EPA Progress Report 2008
Pacific Southwest Region
©EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
EPA-909-R-08-001
-------
From the Regional Administrator
Dear Readers,
With the change in Presidential administrations coming in January 2009, most people here at EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional
Office are aware that this will be my last year as Regional Administrator. In recent weeks, I have been reflecting on what our
regional managers and staff have accomplished during my seven years here, and the challenges still ahead.
While many of the environmental issues before us will take years to resolve, we have made remarkable improvements thanks to
new approaches and the relentless efforts of dedicated professionals and concerned citizens.
It has been a privilege to work with the managers and staff here at the regional office. Their commitment to protecting the en-
vironment and public health is awe-inspiring. Together, and in concert with our partners in other federal agencies, states, tribes
and local governments, we have accomplished a great deal even with tighter budgets. This report summarizes some of our
challenges and major gains of the past year.
But what keeps these successes coming year after year? As I
common threads.
look back over our past Progress Reports, I recognize some
First is leadership— our managers and staff look for opportunities to make headway even on seemingly intractable challenges
such as air pollution from rapidly-expanding Southern California ports or illegal dumping on tribal reservations. We cannot solve
these problems alone, but we have found that when we lead the way, others follow.
The second is innovation— the willingness to think creatively, to try new technologies and new approaches, which is key in our
fast-changing world. Our Cleanup Clean Air Initiative is a great example of this. We're using solar power, biodiesel, even molas-
ses and whey to clean up contaminated sites— and getting the job done faster, cheaper and cleaner.
Third is partnerships— not only with our traditional partners, the states, local governments and tribes, but with foreign govern-
ments as well, such as Mexico and China. With trade, commerce and pollution crossing all geographical boundaries, these
relationships are key to protecting the environment. And our combined efforts, such as the West Coast Diesel Collaborative, are
achieving results that no single agency could hope to accomplish.
Finally, there is perseverance and a focus on results. We keep our eyes on long-term goals, and keep working not just year after
year but decade after decade. We measure the results, and adjust our efforts. Our long struggle for clean air in our major cities
and clean water in our rivers and lakes has largely been successful, but only because we have never been discouraged by the
scope of the problem.
These are qualities that will make EPA and its partner agencies successful in the next decade and beyond. I look forward to see-
ing continuing success in EPA's Pacific Southwest Region and am proud to be a part of it.
Wayne Nastri
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
-------
Table of Contents
Clean Air
Clean Water
Clean Land
Communities and Ecosystems
Compliance and Stewardship
10
16
24
32
Contact Information
Inside Back Cover
-------
Clean Air
Clean air is a simple concept,
but keeping it clean is not so
simple. The tremendous diversity
of topography and weather in the
Pacific Southwest dictates that
air will nearly always be healthy
in some places, but not in oth-
ers. It's a long way from the
breezy Hawaiian islands to the
sun-baked valleys of California.
But the biggest factor is the human one. Of all the things
we do, energy use is the biggest determinant of how clean
the air will be and which pollutants will be a problem. In
California, a large percentage of the air pollution results
from burning fuel for transportation—cars, trucks, buses,
ships and trains. In Nevada and Arizona, with smaller pop-
ulations and fewer vehicles, a greater proportion comes
from fossil-fuel-burning electric power plants.
Global climate change has added a new dimension to air
concerns—greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide
and methane. But in the end, the key to both ensuring
healthy air and reducing greenhouse gases is tackling the
energy issue.
In 2007, EPA's regional office was active on several fronts:
taking enforcement actions against fossil-fuel power plants
that exceeded permitted emissions limits, holding a scien-
tific conference on the air quality impacts of anticipated cli-
mate change, unveiling a bus and package delivery truck
powered by innovative drive systems, and putting together
a strategy to coordinate energy-related activities.
-------
Clean Air
Trends
New Tools Allow Web Users
to Map Air Quality Information
The quality of the air we breathe varies day to
day. In the past, finding out if poor air quality
was a hazard to one's health meant waiting for a
weather forecaster on TV or radio to announce
it. Detailed information was hard to get, and air
quality often wasn't mentioned until it became
hazardous for everyone, leaving sensitive popu-
lations like asthmatics gasping for breath.
Since then, air quality has improved dramatically
in most urban areas, and so has the availability
of accurate air quality data. EPA made a major
advance a few years ago with the AIRNow Web
site, making air quality data available online.
Last November, AIRNow data became even
more useful when EPA released a dynamic data
layer on Google Earth, allowing anyone to com-
bine detailed mapping with air quality informa-
tion that's updated hourly.
This combining of different types of data—often
referred to as a "mashup"—gives the user a dis-
tinct new look at information. In this case, EPA's
Air Quality Index (AQI), based on real-time mon-
itoring data, is merged with the cartographic
imagery of Google Earth. This information can
benefit everyone, particularly people with asth-
ma, the elderly, and other sensitive populations
who can use accurate pollution conditions to
make daily decisions about their activity levels
or exposure to outdoor air.
For instance, parents of a child with asthma can
decide if it's safe to allow their child to play soc-
cer. TV weather forecasters can combine the
AQI layer with other information they display to
viewers. Individual users can also decide which
data to combine based on their own needs:
The dots on this map represent air quality at
monitoring stations—green is good, yellow is
moderate, orange is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Home buyers could "mash up" the AQI with real
estate listings to inform their decision-making.
Community activists may choose to overlay the
AQI on a map showing the location of industrial
facilities.
During air quality emergencies like wildfires,
where smoke conditions can change quickly,
the AQI layer can be crucial for early response
teams or fire departments. By using AQI on
Google Earth, they can see where the pollution
is worst and overlay other information such as
the locations of schools, hospitals, airports and
roads. Being able to layer such crucial informa-
tion can help inform decision makers.
The AQI is a color-coded numeric system that
rates air quality according to six divisions that
express conditions: 0-50 is healthy, 51-100
moderate, 101 to 150 unhealthy for sensitive
Real-time data can help
parents decide if it's safe
for their children with
asthma to play outside.
groups, 151-200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very
unhealthy, and 301-500 hazardous.
With this information visually displayed on
Google Earth, it's easy to assess local air qual-
ity conditions wherever you happen to be—and
to customize the experience with an intuitive
mapping tool. Just visit AIRNow.gov and select
"AQI in Google Earth" under Resources.
For air quality conditions and projections:
www.airnow.gov w
-------
4 Clean Air
Primer
Energy and Climate Change
The national dialogue on climate change
reached a new level in 2007 as scientists, policy
makers, leaders of industry and individuals fo-
cused on the latest findings of climate research-
ers and weighed the most effective approaches
to mitigation.
Assessing the Problem
Throughout the year, the United Nations Inter-
governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
issued a series of reports that raised aware-
ness and concern about climate science, en-
vironmental impacts, and mitigation options.
The IPCC stated that "Warming of the climate
system is unequivocal, as is now evident from
observations of increases in global average air
and ocean temperatures, widespread melting
of snow and ice, and rising global average sea
level."
In its findings, the panel noted that it is very like-
ly (>90% probability) that human influence has
caused warming over the past 50 years. The
IPCC also said that if greenhouse gas emissions
are left unchecked, global temperatures would
likely increase between 2.0 and 11.5° F, poten-
tially causing greater sea level rise and extreme
weather, impacting human health, ecosystems,
and food and water availability.
In the Pacific Southwest, the State of Califor-
nia has also assessed potential impacts from
climate change. California found that medium
warming assumptions, in drier scenarios,
caused the Sierra Nevada spring snowpack to
be reduced by 80%. With those same assump-
tions, there would be a 55% increase in wild-
fire frequency, and 75 to 85% more days when
ozone (smog) could form in Los Angeles and
San Joaquin Valley.
The Role of Energy
The energy we use to power our homes, busi-
nesses and transportation system is the source
of nearly 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions
in the U.S. Increasing the efficiency of the en-
ergy we burn, reducing emissions from tradi-
tional energy sources, and aggressively seeking
new sources of energy that put less carbon into
the atmosphere are all important strategies in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In prioritizing opportunities to reduce emissions,
it is important to understand their source. In Cal-
ifornia, the transportation sector has received
particular focus because it accounts for a larger
share of greenhouse gas emissions than in the
U.S. as a whole—39% vs. 28%—accounting
for more of California's greenhouse gas inven-
tory than the electric power industry.
Evaluating Needs, Taking Action
At the national level, EPA has begun evaluat-
ing options for regulating greenhouse gases fol-
lowing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the
agency has authority to do so under the Clean
Air Act. Late in the year, the President signed
H.R. 6, the Energy Independence and Security
Act of 2007, which increases renewable fuel
mandates, sets more aggressive vehicle fuel ef-
ficiency standards, and promotes investment in
energy efficiency.
Left: Wind power is one of California's renewable
energy sources.
Above right: The coal-fired Navajo Generating Station
near Page, Ariz.
-------
Clean Air
More on Reducing Energy Use and Emissions
In the Pacific Southwest, EPA's office in San
Francisco is working with the region's state,
tribal and local governments as they take an
active role in evaluating their needs related to
climate change.
With its large population and powerful econo-
my, California's total greenhouse gas emissions
dwarf those of its neighbors (as shown in Fig.
1). However, the state has long been a national
leader in addressing emissions and energy ef-
ficiency, with by far the lowest per-capita green-
house gas emissions of states in the region.
California's extensive energy and climate
change polices and regulations include AB32
(the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006),
SB1368 (Global Warming Emissions Standard
for Electricity Generation) and the Low Carbon
Fuel Standard. The Governor's office is direct-
ing implementation of the state's Climate Action
Plan. The state has completed extensive analy-
ses of energy and climate change issues, with
projections and recommendations detailed in
a Climate Action Team Report to the Governor
and Legislature, and the state Energy Commis-
sion's Integrated Energy Policy Report.
Arizona has developed a Climate Change Ac-
tion Plan that includes a greenhouse gas inven-
tory and recommendations for various energy-
related sectors. Hawaii is completing an update
to their Energy Strategy, last completed in 2000.
In 2007, the state adopted legislation similar to
California's AB32.
Nevada in 2007 adopted legislation requiring
greenhouse gas emissions inventories and a
Climate Change Advisory Committee. The state
recently completed an Energy Status Report
and a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Report for the Governor and Legislature.
At the regional level, EPA's Pacific Southwest
Regional Office is working to improve coordina-
tion of its own activities related to energy and
climate change (the list to the right provides a
small sampling). Evaluating opportunities across
all environmental programs—from waste man-
agement to air quality to water infrastructure—
will also facilitate increased support of other
federal, state, local and industry efforts.
An example of regional leadership has been
EPA's convening of the West Coast Diesel Col-
laborative, which has brought a concentrated
focus to the issue of goods movement—from
ships to the huge network of trains and trucks
that move goods from ports to store shelves.
EPA has brought together regional officials from
across the U.S. to discuss solutions for port-
related pollution. These efforts, together with
EPA's core role in setting national emissions
standards, will continue to ensure progress in
improving public health in these areas.
EPA is working with state, local and nongovernment part-
ners across the Pacific Southwest to tackle issues involv-
ing energy use and its impact on our climate.
This report describes several of these efforts, from local
measures to new technology development to advances in
global science.
Air Quality Impacts of Climate Change 6
New Hybrid Technologies for Trucks, Buses 7
Reducing Power Plant Emissions in Nevada 8
Steve Frey: Enforcing the Clean Air Act 9
Cleaner Cleanups Reduce Local, Global Impacts 17
Grants, Challenges Spur Green Building 34
California Surpasses 50% Waste Diversion Goal 37
East Bay MUD Creates Energy from Food Waste 38
Figure 1: California Greenhouse Gas Emissions
(in Million Metric Tons CO Equivalents)
Notes to Figure 1:1. 2004 emissions, 2. 2000 emissions, 3. 2005 emissions, 4. 2005 preliminary estimate
-------
6 Clean Air
Science
Conference Addresses Impacts
of Climate Change on Air Quality
In October 2007, some of the nation's leading
climate change scientists gathered with EPA,
state, local and tribal air quality regulators for a
conference in San Francisco to address the pre-
dicted impacts of climate change on air quality.
The scientists shared the results of their current
research and participated in discussions with
regulators on integrating science with policy
and on priorities for future research.
Among the distinguished speakers was Stan-
ford University's Dr. Stephen Schneider, who
shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with fellow
members of the United Nations Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change and former
Vice President Al Gore.
The conference was organized by EPA's Pa-
cific Southwest Air Division, in conjunction with
EPA's national Office of Research and Develop-
ment (ORD), which leads EPA's efforts to con-
duct, fund and communicate climate change
research.
Studies cited at the conference indicated that
rising temperatures associated with climate
change will produce a "climate penalty" of
worsening ozone (smog) levels. Areas that now
barely attain federal ozone standards could be-
come non-attainment areas, and existing non-
attainment areas will need more time and pol-
lution controls to meet the standard. If nothing
is done to further strengthen pollution controls,
rising smog levels will result in increased mortal-
ity among the elderly, sick, or frail, one scientist
predicted.
Studies on the impact of climate change on
particulate pollution indicated varying results,
depending on the chemical composition of
the particles. Smoke particles will become
an increasing problem if rising temperatures
IMPACT
CLIMATE
CHANGE
QUALITY
cause more and bigger wildfires. Scientists and
air quality regulators agreed on the need for
more research on how climate change affects
particulates.
Government air quality managers called for
more information to help them understand the
benefits and trade-offs of energy and climate
change policy, as well as the prospects for car-
bon sequestration and cleaner coal combus-
tion. One climate change mitigation strategy-
energy efficiency—was predicted to provide
triple benefits: cleaner air, better health, and
cost savings.
Some of the state, local and tribal air quality
managers voiced their interest in further col-
laborating with EPA on climate change and us-
ing EPA's climate modeling tools and research.
EPA's Office of Research and Development
plans to publish in 2008 a synthesis of results
from EPA-funded research on the impacts of
climate change on air quality.
The October workshop generated a list of fu-
ture research themes and collaboration oppor-
tunities to help guide upcoming activities. For
example, EPA's regional office is organizing a
series of meetings with local scientists work-
ing on air quality and climate change issues.
In addition, the regional office will participate
in helping ORD set future research priorities on
adapting to the impacts of climate change on
air quality.
EPA's Global Change Research Program:
www.epa.gov/ord/npd/globalresearch-intro.htm w
Stanford University's Dr. Stephen Schneider is
one of the world's foremost experts on climate
change science.
-------
Clean Air 7
Innovation
New Hybrid Technologies
Bring Cleaner Trucks and Buses
.Hybrid School B
Diesel trucks and buses more than 10 years
old are the dirtiest vehicles still on the streets.
Since they generally last 20 years, they won't
disappear overnight. But when they do, they
may be replaced by fleets of trucks and buses
far cleaner and more energy-efficient, thanks to
new hybrid technology developed by EPA and
several partner organizations. In fact, these new
drive systems may also be used in light trucks,
SUVs and vans.
In August 2007, EPA joined the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District, Pacific Gas &
Electric Co., and Advanced Energy officials to
award a total of $215,843 in grants to the Napa
Valley Unified School District to fund California's
first plug-in electric hybrid school bus. The bus
has the potential to double fuel efficiency and
reduce emissions by up to 90%.
Meanwhile, EPA's laboratory in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, has patented an innovative hydrau-
lic hybrid drive system for delivery trucks that's
now being road-tested. The demonstration
model, a 12-ton UPS delivery vehicle, stopped
in at the South Coast Air Quality Management
District offices in Diamond Bar, Calif., in Decem-
ber 2007. In lab tests, the truck slashed fuel
use by an amazing 60 to 70%, and reduced
smog-forming hydrocarbon emissions by 50%
and particulate emissions by 60%, compared
to conventional trucks.
Trucks that operate in urban stop-and-go traf-
fic—such as delivery vehicles—contribute sig-
nificantly to pollution and fuel consumption. "If
every truck adopted this technology, it would
Upper right: California's first plug-in electric hybrid school bus is
now in use in the Napa Valley.
Lower right: EPA developed the energy-saving hydraulic hybrid drive
system now being road-tested in this delivery truck.
make a big difference for air quality," said Matt
Haber, deputy director of EPA's regional Air
Division.
The hydraulic hybrid drive system costs more to
build, but would pay for itself within three years
by cutting fuel costs, ultimately saving $50,000
over a truck's 20-year lifespan, based on a fuel
price of $2.75 per gallon. As fuel prices contin-
ue to increase, lifetime savings would be even
greater.
The unique UPS delivery vehicle features EPA-
patented hydraulic hybrid technology. It uses
hydraulic pumps and hydraulic storage tanks
to store energy that is normally lost in braking.
When the vehicle accelerates, it uses that en-
ergy. The engine is also more efficient and can
shut off when stopped or decelerating.
The truck was designed with the support of
UPS, Eaton Corporation-Fluid Power, Interna-
tional Truck and Engine Corporation, the U.S.
Army, Morgan-Olson, the University of Wiscon-
sin, the University of Michigan, and Michigan
State University. FEV Engine Technology Inc.,
and Southwest Research Institute built the ve-
hicle under contract to EPA.
More info and video on this new technology:
www.epa.gov/region9/air/hydraulic-hybrid
-------
8 Clean Air
Places
Reducing Emissions
from Las Vegas Power Plants
It takes lots of energy to power the glittering
lights and laboring air conditioners of Las Ve-
gas' famous "Strip," as well as the city's fast-
growing suburbs in Clark County, Nevada.
Most residents never see the fossil-fuel-burning
power plants that supply most of the area's
electricity, but they'll soon breathe cleaner air
thanks to two legal settlements with local utility
Nevada Power that will sharply reduce smoke-
stack emissions.
In the first case, the Nevada Department of En-
vironmental Protection (NDEP) spent two years
investigating alleged Clean Air Act violations at
Nevada Power's Reid-Gardner coal-fired gen-
erating plant 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
The NDEP carefully assembled evidence, then
issued 56 violation notices to Nevada Power for
exceeding limits on particulate matter emissions
at the facility. Some of the violations included
faulty record-keeping, which made it difficult to
measure the extent of the illegal emissions.
Nevada Power and NDEP called for EPA's as-
sistance to help resolve the case. After two
years of negotiating, EPA, NDEP and the com-
pany reached a settlement with multiple ben-
efits. First, Nevada Power agreed to spend $85
million on pollution control equipment to reduce
the plant's particulate emissions by more than
300 tons per year, and reduce nitrogen oxide
(NOx) emissions by at least 282 tons per year.
The company also agreed to set up an Envi-
ronmental Management System to ensure that
future compliance will be verified.
Secondly, the company agreed to fund more
than $4 million in energy conservation projects
for the Clark County School District over the
next seven years, saving the schools at least
$500,000 per year in energy costs, as well as
reducing air pollution by cutting fuel consump-
tion. And finally, the company agreed to pay
$1.11 million in penalties to the state and fed-
eral governments.
The other case involved Nevada Power's natu-
ral gas-burning Clark Generating Station. While
natural gas is cleaner than coal, older gas-fired
plants emit far more NOx than newer ones using
the Best Available Control Technology (BACT).
That's why the Clean Air Act's New Source Re-
view rule requires BACT whenever fuel-burning
power plants are substantially modified.
EPA found that the company had made major
changes at Clark that increased NOx emissions
without installing the required pollution controls.
In the settlement, the company agreed to re-
duce the plant's NOx emissions by about 2,300
tons per year, a dramatic 86% reduction, at a
cost of about $60 million. The company also
agreed to fund a $400,000 photovoltaic solar
power array on the roof of a building housing a
local nonprofit organization. In addition, Nevada
Power will pay a $300,000 penalty.
Left: Las Vegas and its suburbs continue to
grow rapidly.
Above: Nevada Power's coal-fired Reid-Gardner
Generating Station. Photo: Nevada DEP
-------
Clean Air 9
People
Steve Frey:
Enforcing the Clean Air Act
When Steve Frey talks about his 32-year career
at EPA as an environmental engineer involved
in Clean Air Act enforcement, what's striking
are the large numbers: Thanks to cases Steve
worked on, the coal-fired Navajo Generating
Station reduced its sulfur dioxide (SO2) emis-
sions by 65,000 tons per year in the 1990s.
The Four Corners Power Plant, another coal-
burner on the Navajo Nation, more recently
slashed its SO2 emissions by 88% for a 20,000
ton-per-year reduction. Nevada gold mines re-
duced mercury emissions by more than 16,000
pounds per year.
Of course, Steve didn't do it alone. At the Four
Corners Power Plant, the reductions were the
result of a partnership between the Navajo Na-
tion, the Arizona Public Service Corp., the Na-
tional Park Service, Environmental Defense,
Western Resource Advocates, and New Mex-
ico Citizens for Clean Air and Water. Neverthe-
less, as an expert in monitoring air pollutants
and testing pollution control equipment, his role
was crucial to ensuring that the agreed-upon
reductions were achievable, and provable.
Steve grew up in the Philadelphia area, and be-
gan studying chemical engineering at Pennsyl-
vania State University in the early 1970s. After
the Energy Crisis of 1973-74, he switched his
focus to air pollution control engineering, and
after graduation took a job with EPA's regional
office in New York City. He traveled throughout
the state of New York inspecting power plants,
chemical plants, cement plants, and other pol-
lution sources. He also helped the state write
permits for such facilities, providing the techni-
cal expertise needed to ensure they minimize
emissions.
Always an avid skier, Steve was drawn to the
West by the skiing. The best powder snow, he
says, is in the Rockies, so in 1980 he moved to
EPA's office in Denver. There, he tested smoke-
control devices on wood-burning stoves to help
develop Colorado's wood stove pollution stan-
dards. Steve was also heavily involved in a fed-
eral court case aimed at two plants in Colorado
making waferboard—wood panels manufac-
tured using wood chips and glue. These plants
were part of a new industry that had underes-
timated their emissions and built without major
new source construction permits required by
the Clean Air Act.
Inspecting facilities and
enforcing permits help
reduce air pollution
by tens of thousands
of tons each year.
Steve transferred to EPA's regional office in San
Francisco in 1988, where he was assigned to
Clean Air Act enforcement. Here, one of his
early cases involved another wood products
industry case which was concluded as part
of a national settlement involving the two ma-
jor waferboard companies in the U.S. for more
than 20 of their plants that they built without the
proper permits. Ultimately, EPA required all such
facilities to install pollution control equipment to
limit emissions of smog-forming volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
For the past decade, Steve has worked on
enforcement cases involving some of the Pa-
cific Southwest's biggest coal-burning power
plants—thus the big numbers. In some of these
instances, like the Four Corners Power Plant,
EPA works with the owner and other stakehold-
ers to negotiate voluntary but binding agree-
ments for pollution reductions, which can take
effect faster than traditional enforcement ac-
tions, which may involve protracted litigation.
One recent negotiation with the Arizona Public
Service Co., regarding the coal-burning Choi-
la Power Plant east of Flagstaff, produced an
agreement in which the company is spending
$300 million on equipment to reduce SO2 emis-
sions by more than 70%, particulate emissions
by 50%, and smog-forming nitrogen oxides
(NOx)by40%.
Steve is planning to retire in 2008, but his work
will be carried on by his colleagues in the re-
gional Air Division's enforcement office, under
the leadership of office chief Doug McDaniel.
-------
Clean Water
-------
Clean Water 11
Trends
Wastewater Treatment Cleans Up Border Waterways
Throughout the United States, water quality im-
proved dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s as
a result of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the
wastewater infrastructure improvements built
to comply with it. But waters polluted by sew-
age continued to flow into the U.S. along the
U.S.-Mexico Border, and as the Mexican bor-
der cities' populations grew explosively in re-
cent decades, the problem worsened. EPA and
Mexican government agencies have been co-
operating since 1995 to fund and build waste-
water improvements, and the results have been
dramatic.
These wastewater
projects have benefited
more than 635,000 people
in Mexicali, Mexico.
The New River, flowing from Mexicali, Mexico,
to California's Salton Sea, is a case in point. It's
called the "New" River because it didn't exist
until the Colorado River broke a levee in 1905
and sent a stream of water into Mexico that
turned north into the Imperial Valley, creating
the Salton Sea. The levee breach was repaired,
temporarily drying up this "river," but later the
channel was re-watered by sewage and irriga-
tion runoff from Mexico. As Mexican's popula-
tion exploded from 6,200 in 1920 to more than
850,000 today, the city's wastewater infrastruc-
ture did not keep up, and, consequently, pollu-
tion in the New River continued to increase.
Upper right: New sewer pipe is
installed near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Work began in 1996 on renovation and repairs
to Mexican's existing sewage pipes and treat-
ment facilities, funded jointly by the U.S. and
Mexico. The binational cooperation continued,
upgrading and expanding the city's treatment
capacity over the next few years. While these
efforts resulted in significant improvements,
10% of the New River's flows still consisted of
raw sewage.
In 2007, a new wastewater treatment plant lo-
cated in the south of Mexicali was completed.
The estimated 15 million gallons per day of
sewage that once flowed untreated into the
New River is now treated, disinfected and dis-
charged into a series of irrigation canals that
flow southward into the Rio Hardy, which is a
tributary to the Colorado River Delta in Mexico.
The removal of this untreated sewage from the
New River has resulted in significant drops in
bacteria levels as well as increased dissolved
oxygen. Phosphates in the New River, which
contribute to water quality impairments in the
Salton Sea, have dropped by 25%.
Overall, EPA has contributed nearly half the
$98.6 million cost of the Mexicali wastewater
projects, with the Mexican government con-
tributing the remaining funds. Already, these
projects have benefited an estimated 635,000
people in Mexicali, and have resulted in the
treatment of approximately 40 million gallons
per day of sewage.
Construction is underway on similar projects
elsewhere, such as the Nogales International
Wastewater Treatment Plant, due for comple-
tion in 2009. Not only do these investments re-
sult in improved water quality, they also create
Lower right: EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson
(right) and Regional Administrator
Wayne Nastri (facing) visit the New River.
wastewater utilities in Mexico with the capacity
to finance and construct future infrastructure
projects. It's a welcome trend for millions of
people on both sides of the border.
More info on U.S. -Mexico efforts:
www.epa.gov/border2012
-------
12 Clean Water
Primer
Keeping Trash Out of Waterways:
LA Water Board Leads the Way
In urban areas of the Pacific Southwest, millions
of pounds of litter accumulate in streets and
parking lots during the long dry season, then
are flushed into storm drains by the first ma-
jor rainstorm. Storm drains empty into streams,
bays and harbors, and onto beaches, deposit-
ing loads of trash that are not just unsightly, but
a serious health hazard to people, wildlife and
fish.
Trash harms birds and marine life who consume
small pieces, mistaking them for food. Some
of the waste contains pathogens that sicken
swimmers and surfers.
Last year, the Los Angeles Regional Water
Quality Control Board adopted a Total Maxi-
mum Daily Load (TMDL) for trash in the LA River
Watershed. This landmark TMDL was originally
adopted by the Regional Board in 2001 and
EPA-approved in 2002, but litigation required
the TMDL to be set aside until it was re-adopt-
ed in 2007. Following its full adoption through
the water quality standards approval process,
the wasteload allocations will be brought into
the Los Angeles County stormwater permit.
In its support of the Los Angeles Regional
Board, EPA made it clear that preparation of
this TMDL, the nation's first to regulate trash as
a pollutant, was a key action to address this se-
rious problem. Under the TMDL, cities, Los An-
geles County and CalTrans prevent trash from
reaching storm drains and fouling waterways
and beaches. They are reducing trash discharg-
es incrementally over nine years, with a goal of
zero by 2016. The Regional Board documented
the huge amounts of trash involved — more than
4.5 million pounds per year, which costs down-
stream cities hundreds of thousands of dollars
each year to remove from their harbors and
beaches.
Some cities in the Los Angeles area have al-
ready implemented the necessary measures,
including what are known as 'full capture sys-
tems'—devices that trap all particles retained
by a 5 mm mesh screen and have a design
treatment capacity of not less than the peak
flow rate resulting from a one-year, one-hour
storm in the subdrainage area. The Regional
Board has certified various full-capture devices
proposed by five cities, the County of Los An-
During every heavy rainstorm in urban areas, trash
from streets and parking lots gets washed into storm
drains that empty into creeks, bays and shorelines.
Photo: Rick Loomis, LA Times
Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
The TMDL process provides an assess-
ment and planning framework for pol-
lutant load reductions or other actions
needed to attain water quality standards
that protect aquatic life, drinking water,
and other designated uses. TMDLs ad-
dress all significant pollutants in a water
body identified by the state as impaired.
geles, and Caltrans that local governments can
use to achieve compliance.
These devices are most effective when not
overwhelmed with trash and debris. We all do
our part by keeping trash and other waste off
the streets as cities continue public outreach,
provide receptacles for trash, and routinely
sweep streets and clean catch basins.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Regional
Water Quality Control Board has held hear-
ings on a proposal to include similar limits in
its region-wide discharge permit for cities that
discharge storm water (and trash) into the bay.
Local environmental groups have documented
the problem of trash-covered creeks that drain
to the bay.
The regional water boards in Los Angeles and
San Francisco Bay Area have recognized that
voluntary measures aren't enough to keep trash
out of the waterways. It's a serious water pol-
lution problem, and EPA supports the Regional
Boards' regulatory actions to make sure that
every local jurisdiction participates in solving it.
-------
Clean Water 13
Partnership
Wetland Restoration Underway
Through SF Bay Harbor Dredging
In the 1990s, federal and state agencies strug-
gled to find a better solution to disposing of
mud dredged from San Francisco Bay to keep
the navigation channels open. Disposing of the
dredged materials elsewhere in the Bay had
raised public concerns about impacts on water
quality, fishing, and even navigation.
Environmental groups, ports, state agencies,
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers de-
veloped a Long-Term Management Strategy
(LTMS) for dredged materials to both reduce
in-Bay disposal and encourage beneficial reuse
of marine sediments to restore wetlands. Today
this strategy is being implemented, as millions
of tons of material from Oakland dredging re-
cently began flowing through a pipeline that
deposits it on 1,000 acres of Hamilton Field, a
former military base in Marin County.
As the Hamilton wetland restoration began,
there were already two other privately-operat-
ed projects making beneficial use of dredged
materials. The Montezuma Wetlands project
is restoring a large wetland adjacent to Su-
isun Bay, and Carneros River Ranch is piping
dredged material from a small harbor on San
Pablo Bay onto nearly a square mile of fields to
grow crops.
Dozens of square miles of hayfields in the North
Bay were originally sea-level salt marshes. Salt
marshes are critical to maintaining a healthy
ecosystem for fish, migrating birds and other
wildlife. During more than a century of being
diked, dried and cultivated, the land surface
sank. Breaching the dikes alone would simply
create a saltwater pond too deep for wetland
A bulldozer spreads dredged mud at the
Hamilton Field wetland restoration site
in Marin County, California.
vegetation to grow. So dredged material—mil-
lions of tons of it—is being deposited to raise
the level of these areas as part of an overall res-
toration plan.
Oakland is now deepening its harbor to 50 feet
to handle larger ships, removing 12 million cubic
yards of dredged materials in the process. One
quarter of that is being piped now to Hamilton
Field, another three million has been deposited
at the Montezuma Wetlands, and the remaining
six million was used to create better fish and
bird habitat in the bay close to Oakland.
These projects are just the beginning for benefi-
cial reuse of dredged material. The LTMS agen-
cies are considering options to further reduce
in-Bay disposal by getting materials to Hamilton
Field faster and cheaper. EPA and other agen-
cies are also working on using dredged materi-
als to build up levees in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta. Maintaining this levee system is
critical —if the levees break, salt water from the
Bay will rush into the Delta, harming habitat for
sensitive fish species. Further, salt water would
intrude into the state and federal aqueducts,
making the water undrinkable—a disaster for
the more than 20 million Californians who de-
pend on imported water supplies.
In the 1990s, the question was how to get rid of
dredged materials. Today, it's a valued resource
for restoring wetlands and protecting Delta
farms and water quality.
-------
14 Clean Water
Coqulll.
Places
Klamath River Tribes, Anglers,
Farmers, Agencies Work Together
Many Californians may not be familiar with the
beautiful Klamath River in northern California
and southern Oregon. But for those who live
in the forested Klamath Basin, the river and its
tributaries are all-important in providing the es-
sentials of life: water, food and jobs. The Yurok,
Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes have thrived on
the river's salmon for thousands of years. Up-
stream farmers depend on the Klamath's water
for their livelihoods, and PacifiCorp's Klamath
Hydroelectric Project dams have generated
electric power in the region since the 1950s.
With competing demands on the river's wa-
ter, and varying amounts of snowmelt feeding
it each year, it's not easy to find the delicate
balance that meets the needs of fish, farms,
people and energy demand. In 2001, farms
went dry when water diversions were stopped
to protect endangered fish. The following year,
crops were irrigated, but the river flow fell to
such a low level it triggered a massive die-off of
Oregon
salmon from heat and disease. Contentious ar-
guments took place between farmers and fish-
ermen, with both sides seeing water allocation
as a paramount issue to resolve.
After the salmon die-off, the Yurok, Karuk and
Hoopa Valley Tribes called for greater EPA in-
volvement in restoring the river's water qual-
ity and fisheries. Since 2002, EPA has been
working with Klamath Basin tribes, as well as
other Klamath water users and state and fed-
eral agencies. One key strategy EPA has led
is the coordinated development of Total Maxi-
mum Daily Loads (TMDLs; see box on p. 12) to
ensure the Klamath meets each state's water
quality standards for temperature, dissolved
oxygen, and nutrients.
These analyses are interlinked and crucial to
fish. When temperature and nutrients get too
high, algae blooms; once algae dies, dissolved
oxygen plummets, killing fish. Oregon and Cali-
fornia are expected to issue their TMDLs for the
Klamath in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In ad-
dition, the Hoopa Valley Tribe adopted, and EPA
recently approved, tribal water quality standards
for the Klamath River. Though the tribe's reser-
vation includes just a short stretch of the river,
the standards help protect fish and water qual-
ity both upstream and downstream.
Temperature is particularly important in the
Klamath, where a toxic strain of cyanobacteria
(blue-green algae) grows. It's virulent enough to
cause liver failure and death if a person or ani-
mal drinks enough water tainted by it. Touching
it can cause rashes. EPA has worked with state,
local and tribal entities to warn people to avoid
Upper right: EPA's Gail Louis and a Karuk Tribe
team take samples of blue-green algae at Iron Gate
Reservoir on the Klamath River.
Left: The Klamath River Watershed
contact with the water around the Iron Gate
and Copco Reservoirs during the algae bloom
season in summer.
Meanwhile, EPA grants are supporting im-
proved water monitoring and watershed resto-
ration work. A $275,000 EPA grant to California
is funding the Klamath Watershed Institute's ef-
fort to develop a strategic and coordinated wa-
ter quality monitoring program for the river, and
to make the data accessible. A $900,000 EPA
grant is funding watershed restoration efforts
by Trinity County, the Yurok Tribe, and a local
resource conservation district.
A sign of progress on water use issues is the
January 2008 Restoration Agreement between
the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, the Klamath Tribes
of Oregon, fishermen, farmers, counties and
resource agencies regarding basin restoration,
water allocation and the removal of four hydro-
electric dams which block migrating fish. That
agreement is contingent on reaching agree-
ment with PacifiCorp on removal of their four
lower dams on the Klamath, which are being
considered for relicensing by the Federal En-
ergy Regulatory Commission.
The level of cooperation among Klamath River
stakeholders over the last three years is unprec-
edented. There's great long-term potential for
cooperative water use, water quality improve-
ments, and restoring salmon and steelhead
trout to this beautiful watershed.
More info on Klamath toxic algae:
www.waterboards.ca.gov/bluegreenalgae w
-------
Clean Water 15
People
Catherine Kuhlman:
Protecting California Waters
Catherine Kuhlman is retiring —but not really.
After more than 25 years of federal service, she
is leaving EPA, but continuing to serve the en-
vironment. In April 2008, she becomes Execu-
tive Officer of the North Coast Regional Water
Quality Control Board, a state agency based in
Santa Rosa, Calif.
How she got there is an interesting story. Cath-
erine "Cat" Kuhlman grew up in Laguna Beach,
Orange County, Calif., where she spent entire
summers at the beach, playing volleyball, swim-
ming, surfing, skim-boarding, snorkeling, scuba
diving and, at her mother's insistence, reading
a large pile of classic books. "I am a water ani-
mal," she says, "grew up at the beach—pulled
by the lure and mystery of water."
Inspired leadership at
the federal and state
levels helps ensure
cleaner inland waters.
She came to Northern California to study biol-
ogy at Sonoma State University, just a few miles
from Santa Rosa. After graduating in the late
1970s, she took a job as a secretary in EPA's
Water Division—because that was the only job
open at EPA's regional office at the time.
Cat's abilities were soon recognized, and she
was promoted to Environmental Scientist, and
then manager. She found her mission in "pol-
icy work, figuring out how to apply the Clean
Water Act to arid environments, working with
the states and tribes to restore and protect
watersheds."
Over the years, Cat had a chance to work on
all of EPA's major water programs. One of her
biggest successes was helping California adopt
water quality criteria for toxic pollutants in the
1990s. The state of California had just had its
criteria stricken down in court—a critical blow
to protecting water quality. The criteria were the
basis for the state's Inland Surface Waters Plan,
a set of policies and standards for applying the
Clean Water Act in every river and stream in
California.
The State Water Resources Control Board
asked for EPA's assistance, and Cat's branch of
the Water Division was tasked with coming up
with a set of federal criteria that could replace
the state's plan. Working with EPA colleagues
Diane Fleck, Matt Mitchell, Phil Woods and Ann
Nutt over several years, they developed the cri-
teria, which are still used as the basis for dis-
charge permits on California's inland waters.
Cat was also instrumental in developing policies
to implement the Clean Water Act with regard to
ephemeral streams and washes—waterways in
vast expanses of the western states that are dry
most of the year, flowing only after rains. These
EPA policies, still in effect, held the line against
critics who wanted to amend the Clean Water
Act to exempt such waterways entirely.
Five years ago, Cat took an IPA (Intergovern-
mental Personnel Assignment) as Executive
Officer of the North Coast Regional Board,
which does the ground-level work of enforcing
the federal Clean Water Act and a similar state
law. She found it to be "an intriguing set of chal-
lenges" where she was able to apply lessons
learned at EPA, working with states, tribes and
others.
The North Coast is California's wettest area,
with rivers like the Russian, Smith, Eel, Mad,
Trinity, Klamath and Van Duzen. Most of it is
covered with redwoods and other forests.
Logging is a major industry here, with heavy
impacts on these rivers and their tributaries—
primarily, sedimentation from heavily-logged
slopes and unmaintained roads. She counts
as one for her great achievements issuing the
first water quality permit for timber harvesting
in the West, and issuing a pair of very contro-
versial permits to Pacific Lumber Company that
have slowed the rate at which they were cutting
redwood trees in the Elk River and Freshwater
Creek watersheds.
"It's amazing and humbling to drive north,
crossing rivers and streams, knowing it is your
job to protect and restore them," says Kuhlman.
"When the rivers look dirty, it's like a punch in the
stomach. When they are clean, I am elated.
"My time at EPA has been great, but now it's on
to more complex adventures beyond the 'Red-
wood Curtain,'" she says. For a water animal,
it's natural habitat.
-------
The job of cleaning up con-
taminated land in the Pacific
Southwest often rests with EPA's
Waste and Superfund Divisions.
From complex sites requiring
comprehensive cleanup to emer-
gency responses and homeland
security, EPA is prepared to
respond.
been at the forefront of utilizing innovative techniques and
approaches. Many cleanups involve transporting large
amounts of contaminated soil or pumping large volumes
amounts of cor
of groundwater
ronmental "foot
movations are reducing the envi-
lese operations by using biodie-
McClellan An
oversight.
EPA emergency responders were busy in 2007, with £
major national terrorist attack simulation, Southern Call-
-------
Clean Land 17
Trends
Cleaner Cleanups Reduce Local, Global Impacts
Cleaning up toxic sites takes energy, often re-
quiring equipment like diesel trucks and bull-
dozers, which can add pollutants to the air
even as contaminated soil and groundwater are
being removed or cleaned. Groundwater treat-
ment systems require electric power, adding to
the environmental impact.
In 2007, however, EPA's Pacific Southwest Re-
gion launched the Cleanup Clean Air initiative,
a pilot project to demonstrate ways to reduce
air emissions at cleanup sites. Results thus far
show promise for these techniques to be used
on a broad scale.
Cleanup Clean Air encourages diesel emission
and greenhouse gas reduction technologies,
emphasizing:
• Clean diesel equipment
• Alternative fuels
• Energy efficiency
• Renewable energy, such as solar and wind
power, and methane from waste
• Carbon sequestration, such as trees
planted in parks
At the Pemaco Superfund site at Maywood in
Southern California, photovoltaic solar panels
were installed to provide power to run vacuum
pumps that draw contaminants out of the soil
and groundwater. The electricity is also used to
heat the soil and vaporize contaminants, mak-
ing them easier to collect and treat.
The solar panels produce about 4,500 kilowatt-
hours of electricity annually. If this power had
come from a fossil-fuel-burning power plant,
Above right: Excavator retrofitted with a diesel
participate filter and burning a biodiesel blend
significantly reduces air emissions at Camp Pendleton
cleanup.
it would have accounted for 4,311 Ibs. of CO2
emissions.
At Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base be-
tween San Diego and Los Angeles, cleanup
crews are using clean diesel technologies, con-
struction equipment retrofitted with pollution
controls, ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel, and biofu-
els in six vehicles that are removing 120,000 cu-
bic yards of contaminated soil. By using cleaner
vehicles and fuels, the Marine Corps and Naval
Facilities Engineering Command Southwest are
At the Pemaco Superfund
site in Southern California,
solar panels help power
vacuum pumps that draw
contaminants out of the
soil and groundwater.
reducing particulate emissions from the clean-
up by 27%. In addition, most of the soil will be
hauled out by train, keeping 6,250 trucks off
Southern California freeways—saving energy,
reducing diesel emissions, and reducing traffic.
At the Romic hazardous waste facility in East
Palo Alto, Calif., soil and groundwater are con-
taminated with volatile organic compounds like
dry cleaning solvents, paint thinners, and chem-
icals used in making computer chips. Here, an
innovative treatment involving cheese whey and
molasses is showing promise. The molasses
and whey are pumped into the subsurface, al-
lowing natural bacteria to proliferate by provid-
ing a food source. The bacteria break down as
much as 99% of the contamination into CO2,
water and salt—using very little energy. EPA has
proposed using this method for the entire site.
A similar in-situ bioremediation method has al-
ready been successful at the Selma Superfund
site near Fresno, Calif. There, EPA greatly re-
duced the chromium contamination in ground-
water by injecting molasses into the ground. In
the most heavily contaminated area, chromium
levels dropped from 80,000 parts per billion to
undetectable levels in just three weeks. Molas-
ses injection elsewhere on the site is expected
to speed up the groundwater cleanup from 75
years to just five.
By replacing the traditional treatment system,
EPA will save an estimated $32 million, while
cutting chemical use by a third, transportation
for off-site disposal by half, and electricity use
by 215,000 kilowatt-hours annually, preventing
368,000 pounds of CO2 emissions into the air
each year for 75 years.
For more on Cleanup Clean Air, visit:
www.epa.gov/region9/cleanup-clean-air w
More info and video on Romic cleanup:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/romic-paloalto w
-------
18 Clean Land
Primer
Emergency Response
Put to the Test in 2007
In October 2007, EPA's Emergency Response
teams in the Pacific Southwest and Northwest
Regions played a central role in "TOPOFF 4," a
simulated national emergency involving the in-
tentional release of radiation from "dirty bombs"
in Phoenix, the island of Guam, and Portland,
Ore. Close to 15,000 people from federal, state
and local agencies participated, including 90
from EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office.
The exercise proved timely. Two days after it
ended, many of the same people were called
into action at the biggest outbreak of wildfires in
Southern California history. And before the post-
fire cleanups were finished, a major oil spill oc-
curred in San Francisco Bay, not far from EPA's
regional office in downtown San Francisco.
These back-to-back crises proved the value
of preparedness exercises like TOPOFF 4. In
emergencies, people from many different agen-
cies must be prepared to work together under
a unified command structure. For nearly a week
during TOPOFF 4, EPA's regional Emergency
Operations Center was staffed around the
clock, constantly updating field crews and EPA
managers, and coordinating EPA's efforts with
other agencies.
The exercise simulated how EPA emergency
response personnel would work with federal,
state and local responders in assessing the
type, extent and danger of radiological contam-
ination. The data collected would inform deci-
sions about risk to the general public, evacua-
tion decisions and decontamination.
"It's just like in sports—you have to practice if
you want to be good at it," says Steve Calanog,
EPA's regional chief of Emergency Response.
Thanks to exercises like TOPOFF 4, he says,
government agencies responded well to the
Southern California fires, including the evacua-
tion of about 1.5 million people from the San Di-
ego area, the second-largest peacetime evacu-
ation in U.S. history (Hurricane Katrina caused
the largest in 2005).
In any emergency, local agencies—fire depart-
ments and police forces—are the first respond-
ers. State and federal agencies like EPA are the
"second responders," called in by local agen-
cies if needed. EPA's approach to these kinds of
emergencies is spelled out in the National Re-
sponse Framework. In case of a major natural
disaster, EPA would respond as called upon by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
often addressing hazardous debris and impacts
on water infrastructure.
Responding to Wildfires
In the Southern California fires, EPA's early role
was primarily to help other agencies monitor
air pollutants from the fires. An EPA aircraft
known as ASPECT, which has infrared moni-
toring equipment that can detect air pollutants
remotely, was brought in to survey the wildfire
areas and measure and map airborne con-
taminants. After the fires passed through an
area, EPA staff and contractors collected and
disposed of household hazardous waste in the
ruins, including paint, propane tanks, solvents,
Left: In an emergency simulation,
rescue workers wearing protective gear
practice setting up a decontamination unit.
, -.- • "• •
-------
Clean Land 19
cleaners, pesticides, and unknowns—such as
chemical containers and aerosol cans whose
labels had been burned off in the fires.
EPA personnel and partners responding to the
fires included 110 people, about one-fourth of
them EPA employees, and the rest cleanup
contractors and members of the U.S. Coast
Guard's Pacific Strike Team. They found that
some chemicals were incinerated by high tem-
peratures or transformed into less toxic gases
like CO2. In three weeks, they cleared 2,700
properties of hazardous waste.
Assisting Oil Spill Response
On November 7, while the post-fire cleanup
was still in progress, a container ship hit a sup-
port structure of the Bay Bridge in San Fran-
cisco Bay and leaked 58,000 gallons of bunker
fuel oil. For spills in open water, the U.S. Coast
Guard is the first responder.
However, when the Coast Guard called for as-
sistance, EPA responded. All together, 30 EPA
employees helped with the cleanup, from On-
Scene Coordinator Harry Allen IV (see story, p.
23)—who developed a plan for enlisting, train-
ing and deploying volunteers for beach clean-
ups—to Jim Vreeland, an EPA congressional
liaison who was deployed for nearly six weeks
as incident liaison officer.
EPA's emergency responders must be ready to
go on a moment's notice, and willing to put in
12- to 16-hour days for weeks at a time. In its
biggest response ever, EPA sent hundreds of
individuals to assist in the aftermath of Hurri-
canes Katrina and Rita in 2005, including nearly
10% of regional staff in the Pacific Southwest.
One of the likeliest scenarios for the next major
natural disaster in the region is an earthquake.
Seismologists predict a major quake will oc-
cur by 2030 on the Hayward Fault, which runs
through several cities on the east side of San
Francisco Bay. In a 2006 exercise simulating a
major earthquake on the fault, EPA and other
agencies practiced dealing with myriad simulta-
neous emergencies like fires at chemical plants,
fuel pipeline breaks, leaks at oil refineries, and
sewage treatment plant breakdowns.
Whether it will be an earthquake or other disas-
ter, emergency responders from all across the
region will be ready.
Left: Household hazardous waste is recovered after
Southern California's October 2007 fires.
Above: The container ship Cosco Busan hit
San Francisco's Bay Bridge, tearing a hole in the
ship's hull and spilling about 58,000 gallons of oil.
-------
-------
Clean Land 21
Places
Halaco Cleanup Underway
Alongside Ormond Beach Lagoon
The juxtaposition is startling: A sunny Southern California beach, an ex-
tensive tidal wetland teeming with wildlife, and an abandoned smelter with
a huge pile of toxic waste. EPA took action to stabilize the site and limit its
impacts on people and wildlife even before officially putting the Halaco site
in Oxnard, Calif., on the Superfund National Priorities List in September
2007.
Halaco Engineering Co. operated a low-tech smelter on the beachfront
site from 1965 to 2004, melting down scrap metal to recover valuable
aluminum, magnesium and zinc. Over the years, Halaco generated a
26-acre pile of waste and contaminated the soil, sediments, surface water
and groundwater in and around the site with toxic metals and hazardous
chemicals.
The Ormond Beach Lagoon adjacent to the site is one of the largest re-
maining tidal wetlands along California's South Coast. The region's coastal
wetlands are the focus of a major land acquisition and wetlands restora-
tion effort and home to several endangered or threatened species, includ-
ing birds like the western snowy plover and the California least tern. EPA
is working with the California Coastal Conservancy and local activists to
coordinate cleanup and restoration efforts. Soil and sediment samples
from the site show contamination from barium, beryllium, copper, chro-
mium and radioactive thorium.
In 2006, EPA worked with one of the site owners to remove drums of haz-
ardous chemicals that were left on the site after the bankrupt smelter shut
down. Last year, EPA stabilized the massive waste pile to prevent rain
and wind from scattering its toxic material into the wetland and adjacent
properties. EPA also removed waste that was already in the wetland and
improved security at the smelter site to discourage people from entering
the hazardous property.
In September 2007, EPA held a community meeting in Oxnard to update
city residents on the contaminants present at the site, the risks, and EPA's
progress on developing a comprehensive cleanup plan. Sites like this can
sometimes take years to clean up, but EPA is expeditiously moving for-
ward, ensuring the protection of this unique coastal area.
More info on the Halaco cleanup:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/halaco w
Opposite: Defunct scrap-metal
smelter at Halaco Superfund site in
Oxnard, Calif.
Right: Aerial photo of Halaco Superfund
site shows beach and wetland
alongside smelter and waste piles.
-------
22 Clean Land
Partnerships
Revitalizing McClellan and Fort Ord Superfund Sites
EPA, the Department of Defense, and local in-
terests have begun cleaning up portions of the
McClellan Air Force Base and Fort Ord Super-
fund sites, through unique partnerships that
accelerate cleanup and redevelopment. These
two "privatized cleanups" of military Superfund
sites are the first of their kind in the nation.
The Defense Department is funding the work at
McClellan in Sacramento County and Fort Ord
in Monterey County in California. But local inter-
ests are conducting the work in order to coordi-
nate cleanup and redevelopment.
In Sacramento County, developer McClellan
Business Park is using $11.2 million from the
U.S. Air Force to clean up a 62-acre parcel
that is slated for redevelopment expected to
bring in 1,200 new jobs and $600,000 in new
tax revenues annually. The agreement allowing
this novel arrangement was approved in August
2007 by EPA, the state Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC), the Regional Wa-
ter Quality Control Board, Sacramento County
and McClellan Business Park.
"The framework of this project serves as a
model for similar revitalization projects at clos-
ing military bases across the nation," says Keith
Takata, director of EPA's regional Superfund Di-
vision. "Combining redevelopment needs with
cleanup efforts will help move these properties
back into productive reuse."
The first step in cleaning up the 62-acre section
of McClellan is a thorough investigation of soil
contamination, which is now underway. Next,
EPA will draft a preferred cleanup option for
public review and comment and select the final
remedy. The developer will carry out the select-
ed remedy with EPA and state oversight.
The 62 acres is part of the 3,000-acre former
base, which has more than 300 sites contami-
nated with solvents, metals and other hazard-
ous wastes resulting from aircraft maintenance
and other industrial activities in decades past.
The base closed in 2001. The Air Force has
groundwater cleanup underway already, us-
ing a network of more than 600 extraction and
monitoring wells.
I VISITORS AND
i INFORMATION USE
/ PALM GATE
UNfTED SlaTES AIR FORCE
] McClellan Air Force Base
Hours Of Operation: Weekdays 0545-1300
At Fort Ord, on the California Coast near
Monterey, it's a similar story. The base, which
was placed on the Superfund National Priori-
ties List in 1990, was closed in 1994. In the
1990s the Army, in consultation with EPA and
Gal/EPA, was successful in addressing a wide
range of environmental contamination, includ-
ing fuel spills, disposal sites such as a 150-acre
landfill, small arms ranges in sand dunes near
the beach, and several contaminated ground-
water plumes. However, approximately 6,000
acres, used for firing ranges in the center of the
base, remain heavily contaminated with unex-
ploded ordnance. The Army will be responsible
for cleaning up this acreage.
In May 2007, EPA, the Army and Gal/EPA
agreed to transfer about 3,500 acres of the
roughly 28,000-acre base to the Fort Ord Re-
use Authority (FORA) under the privatization
plan. As part of the plan, the Army provides
FORA approximately $100 million to conduct
additional investigations to ensure that the area
has no contamination or unexploded ordnance
remaining.
Current info on redevelopment projects:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/sfund/mcclellan w
www.fortordcleanup.com w
Above: McClellan Air Force Base Museum
Left: McClellan Air Force Base in the 1990s
-------
Clean Land 23
People
Harry Allen IV:
Cleanup Is a Family Tradition
Harry Allen IV and his father hold a unique dis-
tinction: They're both EPA emergency respond-
ers. Harry Allen III, who works in EPA's Environ-
mental Response Team office in New Jersey,
worked on the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil
disaster in Alaska in 1989. Harry IV has been
working in the Pacific Southwest Region since
2002.
Over the past few years, the father-and-son
team has been collaborating on bioremedia-
tion—the use of bacteria to break down toxic
contaminants in the environment. Dad provides
the recipe, and son mixes it up and applies it to
site cleanups.
This technique works well on cleaning up soil
contamination from hydrocarbon-based pesti-
cides like toxaphene, which was used exten-
sively to kill fleas on sheep on the Navajo Nation
decades ago, leaving the soil contaminated.
Back in 1994, when Harry IV was a first-year
environmental science student at New Jersey's
Rutgers University, Harry III took him along on a
trip to the Navajo Nation to supervise bioreme-
diation of toxaphene-contaminated sites. Harry
IV met the Navajo Nation EPA staff, learned
about the field work firsthand, and decided to
follow in his father's footsteps.
After graduation, he got a job with Weston So-
lutions, a contractor that provides support for
Superfund cleanups nationwide. For three years
he worked on EPA Superfund cleanups in New
York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. The com-
pany transferred him to California in 2001, and
in 2002 he joined the Pacific Southwest Region
as an EPA employee.
Today, he's working with EPA colleague Andy
Bain and some of the same Navajo Nation
EPA staff on removing radioactive waste rock
from abandoned uranium mines that has been
dumped around homes on Navajo land. Else-
where, Harry has been using compost from bio-
solids (sewage sludge) to stabilize heavy metals
in mine waste.
If it sounds contradictory to use one potential
pollutant to clean up another, Harry has the sci-
entific explanation to prove that it works. Put
simply, the organic materials in the compost
absorb the metals, decreasing their solubility,
and effectively detoxifying them. Meanwhile the
compost is an effective plant fertilizer, which
helps to grow plants on slopes consisting of
abandoned mine waste, helping to prevent ero-
sion. If the mine waste is acidic, as it usually
is, Harry adds limestone, which is alkaline, to
balance the pH. Then water can't leach acidic
metals out of the rocks and pollute streams. If
it contains lead, he adds phosphates, a mineral
fertilizer that binds with lead.
Recently, Harry co-authored an EPA scientific
paper on this topic titled "Use of Soil Amend-
ments for Remediation, Revitalization and Re-
use." The technique was originally developed to
clean up acid mine drainage from coal mines
in the Eastern U.S., and has also been used
in the Rocky Mountains. The paper outlined
additional environmental benefits of amending
soils to treat contamination. On-site treatment
of waste rock from mines doesn't require exca-
vating and transporting huge amounts of heavy
material, which saves energy and prevents air
Right: Harry Allen IV working with
air monitoring equipment at the
Amco Superfund site in Oakland, Calif.
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In
another industrial setting, the technique even
helps to safely get rid of an unwanted byprod-
uct of sugar beet processing —lime.
In addition to working on Superfund cleanups,
Harry took classes to obtain a Master's degree
in Environmental Management at the Univer-
sity of San Francisco. Today, he teaches two
classes in the same program: Soil Science
Treatment and Technology, and Environmental
Statistics. Why take on the extra work? "Shar-
ing my knowledge is fun," he says.
More on this father/son team:
www.epa.gov/superfund/accomp/news/father.htm w
-------
a
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
stretches from the arid Navajo
lands of northwest New Mexico
to the remote tropical Pacific
Islands of Guam and Saipan.
Within that vast expanse are
thousands of unique communi-
ties and ecosystems, each with
its own character and environ-
mental conditions.
Many EPA programs work with communities to improve
environmental conditions.
Dal Proqrar
works with more than 140 Indian tribes in the Pacific
Southwest. This chapter includes the story of how EPA and
other aqencies helped the Torres Martinez tribe shut down
on its lane
/aliTornias ooacne
Valley. Two experts, David Taylor and Jean Gamache, ex-
iPA's Environmer
th tribes throuqhout the reqior
De Program works with tribal.
islander and urban communities to address their
specific environmental challenges. One such community
s the Los Angeles-area Hispanic neighborhood of Pa-
reduce the effects of air
pollution on its residents
Agricultural communities have their own environmental
challenges, such as the ongoing effort to reduce the use
of toxic pesticides without reducing crop yields. EPA also
looks at cc
;ies in a broad sense—such as cr
who face qreater risks i
DS due to their metabolism
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 25
Trends
Transitioning to Sustainable Agriculture
Moving toward sustainable agriculture depends
on widespread adoption of farming practices
that reduce reliance on chemicals. Recent sta-
tistics from California indicate that this is already
happening: The most current data show that
farm pesticide use fell 6% from 2005 to 2006,
a decrease of 10 million pounds. It was also the
third straight year of reductions in farm use of
the most hazardous pesticides, those linked to
cancer, reproductive or neurological problems.
Use of the highly toxic soil fumigant methyl bro-
mide bucked this trend, increasing in 2006 due
to the expanding acreage of strawberry fields
where it's used. Still, the 2006 total for methyl
bromide was lower than 2004.
Reducing Pesticide Use
EPA supports two approaches to encourage
the transition to less harmful pesticides: fund-
ing demonstration projects of agricultural best
practices, and promoting programs that cer-
tify environmental performance. Both can raise
yields and farm income in addition to their envi-
ronmental benefits. Demonstration projects help
extend new techniques to additional growers.
Certification programs use market mechanisms
to promote strong environmental practices by
growers and help farmers prosper by doing the
right thing for the environment.
For example, EPA funded a project in Hawaii
to minimize pesticide risks for small farm-
ing communities threatened by the melon fly.
Through field trials and crop demonstrations,
Oahu growers learned how to reduce their use
of highly toxic organophosphate pesticides by
40%. Some crops reported a 30% increase in
yields and higher income per acre. The adop-
tion of less-toxic integrated pest management
to combat the melon fly also improved produce
quality, and extended harvest periods.
In 2007 there was continued progress on re-
ducing use of high-risk pesticides in California
fruit orchards. In the Kings River watershed, use
of sonic sensing and precision spraying tech-
nology has reduced application of organophos-
phate pesticides by 20% in older orchards and
by 40% in younger orchards.
In just one year, farm
pesticide use in California
fell 6%—a decrease of
10 million pounds.
Reducing Air Pollution
Spraying of liquid pesticides doesn't just affect
pests. It also releases volatile organic com-
pounds (VOCs)—the same type of chemicals
that evaporate from gasoline and contribute to
ozone pollution, or smog. That's why pesticides
used on grapes are a serious problem in Cali-
fornia's San Joaquin Valley, which has some of
the nation's highest smog levels. In 2007 EPA
funded a project to help growers reduce high-
risk, VOC-emitting pesticides on 94% of Cali-
fornia's 85,000 acres of table grapes.
The trend toward reductions in pesticide use
is already benefiting millions of people who live
in the state's agricultural valleys, as well as fish
and wildlife. To ensure further progress, EPA will
continue its efforts to promote sustainable agri-
cultural practices.
An orchard in California's San Joaquin Valley.
-------
26 Communities and Ecosystems
Primer
Environmental Justice:
Healthier Environments for all Communities
In 1994, the President's Executive Order 12898
required EPA to address environmental justice
in low-income and minority communities. Un-
der this mandate, EPA has worked toward a
fundamental goal—that all communities and
people enjoy the same degree of protection
from environmental and health hazards, and
equal access to the decision-making process
that secures a healthy environment in which to
live and work.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office has
not only focused a great deal of work in specific
low-income minority communities, but also has
considered environmental justice as a guiding
principle in all agency actions. EPA is commit-
ted to working on the biggest environmental
challenges facing the most vulnerable com-
munities bearing disproportionate impacts from
pollution and toxics.
The Pacific Southwest Region is as diverse in
demographics as it is in terrain. Specific areas
that face unique challenges include the ports
of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland, the
U.S.-Mexico border, Pacific islands, tribal lands,
and California's Central Valley. EPA works with
these communities and helps address their en-
vironmental challenges by funding and creating
collaborative projects, ensuring industry com-
pliance, providing technical assistance, and en-
suring meaningful community involvement.
Environmental justice is the fair treat-
ment and meaningful involvement of all
people regardless of race, color, national
origin, or income with respect to the de-
velopment, implementation and enforce-
ment of environmental laws, regulations
and policies.
In Los Angeles County, fully 90% of EPA's en-
forcement actions last year were in low-income
and minority communities. EPA has made an
effort to target these areas in part as a result of
environmental justice concerns. Pacoima is one
such community where high-impact local oper-
ations such as metal platers have been targeted
for inspection and successful enforcement.
Pacoima, in the northeast section of California's
San Fernando Valley, is a Los Angeles commu-
nity with a mostly Latino and African American
population. Residents are affected by pollution
from freeways, a railroad line, an airport and
more than 300 industrial facilities. Pacoima
added 243 homes to its newly created Lead-
Free Homes registry and enlisted 205 residents
to identify and reduce local toxics with the sup-
port of an Environmental Justice Collaborative
Problem Solving grant from EPA. The grant re-
cipient, the nonprofit Pacoima Beautiful, part-
nered with and received aid from the Los Ange-
les Neighborhood Housing Services to conduct
lead remediation at 18 homes.
Pacoima Beautiful also convened more than
320 community residents, partners and stake-
An EPA grant supports training of promotoras—
neighborhood health advocates—in Pacoima,
a Hispanic community in Los Angeles.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 27
holders to review data and information on toxic
sources in the community with an EPA Commu-
nity Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE)
grant. As a result, the community secured a
second CARE grant for $300,000 in 2007 to
address two of the identified community priori-
ties: small pollution sources in a targeted area
of Pacoima, and diesel emissions from trucks
and school buses throughout the community.
Tribal Lands and Pacific Islands
The Pacific Southwest is also home to 146 In-
dian tribes, many of whom live in areas where
meeting basic needs is a challenge. For exam-
ple, 19% of the region's tribal households lack
access to safe running water, and more than
1,000 open dumps scar tribal lands. EPA has
directed funding and other resources to tackle
these unacceptable threats to human health
and welfare. As a result, in the last five years
tribes have closed nearly 400 open dumps, built
more than 130 tribal government environmental
protection programs, provided safer drinking
water to more than 22,000 tribal homes, im-
proved sanitation for more than 21,000 tribal
homes, cleaned up more than 40 leaking un-
derground fuel tanks, and installed more than
50 air monitors.
The island territories in the Pacific Ocean-
American Samoa, Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Guam-
face disproportionately severe environmental
infrastructure problems. Saipan is the only U.S.
community of its size without 24-hour access
to safe running water. In American Samoa, 17%
of residents have been exposed to Leptospiro-
San Fernando Road, Pacoima
sis—a bacterial disease—as a consequence
of piggeries contaminating water. In the past,
raw sewage contaminated island drinking wa-
ter wells and surface waters. With EPA's help,
American Samoa is using outreach, compliance
Pacoima secured a $300,000
EPA grant to address two
community priorities:
diesel emissions and
small pollution sources.
assistance, enforcement, and a polluted runoff
prevention program to address water con-
tamination from small piggeries. On Guam, raw
sewage overflows have been reduced by 99%.
EPA is using environmental justice and geo-
graphic information systems (GIS) tools to tar-
get enforcement, grants and other resources
to the communities most heavily impacted
and most vulnerable. The agency is also using
grants, technical assistance, and collaborative
approaches to support community-based lead-
ership in solving environmental problems.
Collaborating with these diverse communities,
EPA has focused resources and formed part-
nerships to make real public health and envi-
ronmental improvements. These communities,
in turn, help EPA integrate environmental jus-
tice priorities into the agency's everyday work.
The goal is to ensure that all communities have
meaningful involvement in decisions that affect
them, and that all people have clean air, water
and land where they live, work and play.
-------
28 Communities and Ecosystems
Places
Torres Martinez Collaborative
Combats Illegal Dumps
Two years ago, illegal dumping on the Torres
Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Reservation in
California's rapidly growing Coachella Valley
reached crisis levels as unscrupulous waste
haulers used the open desert land as a dump-
ing ground outside the reach of state regula-
tory agencies. Illegal dump operators burned
massive amounts of waste, creating plumes
of smoke that clouded the skies and forced
schools to close. New dumpsites appeared
overnight on remote reservation roads. Despite
persistent efforts, the tribe's staff were unable to
stem the tide of trash.
To combat the dumpers, EPA, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA) and the tribe formed an alli-
ance with 24 federal, state and local agencies
and nonprofits in April 2006: The Torres Marti-
nez Solid Waste Collaborative. Members of the
collaborative energetically pooled the talents
and resources of the various agencies, com-
bining public education, outreach, enforcement
and direct action.
In less than two years, the collaborative has
achieved impressive results. All illegal dumps
on the reservation have been shut down. For
the past year, no new dump sites have ap-
peared. The collaborative has cleaned up more
than 20 dumps and installed gates, fences
and other access controls. Open burning has
been almost entirely eliminated. Outreach and
public education have redirected haulers to le-
gal disposal and recycling facilities. No single
agency could have done it alone. Each success
involved the cooperation and participation of
multiple agencies.
Collaborative members
pooled their talents,
combining public education,
outreach, enforcement
and direct action.
At the notorious Torlaw illegal dump, where fires
created constant smoke, a lawsuit by EPA and
BIA ended in victory: The U.S. District Court or-
dered the operators to shut down and vacate
the property. The court also ordered them to
pay up to $42.8 million in cleanup costs, plus
more than $2.3 million in penalties. After the
dump closed, the Riverside County Fire De-
partment and the California Integrated Waste
Management Board (CIWMB) chipped and
mulched 17,000 cubic yards of green waste to
prevent fires.
At the illegal, 25-acre Auclair Dump, EPA re-
moved hazardous waste to a permitted land-
fill, including 1,400 tons of ash, 400 pounds
of asbestos-cement pipes, 1,600 pounds of
waste oil and sludge, and 100 cubic yards of
discarded wooden grape stakes treated with
toxic chromated copper arsenate (CCA). The
California Integrated Waste Management Board
(CIWMB) finished the cleanup, removing 1,700
tons of debris, 35 tons of metal, and 22 lead-
acid batteries.
At another site, just 200 yards from a school
in Thermal, the state Department of Toxic Sub-
stances Control (DTSC) worked with the tribe
and Riverside County Waste Management
to remove 100 tons of CCA-treated grape
stakes. Elsewhere, EPA took enforcement ac-
tions against two mobile home park operators
for illegally dumping residents' trash, secur-
ing enforceable commitments to provide trash
pickup for the residents and improve waste
management.
The California Highway Patrol and the Riverside
County Sheriff's Office have contributed to the
effort with aerial monitoring to keep track of the
dumpsites and find any new ones. EPA is now
working with the tribe and BIA to assess former
dumpsites' potential for reuse.
Above right: The AuClair dump site on the Torres
Martinez Reservation, before cleanup.
Left: A former dump site at the Torres Martinez
Reservation, after cleanup.
For updates on the collaborative
and a list of its members, visit:
www.torresmartinez.org/collaborative w
www.epa.gov/region9/indian/torres-martinez w
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 29
Advances
Protecting Children
from Toxics and Pesticides
Children are our future, and protecting them
from toxics in the environment is a high prior-
ity. Children are more vulnerable to toxics than
adults—their bodies are small and still develop-
ing, and exposure to toxins in this critical pe-
riod can permanently alter the way the child's
biological system operates. They're also more
likely to play on lawns and floors, where pes-
ticides and toxics can get on their hands, and
then into their mouths.
Lead in paint, toys or even candy poses a
threat, as do household pesticides, or pesti-
cides brought into the home on the clothes of
farmworker parents. Some products pose mul-
tiple, different threats—an unregistered disin-
fectant, for example, might be packaged in a
bottle that resembles a soft drink, resulting in
the poisoning of a child who drinks it. A similar
product, if used in a hospital, could allow dis-
eases to spread.
Reducing Risks of Pesticide Use
By enforcing pesticide regulations, EPA en-
sures that products are properly registered and
labeled, minimizing risks to children, workers
and other members of the public by provid-
ing directions for proper use and disposal, and
preventing false or misleading claims. Last year,
EPA's Pacific Southwest Office brought 31 en-
forcement actions against violators of federal
pesticide regulations, collecting $1.2 million in
penalties.
EPA took four enforcement actions against
companies selling pesticides with chlorpyrifos
and diazinon, which were cancelled for house-
hold use in 2001 and 2004 respectively, due to
exposure risks to children.
Under the terms of a legal settlement with
EPA, one company paid a penalty and spent
an additional $200,000 to produce a DVD and
brochure on "Do's and Don'ts of Retailing Pes-
ticides," and present it to retail industry audi-
ences. The video provides an overview of EPA
rules on household pesticides, which stem from
the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenti-
cideAct(FIFRA).
Children's bodies are still
developing, and they can
take in toxins more quickly.
Six companies were cited for selling unregis-
tered pesticides, including "Fabuloso Energia
Naranja" (Fabulous Orange Energy) an import
from Mexico that was sold in clear plastic bot-
tles and looked like soda pop, even though it
was sold as a disinfectant. In another case, EPA
took action against a company for distributing
in the U.S. an unregistered and mislabeled dis-
infectant bleach intended for sale in Asia.
Farm workers and their children can be harmed
by pesticides if employers don't comply with
regulations. In Hawaii, a company was fined
$24,640 for several instances of pesticide mis-
use, including failure to notify workers of pesti-
cide applications, and failure to protect workers
from exposure to pesticide drift.
Prevalence of Lead in Candy Studied
The discovery that numerous imported toys
contain lead has caused widespread alarm and
prompted several product recalls. Lead poison-
ing in young children can trigger learning dis-
abilities, hyperactivity, hearing loss, and brain
damage.
EPA has helped advance investigation into an-
other possible source of childhood lead poison-
ing—imported candy.
The extent to which lead contaminates import-
ed candy is unknown, but state and local health
departments in California and Arizona have
estimated that it may account for 5% of child-
hood lead poisoning cases. Last October, EPA
awarded a grant of $96,798 to the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas, to develop a cost-effective
method of screening imported candy for lead
content.
Some pesticides have been cancelled
for home use due to risks to children.
-------
30 Communities and Ecosystems
People
Jean Gamache:
From Alaska to the Southwest Tribes
Jean Gamache, manager of EPA's regional Trib-
al Program Office for the past year, is a member
of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida
Indian Tribes of Alaska. Jean holds a law de-
gree and in the 1990s worked with a firm repre-
senting Alaska Natives seeking recompense for
damages to subsistence food resources from
the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Before 2005,
when she came to EPA's regional office in San
Francisco, Jean had lived nearly all her life in
Alaska, working on environmental issues as well
as fishing commercially for salmon in Bristol Bay
each summer for more than 20 years.
From 1997 to 2005, Jean worked in EPA's
Alaska Operations Office, leading the team that
worked with the 229 federally-recognized tribes
in Alaska. Since moving to the Pacific South-
west Regional Office in San Francisco, she has
been adjusting to the extreme differences in
population density. Alaska has four times the
land area of California but only 1/50th as many
people.
Most tribal communities in Alaska can be
reached only by plane or boat, so transporta-
tion issues affect tribal environmental efforts.
Abandoned vehicles have to be hauled out—
by barge. Hazardous waste such as asbestos
must be removed from abandoned buildings
built decades ago for schools, hospitals, or mil-
itary bases. Typically, removal is possible only
during the summer, when barges can travel the
waterways and take the waste to a landfill.
Another major difference between Alaska and
the Pacific Southwest, Jean says, is tempera-
ture. She recalled one training course for tribal
environmental staff at a town on the Yukon
River in central Alaska during the middle of
winter. Travel to the community was by small
plane, and the temperature when she arrived
was 20 degrees below zero. Over the next few
days, it got even colder. Once the temperature
goes below -50 degrees, planes stop flying.
Jean caught the last plane out before flights
were cancelled for several days waiting for the
weather to "warm up" to above -50 degrees.
Tribal goals, however, are much the same in
both regions: close open dumps, improve
drinking water and wastewater infrastructure,
improve substandard living conditions, build
tribal capacity through EPA Indian Environmen-
tal General Assistance Program (GAP) funding.
Tribes use GAP funding for their environmental
agencies, and build on it to achieve environ-
mental goals. In 2007, for example, tribes in the
Pacific Southwest closed 82 open dumps.
Jean is responsible for overseeing the region's
tribal program, which provides more than $15
Jean Gamache
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 31
-
million each year to support the tribes' own en-
vironmental programs, and maintains produc-
tive relationships between EPA and more than
140 tribal leaders. Jean's staff of 12 provides
grants and hands-on assistance to tribal envi-
ronmental directors.
"I feel very fortunate," Jean says, "that I've
been able to work with so many different tribes
in some of the most extreme environments in
North America, to make a difference in protect-
ing the environment in Indian Country."
David Taylor:
Assuring Quality of Environmental Data
An ancient Greek philosopher asked the ques-
tion, "How do we know what we know?" An-
swering that question is basic to the work of
protecting human health and the environment.
EPA and other environmental agencies need
reliable, verifiable data about pollutant levels in
air, water, land and living things to make sound
environmental decisions. With 50 state govern-
ments and thousands of local and tribal govern-
ments overseeing a multitude of data collection
efforts, ensuring data quality can be a daunting
task. In EPA's Pacific Southwest Quality Assur-
ance (QA) Office, a dozen people are dedicated
to the task; senior among them is Dr. David
Taylor.
A Ph.D. chemist by training, Dave reviews the
plans that describe how environmental agen-
cies and laboratories ensure the reliability of
data from samples of air, water, soil or living tis-
sue. All EPA grantees and contractors must pre-
pare Quality Management Plans, Quality Assur-
ance Program Plans, Quality Assurance Project
Plans or Sampling and Analysis Plans before
they may collect environmental data. Dave re-
views the plans with the authors to make sure
they have adequately described the proposed
data collection effort to meet their program or
project objectives.
Over the years, Dave has worked his QA magic
with all EPA programs as well as state and tribal
environmental agencies. He has come up with
novel ways to assist tribal governments that
may have little prior knowledge of QA issues.
Dave designed a two-day training and a tem-
plate for tribal pesticide enforcement inspectors
giving them a head-start in writing a QA plan.
Collaborating with EPA's New England Region,
he produced a QA reference tool for tribal wa-
ter monitoring programs in a CD-ROM format.
The CD has been distributed to more than 700
Indian tribes and communities nationwide. In
recognition of this work, Dave was named San
Francisco Bay Area Federal Employee of the
Year in the Professional Category in 2005.
Dave reviews QA management and program
plans that cover state-wide data collection ac-
tivities. This year he worked with the California
State Water Resources Control Board to de-
scribe an integrated quality system in a Quality
Management Plan for the state and its nine Re-
gional Water Quality Control Boards. While EPA
has published guidance for the highest level of
QA (the Quality Management Plan), and for spe-
cific projects (the QA Project Plan), Dave saw
the need for a QA document that describes the
activities of state programs. The result was a
Quality Assurance Program Plan guidance that
Pacific Southwest states are now using. Other
regions are also asking for this guidance.
Dave first worked with EPA on QA projects as
a contractor in 1980, supporting Office of Re-
search and Development laboratories in North
Carolina, Cincinnati and Las Vegas. He audited
laboratories and wrote national QA guidance.
Eventually, he led 43 audits of EPA program
offices and organizations that worked with en-
vironmental data, including seven of EPA's 10
regions.
When Dave joined EPA as a federal employee
in 1994, his reputation as a valued QA resource
preceded him. Since then he has become a
master builder of QA bridges to all EPA and
EPA-funded programs in the Pacific South-
west Region that collect and use environmental
data.
Above: David Taylor
-------
Compliance and Stewardship
Compliance with environmental
laws and regulations is the ob-
jective of EPA's enforcement pro
gram. Compliance is just a start-
ing point toward the ultimate
goal of voluntary engagement
that goes beyond the require-
ments and toward a culture of
sustainability and stewardship.
In 2007, EPA's Pacific Southwest Region and its many
federal, state, local and tribal partners had notable suc-
cesses in both respects. EPA enforcement actions in the
region secured about $1.5 billion for cleanups and pollu-
tion prevention. In this chapter, Hawaii provides examples
of enforcement and incentives clearing the way for rede-
velopment of formerly contaminated properties.
Voluntary stewardship initiatives showcase the creativity
and inventiveness of people tackling a broad range of en-
vironmental issues. The Lifecycle Building Challenge, orga-
nized by EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Waste Division,
engaged architects and students all across America in a
competition to design buildings for adaptability to avoid
landfilling valuable building materials.
California celebrated its success in an ongoing effort to
divert more than 50% of its solid waste from landfills. The
East Bay Municipal Utility District pioneered a new tech-
nique for turning food waste into usable energy. Even nail
and hair salons are involved in collaborative efforts to re-
duce the toxicity of their products.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 33
Trends
Environmental Enforcement
Brings Record Results Across U.S.
"You can print all the laws you want, but it's
just paper without enforcement," says Granta
Nakayama, EPA's Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Na-
tionally, EPA law enforcement efforts resulted in
a record $10.6 billion in environmental improve-
ments in fiscal 2007—meaning alleged viola-
tors are now legally committed to spend that
amount for specific cleanups and pollution pre-
vention projects.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region last year led
the nation in contaminated soil cleanups, with
commitments to remove or restore nearly 66
million cubic yards of soil. The region also had
the highest total value of supplemental environ-
mental projects, in which a responsible party
agrees to go beyond paying penalties and un-
dertakes a project to benefit public health or the
environment.
Wastewater Infrastructure
After several years of work, EPA settled two
major wastewater cases that commit the
cities of San Diego and Honolulu to spend
a total of $1.3 billion on improvements to
their sewage collection systems to prevent
sewage spills. San Diego will spend about
$1 billion over the next several years to replace
aging and inadequate sewer pipes. The city
had experienced hundreds of sewage spills and
overflows prior to EPA's enforcement efforts.
Last May, EPA reached an interim settlement
with the city of Honolulu that commits the city
to making $300 million worth of improvements
to its sewage system. In 2006, Waikiki Beach
was closed for a week due to a 50 million-gallon
sewage spill into the nearby Ala Wai Canal. The
settlement requires Honolulu to make a num-
ber of short-term fixes to its sewage collection
system. Meanwhile, EPA continues to work with
the city to ensure long-term solutions.
San Diego and Honolulu
will invest in infrastructure
to prevent sewage
spills as a result of EPA
enforcement efforts.
Airborne and Underground
In a major Clean Air Act case settlement, the
Evergreen Pulp Inc. mill near Eureka, Calif., in-
stalled pollution controls on its lime kiln to re-
duce emissions of particulates and hazardous
air pollutants by 340 tons per year. Meanwhile,
Nevada Power will reduce emissions at two of
its power plants near Las Vegas by about 2,900
tons per year (see story, p. 8).
Less visible is the work being done to prevent
fuel leaks from 50,000 underground storage
tanks from polluting soil and groundwater in the
Pacific Southwest. More than 14,000 inspec-
tions were carried out by EPA and state, tribal
and territorial agencies in fiscal 2007. These
tanks, with an estimated combined capacity of
more than 250 million gallons, present an "in-
visible risk" to the environment since releases
would occur underground.
Spill and Dump Cleanups
Fuel spills were at issue in a settlement involving
the pipeline company Kinder, Morgan, which
had three pipeline breaks resulting in serious
oil spills in California in 2004 and 2005. EPA
estimated the volume of the spills at 124,000
gallons in April 2004 at Suisun Marsh in Solano
County, 77,000 gallons in February 2005 at
Oakland Inner Harbor in Alameda, and 300 gal-
lons in April 2005 into a creek in the Donner Lake
watershed in the Sierra Nevada. Kinder Morgan
Energy Partners LP and SFPP LP agreed to pay
nearly $5.3 million to resolve their liability under
the federal Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act,
Endangered Species Act, and California laws
regulating oil and water pollution.
Not all EPA enforcement cases, however, end
in settlements. Operators of the illegal Torlaw
dump on the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla
Indian Reservation chose to ignore EPA and
Bureau of Indian Affairs enforcement efforts,
forcing the agencies to go to federal court. The
court ordered the operators to shut down, va-
cate the property, and pay up to $42.8 million
in cleanup costs, plus more than $2.3 million in
penalties (see p. 28).
Above: Improvements to sewage
collection systems mean fewer spills.
-------
34 Compliance and Stewardship
Primer
EPA Spurs Green Building
with Lifecycle Building Challenge, Grants
EPA's involvement with green building —design-
ing buildings to reduce waste and conserve
energy—is nothing new, but now it's coinciding
with an unprecedented wave of interest. "An ar-
chitect today who designs a high-profile build-
ing has to take the environment into account,"
says San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic
John King. "Not just because it's the right thing
to do, but also because other architects and cli-
ents are making the effort. If you don't, you're
behind the times."
In 2007, EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Of-
fice spurred innovation in this growing sector
by launching the Lifecycle Building Challenge,
a nationwide competition for architects, build-
ers and students that pushed the envelope of
Green Building to include designing buildings
for deconstruction and reuse.
The event generated interest all across the
U.S., garnering coverage in 30 trade publica-
tions, including a top story in the prestigious
American Institute of Architects' (AIA) newslet-
ter, more than 2.5 million hits on the competi-
tion's Web site, and lots of attention on other
Web sites, online publications, and blogs. EPA
collaborated with three strategic partners: The
80,000-member AIA, the Building Materials
Reuse Association (BMRA), and West Coast
Green, the nation's largest residential green
building conference.
The competition asked participants to reduce a
building's environmental impacts over its entire
lifecycle, from the manufacture of building ma-
terials to the reuse or transportation of demoli-
tion waste. Potential savings of materials and
energy are huge. Each year more than 100 mil-
lion tons of construction and demolition debris
are landfilled in the U.S.—equivalent to a ton of
waste for every person in the U.S. every three
years! Buildings account for 60% of the nation's
raw materials consumption (not counting food
and fuel), 40% of electricity use, and 25% of all
energy consumption. And beyond that, manu-
facturing materials like steel and concrete is en-
ergy intensive. Reuse also cuts greenhouse gas
emissions.
The best way to "green" a building over its
entire lifecycle is to design it from the start to
promote adaptability, local building materials re-
use, and recycling. For example, entries in the
contest included open source modular build-
ings that can be changed over time as family
space needs change, and a multi-family project
that can easily be converted from one-bedroom
units to two-bedroom units to commercial of-
fice space.
Pavilion in the Park, Seattle—one of the winning
entries in the Lifecycle Building Challenge.
(David Miller, The Miller|Hull Partnership)
Inspiration for the event came from a 2005 EPA
grant to the Chartwell School in Seaside, Calif.,
to design the school's deconstruction strate-
gies. There, EHDD Architects created tech-
niques that allow building components to be
easily disassembled and reused. Adaptations
can be made easily. Exposed utility raceways
facilitate updates to wiring and technology.
Concrete blocks are bonded so each can be
The Lifecycle Building
Challenge asked
participants to design
a building to reduce its
environmental impacts
over its entire lifecycle.
lifted out and reused. Nail-free paneling can be
easily removed and reused. The design pre-
serves the parts of the building with the most
embodied energy, such as concrete and steel
components.
If one architecture firm could come up with so
many green innovations, imagine what a na-
tionwide competition could do, reasoned EPA's
Lifecycle Building Challenge Team leaders Ti-
monie Hood and Eileen Sheehan. Together with
team members Saskia van Gendt and Pamela
Swingle, they devised the criteria and guide-
lines, recruited a distinguished judging panel,
helped develop the Web site, and worked with
Lifecycle Building Challenge:
www.lifecyclebuilding.org w,
Watch the video:
www.epa.gov/region9/video/lifecycle w
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 35
a wide range of organizations to promote the
competition.
In all, 90 entries were submitted from across
the nation. On September 20, 2007, EPA As-
sistant Administrator Susan Bodine joined Pa-
cific Southwest Regional Administrator Wayne
Nastri, AIA President RK Stewart, and BMRA
President Brad Guy to announce the nine win-
ners, who hailed from nine of EPA's 10 regions.
The Lifecycle Building Challenge was such a
success that EPA and its partners are sponsor-
ing it again this year.
Energy-Saving New Homes,
Healthier Hospitals
The watchword of the green building industry is
LEED—the U.S. Green Building Council's Lead-
ership in Energy and Environmental Design Rat-
ing System. EPA's Pacific Southwest Office has
partnered with a local council affiliate to test
the workability of its draft LEED-H standard for
home building combined with EPA's new Indoor
Air Package, a series of recommendations for
indoor air quality. In 2007, an EPA grant pro-
vided technical assistance to large-scale build-
ers who constructed 53 new homes meeting
both standards. EPA is expanding the project
with the goal of adding 500 new green homes
by 2010.
Another 2007 EPA grant helped the city of
Fresno, Calif., collaborate with the U.S. De-
partment of Housing and Urban Development
to incorporate Green Building in an affordable
housing project of eight new homes. Green
features include pervious concrete outdoors,
Right: Transformative Multi-Family Housing
proposed for Oakland, Calif.
(Saida + Sullivan Design Partners, San Francisco)
photovoltaic panels, cool roofs, passive solar,
and high-efficiency windows. In just the first two
homes, builders reduced construction waste by
six tons.
Many California hospitals will soon be getting
upgrades to meet new state seismic standards,
so in 2007 EPA's Wendi Shafir led a collabora-
tive effort among healthcare organizations, hos-
pitals, and Green Building experts to create a
series of fact sheets on the "Top 5 Green Build-
ing Strategies for Hospitals." The strategies re-
duce heating and cooling energy use by up to
50%, conserve water, and improve indoor envi-
ronmental conditions for patients and hospital
workers.
Above: EPA's Timonie Hood and Saskia van Gendt
Download 'Top 5 Green Building
Strategies for Hospitals':
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/p2/greenbldg.html w
U.S. Green Building Council:
www.usgbc.org w
-------
36 Compliance and Stewardship
Places
Land Revitalization in Hawaii
and the Pacific Islands
Cleaning up contaminated land for redevelop-
ment is a priority for all of EPA's cleanup pro-
grams. In Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, where
land is at a premium, land revitalization is even
more crucial. Several projects in Hawaii and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI) illustrate how EPA works with state and
local governments to clean up and reuse con-
taminated land.
In Hilo on the island of Hawaii, contaminated
soil was found in a portion of the city's Bay-
front Recreation Area that had earlier been an
oil gasification plant. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers excavated the soil and wrapped it in
a huge plastic liner resembling a burrito. But this
was only a temporary solution. In 2004, EPA
worked with the Hawaii Department of Health
(HDOH), the Corps, and the County of Hawaii
to remove 7,900 tons of soil to a hazardous
waste landfill. The site is again part of the park,
with two new soccer fields.
In Honolulu, the former site of a bakery was
found to be contaminated by oil, diesel and
gasoline from abandoned underground storage
tanks (USTs). EPA and HDOH oversaw the re-
moval of three USTs, on-site treatment of 2,500
cubic yards of contaminated soil and 1,200
From pesticide spills to
abandoned artillery shells,
health hazards are being
cleaned up so that island
lands can be returned
to productive use.
cubic yards of coral (used as fill), and contami-
nated groundwater. Today, the site is being re-
developed as a Safeway Shopping Center with
a grocery store and shops.
Elsewhere on Oahu, part of the 400-acre East
Kapolei Redevelopment Area had been used
to load, mix and store pesticides and chemi-
cal fertilizers, which contaminated the soil. EPA
Brownfields grants funded environmental as-
sessments which pinpointed the contaminated
areas and allowed cleanup costs to be deter-
mined. State agencies and community groups
are evaluating cleanup alternatives, and plan to
redevelop the site with 2,500 units of affordable
housing for native Hawaiians.
At the Del Monte Superfund site, a former
pineapple farm in Kunia, West Oahu, soil and
groundwater are polluted with the pesticides
EDB and DBCP from spills. In 2005, EPA nego-
tiated a consent decree requiring Del Monte to
clean up the soil and groundwater, at a cost of
about $13 million. Deep groundwater is now be-
ing treated with air stripping (which evaporates
pollutants) and carbon filtration. Contaminated
soil will be treated with soil vapor extraction,
then capped. Redevelopment plans are being
analyzed by the local government.
In CNMI, World War II left piles of unused
bombs, bullets and artillery shells abandoned
throughout the islands, as well as randomly
buried "duds" that failed to explode—all known
as "UXO," for "unexploded ordnance." The
trouble is, sometimes UXO does explode when
disturbed, so areas with UXO are off-limits for
redevelopment.
In 2007, EPA and the CNMI Department of
Public Safety finalized a unique agreement that
gives CNMI authority to safely store and dis-
pose of this hazardous waste on a routine ba-
sis at the Marpi Point Open Detonation Area.
EPA also awarded two Brownfields assessment
grants to CNMI to speed the removal of UXO
at sites such as the Marpi Village Homestead,
where 500 new homes are planned for indig-
enous families.
'From Bomb Fields to Brownfields':
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/ordnance w
More info on Hawaii land revitalization:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/land-revitalize-hi w
Groundwater treatment system at the
Del Monte Superfund site, Kunia, Hawaii.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 37
Places
California Surpasses 50%
Waste Diversion Goal
California's Integrated Waste Management
Board received an award from EPA last year
for an amazing achievement: The nation's most
populous state surpassed its own goal of di-
verting 50% of the state's waste from landfills.
Some local jurisdictions even surpassed 70%.
That's good news, because a high diversion
rate does more than save trees and reduce the
size and number of landfills. Most of the diver-
sion comes from recycling, which replaces vir-
gin material production and reduces energy use
and greenhouse gas emissions.
"We at EPA want to thank the cities, counties,
businesses, nonprofits, and all Californians,"
said Jeff Scott, director of EPA's regional Waste
Division, upon presenting the award. "Their con-
tinuing efforts have made this notable achieve-
ment possible."
The latest numbers show that California is di-
verting more than a ton of waste per person
each year. California diverts 46 million tons of
municipal solid waste per year, and with 35 mil-
lion people, the state is diverting 52% of the 88
million tons of waste generated.
This success was no accident. The effort start-
ed back in 1989, when then-State Senator By-
ron Sher of Palo Alto sponsored the Integrated
Waste Management Act, requiring all local gov-
ernments to divert 50% of their trash by 2000.
The bill took effect in 1990. It set an ambitious
goal. At that time, only 10% of the state's waste
was being recycled.
Over the next decade, the law spurred most of
the state's local governments to start curbside
California's outreach campaign
sends a strong message to reduce waste.
recycling and other programs to recycle their
garden and landscaping waste; construction
and demolition waste; and food waste. EPA
assisted with voluntary partnerships like Waste-
Wise, which has more than 200 industry and
government partners in California—more than
double the number in the next leading state.
Municipalities that failed to make the 2000
deadline but were making a good-faith effort
were given an extension until 2005. Nearly all
succeeded. Those that didn't had to start pay-
ing fines, as required by the 1989 law.
Today, the state is working toward a goal of zero
waste by promoting markets for recycled mate-
rials, supporting recycled product procurement
and purchasing, continuing to look for new re-
cycling opportunities, and reducing household
hazardous waste going to municipal landfills.
For example, the state has banned discarded
Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) from land-
fills because they contain small amounts of
mercury, which could be released into the envi-
ronment. The state now treats CFLs from busi-
nesses and residents as hazardous waste.
Because California measures diversion rather
than just recycling, it's not clear whether Cali-
fornians are the nation's number one recyclers.
However, California has clearly been an inno-
vator in reducing the environmental impacts of
trash.
More info on EPA's WasteWise Program:
www.epa.gov/wastewise w
California recycling success stories:
www.bottlesandcans.com/locaLsuccess.php w
Recycle.
-------
38 Compliance and Stewardship
Innovation
East Bay MUD Hits "Environmental
Home Run" With Food Waste
California's East Bay Municipal Utility District
(EBMUD) has won many environmental awards
over the years for forward-thinking operation of
its huge wastewater treatment plant in Oakland.
So it's not surprising that they've come up with
an innovation that has quadruple environmental
benefits: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
generating renewable electric power, produc-
ing compost, and diverting and recycling the
largest single component of urban trash: food
waste.
How do they do it? By processing 40 tons of
food waste per day in anaerobic digesters that
were built to break down sewage sludge. Last
year, EPA issued a $50,000 grant to EBMUD
for a small-scale controlled test of the system
using different types of organic waste, varying
time periods and other parameters. Results are
now being used to encourage other cities to fol-
low EBMUD's lead.
EBMUD is planning to scale up its food waste
inputs in the future using food waste from San
Francisco restaurants and grocery stores. San
Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom has com-
mitted the city to an ultimate goal of reducing
waste and recycling all remaining waste—a
big step beyond the state standard of divert-
ing 50% of its waste from landfills, which San
Francisco reached eight years ago.
Here's how the process has been working in
Oakland: EBMUD's wastewater treatment plant
has several anaerobic digesters, more than
needed to treat all the sludge, or "biosolids,"
removed from wastewater. They've installed a
food waste grinder and storage tank next to
one of the digesters, to feed it food waste in
addition to biosolids.
Anaerobic bacteria flourish in the digesters,
generating methane gas which is captured
and burned to generate electricity that runs
the wastewater treatment plant. This reduces
greenhouse gases, because the food waste
would otherwise have gone into a landfill,
where its decomposition would have gener-
ated methane that would be emitted into the
atmosphere.
Every day, 40 tons of
food waste are being
turned to energy.
Methane emitted into the air also adds to smog,
so keeping it in the digesters and burning it to
generate electricity also benefits air quality. After
the food waste is processed in the digesters,
the end product has less weight and volume.
It's sent to a composting facility to be mixed
with other organic materials such as yard waste
for further decomposition. The resulting com-
post is a high-quality fertilizer used to grow or-
ganic crops, such as wine grapes in Sonoma
and Napa Counties' famous wine country.
The system does all this at minimal cost, be-
cause its most expensive infrastructure—the
digesters—are already paid for, and 32% of di-
gester capacity at wastewater treatment plants,
on average, is unused. Dave Jones and Cara
Peck of the EPA Pacific Southwest Waste Di-
vision recently received the results of the EPA
grant-funded project at EBMUD, and they're
spreading the good news: Food waste pro-
cessing can be an environmental home run for
any city.
A truck offloads food waste on its way to EBMUD's
dome-shaped anaerobic digester.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 39
People
Jessica Counts:
Protecting Health in Unlikely Places
Jessica Counts has worked in several federal
agencies in the past 23 years. In 1997 she
came to EPA's regional office in San Francisco
looking for "a more challenging career." She got
it. Since 2003, Jessica has been a pollution pre-
vention specialist in the regional Waste Division,
where she now works to reduce exposure to
toxics in nail and hair salons, and helps tribal
casinos adopt greener, healthier practices.
There are more than 80 tribal gambling casi-
nos in the Pacific Southwest, and more on the
way, since California voters in February 2008
approved statewide propositions allowing four
tribes to open bigger, Las Vegas-style casinos.
There are hundreds of nail and hair salons us-
ing chemicals that may endanger the health of
thousands of workers, their children, and cus-
tomers. Salon workers often report respiratory
problems and headaches, and their risk of can-
Protecting the Health
of Nail Salon Workers
cer, birth defects and asthma is similar to that of
industrial workers.
Last year, Jessica helped organize the Green-
ing Tribal Casinos Conference in Sacramento,
where casino managers learned about con-
serving energy and water, composting and re-
cycling, and even using biodiesel made from
grease in their restaurants to fuel their vehicles.
Jessica worked with a contractor to develop a
pollution prevention checklist for casinos that
includes best management practices like re-
placing slot machine lights with energy-saving
LEDs. Jessica is currently working with tribal
casinos to identify pollution prevention opportu-
nities in their operations to reduce their environ-
mental footprint.
Toxics in Nail and Hair Salons
Jessica also works with the California Healthy
Nail Salon Collaborative, a coalition of nail salon
businesses, workers, health activists, and non-
profits working to address health issues in nail
salons, which typically use nail polish and pol-
ish remover that contain volatile organic com-
pounds, and toxic chemicals that bond artificial
nails to real nails. In this capacity, Jessica over-
saw the translation and publication of a revised
EPA brochure on nail salon chemicals into Viet-
namese and Korean.
Also last year, Jessica convened an African
American Hair Salon Roundtable in Oakland,
Calif., where participants listened to speakers
presenting studies on the health impacts of
products used in African-American hair salons.
Studies indicate that some hair products used
Left: This EPA publication is now available in Korean
and Vietnamese.
by African-Americans contain estrogenic chem-
icals that can cause premature puberty in girls
and may also be linked to breast cancer. Even
when products list ingredients, Jessica says,
other toxic chemicals may be hidden under the
term "fragrance."
So what can be done? In the long term, prod-
ucts should be reformulated without the prob-
lematic chemicals. Jessica says that more re-
search is needed to address the full scope of
environmental health issues related to the use
of chemicals in personal-care products. Mean-
while, salon owners and workers can lower their
risk by learning more about the content of the
products they use.
California Safe Cosmetics Program:
www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/cosmetics w
Download
•Protecting the Health of Nail Salon Workers':
www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/salon/nailsalonguide.pdf w
-------
c
/ F
C
TROPIC OF CANCER
O C
E 0 I A T O R
-------
Contact Information
N
/
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9 Contacts
Phone Inquiries
415.947.8000
or 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free)
Email Inquiries
r9.info@epa.gov
EPA Web Site
www.epa.gov
For Pacific Southwest Issues
www.epa.gov/region9
Offices
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA94105
EPA Pacific Islands Contact Office
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 5124
Honolulu, HI 96850
3.541.2710
EPA San Diego Border Office
610 West Ash St., Suite 905
San Diego, CA92101
619.235.4765
EPA Southern California Field Office
600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1460
Los Angeles, CA90017
213.244.1800
To Obtain This Report
Order from EPA's Environmental Information Center at
866.EPA.WEST (toll-free), email r9.info@epa.gov
or view and print from the Internet at
www.epa.gov/region9/annualreport
&EPA
Printed on 100% recycled paper, 50% post-
consumer content—process chlorine-free
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
2008-771-355
-------
EPA Pacific Southwest/Region 9
Offices and Divisions
Environmental Information Center
Web: www.epa.gov/region9
Email: r9.info@epa.gov
Phone: 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free)
415.947.8000
Office of the Regional Administrator
415.947.8702
Wayne Nastri, Regional Administrator
Laura Yoshii, Deputy Regional Administrator
Bridget Coyle, Civil Rights Director
Steven John, Southern California Field Office
Director
Office of Public Affairs
415.947.8700
Kathleen Johnson, Director
Public Information/News Media Relations
Partnerships: State, Congressional Liaison
Enforcement and Compliance Coordination
Office of Regional Counsel
415.947.8705
Nancy Marvel, Regional Counsel
Legal Counsel
Civil and Criminal Enforcement
Defensive Litigation, Ethics
Air Division
415.947.8715
Deborah Jordan, Director
Air Quality Plans and Rules
Permits, Enforcement, Monitoring
Air Toxics, Radiation, Indoor Air
West Coast Collaborative, Grants
Superfund Division
415.947.8709
Keith Takata, Director
Site Cleanup, Brownfields, Oil Pollution
Federal Facilities and Base Closures
Emergency Response & Planning
Community Involvement, Site Assessment
Waste Management Division
415.947.8708
Jeff Scott, Director
Pollution Prevention, Solid Waste
RCRA Permits/Corrective Action
RCRA Inspections & Enforcement
RCRA State Program Development
Underground Storage Tank Program
Water Division
415.947.8707
Alexis Strauss, Director
Clean Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Marine Sanctuaries Act
Communities and Ecosystems Division
415.947.8704
Enrique Manzanilla, Director
Agriculture Program, Environmental Justice
Pesticides, Toxics, TRI
Environmental Review/NEPA
Tribal Programs, Pacific Islands
U.S.-Mexico Border Program
Stewardship/Performance Track
Management and Technical Services Division
415.947.8706
Jane Diamond, Director
Budget, Finance/Grants/Contracts
Strategic Planning, Science Policy
Laboratory & QA/QC, Facilities
Information Resource Management
Health & Safety, Human Resources
Southern California Field Office (Los Angeles)
Pacific Islands Contact Office (Honolulu)
San Diego Border Office (San Diego)
213.244.1800
808.541.2710
619.235.4765
------- |