EPA Progress Report 2007
Pacific Southwest Region
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
EPA-909-R-07-003
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From the Regional Administrator
Dear Readers,
This last year we faced many challenges and achieved several significant accomplishments in EPA's Pacific Southwest Region.
Together with our state, local and tribal government partners, we have been able to better protect our air, water and land. We do
it through our daily actions, such as issuing permits and grants; ongoing compliance assistance and strong enforcement; and
through our innovative, creative voluntary efforts.
In this report, we are pleased to focus on the results achieved in collaboration with our partners, stakeholders, colleagues, and the
public. The challenges we face are daunting. We have the nation's fastest-growing major urban areas Las Vegas and Phoenix.
We have more than 1,300 water bodies impaired by pollution. We have 125 toxic sites on EPA's Superfund National Priorities List.
California's heavily populated South Coast and San Joaquin Valley have the nation's worst air quality. Our region has a U.S.-Mexico
border area with more than 8 million people, 146 federally recognized tribes, and far-flung territories in the Pacific, where many
communities still lack basic safe drinking water and wastewater facilities.
The land and people of our region are diverse, and it is that diversity that gives us our strength. We are fortunate to have a work-
force that reflects the diversity of our region and community partners that are fully committed to protecting public health and the
environment.
Air quality has always been one of our highest priorities. Last year, the San Joaquin Valley finally met the health standard for coarse
particulate pollution an agent of asthma and respiratory disease after exceeding it for more than 15 years. Through the West
Coast Collaborative, we made great strides reducing diesel emissions, especially in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. We
concluded legal cases against four major oil companies, requiring them to reduce emissions from seven California refineries.
Two of our foremost goals for clean water are to ensure that everyone has access to safe drinking water and to restore impaired
waters. We have worked to meet water and wastewater infrastructure needs on tribal lands and in Mexican border and Pacific is-
land communities. We have reached agreements through our enforcement actions with urban areas to make major improvements
to prevent sewage spills. EPA grants are supporting work by state and tribal governments on permits, pollutant limits, inspections,
enforcement and preventing polluted runoff.
Our work to restore land involves many tools. In 2006 we started the Route 66 Partnership, to help small communities in northern
Arizona clean up abandoned fuel tanks and gas stations. Our Superfund program cleans up the most difficult toxic sites, such as
Arizona's Indian Bend Wash, where we completed construction of groundwater cleanup facilities. We launched EPEAT, to prevent
e-waste and save energy by making it easy for purchasers to buy greener computers. We are leading the nation in cleaning up
underground tanks and illegal dumps on tribal lands. We collaborated with Mexico to collect 36 tons of waste pesticides along
the border. Emergency Response is also a priority, with homeland security threats now included in EPA's disaster preparedness
work.
By leveraging a diverse array of resources, actively engaging in innovative partnerships, and utilizing the full breadth of our capabili-
ties, we have accomplished far more than would otherwise be possible.
I invite you to keep working with us to conserve, protect and restore the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the unique urban
and natural environments of our vast Pacific Southwest Region. There's a lot more that we can and must accomplish in the
coming years.
Wayne Nastri
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
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Table of Contents
Clean Air
Clean Water
Clean Land
Communities and Ecosystems
Compliance and Stewardship
16
24
32
Contact Information
Inside Back Cover
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lean Ail
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
has many of the nation's most
dramatic mountain landscapes.
But in some places, they can be
obscured by air pollution. Los
Angeles had lung-searing smog
days as early as 1943. Phoenix,
Las Vegas, and California's San
Joaquin Valley have also suf
fered from unhealthy levels of
"articulate pollution.
A combination of factors has made the quest for clean
air in these areas an uphill battle. In addition to topogra-
phy and weather, rapid urban growth plays a major role,
generating more smog ingredients from vehicles, and
more dust (coarse particulates) from construction sites.
For the past two decades, Las Vegas and Phoenix have
been the nation's fastest-growing major urban areas.
Yet despite these considerable challenges, pollution
control measures have gotten results. Peak smog lev-
els in the Los Angeles area are less than half what they
were in the 1970s. Las Vegas is on the verge of attaining
the national health standards for ozone and coarse par-
ticulates, while Phoenix has attained the standards for
ozone and carbon monoxide even as it continues its
visible struggle with coarse particulate pollution.
Clean air is not an easy goal. But through traditional
planning, new technologies, and innovative partner-
ships, real progress is being made.
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Clean Air
Trends
Air Quality Trends Positive
But Key Areas Still Lag
EVEN AS POPULATION AND economic activ-
ity have boomed over the past few decades,
the trend in air quality in the Pacific Southwest
has been a positive one. However, millions of
people live in areas that are still a long way from
meeting health standards.
As shown in Figure 1, the biggest long-term
success for clean air in the Pacific Southwest
is also the biggest remaining problem: Ozone
(smog) levels in the South Coast air basin the
greater Los Angeles area are far better than
they were in the 1970s, but still the unhealthiest
in the nation. Ozone levels there have failed to
meet the national health standard on more than
100 days per year in some recent years.
In other areas of the Pacific Southwest, prog-
ress has been slow, but consistently trending
toward meeting the health standard for ozone.
The data in Figure 2, showing levels of fine
particulate pollution, or PM25, only go back to
1999, but the trends are also positive: All but
two areas have consistently met the national
health standard of 15 micrograms per cubic
meter of air. The exceptions, California's South
Coast and San Joaquin Valley, are making
gradual progress. (With EPAs recent tightening
of one of its PIVL c standards due to better un-
Z..O
derstanding of health impacts, additional areas
will also need to improve.)
"Rapid growth makes it difficult to achieve the
health standards, because emission reductions
from pollution control measures can be erased
by growth in the number of sources," says Dave
Jesson, EPAs senior expert on air quality in the
Pacific Southwest.
"We've made big strides through measures
requiring cleaner vehicles, low-emission prod-
ucts, and better controls on industrial sources,"
says Jesson. "Extending progress will require
increasingly creative and aggressive combi-
nations of policymaking, planning and new
technologies."
Key Air Pollution Areas
in the Pacific Southwest
San Francisco Bay Area
Fig. 1. Ozone (O3) Concentrations
National 8-hour Standard
Average of 4th Highest Days over Three Years
Fig. 2. Particulate Matter PM25 Concentrations
Mean Concentrations Highest Site in Each Area
g 0.255-
S,
S
13
g 0.085
Health Standard
South Coast
San Joaquin Valley
Sacramento Metro
lan Diego County
San Francisco Bay Area
Phoenix-Mesa
Las Vegas
Health Standard
Source: US ERA'S Air Quality System (AQS)
South Coast
San Joaquin Valley
San Diego
Sacramento
Phoenix
San Francisco Bay Area
Las Vegas
Honolulu
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4 Clean Air
Primer
Goods Movement: Working with
Ports to Reduce Air Pollution
IN THE VAST TRANSPORTATION network of ships,
trucks and trains that move every conceivable
type of goods from place to place, few loca-
tions can match the intense activity of a port.
The adjacent ports of Long Beach and Los An-
geles, taken together, handle 40% of the na-
tion's containerized cargo traffic more than
14 million 20-foot containers annually, carry-
ing more than $260 billion worth of goods. As
big as they are, these figures may double by
2020. The combined ports are an economic
powerhouse for the Los Angeles area, and, by
some estimates, are responsible for more than
300,000 jobs in the five-county region.
However, with the economic benefits come en-
vironmental challenges. Air pollution from these
seaports is a major ingredient in the area's in-
famous smog, still the nation's worst despite
decades of hard-won gains in air quality. The
area's airborne particulate pollution also still
reaches unhealthy levels.
Not only do the ships add air pollutants from
their smokestacks, but vast armies of diesel
equipment work to support port activities, from
the tugs that help move the ships safely, to the
equipment that moves containers from place to
place on the docks, to the trucks and trains that
bring the containers to their final destinations.
Each type of equipment contributes to the air
quality challenges of the LA area. All of the par-
ties now recognize that in order for the area to
attain the health-based standards for fine par-
ticles and ozone, it is essential that all of this
equipment operate cleaner than it does now.
State and local agencies are deeply involved in
ambitious plans to reduce emissions from the
ports. One of the most innovative and far reach-
ing plans is the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air
Action Plan, drafted by both ports with the in-
volvement of key regulatory agencies, including
EPA. The plan, unveiled in 2006, proposes hun-
dreds of millions of dollars in investments by the
ports, government agencies, and port-related
industries to reduce the ports' air pollution by
an ambitious 50% in the next five years, cutting
diesel particulates by 1,200 tons and nitrogen
oxides by 12,000 tons annually.
In 2007, port tenants, railroads, and trucking
companies at the ports are expected to sign on
to participate in the plan, which includes com-
mitments to:
MAERBK
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Eliminate dirty diesel trucks from the ports
by helping finance a new generation of clean
or retrofitted vehicles.
Develop shore-side electricity at ship berths,
so docked ships will no longer need to gen-
erate power by running their main, smoke-
producing engines.
Require ships to reduce speeds when enter-
ing or leaving the harbor region, use low-sul-
fur fuels, and employ other emission-reduc-
tion technologies.
Recognizing the importance of goods move-
ment and ports in particular to environmental
issues nationwide, EPA in September 2006
convened a meeting of regional administrators,
national EPA officials, and other key stakehold-
ers to discuss solutions for port-related pol-
lution in all U.S. coastal states. These efforts,
together with EPAs core role in setting national
emissions standards, will continue to ensure
progress in improving public health.
Clean Air
Clean Diesel and the
West Coast Collaborative
On September 1, 2006, California re-
quired service stations to sell diesel
with 97% less sulfur, greatly reduc-
ing particulates in diesel emissions.
Under an EPA regulation, the rest of
the nation followed suit on October
15. The move is predicted to ben-
efit public health even more than the
phase-out of leaded gasoline in the
1970s and 1980s.
EPA has funded 51 diesel emissions
reduction projects in the West since
2004, together with more than 30
government agencies and private
partners that form the West Coast
Collaborative. EPA grants totaling
$7.5 million for the projects have
leveraged tens of millions from other
sources.
Above: EPA awarded a $300,000 grant to the Port of Long Beach to develop
a hybrid-powered cargo-handling vehicle. Left to right: EPA Deputy
Administrator Marcus Peacock, port director Richard Steinke, cargo terminal
VP Anthony Otto, Harbor Commission President James Hankla, EPA Regional
Administrator Wayne Nastri, port planner Robert Kanter.
Below: The Port of Los Angeles' shore facilities stretch over several square
miles. All cargo is containerized for easy transfer to trucks and trains.
(Photo: Matt Haber)
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6 Clean Air
Places
San Joaquin Valley
Strives for Healthier Air
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA'S San Joa-
quin Valley provides an almost perfect trap for
air pollution: It is long, low, and surrounded by
mountains except at its northern extension, the
Sacramento Valley.
The San Joaquin has been California's most
productive agricultural area for more than a
century, and in recent years it has experienced
rapid urban growth and an influx of large dair-
ies. All three contribute to some of the nation's
most challenging air quality problems, which af-
fect the health and livelihood of the valley's 3.3
million residents and 27,000 farms.
In the valley's hot, dry summers, emissions
from cars, trucks, trains, livestock waste, pre-
scribed burning, oil and gas production, recre-
ational boats, and pesticides combine to create
unhealthy ozone levels. During the cooler fall
and winter, particulates are the greater health
problem. Particulate sources include dust from
vehicles on both paved and unpaved roads,
smoke from home fireplaces and burning of
agricultural waste, and diesel exhaust from the
region's trucks, buses, tractors, locomotives,
and irrigation pumps.
Thanks to efforts led by the San Joaquin Valley
Unified Air Pollution Control District, the valley
for the first time met the national health stan-
dard for coarse particulate matter such as dust
and soot (known as PM10) for the 2003-2005
period. The agency's 2003 PM10 reduction plan
put a variety of measures in place that have
added up to cleaner air, including restrictions
on fireplaces, and on burning dead trees and
branches from orchards and other agricultural
materials. There were state-funded financial in-
centives for replacing dirty diesel engines with
cleaner ones.
"A lot of people put a lot of effort into improving
the valley's air quality," says Kerry Drake, asso-
ciate director of EPA's regional Air Division. "But
there is still much more to do."
EPA has long been a partner in San Joaquin's
efforts to reduce air pollution. The agency
has worked with agriculture to build a flexible,
menu-driven program for reducing agricultural
dust, developed standards for engine emis-
sions and fuels which over time will have a
particular impact on non-road sources such as
diesel pumps and tractors and has funded
key research on emissions inventories, monitor-
ing, and modeling. The agency has also brought
together a diverse group of stakeholders to ad-
vance innovative emission reduction projects
through the West Coast Collaborative.
The valley has a long way to go to meet the
national health standards for ozone and small
Orange groves and cultivated fields stretch across
the east side of California's San Joaquin Valley.
particulates, PM25. These small particles, which
are even more harmful than PM10 because they
go deeper into people's lungs, come from some
of the same sources: Farming, road dust, and
managed burning account for nearly half the
valley's PM25. Other major sources include sta-
tionary sources (irrigation pump engines and
smokestacks) and burning of residential fuels
such as propane and natural gas.
To help the valley meet a number of challenges,
including air quality, Governor Arnold Schwar-
zenegger formed the California Partnership for
the San Joaquin Valley in September 2005. EPA
and the air district were part of the partnership's
Air Quality Workgroup, which submitted an ac-
tion plan to the governor in late 2006, focusing
on collaboration between federal, state, and
local agencies to accelerate adoption of emis-
sions reduction technologies such as replacing
diesel engines with cleaner alternatives.
The air district's most recent efforts include
requiring wineries and dairies to reduce their
volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.
Also starting in 2007, housing and commercial
developers must mitigate the added air pollu-
tion their developments will create, or pay into
a mitigation fund. In addition, the district is due
to submit a plan in mid-2007 to meet the new
health standard for ozone.
Exactly when the valley will meet all air qual-
ity health standards is difficult to predict. But
one thing is certain: Everyone's effort will be
needed.
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Research Supports Mission,
Spurs Innovation
WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES on many environ-
mental challenges in the Pacific Southwest is
EPA's Regional Science Council, which strives
to strengthen EPA's scientific skills and knowl-
edge. Its membership includes staff and man-
agers from across EPA's programs and from the
Management and Technical Services Division,
which provides regional science support.
The council regularly hosts seminars on cutting-
edge science developments and emerging is-
sues. It also plays a leadership role in deploying
support resources from EPA's national Office of
Research and Development. In 2006, the coun-
cil assembled EPA's first regional science plan,
which examines the critical science needs and
activities driving broader priorities in the Pacific
Southwest.
Studying Air Pollution from Airports
One of EPA's top regional priorities is reduc-
ing air pollution in urban areas. EPA funded a
study conducted by the UCLA School of Public
Health to identify ambient levels of the complex
particulate and toxic emissions at Los Ange-
les International Airport (LAX), both at the blast
fence and in the community downwind of the
LAX runways.
This project was proposed and designed as
part of the LAX Environmental Impact State-
ment (EIS) review process because EPA had
identified a lack of information on jet engine
emissions as a deficiency in the 2000 EIS for
LAX. The results of the first phase of that study,
which was focused on the blast fence area, are
expected in early spring of this year.
This research has laid the groundwork for further
projects at LAX, as well as airports in Boston
and Rhode Island. This year, a larger year-long
air quality and emission source apportionment
study is planned. Results are expected to help
assess community exposure to air pollution
from aircraft and airports worldwide.
Air Quality Research Centers in California
Two California research centers have each re-
ceived $8 million in EPA funding for innovative
work on air quality and health. The first of the
two grants is funding five years of research at
the San Joaquin Valley Aerosol Health Effects
Center at the University of California, Davis.
Focused on the San Joaquin Valley, research-
ers here are evaluating exposures to airborne
particulate matter and trying to figure out which
components and sources lead to observed
health effects.
The second is being put to use by the South-
ern California Particle Center, a consortium of
universities including the University of Southern
California, UC Irvine and UCLA. Researchers
are investigating the underlying mechanisms
that produce the health effects associated with
exposure to particulate matter. They are also
looking at how the health effects vary depend-
ing on the source, chemical composition and
physical characteristics of the particulates.
Advanced Monitoring Initiative and GEOSS
The U.S. is part of an international effort to better
understand the Earth's natural processes and
environmental conditions the Global Earth
Senior science policy adviser Jan Baxter and
Waste Division environmental scientist Mary
Blevins co-chair the Regional Science Council.
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). EPA
is supporting GEOSS by funding short research
projects through the agency's Advanced Moni-
toring Initiative (AMI).
EPA has two AMI-funded projects underway in
the Pacific Southwest. One will evaluate wheth-
er data from satellites, ground sensors, and bal-
loons can be combined to better understand
ozone (smog) formation, severity, and move-
ment in the U.S.-Mexico border area. Partners
include NASA-Ames, Jet Propulsion Labora-
tory, Southwest Consortium for Environmental
Research and Policy, UC Berkeley, and the Pan
American Health Organization.
The other project is using satellite and overflight
data to study the distribution of fine airborne
particulates (PM25) in the San Joaquin Valley.
This data will also enable researchers to test the
reliability of the valley's ground-based measure-
ment network and the need for future ground-
based studies. Partners include NASA, NOAA,
the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Dis-
trict, and the California Air Resources Board.
This High Spectral
Resolution Lidar
(HSRL) image
is the result of
data collected by
a NASA aircraft
flying over the
eastern San
Joaquin Valley
on February 15,
2007. It shows
that aerosols (fine
particulates) were
mostly confined
to the southern
part of the valley,
and below 1,500
meters altitude.
(Image courtesy
of NASA Langley
Research Center)
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8 Clean Air
Advances
Biofuels: Grease
Is the Word
THANKS TO AN INCREASING awareness of global
climate change and the risks of dependence on
foreign oil, there's been a resurgence of inter-
est in cleaner, domestic energy such as biofu-
els renewable fuels from plant and animal
sources, such as methane from cow manure,
ethanol from corn or switchgrass, and biodiesel
from restaurant grease or soybeans.
In addition to an array of programs to increase
energy efficiency (see p. 35 for examples), EPA
has helped promote the use of biofuels and
other alternative energy sources. In the Pacific
Southwest, more than a dozen dairies are al-
ready converting manure into methane and us-
ing it to generate electricity. In the region's cities,
a growing number of restaurants and cafeterias
are redirecting tons of used cooking oil and
grease to the production of biodiesel.
In San Francisco, oils used to fry food in restau-
rants are fueling the city's vehicle fleet. In 2005,
the city's transit system fueled a single bus with
B20 a mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80%
regular diesel. More B20 buses are now operat-
ing, and Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that
by 2008 all of the city's vehicles will use B20,
creating a demand for over 2 million gallons of
pure biodiesel annually. In March 2007, EPA
Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri awarded
a $200,000 grant to the City College of San
Francisco to start training mechanics to work
on vehicles using B20 or 100% biodiesel.
In Southern Nevada, recycled grease from Las
Vegas casino restaurants fuels more than 1,300
Clark County School District buses, which use
B20. At the University of Nevada, Reno, an EPA
grant helped chemical engineering Professor
Hatice Gecol develop a low-cost, continuous
production process to make biodiesel from
the student cafeteria's waste cooking oils. The
scaled-up production facility will soon make
800,000 gallons of biodiesel per year.
In Santa Cruz, California, a $75,000 EPA grant
to Ecology Action proved the local market po-
tential of biodiesel. This led to the construction
of a biodiesel production plant in the nearby Sa-
linas Valley that uses both agricultural and res-
taurant waste as feedstock. On the Hawaiian
Island of Maui and at Los Angeles International
Airport, you can rent "Bio-Beetle" cars that run
on biodiesel.
Biodiesel from restaurant
grease burns cleaner
and takes far less
energy to manufacture
and distribute than
petroleum-based diesel.
According to Olof Hansen, EPA's regional
biodiesel expert, biodiesel from restaurant
grease has great advantages over conventional
diesel. First, it's cleaner-burning (60% less par-
ticulate emissions, and nearly 80% less green-
house gases). Second, it takes far less energy
to manufacture and distribute, especially if it's
made and used locally. Third, it diverts res-
taurant grease that can clog sewer pipes and
thereby prevents sewage overflows to surface
waters (see story, p. 12).
And finally, it enables restaurants, institutional
kitchens, and biodiesel producers to turn a
waste into a valuable product. In California,
there's even a trade association, CalFOG (FOG
= "Fat, Oils, Grease") that unites restaurants,
waste haulers, and wastewater treatment plant
managers. Ironically, the diesel engine's inven-
tor, Germany's Dr. Rudolph Diesel, originally built
the engine in 1894 to run on peanut oil, which
was cheaper than petroleum fuels. Biodiesel,
like recycling, has come full circle.
For more information, go to www.epa.
gov/region9/waste/biodiesel
Biodiesel-powered vehicles like this "Bio-Beetle" are
turning heads in Hawaii and other locations.
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Clean Air 9
People
Bob Baker:
Preventing Air Pollution Through Precise Permitting
NEXT TIME YOU'RE IN A PLANE flying over an
urban area, look around. Can you see any
smokestacks belching smoke? Probably not,
thanks to people like Bob Baker. He reviews air
emission permits issued by states and tribes
for new electric power plants, to make sure
they minimize air pollution. Baker has been
very busy in recent years, as the energy crisis
of 2000-2001 sparked an upsurge in plans for
new power plants.
These permits are crucial to clean air, because
they limit the allowable emissions from all major
"stationary sources" mostly industrial facili-
ties, as opposed to "mobile sources," such as
vehicles and construction equipment.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, EPA over-
sees the issuance of permits for new station-
ary sources. To prevent delays in the already
lengthy permit process, Baker works with his
counterparts at state or tribal air pollution con-
trol agencies to find out what's being proposed
early on. He'll take a close look at the plans,
and tell them what the project needs to do to
minimize air pollution. The state regulators then
write these conditions into the permit.
For example, one important requirement is
known as "BACT" Best Available Con-
trol Technology. This requires new stationary
sources to use state-of-the-art pollution con-
trol equipment. Another is the offset require-
ment that applies in areas like California's South
Coast air district, where the air fails to meet na-
tional health standards. Here, applicants want-
ing to build a new facility are required to find and
reduce existing pollution sources, so there's
no net increase in air pollution. This has also
helped drive technical innovations, since it's a
strong incentive to minimize emissions from the
new facility.
Another crucial requirement in every permit is
the modeling protocol. This specifies how air
emissions from the facility will be accurately
measured, recorded, and submitted to the reg-
ulatory agency. The data enables the agency to
take enforcement action if the facility puts out
more pollution than its permit allows.
Baker is an expert on combustion processes,
the emissions they generate, and ways to re-
duce them. During his career in EPA's regional
Air Division, new technology has allowed new
power plants to become far more efficient, and
far less polluting. The latest emission controls
on natural gas-fired power plants have reduced
nitrogen oxide emissions (an ingredient in smog)
from 150 parts per million (ppm) down to 2.5
ppm or less.
A UC Davis-trained civil engineer, Baker was
born at Letterman Hospital in the Presidio of
San Francisco, and grew up in Vallejo. After
college, he served three years in the U.S. Army,
including one in Vietnam as a tank command-
er, before coming to EPA in 1972. At EPA, he
worked first as a lab technician, then in 1980
started doing technical analysis of proposed
new stationary sources. He's been doing similar
work ever since. After more than 35 years at
EPA, Baker is planning to retire this year.
Above: Bob Baker in the early '70s at EPA's lab in Alameda, California.
Below: Baker today.
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Clean Water
Clean water is essential for life
not just for people, but for
plants, wildlife, livestock, fish,
and other aquatic life. That's
obvious in arid areas of the Pa
cific Southwest, such as Arizona,
Nevada, and Southern California.
Here, small sources of pollution
can do major damage to wet
lands and rivers.
Clean water is just as essential in wetter areas like Ha
waii. In the tropical Pacific, soil erosion can wash silt
into nearshore waters, killing coral and all the other
organisms that depend on it.
Everywhere, polluted runoff from careless logging or
agricultural practices can dump silt, manure, or tox
ics into waterways. Sewage overflows and cesspools
can spread disease pathogens. To prevent these and
other water pollution problems, EPA assists state and
tribal agencies by enforcing the federal Clean Water
Act, funding infrastructure improvements, and provid
ing other key types of support.
For human consumption, tap water must meet strict
federal standards. Drinking water is routinely tested for
dozens of potential bacterial and chemical contami
nants. With more than 10,000 agencies and companies
providing drinking water in the Pacific Southwest, mak
ing sure they all do it right is a big job. EPA works closely
with state and tribal agencies to support and oversee
these local compliance efforts.
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Clean Water 11
Trends
How's the water?
Surprises in California, Arizona's Monitoring Results
THE CLEAN WATER ACT OF 1972 requires
states to identity waters that are "impaired"
by pollutants. That's why state water monitor-
ing efforts have usually focused on the most
polluted waters. Over the last several years,
however, EPA's Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP) has funded the
first truly statewide surface water monitoring in
western states. In 2006, Arizona and California
published their first EMAP results.
These "big picture" studies provide important
context to the Pacific Southwest Region's of-
ficial state lists of impaired waters, which now
total about 1,300. A water body can be a sec-
tion of river or stream, a lake, a bay, or a coastal
area. Some waters are impaired by more than
one pollutant.
Some of the results were surprising: For in-
stance, 98% of California's coastal bays and
estuaries had sufficient dissolved oxygen an
indicator of clean water to support fish and
other aquatic life.
In assessing streams, Arizona and California
monitored water chemistry, habitat, and bio-
logical integrity. Both states developed a mac-
roinvertebrate index a biological indicator of
stream health rather than just analyzing the
water. Using this index, California found 78% of
its streams "non-impaired" (where invertebrates
indicating clean water were found). Arizona,
however, categorized 57% of its stream areas
as "most disturbed" lacking aquatic inverte-
brates that indicate clean water (see Figure 1).
Arizona's outlook was not as good as had
been expected. One possible explanation is
that Arizona's streams, especially in the desert
landscapes that cover most of the state, have
less water than California's, making Arizona's
aquatic life more vulnerable to pollutants and
other stressors.
Janet Hashimoto, a water monitoring expert in
EPA's Pacific Southwest Office, says the EMAP-
type probabilistic monitoring approach provides
baselines to track water quality trends. Califor-
nia took samples at 130 random sites, including
San Francisco Bay. Arizona took samples at 47
perennial stream sites.
In 2007, Arizona, California, Nevada, the Navajo
Nation, and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe are
participating in a nationwide lakes survey. EPA
is also planning to assess the nation's large,
non-wadeable rivers using the EMAP-type sur-
vey design in the near future.
Work has been underway since the 1980s to
reduce pollutants in impaired waters, under
EPA and the states' TMDL Total Maximum
Daily Loads programs. TMDL studies iden-
tify the sources and amounts of a pollutant in a
water body, and specify the reductions needed
to restore the water body's designated benefi-
cial uses a first step toward actual pollution
reductions. By late 2006, Pacific Southwest
Fig. 1. Statewide Assessments of Wadeable
Perennial Streams
Macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity
California (stream miles)
impaired
non-impaired
22%
78%
Arizona (stream miles)
most disturbed
intermediate
least disturbed
57% (ฑ12%)
29% (ฑ13%)
14% (ฑ9%)
states and territories had completed more than
940 TMDLs (see Figure 2).
TMDL targets are often met by limiting dis-
charges allowed by permits issued to facilities
like factories and wastewater treatment plants.
TMDLs also help EPA and states prioritize proj-
ects to reduce polluted runoff, or "nonpoint
sources." EPA has issued grants to states and
tribes for hundreds of nonpoint source projects
in recent years.
No single solution can clean up the nation's
thousands of impaired water bodies. But with
the Clean Water Act and continued large-scale
monitoring, EPA and states are taking a com-
prehensive approach to assessing our water-
ways and restoring them to ecological health.
Fig. 2. Number of TMDLs Completed in the Pacific Southwest Region
1990 & prior
1991-1995
1996-2000
2001-2005
2006-present
TOTAL
36
42
87
53
469
150
686
SHr
87
1
1
16
0
105
NV
3
24
0
35
0
62
Outer Pacific
0
0
0
0
3
3
All
104
32
90
562
155
943
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12 Clean Water
Primer
Beneath the Cities:
Reducing Sewage Spills
UNDER THE STREETS IN every urban area, there's
a potential health hazard: sewage collection
pipes connecting to every home and building.
When sewage flow is blocked below ground, it
promptly rises to street level, and flows through
street gutters and storm drains, exposing peo-
ple to disease pathogens and polluting streams
and beaches. Major sewage pipe breaks in
Honolulu and Manhattan Beach, California, last
year made headlines and forced the closure of
nearby beaches.
While the big beach spills got the most public-
ity, more numerous sewage overflows into city
streets are also a serious health hazard. In the
1990s, hundreds of these stinking overflows
plagued Southern California every year. But to-
day, there's good news: Los Angeles reports a
70% reduction, and San Diego claims a 77%
reduction in the number of sewage spills in the
past five years.
The pollutants in sewage include bacteria and
viruses, nutrients, industrial wastes, and some-
times toxics. Many overflows occur during wet
weather, when more water can enter the sew-
age pipes. During these maximum flows, sew-
ers are most vulnerable to constrictions caused
by insufficient pipe capacity, poor operation and
maintenance, vandalism, and obstructions like
grease from restaurants.
EPA provided nearly $70 million in Clean Wa-
ter State Revolving Fund capitalization grants in
fiscal 2006 to fund local wastewater treatment
and other water quality protection projects in
the Pacific Southwest. EPA's most recent effort
to reduce sewage spills in the region began in
2000, with a regionwide inventory of state spill
records to find out where the biggest problems
were. EPA staff worked with state agencies to
collect data on the 214 major municipal sys-
tems, 33 minor systems, and 16 federal facili-
ties in the Pacific Southwest that have water
discharge permits.
Unfortunately, sewage spills are quite com-
mon. With several hundred spills occurring
each year, it made sense for EPA to focus on
the large spills and the cities and towns with re-
curring spill problems. EPA worked with sewer
system managers to find the root causes of the
spills. Urban growth, pipe failures, pump sta-
tion breakdowns and deterioration of old sewer
pipes are typical causes of overflows. The next
step involved training and technical assistance
on approaches for improving sewer system
management and maintenance and to promote
renewal of aging infrastructure.
After that, EPA and the state agencies initiated
enforcement actions. Four Southern California
Large cities must maintain hundreds of miles of
sewer pipes to prevent spills from endangering public
health.
Urban growth, pump
station breakdowns,
and the deterioration
of old sewer pipes can
all cause overflows.
coastal cities were ordered to reduce spills and
develop infrastructure renewal plans. To resolve
the Los Angeles and San Diego actions, EPA
and the state's regional water boards required
these cities to improve operation and mainte-
nance, as well as rebuild some of their infra-
structure. Los Angeles alone is in the midst of a
$2 billion project to rebuild 488 miles of sewer,
annually clean more than 40% of its 6,500-
mile sewer system, better control restaurant
grease discharges, and plan for future urban
expansion.
California in 2006 adopted a Statewide Permit
for publicly owned systems requiring them to
develop management plans requiring mainte-
nance, inspections, infrastructure rehabilitation,
capacity assessment, rapid response to spills
and public notification.
Over the next few years, EPA expects other
communities in the Pacific Southwest to follow
the lead of Los Angeles and San Diego. In 2007,
the agency is continuing to collect comprehen-
sive data on spills, and to negotiate spill-reduc-
ing agreements with more municipalities. The
urban wastewater agencies are a crucial line
of defense against epidemic diseases. Without
them, urban life would be impossible.
-------
Clean Water 13
Places
The Hanalei Watershed,
Kauai, Hawaii
THE STATE OF HAWAII has always been known
for its inviting beaches, but with a growing pop-
ulation of about 1.3 million people and more
than 7 million visitors a year preventing pol-
lution of coastal waters from sewage and pol-
luted runoff is a bigger job than ever.
Even Kauai, with a far smaller population than
the islands of Oahu, Maui, or Hawaii, has had
its share of problems. But with the support of
an EPA grant, the community near Kauai's Ha-
nalei River and Hanalei Bay has taken a model
approach to addressing these problems.
In 2003, the Hanalei Watershed Hui received
the first EPA Targeted Watershed Initiative Grant
in the Pacific Southwest Region. Funds were
used for a wide range of tasks, from coral reef
preservation to improved water quality monitor-
ing and assessing the watershed's biological
resources. The hui (Hawaiian for "group") also
used the grant to control polluted runoff by in-
stalling check dams to trap sediments flowing
out of taro fields, and constructing fences to
exclude cattle from sensitive riparian areas.
The hui has also focused on improving waste-
water management, which is relevant to wa-
ter quality challenges facing the entire state.
Across the state of Hawaii, raw, untreated sew-
age is often discharged directly into the ground
via cesspools. This method of waste disposal
can contaminate streams, groundwater, and
coastal waters with disease-causing pathogens
and oxygen-depleting nitrates.
In 2005, a nationwide regulation took effect
banning the use of Large Capacity Cesspools,
Watershed protection activities on lands surrounding
Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai help keep
the bay's waters clean. (Photo: Jim Jacobi, U.S.
Geological Survey)
which are defined as cesspools used by mul-
tiple residential dwellings or commercial estab-
lishments serving 20 or more persons on any
day. Under the federal ban, Large Capacity
Cesspool owners are installing safer septic sys-
tems or connecting to sewers served by waste-
water treatment plants. In Hawaii, the state
Department of Health plays an important role
by ensuring that wastewater systems used to
replace cesspools are properly designed. EPA
has negotiated legally-binding agreements with
private owners as well as state and local agen-
cies to close and replace large cesspools. In
2006, the Hawaii Department of Education, the
Hawaii County Department of Environmental
Management, and Costco's Kailua-Kona store
signed such commitments with EPA.
In the Hanalei Watershed, the hui has prioritized
and coordinated efforts to replace cesspools
along the Hanalei River, Waipa Stream, and
close to Hanalei Bay. Large cesspools are be-
lieved to be significant contributors to elevated
nutrient and bacteria levels in these waterways.
Kauai County is addressing several cesspools
adjacent to Hanalei Beach. Four of these have
been replaced as a result of a legal agreement
with EPA. Another four in the Hanalei watershed
have been upgraded to septic systems by the
hui, using EPA grant money. Plus, the county is
making improvements to a septic system at a
restroom at the beach.
Beyond these short-term improvements, the
hui is looking at a broader, long-term solution by
exploring the feasibility of a centralized waste-
water collection and treatment system for the
town of Hanalei. This could be a model for other
communities across the state of Hawaii.
-------
14 Clean Water
BfcMQUdi Pnxxumg Summary
Innovation
Turning Biosolids into Energy
As THE WEST COAST'S LARGEST CITY, Los An-
geles does things on a bigger scale than any-
where else in the Pacific Southwest. The city's
environmental challenges are bigger too, from
the city's smog to its sewage spills and over-
flows (see story, p. 12). While the city's massive
wastewater treatment facilities prevent sanitary
wastes from polluting beaches and waterways,
these pungent wastes known as biosolids,
or sludge have to go somewhere.
In recent years, the city has been trucking 500
tons of the nutrient-rich biosolids each day to
Kern County, where they're applied as fertil-
izer to farms growing non-food crops. But the
trucks add to traffic and air pollution in the Los
Angeles area, so the city is researching envi-
ronmentally-friendly, low-cost alternatives to the
practice.
The city's planners came up with an innovative
solution that not only gets rid of the waste with-
out harming the environment, it may also gener-
ate a cash crop of clean fuel. The city intends
to pump the sludge about a mile deep below
the Terminal Island wastewater treatment plant
in San Pedro Harbor, into a porous sandstone
formation where high temperatures and pres-
sure will break down the organic matter into its
primary constituents, methane and carbon di-
oxide. Since both of these primary gases would
have normally been released into the atmo-
sphere, the sandstone provides a containment
benefit.
After several years of technical and regulatory
review, EPA, with the regional water board's en-
dorsement, authorized the City of Los Angeles
to proceed on an experimental basis. One goal
of the project is to ensure that the carbon diox-
ide and other components remain sequestered
in the deep formation, while tracking the sub-
surface movement and collection of methane
gas natural gas that can be tapped as a
source of clean, renewable energy.
The five-year experimental underground injec-
tion permit will allow the city to curb its current
practice of trucking the biosolids hundreds of
miles daily to Kern County which generates
diesel emissions from the trucks that carry it.
When factoring both the trucking and land ap-
plication, reductions of atmospheric emissions
of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide
and nitrous oxide will be realized. Given the
many potential benefits of this project, the Los
Angeles Times reported that it "could be an en-
vironmental trifecta" good for clean air, clean
water, and clean land.
Above: Diagram shows how biosolids from Los Angeles'
sewage treatment plants will be injected into deep underground
formations for conversion into methane and CO2, in a process
patented by Terralog Technologies under a contract with the
City of Los Angeles. The methane (natural gas) will be extracted
and used as a clean fuel, while the CO2 will be permanently
sequestered.
Left: Terminal Island, in the upper left of this photo, will be the site
of an innovative project to dispose of biosolids from wastewater
treatment plants by deep underground injection (see diagram,
above).
-------
Clean Water 15
People
Marvin Young and Jon Merkle:
Keeping Tap Water Safe To Drink
JON MERKLE WAS A YOUNG lawyer from Chi-
cago when he came to work at EPA's Pacific
Southwest Regional Office in San Francisco in
March 1977. Marvin Young joined the agency in
June 1980, after growing up in Honolulu, get-
ting degrees from the University of Hawaii, and
working for the Indian Health Service on the Na-
vajo Nation.
Merkle spent the early years of his EPA ca-
reer working on enforcement actions against
suspected violators of the Clean Water Act,
including industries that dumped toxic poly-
chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into evaporation
ponds in Henderson, Nevada, and sugar mills
that dumped sugar cane waste into the ocean
off the Big Island of Hawaii. Young spent several
years of his early career cleaning up toxic sites
on the Pacific islands of Guam and American
Samoa.
Then they discovered their true calling: clean
drinking water. This year, both men are retiring
after working more than 20 years in EPA's re-
gional Drinking Water Compliance and Enforce-
ment section. At different times, Merkle and
Young each served several years as supervisor
of this group of about a dozen people, whose
job is to ensure that drinking water is safe to
drink throughout the Pacific Southwest. To do
this, EPA works with the region's state, tribal,
and territorial governments to oversee their use
of EPA grant money to monitor the compliance
of thousands of local water purveyors with the
federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
EPA can also take enforcement action directly.
In the mid-1990s, water purveyors were re-
quired to start testing their water for lead and
copper contamination. About two thousand in
the Pacific Southwest ignored the new regula-
tion, so Young and his section prepared and
sent out more than 2,000 legal Notices of Viola-
tion. It was the regional Water Division's biggest
enforcement effort in 20 years.
EPA Action Targeted Unsafe Canal Water
In 1991, EPA learned that in Imperial County, on
the U.S.-Mexico Border, a local irrigation dis-
trict's canals were the source of untreated tap
water for about 10,000 people in the county.
Tests showed the canal water was contaminat-
ed with bacteria.
Merkle drew up an EPA order to the district to
comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act. While
the district appealed, the county stopped issu-
ing building permits, and some of the local resi-
dents blamed EPA. About 800 people showed
up at a public meeting with EPA staff, and 49
of them spoke all but one opposed to EPA's
action.
The district appealed EPA's order in court,
and won. Four years later, however, Congress
changed the law. Once it took effect, the states
of California and Arizona issued compliance
orders to irrigation districts serving a total of
14,000 people. The districts finally complied by
providing bottled water to their canal-tapping
customers.
Getting Past Airport Security
To Test Water on Planes
More recently, EPA needed data on whether
water on airliners is safe to drink. Merkle and
other EPA staff had to drag coolers filled with
ice and sample jars through airports, wait at se-
curity checkpoints, and rush onto planes during
the short time the planes were empty between
flights dozens of times.
Nationwide, samples showed that airplane tap
water was often contaminated with bacteria.
In 2005, EPA ordered U.S. airlines to comply
with federal law by routinely testing their water,
and notifying passengers any time contamina-
tion is found. Thanks to Merkle and other EPA
staff, water on U.S. airliners will be held to the
same strict health standards as tap water on
the ground.
Marvin Young (left) and Jon Merkle
-------
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
is truly a landscape of contrasts,
from pristine watersheds in the
Sierra Nevada, to irrigated ag
ricultural lands of California's
Central Valley, to sprawling
urban and industrial areas in
habited by millions from coast to
desert.
Protecting these varied landscapes, and the health of
the people who live in them, presents different challeng
es in each area. In the arid West, mining has brought
toxic elements like arsenic and uranium to the surface,
and work is needed at some sites to prevent these poi
sons from polluting the air or water.
In the Pacific Southwest, cleanups usually focus on pre
venting toxics at old industrial and waste disposal sites
from contaminating water supplies and preventing ex
posureto contaminated soils. In the Pacific Islands, EPA
has been cleaning up old munitions, chemicals, and fuel
tanks left from when the islands were staging areas for
military operations during World War II, the Korean Con
flict, and the Vietnam War.
Throughout the Pacific Southwest, EPA works with
state, local, and tribal governments to clean up former
industrial and tank sites, paving the way for redevelop
ment that revitalizes communities.
-------
Clean Land 17
Trends
Superfund Cleanups
Reach Milestone
IN THE 1970s, AMERICANS learned that tox-
ic waste dumping had despoiled hundreds of
sites across the nation, contaminating land and
waters both above and below ground. To deal
with the problem, Congress passed laws reg-
ulating toxic waste disposal, and in late 1980
a law to clean up the worst toxic waste sites,
the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act. It's known as
the Superfund law, since it created a fund to
pay for cleanups when no viable responsible
parties could be found.
EPA works closely with communities, potential-
ly responsible parties, scientists, researchers,
contractors, and state, local, tribal, and federal
authorities on site cleanup. Together with these
groups, EPA's Superfund program identifies
hazardous waste sites, conducts investigations
to determine the extent of contamination, de-
velops cleanup plans, and cleans up the sites.
Today, construction of cleanup facilities has
been completed at over 1,000 sites across the
nation. In late 2006, the Pacific Southwest Re-
gion reached an important milestone by achiev-
Today, construction of
cleanup facilities has been
completed at over 1,000
sites across the nation.
ing "construction complete" status at the Indian
Bend Wash site in Arizona. The agency has
now finished work on cleanup facilities at 50%
of the 125 Superfund National Priorities List
(NPL) sites in the region.
In addition to making progress in cleaning up
NPL sites, EPA has a Superfund Emergency
Response program, which mitigates immedi-
ate risks at sites that pose an imminent threat
to public health or the environment, such as oil
and chemical spills. Superfund's Brownfields
program, added in the late 1990s, helps com-
munities assess, clean up and redevelop sites
where potential contamination hinders redevel-
opment such as the hundreds of abandoned
gas stations along a once-great highway, Route
66 (see p. 20).
For more information about Superfund, visit
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/sfund
Site Cleanup - Superfund Program
in the Pacific Southwest
Total of 125 NPL Sites
Investigation/
Design
Early Action
Cleanup workers taking samples at a leaking storage
tank site. The first step in cleaning up sites like this is
to assess what contaminants are present.
-------
18 Clean Land
Primer
Mine Cleanup:
A Priority in the West
THE GOLD RUSH OF 1848-1849 touched off
a mining boom throughout the western states
that lasted more than a century, and mining
is still a big part of the economy in some ar-
eas. But mining also left a legacy of more than
50,000 abandoned mine sites. The vast majori-
ty of these pose little or no threat to the environ-
ment, but some of them pollute surface waters
and groundwater with acid or toxic dissolved
metals.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office is
working with the Pacific Northwest and Rocky
Mountains offices on a national EPA initiative
to address these sites the Great American
West Mining Priority. Cleanups or environmen-
tal assessments are already underway at many
of the sites. Cleanup activities at some, such
as the Iron Mountain Mine and Sulphur Bank
Mine in northern California, have been under-
way for years. Now these actions are picking up
momentum across the West. State and tribal
agencies have been working with EPA to inves-
tigate and prioritize the abandoned mine sites
that pose the greatest environmental risks.
In the Pacific Southwest, EPA has stepped up
activities at abandoned mercury mines in Cali-
fornia, copper mines in Nevada and Arizona,
and uranium and copper mines on tribal lands
of the Navajo and Tohono O'odham Nations.
While long-term cleanup actions are underway
at sites on EPA's Superfund National Priorities
List, immediate threats to human health and
the environment have been addressed by EPA's
Superfund Emergency Response program.
Mining and Mercury
Mercury is a highly toxic liquid metal formerly
used in gold and silver mining and explosives
manufacturing. Mercury itself was mined almost
exclusively in the coastal ranges of California,
from Lake, Sonoma, and Napa Counties in the
north to San Luis Obispo County in the south.
EPA cleanup operations have been underway
for more than a decade at Lake County's aban-
doned Sulphur Bank Mine, on the shore of
Clear Lake. In 2006, EPA temporarily relocated
64 residents of the Elem Tribal Community, ad-
jacent to the mine site, to remove arsenic- and
mercury-contaminated mine tailings beneath
houses, streets, and yards. Five houses had to
be demolished, removed, and rebuilt.
On Cache Creek, downstream from Clear Lake,
El Paso Natural Gas Corp. began stabilizing
slopes to prevent erosion of mercury-con-
taminated soil and rock at two former mercury
mine sites, under an EPA cleanup order. EPA
had earlier identified the company as a former
owner/operator.
At the Abbot/Turkey Run Mercury Mine site in
Lake County, EPA demolished mercury-con-
taminated smelter structures and cleaned up
shining beads and puddles of pure mercury
found in and around the buildings. EPA also
removed mercury-contaminated materials from
the Buena Vista/Klau Mercury Mine site in San
Luis Obispo County. Mercury contamination has
Abandoned open pit mines can pollute downstream
waters with toxic dissolved metals unless the waste
rock is recontoured to prevent erosion, as shown
here at the Buena Vista/Klau Mercury Mine in
California.
-------
Clean Land 19
been found in fish in a reservoir downsfream.
This mine sife has been added to EPA's Super-
fund National Priorities Lisf, and further assess-
ment of cleanup needs is underway.
Today, gold mining is still a source of mercury
pollution. Naturally occurring mercury in gold-
bearing ore in Nevada is vaporized and released
into the air in the thermal processes used to
extract the gold. Over the last five years, EPA
and the Nevada Department of Environmental
Protection (NDEP) have been working with gold
mining operations to reduce these emissions. In
2005-2006, NDEP developed the nation's first
regulations to control air emissions of mercury
from mining. Since 2001, Nevada gold mines
have reduced mercury emissions by more than
75%.
Copper Mines
Cleanup is also underway at the sprawling,
abandoned Anaconda Mine near Yerington,
Nevada. In 2006, EPA removed electric trans-
formers filled with toxic PCBs, and took action
to prevent dispersion of arsenic-contaminated
dust and water from evaporation ponds on the
site. EPA also provided funding to the Yerington
Paiute Tribe, whose lands adjoin the mine site,
to test air and water samples for contaminants,
and assess potential impacts on tribal lands
and residents.
At the Cyprus Tohono Mine, operated by
Phelps Dodge on Tohono O'odham land south
of Tucson, Arizona, EPA issued an administra-
tive order requiring the company to clean up
tailings containing toxic salt and uranium. This
site leached uranium into the groundwater and
fouled a tribal community's drinking water well.
The well was relocated to an area untouched
by the contamination. Removal of the salts and
tailings is now underway. These wastes are be-
ing piled on a plastic pad, which will then be
capped so that no water can get in to move
the toxics. The work will cost an estimated $18
million.
At the Ironite/lron King Mine and smelter near
Prescott, Arizona, EPA removed arsenic-laden
soils from a residential area. At the ASARCO
copper mine near Hayden, Arizona, an EPA as-
sessment showed elevated levels of arsenic in
some residential areas. EPA is now using funds
from ASARCO, under a national agreement with
the company, to conduct a remedial investiga-
tion and feasibility study of cleanup options.
Uranium Mines
EPA and the Navajo Nation have identified more
than 500 former uranium mine sites on Navajo
lands. High on the priority list for further investi-
gation and cleanup is the North East Churchrock
Mine. In 2006, EPA issued an administrative
order to a responsible party, General Electric/
United Nuclear Corp., requiring the company to
test soil from 11 areas on the site that may be
contaminated with radiation, heavy metals, and
spilled fuel. This work is now underway.
For more information on mine cleanups in the
Pacific Southwest, visit www.epa.gov/re-
gion9/waste/sfund/superfundsites.html
SULPHUR BANK MINE
SUPfftFfiD :-
PR1V4E fcoPt
NO TRESPASSING - I
PH' 'ID CHEVCAL
HAZARDS PRESENT
EPA's cleanup work at the Sulphur Bank Mercury
Mine Superfund site in Lake County, California,
aims to protect nearby residents, as well as fish and
wildlife, from highly toxic mercury.
-------
Ill
III
I
-------
Clean Land 21
Places
The Route 66 Partnership: Revitalizing the Mother Road
ROUTE 66, STRETCHING FROM CHICAGO to
Santa Monica, was once such a busy highway
that it was known as "America's Main Street."
Between the early 1920s and the late 1960s,
millions of Americans migrated to California on
it. In the 1960s there was even a television dra-
ma series about people traveling on Route 66.
But then a freeway was built that bypassed the
old two-lane highway and the many towns it
passed through, leaving bankrupt gas stations
and slowly deteriorating commercial strips. Un-
seen beneath the old gas pumps lay rusting
fuel storage tanks, many of them leaking toxic
hydrocarbons into the soil and groundwater.
Today, these sites are known as brownfields,
because potential contamination hinders rede-
velopment, particularly in small rural towns with
scant financial resources.
The Arizona Department of Environmental
Quality (ADEQ) launched the Route 66 Initiative
in 2004 to help these small and economically
challenged communities address problems at
former gas stations and other sites with under-
ground storage tanks (USTs). Through the initia-
tive, ADEQ has coordinated with LIST owners
and operators, property owners, and local gov-
ernments to identify and remove abandoned
USTs, and speed up cleanups and investiga-
tions. By early 2007, more than two dozen site
cleanups had been completed.
In late 2005, EPA staff began working with
ADEQ to promote the Route 66 Initiative and
take the effort to the next level, helping Route
66 communities explore ways to redevelop
sites that had been cleaned up or investigated.
Left: In early 2006, people from EPA, the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality, local
governments, businesses and other stakeholders
along the path of Route 66 met to kick off their
partnership.
The initial project area included Winslow, Jo-
seph City, and Holbrook, Arizona.
Less than a year after ADEQ and EPA joined
forces to look into redevelopment opportuni-
ties in this area, the agencies recruited part-
ners from 20 local, state, and federal agencies
and organizations, including the National Park
Service, Small Business Administration, the
state Departments of Transportation and Com-
merce, the Route 66 Association of Arizona,
and others.
Organizations in the Route 66 Partnership are
offering millions of dollars in funding to help
communities transform these sites. In January
2006, the partnership held a two-day kickoff
meeting to share information and discuss the
challenges, options, and possible next steps.
Over 60 people attended, creating a network of
stakeholders that included government agen-
cies, local news media, businesses, bankers,
community members, and UST site owners.
EPA followed up by co-sponsoring a Brown-
fields Grant Workshop in Holbrook in October
2006 and a Community Development Work-
shop in Flagstaff in March 2007.
Through these efforts by ADEQ and EPA, resi-
dents of these communities could see that oth-
ers, including state and federal agencies, were
ready to help them find solutions after decades
of struggling with environmental and economic
challenges.
Holbrook secured a grant from the Arizona
Department of Commerce to conduct a busi-
ness inventory along the old highway. Winslow
received a $96,000 grant from ADEQ for an en-
vironmental cleanup at a monument dedicated
to the well-known line "Standin' on a corner in
Winslow, Arizona," from a 1970s song by the
Eagles. Flagstaff received an EPA brownfields
grant to address petroleum-contaminated sites
along Route 66 in that city.
Building on these early successes, three other
EPA regional offices, covering states from New
Mexico to Missouri, have initiated similar projects
focused on abandoned gas station sites on other
portions of Route 66. Other state governments
have also joined these efforts. For more informa-
tion, including tools and resources for cleanup,
redevelopment, and historic preservation, visit
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/brown/66
The Routft 66 Partnership
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-------
22 Clean Land
Advances
Indian Bend Wash Construction Complete
IN DECEMBER 2006, EPA and the Arizona De-
partment of Environmental Quality announced
that construction of all cleanup facilities at one
of the nation's largest groundwater contamina-
tion sites has been completed. The 13-square
mile Indian Bend Wash (IBW) Superfund site
is located in two areas that cover portions of
Scottsdale and Tempe.
The two areas, North Indian Bend Wash and
South Indian Bend Wash, are separated by the
Salt River channel. The two areas have sepa-
rate, underground plumes of contaminated wa-
ter. At North Indian Bend Wash, four ground-
water pump-and-treat systems have been built
to remove the contamination. At South Indian
Bend Wash, where the groundwater's con-
taminant levels are lower, EPA is monitoring 80
groundwater wells. Results show that the con-
taminants are gradually diminishing naturally,
and are expected to reach safe drinking water
levels within 15 years.
Across the entire site, contaminated soil close
to the surface at four locations has been treat-
ed by soil vapor extraction. This process is still
underway at two other locations. Construction
work on the last of these soil vapor extraction
facilities at South Indian Bend Wash was com-
pleted in 2006.
Groundwater pump-and-treat facilities at the
north site have already cleaned more than 61
billion gallons of contaminated groundwater,
enough to meet the household needs of more
than 400,000 average-sized homes for a year.
Keith Takata, EPAs Superfund Division direc-
tor for the Pacific Southwest Region, hailed the
culmination of "cooperative effort between EPA,
the state, the cities of Scottsdale and Tempe,
and numerous companies to ensure that the
drinking water is safe for residents."
Work at the site spanned almost the entire his-
tory of EPAs Superfund program, which began
in 1981. At the time, no one predicted just how
complex, costly, and lengthy the effort to clean
up the nation's most toxic sites would be. In-
dian Bend Wash provides a good example of
the challenges involved.
In 1981, the City of Scottsdale discovered that
its drinking water wells were contaminated with
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) trichloro-
ethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE).
In 1983, EPA listed the site on its Superfund
National Priorities List. The area includes de-
veloped land with residential, commercial and
industrial uses.
To define the extent of VOC contamination for all
of IBW, more than 240 groundwater monitoring
wells were drilled, ranging from 140 to 1400 feet
below ground surface. Results showed that the
area is underlain by three aquifer units layered
on top of each other with varying groundwater
flow and direction, each with varying degrees of
New groundwater treatment facility at the Indian
Bend Wash Superfund site is the fourth and final one
to be completed.
VOC contamination. The contamination result-
ed from numerous industries in the Scottsdale
and Tempe areas disposing of VOCs directly
into the ground or dry wells (which drain into
the soil) in the 1970s and earlier.
Scottsdale and Tempe rely on groundwater as
one of their sources of drinking water.
The treatment facilities remove VOCs from the
groundwater. The clean, treated groundwa-
ter is then blended into drinking water supply
systems, discharged to irrigation canals, or re-
injected back into the underground aquifer. By
2006, the North IBW system was continuously
treating enough water to supply over 50,000
average-sized homes.
The groundwater treatment plants will operate
for many years into the future. In most cases,
the work has been paid for by the industrial
facilities that caused the contamination. How-
ever, additional activities have been paid for by
federal Superfund money when other funding
sources were not available. EPA enforcement
staff and attorneys spent years tracking down
responsible parties, and securing legally binding
commitments from them to pay their fair share
for the cleanup, as required by the federal Su-
perfund law. In some cases, litigation was nec-
essary. But the decades-long effort has paid off
by restoring clean, safe drinking water sources
to Scottsdale and Tempe.
For more information, visit www.epa.
gov/region9/waste/sfund/indianbend
-------
Clean Land 23
People
Steve Calanog:
Strengthening Emergency Response
STEVE CALANOG MAY NOT WEAR A UNIFORM,
but he carries a commanding title. He is one
of four EPA Pacific Southwest staff trained to
become EPA's incident commander when a di-
saster strikes.
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf
Coast, Calanog served four 21-day tours of
duty as EPA's Deputy Incident Commander in
Louisiana. There, he coordinated the work of
200 to 300 EPA employees from all over the
U.S. as they took on a variety of tasks, from
rescuing stranded residents to testing drinking
water systems in an area as large as West Vir-
ginia. Post-disaster reports cited EPA for a job
well done.
Calanog came to EPA in 1992 after a stint with
the Peace Corps in rural Paraguay, where he
worked on improving basic sanitation, learn-
ing the local Indian language, and educating
the people on how to prevent sewage-borne
diseases. Like the locals, he swam in piranha-
infested rivers, and emerged unscathed. "They
rarely bite," he says, dismissing their fierce rep-
utation as a Hollywood myth.
For the past eight years, Calanog has been one
of 17 On-Scene Coordinators in EPA's regional
office who respond to oil and chemical spills, as
well as floods, earthquakes, and terrorism in-
cidents that could release oil, toxics, radiation,
or biological warfare agents. Three years ago,
Calanog trained for his incident commander
role at the U.S. Forest Service's National Wild-
land Fire Coordinating Group and the Coast
Guard's maritime emergency training center at
Yorktown, Virginia. Since then, he has headed
an Incident Management Team of ten EPA staff
who can be ready to go on a moment's notice
when disasters occur anywhere in the U.S. The
regional office has three of these teams.
These teams are part of the National Incident
Management System (NIMS), which coordi-
nates federal agencies responding to terrorism
and other emergencies. Calanog participates
on an EPA national workgroup that is develop-
ing the agency's incident management proce-
dures for major emergencies as well as more
routine work. Under NIMS, EPA's Pacific South-
west Regional Office and the U.S. Coast Guard
co-lead two geographic response teams that
include 15 federal agencies, the states of Cali-
fornia, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii; and U.S.
Pacific Island territories.
Last year, the U.S. State Department called EPA
for help in responding to a mercury spill in the
Philippine Islands. Some students at a school
near Manila had found a vial of mercury in their
chemistry lab, played with it, and spread it
around the school, poisoning themselves. Three
were hospitalized. Calanog headed a four-per-
son EPA team sent in to clean up the school.
While there, he briefed top Philippine officials on
disaster preparedness, and recommended that
mercury be removed from all schools. By the
time he left, a bill to do this had been introduced
in the national legislature.
"We were treated like celebrities by officials and
the news media," says Calanog, whose father
came to the U.S. from the Philippines. "But we
were just doing our job."
-------
Communities and Ecosystems
EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
stretches across a vast area of
roughly 400,000 square miles on
the U.S. mainland, plus the lands
and waters of Hawaii and Pacific
islands more than 6,000 miles
from California.
Its habitats range from Sonoran deserts to lush rain for
ests and coral reefs, providing habitat for thousands of
unique species of wildlife, fish, and plants. Its residents
reflect the world's diversity, from indigenous peoples to
immigrants from around the globe.
Not surprisingly, the environmental players vary from
place to place. On the U.S.-Mexico Border, EPA col
laborates with U.S. states, the Mexican environmental
agency SEMARNAT, Mexican state governments, and
border tribes.
In the Pacific, EPA cooperates with the State of Hawaii,
the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. On the
mainland, EPA works with each of the region's states
California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii 146 feder
ally-recognized tribes, and in some cases partners di
rectly with local community groups.
These partnerships and commitment to healthy habi
tats and communities form the foundation of EPAs work
across the region, the nation, and the planet.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 25
Trends
Pacific Islands:
Public Health Improves
WHEN IMAGINING LIFE ON A FARAWAY Pacific is-
land, many of us envision an idyllic existence
under swaying palms. Buf if's nof quife fhaf
simple.
People in fhe U.S. Pacific island ferrifories of
Guam and American Samoa and fhe Common-
wealfh of fhe Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
where average incomes are low and water
and sanitary conditions are below U.S. main-
land standards have struggled for decades
to improve conditions. In 2006, the ongoing
collaborative efforts of EPA and these islands'
environmental agencies paid off with improve-
ments benefiting more than 100,000 residents.
Guam: Sewage Spills Down,
Drinking Water Safety Up
Bacterial contamination of drinking water has
been a long-standing problem on Guam due
to sewage overflows that infiltrated drinking
water wells. Before 2003, residents were noti-
fied several times a year that they should boil
their water before drinking it in one instance,
the boil-water warning lasted 70 days. But as a
result of recent improvements, Guam has had
safer drinking water without boil-water notices
for the past two years.
Infrastructure investments, such as installing
emergency back-up generators at sewage
pump stations and upgrading its drinking water
chlorination system, have made a big difference.
The Guam Waterworks Authority has improved
operations and infrastructure, in compliance
with a 2003 EPA order, and has raised $100
million in capital from a bond issued in 2006.
Sewage overflows have decreased by an amaz-
ing 99.9%, from 500 million gallons between
1999 and 2002 to 100,000 gallons in 2006.
WWII-Era Fuel Tanks Removed in Saipan
Tanapag Village in Saipan, CNMI, faced a linger-
ing hazard from World War II: massive fuel tanks
abandoned by the U.S. military. Over the last 50
years, the tanks leaked and corroded, putting
Tanapag residents at risk from petroleum con-
tamination and physical collapse of the tanks.
In 2006, EPA removed six collapsed tanks and
cleaned up the remaining oil sludge and under-
lying contaminated soil and groundwater. The
removals many in people's backyards or next
to their outdoor kitchens changed people's
lives for the better.
The project was also a capacity-building op-
portunity for the local CNMI Division of Envi-
ronmental Quality (DEQ). After undergoing a
40-hour health and safety training, DEQ staff
worked with the EPA on-scene coordinator and
various contractors in all aspects of assessing
and cleaning up the sites.
Health Risks Reduced in American Samoa
Pigs in American Samoa were polluting fresh
water streams, exposing residents to lepto-
spirosis, a disease carried in pigs' guts. Nearly
1,000 small-scale piggeries house a total of
8,244 pigs on the main island, Tutuila. These
are commonly makeshift operations, with open-
sided buildings on concrete or packed earth.
Wastes were typically discharged into unlined
cesspools or directly into streams or wetlands.
In 2004, pig waste contaminated waters in 31
of American Samoa's 41 watersheds.
In 2005, American Samoa's government initi-
ated prevention efforts with water monitoring,
education, inspections, and enforcement on
Afuelo Stream, and island-wide. The first pri-
orities were to educate the public about basic
sanitation, to locate and map pig facilities and
their discharge points, and begin water quality
monitoring. Enforcement followed. The Afuelo
Stream actions included moving 100 pigs away
from the stream and installing waste treatment
systems.
These measures have reduced E. coli bacte-
ria in the stream by 90%, and cut nitrogen and
phosphorus pollution by 58% (2,649 pounds)
and 43% (2,088 pounds) annually. Similar ben-
efits are expected island-wide.
At Tanapag Village in
Saipan, EPA removed
six corroding
military fuel tanks
left from the 1940s,
and cleaned up
underlying soil.
In 2004, pig waste contaminated waters in 31 of
American Samoa's 41 watersheds.
-------
26 Communities and Ecosystems
Primer
The U.S.-Mexico Environment Challenges and Opportunities
THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER, stretching 2,000
miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific
Ocean, is a diverse area, encompassing des-
erts, mountain ranges, wetlands, estuaries and
aquifers. The border region is currently home to
more than 12 million people by 2020, the bi-
national population along the border is expect-
ed to double to more than 24 million people.
The environmental challenges of this rapid pop-
ulation growth include unplanned development;
greater demand for land and energy; increased
traffic congestion, air pollution and waste gen-
eration; overburdened or unavailable waste-
water treatment; and increased frequency of
chemical emergencies.
Kicked off in 2002, the U.S.-Mexico Border En-
vironmental Program (Border 2012) is a pow-
erful partnership between EPA, the Mexican
environmental agency SEMARNAT, 10 border
states, 26 U.S. tribes, and numerous binational
institutions and communities. It is a 10-year,
binational, results-oriented environmental pro-
gram for the U.S.-Mexico border area that aims
to sustainably protect the environment and
public health.
Border 2012 emphasizes measurable results,
public participation, transparency, and timely
access to environmental information. The part-
ners work together to set priorities through Re-
gional Workgroups, and the associated Task
Forces provide a public forum and implement
the on-the-ground border projects.
Accomplishments include major improvements
to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure
that benefit more than 7.8 million people, estab-
lishment of emission inventories and a bination-
al air monitoring network to assist in identifying
effective emission reduction strategies, road
CALIFORNIA
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paving projects to significantly reduce particu-
late pollution, and the conduct of sister city drills
to improve binational emergency preparedness
coordination and readiness. In fact, many of the
emergency responders who participated in the
joint drills were trained at the Border 2012-sup-
ported Baja California Emergency Management
Institute, an unprecedented public/private part-
nership that offers a full range of certified train-
ing for emergency responders.
Indigenous Communities and Tribal
Nations Collaborate for Results
Indigenous communities in Sonora and Baja
California are among the poorest and most
isolated populations of this arid region, with
little to no water or wastewater infrastructure.
Until recently, the only source of drinking wa-
ter for children and residents of the Quitovac
O'odham community in Sonora, Mexico, were
shallow, hand-dug wells contaminated with co-
liform bacteria and high levels of lead, arsenic,
uranium, and chromium were. The usual source
of drinking water for most indigenous com-
munities in Baja California has been untreated
surface water from springs, shallow wells or
creeks. Many of those sources are contaminat-
ed by livestock, wildlife, or dead animals.
GiAfOF
CALIFORNIA
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 27
In 2006, the communities of Quitovac (Sonora,
Mexico) and San Antonio de Necua (Baja Cali-
fornia, Mexico) completed construction of their
water systems. The new system at Quitovac
serves a boarding school for 100 O'odham
children. The Mexican government is now ex-
tending electricity to the community and has
committed to upgrade homes to provide indoor
plumbing, and the Pan American Health Orga-
nization is providing a health clinic.
In partnership with a nonprofit organization, the
Pala Band of Mission Indians is helping to pro-
vide training on the maintenance of water infra-
structure systems to the indigenous communi-
ties of San Jose de la Zorra and San Antonio de
Necua in Baja California, Mexico.
Among the program's biggest successes last
year was the permanent removal and safe
disposal of 1.8 million abandoned scrap tires
in Baja California that posed significant public
health risks (most of the tires were sent to ce-
ment kilns and used as tire-derived fuel).
In addition, the border and pesticides programs
sponsored the cleanup of obsolete, but still
highly toxic, agricultural pesticides along the Ar-
izona-Sonora border. Many of these pesticides,
which included toxaphene and DDT (illegal to
use in the U.S.), methyl parathion, and azinphos
methyl, were improperly stored in corroding
in some cases leaking containers. In at
least one instance, children were found playing
on a pile of sacks of dry pesticide. The clean-
up will protect children from further exposure.
The waste collection events gathered 72,000
pounds of dry pesticides and 500 gallons of liq-
uid pesticides from the San Luis, Sonora, and
Yuma, Arizona, areas.
Each year, diesel trucks make nearly 5 million
crossings from Mexico into the U.S. Emissions
from diesel engines, especially the microscopic
soot known as "particulate matter" (PM), cre-
ate serious health problems for adults and have
extremely harmful effects on children and the
elderly. Health issues from diesel emissions in-
clude (but are not limited to) chronic bronchitis,
asthma, premature death, and cancer.
In order to better understand the costs and
effectiveness of diesel retrofit technologies on
Mexican heavy-duty diesel vehicles operating
in the San Diego-Tijuana border region, EPA
worked with the San Diego Air Pollution Control
District to fund the retrofitting of 60 heavy-duty
diesel trucks from Baja California. This project
reduced the particulate matter (PM10) emitted
by these vehicles by 25-40%; additional ret-
rofits are planned for the Arizona/Sonora and
California/Baja California border regions.
For more information on Border 2012, visit
www.epa.gov/border2012
Above: These sacks
of methyl parathion
represent just a
portion of the 36 tons
of waste pesticides
collected by EPA
and the Mexican
government for
proper disposal.
Top left: San Antonio
de Necua
a new water well
constructed with
funding from
the Border 2012
programs.
Left: Cleanup of the
INNOR tire pile in
Mexicali, Mexico.
-------
28 Communities and Ecosystems
Places
Gila River Indian Community's
Environmental Program Excels
A FEW YEARS AGO, the Gila River Indian Com-
munity, located south of Phoenix, Arizona, had
a host of environmental problems on their land,
from a tire fire involving more than 3 million used
tires, to unauthorized trash dumping. Today, the
tribe has not only cleaned up these sites, it has
an ongoing program to protect air, land, and
water that is a model for other tribes.
The tribe regulates approximately 50 private-
ly-owned businesses and industries on their
land by adopting specific ordinances to regu-
late waste and emissions. These businesses
encompass a variety of industries including
an explosives manufacturer, several sand and
gravel mining operations, agricultural chemical
supply companies, and cotton gins. The tribe's
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has
also adopted general regulations covering vis-
ible emissions, storage and handling of volatile
organic compounds, degreasing and metal
cleaning, and fugitive dust.
In 2006, Gila River DEQ became the first tribal
agency in the U.S. to develop a comprehen-
sive Air Quality Management Plan to protect air
quality. This includes an air monitoring program
that's already up and running, an inventory of
total air emissions on the tribe's land, and air
quality standards that are the same as EPA's
national standards. Also part of the plan is an
air permitting program which allows DEQ to set
and enforce emissions limits for industries op-
erating on tribal land. And the tribe has hired
a team of environmental professionals, most of
them Native Americans, to administer the plan.
Each year, DEQ sponsors Earth Day volunteer
trash cleanups, and a household hazardous
waste collection event which has brought in
more than 6,000 pounds of used batteries, oil,
paint, antifreeze, and other hazardous materi-
als. In addition, the DEQ supports other district,
community and school clean-ups throughout
the year. The DEQ also collaborates with sur-
rounding jurisdictions to combat illegal dumping
and other environmental issues that impact the
Community.
The DEQ Pesticide Control Program has worked
with farmers on tribal land to greatly reduce both
the amounts and toxicity of pesticides sprayed,
as well as training farm workers and pesticide
handlers on safety. The DEQ Water Quality
Program routinely monitors and analyzes wa-
ter from many sources on tribal land, including
Gila River DEQ Director Margaret Cook (front center),
ADEQ Director Steve Owens (rear, middle) and EPA
regional Air Division Director Deborah Jordan (front,
holding document) celebrate the Gila River Indian
Community's completion of a comprehensive plan for
improving air quality on more than 600 square miles
of tribal land within central Arizona.
rivers, canals, stormwater, groundwater, and
wells. The data collected gives the Gila River
Indian Community the ability to detect changes
in water quality and contamination and provide
guidance for cleanup and remediation.
The Gila River Indian Community is one of two
tribes in the U.S. to be chosen as a Brown-
fields Showcase Community. With more than
$700,000 in EPA brownfields grant money, the
tribe has been able to leverage $8.3 million
more from other sources to clean up and re-
use abandoned industrial sites. A new facility,
the Diabetes Education and Research Center,
has been constructed on one of the sites.
Gila River Indian Community DEQ and its di-
rector, Margaret Cook, have been recognized
by both the State of Arizona and EPA for their
outstanding accomplishments and leadership.
In 2004, EPA awarded DEQ staff the Conner
Byestewa Jr. Award for environmental excel-
lence, which is given annually to three of the
more than 146 tribes in the Pacific Southwest
Region.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 29
Collaboration
Building the Willits Bypass
and Saving Wetlands
THE TOWN OF WILLITS in Northern California's
Mendocino County sits on the edge of the Little
Lake Valley, so named because winter rains
flood the valley each year, creating a unique
seasonal pond that can grow to hundreds of
acres, depending on the rainfall. Coho and Chi-
nook salmon, as well as steelhead trout, mi-
grate through the valley's creeks each winter to
reach their spawning grounds.
Because of this seasonal wetland, the land has
remained open space up to now, with patches
of riparian forest, and deer and cattle grazing its
grasses in the dry season. However, the state
transportation agency, Caltrans, planned to
reroute a portion of Highway 101 through the
valley, which could have affected 130 acres of
wetlands. EPA worked with Caltrans, natural
resource agencies like the state Department
of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service, and other stakeholders to develop
a plan to build the bypass with no net loss of
wetlands.
This collaborative approach has been standard
for EPA since the agency adopted a "Memoran-
dum of Understanding for Surface Transporta-
tion Projects" in 1994 that lays out a framework
for cooperation in resolving wetlands issues un-
der the Clean Water Act's Section 404 and the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Sec-
tion 404 protects wetlands, while NEPA requires
EPA to review and comment on Environmental
Impact Statements drafted by federal agencies
regarding their proposed actions. "One of EPA's
primary goals is to avoid and minimize environ-
mental impacts through early engagement with
EPA worked with Caltrans to preserve most of the
seasonal wetlands in the Little Lake Valley near
Willits, while allowing construction of the Willits
Bypass on Highway 101. (Photo courtesy of Caltrans)
our partners," says Nancy Levin of the regional
Environmental Review Office.
Due to the potential impacts on wetlands, the
originally proposed alignment of the roadway
could not have been permitted under Sec-
tion 404, according to Mike Monroe of EPA's
regional Wetlands Regulatory Office. Monroe
and Levin worked with Caltrans and more than
a dozen other stakeholders to map, measure,
and analyze the wetlands impacts of several al-
ternative routes.
Other stakeholders included Willits and Men-
docino County elected officials, the nonprofit
Willits Environmental Center, the North Coast
Regional Water Quality Control Board, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the National Ocean-
ographic and Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA) Fisheries Office, and the Federal High-
way Administration.
After a series of negotiations, the stakehold-
ers agreed on a route that will save 75 acres
of wetlands and creeks that would have been
destroyed by the original proposal. Under Sec-
tion 404, a proposed project can be permitted
if unavoidable wetlands impacts are mitigated
offset by the creation, enhancement, pres-
ervation, or restoration of wetlands elsewhere.
For the Willits Bypass, Caltrans has agreed to
create or otherwise preserve at least 1.5 acres
of wetlands in the Little Lake Valley for every
one acre lost.
All parties worked together to understand each
others' interests for example, the local inter-
est in preserving a business park and playing
fields. EPA contributed leadership in negotiating
the final agreement. Construction of the bypass
is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010.
-------
30 Communities and Ecosystems
Partnership
The West Oakland Toxic
Reduction Collaborative
WEST OAKLAND, A PART of Oakland, Califor-
nia, is surrounded by freeways and next fo fhe
nation's fourth-busiest container cargo port.
The port alone generates up to 10,000 trips
per day through the community by heavy diesel
trucks. In this mostly African-American and His-
panic community, asthma levels are among the
state's highest, and income levels are low.
Residents knew there was something wrong
with this picture, so in 2000 they formed the
Environmental Indicators Project (EIP), which
tracked 17 indicators of local environmental
health. The project's 2002 report, "Neighbor-
hood Knowledge for Change," set the commu-
nity's agenda for environmental improvements.
The report caught the attention of EPA's region-
al Air Division. EPA's Mike Bandrowski, Richard
Grow, Karen Henry, and John Brock met with
EIP members to discuss how the agency could
support the group's efforts to reduce diesel pol-
lution in the community. They got to know EIP
leaders, and formed a partnership to organize
the West Oakland Toxic Reduction Collab-
orative, a multi-stakeholder effort to mobilize
community residents and groups, government
agencies, non-profits, and businesses to im-
prove air quality and community health.
EPA and EIP are the co-leads of the collabora-
tive. EPA also provides some of EIP's and the
collaborative's funding, through grants. The
participants are divided into eight work groups,
each working on voluntary efforts to reduce res-
idents' exposure to diesel and toxic pollutants.
The community of West Oakland is subject to a
disproportionate amount of air pollution because it
is adjacent to the Port of Oakland, which generates
up to 10,000 heavy diesel truck trips through the
community each day.
EPAs ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM is working to
reduce disproportionate environmental impacts to low-
income areas and communities of color. In 2006, this in
eluded projects in:
North Richmond, CA
Pacoima (NW Los Angeles)
West Oakland and
downtown Oakland, CA
Bayview-Hunters Point,
San Francisco, CA
Tucson, AZ
South Phoenix, AZ
Canal District, San Rafael, CA Anahola, Kauai, HI
The Alternative Fuels group, which includes util-
ity giant Pacific Gas and Electric Co., is work-
ing with several companies to replace dirty die-
sel truck engines with clean-burning liquefied
natural gas engines. The Healthy Homes Work
Group has trained 10 local residents to go to
door-to-door with an indoor air pollution check-
list to identify asthma triggers.
A Land Use Work Group is consulting with
city planners to find ways to relocate trucking
businesses out of residential areas and into the
former Oakland Army Base, now owned by
the Port of Oakland and the City of Oakland.
A Brownfields Group is working with the state
Department of Toxic Substances Control to
address cleanup and redevelopment of aban-
doned industrial sites on an area-wide basis.
Another group's focus is to ensure that as the
port expands to handle an anticipated tripling of
container traffic by 2020, there is a substantial
decrease in air pollution and risk to residents.
This group will be working with the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District to meet the state's
even more ambitious goal: To lower residents'
health risks from diesel emissions by 85%.
"It's been gratifying to work with community
leaders like EIP's Margaret Gordon and Brian
Beveridge," says Richard Grow, EPA project
lead. "Everyone is focused on common goals."
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Communities and Ecosystems 31
People
EPA's Agriculture Team:
Making a Difference in the Central Valley
FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS, the Agriculture
Team in EPA's regional Communities and Eco-
systems Division has coordinated with col-
leagues in an array of environmental programs
to address issues related to agriculture in the
Pacific Southwest.
Cindy Wire, James Liebman, Don Hodge, and
Karen Heisler make up the staff team that works
with Kathy Taylor, Agriculture Advisor to the
Regional Administrator, to promote voluntary
partnerships with the agricultural community
and its allies. Both the Air and Water Divisions
have designated associate directors dedicated
to agricultural issues Kerry Drake and Jovita
Pajarillo who work closely with the team to
optimize cross-program coordination.
The majority of the team's work is focused on
California's Central Valley, due to the dispropor-
tionate environmental and health impacts asso-
ciated with agriculture in this vast area. The team
strives to engage agricultural producers across
the valley to employ strategies that make their
operations more sustainable. Together, they're
finding ways to improve environmental perfor-
mance while supporting the economic bottom
line and the well-being of valley communities.
It's not easy, considering that Central Valley
agriculture must compete in an increasingly
global marketplace, with great variations in en-
vironmental and labor practices. But this is all
the more reason to champion frameworks for
environmental performance that leverage the
marketplace to support producers who do the
right thing.
EPA's Ag Team has long supported agricultural
innovation and partnerships, including third-
party certification of practices that yield envi-
ronmental improvement such as reductions in
pesticide loading. The team recognizes that a
direct return in the marketplace is critical to en-
gaging the industry's commitment around envi-
ronmental protection.
Success requires producer participation, sev-
eral years of demonstration projects and data
development, and ultimately market recogni-
tion. Over time, EPA's regional Ag Team has
developed important relationships with other
agencies and organizations that have proven to
be key partners in achieving these steps.
For example, Jamie Liebman's leadership with
the Dairy Manure Collaborative leveraged $16
million in grants and in-kind resources to ad-
vance manure management through demon-
stration projects and technology assessment,
taking into account air emissions, nitrogen, salts,
and clean energy production.Jamie's technical
fluency and leadership skills have helped a di-
verse group of stakeholders work together on
finding ways to address the impacts of dairies.
Cindy Wire's hands-on management of Food
Quality Protection Act grants has yielded prov-
en reductions in pesticide impacts in the Cen-
tral Valley. Much of Cindy's time is spent in the
field with growers and their allies university
researchers, nonprofits, and commodity orga-
nizations encouraging their commitments to
developing and demonstrating more sustain-
able cropping systems.
Don Hodge, Jamie Liebman, Kerry Drake,
Jovita Pajarillo, Karen Heisler, Cindy Wire,
and Kathy Taylor (not pictured) work with
the agricultural community in the Pacific
Southwest.
Don Hodge is championing EPA's perspective
on Environmental Management Systems in
agriculture, specifically the necessity for data-
driven programs and third-party certification.
Don is the most recent addition to the team,
and has brought an extensive knowledge of
environmental measures and indicators of im-
provement, as well as personal dedication to
sustainability.
Karen Heisler has for many years been a guid-
ing force on the team. Her networking in the
agriculture community enables EPA to antici-
pate events that demand the agency's atten-
tion, such as concerns about E. coli contamina-
tion, or adoption of emerging technologies that
could affect agricultural sustainability.
In short, the Ag Team focuses on environmental
results through innovation, coordination across
programs, and well-articulated goals. Their
successes, in partnership with Central Valley
producers, are benefiting the agricultural com-
munity, consumers, valley residents, and the
environment.
-------
Compliance and Stewardshi
Compliance is about playing by
the rules laws and regulations
governing activities that affect
human health and the environ
ment. One of EPA's overriding
priorities is to ensure environ
mental compliance by assisting
regulated facilities, supporting
state and local monitoring and
enforcement activities, and tak
inq direct federal action.
Stewardship is a responsibility we all share to care for
our environment at home, at work, and on the go.
Everyone can recycle paper, use energy-efficient appli-
ances, and make marketplace decisions that support a
clean environment. Industries and institutions can con-
tribute by conserving energy and resources on a larger
scale. EPA has a number of voluntary partnerships that
encourage government, industrial, and other facilities to
achieve environmental results that go far beyond com-
pliance with regulations.
For example, six facilities in the Pacific Southwest, in-
cluding Motorola in Chandler, Arizona, and the NASA
Ames Research Center in California, completed three-
year commitments under EPA's Performance Track pro-
gram in 2006. Collectively, they made substantial reduc-
tions in their generation of hazardous waste (140 tons),
solid waste (64 tons), energy use (7 trillion BTUs), and
water use (52 million gallons). They also increased their
use of recycled materials by 187 tons. Performance
Track now has 55 member facilities in the region.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 33
Trends
Expanding Enforcement Tools
To Increase Environmental Results
Fig. 1. Pacific Southwest Region
Final Administrative Penalty Orders
ENFORCING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
is central to EPA's mission, and the agency
has a number of tools at its disposal to ensure
compliance.
In cases of serious environmental violations
which might involve egregious negligence or
conduct involving intentional, willful or knowing
disregard for the law, EPA's Criminal Investiga-
tion Division pursues criminal penalties and re-
mediation from violators.
Effectively communicating
enforcement activities to
the public and the regulated
community sends a clear
message that failure to
comply has consequences.
The agency uses civil enforcement tools to re-
turn violators to compliance and deter miscon-
duct in others, eliminate or prevent environmen-
tal harm, and preserve a level playing field for
responsible companies that abide by the laws.
In judicial cases, EPA brings suit in federal court
to have a judge order a remedy. In administra-
tive cases, the agency issues orders directly to
the violator.
In fiscal 2006, EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
concluded 295 enforcement cases, garnering
over $468 million in funding to clean up and
prevent pollution caused by violations. Collec-
tion of $7.8 million in penalties helped ensure
that polluters gained no advantage over those
who invest in compliance.
Using Expedited Settlements to
Speed Environmental Outcomes
One of the most efficient ways to address mi-
nor violations and obtain environmental benefits
is through the use of expedited administrative
penalty orders. These tools offer relatively "real
time" enforcement where violations are correct-
ed and a penalty is obtained in a short amount
of time, generally a few months from EPA's dis-
covery of the violation.
As Figure 1 shows , EPA has steadily increased
its use of these enforcement tools in the Pacific
Southwest, increasing the percentage of expedit-
ed orders out of all administrative penalty orders
from 24% in fiscal 2003 to 45% in fiscal 2006.
Reducing Air Pollution Through
the National Refinery Initiative
The Pacific Southwest Region played an ac-
tive role in a national initiative to address the
most significant Clean Air Act compliance con-
cerns affecting the petroleum refining industry.
Through this initiative, EPA has reached more
than a dozen comprehensive agreements with
petroleum refiners to significantly reduce harm-
ful air emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur diox-
ide, carbon monoxide, benzene, volatile organic
compounds, and particulates.
In fiscal 2006, three more settlements became
effective, with a combined projected reduction
in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions
of more than 5,300 and 300 tons per year, re-
spectively, from seven California refineries: Exx-
onMobil's Torrance refinery; Tesoro's Martinez
refinery; Valero's Benicia and Wilmington refin-
eries; and ConocoPhillips' Carson/Wilmington,
Rodeo, and Santa Maria refineries.
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
FY02
FY03
FY04
FY05
FY06
In addition to these reductions, the Pacific
Southwest portion of these settlements include
nearly $2 million in penalties and $650,000 in
supplemental environmental projects.
Publicizing Enforcement
to Improve Compliance
Effectively communicating enforcement activi-
ties to the public and the regulated community
both improves awareness of compliance re-
quirements and sends a clear message that
failure to comply has consequences.
One recent example of the impact of targeted
enforcement and outreach involved asbestos
violations at charter schools in Arizona. After
receiving a tip, EPA determined that five of the
larger charter schools in Phoenix had failed to
conduct inspections for asbestos-containing
building materials and develop asbestos man-
agement plans. EPA issued enforcement actions
and later publicized settlement of the cases. As
a result, EPA was contacted for compliance as-
sistance by other charter schools, consultants
hired to do inspections and develop plans for
more than 40 schools, and the Arizona State
Board for Charter Schools, which posted com-
pliance information on their Web site.
1 Expedited
Orders
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34 Compliance and Stewardship
Primer
Conserving Resources,
Minimizing Waste
THERE'S A SIMPLE WORD for the unwise or inef-
ficient use of resources: Waste.
To have a healthy planet and a sustainable
economy, we must reduce wasted energy and
materials.
Reducing the Waste
Stream to a Trickle
As the pie chart on this page shows, our waste
stream is made up of a wide range of materi-
als, from coal combustion ash to toxic wastes
to everyday trash. While some sectors, such as
municipal solid waste, have become more and
more efficiently managed, others have seen
less progress.
EPA is partnering with citizens, environmental
groups, academia, industry and all levels of
government to speed progress in every sector.
A number of new initiatives are part of the Re-
source Conservation Challenge, a national ef-
fort to conserve natural resources and energy
Today's Waste Stream
Millions of Tons of Waste Generated per Year in U.S.
Coal Combustion Ash
121
Hazardous Waste
40
Construction &
Demolition
Debris
136
Industrial
Non-Hazardous
Waste
214
by managing materials more efficiently. They are
helping reach EPA's near-term goal of a 35% re-
cycling rate nationwide, while conserving energy
and greenhouse gas emissions associated with
processing raw materials, reducing the need for
new landfills and incinerators, and stimulating
development of green technologies.
Increasing the nation's recycling rate just 1 % will
cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equiva-
lent of taking more than 1.3 million cars off the
road that's more than all the cars registered
in the state of Utah.
Recycle
Recycle on the
Go/Green Venues
Household recycling
has been a success
story, but in our fast-moving society, that's not
nearly enough. These programs encourage re-
cycling at concerts, sporting events, shopping
centers, parks, hotels, airports, and other loca-
tions, by working with partners to encourage
people to recycle wherever they go by making it
easy and convenient.
An example of an early success is professional
football's Pro Bowl. In January 2007, for the
second year in a row, EPA, the National Foot-
ball League, Boys and Girls Clubs of Hawaii,
Honolulu Recovery Systems and Aloha Sta-
dium participated in collecting and recycling
thousands of bottles and cans in the parking lot
during the event. In addition, Community En-
ergy, a green energy marketer and developer,
donated renewable energy credits to offset
greenhouse gas emissions from the Pro Bowl
and the NFL Pro Bowl Tailgate Party. The NFL
also sponsored tree-planting projects at several
local schools.
In the hospitality industry, one large Hilton Hotel
in San Francisco hosted a four-day EPA confer-
ence in 2006 where the agency worked togeth-
er with attendees toward a goal of Zero Waste.
No disposable food service ware was used,
recycling and composting bins were placed
throughout the event, and the food waste and
even the paper towels were collected for com-
posting. In 2007, the hotel put its Zero Waste
program into effect all the time, and EPA's re-
gional office will adopt a new Green Meetings
Policy.
For more information, visit www.epa.gov/
recycleonthego
Industrial Materials Recycling
Each year, the U.S. generates 123 million tons
of coal combustion products, the byproducts
from coal-burning power plants. When this coal
fly ash is added to concrete as a cement re-
placement, the naturally cementitious byprod-
uct makes concrete stronger and more durable.
This practice reduces greenhouse gas emis-
sions as well; for every ton of fly ash that goes
into concrete, one ton of carbon dioxide emis-
sions is avoided.
In November 2006, EPA's Pacific Southwest
Regional Office hosted the Byproducts Benefi-
cial Use Summit, attended by 200 people from
35 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.
At the event, EPA honored three organizations
Municipal Solid Waste
232
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 35
for their pioneering use of fly ash: The Los An-
geles Community College Disfricf incorporated
high-volume fly ash concrete into designs of 44
new buildings; Caltrans developed high-perfor-
mance concrete mixes using coal ash and oth-
er recycled materials, which are being used in
building the eastern span of the San Francisco-
Oakland Bay Bridge (see photo, opposite); and
Dutra Farms is using 45,000 tons of ash annu-
ally in floors for cow sheds on dairy farms.
For more on recycling industrial materials, go
to www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/
priori ties/bene-use.htm
Lifecycle Building Challenge
Another big piece of the waste stream is con-
struction and demolition debris. In 2007, EPA,
the American Institute of Architects, the Build-
ing Materials Reuse Association and West
Coast Green are sponsoring a nationwide com-
petition for students and professionals to spur
innovative building and building components
designs as well as management practices that
anticipate future use facilitating a building's
eventual disassembly or adaptation (instead of
demolition) to minimize waste and maximize
materials recovery. For details, visit www.life-
cyclebuilding.org
Scaling Back on Energy Use
Reducing our use of energy has become a
higher priority than ever as we take steps to
address climate change. EPAs energy conser-
vation programs partner with industry, govern-
ment and individuals to make reducing energy
use a simple proposition. These and other ma-
jor efforts in the Pacific Southwest have been
paying off: Nevada ranks 23rd, Arizona 33rd,
Hawaii 47th, and California 50th best in the
nation in per-capita electricity use.
Change a Light, Change the World
On October 4, 2006, EPAs Pacific Southwest
Regional Office teamed with the Arizona Pub-
lic Service Co. (APS), the Housing Authority of
Maricopa County, and the state Energy Office
to kick off the agency's newest energy-saving
initiative, the Change a Light, Change the World
campaign. Electric utility APS sent workers to
swap out incandescent bulbs for compact fluo-
rescent lights at Paradise Homes in Sunrise,
Arizona, a complex that provides subsidized
housing for the elderly and disabled.
Compact flourescents use up to 75% less en-
ergy than standard light bulbs, generate 70%
less heat, and last up to 10 times as long. So a
single light change can save up to $25 in energy
costs, reduce air conditioning costs (because
they emit less heat), and require nine fewer trips
up a ladder to change a light bulb. The fuel
burned to generate the electricity used by a sin-
gle compact flourescent will emit 450 pounds
less carbon dioxide than a regular bulb.
"If every American household changed a single
light bulb to a high efficiency light, it would pro-
vide enough power to light more
than 2.5 million homes or ev-
ery home in Arizona," said EPA
Regional Administrator Wayne
Nastri at the Arizona event.
EPA's Energy Star: Conserving
Energy Since 1992
The Change a Light campaign is the newest
facet of EPA's Energy Star program, launched
by the agency in 1992 as a voluntary, mar-
ket-based partnership to reduce air pollution
through increased energy efficiency. With as-
sistance from the U.S. Department of Energy,
Energy Star offers businesses and consumers
energy-efficient solutions to save energy and
money while protecting the environment for
future generations. More than 7,000 organiza-
tions have become Energy Star partners.
Hundreds of electrical appliances now on the
market, from washing machines to light fixtures,
now carry the Energy Star label, which tells buy-
ers that they're getting a product that will save
them energy and money compared with other
models.
Commercial buildings carefully designed to
minimize energy use can also be certified with
an Energy Star. California now leads the na-
tion with 779 Energy Star buildings, saving
their owners and occupants $149 million and
preventing emissions of more than 1.5 billion
pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
For information on Energy Star programs and
partners, go to www.energystar.gov
Caltrans will use
over 30 different
concrete mix
designs in the
new SF/Oakland
Bay Bridge,
including mixes
containing over
50% fly ash cement
replacement.
(Photo: John
Huseby, courtesy of
Caltrans)
-------
36 Compliance and Stewardship
Places
Removing Arsenic from Drinking
Water in Fallen, Nevada
FALLON is A DESERT COMMUNITY east of Reno,
Nevada, best known for its Naval Air Station,
home base of top guns like the "Fighting Saints"
and the "Desert Outlaws." But until recently, the
small city faced an insidious enemy these war-
riors were powerless to defeat: toxic dissolved
arsenic in its drinking water.
Like many cities in the arid Southwest, Fallen
gets its drinking water by pumping groundwater
from deep wells. Deep underground, the basalt
rock formations that hold Fallen's water also
contain the naturally-occurring, but toxic metal
arsenic. In the 1980s, Fallen's drinking water
was found to contain up to 100 parts per billion
(ppb) arsenic, twice the federal drinking water
standard at the time and the highest level in the
nation for a city its size or larger.
Arsenic is a proven carcinogen. Though it has
not been proven to cause the form of cancer
known as leukemia, many Fallen residents sus-
pected arsenic was at least partially responsible
for the geographic cluster of 17 Fallen children
stricken by leukemia in 1997-2004. Three died
of the disease.
In 2000, EPA ordered Fallen and the Naval
Air Station to meet the 50 ppb standard. But
that drinking water standard was already being
challenged as too lax to protect public health.
After years of reviewing scientific studies on the
health effects of arsenic, EPA lowered the stan-
dard to 10 ppb, effective starting in 2006.
City officials faced a daunting challenge. They
had to build a treatment plant that would meet
the new standard, but the $17.5 million cost
was unaffordable to the city's 2,500 house-
holds. Fortunately, the city received a $6 million
grant from Congress that was administered by
EPA. The Navy also contributed $6 million, the
State of Nevada $4.5 million, and Fallen $1 mil-
lion. Fallen water customers would also pay the
$1.6 million annual cost of operating the plant.
The treatment plant, designed by consultant
Shepherd Miller Inc., was designed to treat 4.5
million gallons per day, with a potential for ex-
pansion to treat double that amount. The sys-
tem works by continuously adding dissolved
iron to the water, which reacts with the arsenic
to form particles that are then filtered out. The
resulting iron-arsenic sludge is not hazardous,
and is trucked to the city's trash landfill.
The plant started operating in April 2004, and
quickly met the then-standard of 50 ppb arse-
nic. After that, plant operators carefully adjusted
the water's acidity and iron content to make it
even more effective. The plant met the new 10
ppb standard before it took effect in 2006.
Fallen water ratepayers each pay a surcharge
of $20.44 per month on their water bills to keep
the treatment plant operating. But it's far cheap-
er than buying bottled water. And it's safe, since
tap water must be routinely tested for dozens
of contaminants and meet strict standards.
Fallen's treatment plant is the largest ever built
to remove arsenic. Now, it's a model for other
communities across the nation which fail to
meet the new arsenic standard.
This drinking water treatment plant removes
naturally-occurring but toxic arsenic from the water
supply in Fallon, Nevada. The city's water, pumped
from wells and treated here, now meets the new
national safe drinking water standard for arsenic.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 37
People
Kaoru Morimoto:
Inspecting Hazwaste Facilities
WHEN EPA's SUPERFUND PROGRAM began
in 1981, abandoned hazardous waste dumps
were being discovered on a daily basis, and
it has taken decades to clean them up. But
you rarely hear about such discoveries today,
thanks to strict state and federal laws regulating
hazardous waste storage, treatment and dis-
posal, and the efforts of state, tribal, and EPA
inspectors like Kaoru Morimoto, who ensure
compliance.
Morimoto is a UC Davis-trained mechanical en-
gineer who came to EPA from the U.S. Navy
Public Works Center in Oakland in 1995. Then,
he was part of a team responsible for hazard-
ous waste compliance at the Oakland Naval
Supply Center and the Alameda Naval Air Sta-
tion. As part of the regulated community, he
never knew when EPA inspectors would show
up to inspect his facilities. Now, he's the regula-
tor, but he understands what it's like to be one
of the regulated.
Morimoto and his ten colleagues in EPA's Pa-
cific Southwest Waste Management Division
enforcement office are responsible for inspect-
ing facilities that generate, store, transport, or
dispose of hazardous waste. Dozens more
inspectors work for the region's states, tribes,
territorial and local governments. It's their job
to make surprise inspection visits to hazardous
waste facilities all across the region.
Inspections of small facilities like plating shops
can be fairly simple, Morimoto says. "Just fol-
low the chemical process from beginning to
end, see where the waste is going, and check
to see that the records match the process."
But inspecting large facilities is more challeng-
ing. At one large solvent recycling operation
Morimoto inspected in Arizona, there were
2,500 valves, flanges, and pumps that the facil-
ity was required by law to identify and monitor
for leaks and emissions. The required record-
keeping can run to thousands of pages. But
Morimoto takes the same approach as with
small facilities: Follow the chemicals, see where
they end up, and check whether the records
match the reality.
At the Arizona facility, workers showed him how
the solvent distillation process worked, and
how the emission control system soaked up
toxic solvent vapors. Morimoto scrutinized the
schematic diagrams in the device's operations
manual, compared them to the actual piping,
and found that the vapors were actually venting
into the atmosphere a serious violation. Not
only that, they had made "improvements" to the
emissions control system that had rendered it
EPA inspectors make surprise visits to facilities like
this one to track down leaks and other emissions.
ineffective. And the required records were not
being kept more violations.
It wasn't easy, but the facility tracked down the
flaws in its system, and brought it into compli-
ance. Under the terms of a legal settlement with
EPA, the company also paid a $67,000 penalty
and spent $100,000 to buy emergency equip-
ment to help the local fire department deal with
chemical fires and spills.
"The violations I've found as an inspector aren't
always intentional," Morimoto notes. "They're
usually just a result of ignorance." Thanks to
inspectors like Morimoto, hazardous waste
is carefully tracked so it no longer ends up in
someone's drinking water supply or the air we
breathe.
-------
38 Compliance and Stewardship
Advances
Greening Computers with EPEAT
FROM E-MAIL TO E-WASTE, computer equip-
ment is everywhere now, and it's having major
impacts on the environment.
All those computers use huge amounts of en-
ergy, and they become obsolete quickly, creat-
ing mountains of trash containing toxic metals
such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, as well
as valuable materials that could be reused. For
three years, a team of three EPA employees
worked on a solution to these problems, and in
2006 they rolled out an unparalleled success:
The Electronic Product Environmental Assess-
ment Tool (EPEAT).
The EPEAT Team included John Katz of EPAs
Pacific Southwest Regional Office in San Fran-
cisco, Viccy Salazar of the Pacific Northwest
Office in Seattle, and Holly Elwood of EPA
Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Building on
national and regional dialogues on electronics
and the environment, the team set a clear goal:
harnessing the power of purchasers to drive
greener electronics design.
The team knew purchasers wanted to buy
greener electronic products but were unsure
how to accurately compare their environmental
impacts. They knew manufacturers were will-
ing to provide greener products but needed to
ensure they would sell. They knew public advo-
cacy organizations wanted strict measures that
could be verified and trusted.
So they assembled a diverse group of stake-
holders from all camps, and came up with a so-
lution: EPEAT, a registry of electronic products
that meet stringent environmental performance
standards. EPEAT makes it easy for purchasers
to select desktop computers, laptops, and mon-
itors based on environmental performance.
Launched in July 2006, EPEAT now lists more
than 300 products from thirteen manufacturers.
These products save energy and reduce haz-
ardous waste when they're junked. Meanwhile,
government and private purchasers have com-
mitted $40 billion to purchasing these greener
electronics.
The environmental results are huge: EPEAT-
registered products are expected, over the
next five years, to prevent the use of 13 million
pounds of hazardous materials and 3 million
pounds of non-hazardous materials, and save
nearly 600,000 megawatt-hours of electricity
enough to supply about 60,000 homes for
a year.
Ultimately, the benefits could be many times
larger, since EPEAT drives environmental im-
provements in the design of electronics.
But developing the EPEAT program and mak-
ing it a success was no simple task. It involved
working with the stakeholders to achieve con-
sensus about both the environmental standards
for computer equipment, and the process for
verifying that the standards are met. The criteria
covered eight performance categories:
Reduction/Elimination of Environmentally
Sensitive Materials
Material Selection
Design for End of Life
Product Longevity/Life Cycle Extension
Energy Conservation
End of Life Management
Corporate Performance
Packaging
The team then shepherded these ratings
through a standard setting process accredited
by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI), The next step was to select an orga-
nization to run the nascent system. After an
innovative competitive process, EPA awarded
seed funding to the Green Electronics Council
to launch the system. The team worked with
them on every aspect of the launch, culminating
in July 2006, when the EPEAT Web site went
live at www.epeat.net
Even before the launch, the team successfully
recruited eight federal agencies, two states,
several cities, and two large health care or-
ganizations to use EPEAT in their purchasing
decisions.
EPEAT has made pollution prevention a simple
and easy choice for purchasers of laptops,
monitors and desktop computers.
www.epealnet
Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 39
Access
Engaging the Public in Environmental Work
As part of its mission to protect public health
and the environment, EPA provides a wide
range of services and programs that strengthen
the ability of both the agency and the American
people to take environmental action.
Information: Online and In Person
Information is one of the most powerful tools we
have for understanding and acting upon envi-
ronmental and public health issues. EPA's Web
site at www.epa.gov provides a vast trove of
useful information for consumers, students,
businesses, state and local governments, re-
searchers, and everyone in between.
Whether via the Web, phone or in-person visit,
EPA's Environmental Information Center and Li-
brary in San Francisco are ready to assist con-
cerned citizens and environmental professionals
alike in locating EPA documents, researching
environmental issues, and playing a role in en-
vironmental decisions. The EIC/Library features
an Assistive Technology Center for patrons with
disabilities and is open Monday through Thurs-
day, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
Envh
Violations
Another way to play a role in EPA's
work is to report environmental
violations or emergencies when
they are witnessed or suspected.
Look for the icons on EPA's Pa-
cific Southwest Web site at www.epa.gov/re-
gionQ, or call (800) 424-8802 if an environmen-
tal emergency is in progress.
The Street Where You Live
While most EPA staff in the Pacific Southwest
work out of the regional office in San Francisco,
key personnel are based throughout the region.
Some work in EPA field and outreach offices
in Los Angeles, San Diego and Honolulu. Oth-
ers live and work in high-priority areas such as
Arizona, California's north coast, and the Sierra
Nevada, where they can be closer to the issues
and the people they work with.
In addition, members of the Superfund pro-
gram's Community Involvement Office work
across the region with residents of communi-
ties dealing with Superfund toxic cleanup sites,
acting as advocates for early and meaningful
community participation in cleanups.
Wise Investments
In the Pacific Southwest, EPA distributed more
than $450 million in financial assistance grants
in fiscal 2006 to state and local agencies, edu-
cational and research institutions, and other
organizations to advance protection of public
health and the environment.
From major funding for municipal wastewater
facilities to small grants supporting community
education efforts, EPA's grant programs closely
Water specialist Everett Pringle helps middle
school students test water quality at a local water
treatment plant.
monitor the use of federal dollars and the re-
sults they achieve.
To learn more about available funding in
the Pacific Southwest, visit www.epa.gov/
regionQ/funding
Like EPA itself, states, tribes, and other recipi-
ents of agency funding are required to conduct
outreach to small, minority, and woman-owned
businesses when procuring construction,
equipment, services, and supplies. EPA's Of-
fice of Acquisition Management lists agency-
wide procurement opportunities at www.epa.
gov/oam
The Best and Brightest
EPA's regional office in San Francisco offers
opportunities to work on environmental issues
throughout the Pacific Southwest. Current job
openings are always listed on the Web at www.
epa.gov/region9/careers or through the na-
tional USAJOBS site at www.usajobs.gov
Over the past few years, EPA's regional Human
Resources Office has increased EPA's visibility
at local colleges and universities by establish-
ing partnerships with faculty, career placement
officials, and diversity employment program
advisors to raise students' awareness of the
agency's mission and programs.
Environmental
Information
Center
EPA's Environmen-
tal Information
Center/Library
in San Francisco
serves both EPA
staff and the
public.
-------
iv;.
tslanas.!
s,
Areas in red are part of EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
-------
Contact Information
11
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9 Contacts
Phone Inquiries
415.947.8000
or 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free)
Email Inquiries
r9.info@epa.gov
EPA Web Site
www.epa.gov
For Pacific Southwest Issues
www.epa.gov/region9
Offices
EPA Pacific Soufhwesf Region
75 Hawfhorne Sfreef
San Francisco, CA94105
EPA Pacific Islands Confacf Office
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 5124
Honolulu, HI 96850
808.541.2710
EPA San Diego Border Office
610 Wesf Ash Sf., Suife 905
San Diego, CA92101
619.235.4765
EPA Soufhern California Field Office
600 Wilshire Blvd., Suife 1460
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213.244.1800
/ f ''
ฐAs Pacific, Soufhwesf Regional Office achieved ISO 14001 re
certification, a sfricf international management standard that establishes require
msnts for environmental responsibility jShrough an Environmental Management
System (EMS). Through its EMS, the regional office is continuing to decrease its
environmental impacts from air emissions, energy use, material use and waste.
To Obtain This Report
Order from EPA's Environmenfal Informafion Center af
866.EPA.WEST (toll-free), email r9.info@epa.gov
or view and prinf from fhe Infernef af
www.epa.gov/region9/annualreport
EPA
Printed on 100% recycled paper, 50% post-consumer
contentprocess chlorine-free
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
2007-671-383
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EPA Pacific Southwest/Region 9
Offices and Divisions
Environmental Information Center
Web: www.epa.gov/region9
Email: r9.info@epa.gov
Phone: 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free)
415.947.8000
Office of the Regional Administrator
415.947.8702
Wayne Nastri, Regional Administrator
Laura Yoshii, Deputy Regional Administrator
Bridget Coyle, 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
Air Quality Plans and Rules
Permits, Enforcement, Monitoring
Air Toxics, Radiation, Indoor Air
West Coast Collaborative, Grants
Superfund Division
415.947.8709
Keith Takata, Director
Site Cleanup, Brownfields, Oil Pollution
Federal Facilities and Base Closures
Emergency Response & Planning
Community Involvement, Site Assessment
Waste Management Division
415.947.8708
Jeff Scott, Director
Pollution Prevention, Solid Waste
RCRA Permits/Corrective Action
RCRA Inspections & Enforcement
RCRA State Program Development
Underground Storage Tank Program
Water Division
415.947.8707
Alexis Strauss, Director
Clean Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Marine Sanctuaries Act
Communities and Ecosystems Division
415.947.8704
Enrique Manzanilla, Director
Agriculture Program, Environmental Justice
Pesticides, Toxics, TRI
Environmental Review/NEPA
Tribal Programs, Pacific Islands
U.S.-Mexico Border Program
Stewardship/Performance Track
Management and Technical Services Division
415.947.8706
Jane Diamond, Director
Budget, Finance/Grants/Contracts
Strategic Planning, Science Policy
Laboratory & QA/QC, Facilities
Information Resource Management
Health & Safety, Human Resources
Southern California Field Office (Los Angeles)
Pacific Islands Contact Office (Honolulu)
San Diego Border Office (San Diego)
213.244.1800
808.541.2710
619.235.4765
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