f/EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
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From the Regional Administrator
Dear Readers,
Communities are at the heart of EPA's work. Since our start more than 40 years ago, EPA has
worked with local communities to produce astounding gains for public health and the environment.
In the Pacific Southwest, those gains include cleaner air in Los Angeles and Phoenix, a healthier San
Francisco Bay, rising recycling rates in Nevada, better wastewater treatment in the Pacific islands,
and safer drinking water on tribal lands.
We've achieved them by setting sensible standards and rules, vigorously enforcing them, and
providing vital funding that allows states, tribes and communities to take needed action. But even
with this progress, some communities are still underserved and under-protected.
Twenty years ago, we took an important step toward equity when President Clinton signed
Executive Order 12898, which directed federal agencies to focus attention on disproportionate
environmental and health impacts on low-income and minority populations. Today, environmental
justice remains a fundamental principle that guides everything we do.
EPA's mission demands a local focus, even as we address global issues. Climate change is a global
problem with local impacts like worsening droughts, wildfires and floods. To protect public health
and our shrinking water supplies, we must be serious about reducing the carbon pollution that fuels
climate change, while simultaneously preparing communities to be more resilient.
The impacts of a changing climate vary depending on where you are but they all demand local
attention and local action. We hope you will join us in facing these shared challenges.
V
Jared Blumenfeld
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
Cover: Enjoying the clear waters of Lake Tahoe
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Table of Contents
Cleaner
Waters
in Hawaii,
Pacific Islands
Fighting Dust
in Phoenix
$171 Million
Secured for
Cleanups
Clean Air
Clean Land 11
Enforcement & Stewardship
EPA Funding in the Pacific Southwest 24
Sustainable Communities Centerfold
Contact Information Inside Back Cover
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CL EAN AIR
Cleaner Skies in Southern California
More than 20 million Southern California residents are enjoying
healthier air thanks to sustained effort by governments, businesses
and individuals.
Milestones Met, Challenges Yet Ahead
After decades of work, California's Los Angeles and San Diego air
basins have reached important clean air thresholds.
Los Angeles and the surrounding urban area has attained the
federal health standard for coarse particulates, or PMio, while San
Diego has reached the 1997 health standard for ground-level
ozone, or smog.
To meet the PMio standard, over the past 25 years the South
Coast Air Quality Management District reduced particulate
pollution by limiting dust from roads, streets and construction sites;
livestock; gravel quarries; and smoke from wood burning in homes.
Meeting the PMio standard is a significant health benefit for
millions of residents. Exposure to particle pollution is linked to a
variety of health problems, from aggravated asthma to premature
death in people with heart and lung disease.
Over the past 40 years, air quality in the South Coast air basin
has improved markedly, with levels of ozone pollution (smog)
dropping 60% since 1978 and PM2 5 levels also falling significantly
(see charts, next page). Despite these improvements, the area is still
working to meet federal health standards for these pollutants.
In San Diego County over the past decade, smog-forming
nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds have been reduced
by 25% and 15%, respectively. EPA also recently approved San
Diego's plan to maintain compliance with the 1997 clean air
standard for smog.
"This is a victory for San Diego County residents, who are now
breathing the cleanest air in more than six decades," said EPA
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EPA spotlight
decrease in ozone pollution
i Los Angeles since 1978
Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld. "EPA will
continue our collaboration with the state and the
local air district to meet the challenge of the more
protective 2008 ozone standard."
www.epa.gov/region9/air/actions/ca.html
EPA Grants Fund Clean
Technologies, Research
As California strives to meet health standards for
air quality, investment in zero- and near-zero-
emission technologies is critical to reducing air
pollution from vehicles.
Investing in Cleaner Vehicles
Since 2010, EPAs Clean Air Technology Initiative
has awarded $4.4 million in the San Joaquin Valley
and South Coast air basins to support the
demonstration of advanced clean-air and
alternative-energy technologies.
In July 2013, UPS deployed 40 new electric
delivery trucks in San Bernardino to replace 40
old diesel trucks. The vehicles, funded by EPA
($1.4 million) and the State of California,
comprise Southern California's largest fleet of
zero-emission trucks.
In the San Joaquin Valley, EPA is supporting
the demonstration of several technologies,
including a battery-electric, robotic agricultural
sprayer, which will eliminate harmful diesel
emissions and operator exposure to toxic pesticides.
In December, EPAs West Coast Collaborative
announced $2.2 million in Diesel Emission
Reduction Act grants to partners in eight western
states and Pacific island
territories, leveraging an
additional $6 million from
public, private and
nonprofit partners. The
funding will clean up or
MICHAEL FLAGG AND GREGORY NUDD
I Michael Flagg and
Gregory Nudd have
worked closely with
state and local air
agencies in the Phoenix
area to develop a plan
that will enable the
area to attain the PM standard for the first time.
Challenges included complex transportation plans
and Arizona dust storms. Michael has become an
expert in understanding how dust storms affect PM
levels in the Southwest. Greg has over 20 years of
experience in air quality regulations at both the state
and federal level.
Their expertise helped bring about a practical
plan to reduce health hazards from particulate pol-
lution through innovative regulatory and scientific
approaches that are unique to the Phoenix area.
SOUTH COAST AIR BASIN: ANNUAL PM,
SOUTH COAST AIR BASIN: 8-HOUR OZONE
0.300
0.275
0.250
0.225
0.200
0.175
0.150
0.125
0.100
0.075-
Health standard = 12 Lig/m3
^NT-
alth standard = 0.075 ppm
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replace 93 medium- and heavy-duty diesel engines,
ultimately reducing air pollution by 262 tons of
smog-forming nitrogen oxides, 16 tons of
particulates, and 8,317 tons of carbon dioxide.
This year's projects in the Pacific Southwest
include:
Pima Association of Governments (Ariz.)
$150,000 to replace diesel school buses
with compressed natural gas (CNG) and
propane buses.
Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Manage-
ment District- $391,614 to replace diesel
garbage trucks with CNG from food waste, and
cleaner tractors.
South Coast Air Quality Management District
(Calif.) - $391,613 to replace diesel school
buses with electric and CNG buses.
Port of Oakland-$415,932 to repower diesel
gantry cranes with hybrid electric power.
Commonwealth Utilities (Northern Mariana
Islands) $26,677 to retrofit power plants to use
ultra-low-sulfur diesel.
www.westcoastcollaborative.org / www.epa.gov/cleandiesel
Research Grants Fund Future Innovation
EPA also made $4.3 million in grants to
universities across the nation in 2013 for
research on air pollution and its health effects,
laying the groundwork for future advances.
Among these are grants of $300,000 to UC
Irvine and $400,000 to UC San Diego to study
how natural and man-made particles mix to
form aerosols in the atmosphere, affecting air
quality and climate change.
Focus on Arizona
Particulate pollution in Arizona impacts the health
of urban residents as well as visibility of the state's
scenic wonders.
Fighting dust pollution in Phoenix
In the Phoenix area, the problem is dust.
In January 2014, EPA proposed to approve
Arizona's "Five Percent Plan" a plan to meet the
national health standard for coarse particulate
pollution, or PM10, by reducing emissions of the
pollutant by 5% per year in the Maricopa
County Nonattainment Area, which includes
Phoenix and the surrounding area. Final action is
expected by June.
Enforcement is also vital to improving public
health. Inspections by EPA and the Maricopa
County Air Quality Department at three facilities
operated by Fisher Sand and Gravel identified 17
Clean Air Act violations for failing to take
measures needed to reduce PM10 emissions. As a
result, the company is paying a $150,000 penalty
and taking steps to minimize dust.
In the Phoenix area, PM10 is mostly dust.
Reducing PM10 is essential because it can harm
breathing and respiratory systems, damage lungs,
and cause cancer and even premature death. The
elderly, children, and people with chronic lung
disease and asthma are especially sensitive to it. A
2009 study by Arizona State University showed
that when PM10 levels in central Phoenix were
high, asthma incidents in children increased.
Maricopa County is also making progress on
ground-level ozone, or smog. It is attaining the
1997 standard of 85 parts per billion but still
violates the more protective 2008 health standard
of 75 ppb.
www.epa.gov/region9/air/actions/az.html
../". - J
Phoenix is working to reduce particulate air pollution.
Clearing Southwestern Skies
In September 2013, EPA announced a new
alternative to reduce emissions from Navajo
Generating Station (NGS), one of the largest
sources of nitrogen oxide emissions in the U.S.
The 2,250-megawatt coal-fired power plant is
on the Navajo Nation, less than 20 miles from
Grand Canyon National Park.
The new alternative was developed by a
coalition of stakeholders, including the Navajo
Nation and Gila River Indian Community, in
response to EPA's February 2013 proposal to
reduce by 73% the visibility impacts of NGS on
11 national parks and wilderness areas. The
pollutants that impair visibility also affect human
health. The alternative ensures greater emission
reductions in exchange for greater flexibility in the
compliance timeframe.
In 2014, EPA also proposed new pollution
controls at six other industrial facilities in Arizona,
including smelters and cement plants.
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CL EAN WAI
Cleaning Up San Francisco Bay
For more than four decades, EPA has worked cooperatively with
the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and
other agencies to address sources of toxics in the bay.
Taking Action on Toxic Threats
The vast watershed that drains into San Francisco Bay contains
myriad sources of toxics that threaten the health of the estuary
some of them quite close to shore.
In last year's most visible project, EPA partnered with
CalRecycle and the U.S. Coast Guard to raise and remove more
than 40 sunken, abandoned boats from the Oakland Estuary,
northern California's busiest port. The rusting hulks were not only
a hazard to navigation, but threatened to leak fuel, oil and other
toxics into the bay.
On November 4, 2013, EPA On-Scene Coordinators Will
Duncan and Rich Martyn oversaw the raising of a 105-foot
tugboat that had lain on the bottom for more than 10 years (photo
at left). Toxics found on the larger boats included PCBs, lead
contamination, loose hazardous materials containers, oily
sediments, an oil tank, and bags of illegally dumped asbestos. EPA
has been working to track down owners who abandoned their
boats to make them pay for the removal.
The effort cost more than $3.5 million. Of that, $650,000
came from a civil penalty paid by the owners of the Cosco Busan
the ship that struck one of the Bay Bridge towers in November
2007, causing a major oil spill from its fuel tank.
Also in the East Bay, EPA is overseeing work by the Union
Pacific Railroad to prevent PCB contamination of Oakland's
Viejo Creek, which flows into San Francisco Bay. The railroad is
investigating PCB soil contamination at its property, which borders
the creek.
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reduction in trash entering LA
waterways due to local, state
and federal efforts
Banned in 1979, PCBs are no longer produced
in the U.S. However, they don't break down in the
environment and are known to cause cancer and
other adverse health effects.
On the Bay's western shore in southeast San
Francisco, EPA has worked with the local
community to restore tidal wetlands on the shores
of Yosemite Slough, an urban inlet. EPA's goal is
to remove a layer of mud on the slough's bottom
that's contaminated with lead and other toxics. In
the South Bay, EPA ordered NASA to take
actions to address soil contamination at its Ames
Research Center at the bayside Moffett Field
Naval Air Station.
Investing in Water Quality
Workers remove a barrier to fish migration in San
Francisquito Creek.
EPA provided about $300 million in FY13 to
protect and restore drinking water and surface
waters in the Pacific Southwest.
Putting Dollars to Work Where Needed Most
Each year, the vast majority of EPA's regional
grant funding goes to state governments via
the State Revolving Fund to finance drinking
water and wastewater infrastructure, reduce
polluted runoff and protect coastal estuaries.
EPA places a high priority on ensuring
these funds go to high-impact projects and are
spent as expediently as possible. Over the past
year, the agency has worked with the California
Department of Public Health to ensure that
EPA funding is used efficiently to bring reliably
safe drinking water to customers of small public
water supply systems in the San Joaquin Valley.
In addition to funding major infrastructure
projects, in FY13 EPA invested over $14 million to
implement state and tribal nonpoint source
programs to restore waters impaired by polluted
runoff in the Pacific Southwest.
EPA also manages competitive grant programs
and supports implementation of state programs
directed at achieving water quality and ecosys-
tem benefits.
In late 2013, EPA awarded over $1.5 million
in wetland grants to six tribes in California and
Arizona and four California organizations. The
awards fund projects and research to protect
wetlands from pollution threats. The grant work
being done ranges from enhancing computer
programs to rapidly assess the health of wetlands
to helping tribes develop programs to monitor
and protect wetland health.
Since 2008, EPA has administered the San
EPA spotlight
PACIFIC ISLANDS
CONTACT OFFICE
The Pacific Islands
Contact Office in
Honolulu - known as
PICO -serves as EPA's outpost in the Pacific, where a
handful of place-based staff work first-hand with local
communities, agencies and officials.
Hudson Slay, Wendy Wiltse and Susan Polanco
cover a wide range of water issues - including water-
sheds, wetlands, coral reefs and water infrastructure.
Asia Yeary of the air program coordinates clean
energy and transportation efforts, while Roseanne
Sakamoto works with state agencies and others on
data quality in both air and water programs.
Dean Higuchi manages the office and serves as
EPA's longtime press officer and liaison to communi-
ties and elected officials.
Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund,
a competitive grant program for the protection and
restoration of San Francisco Bay watersheds. To
date, EPA has awarded over $32 million in 25
grants supporting 53 projects. These projects
involve 71 partners who have provided matching
funds and leveraged over $105 million.
One such project was the September 2013
removal of a concrete barrier in Palo Alto's San
Francisquito Creek that cleared the way for
threatened steelhead trout to reach 40 miles of
upstream spawning habitat (photo at left).
Projects addressing the problem of marine
debris are a high priority. Under EPA's Packaging
Waste Source Reduction Pilot project, a grantee is
helping five local governments reduce takeout
food packaging that can end up in waterways.
In addition, a $50,000 grant to the Monterey
Bay Aquarium trained 100 K-12 teachers and
shared the results of 40 student-led community
action projects within coastal watersheds to help
address the threat posed by marine debris.
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Focus on Hawaii and Pacific Islands
States and territories in the Pacific face unique
challenges in managing fresh and marine water quality.
Safeguarding Pacific Ecosystems
In Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific, EPA is
working to protect coral reefs and nearshore
waters from land-based pollution. Sediment-laden
runoff, excess nutrients from sewage, and runoff
from industrial activities all contribute to the
declining health of water ecosystems.
In 2013, EPA developed a regional cross-pro-
gram coral strategy to align funding, planning and
regulatory programs to protect and restore coral
reefs. Half of all coral in U.S. waters is located in
EPAs Pacific Southwest region.
In Hawaii, a $200,000 EPA wetland grant
provided support to update Coral Reef Monitor-
ing and Assessment Program data and to assess
the linkage between coral health and watershed
condition.
EPA also awarded the state of Hawaii about
$1.1 million to implement its Polluted Runoff
Control Program aimed at restoring watersheds
through the prevention of land erosion, which
can degrade coral reefs.
In Maui, EPA worked with the Hawaii
Department of Health (HDOH), University of
Hawaii, and Army Corps of Engineers to show a
connection between onshore sewage injection
wells in Lahaina and groundwater seeps that
could contaminate nearshore waters. EPA
funding supported efforts to improve wastewater
management in Maui County and to address
polluted runoff from both agricultural and urban
areas in West Maui.
In September, a molasses spill from a ship-to-
shore pipeline in Honolulu killed thousands offish
and harmed corals. HDOH led the response to the
EPA helped fund construction of this wastewater treatment plant in Saipan.
spill, supported by the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA and
other agencies. Earlier in the year, EPA and HDOH
settled an enforcement case against Marisco Ltd.
after inspections of its ship repair facility in Kapolei
found leaking equipment and sandblast material
discharged into the harbor. The company agreed to
modify its facility to minimize discharges of copper,
zinc, oil and grease, and is paying $710,000, the
largest Clean Water Act civil penalty ever levied
against a ship repair facility.
Territories Improve Infrastructure, Health
In 2013, EPA awarded over $30 million to Guam,
the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI) and American Samoa for environmental
protection work and improvements to drinking
water and wastewater infrastructure.
Guam EPA received $3.2 million, CNMI
DEQ$1.7 million, and American Samoa EPA
$1.8 million to support inspections, beach and
drinking water monitoring, permit writing,
enforcement and other environmental
programs, including on-the-ground conserva-
tion measures to protect priority watersheds
and coral reefs. Drinking water and wastewater
construction grants totaled $8.2 million for
Guam, $6.9 million for CNMI, and $8.3
million for American Samoa.
On Guam, EPA issued new permits for the
Northern District and Agana Sewage Treatment
Plants, for the first time requiring secondary
treatment. In April 2013, Guam's Andersen
AFB used the EPA trash tracking method to
document the types of marine debris washing
up on beaches. U.S. EPA and Guam EPA are
using the data to identify sources of the waste.
www.epa.gov/region9/water/oce/coralreefs.html
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CL EAN .AND
Revitalizing Communities
EPA has long focused on serving communities - not only in
protecting public health, but in cleaning up and putting formerly
contaminated properties into productive use, while partnering with
others to support sustainable development.
Promoting Sustainable Communities
Since 2009, the Federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities
EPA and the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) has been making grants and
collaborating with state and local partners to advance redevelopment
plans in Los Angeles, Fresno, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix,
and many more cities across the country.
In Los Angeles, HUD has provided a $2.25 million grant
to fund an innovative, interdisciplinary partnership called the
Northeast Los Angeles Riverfront Collaborative. Under this
grant, the City of Los Angeles is leading an effort to create a
comprehensive strategy for sustainable development of the
northeast LA community linking land use, economic
development and workforce strategies.
In Fresno, EPA led a team of 12 federal agencies supporting
the city's efforts to revitalize downtown Fresno under the Strong
Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative. The team used
federal resources to advance downtown revitalization, neighbor-
hood redevelopment, home energy efficiency retrofits, planning
for a High Speed Rail station, and a Bus Rapid Transit project
that will reduce the region's greenhouse gas emissions and
promote more transit-oriented development.
The Grand Boulevard Initiative brought together 19 cities
along historic El Camino Real, the 43-mile highway linking
San Jose and San Francisco, to redesign segments of the
Story continues, p. 14
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" I'*,-Mini
Los Angeles, CA
Supporting Comniu,
EPA's work has always focused on communities. We have;
ongoing commitment to listen to, support and work alongsic,^
local communities and stakeholders to protect public health i
the environment.
Many communities in the Pacific Southwest are striving for
sustainability through water- and energy-saving infrastructure
improvements, green development around transit hubs, and other
beneficial practices.
Highlighted here are four of the major cities EPA has partnered
with and recognized in the quest for healthier, more sustainable
communities. In all cases, environmental cleanup and planning for
smart growth have opened the path to redevelopment and are
helping revitalize local economies.
of the Los Angeles River within the City
of Los Angeles has been evaluated for
ecosystem restoration in a U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers Feasibility Study.
Restoration based on this study is a top
priority for the LA River Watershed Urban ,
Waters Partnership, which was formed
by EPA in 2011. The Partnership involves
over 30 organizations working to
leverage shared resources in
revitalization efforts, including increasing
recreational opportunities to reconnect
local communities to the LA River and
Los Angeles
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Sacramento, CA
of transit-friendly affordable housing
have been built at Sacramento's La
Valentina complex, the Built Projects
winner of EPA's 2013 Smart Grow
Achievement Awards. The compls
located directly on a light rail line
on a once-neglected brownfield -
provides housing and services foi
residents. The development achieves
goals of the Sacramento Region
Blueprint, a 2004 EPA award wini '
accommodate growth while redU'
greenhouse gas emissions.
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EPA spotlight
of leaking underground tanks
in the Pacific Southwest have
been cleaned up
roadway as "complete streets," with safe access for
pedestrians, bicycles, transit and cars, as well as green
infrastructure vegetated areas, cool pavements,
recycled materials, and energy-saving lights.
In Phoenix, under EPA's Greening America's
Capitals program, EPA and HUD convened
city, state and community organizations to
improve the downtown's Lower Grand Avenue
streetscape, making it more environmentally,
pedestrian-, and bicycle-friendly, while
planning for green infrastructure to capture
and treat stormwater runoff.
www.sustainablecommunities.gov
Turning Brownfields Green
Funding from EPA and partners is revitalizing
vacant, potentially contaminated properties across
the Pacific Southwest. In Brea and Grass Valley,
Calif.; four rural counties in Nevada (Nye,
Tijuana's new compost center generated 153 tons of
compost in 2013.
Esmeralda, Lincoln, White Pine); and Kaka'ako
on Oahu in Hawaii, EPA's 2013 Brownfields
grants are funding assessments and cleanups of
soil contaminated by fuel or toxics.
In Northern California's Humboldt Bay,
adjacent to Eureka, EPA's Superfund Emergency
Response program removed contaminated soil and
asbestos-contaminated material from Indian
Island, where the Wiyot Tribe is reclaiming its
ancient Tuluwat Village.
The tribe purchased seven acres of the island in
2000 to reclaim the site, where they had performed
their annual World Renewal Ceremony until an
1860 massacre in which Indian inhabitants were
killed. By 1990, the land had been used as a boat
repair facility for more than a century. In March
2014, after the cleanup, tribe members returned to
the island to perform the first World Renewal
Ceremony since 1860. They are restoring the
island as a tribal cultural and educational site.
Reclaiming Waste in Border Communities
Through the binational Border 2020 program,
EPA, the Border Environment Cooperation
Commission, Mexico's Ministry of the Environ-
ment, and the City of Tijuana funded two
projects in Tijuana, Mexico, that recycle and
reuse organic and inorganic waste that might
otherwise have contaminated the Tijuana River
Estuary, which is located in the United States.
The first project is an urban compost center
operated by a nonprofit, Tijuana Calidad de
Vida. This center the first of its kind in the
Mexico border region has already produced
153 tons of compost from landscape cuttings in
its first year of operation, planted hundreds of
city trees and shrubs with the compost, and
educated 800 people through public forums
and workshops.
JENNIFER
: MACARTHUR
! AND REBECCA
SUGERMAN
my I
' Inspector Jennifer
MacArthur has been
one of EPA's most valuable assets in Southern Califor-
nia, where she's been stationed for the past two years.
Jennifer has worked with the U.S. Customs
Service to investigate cases of illegally imported
vehicle engines and pesticides that fail to meet U.S.
standards.
She has also helped prevent export of cathode
ray tubes (CRTs) and other e-waste to countries
without their knowledge, which can create environ-
mental hazards.
EPA attorney Rebecca Sugerman has worked
with Jennifer to pursue cases that range from
breaches of export-import laws to violations of
hazardous waste regulations by metal finishers,
often in residential neighborhoods.
"Rebecca has been a remarkable partner in
environmental enforcement," says Jennifer.
The second project resulted in the beautifica-
tion of a park and nature reserve just south of
the border fence in a canyon known as "Los
Sauces" (The Willows). The grant recipient, 4
Walls International, used over 4,000 discarded
plastic soda bottles and 1,000 pounds of plastic
and foam all collected from trash in the
Tijuana River watershed as material for the
construction of park benches and other
infrastructure.
The project, which received additional
support from the Tijuana National Estuarine
Research Reserve, also resulted in replacement
of invasive plant species by 1,100 native plants.
www.facebook.com/CentroDeComposteoUrbanoTijuana
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Focus on Nevada
Urban areas in Nevada are improving waste
prevention, while rural industrial sites are cleaned up.
Solid Waste Strategies Get Results
While Nevada has historically trailed other western
states in recycling rates, the Silver State has recently
made significant strides in preventing waste.
Between 2011 and 2012, Nevada's recycling
rate rose from 25.3% of solid waste to 28.8%.
Much of the gain can be attributed to major
hotels and convention venues. The state's
highest recycling rate, however, was 54.5% in
Douglas County (near Carson City), where there
are few casinos. Statewide, 242,000 tons of
paper was diverted from landfills.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority, whose convention center is one of the
world's biggest and busiest, won an EPA Waste-
Wise Award in 2013 for recycling 67% of its waste
- 3,316 tons. In 2013, the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas, received an EPA Food Recovery
Challenge award for increasing food recovery from
less than one ton to more than 159 tons.
At the Bellagio hotel and resort, managers
reduced their food waste by more than doubling
their food recovery from 1,522 tons to 3,445 tons.
Overall, the five MGM Resorts properties in Las
Vegas increased their food recovery an impressive
45.6%, from 6,549 tons to 9,537 tons.
Before significant recycling began in Las Vegas,
from 1953 to 1993, the city dumped 18 million
tons of waste in the 440-acre Sunrise Landfill.
Since then, it was twice breached by rainstorms.
Repairs were completed in 2013, at a cost of $60
million. The landfill now has a stronger erosion-
resistant cover made of a soil-gravel mixture.
Reno, northern Nevada's largest city, began
single-stream curbside recycling in February
An old reduction furnace is one of the remnants of mercury mining near Eureka, Nev.
2014. The new bins, which no longer require
residents to sort recyclables, are expected to
increase recycling rates there.
Cleaning Up After Old Mines, Smelters
In Nevada's more remote reaches, EPA's Superfund
Emergency Response Program recently completed
two cleanups of abandoned mine and smelter sites
that posed potential threats to residents.
More than a century ago, the central Nevada
town of Eureka was home to several lead smelters.
Before pollution controls, lead and arsenic from
smokestacks settled on homes and yards. In 2013,
when contaminated soil was found in 19
residential yards, posing a threat to young children,
EPA offered to clean them up at no charge to the
homeowners. Fourteen homeowners accepted the
offer, and EPA completed the work in 2013.
Two mercury mines once operated near the
Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Reservation in
northern Nevada. Recently, high levels of mercury
and arsenic were found in the vicinity of 56 homes,
including two on the reservation. EPA excavated
about 10,000 tons of mine waste and soil, placed
it in a repository, and capped it to prevent
erosion. Near the McDermitt School parking lot,
EPA found 5.5 acres of contaminated soil and
capped it in place.
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CLIMATE &
COMMUNITIES
Taking Action on a Changing Climate
EPA works with states, tribes and communities to incorporate
resiliency to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from infrastructure, water and energy use.
President Launches Task Force
In February 2014, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
joined state, tribal and local leaders from across the country
in Los Angeles for the second meeting of President Obama's
Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.
That same week, the President visited California's
drought-stricken Central Valley with Gov. Jerry Brown to
pledge federal aid to struggling farmers and communities
(photo at left).
Recognizing innovative work by state and local leaders, the
President appointed six members to the task force from the
Pacific Southwest: Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Calif. Gov.
Jerry Brown, Guam Gov. F_ddie Calvo, Santa Barbara County
(Calif.) Supervisor Salud Carbajal, Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti, and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
The task force is identifying best practices for improving
the resilience of transportation, water and energy infrastructure
in the face of climate change impacts like extreme weather and
sea level rise, and how the federal government can support
implementation of these practices.
As the task force was being formed in late 2013, EPAs
Pacific Southwest office issued a draft Climate Change
Adaptation Implementation Plan for public review. The plan
commits to integrating climate change considerations into
daily work such as grant management to improve the climate
resiliency of agency partners.
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EPA spotlight
contractors certified to meet new
lead-safe building renovation rules
in the Pacific Southwest
The plan focuses on three severe vulnerabilities in
the Pacific Southwest as a result of a changing climate:
1) decreased water availability due to drought and
loss of snow pack, 2) flooding as a result of more
extreme weather events and sea level rise, and 3)
degradation of coral reefs due to ocean acidification
and bleaching. The regional plan features a number
of strategies, including continued support of green
infrastructure, which uses natural landscapes or
engineered systems designed to mimic natural
processes to improve urban stormwater management.
Promoting Sustainable Infrastructure
The extraction, treatment and distribution of
water and the subsequent collection and
treatment of wastewater require energy. Likewise,
Children are often more vulnerable to environmental
contaminants than adults.
Previous pages: Photo by REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
the production of energy particularly power
generated from non-renewable sources often
requires water. EPA provides technical support
and coordinates funding options to state and local
agencies to improve water and energy efficiency,
and increase renewable energy development.
In the Pacific Southwest, EPA has so far
funded or coordinated 38 energy audits and four
water audits at water and wastewater utilities
identifying annual savings of $14 million,
80,000 megawatt hours, over 10 billion gallons
of water, and 80 million pounds of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions.
EPA also promotes the capture and utiliza-
tion of biogas for renewable energy production
at wastewater treatment facilities and other waste
digesters. The agency's interactive Waste to
Biogas Mapping Tool helps connect waste
producers with digester operators to generate
biogas and electricity.
Climate Leaders Show the Way
EPA also works to model best practices through
the Climate Leadership Awards program, a
public-private partnership that recognizes
exemplary corporate, organizational and individual
leadership in response to climate change.
This past year, one of the honorees was the
Sonoma County Water Agency, which serves
600,000 people in Northern California's Marin and
Sonoma counties. The water agency has led regional
efforts to increase energy efficiency, develop
renewable energy, and reduce GHG emissions.
The agency also leads the Sonoma-Marin
Saving Water Partnership, a collaboration by
10 water utilities that won an EPA WaterSense
Excellence Award for promoting water conserva-
tion and efficient irrigation.
MICHELLE BAKER,
MARIELA LOPEZ
AND SECODY
HUBBARD
Michelle Baker and
Mariela Lopez work on assessment, cleanup and
closure of over 2,000 illegal dumps on tribal lands, as
well as coordinating technical assistance to tribes and
developing solid waste management plans.
They help coordinate the efforts of 14 EPA col-
leagues to assist more than 135 tribal grantees in the
Pacific Southwest. In 2013 alone, tribes in the region
cleaned up 41 open dumps - for a five-year total of
306 cleanups - and finalized 15 solid waste plans.
Secody Hubbard is a
Community Involvement ^
Coordinator in the Super- f"
fund program, working
with people who live near ^t
abandoned uranium mines ^^HH
and contaminated water
sources on the Navajo Nation.
A member of the Navajo Nation, Secody has a
PhD in public policy and formerly served as National
Program Manager for American Indians and Alaska
Natives at EPA's Office of Civil Rights.
Other Climate Leaders in the Pacific
Southwest include:
Silicon Valley's Cisco Systems reduced GHG
emissions by 38.7% in 2007-2012 by
generating and buying renewable energy,
improving energy efficiency, and reducing
business travel.
The city government of Chula Vista, Calif,
reduced GHG emissions by over 19,000
metric tons per year, and plans to reduce the
entire city's emissions by over 145,000
MTPYby2020.
Caesars Entertainment of Las Vegas increased
its physical footprint by 18% in 2007-2011,
but reduced its GHG emissions by 11.4%.
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Protecting Children's Health
EPA backs community-based actions to protect
children's health where they live, learn and play.
Because children are uniquely vulnerable to
environmental hazards, EPA actively seeks out
ways to support efforts by educators, nonprofits
and health providers to protect children's health.
EPA is now partnering with California's
Department of Toxic Substances Control on a
pilot project to identify environmental health
hazards facing students and staff at schools in
Southern California. The Clean, Green and
Healthy Schools Partnership aims to foster
collaboration through technical assistance and
improved communication.
EPA also funds two pediatric environmental
health specialty units in the Pacific Southwest at
UC San Francisco and UC Irvine part of a
nationwide children's health network that provides
training for health professionals, consultations to
families and communities, and educational resources.
Three years ago, EPA awarded more than
$350,000 in grants to four nonprofits to support
children's health in underserved communities in
the Pacific Southwest. Since then, they've reached
more than 10,000 parents, child care providers,
farm workers, and children, providing training to
reduce children's exposures to toxics in homes,
child care centers, and communities.
One group, Farmworker Justice, worked with
farmworker groups in California, Arizona and
Florida to train 30 community health workers, or
"promotoras," to recognize and reduce children's
environmental health hazards. These promotoras
reached 5,600 farmworkers. The project also
strengthened ties between farmworker groups and
community health centers.
www.epa.gov/region9/childhealth/child-health-grants.html
Focus on Tribes
EPA supports the environmental work of 148 Indian
tribes in the Pacific Southwest through grants,
technical assistance and training, and the enforce-
ment of federal laws in Indian Country.
Supporting Environmental Management
The Yurok, who live along the Klamath River
in California's far northwest, are the state's largest
tribe, with about 5,000 members and more than
200 tribal government employees.
For 2014-15, EPA awarded the tribe a $1.3
million Performance Partnership Grant to
support their efforts to evaluate, improve and
protect environmental quality in the lower 48
miles of the Klamath River basin a watershed
that spans two states and provides critical habitat
for salmon, sturgeon, bald eagles, and other
keystone species.
The tribe is working under this grant to
enhance water quality monitoring and control
pollution, restore and preserve 5,800 acres of
wetlands, assess climate change impacts, close
illegal dumps, provide community outreach, and
train environmental staff.
The Klamath River runs through Yurok tribal lands
before joining the Pacific on California's North Coast.
In the Four Corners region, EPA has long
worked hand in hand with the Navajo Nation,
whose lands rival the size of the state of West
Virginia. Environmental challenges include air
pollution, abandoned uranium mines, and lack of
access to safe, piped drinking water.
EPA, the tribe and other federal partners have
collaborated for several years on assessment,
cleanup and closure of hundreds of abandoned
mines. Last year, the first group of 20 Navajo
Nation students graduated from EPA's Superfund
Job Training Initiative among the 200 graduates
across the Pacific Southwest in 2013. They now
have the skills and certification needed to safely
work on cleanups.
Fulfilling the Promise of Safe Drinking Water
Drinking water on tribal lands is usually supplied
by small public water systems operated by the
tribal government, private utilities, or government
agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
They all must comply with the Safe Drinking
Water Act.
In December 2013, EPA announced a
settlement with BIA over violations of the Safe
Drinking Water Act at the Keams Canyon Public
Water Supply system, which serves about 2,000
residents of the Hopi Reservation in northern
Arizona. BIA spent nearly $1 million to install an
arsenic treatment system to meet drinking water
standards and paid $136,000 in civil penalties.
In Riverside County, Calif, EPA in September
ordered D&D Mobile Home Park to comply
with the drinking water standard for arsenic on
the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian
Reservation. Sampling showed arsenic levels as
high as 0.059 milligrams per liter
almost six times EPA's maximum allowable levels
for drinking water.
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>N X
ENFORCEMENT
& STEWARDSHIP
Achieving Environmental Results
EPA enforcement actions take away any financial advantage gained
by violators, and often require them to make extra efforts to prevent
future environmental impacts. EPA also encourages voluntary actions
with programs like the Food Recovery Challenge.
Retailers Improve Practices
In two nationwide enforcement cases in 2013, Wal-Mart and
Safeway paid penalties for failure to comply with environmental
laws and took actions to ensure future compliance.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. illegally disposed of hazardous
materials at stores throughout the U.S. Combined with
enforcement actions by the states of Missouri and California,
the retailer is paying a total of $110 million in penalties. The
case was investigated by the EPA Criminal Investigation
Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For years, Wal-Mart failed to train store employees on proper
hazardous waste management and disposal. As a result, the wastes
were either discarded improperly solids in municipal trash bins,
liquids poured into local sewers or improperly transported to
return centers without proper documentation.
Wal-Mart is now carrying out a nationwide compliance
agreement to manage hazardous waste, and putting Environmental
Management Systems in place at its stores and return centers.
Also, to address the environmental harm, Wal-Mart has contrib-
uted to the San Francisco Bay Estuary Conservation Fund.
Safeway, the nations second largest grocery chain, is reducing its
emissions of ozone-depleting substances from refrigeration
equipment at 659 stores nationwide, at a cost of about $4.1 million.
The company also paid a $600,000 penalty. Through implementa-
tion of a Refrigerant Compliance Management System and
reduction of its leak rate, Safeway must decrease refrigerant emissions
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EPA spotlight
gallons of drinking water
provided each day from
Superfund groundwater
cleanups In the region
by about 100,000 pounds over three years, which has
a CO2 equivalent of 82,100 metric tons.
Silicon Valley Grocer a Model
Meanwhile, Marina Food a much smaller retailer
partnered with the city of Cupertino in
California's Silicon Valley to compost 520 tons of
food waste last year, preventing the food from
going to a landfill and emitting methane a
greenhouse gas about 25 times more potent than
carbon dioxide when it decomposes.
Cupertino received EPA's national Food
Recovery Challenge Innovation Award. The city
worked closely with grocers and integrated food
waste reduction goals into its partnership with
waste hauler Recology, setting a goal to increase
recycling and composting to 75% by 2015.
www.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/cupertino-food-recovery
smffm «vg
COMPOST-%
Turning food waste into compost reduces emissions of
methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Funding to Spur Innovation
EPA's grants to businesses, local governments, and
medical researchers are advancing the science and
technology of environmental protection.
Small Business Innovation Research Grants
Six California-based projects received grants in
2013 from EPA's Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) program, which funds research
into new products, processes and services that
protect health and the environment.
Nationwide, 25 small businesses received grants
totaling $2 million. The California projects are:
HJ Science & Technology, Inc. (Berkeley)
Demonstrate a "lab-on-a-chip" capable of
real-time detection of toxins in drinking water
Instrumental Polymer Technologies, Inc.
(Westlake Village) Develop water-based wood
coatings using nanotechnology, soy-based
biodiesel, and amino acids
RegeneMed, Inc. (San Diego) Develop a 3-D
human breast tissue model for screening carcinogens
ACEA Biosciences, Inc. (San Diego) Develop
cell lines and analysis methods to assess toxic
effects of pollutants
KWJ Engineering, Inc. (Newark) Develop an
ultra-low power, low-cost CO2 sensor for
intelligent building ventilation systems
Verrix (Los Angeles) Develop an automated
method for testing the efficiency of wastewater
treatment systems
EPA Grants Fuel a Wide Spectrum of Advances
In November 2013 in San Francisco, EPA
demonstrated new graffiti removers that are safer
for the environment and workers. The products
are the outcome of a $75,000 pollution prevention
ALBA ESPITIA AND
I VERNESEGHOLSON
Between them, grant spe-
cialists Vernese Gholson
and Alba Espitia of the Pacific Southwest Region's
Grants Management Office manage 113 grants to
states, tribes, local governments and nonprofits.
Vernese, a federal employee for 24 years, is
responsible for administrative management of 62
grants, including grants to tribes and to programs
helping restore San Francisco Bay ecosystems.
Alba, a 25-year veteran of the grants office, is
an expert on EPA's Integrated Grants Management
System, which enables managers to track grant
progress nationwide. In addition to managing 51
grants, Alba is testing a new system for eliminating
paper files for grants in the region.
grant to the Los Angeles-based Institute for
Research and Technical Assistance (IRTA).
Materials currently used to remove graffiti
contribute to smog and may pose health threats to
cleanup workers. The project focused on the
development of less-toxic graffiti removal products
and methods using alternative blasting media such
as dry ice and recycled glass.
A three-year, $499,000 Climate Showcase
Communities grant to the Alameda County
(Calif.) Waste Management Authority is
reducing waste from packing materials (such as
wooden pallets and cardboard) by helping
businesses transition to sustainable, reusable
alternatives. The project is reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from raw materials, production,
transport, and disposal of packaging.
EPA awarded an $800,000 grant to Sanford-
Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla,
Calif, for research on how chemical exposures
affect brain development in children. The Institute
hopes to better understand neurotoxicity, which
will help in developing safer agricultural and
industrial chemicals.
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Focus on California
California is home to more than 35 million residents,
most of whom live not far from contaminated sites
or polluting industries. For more than 40 years, EPA
has helped clean them up.
Helping Californians Breathe Easier
California has thousands of industrial facilities that
must be carefully monitored by operators to
protect nearby residents and workers from
chemical releases, noxious odors, and smog. EPA
recognizes that success requires vigorous enforce-
ment to protect communities, innovation to
improve compliance and reduce pollution, and
strong partnerships with states and tribes.
After the Richmond Refinery Fire
In 2013, EPA's Pacific Southwest Emergency
Planning and Prevention team completed
inspections of 51 industrial facilities, including a
comprehensive assessment of the Chevron
Refinery in Richmond, Calif, in the aftermath
of an August 6, 2012, fire there. The fire sent a
giant plume of black smoke skyward that was
visible all over the Bay Area. Thousands of
Richmond residents went to hospitals seeking
medical help for respiratory problems.
Chevron agreed to pay nearly $2 million in
fines and restitution to state and local agencies
and pleaded no contest to charges of violating
California's labor and health codes stemming
from the fire. The agreement also required the
company to make substantial changes to its
business practices to ensure worker safety.
EPA notified the refinery in December 2013
that its inspection found 62 violations of federal
environmental laws and regulations at the refinery.
Some of the violations stemmed from the facility's
failure to implement its Risk Management Plan,
Smoke from an oil refinery fire spread over Richmond, Calif., on August 6, 2012.
correct procedures after internal audits, and
immediately inform proper authorities of the fire.
EPA's investigation of the refinery continues.
San Joaquin Valley and South Coast
In the San Joaquin Valley, which has some of the
poorest air quality in the nation, EPA conducted 98
inspections in 2013. In Modesto, an investigation of
a cereal production plant owned and operated by
Post Holdings, Inc., and Ralcorp Holdings, Inc.,
found that it was operating without pollution
controls needed to reduce emissions of smog-form-
ing volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
EPA and its co-plantiff, the San Joaquin Valley
Air Pollution Control District, resolved these Clean
Air Act violations in a settlement requiring $1.4
million in pollution control equipment to reduce
VOC emissions by 95%, and $635,000 in penalties.
In Ontario, Calif, EPA inspectors found that
Ventura Foods LLC had had more than 24
releases of highly toxic anhydrous ammonia gas in
five years, including one 288-lb. release that
should have been reported immediately. The
facility paid $157,000 in penalties and has
completed safety upgrades.
Most recently, the South Coast Air Quality
Management District received hundreds of
complaints about noxious odors, headaches, and
nosebleeds from neighbors of AllenCo, a small oil
production facility in south Los Angeles. EPA
inspectors found violations of the Clean Air and
Clean Water Acts, and the agency is continuing
its investigation.
Settlements Secure $171 Million for Cleanups
EPA's enforcement work also involves tracking
down potentially responsible parties who once
dumped waste at toxic sites, or are otherwise
responsible, and getting them to pay their share
of cleanup costs under the federal Superfund law.
This takes thousands of hours of examining
paper records, and sometimes litigation, but it gets
results. In 2013 these efforts secured $171 million
for cleanup work in the Pacific Southwest and
recovered $16 million in EPA costs. Over the next
few years, this will pay for cleanup of 1.3 million
cubic yards of contaminated soil and 131 billion
gallons of groundwater enough to provide water
to 900,000 homes for a year.
Most of this will benefit communities in
California. Sites that are affected include the B.E
Goodrich/Rockets Fireworks and Flares site (settled
after nine years of litigation) in Southern California,
and the Casmalia hazardous waste landfill in Central
California.
Photo: John Storey
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EPA Funding for FY2013 for the Pacific Southwest Region
American
Contracts
9%
$55.5
Payroll and
Support
19%
$110.6
Regional Operating Budget
(in millions)
CNMI
Guam
Geographic Distribution
of Grant Awards
(in millions)
Nevada
$31
About 81% of the $589 million operating
budget appropriated by Congress for EPA's
Pacific Southwest Region flows to state and
tribal agencies, local governments, nonprofit
organizations and private-sector companies in
the form of grants and contracts.
This funding pays for drinking water and
wastewater infrastructure, clean air programs,
Superfund site cleanups, rehabilitation of
contaminated lands, and many other activities
supporting communities and public health.
For more information on grants, visit
www.epa.gov/ogd.
Regional Funding by Strategic Goal
All told, more than half of regional funding is applied toward the goal of Protecting
America's Waters. Most of the $300 million in grants awarded under this goal goes to the
State Revolving Fund, which supports drinking water and wastewater infrastructure as well
as nonpoint source pollution and estuary protection programs.
Improving Air Protecting
Quality/ America's
Climate Waters
Change
Cleaning Ensuring Enforcing
Up Com- Safety of Environmen-
munities/ Chemicals tal Laws
Advancing and Prevent-
Sustainable ing Pollution
Development
Distribution of Grant Funding
The majority of EPA's grant funding goes to state and tribal agencies for
environmental work. (In the Pacific islands, all of EPAs financial support
goes to government agencies.) The charts show who receives funding in
each of four major geographic areas.
California
(S274 million)
Arizona
($57 million)
Nevada
($31 million)
Hawaii
($27 million)
KEY
State Agencies &
Special Districts
I Tribes
| Local Government
Universities
Nonprofits
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency I Pacific Southwest/Region 9 Contacts
Offices
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA94105
415.947.8000
EPA Pacific Islands Contact Office
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 5-152
Honolulu, HI 96850
808.541.2710
EPA San Diego Border Office
610 West Ash St., Suite 905
San Diego, CA92101
619.235.4765
EPA Southern California Field Office
600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1460
Los Angeles, CA90017
213.244.1800
Phone Inquiries
415.947.8000
or 866.EPAWEST
(toll-free)
Email Inquiries
r9.info@epa.gov
EPA Website
wwwr.epa.gov
For Pacific Southwest Issues
www.epa.gov/region9
To Obtain This Report
Order from EPAs Environmental
Information Center at
866.EPA.WEST (toll-free), email
r9.info@epa.gov or view in English
and Spanish on the Web at
www.epa.gov/region9/annualreport
Want to stay informed?
Keep up with EPA's work in the Pacific Southwest and other environmental stories by
subscribing to our monthly e-newsletter at www.epa.gov/region9/newrsletter
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
EPA-909-R-14-001
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