EPA Progress Report 2006
Pacific Southwest Region
                                                         f/EPA
                                           U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                                                 Pacific Southwest/Region 9
                                                      EPA-909-R-06-001

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Dear Readers,

Last December we marked EPA's 35th year of protecting public health and the environment.
With our state and tribal partners we have made great progress in these three and a half de-
cades. Our air, waters and land are much cleaner than in 1970. These gains have occurred at
the same time that our population has nearly doubled, miles traveled have nearly tripled and
the region has become an economic hub for much of the country.
This year's report offers many examples of how we have managed to align our needs for
prosperity and environmental quality. It also shows the power of partnership, stewardship,
collaboration, innovation and fair enforcement, focused on environmental results. Partnership
dominated our work in 2006. More than half our annual budget went to support the environ-
mental and public health work of states, tribes, local governments and non-governmental or-
ganizations. Building and supporting the capacity of others and leveraging their unique talents
has enabled us to multiply necessary and durable benefits.
Voluntary effort and creative thinking were the trademarks of the West Coast Collaborative,
and moved us significantly ahead in dealing with one of the region's worst air quality issues—
diesel pollution. Our collaboration with agriculture is moving this important community to
sustainability, as seen in the partnership to utilize new technologies to manage dairy manure.
Reaching across borders, our work with  Mexico is creating much-needed infrastructure in
remote communities and eliminating significant public health threats.
On a broader stage, we have begun work with China's State Environmental Protection Agency
to speed the pace at which they will be able to manage the pollution consequences of rapid
growth. The benefits will be felt in our own environment as well as theirs. Closer to home,
many employees of EPA's regional office went to the Gulf Coast to help the federal response
to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their work showed that our disaster preparedness work pays
off in being able to respond effectively to major catastrophes.
Again this year our enforcement program secured significant commitments to on-the-ground
improvements with big public health benefits, such as major sewer system work in southern
California. In addition, many settling parties undertook supplementary environmental projects,
bringing vital benefits like emergency equipment or access to safe drinking water to local
communities. Under our Superfund program,  responsible parties committed more than $100
million to make progress in  cleaning up some of the biggest and toughest toxic waste sites in
the country.
As we move forward, we will continue to emphasize partnerships, collaboration, innova-
tion and environmental results in maintaining our steadfast commitment to environmental
protection.
Wayne Nastri
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region

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 Contents
   Clean Air
   Clean Water
   Clean Land
             8
            14
   Communities and Ecosystems
   Compliance and Stewardship
   Responding to Katrina
   EPA Field Offices
            20
            26
            32
            35
   Contact Information
Inside Back Cover
This report is also available on the Internet at www.epa.gov/region09/annualreport
Cover photos of sunrise over Phoenix, Mt. Shasta, and Sonoma vineyards by Dale Mead.

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                    Urban Areas Attain
                    Clean Air Standards
                    Phoenix Area Breathing Easier
                    The best news for the 3.5  million people in the
                    Phoenix metropolitan area is in the air: it's cleaner.
                    Last  year, EPA  redesignated the Phoenix area
                    (shown above) to attainment of the national health
                    standards for carbon monoxide (CO) and the one-
                    hour ozone (smog) standard. The area is close to
                    attaining, but has not yet attained, the new eight-
                    hour standard for ozone.  Phoenix is the most
                    recent major urban area in  the U.S. to attain the
                    CO standard. The area had been classified as a
                    "serious non-attainment" area for both CO and
                    ozone.
                    EPA  also approved the Phoenix area's mainte-
                    nance plans for CO and ozone, which lay out spe-
                    cific pollution control measures intended to keep
                    the air  clean  despite  anticipated urban growth.
                    The  work that the Phoenix area has done to
                                                                    achieve the one-hour ozone standard will support
                                                                    future efforts as the Phoenix air quality agencies
                                                                    begin work on the eight-hour ozone plan.
                                                                    Despite these air quality gains, Phoenix residents
                                                                    still experience the city's "brown cloud" in fall and
                                                                    winter. The urban haze issue is primarily caused
                                                                    by finer particulates resulting from  combustion
                                                                    and motor vehicle sources. In addition, the Phoe-
                                                                    nix area has not attained the health  standard for
                                                                    particulate matter, or PM10. The "brown cloud" re-
                                                                    mains a challenge for the Arizona Department of
                                                                    Environmental Quality,  the Maricopa Association
                                                                    of Governments  and the new Maricopa County
                                                                    Air Quality Department and will be the focus of air
                                                                    quality activities during  the coming year.
                                                                    In the meantime, the Maricopa County Air Qual-
                                                                    ity Department and EPA have been  aggressively
                                                                    enforcing rules that minimize dust. Among them
C
lean Air

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          Unhealthy Air Days in Las Vegas

                 PM., Exceedances
           '97  '98  '99 '00  '01  '02  '03  '04  '05
Graph shows the number of days each year that
participate pollution (PM10) in the Las Vegas area
exceeded the national health standard.

is a new county regulation, which took effect in
2005, that reduces dust from sand and gravel op-
erations in the Phoenix area by an estimated 183
tons per year.

Cleaner Air in Las Vegas
and Reno Areas in Nevada
Nevada has also seen major gains in air quality
in the last several years.  Clark County (the Las
Vegas area) went from eight days exceeding the
PM10 health standard in 2002 to zero in  2004,
thanks to dust-control measures in the county's
EPA-approved particulate pollution  control  plan.
Last year,  EPA made a finding of attainment for
Clark County for carbon monoxide (CO), since the
area has been consistently meeting the CO health
standard.
EPA also made a finding of attainment for Wash-
oe County (the Reno area) in  northern Nevada
for both the CO and the one-hour ozone  health
standards. Together, the Reno and Las Vegas ar-
eas have a population of more than two million
people, the vast majority of Nevada's population.

New PM2 5 Standard Poses Challenges
In 2005, the new national health standard for fine
particulate  pollution—PM25—took effect.  PM25
is made up of very  fine particles of sulfates, ni-
trates and  carbon compounds that can  lodge
deeply in the lungs,  causing a myriad of respira-
tory and heart health problems. The particles can
be emitted directly from combustion or can form
from chemical reactions in the air. These chemi-
cal precursors come from a variety of sources,
including cars, trucks, buses, construction equip-
ment, industrial facilities and power plants. In the
Pacific Southwest Region, only the San Joaquin
Valley and the Los Angeles area failed to meet the
standard.
In California, PM25 tends to be higher in the fall
and winter because  nitrates form more readily
in cooler weather and because increased use of
wood stoves and fireplaces produces more car-
bon. This is especially true in  the San  Joaquin
Valley, where PM25 reaches unhealthy levels dur-
ing the fall and winter.  In the Los Angeles  area,
by contrast,  PM25 pollution can reach unhealthy
levels at any time of year because the huge num-
ber of motor vehicles there emit PM2 5 year-round.
The area reduced its  PM25 pollution by 16% last
year, but it was not enough to meet the health
standard.

San Joaquin Valley
Makes Progress

Air quality in the San Joaquin Valley is improving.
Most  PM10 monitors within the valley are show-
ing attainment with the PM standard. For ozone,
the valley's air worsened in 2001 -2003, reaching
a peak of 134 days of unhealthy  air  in 2003. By
2005, however, the number of unhealthy smog
days had fallen to 72.
     Unhealthy Air Days in San Joaquin Valley
                Ozone Exceedances
                   8-hour Standard
       \
                     '00  '01   '02  '03  '04   '05
                 PM,n Exceedances
 a  10
 CO
                                                                    '00  '01   '02  '03  '04  '05
Graphs show the number of
days each year that ozone
(smog) and particulate
pollution (PM10) in the San
Joaquin Valley exceeded
national heath standards.
                                                                                                                    3

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Top: Sunflowers at Red Rock
Ranch near Fresno, Calif.
Bottom: John Diener, owner
of Red Rock Ranch, with
oil press he uses to make
biodiesel fuel from sunflower
and safflower seeds.
Significant progress in reducing participate pollu-
tion can be attributed to the San Joaquin Valley
Unified Air Pollution Control  District's Conserva-
tion Management Practices  Program,  which re-
quires farmers with 100 acres or more of contigu-
ous land to use crop-specific methods of reducing
particulate emissions. Farmers were required to
implement their pollution prevention measures by
July 1, 2004, and submit their measures to the air
district in permit applications by the end of 2004.
The air district received 6,400 applications cover-
ing 3.2 million acres of farmland.
To help  further reduce the valley's air pollution,
EPA has funded two demonstration projects as
part of the West Coast Diesel Collaborative. EPA
has provided $100,000, and other Collaborative
partners $160,000, to the valley-based nonprofit
Sustainable  Conservation  to  demonstrate the
farm-scale use of biodiesel and to test a fuel ad-
ditive that can reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
The additive is made from plant-based oils, such
as sunflower oil. The project will measure reduc-
tions in emissions of nitrogen oxides, CO, particu-
lates, hydrocarbons, and sulfur dioxide.
EPA is also  providing $50,000 to Gal State Uni-
versity-Fresno's Center for Irrigation Technology
(with $25,000 in matching funds from partners)
for low-cost irrigation pump efficiency tests, ret-
rofit research, and rebates for retrofit and repair of
inefficient pumps. This project alone is expected
to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the valley by
nearly 20 tons a year. Both demonstration proj-
ects also benefit farms and the environment by
reducing  energy costs and  greenhouse gases,
and providing new markets for crops that can be
turned into biodiesel.

West Coast  Diesel
Collaborative Update

Reducing Diesel Emissions in
the Sacramento Area
In 2004,  EPA convened the West Coast Diesel
Collaborative, an alliance of more than 60 federal,
state,  and local government agencies, as well as
nonprofit and business partners working together
to reduce diesel emissions from Baja California to
British Columbia. Since the Collaborative's launch
in September 2004, it has  funded 28 separate
diesel emissions  reduction  projects with nearly
$2.5 million in EPA grants and more than $15 mil-
lion in matching funds from other partners.
The Collaborative is part of  EPA's  nationwide
Clean  Diesel Campaign  to  reduce  millions  of
tons of diesel air pollution, prevent approximately
21,000 premature deaths and eliminate hundreds
of thousands of respiratory illnesses every year.
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson traveled to
West Sacramento, Calif., on August 22, 2005,  to
announce the latest $1.4 million in diesel grants.
"The public-private partnership of the West Coast
Collaborative will  yield  immediate  reductions  in
existing diesel fleet  emissions  and advance our
progress toward cleaner air in our cities, ports and
farmland," said Johnson.
The first of these grants, for $211,000, was pre-
sented to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality
Management District for a construction equipment
retrofit demonstration project. Another $774,000
in matching  funds is being provided from Collab-
orative partners.
4

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The project is measuring the results of the retro-
fit technology in reducing particulate matter and
other air emissions.  Once the data are verified,
this technology will be eligible under other grant
and retrofit programs to be installed on a wide va-
riety of diesel fueled vehicles.
Earlier in  the year, EPA Regional Administrator
Wayne  Nastri joined CalTrans and Amtrak  offi-
cials in  presenting the Sacramento air district a
$150,000 EPA  grant to reduce diesel pollution
from  locomotives that move commuter trains
between Sacramento and Oakland. The Cleaire
emission control systems installed on two loco-
motives in this pilot project filter particulates and
transform additional  pollutants  into  harmless
compounds.
"This  voluntary  project reduces the risk from air
pollution for  nearly  20,000 residents who live
along this vital train corridor," explained Nastri. "It
means that the air district will be able to take 220
tons of diesel air pollution out of the air, a signifi-
cant air pollution reduction."
EPA is funding a demonstration project using dif-
ferent technology to reduce diesel emissions from
the Roseville  Rail Yard in Placer County, just  east
of Sacramento. In rail  yards, switching locomo-
tives idle constantly when they're  not moving rail
cars  around—creating  air  pollution constantly.
The technology used here is a smokestack emis-
sion scrubbing system  used in  factories.  The
emissions will be captured by placing a hood  over
the exhaust stacks of the locomotives while  they
are being serviced.
This project,  supported by a $39,000 EPA grant
and $100,000 from the Placer County Air Pollu-
tion Control District and other Collaborative part-
ners, is expected to reduce the rail yard's nitrogen
oxide emissions by over 100 tons per year,  and
particulates by more than two tons per year.

Container cranes at Port of Long Beach, Calif. Diesel
powered ships, trucks, and freight-moving vehicles at
ports are a major source of air pollution.
Ports of Los Angeles and Long
Beach Focus on Diesel Emissions
After decades of aggressive air pollution control
measures in the Los Angeles Basin, the region's
air is dramatically cleaner, though it still fails to
meet national health standards. The ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach handle one-third of the
entire nation's container cargo. The ports, with
their ships, trucks  and freight-moving vehicles,
are among the basin's largest sources of air pol-
lution. Container traffic through these two  ports
is projected to quadruple over the next 20 years,
presenting an opportunity to improve air quality as
older diesel equipment is replaced with cleaner-
burning engines.
EPA was an  active participant  in a Port of Los
Angeles  task force dedicated to  ensuring that
there will be no net increase in air pollution from
the port's operations as they expand in the years
ahead. The Port of Long Beach has adopted a
"Green Port Policy" with similar goals. EPA has
provided a $100,000 grant to the South Coast
Air Quality Management  District, with  more than
$2.1  million in matching funds, to retrofit a  loco-
motive servicing the two ports to operate primar-
ily on  cleaner-burning liquefied natural  gas. This
project is projected to cut annual emissions of
smog-forming nitrogen oxides by about 17  tons,
and particulates by 860 pounds.
EPA has also provided a $75,000 grant to the
Port  of Long Beach, with  $525,000  in  match-
ing funds from other partners, to  retrofit  three
yard  hostlers with liquefied natural gas engines,
and compare their power and effectiveness with
equivalent diesel-powered freight moving vehicles
over a six-month period. The goal is  to cut the
yard hostlers' nitrogen oxide emissions by  63%,
and particulates by 80%.
EPA Administrator Stephen
L. Johnson announced $1.4
million in grants aimed at
curbing diesel pollution
as part of the West Coast
Collaborative.
                                                                                                                        5

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Between 2001 and 2004,
Nevada's biggest gold mines
reduced their emissions of
toxic mercury vapors by 82%.
EPA has even put part of a company's air pollu-
tion penalty to work reducing the port's air emis-
sions. As part of a $900,000 legal settlement with
EPA, the ARCO Terminal  Services Corp.  agreed
to spend $675,000 on a project to demonstrate a
new emissions control technology for rubber-tired
gantry cranes at the Port of Long Beach.

Diesel Collaborative Extended to Hawaii
In November 2005,  EPA awarded a $135,000
grant to the American Lung Association of Hawaii
to replace  older, dirtier diesel construction equip-
ment engines with  newer, cleaner engines to re-
duce air pollution on Oahu and Kauai. The grant
marked Hawaii's first participation  in the West
Coast Diesel Collaborative.
The  Grace  Pacific Corporation  will  contribute
$592,200  for the project.  Grace Pacific employs
numerous  diesel-powered vehicles in its quarries
on Oahu and Kauai.

Turning Crops, Restaurant
Waste into Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a sustainable fuel source that reduces
emissions  of carbon monoxide, unburned hydro-
carbons, particulate matter and sulfur  dioxide.
Its use can improve air quality and help  reduce
dependence on  limited  energy resources and
imports.
In May 2005, EPA awarded a $75,000 grant to
a group of nonprofit, business and government
organizations in Santa Cruz, Calif., to fund an in-
novative project to convert restaurant wastes into
biodiesel fuel for area transit systems.
The project hopes to demonstrate the economic
viability  of a community-based biodiesel  collec-
                 Reduction in Mercury Air Emissions
                Reported by Members of the Voluntary Mercury Reduction Program (VMRP)
       25,000-
  I
  1    20,000-

       15,000-
       10,000-
        5,000-
              2001 baseline       2002
                                           2003
                                                        2004
                                     Year
tion, production and  distribution chain using lo-
cally-generated waste vegetable oil.

Partnerships

Nevada Cuts Mercury Air Emissions
by Building on Voluntary Program
The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection
(NDEP) will require mercury air emission controls
at precious-metal  mining facilities through a new
mercury air emissions control permitting program.
The new state permit requirement will apply to
precious-metals  mining  facilities  that  process
mercury-containing ore and  use thermal  treat-
ment processes that  have the potential for emit-
ting mercury into the atmosphere.
This state regulatory program will build on the suc-
cess of the EPA/NDEP Voluntary Mercury Reduc-
tion Program for Nevada gold mines that reduced
annual mercury air  emissions from 21,098  to
3,755 pounds between 2001  and 2004, an 82%
reduction in  just three years.  The state program
will include mandatory monitoring, record keeping
and reporting  requirements,  and improved and
additional mercury air emission controls.

West Oakland Toxics
Reduction Collaborative
In April 2005, EPA staff and community members
of the West Oakland Environmental  Indicator Proj-
ect convened the West Oakland Toxics Reduction
Collaborative in Oakland, Calif. West Oakland has
high levels of air pollution because the freeways
that pass through it are  adjacent to the Port of
Oakland, where  diesel-powered  trucks, trains,
and ships are  constantly loading and unloading.
About 50 stakeholders  are  involved,  including
community groups and residents,  industry,  gov-
ernment, elected officials, and nonprofits focused
on environmental justice and community health.
The collaborative is putting together a diesel re-
duction action plan, expected to be completed by
mid-2006.

Tucson Community Air Toxics Project
EPA awarded  a $60,920 grant to  Arizona's So-
nora Environmental Research  Institute (SERI) for a
community-based air toxics project in the south-
ern  metropolitan  Tucson area and the nearby
communities of Sunflower/Continental and Rillito.
Goals include  identifying localized  air toxics hot
spots and sources,  engaging local residents in
improving  air quality, and  approaching  industry
sectors to achieve voluntary emission reductions.
As a  first  step, SERI partnered with the Rose
Family Wellness Centers to provide environmen-
tal health training to local residents who volunteer
as "promotoras del  barrio"—neighborhood co-

       lean Air

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ordinators. SERI  has completed an inventory of
potential air toxics sources, and is setting up an
air monitoring program to  assess hot spots. Air
sample collection devices, known as "buckets,"
are being distributed to neighborhood volunteers
so that when they notice chemical odors, the air
can be sampled and analyzed.

Arizona Clean Fuels Refinery Permit
The  proposed  Arizona Clean  Fuels  Refinery in
Yuma, Ariz., would be the first new oil refinery built
in the U.S. in more than 30 years. EPA worked in
partnership with the Arizona Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality during their permitting  process
for the refinery,  and the permit was issued in the
record time of nine months. This collaboration led
to major reductions of the planned refinery's emis-
sions:  80 tons  per  year of volatile organic com-
pounds, and 140  tons per year of nitrogen oxides,
both precursors of smog. The refinery still needs
approval from several other agencies before it can
be built.

Air Monitoring on Tribal
Lands, Baja California
Tribal lands are often remote from cities, but many
of the Pacific Southwest's tribes are also affect-
ed by ozone and particulate air pollution. Of the
region's 146 tribes, 48  are located in areas that
fail to  meet the national 8-hour health standard
for ozone, and 28  are in areas that fail  to meet
the health standard for fine particulates (PM26).
To help tribes protect air quality,  EPA supports
tribal air programs:  In 2005, the agency awarded
a total of $3.4  million in Clean Air Act grants to
25 tribes in the region. Much of this funding goes
to purchase, install, and operate  air monitoring
equipment.
EPA is actively  working to  help build the capac-
ity of tribal governments to regulate  sources of
air pollution located within their jurisdictions. Last
year, EPA trained tribal inspectors by conducting
joint EPA-tribal air permit compliance inspections
at 11  facilities on  the Navajo and Gila River Indian
reservations.
The AirNOW Web site, at www.airnow.gov, gives
current air quality conditions everywhere in the
U.S., as well as some locations in other countries.
In 2005,  the site gained links to 13 air monitoring
stations in Baja California that measure air quality
along the U.S.-Mexico Border. Current air quality
conditions in this  area are now accessible on-line
at www.aire.bajacalifornia.gob.mx/eng. Ten years
ago, EPA worked  with the California Air Resources
Board (GARB) and  Mexico's SEMARNAT (federal
environmental agency)  to  install  the monitoring
stations. EPA funded the equipment and installa-
tion; GARB funds their operation.
Two of the most  pro-
ductive  and   popular
members   of  EPA's
Pacific Southwest Air
Division are also "char-
ter  employees" of the
agency,  having served
EPA since  1971:  Jim
Forrest   and  Julie
Rose.  For  most  of
the years  since then,
they've  held  two  key
positions: Jim oversees
input of all air monitor-
ing   data   throughout
the region  into EPA's
national  Air Quality System  (AQS)
database.  Julie assists  in processing
EPA's review and approval of state and
local air  quality plans. These ongoing
tasks are crucial to targeting pollution
control measures  to the areas where
they're most needed.
Jim began working for the federal gov-
ernment as a  computer programmer
for the Navy in Washington, D.C. in the
early  1960s, when  computers were
as  big as school  buses, had whirl-
ing  tapes, and were fed thousands of
keypunch cards to input data. Today,
he works from  a desktop computer to
access air monitoring data for any of
the 50 states.
Nationwide, thousands of air monitor-
ing  stations collect  data around the
clock, in rural as well as urban areas. In
the Pacific Southwest, they are main-
tained by 35 local  air agencies, tribes,
and states. The agencies submit their
data quarterly to the AQS. In 2006, 11
additional  tribes are submitting  their
data for the first time.
For these new users, as well as  peo-
ple  in EPA's regional Air Division and
state or local air agencies, Jim sets up
system accounts,  user IDs and pass-
words, and walks them through the
system.  And as the new data  comes
in, Jim checks it for completeness and
accuracy.  If a number  looks  suspi-
cious, he asks the technical  contact
questions and checks for errors.
Julie has been the  keeper of the Pacif-
ic Southwest states' air quality plans,
technically known as State Implemen-
tation Plans, or "SIPs," since 1972.
These plans detail the pollution con-
trol measures state and local air dis-
tricts  adopt to ensure that their area
meets federal air quality standards, or
is on  track to meet them  by specific
deadlines. Such measures can include
anything from regulating the recipe for
asphalt to requiring  car emission in-
spections—it's up to the  states and
their agencies to choose them. Major
urban areas  generally  have volumi-
nous SIPs, and revise them frequently.
California's South Coast district, which
includes the Los Angeles  area,  has
thousands of pages of  control  mea-
sures  in their SIP. Each SIP revision
goes to EPA for review.
Last year, the Pacific Southwest states
submitted a total of 40 SIP revisions.
Julie  reviews Nevada SIP  revisions
and helps Air Division staff write Fed-
eral Register  notices consistent with
the ever-changing regulatory require-
ments. These  reviews  determine  if
each revision will be effective in meet-
ing federal health standards. Once  a
review is complete, Julie helps draw
up Federal Register Notices proposing
EPA's  approval or disapproval.
Over the years,  Julie has been instru-
mental in streamlining procedures to
expedite  review of SIPs.  Once they
are approved  by EPA, the regulations
in SIPs become federally enforceable.
The work has been essential in achiev-
ing cleaner air throughout the Pacific
Southwest despite huge increases in
population and  motor vehicles  since
1970.
                                                                                                                         7

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 Clean  Water
                         Protecting and Improving
                         Water Quality

                         Ensuring the  safety and  quality of the public's
                         drinking water and watersheds is of utmost im-
                         portance.  Our bays, rivers, streams  and lakes
                         support critical fisheries, habitat, drinking water,
                         recreation, and urban and agricultural environ-
                         ments. Protecting and restoring the waters of the
                         region is a responsibility EPA shares with its state,
                         tribal, territorial and local partners, who implement
                         many federal water programs and share the com-
                         mitment to improve and restore the health of wa-
                         tersheds in the Pacific Southwest.
                         Investments in drinking water and wastewater in-
                         frastructure and watershed restoration form the
                         backbone of  restoring polluted waters through-
                         out the  region. EPA strives to achieve watershed
                         restoration by using key program tools such as
                         Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), water qual-
ity discharge permits, the nonpoint source grant
program, and rigorous enforcement.
The TMDL process provides an assessment and
planning framework for identifying pollutant load
reductions or other actions needed to attain water
quality standards that protect aquatic life, drinking
water and other designated uses. TMDLs address
all significant pollutants that cause or threaten to
cause pollution in a water body that the state has
determined to be impaired.


Focus  on Watersheds

EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office is involved
in  geographic  initiatives—such  as the CALFED
Bay-Delta Program, the U.S.-Mexico Border and
other high priority watersheds such as Klamath
River and  Lake Tahoe.
8   Clean Water

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Klamath River System Struggles with
Toxic Algae, Water Diversions
The Klamath River, which starts in Oregon, travels
for approximately 250 miles through California be-
fore flowing into the Pacific Ocean near Crescent
City (as pictured on  opposite page).  The river is
impounded by six dams—one for water delivery
and five for hydroelectric generation, part of Paci-
fiCorp's Klamath Hydroelectric Project. EPA's two
Pacific coast regional offices have been working
with California, Oregon, and six local tribes to co-
ordinate environmental  programs and projects in
water quality, fisheries and watershed restoration.
During the summer  of 2005, monitoring by the
Karuk tribe detected a  significant and prolonged
bloom of toxic blue-green  algae in two reservoirs
on the Klamath River. Water samples taken from
Copco  and  Iron  Gate Reservoirs—located  in
northern California, near the Oregon  border—re-
vealed high  levels of the toxic blue-green algae
Microcystis  aeruginosa and  its  corresponding
toxin  microcystin.  Due  to concerns about  po-
tential  adverse health  effects, the State  Water
Resources Control Board  and EPA joined tribal,
state and federal agencies in warning  residents
and recreational  users of the river to  use caution
when near such blooms. The nutrient-rich waters
of the Klamath River,  coupled with the warm tem-
peratures and calm waters in the reservoirs, pro-
                      vide conditions conducive to the growth of this
                      species of blue-green algae.
                      Several water bodies in the Klamath  Basin—in-
                      cluding the Klamath River from Link River to the
                      Pacific Ocean, as well as the Lost, Shasta, Scott
                      and Salmon  Rivers—are impaired by pollution.
                      Oregon and California are developing water qual-
                      ity  improvement plans, or Total Maximum  Daily
                      Loads (TMDLs)  for several  parameters, includ-
                      ing nutrients,  pH,  dissolved oxygen,  ammonia
                      toxicity, temperature and bacteria. EPA is work-
                      ing closely with the North Coast Regional Water
                      Board to assist with TMDL development in north-
                      ern California, and with the  Oregon Department
                      of Environmental Quality on  TMDL development
                      in Oregon. EPA  is providing  technical  and finan-
                      cial support and is coordinating with  tribes and
                      federal resource agencies.

                      Protecting the Lake Tahoe Watershed
                      Lake Tahoe,  12 miles  across  and more than a
                      quarter-mile deep, has been gradually losing its
                      famed clarity since the  1960s as a result of nutri-
                      ents entering the lake from air pollution, contami-
                      nated stormwater runoff and  soil erosion. As Lake
                      Tahoe is listed as an impaired  water body under
                      the Clean Water Act (Section  303(d)), EPA is work-
                      ing with the states of California and  Nevada to
                      develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for
                        Impaired Waters in the Pacific Southwest
                              Reported by State, Type of Water Body
 Arizona

      187,067 total acres
    4,980 total miles
     6.5% of perennial lake
        acres impaired
6.9% of perennial stream
    miles impaired
 Nevada
         533,239 total acres
   14,988 total miles
  14.4% of lake and reservoir
       acres impaired
9.8% of perennial stream
    miles impaired
                      California
                                                1,672,684 total acres
                        21.6% of lake and reservoir
                            acres impaired
                                                                   211,513 total miles
10.6% of stream miles impaired
                                       Chart showing the
                                       percentages of total stream
                                       miles and reservoir acres that
                                       these states have reported
                                       as "impaired" based on their
                                       assessments to date. Hawaii
                                       reports 70 streams and 174
                                       coastal stations showing
                                       impairment, but there is
                                       insufficient baseline data
                                       to compute percentages.
                                       Percentages may change
                                       as water bodies are further
                                       assessed.
                                                                                                    Clean Water   9

-------
Lake Tahoe's clarity has been
reduced by sediment and
nutrients entering the lake
from stormwater runoff, soil
erosion and motor vehicle
exhaust.
sediment and nutrients. The TMDLs will identity
how much sediment and  nutrient reductions are
needed in order to restore the lake's clarity.
Fifty-four percent of the Lake Tahoe Basin's resi-
dents and visitors get their drinking water directly
from the  lake. On May 5, 2005, EPA, the Tahoe
Regional  Planning Agency, and the Nevada Tahoe
Water Suppliers Association hosted the first pub-
lic forum  to discuss protection of Lake Tahoe as
a drinking water source. At the meeting, EPA an-
nounced  a $150,000 grant to the Nevada Tahoe
Conservation District to fund additional  staff to
work with local leaders on critical issues such as
runoff pollution,  protecting the lake as a drinking
water source, and forest health.
EPA is working with local researchers and agen-
cies to establish a Tahoe Science Consortium to
advise basin agencies on needed research and
monitoring in the basin. On August 20, 2005,
EPA, along with five other federal and state agen-
cies and six research institutions, signed a Memo-
randum of Understanding to establish the consor-
tium. In 2006, EPA is awarding a $240,000 grant
to the  University of  Nevada, Reno, to support a
director to run the consortium and to develop a
long-term science plan for the basin.
EPA has  provided almost $30 million since 1997
to promote water and air quality efforts in and
around the lake, and has a full-time staff person,
Jane Freeman, working with local officials on lake
issues.

Maui Sustainable Farm Plan
Helps Protect Coral
In 2004,  as part of the  interagency Coral Reef
Task Force,  EPA and the  USDA's Natural  Re-
sources  Conservation Service  helped  develop
Hawaii's Local Action Strategy to Address Land-
based Pollution Threats to Coral Reefs. In 2005,
the Maui Land and Pineapple Co. endorsed the
Strategy and used it as a guide for their plans to
restore and reuse lands formerly  used to grow
pineapple.
The company has agreed to restore hundreds of
acres of high-elevation pineapple tracts to native
forest. Lower cultivated  lands will be converted
to organic farming, sustainable livestock  graz-
ing, a golf course maintained without chemical
pesticides and fertilizers,  and adjacent housing.
This conversion of a former pineapple  plantation
is expected to reduce polluted runoff that flows
into Honolua Bay, and help restore coral reefs and
marine life.

National Estuary Program Protects,
Restores Coastal Habitat
EPA's National Estuary Program (NEP) in  2005
protected  or restored thousands of acres of fish
and wildlife habitat surrounding Morro Bay, Santa
Monica  Bay, and the San  Francisco  Bay-Delta
Estuary.  The EPA-funded San Francisco Estuary
Project's many partners have acquired or restored
more than 10 square miles of wetland wildlife
habitat and six miles of riparian habitat for steel-
head trout and other native fish species, including
1,000 acres at Dutch Slough.
On  the  central California coast, partners in the
EPA-funded Morro Bay NEP acquired 10.3 acres
of coastal dune scrub that had been zoned for
urban development. Instead, the land was added
to the adjacent Montana De Oro  State Park. In
Southern California, the EPA-funded Santa Mon-
ica Bay  Restoration Authority and  its many part-
ners protected 1.2 square miles of estuary habitat,
enhanced more than two square miles of habitat,
and restored 7.4 acres. The project included ac-
quisition of 588 acres of coastal woodland upland
habitat at the SOKA Property in the Malibu Creek
watershed, removal of invasive non-native plants
on 600 acres (nearly a square mile) of Cold Creek
Canyon, and reestablishing aquatic vegetation on
7.4 acres of submerged land.

Safe Drinking Water
Challenges

In 2005, 95% of the population served by public
water systems in the Pacific Southwest received
drinking  water that met all federal  drinking water
standards. Small water systems will be increas-
ingly challenged by new federal drinking water
rules designed to reduce  people's exposure to
disease-causing pathogens and disinfection by-
products.  The  new rules require additional treat-
ment and controls such as filtration, disinfection
and source  protection to  reduce exposure to
10    Clean Water

-------
waterborne pathogens while minimizing the risks
from disinfection byproducts.
In addition, EPA's new standard of 10 parts per
billion (ppb) of arsenic in drinking water took ef-
fect on January 23, 2006, affecting nearly 20%
of the water systems in Arizona, California and
Nevada,  many of them small  systems serving
less than 500 persons. Many of these small sys-
tems, which pump ground water from wells, may
need to install treatment technology for the first
time and  must find ways to pay for the treatment.
Water system operators will need to  be trained.
Customer rate increases may result from  these
additional investments.
EPA is providing training for state, tribal, and water
utility workers, and will collaborate with states and
tribes on compliance assistance and enforcement.
In 2006, EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office
will make available to states $110 million to pro-
vide as loans to help water systems make capital
improvements to meet the new standards. EPA
will also work with states, tribes, and water dis-
tricts to identify alternative funding mechanisms,
including  other federal and state programs.

Reducing Stormwater Impacts

Taking Action Against Polluted Runoff
Polluted runoff can come from  variety of sourc-
es—oil and toxic fluids from industrial sites, auto
wrecking yards,  highways,  and  airports;  sedi-
ment from construction sites; livestock manure;
and trash and pet waste from  urban streets.  In
California, Nevada, Hawaii and Arizona,  the rainy
season brings the most polluted runoff,  as these
contaminants wash off the land  and into nearby
waterways. State and federal  law require the
people responsible for industrial  pollution sources
to prevent such pollution by preparing and imple-
menting a stormwater management plan.

Hawaii Transportation Department
to Reduce Polluted  Runoff
In October 2005, EPA, the Hawaii Department
of Health, and the Hawaii Department of Trans-
portation  (HDOT) reached a settlement regarding
H DOT's violations of Clean Water Act require-
ments to prevent polluted runoff. Under the agree-
ment, HDOT will perform an estimated $50 million
worth of actions over the next five years to reduce
pollution in stormwater runoff from highways, air-
ports, and road construction sites. The settlement
requires HDOT to:
•  Update and improve its existing plan for storm
   sewer management on Oahu highways. This
   includes improving removal of sediment and
   debris from roadsides and storm drain  catch
   basins, reducing roadside erosion, and con-
   trolling other sources of pollution in its storm
   drainage system.
•  Set new procedures for controlling storm-
   water at highway construction projects.  This
   will include improved planning of proposed
   projects, and inspecting the work of HDOT
   contractors.
•  Improve management  of stormwater at air-
   ports. This includes managing operations con-
   ducted by  HDOT as well as an enhanced  pro-
   gram of inspections and enforcement against
   airport tenants who violate stormwater rules.
These improved stormwater management activi-
ties will lead to cleaner streams and coastal wa-
ters, as well as healthier reefs. On Oahu,  H DOT'S
activities will be focused on watersheds upstream
from waters known to be stressed from pollutants
such as sediment, turbidity, or litter.
In addition, under this settlement HDOT will pay
$1  million in  penalties. HDOT will  also spend
about $1  million to establish a management  sys-
tem for the agency's many environmental obliga-
tions  at its highways, airports,  and harbors, as
well as $60,000 to provide training on stormwater
controls to construction contractors throughout
the state.

Soft Drink Bottler Cleans Up Stormwater
In settling EPA's largest-ever water pollution case
against a soft drink bottler, the Seven-Up/RC  Bot-
tling Company of Southern California last  Novem-
ber agreed to install a new wastewater treatment
system at its Buena Park facility and carry out
stormwater control  plans and inspections there
and at another facility in  Vernon, Calif.
A three-year investigation by EPA and the U.S. At-
torney's office found that runoff from the bottling
Tidal wetlands of Morro Bay,
on the Central California
Coast.
                                                                                              Clean Water   11

-------
Wetlands near Limantour
Beach, Point Reyes National
Seashore, Calif.
plants was polluting the Los Angeles and San Ga-
briel Rivers with grease,  petroleum by-products,
and  acid  drink  product  "rejects"—batches of
drinks that had gone bad and could not be used.
In addition,  the Buena Park facility was discharg-
ing  acidic wastewater into the Orange  County
Sanitation District sewer system  and a tributary
of the San  Gabriel River. Acidic wastewater can
corrode sewer pipes and damage sewage treat-
ment facilities.
Under  terms of a settlement  in  federal court,
Seven-Up entered guilty pleas to 12 counts of
violating the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay
a $600,000 criminal penalty and a $428,250 civil
penalty. Half of the company's criminal fine will go
to environmental projects administered by Chan-
nel  Islands  National  Park,  the National Marine
Fisheries Service, Los Angeles County, and the
California Hazardous Materials Association.

A Hard Look at Auto Wrecking Yards
Poorly-managed auto wrecking yards can release
toxic fluids like fuel, oil, anti-freeze, power steering
and brake fluids, and  mercury onto the ground.
When it rains, the toxics either seep downward into
the ground water, or wash off into storm drains,
polluting rivers, creeks, and coastal waters. Last
year, EPA's Pacific Southwest Office stepped up
an ongoing effort to identify junkyard violators and
bring their operations into compliance.
EPA has conducted outreach to the auto disman-
tler community for several years. In particular, EPA
has worked with  the  industry trade association
in California to improve environmental practices.
Compliance assistance videos,  brochures,  and
workshops have been developed in multiple lan-
guages to assist owners  in understanding the re-
quirements. EPA also  brings enforcement cases
against violators: In 2005, the agency fined C&T
Auto Wrecking of Pomona, Calif., $15,000  for
discharging contaminated stormwater into storm
drains which flow to a nearby creek.
Initiating enforcement  only for violating permits,
however, would miss an equally important seg-
ment—those facilities that have evaded permit-
ting altogether. In 2005, EPA identified 63 North-
ern California auto wrecking facilities that  were
suspected  of operating without  a stormwater
discharge permit and sent them letters identifying
their responsibilities for preventing pollution. After
further investigation,  EPA  initiated enforcement
actions against 11 facilities. Thirteen of the 63 fa-
cilities have since applied for stormwater permits
(which require a plan to  prevent polluted runoff),
11 have shut down or were sold to new owners,
12 were exempt from permit requirements, and
seven were found to have obtained permits.

Wetlands

Wetlands are essential for flood control, filtering
pollutants, and fish and wildlife habitat, and there-
fore the federal Clean Water Act prohibits  filling
most wetlands without a permit. These permits,
issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, can
only be granted when there is no "practicable al-
ternative" to filling the wetland.

Saving "Aquatic  Resources of
National Importance"
When wetlands that qualify as "Aquatic Resourc-
es of  National Importance" are threatened by a
proposed  development,  EPA can initiate a dis-
pute resolution process with the Corps and the
developer. One matter resolved last year involved
the controversial Montanera Development in the
Gateway Valley of Contra Costa County,  Calif.
Community groups  had opposed the develop-
ment for 17 years. The developer agreed to elimi-
nate a planned golf course, reduce the graded
area by  119 acres, save two additional acres of
wetlands and more than a mile of tributaries to
Brookside Creek, plant 12 acres of riparian vege-
tation  along creeks, and set aside 1,354 acres for
permanent preservation by the East Bay Region
Parks District and  the East Bay Municipal Utilities
District.

Enforcement Cases Protect
Streams and Wetlands
In last year's biggest wetlands enforcement case
in the Pacific Southwest, Adam  Brothers Farming,
Inc. agreed to preserve  approximately 23 acres
of wetlands, creeks, and riparian habitat  on their
property in northern Santa Barbara County and
perform other conservation projects as part of
a $1.15 million settlement. EPA alleged that the
12    Clean Water

-------
company unlawfully filled 70 acres of federally-
regulated wetlands in  the  late 1990s, including
portions of Orcutt Creek.
The settlement will allow the Land Conservancy of
San Luis Obispo County to purchase and perma-
nently protect two key wetlands parcels: 12 acres
at the Black Canyon Mouth, adjacent to the Gua-
dalupe-Nipomo Dunes wetland complex; and the
Dana Adobe Wetland  Complex, a 40-acre par-
cel that includes nearly three-quarters of a mile
of Nipomo Creek. These parcels shelter aquatic
resources similar to the wetlands damaged by
Adam Bros, along Orcutt Creek.
In another case,  KB Home of Nevada Inc.  bull-
dozed a 160-acre site in southwestern Las Vegas,
Nev.,  including a tributary to Las Vegas Wash,
without a permit required by the Clean Water Act.
After learning of the violations, KB Home agreed
to fund $193,000 to the Bureau of Land Man-
agement for work on riparian restoration projects
in the  Red Rock Canyon National Conservation
Area.  Projects included fencing  Calico and Ash
Springs,  expanding the  riparian enclosure  at
Wheeler  Camp  Spring and  removing tamarisk
and other  invasive weeds at selected springs.
The developer also paid an $80,000 penalty. The
restoration  projects are ongoing.
  In 2004 and 2005, the threatened Delta smelt de-
  clined almost to extinction, and numbers of other
  fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
  also dropped alarmingly. Even more worrisome,
  the fish were disappearing despite above-average
  river flows, which have previously been associated
  with healthy fish populations. EPA  ecologist and
  fish expert Dr. Bruce Herbold has  been work-
  ing with  scientists,  water  agencies,  and  other
  stakeholders since 1989 to solve these and other
  Bay-Delta fish  mysteries, so that
  the Delta's complicated water is-
  sues can be resolved in ways that
  protect the fisheries, including the
  popular salmon and striped bass.
  Since 2000,  Herbold has  been
  working with  the  U.S. Fish and
  Wildlife Service, the state Depart-
  ment of Fish and Game, and San
  Joaquin River water users on the
  Vernalis  Adaptive   Management
  Program, which has been testing
  the survival rate of juvenile salmon
  in the Delta under differing regimes
  of  river flow and water diversions.
  The experiments  showed  the salmon  needed
  more freshwater flow in April and May, so the pro-
  gram secured state and federal funding of $4 mil-
  lion a year for  water efficiency improvements by
  San Joaquin River water rights holders, to free up
  more water for  April-May river flows  without harm-
  ing agriculture.
  In  the 1980s,  such  cooperation between water
  user groups, water agencies, and fish and wildlife
  agencies was unheard of. The state's water poli-
  tics were roiled in seemingly endless strife known
  as the "Water Wars."
Herbold's first task at EPA was to develop a water
quality standard (as required by the federal Clean
Water Act) that would protect the Delta's beneficial
uses,  including  fish habitat and fishing.  Specifi-
cally, Herbold and EPA colleague Susan Hatfield
put together the scientific backing for a proposed
salinity standard for the Delta.

EPA's proposed salinity standard satisfied all sides
in  the  "Water Wars"—water  users  (agriculture
and cities), dam and water supply agencies, fish
              and wildlife agencies,  sport and
              commercial fishers, and  environ-
              mentalists.  Since  EPA adopted
              the salinity standard in 1994, the
              formerly contentious  stakehold-
              ers have been cooperating, for the
              most part, on Delta water issues,
              through the continuing CALFED
              Bay-Delta Program.
              "It's a completely different environ-
              ment than 15 years ago," Bruce
              says. "CALFED changed  the way
              state and federal water agencies
              [which control the dams  and aq-
              ueducts] do business."
"There  are fewer surprises, because  fish biolo-
gists have a chance to comment on proposed
actions by water agencies. Impacts are identified
early, and efforts are made to solve problems," he
says. Bruce enjoys working in this environment,
and he's built a reputation as a  bridge between
the engineers,  the scientists, and  the policymak-
ers. By working to understand the concerns  of all
stakeholders, he's helping address the Delta's cur-
rent fisheries crisis in a cooperative manner.


ner.
                                                                                                   Clean Water   13

-------
                          Super-fund Turns 25
                          in California

                          EPA marked the 25th anniversary of the Super-
                          fund law in December 2005. Some of Superfund's
                          biggest challenges, and biggest successes, have
                          been at California's 103 Superfund cleanup sites.
                          The law was created in December 1980 to ad-
                          dress the thousands of abandoned, uncontrolled
                          hazardous waste sites across the nation that were
                          contaminating our land and soil. Since then, EPA
                          has cleaned up—or overseen cleanup of—hun-
                          dreds of sites nationwide, including the infamous
                          Love Canal in New York.
                          In California,  many of  the industries that have
                          driven the state's economy—all the way back to
                          the Gold Rush—have also left the biggest clean-
                          up challenges. Superfund sites in the  state range
                          from abandoned mines, to former semiconductor
                          manufacturing plants in Silicon Valley, to closed
                          military  bases.   EPA  has  removed  immediate
                          health threats at all 103 sites, and currently has
                          soil or groundwater cleanup systems in place or
                          planned for the remaining contamination.  In Sili-
con Valley, for example, soil has been cleaned up
at all of the 26 sites, but groundwater cleanup will
continue for years in the future.
At the Iron Mountain Mine near Redding (pictured
above), EPA has reduced the amount of heavy
metals and acid  mine drainage flowing into the
Sacramento River by almost one ton a day—near-
ly a 95% reduction (see graph, facing page).
In California, EPA has maintained an exceptionally
high success rate in making polluters pay for the
cleanup instead of having  to dip  into the federal
"Superfund." Responsible parties are funding the
cleanups  at nearly 80% of California's Superfund
sites. And in cases where the agency has used
federal funding  to get cleanups  started  rather
than waiting for lawsuits to be settled, EPA has
recouped most of the money spent. In 2005  EPA
reached settlements with  polluters that secured
more than $52 million for the San Gabriel Valley
groundwater cleanup sites.
14   Clean Land

-------
In  those cases where the "little guy" may get
caught in the liability net, EPA has negotiated hun-
dreds of "de minimis" and "de micromis"  settle-
ments to small businesses over the past decade
in order to let small waste contributors cash out
early rather than get entangled in future lawsuits.
These smaller settlements have helped continue
cleanups at sites like the Casmalia site in central
California.
With cleanups well underway,  EPA has focused
on redevelopment for many properties that were
once seemingly written off for good. EPA is work-
ing closely with the Department of Defense and
local communities to free  up  portions of former
military bases that, while listed as Superfund sites,
have plenty of clean  property ready for  reuse.
EPAs Brownfields  Program has already helped
revitalize cities across the  Pacific Southwest, in-
cluding Emeryville, West Hollywood and Stockton
in California.
Many challenges remain, but EPA's successes in
eliminating health risks, getting polluters to pay for
their damages,  and fostering redevelopment  of
sites once they're clean, bode well for the future.

Progress at Superfund Sites
In  2005, EPAs Pacific Southwest Region made
major advances in the cleanup of many sites on
the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).
•  EPA has  begun  construction  on soil  and
   groundwater cleanup at the Pemaco Super-
   fund site in the city of Maywood, in Southern
   California.  A clean soil cover will be placed
   over the entire  site, and landscaping  plants
   will be used to stabilize the soil. Contaminated
   groundwater and  soil vapor will be extracted
   using vacuum pumps.  The groundwater will
   be treated with carbon units, and the soil va-
   por will  be treated with a flameless thermal
   oxidation system. The  Pemaco  Site is a for-
   mer  chemical blending  facility with soil  and
   groundwater contamination from  volatile  or-
   ganic compounds, such as tetrachloroethene,
   a cleaning solvent, and vinyl chloride. The site
   is currently being developed into a city park.
•  EPA completed negotiations with Del  Monte
   on the cleanup of the only private NPL site in
   Hawaii. The agreement with Del Monte Fresh
   Produce requires the company to clean up soil
   and  groundwater contamination at  the  Del
   Monte Superfund site in Central Oahu.  Under
   the  terms of the consent decree, Del  Monte
   Fresh Produce will carry out the EPA-approved
   cleanup plan, estimated to cost approximately
   $13  million by the time it is finished in 2014.
   Cleanup of shallow groundwater  at the site
   has started by using Koa  Haole plants,  in a
   process called  phytoremediation. The treat-
Average Total
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   ment plant for the deep aquifer is operational,
   and the deep groundwater in the area will be
   pumped and cleaned using air stripping  and
   carbon filters. The site is part of a 3,000- acre
   pineapple  plantation in central Oahu that  is
   leased by Del Monte Fresh Produce.
•  EPA began the cleanup of contamination re-
   sulting from mining more than half a century
   ago at the Lava Cap Mine Superfund site in
   Nevada County, northeast of Sacramento, Ca-
   lif. The cleanup will prevent contamination of
   water and soil from arsenic and other heavy
   metals, which are byproducts of historic min-
   ing operations. The plan includes cleaning up
   mine tailings and waste rock, collecting  and
   treating contaminated  water from the mine,
   and diverting the flow of clean surface water
   around contaminated tailings.
•  Under EPA's oversight,  a group of potentially
   responsible parties has begun construction on
   a $10 million groundwater cleanup project at
   the former Omega Chemical Corp. solvent
   and  refrigerant recycling  facility  in  Whittier,
   Calif. The system, which will extract and treat
   groundwater from five wells southwest of the
   property,  is designed to contain the highest
   concentrations of contaminants in the under-
   ground "plume" of groundwater contaminated
   with volatile organic compounds released at
   Omega between 1976 and  1991.
•  EPA took  the  lead at  the  Anaconda Mine
   site near Yerington,  Nev., and ordered Atlantic
   Richfield Co. to begin immediate cleanup work.
   EPA's order outlined initial plans for addressing
   the six-square-mile mine site, including air and
   water monitoring and data collection, estab-
   lishing a site security program, monitoring air
   for radiation, and tracking down any radiologi-
Discharges of toxic dissolved
copper from the Iron Mountain
Mine Superfund site into
the Sacramento River have
dramatically decreased due to
construction of two dams and
a water treatment plant.
                                                                                                 Clean  Land   15

-------
               Groundwater Treated at Baldwin Park,
                         San Gabriel Valley
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Baldwin Park area of the San
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in California is now providing
drinking water to more
than 35,000 businesses and
residents.
   cal contamination at the site. The former mine,
   about 55 miles southeast of Reno, produced
   copper for the Anaconda Company for about
   30 years until 1978. Mining  activities resulted
   in contamination of the soil  and groundwater
   with  several metals and  radioactive  materi-
   als. EPA is providing funding to the Yerington
   Paiute Tribe to assess potential environmental
   impacts on tribal lands.
•  There are four  major  groundwater pollution
   sites in the San Gabriel Valley, near Los An-
   geles, and treatment plants have been built to
   pump out and treat the water. These facilities
   will have to be  operated for years to come.
   In 2005, several long term negotiations were
   successful in securing the cooperation of re-
   calcitrant parties who had contributed to the
   pollution. For the Baldwin Park site, EPA final-
   ized seven different consent decrees with 16
   separate parties who had not paid their share
   of past costs, committing $16 million to this
   project.  At the Puente Valley site, a consent
   decree with Carrier Corp. commits $26.5 mil-
   lion for the work there, including a penalty for
   noncompliance with an earlier EPA order.

Emergency Response in Action

Complementing EPAs long-term cleanup program
is an emergency response unit that mobilizes on
a moment's notice to address everything from oil
spills to tire fires to national emergencies like Hur-
ricane Katrina.

Oil Spill Cleanups, Prevention:
A Record-Breaking Year
It was a record-breaking year in the Pacific South-
west for compliance and enforcement actions to
prevent oil spills.  EPA inspected 90 oil or fuel stor-
age facilities in the region in 2005, requiring op-
erators at 18 of them to  prove their readiness for
oil spills by conducting unannounced drills—25%
more inspections and 33% more  drills than the
previous year. The inspections and drills resulted
in eight  EPA compliance orders and  24  penalty
complaints. These enforcement activities are cru-
cial to reducing the environmental damage caused
each year by oil and fuel  spills.
When major spills do  occur,  EPA cooperates
with  other federal, state, and local agencies on
cleanup efforts. In March 2005, a  landslide on a
steep slope overlooking  Pyramid Lake in the An-
geles National Forest, visible from I-5 north of Los
Floating booms were deployed
to collect oil from a pipeline
rupture at Pyramid Lake, Los
Angeles County, Calif.
16    Clean Land

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Angeles, broke a 14" crude oil pipeline owned by
Pacific Energy Partners. The resulting spill, esti-
mated at 126,000 gallons, quickly flowed downhill
and into the lake, a drinking water reservoir for the
city of Los Angeles.
EPA conducted the response efforts in a Unified
Command with Pacific  Energy,  the  U.S. Forest
Service,  and  the  state Department of Fish  and
Game. They  immediately placed floating booms
across the affected arm of the lake to stop the
oil from  spreading,  and then deployed equip-
ment to  vacuum up the floating oil.  Still, it took
several months to  recover more  oil from the  lake
and shoreline. Restoration work  continued in the
landslide area through the end of the year.
In February 2005,  EPA responded to an oil  dis-
charge  from  the  Union Pacific  Railroad's  Ozol
Service  Track Area along the Suisun Bay shore-
line at Martinez, about 40 miles northeast of San
Francisco. The area is used for maintenance and
re-fueling. The oil  discharge originated from oil-
stained soil and pads surrounding the track.  The
oil entered an adjacent storm drain and drained
into Suisun Bay. In June, EPA ordered Union Pa-
cific to improve oil spill prevention measures at the
facility.

Naturally-Occurring Asbestos
in California
In October 2004,  at Oak  Ridge High School  in
El Dorado Hills, east of Sacramento, Calif., news
cameras recorded a bizarre sight: grown men  in
protective "moon suits," their faces covered by
respirators, playing baseball. On the dry dirt, they
kicked up dust running the bases, as part of an
assessment of naturally-occurring asbestos haz-
ards.  Each of them carried asbestos air-sampling
devices,  and the  "game"  helped them collect
more than 400 air samples and 180 soil samples.
Several  schools in  the area are built on rock that
contains asbestos, and it can be kicked up into
the air as dust.
Analyzing the samples was technically challeng-
ing, and took several months. In May 2005, an
EPA team presented the results  of the investiga-
tion at a meeting attended by 1,000 people, most
of them worried about the asbestos health haz-
ards faced by their children. There were elevated
asbestos levels at three schools.  EPA has worked
with the schools, and state and local agencies to
prevent  asbestos-laden  dust from being gener-
ated by  normal school activities.
Using the  procedures developed at  El Dorado
Hills,  EPA sampled asbestos-laden  dust at the
Clear Creek Management Area, a rugged 30,000
acre tract in San Benito and Fresno Counties, Ca-
lif., where off-road vehicle recreation  is allowed by
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The area
EPA Supports
China's
Environmental
Efforts
In  2005, EPA's Pacific
Southwest     Regional
Office  began  offering
technical    assistance
to  China on hazardous
waste cleanup and the
formation  of  regional
environmental offices in
China.  EPA's point per-
son in this effort is Lida
Tan,  a native of  China
who left the country with
her parents  at age  17
in  1983. Tan, a project
manager in the regional
Superfund Division, has
assembled a team of EPA specialists
with widely varying experience who are
on call to meet with the Chinese del-
egations and share their expertise.
EPA's China Initiative  is  a high-level
collaboration between EPA and  the
Chinese government. EPA and its Chi-
nese counterpart, the China State En-
vironmental Protection Agency (SEPA),
have negotiated  a Memorandum  of
Understanding  pledging to cooperate
in a number of areas. Tan was instru-
mental in negotiating the portion of the
document dealing with hazardous and
solid waste.
China  faces enormous  environmen-
tal challenges.  Rapid industrialization
has raised standards of living, but de-
graded air and water. The population
is about four times that of the U.S. Two
recent  chemical spills have poisoned
long  stretches  of  major  rivers,  mak-
ing international  headlines.  But  the
Chinese government has  indicated it
is serious about enforcing the nation's
environmental laws, and SEPA wants
to take advantage of EPA's experience.
Some observers say China is at a turn-
ing point similar to the U.S. in the late
1960s, when a  consensus was emerg-
ing that air and  water pollution  had
reached intolerable levels.
In  November 2005, Superfund  Divi-
sion Director Keith Takata and Tan par-
ticipated in EPA and SEPA's first Joint
EPA emergency response specialist Harry Allen
demonstrates monitoring technology to a delegation
from China's State Environmental Protection Agency as
EPA's Lida Tan (center) translates.
            Environmental  Cooperation  Commit-
            tee Meeting, at EPA  Headquarters in
            Washington, D.C.  Later that  month,
            in San Francisco, EPA hosted a 14-
            member delegation involved in  China's
            PCB demonstration cleanup  project.
            The  delegation came to learn more
            about PCB cleanup techniques. As a
            signatory to the Stockholm Conven-
            tion, China has made a commitment
            to safely dispose of PCBs.
            In December, EPA's China Team host-
            ed a SEPA delegation touring EPA's
            regional offices to study how  they're
            structured.  Three of  the four SEPA
            participants are or soon will be Direc-
            tor Generals for three of SEPA's five
            regional offices — counterparts to our
            regional administrators. And  in Febru-
            ary 2006, the team hosted a 20-mem-
            ber delegation from  many provinces
            and  cities, who came to learn about
            EPA's emergency response functions.
            As this publication goes to press, EPA
            Administrator Steve Johnson is plan-
            ning a visit to China in  April 2006,
            where Johnson and his SEPA counter-
            part  are expected to sign the Hazard-
            ous and Solid Waste Annex and Strat-
            egy document, making China officially
            EPA's newest partner  in environmental
            protection.
                                                                                                   Clean Land    17

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Riders with monitoring
equipment and protective gear
prepare to kick up asbestos-
laden dust in the Clear Creek
Management Area to measure
what ATV enthusiasts might be
breathing into their lungs.
has thin soil composed mostly of the underlying
serpentine rock—one of the largest naturally-oc-
curring asbestos deposits in the world. As in El
Dorado Hills, EPA contractors wore  protective
"moon suits" as they simulated recreational ac-
tivities while gathering dust samples. They drove
off-road vehicles on unpaved roads and trails,
drove SUVs, hiked, and  pitched tents. The results
showed unhealthy asbestos levels in the air. EPA
worked with the BLM to close the area to off-road
vehicles during the annual dry  season, when the
soils create dust more easily.
The area is part of the Atlas Asbestos Mine Su-
perfund site. Even though the mine site itself has
been cleaned up and no longer poses a risk to
human health, risks posed by naturally-occurring
asbestos outside the mine site  boundary must be
assessed before the site can  be removed from
EPA's National Priorities  List.

Brownfields: The Road
to Revitalization

EPA's Brownfields Program works to assess, clean
up and redevelop potentially contaminated lands.
Last year, EPA  issued $6.35 million in grants to
26 entities in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii,
and tribal lands to help local governments start
these projects.
On October 11,  2005, San  Francisco  Mayor
Gavin Newsom and former mayor Willie  Brown
stood before a crowd of jazz musicians and sup-
porters as they  broke ground for a new 12-story
development in  the city's Fillmore District that will
house a 420-seat jazz club, a  jazz heritage cen-
ter, 80 residential units, restaurants, and a parking
garage. But before construction could  begin, the
first step was to break up an asphalt parking lot
on the site, and excavate and remove petroleum-
contaminated soil. EPA helped clear this obstacle
with a $200,000 petroleum Brownfields grant to
the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.
The Fillmore  District was once known  as "the
Harlem of the West," since it was a center of Af-
rican-American culture in the 1940s and  1950s,
when  black musicians were not allowed to play in
whites-only downtown nightclubs.  Instead, they
played in black-owned clubs in the old Victorian
homes  of the Fillmore.  But the neighborhood
withered in the mid-1960s when redevelopment
condemned block after block to demolition, and
left many lots vacant for decades. A smaller Afri-
can-American community is still there, and turned
out in force for the groundbreaking. City officials
and residents are hoping the  new development
will re-energize the neighborhood. Construction is
now underway.
Last year,  EPA officials joined local governments
to celebrate the completion of EPA-funded petro-
leum  Brownfields cleanups in  Culver City, Calif.,
and Tucson, Ariz.
In Southern California, Culver City opened a new
off-leash dog park on a former petroleum-contam-
inated oil well site. A $250,000 EPA Brownfields
grant  made the assessment and  cleanup  pos-
sible.  A number of canine attendees participated
in the  ribbon cutting ceremony.
In December  2005,  EPA's  Pacific  Southwest
Waste Division Director Jeff Scott joined the may-
or of  Tucson  in a Brownfields event celebrating
the completion of an underground storage tank
cleanup that made way for a new high school.
Tucson Mayor Robert Walkup shut off the soil va-
por extraction unit, officially ending the site clean-
up activity. The site, located in Tucson's Historic
Warehouse Arts District, will  be redeveloped into
an alternative  high school with an arts focus.
For more on Brownfields in the Pacific Southwest,
see 'EPA People' on the opposite page.

Safely  Managing
Hazardous Waste

EPA's  hazardous waste program, organized under
the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act (RCRA), works to protect human health and
the environment  by reducing  the  generation of
hazardous waste, and by ensuring  that its trans-
port, storage, and disposal is done safely. Under
RCRA,  hazardous waste is tracked  and docu-
mented "from cradle to grave" so that waste gen-
erators and handlers can be held accountable.
Last year, EPA's Pacific Southwest Office  took
24 administrative  penalty actions  against facili-
18   Clean Land

-------
ties whose mishandling of hazardous waste was
endangering their workers and surrounding com-
munities. These waste handlers were required to
clean up hazardous waste releases, ship hazard-
ous waste to permitted facilities, close or replace
leaking containers, properly train their personnel,
develop plans for emergencies, and pay a total of
$378,220 in fines.
Two of the facilities also completed environmen-
tal projects as part of their legal settlements. One
purchased life-saving  equipment  for  the local
fire department and air and weather monitoring
equipment for a local environmental agency. The
second conducted a series of free seminars on
waste  management for facilities that generate
hazardous waste  (auto shops, welding shops,
photo shops, etc.).
    EPA  People
                      •
   EPA's Brownfields Program grew out of an unintended effect of
   the 1980 Superfund law: At many former commercial sites, land-
   owners were eager to sell to developers, but potential buyers
   did not want to get stuck with cleanup costs if the site turned
   out to be contaminated with toxics. So landowners couldn't sell,
   properties  stayed vacant,  and developers built on "greenfields"
   outside cities, worsening urban sprawl.
                            According to EPA Pacific Southwest
                            attorney Bill Keener, there were lots
                            of blighted sites like this in California
                            and Arizona—languishing  because
                            of the stigma of  contamination. In
                            the early  1990s,  Bill  joined an EPA
                            national workgroup seeking ways to
                            resolve liability  issues and remove
                            barriers to redevelopment.  Keener
                            and the workgroup came up with a
                            policy and model document called a
                            Prospective Purchaser Agreement,
                            which requires  new  property own-
                            ers to make upfront contributions to
   cleanup costs,  but frees them from additional  liability.
   Since Bill concluded the region's first such agreement, he became
   the "go-to  guy" for creative legal solutions in the Brownfields are-
   na. Bill joined EPA as a Superfund attorney in 1987, after leav-
   ing his private practice. For several years before coming to EPA
   he volunteered as director of the Marine Mammal Center in the
   Marin Headlands, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the res-
   cue of sick or injured seals and sea lions.
   Over  the  past decade,  accord-
   ing  to  EPA's  Pacific Southwest
   Brownfields Team Leader  Carolyn
   Douglas,  the team's  nine employ-
   ees  have   issued  and managed
   149  assessment, cleanup and job
   training grants  to cities, tribes, and
   states throughout the region.  Re-
   volving loan fund grants to Arizona,
   Nevada, and Hawaii  have helped
   these states establish  their  own
   Brownfields programs.
   Carolyn has been with EPA's Super-
   fund  Division in the Pacific Southwest since 1989, when she left
   the Naval Supply Center Oakland, where she worked on environ-
   mental compliance and small cleanups. At EPA, she worked on
               Superfund site assessments, tribal grants, and helped develop
               Nevada's State Superfund  Program,  before  she was named
               Brownfields Team Leader in 2005.
               The team's work involves outreach events for potential applicants,
               reviewing 60-70 applications  per  year, issuing 20-30 grants,
               working with the grantees to make sure the money is spent ef-
               fectively, and leveraging funds from other sources to complete
               cleanups. When the job is done, state or tribal Brownfields pro-
               grams certify that sites have  met cleanup standards and are
               ready for redevelopment.
               Carolyn cites a West Hollywood Brownfields site as  one of the
               program's most recent successes. A decade ago, it was a corner
               frequented by drug dealers and addicts. Today, it's the site of a
               Target store and several other stores, whose sales tax revenues
               help the city provide vital public services.
               Bobbie Kahan  has  been  a
               member  of the  Brownfields
               Team  since  its  inception  in
               1995.  Bobbie has  managed
               grants that  spurred redevel-
               opment of sites slated for af-
               fordable senior housing in San
               Francisco's  Bayview Hunters
               Point neighborhood, a  com-
               mercial/residential   develop-
               ment in Los Angeles, a beach-
               front  trail  in  Ventura,  and  a
               health clinic in East Palo Alto.
               In her work, Bobbie also encourages eligible organizations to ap-
               ply for Brownfields Job Training grants. The grants are intended
               to ensure that residents of low-income and minority  communi-
               ties around Brownfields sites get some of the jobs associated
               with cleanup and redevelopment. Unemployed people learn skills
               needed to work on hazardous waste cleanups, lead and asbes-
               tos removal, and construction. With one two-year grant, the City
               of Los Angeles in partnership with the Los Angeles Conservation
               Corps trained 48 people and placed all of them in jobs. In San
               Francisco, Young Community Developers trained 50 people and
               placed 48 of them in jobs.
               After 31 years in EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office, Bobbie
               is planning to retire in June 2006. She's very proud that her son,
               Howard Kahan, "will carry on my environmental ethic"—he was
               recently hired to work for the region's  Water Division, at EPA's
               Southern California Field Office.
                                                                                                    Clean  Land    19

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                           Healthy Approaches
                           to Agriculture

                           Thousands of square miles of agricultural land in
                           fhe Pacific Soufhwesf provide food and fiber for
                           fhe nation and for worldwide export. Good stew-
                           ardship of working agricultural lands can benefit
                           the environment by preventing polluted runoff to
                           rivers and streams and providing seasonal wildlife
                           habitat. EPA supports the industry's stewardship
                           efforts by fostering  collaborative,  innovative ac-
                           tions that show the way to a sustainable future.
                           EPA also works with its state and local regulatory
                           partners to ensure that agricultural practices don't
                           harm the environment or threaten public health.
                           EPA provides compliance assistance to educate
                           members of  the agricultural community about
                           their obligations under federal environmental reg-
                           ulations and cost-effective ways to comply.
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture
In  the  context of the University  of California's
Sustainable Agriculture Research  Program (UC-
SAREP), EPA has been working with some of the
most forward-thinking, innovative farmers, com-
modity groups, food  processors,  and  university
researchers to field-test crop-specific sustainable
farming practices. In 2005,  EPA issued $1.6 mil-
lion in grants for this purpose to California farm
groups, leveraging  $2.67 million in grants from
the state government, other federal agencies and
foundations. California farmers funded by these
grants have achieved impressive results.
From  2002  to 2005, growers associated with
the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission
reduced acreage treated with the high-risk pes-
ticides propargite and simazine by 55% and 72%
20   Communities and Ecosystems

-------
respectively, through a new self-assessment work-
book that promotes sustainable practices. During
a similar period, growers on the Central Coast
Vineyard Team decreased use of herbicides and
nearly eliminated the use of chlorpyrophos and
diazinon through  Integrated Pest Management
(IPM)—the  use of non-toxic or  less-toxic  pest
management strategies. Similarly, the Sonoma
County  Grape Growers Association reduced
their use of nine high-risk pesticides by 32% and
their acreage treated by 31 % between 1999 and
2003, through a grower-to-grower IPM education
program. These methods show the potential for
similar results throughout California's 826 square
miles of winegrape vineyards.
EPA grants totaling $519,000 over the past de-
cade have funded similar efforts by California al-
mond growers, who produce three-quarters of
the world's almonds from nearly 900 square miles
of orchards. Numbers are  not yet  available for
results after 2000, but from 1991 to  2000, use
of highly toxic organophosphate pesticides on al-
mond trees during their dormant season dropped
by 77%.
For more on sustainable agriculture efforts, see
'EPA People' on page 25.

Assessing Dairy Manure Technologies
Dairy manure  can pollute  ground and surface
waters with nutrients,  salts,  bacteria, and or-
ganic matter; it can also pollute air with ammo-
nia,  methane, odors, and smog-forming volatile
organic compounds. This is  of particular concern
in California's San Joaquin Valley, home to more
than a million dairy cows.
In 2005, EPA led the Dairy Manure Collaborative,
a diverse group of dairy industry stakeholders,
in seeking solutions to the manure management
problems in the valley.  A first step was to find
combinations of technologies that could address
dairy manure's air, water and solid waste impacts.
The  group  reviewed more than 70 technologies
and  issued  a report assessing the environmental
and economic performance of the first 44 of them
in  late 2005. This year,  these technologies are
being tested in dairy manure management pilot
projects.

Protecting Endangered Species
With support from EPA, California has taken a gi-
ant step forward in assuring that agriculture will
not jeopardize endangered species. The California
Endangered Species Project has  created a Web
site that provides California  pesticide  users with
use recommendations that protect listed species.
The  site allows pesticide users to specify which
pesticide they  plan to use and where, to deter-
mine if there are local use restrictions designed
to protect any endangered fish and wildlife. It also
includes  the life  histories of listed species, and
how to identify them.  With  this information,  the
California pesticide user can be assured that the
chemicals that they are  using are not going to
harm endangered species. To see how it works,
go   to   www. calpip. cdpr. ca. gov/cfdocs/calpip/
prod/main, cfm

Protecting Consumers
Shipments of produce in the U.S. are subject to
inspection to determine if they have unsafe or il-
legal pesticide residues. On  the Pacific islands of
Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, and Yap,
however,  the local governments had  no trained
inspectors.  EPA  arranged for a Hawaii Depart-
ment of Agriculture inspector to do joint inspec-
tions with local authorities  on these  remote is-
lands to address the most egregious violations of
pesticide laws and also to build their capacity to
conduct  inspections, take residue samples, and
obtain lab analyses.
On American Samoa, the lab results showed resi-
dues of illegal pesticides on food crops, indicating
that  farmers were using  pesticides not intended
for food crops, or using too  much. The American
Samoa EPA used its enforcement authorities to
stop several farms from selling their pesticide-
contaminated produce. The agency has warned
farmers throughout the territory that  they must
verify that the pesticides  used on vegetables are
approved, and are used in proper amounts.

U.S.-Mexico Border

Environmental and public health needs in the U.S.-
Mexico border area include drinking  water and
wastewater services, waste  disposal, and air pol-
lution reductions. EPA has been actively engaged
with  agencies  in  Mexico, as  well as  with state
and  local partners, in significantly improving  en-
vironmental conditions. These partnerships have
                                               This covered lagoon is part of
                                               a new biogas energy system
                                               funded by the California
                                               Energy Commission at Joseph
                                               Gallo Farms, a dairy in Atwater,
                                               Calif. The decomposing
                                               manure creates biogas—
                                               primarily methane and carbon
                                               dioxide—which is piped to
                                               generators and burned to
                                               generate 700 kW of electricity.
                                                                       Communities and Ecosystems   21

-------
Monitoring system to measure
air pollution from diesel trucks
crossing the U.S.-Mexico
border.
                           resulted  in investments in water infrastructure,
                           waste disposal and diesel emissions reductions,
                           leading to substantial achievements in 2005.

                           Investing in Water Infrastructure
                           EPA's border water infrastructure program works
                           to provide affordable drinking  and wastewater
                           services  to border communities in  the U.S. and
                           Mexico. The program and its binational partners
                           have so  far certified 54 projects at a total cost
                           of $1.5 billion, with a third of the funding com-
                           ing from  EPA's Border Environment Infrastructure
                           Fund.  Last year's prioritization process identified
                           135  eligible projects representing $900 million in
                           need; 26 of these projects were selected for de-
                           velopment and construction funding.
                           The  three major border sister-city pairs continue
                           to be a high priority for EPA's Pacific Southwest
                           Region:
                           •  In Tijuana/San  Diego,  four  new projects  to
                              provide water  and wastewater services  to
                              colonias in the Tijuana area were selected  to
                              receive assistance. Work  also continued on
                              the $42 million Tijuana Sana project, which
                              focuses on eliminating sewage overflows and
                              leaks in the Tijuana River  watershed and will
                              benefit more than 1.3 million people.
                           •  In  Mexicali/Calexico,  considerable progress
                              was made on the $30  million Mexicali II proj-
                              ect, which will collect and convey up to 20 mil-
                              lion gallons of raw sewage a day away from
                              the New River to be treated  at a new waste-
                              water treatment plant in Las Arenitas. Another
                              wastewater collection and conveyance proj-
                              ect, Mexicali IV, was selected to receive devel-
                              opment and construction assistance.
                           •  In Nogales, Sonora/ Nogales, Ariz., three BEIF
                              grant agreements  were signed  in December
                              2005, awarding over $70  million for projects
                              valued at more than $100  million. These proj-
                              ects will upgrade  the water distribution and
                              wastewater collection  systems  in Nogales,
                              Sonora, and  the wastewater treatment plant
                              just north of Nogales, Ariz. They also will great-
   ly help to reduce fugitive wastewater flowing
   across the border and contamination levels in
   the Nogales Wash and Santa Cruz River.

Supporting Border Tribes
Last year, EPA and the Pala Band of Mission Indi-
ans used $36,000 of EPA funding to assess drink-
ing water quality in  seven  indigenous communi-
ties in Baja California, just across the U.S.-Mexico
Border. The results showed contamination with E.
coli and coliform bacteria at levels unsafe not only
for drinking but for swimming. As a result of the
findings, EPA provided $66,000 and the Mexican
government spent $900,000 to build safe drinking
water supply systems and evaluate ground water
as a source for these communities.
Between 1996 and 2003, EPA's Tribal Border
Infrastructure Program provided $28.4 million in
funding for drinking water and wastewater proj-
ects in the U.S. within  62 miles of the U.S.-Mex-
ico Border. By 2005, these projects had brought
safe drinking water to 7,765 tribal  homes and
built sewage collection and treatment systems for
1,888 homes.
One environmental  issue  unique to Border area
tribes is trash left  by undocumented immigrants.
Remote stretches of desert have been littered with
discarded clothing,  plastic bags, drink cans and
bottles, food wrappers, and miscellaneous items.
Last year the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose
land area is  as large as  Connecticut, cleaned
up 84 sites, removing  an astounding 40 tons of
trash.

Reducing Diesel Emissions
In  the first phase  of the San Diego-Tijuana Die-
sel Retrofit  Project, EPA provided more than
$200,000  to retrofit a dozen heavy-duty diesel
trucks involved in shipping goods  between the
U.S. and  Mexico with emission controls. EPA
provided another  $200,000 to  test technologies
for measuring emissions from trucks crossing the
border near Nogales, Ariz., including remote sens-
ing units, opacity testing equipment, and portable
emission monitors. And Mexico pledged to phase
in  low-sulfur diesel fuel over the next five years,
starting with the six border states, which include
Baja California and Sonora.

Cleaning Up Abandoned Tire Piles
The cleanup of abandoned scrap tire piles is a sig-
nificant binational border priority. The tire piles are
potential breeding grounds for  mosquitoes and
other organisms that are vectors of disease such
as the West Nile virus. In addition, smoke from tire
pile fires can pose a severe public health threat.
So far, more than  2.1  million tires have been  re-
moved from along  the border in the Pacific South-
22    Communities and Ecosystems

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west, including 420,000 tires from the Innor tire
pile and three-quarters of the 1.2 million tires at
Centinela in Baja California last year. The Innor
scrap tires were reused as fuel in a local cement
plant as  a result of  a collaboration agreement
among EPA, SEMARNAT (Mexico's Environment
Secretariat), the State of Baja, the municipality of
Mexicali, and the private sector.

Tribal Accomplishments

EPAs Pacific Southwest Region has 146 Indian
tribes. Of these, 131  received a total of $40 mil-
lion  in EPA grants for their environmental pro-
grams in  2005. Working in partnership with EPA
and the Indian Health Service, tribes have made
great strides in building and operating environ-
mental infrastructure,  such as drinking water and
wastewater treatment systems and air monitor-
ing equipment. EPA also provided training to tribal
environmental staff, and certified tribal inspectors
to perform compliance inspections of oil and haz-
ardous waste facilities and pesticide use. And EPA
is cooperating with six tribes planning to build ca-
sinos or permit industrial facilities, to ensure that
these projects minimize environmental impacts.
In 2005, Pacific Southwest tribes and EPA cleaned
up 158 dumps and 13 leaking underground fuel
tanks, piped safe drinking water to 1,249 addi-
tional tribal  homes, and recycled a million pounds
of waste. Eighty-five tribes routinely monitor their
air or water; 54 have recycling programs.
While the numbers are impressive, they just hint
at the results  on the ground. For instance, in
2005 the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe cleaned up
and  closed approximately 30 dumps, including
three major sites, on  their reservation northwest
of Reno,  Nev. The dumps had littered the land-
scape with household  waste,  medical  waste,
dead animals, and discarded water heaters and
appliances. The tribe removed the trash to solid
waste landfills or recycling facilities. Near Fallen,
Nev., the Fallen Paiute-Shoshone Tribe complet-
ed a treatment plant  that removes arsenic from
the groundwater, providing a safe drinking water
source for the community.
Forty-one Pacific Southwest tribes now have their
own environmental regulatory programs. EPA and
tribal regulators across the region conducted 600
inspections of pesticide use, and collected $1.25
million in fines from polluters. The Hualapai Tribe
in the Grand Canyon  enacted water quality stan-
dards and supporting tribal ordinances to provide
an enforceable means to change wildlife manage-
ment and ranching practices to prevent pollution.
Such measures  include putting fencing  around
natural springs to keep livestock,  deer, and elk
from muddying and polluting them.
Providing training for tribal environmental field staff
has been a high priority. Last year, for example,
EPA conducted 19 underground storage tank in-
spector trainings with over 156 tribal participants.
EPA and the tribes cooperated on inspecting 79
underground storage tanks, and issuing 17 field
citations. The  increased enforcement in recent
years has gotten results. Over the last three years,
underground tank compliance rates at the Navajo
Nation  jumped from 2% of facilities inspected to
54%.
Last year, tribes used EPA and other funding to
initiate  60 watershed restoration projects and
complete 45 of them.  For example, the Torres
Martinez Desert Cahuilla Tribe, near California's
Salton Sea, broke ground for an 85-acre, $1.5 mil-
lion wetland project that will improve water qual-
ity and  provide wildlife habitat. The Hualapai Tribe
restored riparian wetlands, built fences in grazing
areas, and removed feral animals around springs.
And the Fallen  Paiute-Shoshone Tribe received a
grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for
mechanical removal and piling of invasive salt ce-
dar on  800 acres within the tribal wetlands.

Pacific Islands: Making
the Water Safer to Drink

In the past, unreliable drinking water delivery sys-
tems in Guam have been frequently contaminated
with bacteria from sewage spills. These contami-
nation  incidents resulted in "boil water" notices
sent to residents.  Last year, however,  improve-
ments  to the island's drinking water and  waste-
water treatment systems, along with  EPA over-
sight of the Guam  Waterworks Authority (GWA),
resulted in the safest drinking water Guam  has
experienced in  decades.
Torres-Martinez Desert
Cahuilla Tribe officials break
ground for an 85-acre wetland
restoration project near
California's Salton Sea. The
project will improve water
quality and provide wildlife
habitat.
                                                                       Communities and Ecosystems   23

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                           The GWA  improved its management  by hiring
                           a new chief engineer on loan from EPA, and in-
                           creasing the number of certified operators at its
                           wastewater treatment plant. Better generators,
                           pumps, and motors were installed; the disinfec-
                           tion system was improved. As a result of all these
                           changes, sewage spills were reduced by 90%.
                           Saipan, an island with a population of 70,000 in
                           the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-
                           lands, not far from Guam, has a different drinking
                           water problem: Water only comes out of the tap a
                           few hours each day. Last year, EPA worked with
                           the Department of the Interior and the CNMI gov-
                           ernment to support improvements to the drink-
                           ing water system in Saipan following a $1 million
                           congressional appropriation. This funding  helped
                           Saipan drill new wells, establish a leak detection
                           system, and install  better water meters  to dis-
                           courage waste. Drinking water is still not avail-
                           able around the clock, but  water in the system
                           increased by 25%.
                           EPA's Pacific Islands Office has in recent years
                           placed four staff people in the islands' own en-
                           vironmental agencies  in American Samoa and
                           Guam. Last year, EPA doubled the staff assign-
                           ments to the islands,  with three each in  Ameri-
                           can Samoa and Guam, and two on Saipan. The
                           additional staff helped make these drinking water
                           improvements happen.  In  addition,  EPA engi-
                           neers travel to Palau and the Marshall Islands to
                           assess problems in their drinking water systems.
                           These efforts, in partnership  with the islands'
                           water agencies, will result in safer drinking water
                           for more than  300,000 people on these  distant
                           islands.

                           Environmental Reviews Protect
                           People, Species, Wetlands

                           Under the  National  Environmental  Policy Act
                           (NEPA), federal agencies must prepare an Envi-
                           ronmental  Impact Statement (EIS) on  any pro-
                           posed agency action that might significantly affect
                           the environment. If there is  a significant impact,
                           agencies must  analyze alternatives, and  identify
                           the one that best minimizes impacts.
                           Actions that require an EIS include land manage-
                           ment plans by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bu-
                           reau of Land Management,  mining permits, dam
                           construction and operation, and construction of
                           federally-funded highways.  Since more than half
                           of the Pacific Southwest Region's land is feder-
                           ally-owned, the region has  more than its share
                           of EISs—in fact, 20% of the nationwide total. In
                           2005, EPA's Pacific Southwest Office completed
                           reviews of 109 EISs.
                           In one significant project, the regional Environ-
                           mental Review Office worked with the Bureau of
Land Management to ban off-road vehicles during
the dry season at the Clear Creek Management
Area near Hollister, Calif., after EPA found hazard-
ous levels of naturally-occurring asbestos in the
air resulting from dust kicked up by the vehicles
(for details, see Clean Land chapter).
In another part of California, EPA analyzed a pro-
posed tree-thinning project to reduce fire hazards
in the Plumas National Forest, north of Lake Ta-
hoe. To avoid potential impacts to spotted owls
and  northern  goshawks,  EPA recommended
avoiding tree-cutting in watersheds that are al-
ready degraded, and limiting activities in Riparian
Habitat Conservation Areas. As a result, the U.S.
Forest Service has reduced by 1,800 acres the
forest  area that will be clearcut or thinned. The
Forest Service also agreed to reduce dust and soil
erosion by changes to road-building practices in
the area.
EPA also reviewed an EIS on the proposed U.S.
93 highway bypass around Boulder City, Nev. The
area provides  habitat and movement corridors
for the desert bighorn sheep. There, EPA worked
with the Federal Highway Administration and the
Nevada Department of Transportation to establish
a 500-acre wildlife preserve, protect wildlife move-
ment corridors, and fund continued monitoring of
the bighorn sheep population.
In California, EPA worked with CalTrans and the
Federal Highway Administration to revamp an in-
teragency guidance for analyzing the cumulative
impacts of road projects. The guidance is avail-
able online at www.dot.ca.gov/ser/cumulative_
guidance/purpose, htm.

Building Capacity in
Communities

To promote long-term community-based solutions
to environmental problems, EPA works to build lo-
cal capacity within communities to deal with envi-
ronmental issues. Such "capacity building" efforts
paid off in the urban Southern California commu-
nities of Pacoima and Barrio Logan last year.
In Pacoima, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, 200
Latino and African-American families took advan-
tage of  an EPA Collaborative Problem-Solving
grant to make home improvements that reduced
their risk of lead poisoning. The community group
involved,  Pacoima Beautiful, also surveyed local
physicians and found that only 28%  of low-in-
come  children were being tested for blood lead
levels  because physicians  mistakenly thought
there was no danger. The group  persuaded 25
doctors to get training on lead poisoning preven-
tion and screening.
24   Communities and Ecosystems

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In  Barrio Logan, a low-income  Latino neighbor-
hood in San Diego where  an EPA/Cal-EPA/En-
vironmental  Health Coalition pilot project began
in  2000, many local residents  were concerned
about the health effects of large trucks parked on
neighborhood streets that would idle for hours,
pumping diesel exhaust into the  air. The residents
worked with city government staff to develop a
simple but effective way to virtually eliminate truck
idling: They  changed street parking to diagonal
spaces too  small for the big rigs, posted more
"No  Parking" and "No Idling" signs,  and worked
with  traffic enforcement officers to ensure that the
new  rules were enforced. Trucks stopped park-
ing in the residential area,  allowing  residents to
breathe easier.

Reducing Exposure to  Toxics

Lead Still a Health Hazard to  Kids
Lead-based paint hasn't been available in the U.S.
for use in residential  buildings since 1978, but it
was  so universally used earlier that it's still around
in  more than half our homes and schools—and
still has the potential to  poison young  children.
Children can also be poisoned  if anyone in their
home is scraping or sanding lead paint from the
walls. Lead poisoning can lead to learning disabil-
ities,  decreased growth,  hyperactivity, and brain
damage in children.
To address this widespread hazard, EPA and the
State of California since 1999  have accredited
training providers and created a workforce of over
7,000  lead  paint professionals. Between  2000
and  2005, 13,300 lead paint abatement projects
in  the  Pacific Southwest Region removed  over
580,000 pounds of lead from more than 19 million
square feet of painted surfaces. However, this ac-
counted for only a small fraction of the estimated
2.4 million homes in the region that may still have
lead  paint on their walls.
Before removing lead-based  paint from homes,
workers must take special  precautions to mini-
mize any risks to human  health  and  the environ-
ment. For a list of EPA-certified lead paint remov-
ers in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii, go
to  www. epa. gov/region09/toxic/lead/firms. html
EPA  requires that anyone selling or  renting resi-
dential property built before 1978 provide infor-
mation  to prospective renters or buyers about
lead-based paint used in the buildings. Landlords
who  fail to comply are subject to enforcement ac-
tions which may require lead paint abatement in
addition to penalties. For example, last year EPA
cited a San Jose, Calif., landlord  for 292 violations
of  lead disclosure rules. To settle the charges, the
landlord agreed to remove lead paint from 21 old-
er units where children live, at a cost of $138,539,
and pay a penalty of $15,393.

TRI Enforcement Leads to
Reductions in Toxics
Public  disclosure through the Toxics Release In-
ventory (TRI) is a powerful incentive for facilities
to reduce their use and emissions of toxic chemi-
cals. Enforcement is needed to ensure compli-
ance, however. In 2005,  EPA's Pacific Southwest
Region settled 31  TRI enforcement cases, result-
ing  in disclosure of 125 million  pounds of toxic
releases, and penalties of nearly $500,000.
After the enforcement actions, three facilities re-
duced their use of certain toxic chemicals. Profes-
sional Finishing of Richmond, Calif., substituted
less-toxic acetone for methyl ethyl ketone, poten-
tially reducing air releases by 204 pounds annually.
Berg Lacquer Co. of Los Angeles has substituted
acetone for toluene and xylene.  Dionex Corp. of
Sunnyvale, Calif., is planning to phase out its use
of lead compounds by 2010.
   EPA People
  Karen  Heisler joined  EPA in  1992.
  As a senior member of the Agriculture
  Program, Karen brings  a dedication
  to sustainable agriculture,  a strong
  background in pesticides policy, and
  an understanding  of the diversity of
  the California  agricultural community
  to her work.
  In her job with the Agri-
  culture   Program,  Karen
  helps the Region  and the
  Agency  to address  four
  broad areas related to ag-
  riculture: (1) strategic plan-
  ning for agriculture-related
  activities, (2) better cross-
  program,  cross-regional,
  and  HQ/Regional  com-
  munication  (3)   support
  of sustainable agriculture
  partnerships, (4) promotion of regional
  and national agriculture policies that
  better position the Agency to promote
  positive   environmental   and   public
  health benefits.
  Currently, Karen is working  on  an ef-
  fort to link market-based incentives to
  innovation in  agricultural production.
  Recognizing  that  economic viability
  is key to engaging innovation, the Ag
  Program  is working with  Protected
Harvest,  a  non-profit  organization,
to develop environmental production
standards and certify producers in sev-
eral California commodities, including
stone fruit, strawberries, winegrapes,
and  processing tomatoes.  Certifica-
tion based on data-driven standards
allows producers to secure a market
          position based  on value
          of good food and good
          practices, and rewards ef-
          fective stewardship.
          Karen's  commitment  to
          sustainable agriculture ex-
          tends beyond her work at
          EPA. As a member of Live
          Power Community Farm,
          Karen participated  in  the
          development  of  a novel
          mechanism for public-pri-
vate agricultural land tenure, a model
that has been replicated several times
since. Karen's fifteen years of volunteer
support to small farms and communi-
ty food security projects have culmi-
nated in her  becoming co-director of
Pie Ranch, an educational farm center
that inspires urban and rural residents
to know and take intimate part in the
food they eat, its healthy production
and its history.
                                                                         Communities and Ecosystems   25

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                                                            wardshi
                                                              •-"••  T-:i
                                                               fJU 11
                         Upholding Standards,
                         Speeding Progress

                         Strong standards, consistently and fairly enforced,
                         are the foundation for almost all of what gets done
                         to protect public and environmental health. The
                         history of the Pacific Southwest is rich with exam-
                         ples of federal, state and tribal regulators working
                         together to assure  compliance with national and
                         local requirements.  Broad  compliance not  only
                         achieves results in  terms of environmental qual-
                         ity, but also assures the essential economic "level
                         playing field" for those who  invest in compliance.
                         In the Pacific Southwest, EPA and its fellow regu-
                         lators have worked together to provide the public
                         health protection brought by compliance with en-
                         vironmental rules. They have used that foundation
                         to partner with  industry, advocates and the pub-
                         lic to move beyond compliance in many creative
                         ways, with often substantial gains in public health
                         protection. In 2005, work on these closely allied
                         fronts produced significant progress.
Compliance Assistance,
Strong Enforcement Get Results
This past year,  EPA and its partners continued
to provide a broad presence through inspection
programs targeted to significant  public health
threats and in response to citizen concerns. This
compliance monitoring work was supplemented
with focused  compliance assistance designed to
make sure those who have a duty to comply with
environmental rules know what they must do and
where to get technical help if needed. Through a
variety of traditional and creative approaches, EPA
has been able to reach out to many remote areas
(such as tribes, outer islands and border commu-
nities) and often unite regulated entities with their
communities to find solutions.
For enforcement,  the year started strong with
landmark settlements in  Southern California for
more than $2.6  billion in sewer system upgrades
(see last year's  report, where these cases were
previewed, for more details). More than 436 en-
26   Compliance and Stewardship

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forcement actions through the rest of the year
garnered an additional $385 million in funding to
clean up and prevent pollution caused by viola-
tions. Collection of $6.5 million in penalties as-
sured that  polluters gained no advantage over
those who invest in compliance.
Public communication via the Web and the news
media played a strong role in getting the compli-
ance  message out—both  demonstrating sound
results to local communities and putting indus-
try groups on notice that they would be held ac-
countable. The introduction of a new and easy-
to-use "citizen complaints" badge on EPA's Web
sites also served to strengthen  partnerships with
the public in identifying and addressing serious
violations.
For  more  information  on  enforcement activi-
ties  in the  Pacific  Southwest, visit www.epa.
gov/region09/enforcement.

If you've seen something that leads
you to believe an environmental
violation has occurred, report it
to EPA by going to www.epa.gov
and clicking on the badge with
the words "Report Environmental
Violations."
Environmental
Violations

Supplemental  Environmental
Projects Improve Health,
Environment

In settling enforcement actions, EPA often nego-
tiates settlements that include commitments to
upgrade equipment to permanently reduce pollu-
tion. In some cases settlements include additional
projects, known as Supplemental Environmental
Projects (SEPs), to benefit nearby communities.
In  2005, companies in  the Pacific Southwest
Region spent a total of $14.2  million in SEPs as
part of EPA enforcement settlements. These proj-
ects, which go beyond investments needed for
compliance with environmental regulations, offer
a unique opportunity to further our nation's goals
for a cleaner, healthier envrironment.

Reducing Pollution
•  Saint-Gobain Containers Inc. agreed to resolve
   Clean Air Act violations at  its  Madera,  Calif.,
   facility,  reducing smog-causing air emissions
   by 400  tons per year. The company agreed
   to spend $13.8 million to install  and operate
   air pollution control equipment and will also
   further reduce pollution as part of a  $1.2 mil-
   lion supplemental environmental  project. This
   precedent-setting  settlement establishes  the
   most stringent nitrogen oxide limit for a con-
   tainer glass furnace in the country. Residents
   of the  San Joaquin Valley will benefit from
   cleaner air.
•  Chevron USA Inc. will reduce diesel emissions
   from fleet vehicles at its oil refineries in Califor-
   nia and Hawaii. In addition, Chevron will reduce
   odors and air emissions at its refineries in El
   Segundo, Calif., and Kapolei, Hawaii, contrib-
   ute $100,000 for emergency response equip-
   ment for the El Segundo Fire Department, and
   provide a 29-year, rent-free lease of five acres
   to the city of Richmond, Calif.,  for  emergency
   training exercises. The estimated  cost of  the
   refinery modifications is $1.5 million.
•  The  Seven-Up Bottling Co. will replace  the
   existing fleet of gasoline vehicles  at its Sac-
   ramento,  Calif., plant  with propane forklifts
   and other alternative fuel vehicles, at a cost
   of $135,000. The project is part  of a settle-
   ment to resolve stormwater and wastewater
   violations.
•  As part of  a settlement involving  lead  paint
   disclosure violations, a San Jose, Calif.,  land-
   lord agreed to perform lead abatement work.
   The owner will  conduct lead inspections and
   risk assessments as well as lead  abatement
   where hazards  are found in 21 rental units in
   San Jose.

Restoring Natural Environments
•  Los Angeles will undertake several environ-
   mental projects to restore streams and wet-
   lands and to capture and treat polluted storm
   drain flows. The $8.5 million projects are part
   of a $2 billion settlement in one of the largest
   sewage cases in U.S. history.
•  As part of a  settlement with construction
   company Colorado Structures and Wal-Mart
   Stores, Inc. for stormwater pollution preven-
   tion violations at a store construction site,  the
   Bentonville, Ark., retail giant will purchase a
   Central Valley vernal pool habitat  for protec-
   tion.  Violations at the Sacramento, Calif.-area
   store construction site polluted  a nearby creek
   with sediment.
•  The San Gabriel Valley Superfund site's Pu-
   ente Valley agreement calls for  a groundwater
   treatment system and  an innovative environ-
   mental project to convert a former duck farm
   to community open space. (For more informa-
   tion about groundwater treatment at the San
   Gabriel Valley site, see pg. 16.)

Supporting Public Health
•  Romic  Environmental  Technologies,  a haz-
   ardous waste facility, will purchase life-saving
   equipment for the Gila River Indian Commu-
                                                                        Compliance and Stewardship   27

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Dockside news conference
to announce $25 million
penalty for oil pollution—the
largest ever for deliberate oil
discharges from a ship.
                              nity Fire Department and air monitoring and
                              meteorological equipment for the Gila River In-
                              dian Community Department of Environmental
                              Quality. The company was also fined $67,888
                              for multiple hazardous waste violations at its
                              facility on  the Gila River Indian Reservation
                              in the Lone Butte Industrial Park in Chandler,
                              Ariz.
                           •  Chemical Waste Management  will purchase
                              emergency response equipment for the Kings
                              County,  Calif.,  Environmental  Health  Ser-
                              vices Department. The project was  part of a
                              $47,500 settlement regarding the company's
                              alleged failure to conduct monthly monitoring
                              at one of four RGB disposal units at its Kettle-
                              man City facility.
                           •  Anvil Cases, Inc.  donated emergency response
                              equipment to the Santa  Fe  Springs Fire De-
                              partment. The project was part of a settlement
                              with Anvil Cases, of the City of Industry, Ca-
                              lif., for allegedly  filing chemical  release forms
                              late, a violation of the Emergency Planning and
                              Community Right-to-Know Act.

                           Training for Handling Hazardous Materials
                           •  The  Arizona  Department of Transportation
                              agreed to finance  seminars conducted by
                              the  Environmental   Information Association
                              on asbestos  regulatory  compliance training
                              to  contractors, charter schools, and building
                              owners.
                           •  Long Beach City College  will perform an envi-
                              ronmental project that will improve hazardous
                              waste handling  by  other area colleges. The
                              college will present seminars to 11 area school
                              districts to get the word out about proper ways
                              to handle hazardous waste.

                           EPA Prosecutes
                           Ocean Oil Dumpers

                           EPA investigations into illegal discharge of pollut-
                           ants to U.S. waters  last year  resulted in two ship-
ping companies being ordered to correct pollu-
tion violations on their vessels worldwide and pay
large fines.
EPA investigates allegations of criminal wrongdo-
ing  under various environmental laws,  including
data fraud,  illegal  disposal of hazardous  waste,
illegal importation  of certain chemicals; tamper-
ing with a drinking water supply; mail fraud, wire
fraud, conspiracy and money laundering relating
to environmental crimes.

Evergreen  Pleads Guilty to
Container-Ship Pollution
The  U.S.  Department   of  Justice announced
criminal charges in  Los Angeles last year against
Evergreen International,  S.A., one of many Ever-
green-related companies involved in the container
ship business. The charges included concealing
deliberate, illegal discharge of waste oil, causing a
negligent discharge into the Columbia River, mak-
ing false statements, obstruction of Coast Guard
inspections, and failing to maintain an accurate Oil
Record Book.
Under the terms of a plea agreement,  Evergreen
paid $25 million, the largest-ever amount for a
case involving deliberate pollution from a ship,
and pleaded guilty to 24 felony counts brought
in Los Angeles; Newark, N.J.; Portland, Ore.; Se-
attle; and Charleston, S.C. Of the total, $10 million
will be divided equally and used for environmental
community  service projects in each of the five ju-
dicial districts where the violations took place.

Moller-Maersk Ordered to Develop
Environmental Compliance Plan
A.P. Moller-Maersk Company of Denmark, which
operates a  fleet of over 200 vessels worldwide,
was ordered to develop and carry out a fleet-wide
environmental  compliance program. The com-
pany pleaded guilty and was fined $500,000 as
a result of a criminal investigation conducted by
EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard into waste oil in
the  overboard piping of the  Motor  Vessel Jane
Maersk.
The  investigation  also  uncovered  evidence  of
false entries in the ship's  oil  record book. The
false entries concerned the operation of the ship's
incinerator which, in part, is used to burn waste
oil sludge.  In a related court action,  the ship's
second engineer was sentenced to four months'
community  confinement  for his role in conceal-
ing and destroying key documents related to the
investigation.

Cargo Ship Engineer Jailed for
Concealing Oil-Tainted Water Dumping
The  chief engineer of the M/V Katerina  was
sentenced  to eight months in jail for bypassing
28   Compliance and  Stewardship

-------
the ship's oil-water separator, a critical water-
pollution control device. He tried to conceal the
bypass when the ship came into port at Long
Beach, Calif. The ship operator, DST Shipping,
Inc., of Greece, pleaded guilty to two felony
charges and paid a $1 million fine.

Partnering to Prevent Pollution

S. Phoenix Industry Challenge/
Good Neighbor Partnership
On March 8, 2005, EPA joined with industry, city,
county and Arizona state officials to launch a vol-
untary partnership aimed at reducing air pollution
and preventing  chemical releases in the South
Phoenix area.
Goodrich-Aircraft  Interior Products  hosted the
event at their South Phoenix  facility. The Indus-
try  Challenge/Good Neighbor partnership seeks
to reduce emissions of more than  30 hazardous
air pollutants by 20%  by 2007, and to  enhance
safety procedures to avoid accidental releases.
"This partnership shows that, working together,
we can keep jobs in the community and have a
healthy environment," said  EPA Regional Admin-
istrator Wayne Nastri. "When industry is willing to
explore ways to further reduce their emissions
and enhance their safety practices, we all win."
More than 20 industries  have joined the alliance
of businesses and  regulatory professionals  re-
sponsible for environmental  health  and safety
performance  in  the South Phoenix  area. Com-
panies joining the voluntary program range from
locally-owned businesses to larger corporations,
including pool companies,  electronics manufac-
turers,  fiberglass manufacturers, metal finishers,
and aircraft product manufacturers.  In  addition,
industries that store ammonia, chlorine and  nitric
acid will handle these chemicals more safely.
The partnership grew  out of the South Phoenix
Multi-Media Toxics Reduction  project initiated by
the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ)  in 2003. EPA provides technical assis-
tance to industry to help them meet their emission
reduction and accident prevention goals.
For more  information go to www.phoenixindus-
trychallenge.com

Northrop, Exide Honored for
Hazwaste Reduction Efforts
In December 2005, EPA honored Northrop Grum-
man Space Technology and  Exide Technologies
for participating in the National Partnership for En-
vironmental Priorities, which aims to reduce use
of toxic chemicals  and generation of hazardous
waste.
EPA created the partnership to reduce 30 high
priority chemicals—including dioxins and mercu-
ry—by 10% by the year 2008. These chemicals
persist in the environment for many years.
Northrop Grumman is going beyond compliance
with hazardous waste regulations to voluntarily re-
duce trichlorobenzene use at its Redondo Beach,
Calif., microelectronics manufacturing facility.
Exide operates a battery smelter/recycling facility
in Vernon, Calif., one of six similar  plants in the
U.S. The facility has committed to boost its lead
recycling rate from 97.5 to 99% of its  lead input,
thus reducing  the lead emitted each  year  in its
blast furnace slag by 130,000 pounds.  Last June,
Exide's Vernon facility was the nation's first battery
smelter/recycling facility to join the partnership.

Promoting Greener Computers
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region led  a national
effort  on  electronics  product stewardship,  fa-
cilitating a multi-stakeholder process to create a
system to help purchasers buy environmentally
preferable computer equipment.  The Electronic
Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)
includes a set of strict environmental criteria ad-
dressing the product's entire life cycle, a verifica-
tion procedure to ensure that a product meets the
criteria, and an easy-to-use tool for purchasers to
find products that meet the standards.  In 2005,
EPA finalized the criteria as an American National
Standard, and selected a host organization to run
the registration, verification and marketing of the
tool to purchasers and manufacturers.
The goals are to give institutional buyers of com-
puters and other electronics a way  to reduce
environmental  impacts such as energy use and
hazardous waste,  while giving the electronics in-
dustry an incentive to build "greener" products.
The standard is already harnessing  the purchas-
Dawn Kominsky of
Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. signs
the Strategic Partnership
Agreement on March 8, 2005
at the kick-off of the South
Phoenix Industry Challenge/
Good Neighbor Partnership.
Maricopa County Supervisor
Mary-Rose Wilcox, Arizona
State Representative Leah
Landrum-Taylor and EPA
Regional Administrator Wayne
Nastri look on (I to r).
                                                                         Compliance and Stewardship   29

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                           ing power of large organizations to accomplish
                           these goals.
                           Seven federal agencies have committed to using
                           EPEAT in upcoming computer buying contracts,
                           representing  roughly $17 billion in purchasing
                           power. The state of California has also adopted
                           EPEAT as their guide for buying environmentally-
                           preferable electronics.

                           H2E: Health Care Industry
                           Reduces Mercury Use
                           Kaiser Permanente's Hawaii  Region Waste Mini-
                           mization Team and  15  California health care or-
                           ganizations won awards in 2005 for their achieve-
                           ments as part of H2E, EPAs hospital  pollution
                           prevention partnership.  By the end of the year, 25
                           additional  hospitals in the Pacific Southwest had
                           joined, making commitments to "Make Medicine
                           Mercury-Free."
   EPA People
  Greg Lovato of EPA's Pacific South-
  west Waste Division  has a difficult
  task—helping 100 local agencies in
  California clean up contaminated  soil
  and ground water from 15,000 leak-
  ing  underground  fuel  storage tanks.
  He's not alone: Some front-line proj-
  ect  managers at  local  agencies find
  themselves   directing   investigation
  and cleanup work at over 100 sites
  in   addition  to  other
  responsibilities.
  Greg,  who  works out
  of   EPA's   Southern
  California Field Office,
  helps local agencies in
  three  ways. Together
  with Matt Small of the
  Underground  Storage
  Tank program, he  orga-
  nizes staff workshops,
  where he advises  them
  on prioritizing sites and
  increasing    efficiency.
  Greg  and  Matt  also
  help establish dialogue
  between the agencies and the respon-
  sible parties.  In addition, they secured
  EPA funding for eight contract employ-
  ees who work in the local agencies to
  lighten the workload.
  At EPA's regional office, Greg has been
  recognized for his "creativity in moti-
  vating individual parties to participate"
  in investigating and cleaning up leak-
  ing  underground tanks and pipelines.
Some of the parties have been major
oil companies and refineries.
"We look at the [ground water] data,
and present a defensible argument on
why participating would expose them
to lower  risk,  and  lower cost. The
companies are ready to do the work if
they know that we know what needs
to be done, and we can back it up. It's
a matter of fair dealing, and communi-
            cating our plans clearly
            to  all   stakeholders.
            They don't want to be
            caught shutting  down
            drinking water wells."
            That's  a  reference  to
            Greg's     experience
            working with the Los
            Angeles Regional Wa-
            ter  Guality   Control
            Board   several   years
            ago on the Santa Mon-
            ica MTBE issue. Some
            of the  city's drinking
            water wells had  to be
            shut   down  because
they were contaminated with the fuel
additive MTBE.  Major oil companies
agreed to pay for replacement water
after extensive ground water data in-
dicated that most of the MTBE came
from their facilities.
After 13 years at EPA, Greg will bring
his expertise to his new position at the
Nevada Division of Environmental Pro-
tection this spring.
H2E, a joint project of EPA, the American Hospital
Association, American  Nurses Association,  and
Health Care Without Harm, has joined forces with
California's Department of Toxic Substances Con-
trol (DTSC) and  Department of Health Services
(DHS) to eliminate the use of mercury, cut health
care waste, and phase out the use of persistent,
bio-accumulative and toxic chemicals.
The California DTSC and DHS provide local train-
ing and on-site assistance to help hospitals reach
H2E goals. Activities include expanding mercury
reduction efforts to include clinics and medical of-
fices, promoting reprocessing of single use medi-
cal devices, and working to keep pharmaceutical
waste out of wastewater.
For example, Catholic Healthcare West adopted
a mercury-free purchasing policy, reducing overall
waste by 9%, energy use by 7% and hazardous
waste by 23%, despite growth in facilities. CHW
also started organic gardens,  composted food
waste, and began using biodiesel fuel.
Alta Bates Summit  Medical Center  in Oakland,
Calif.,  recycled 757 tons of paper, cans,  bottles,
and more than 50% of its construction and de-
molition materials. An equipment reuse program
saved the facility $53,500, and included 10 truck-
loads  of equipment donated to international relief
programs and the auctioning of old equipment
that would otherwise be disposed of.
For more information on the program and other
award winners, go to www.h2e-online.org

Performance Track Facilities
Cut Waste, Smog
Performance Track is an  EPA voluntary partner-
ship that encourages facilities in both the private
and public sectors to go beyond regulatory com-
pliance to achieve superior environmental perfor-
mance.  In just one year, 2004, 21 facilities in the
Pacific Southwest made good on earlier Perfor-
mance Track commitments to cut their generation
of solid waste by an impressive total of 117,000
tons, without reducing production.
Two facilities, Rohm and Haas in La  Mirada, and
Ricoh in Santa Ana (both  in Southern California),
reduced smog-forming nitrogen  oxide emissions
by  12.5% (a total of 1.1 tons per  year), even
while  increasing  production by  41% and 70%,
respectively.
In 2005, Performance Track membership in the
Pacific Southwest grew 35%, from 34 to 46 facili-
ties. New members  include facilities operated by
Hewlett-Packard,  Lockheed Martin,  Coca-Cola,
and Forever Resorts (a concessionaire in state
and national parks).
30    Compliance and Stewardship

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Meeting Solid Waste Challenges

EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge
EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge focuses
on achieving a 35% recycling rate of municipal solid
waste, reducing priority and toxic chemicals, sup-
porting reuse and recycling of industrial materials,
and supporting electronics product stewardship.
In the Pacific Southwest, EPA funded a nonprofit
Recycled Products Purchasing Cooperative (see
story below). EPA also worked with partners to re-
duce the use of solvents with high levels of smog-
forming  volatile organic compounds  (VOCs), by
demonstrating  alternative products. These efforts
led to a reduction of 60 tons of VOCs per day in
Los Angeles' South Coast air basin.
EPA worked with partners on the development of
a "Design for Deconstruction" manual for build-
ers to facilitate the reuse and recycling of build-
ing materials during construction and demolition.
EPA also  promoted both the safe recycling  of
electronic products and the safer design of elec-
tronic products. In addition to working  with fed-
eral facilities in the Pacific Southwest to recycle
thousands of tons of electronic equipment, EPA
helped develop the Electronic Products Environ-
mental Assessment Tool (see "Promoting Greener
Computers," above).

Recycled Products Purchasing
Co-op Saves Money, Resources
Approximately  44 million tons—or  48%—of the
paper generated in this country each year ends
up in landfills. To save trees, energy, and reduce
landfill waste,  EPA encourages paper  recycling
through voluntary partnerships like  the  Recycled
Products Cooperative (RPC). Started through an
EPA grant, the  cooperative is a self-sustaining ef-
fort that uses group purchasing power to offer re-
cycled paper at competitive prices.
Joining the RPC is free to anyone, from large com-
panies and organizations like IKEA and the city of
San Diego, to individuals. Buying small quantities
of paper can be expensive. Since  RPC buys in
bulk, its members can purchase recycled paper at
a lower  cost that meets—or even beats—regular
paper prices. Through the efforts of the RPC, 500
organizations and more than 120 businesses and
universities have started using recycled  paper. In
just six months of 2005, the RPC sold 7,527 tons
of postconsumer recycled paper.
In the past four years, the RPC has led to savings
of:
•  More than 60,000 forty-foot tall trees
•  71 Olympic sized swimming pools full of water
   (17,702,050 gallons)
                                              Supai Falls, near the
                                              Havasupai Tribe's village of
                                              Supai, in the Grand Canyon.
•  151,329 pounds of carbon dioxide, nitrous
   oxide and other pollutants
•  10 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
For more information, go to www.recycledprod-
ucts.org

Mules, Helicopters to Help Havasupai
Recycle in Grand Canyon
The Havasupai Tribe lives on tribal land at the bot-
tom of the Grand Canyon, and the famous image
of its waterfall is a scene of seemingly idyllic isola-
tion. The only way to get there is by horse,  mule,
helicopter, or a long walk through the dry canyon.
Despite the remoteness of the community, how-
ever, the residents—and approximately 30,000
annual visitors—buy and use many items from
outside the village of Supai. Because the village
is at the bottom of the canyon, it's much easier to
bring materials in  than to haul them out.
For a century, the cans, bottles, packaging, appli-
ances, and everything else discarded has gone to
an open dump near the village. But the dump was
a growing eyesore as well as a source of air pollu-
tion, since the waste was regularly burned. Some
of the heaviest metal items were airlifted out two
years ago by helicopter.
EPA developed a series of waste management
options for the tribe, providing detailed cost infor-
mation with input from the  Indian  Health Service
and the  Bureau of Indian Affairs. After thorough
evaluation, in August 2005, the tribe decided on
a plan to haul trash  out of the  canyon via mule
and helicopter, with a strong emphasis on recy-
cling.  This waste management plan will enable
the tribe to close  the dump and to utilize existing
mule hauling enterprises, owned and operated by
members of the Havasupai Tribe.
                                                                        Compliance and Stewardship    31

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                           EPA Aids Recovery from
                           Devastating Hurricanes, Floods

                           In August and September 2005, southern Loui-
                           siana was hit with two hurricanes, Katrina and
                           Rita, which destroyed lives and property along the
                           state's coastline, in the city and suburbs of New
                           Orleans, and up to 100 miles inland. In emergen-
                           cies like this, EPA serves as the lead federal agen-
                           cy for the cleanup of hazardous materials, includ-
                           ing oil spills. EPAs regional office in  Dallas, Texas,
                           coordinated response efforts by EPA  personnel
                           from around the nation. By the end of the year,
                           68 people from EPAs Pacific Southwest Regional
                           Office  had worked from two to six weeks in the
                           disaster area—nearly 10% of regional EPA staff.
                           The hurricanes presented a very real test of EPAs
                           efforts since 9/11 to enhance preparedness for
                           emergencies that require a national response. Ev-
                           ery regional office has plans to back up EPAs re-
                           gional  response in a major emergency anywhere
                           in the U.S. These preparations enabled EPA staff
                           from all regions to assist the South Central Re-
                           gional  Office by quickly taking pre-assigned plac-
                           es  in the federal government's unified  Incident
                           Command Structure in Louisiana.
For the cleanup work, EPA partnered with the
U.S. Coast Guard and the Louisiana Department
of Environmental Quality  (LDEQ).  These three
agencies cleaned up dozens of oil spills and col-
lected both industrial and household hazardous
waste all over southern Louisiana. In the first days
after Katrina hit, EPA was also involved in collect-
ing floodwater samples and testing them for con-
taminants. As the waters receded, EPA drinking
water specialists fanned out across the affected
area assessing drinking water systems and help-
ing operators provide safe drinking water to re-
turning residents.

Drinking Water Specialists
Rush to New Orleans
Less than a week after Hurricane Katrina flooded
New Orleans, seven drinking water experts from
EPAs  Pacific  Southwest  Regional  Office  joined
25 EPA staff from around the nation assigned to
test 400 local drinking water systems in southern
Louisiana.
The EPA staff joined with state and local drinking
water experts to form 25 teams, each with a list
of water systems to assess. Once they found the
locations and gained access, the teams checked
32   Responding to Katrina

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the physical infrastructure for damage, and took
water samples. Many water systems sustained no
physical damage but were contaminated due to
earlier power outages, which allowed floodwaters
to leak into the pipes.
EPA staff advised operators of the contaminated
systems on how to flush out the systems, check
for leaks, and take more samples for lab testing.
Once a system tested clean, operators faced the
challenge of notifying customers—but phone lines
were down in many places and there was no mail
service. Some  water system operators simply
painted a sign on a piece of plywood  and posted
it on the nearest highway.
Despite the challenges, the  25 teams  covered
about 95% of the 400 systems in the first week.
In the second week,  they covered the rest, and
made follow-up visits to systems that were con-
taminated or damaged. Getting new  pumps and
generators to replace those knocked out by flood-
ing was another challenge.
According to EPAs Barry Pollock and Brian Smith,
two  of the seven drinking water specialists sent
by the Pacific Southwest Water Division, condi-
tions in those first weeks were often "chaotic,
communication was difficult, and we  were work-
ing 14- to 16-hour days." But they accomplished
their mission of assessing water system damage,
thus helping prevent the spread of water-borne
diseases in the hurricane-stricken area.

Cleaning  Up Oil and Toxic Spills
Within days of the hurricane, four on-scene coor-
dinators from EPAs Emergency Response Team
in San Francisco were on the ground to help ad-
dress toxic threats. The hurricane left a mess-
not only sewage-polluted floodwaters and debris
from ruined buildings,  but a series  of oil spills
across southern Louisiana that totaled tens of
thousands of barrels. Emergency responders and
other environmental specialists from the Pacific
Southwest Region's  Response  Support Corps
joined with other EPA personnel, the Coast Guard
and  LDEQ to locate the spills, assess needs, and
clean them up.
One of the largest spills resulted from a ruptured
above-ground oil tank at the Murphy oil storage
facility in  Meraux, La.,  that spilled 25,000 bar-
rels of oil into a flooded residential neighborhood.
When the waters  receded, they left a two-inch-
thick layer of oil-contaminated mud. The cleanup
involved spreading sand onto the oil layer to cre-
ate a sand-oil-mud mixture, which was then bull-
dozed, scooped into dump trucks, and taken to a
hazardous waste landfill.
To locate  other spills,  EPA on-scene coordina-
tor Tom Dunkelman joined a Coast Guard team
that flew over oil tank farms, refineries, well plat-
forms, and other industrial facilities in planes and
helicopters, looking for the telltale sheen of oil on
water. Once located, the spills were mapped and
ground teams sent in to assess the  damage by
taking water and soil samples. The top priorities
for cleanup were waterways, where oil had to be
contained to keep it from spreading. Workers in
boats deployed booms and skimmers to corral
and collect the oil.
Hazardous waste from flooded businesses also
had to be cleaned up. Drums partially filled with
chemicals had floated  away on floodwaters and
had to be retrieved, sampled, the chemicals iden-
tified, and properly disposed of.
And finally, as homeowners returned to formerly
flooded areas and  began  removing  mounds of
ruined  furniture, appliances, carpets, wallboard,
and flooring,  EPA staff collaborated  with  LDEQ
to organize  household hazardous waste curb-
side pickups. In each neighborhood, homeown-
ers were given flyers asking them to separate the
household hazardous  waste—paints,  solvents,
cleaning fluids, etc. —from the rest of their debris,
to prevent it from being mixed with the main body
of trash  headed for solid waste  landfills.  As of
spring 2006, cleanup work was still underway.
An EPA team takes samples of
floodwaters in New Orleans,
September 2005.
                                              Workers move a drum at a
                                              hazardous waste collection
                                              center near New Orleans.
                                              Thousands of small containers
                                              of waste were collected,
                                              sorted, and consolidated into
                                              larger containers like this, then
                                              taken to a hazardous waste
                                              landfill.
                                                                                  Responding to Katrina   33

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   EPA  People
  As Geographic Information Systems
  (GIS) Coordinator  for  EPA's  Pacific
  Southwest Office since 1991, Cheryl
  Henley has dealt with plen-
  ty of rush  requests to cre-
  ate maps—but nothing like
  her experience coordinating
  mapping for EPA, the Coast
  Guard,  and the Louisiana
  Department of Environmen-
  tal Quality at  the  Incident
  Command Center in Metai-
  rie, La., in October 2005.
  "Ordinarily, we get a couple
  of weeks of lead time," says
  Henley. "But there, the urgent map re-
  quests had to be completed the same
  day,  and  even the low-priority ones
  had to be done by the next day."
  The workload was  staggering.  By the
  end of the year, the GIS unit produced
  more than 6,000  maps. Each  day,
dozens of staff from  the three agen-
cies went into the field with  Global
Positioning System (GPS) units, plot-
         ting the location of hazard-
       I  ous waste, oil spills,  and
         cleanup  work. The  GPS
         units were brought  back
         to  the  Command Center,
         the data downloaded, and
         updated maps for field use
         generated for the next day's
         7 a.m. meeting.
         Cheryl's team also generat-
         ed maps showing pipelines,
         churches, fire stations, and
other  locations agency  staff had to
find in the response effort, as well as
maps  illustrating the  "big picture" to
show progress to Incident Command
officers, the  news media, and staff as
they rotated in for duty tours of two to
three weeks.
                           Community Involvement Coordinators
                           Help Returning Evacuees
                           A crew of 30 EPA Community Involvement Coor-
                           dinators from around fhe nation, including eighf
                           from fhe Pacific Soufhwesf, arrived in Louisiana in
                           lafe September 2005, just as area residents who
                           had  evacuated were beginning to return home.
                           This EPA team's initial task was to find out what
                           environmental  information residents  in this area
                           needed most, and then deliver that information.
                           By  interviewing residents, the  EPA  team found
                           that  their  most frequently-asked questions were
                           how to deal with mold in homes that had been
                           flooded, and how to make sure their water was
                           safe to drink. Existing EPA fact sheets on these
                           topics were revised for the hurricane-damaged
                           area, translated into Spanish and Vietnamese (to
                           serve the 40,000 Vietnamese Americans in coast-
                           al Louisiana), and printed in three languages plus
                           pictograms for the illiterate. Kim Hoang, a Viet-
                           namese speaker from  EPA's  Pacific Southwest
                           Superfund Division, led the outreach to the Viet-
                           namese community.
                           Mass communication faced several hurdles. Elec-
                           tricity was out, and there was no mail or newspaper
                           delivery. The team built a communication network
                           from scratch, by driving to rural churches, police
                           and  fire stations,  and other community meeting
                           places and enlisting the help of priests, ministers,
                           firefighters, police officers, and  others with exist-
                           ing  social networks. Some EPA staffers stood
on the roadside and handed leaflets to people in
passing cars; others stood  outside churches on
Sunday morning. Radio public service announce-
ments were also used, since returning residents
listened to their car radios for news.
Starting In late October, EPA staff used the distri-
bution network to advertise household hazardous
waste collection. Some worked in New Orleans,
collaborating with local nonprofits. By late Janu-
ary 2006, EPA and LDEQ had distributed more
than a million flyers  on drinking  water,  private
well testing, and  EPA efforts to collect household
chemicals and Freon from junked refrigerators
and air conditioners,  recycle damaged electron-
ics, remove chemical  drums, and collect flood-
damaged firearms and ammunition for disposal.

Leadership and Support
Staff  Play Key Roles
EPA's response efforts could not have succeeded
without support staff and managers to keep track
of people and materials, make arrangements for
meals and  housing, and compile and distribute
data from thousands of water and soil samples.
Tasks ranged from directing operations in situa-
tion units and other cross-agency teams to finan-
cial accounting and contracting. These jobs were
further complicated by the  constant arrival  and
departure of personnel from around the nation.
                                     Information from hundreds of EPA, Coast Guard, and
                                     Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality staff
                                     and contractors in the field was compiled at offices like
                                     this to prioritize and coordinate cleanup work.
                                     While much work remains, EPA and its state and
                                     federal partners have made a significant contribu-
                                     tion to helping millions of people in the hurricane-
                                     stricken area by providing safe drinking water and
                                     cleaning up oil spills and hazardous wastes. The
                                     challenges have been enormous, and the lessons
                                     learned will help EPA respond to the nation's next
                                     major emergency, which may well be in the Pacific
                                     Southwest.
                                     For more  details on EPA's ongoing response ef-
                                     forts in Louisiana, go to www.epa.gov/katrina
34    Responding to Katrina

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   EPA's  Field Offices  in  the  Pacific  Southwest
EPA's main regional office in the Pacific Soufhwesf is in down-
town San Francisco, but there are also three field offices that put
EPA staff in key geographic locations: the Southern California
Field Office, in Los Angeles; the San Diego Border Liaison Office;
and the Pacific Islands Contact Office, in Honolulu.

The Southern California  Field Office

                              More than 20 million people-
                              nearly half the entire popula-
                              tion of the Pacific Southwest
                              Region—live in the Southern
                              California counties  of  Ven-
                              tura, Los Angeles,  Orange,
                              San Diego, Riverside  and
                              San Bernardino.
                              Taken together, these coun-
                              ties represent a large, global-
                              ly  significant population and
                              economy,  with  challenging
environmental issues. EPA opened a field office in Los Angeles
in 2004 to better manage environmental programs, projects and
issues in this densely populated area.
Among the important environmental issues in Southern Califor-
nia are the adverse impacts associated with the growth of in-
ternational trade—the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles
together are the third largest port complex in the world—and the
movement of goods. Other challenging issues include the worst
air quality in the nation,  water quality problems at the beaches
and inland waterways, ground water contamination, waste dis-
posal capacity limitations, numerous Superfund sites undergo-
ing cleanup, emergency response needs, and environmental law
enforcement.
The tremendous growth in the population of Southern Califor-
nia not only makes dealing with these problems more difficult,  it
makes managing them all the more important to ensure a safe
and healthful environment for an increasing number of Southland
residents. The Southern California Field Office provides a  local
EPA presence to work  directly with  state and local agencies,
businesses, non-profit groups, press and  news media, and the
public to more effectively address these problems.

Contact:
Steven John, Office Director
john.steven@epa.gov

The San Diego Border Liaison Office

EPA's San Diego Border Liaison Office was established in 1994
to support binational efforts to address environmental problems
along the U.S.-Mexico border. The office plays a central lead-
ership,  diplomatic,  and planning role for the Pacific Southwest
Region  on U.S.-Mexico border affairs.
The  Border  Office's  func-
tions include developing and
implementing  policies  and
funding strategies that lever-
age resources and promote
measurable    environmen-
tal improvements along the
U.S.-Mexico border. The of-
fice also supports the U.S.-
Mexico   Border   Program
(Border 2012) and serves as a liaison with state and federal co-
chairs and the 26 U.S. border tribes on program implementation
and accountability.
EPA  staff here provide information to stakeholders including
non-governmental organizations;  state, local, and federal gov-
ernments; tribes; business groups; academic institutions; citizen
groups; and the general public. In addition, the Border  Office
helps facilitate community feedback to EPA  decision-makers
about border programs.

Contact:
Tomas Torres, Office Director
torres.tomas@epa.gov

The Pacific  Islands Contact Office

Located at the crossroads of
the Pacific, EPA's Pacific Is-
lands Contact Office (PICO)
in  Honolulu serves as a liai-
son  between  EPA and the
State of  Hawaii,  and other
Pacific Islands, including the
U.S.  flag territories of Guam,
American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the North-
ern Mariana Islands. The office also serves as a base for EPA
staff and environmental officials of the Pacific Islands during tem-
porary duty in Hawaii.
PICO's Dean  Higuchi serves as EPA's spokesperson in Hawaii,
and connects the Hawaii news media with EPA staff in San Fran-
cisco and Washington, D.C. PICO also conducts outreach to Ha-
waii schools, colleges and community groups, and participates
in environmental events. PICO helps the public, as well as local
governments in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, to access EPA's
extensive environmental information resources.

Contact:
Dean Higuchi, Public Affairs Specialist
higuchi.dean@epa.gov
 Addresses and phone numbers for these offices can be
 found on the inside back cover.
                                                                                    EPA Field Offices   35

-------
    m
                                                                                       /       c
                                                   CALIFORNI
                                                                            Region 9's home page at www.epa.gov/region09
News from EPA's Pacific
Southwest/Region 9  Office

Web Site Celebrates 10 Years of Growth
The Pacific Southwest area of the EPA Web site (pictured above)
has changed quite a bit since  it went live in early 1996. It has
evolved into the agency's primary communication tool in the re-
gion and an indispensable information resource for the public and
EPA partners.
On an average day in February 2006, regional Web pages were
viewed nearly 45,000 times—a far  cry from less than 300 ten
years ago. Web site  visitors can subscribe to receive press re-
leases by email, browse a featured area on agriculture issues, and
read  all EPA comments on environmental impact statements in
the Pacific Southwest. It's all at www.epa.gov/region09

Regional Office Now ISO 14001 Certified
In June 2005, EPA's  Pacific Southwest Regional Office became
certified under ISO 14001,  the international standard for Environ-
mental Management Systems (EMSs). The regional office is the
third EPA facility nationally to implement an EMS, and the second
regional office to do so.
An EMS is a systematic approach to managing and improving en-
vironmental performance. Certification includes an independent
audit to ensure facility-wide commitment to pollution prevention,
continuous environmental improvement and compliance with en-
vironmental laws. Regional EMS efforts in 2005 included battery
recycling, halting purchases of products with toxic chemicals and
switching to environmentally preferable janitorial products.

Richmond Laboratory Gets Upgrades
Staff and contract technicians at EPA's regional laboratory in Rich-
mond, Calif., have been supporting EPA's field work in the Pacific
Southwest since 1994. The lab's routine work includes chemical,
biological, and physical analyses of samples—more than 10,000
of them in 2005. In addition, the Richmond Lab became the third
EPA lab in the nation to receive accreditation under EPA's national
laboratory accreditation system.
Recent upgrades at the lab include a new mobile trailer with in-
struments to measure mercury in the air. This mobile mercury
monitor was used to  investigate air emissions of mercury from

-------
gold mining operations in Nevada, as well as tracking atmospheric
mercury deposition in waterways.
The lab also has a new technique for measuring bacterial contami-
nation of water, new chemicals of concern in living tissue (such as
endocrine disrupters), and biological warfare agents such as anthrax
spores. It's called Polymerase Chain Reaction Technology,  an ex-
tremely sensitive method of analyzing DMA fragments.

A Great Place to Work
The Pacific Southwest  Regional Office was
honored in 2005 as the best place in the nation
to work for EPA—and the second best small
agency or regional office in the entire federal
government—based on feedback from employees.
The top three small agencies/regional offices were the Federal Me-
diation and Conciliation Service, with a ranking of 81.2, EPA's Pacific
Southwest Regional Office, at 80.5, and EPA's Pacific Northwest Re-
gional Office in Seattle, at 78.4.
The Best  Places to Work rankings (at www.bestplacestowork.org)
were made by the Partnership for Public Service and American Uni-
versity's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.
                                                                   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/region09


                                                                   Offices
                                                                   EPA Pacific Southwest Region
                                                                   75 Hawthorne Street
                                                                   San Francisco, CA 94105
                                                                   EPA Pacific Islands Contact Office
                                                                   300 Ala Moana Blvd.,  Room 5124
                                                                   Honolulu, HI 96850
                                                                   808.541.2710
                                                                   EPA San Diego Border Office
                                                                   610 West Ash St.,  Suite 905
                                                                   San Diego, CA 92101
                                                                   619.235.4765
                                                                   EPA Southern California Field Office
                                                                   600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1460
                                                                   Los Angeles, CA 90017
                                                                   213.244.1800
To Obtain This Report
Order from EPA's Environmental Information Center
at 415.947.8000, or 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free),
email r9.info@epa.gov or view and print from the
Internet at www.epa.gov/region09/annualreport
®EPA
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EPA Pacific Southwest/Region 9
Environmental Information Center
Web: www.epa.gov/region09
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, Acting Civil Rights Director
Steven John, Southern California Field
        Office Director
Office of Public Affairs
415.947.8700
Sally Seymour, Director

Public Information/News Media Relations
Partnerships: State, Congressional Liaison
Compliance Assurance 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
Planning, Permits, Rulemaking
Enforcement, Technical Support
Radiation & Compliance Assurance
Grants & Program Integration
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
Policy and Management Division
415.947.8706
Jane Diamond, Director
Budget, Finance/Grants/Contracts
Strategic Planning, Science Policy
Laboratory & OA/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)
©EPA
U.S. EPA Pacific Southwest/Region 9
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Official Business Only

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