register Notice (signed November 20, 2008) for public reference. This document has not yet been published in the Federal Register and is not an official version of the final rule. The official final rule is effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Clear enough?

Environmental attorney Sanders says U.S. EPA awards grants for environmental education in EPA Region 5, including one to Ohio River Foundation.

U.S. EPA Region 5 has awarded $271,278 in grants to fund 11 projects that enhance environmental education in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The annual grants are given to community groups, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, schools and universities for projects that increase knowledge and awareness of science and the environment. The funding will promote and advance environmental literacy and sustainable practices.

Locally, the Ohio River Foundation in Cincinnati received $19,592 to provide hands-on learning about watersheds and storm water management to students in grades 6-12 participating in a school rain garden program. Students will design and develop rain gardens that serve as a model for the community at large. For more information, contact: Erin Crowley, 513-460-3365.

Environmental attorney Sanders says Koppers joins National Partnership for Environmental Priorities to reduce use of toxic chemicals.

Koppers Inc., has enrolled in U.S. EPA’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP). The program encourages public and private organizations to form partnerships with EPA and to commit to reduce the use or release of any of 31 priority chemicals.

As a new NPEP partner, Koppers Inc. has committed to reduce waste at its Follansbee, W.Va. plant and has voluntarily committed to a source reduction goal of 50,154 pounds of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PACs) and 8,680 pounds of Benzo(ghi)perylene by December 2009. In addition, Koppers committed to a recycling and recovery goal of 13,049 pounds of PACs and 1,000 pounds of Benzo(ghi)perylene by December 2009.

PACs are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, crude oil, coal, coal tar pitch, creosote, and roofing tar. Benzo(g,h,i)perylene is one of a group of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and like PACs, Benzo(g,h,i)perylene is also created when products like coal, oil, gas, and garbage are burned but the burning process is not complete.

Koppers has a railroad crosstie treating facility in Guthrie, Kentucky. Koppers creosote treated wood products from Kentucky are used throughout the U.S.