EPA Progress Report 2009
Pacific Southwest Region
©EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
EPA-909-R-09-003
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From the Regional Administrator
Dear Readers,
As we enjoy a renewed commitment to environmental protection as expressed by President Obama and Administrator Jackson,
we can all be reenergized to work together to tackle our environmental challenges.
In carrying out EPA's mission, we have always sought creative ways to protect public health and the environment in the Pacific
Southwest. As we meet the challenges before us, we will continue to show how improvements in environmental infrastructure,
technology and policy can help strengthen our economy and lead to a healthier, more sustainable future.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recently signed into law by President Obama provides a major cash infusion to
upgrade wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, spur cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields, remediate toxic Su-
perfund sites and leaking underground tanks, and reduce harmful diesel emissions. This funding will bring real environmental
improvements and create jobs in the process. (Learn more at www.epa.gov/recovery.)
The environmental challenges we face have always cut across geographic and government boundaries, and every one of us
plays a role. We all make a difference—whether through individual action or in partnership through agencies, organizations and
communities. EPA's partnerships with Pacific island and tribal governments are particularly crucial, since they have historically
lacked the funding, expertise and infrastructure available elsewhere.
Our work with the Navajo Nation to assess and address hazards at more than 500 abandoned uranium mine sites is a good
example. It reminds us that as we look to the future, we still must attend to the toxic legacies of the past. In doing so, we must
also answer calls for environmental justice from communities at risk, ensuring that everyone has a healthy environment.
Vigorous enforcement of our nation's environmental laws is essential to meeting that goal. In fiscal 2008, our enforcement ac-
tions secured more than $2 billion toward improved wastewater systems, toxic cleanups and other environmental improvements
in the Pacific Southwest.
Beyond our shores, our involvement in international partnerships has been instrumental in improving hazardous waste regulation
in China. Our shared border with Mexico is another setting where international cooperation is leading to healthier communities
and ecosystems. (Learn more about this progress at www.epa.gov/border2012.)
The most daunting challenge of all—global climate change—requires unprecedented cooperation and innovation. As we help
map new national strategies, we're finding many opportunities here in the Pacific Southwest. Wastewater treatment plants,
heavy-duty diesel equipment and military bases, for example, can all reduce their greenhouse gas emissions significantly, as
you'll read here.
Each of us bears a responsibility to change—have you calculated your carbon footprint lately? (Try it by clicking on 'What You
Can Do' at www.epa.gov/climatechange.)
Guided by scientific research and a spirit of innovation—and powered by a diverse, talented and dedicated workforce—we're
working to carry out our mission in ways that make sense for the future in the Pacific Southwest.
To all those who have worked with us, thank you—and we look forward to continuing our efforts together.
Laura Yoshii
Acting Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
Cover: A view of Red Rock Canyon, near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Opposite: Rainbow Falls, on the Big Island of Hawaii.
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Table of Contents
Clean Air
Clean Water
Clean Land
16
Communities and Ecosystems
24
Compliance and Stewardship
Contact Information
Inside Back Cover
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Clean Air
The Clean Air Acts of 1970,
1977 and 1990 gave EPA and
state governments the author-
ity to reduce the presence of six
air pollutants to meet national
health standards: lead, sulfur
dioxide, carbon monoxide, ni-
trogen oxides, ozone (smog) and
particulates.
These standards are updated periodically to keep up
with the latest scientific research on the health effects of
these pollutants. EPA recently tightened the standards on
ozone, fine particulates and lead and is working with state
partners and others to further reduce emissions.
Foreign-flagged ships steam into California ports, creating
a major source of air pollution. To control this, EPA and
other federal agencies have been working to implement
MARPOL Annex VI—an international treaty to reduce mar-
itime pollution.
At the local end of the spectrum, EPA has been working
with community groups in neighborhoods and small cities
to encourage involvement in local decisions that can have
an impact on residents' exposure to pollution.
However, not all pollution is man-made. In California and
Hawaii, wildfires and volcanic eruptions emit massive
quantities of particulates and sulfur dioxide that are be-
yond human control. EPA has been working with state and
local governments to better warn residents when condi-
tions are hazardous in order to minimize health risks.
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Clean Air
Trends
Tighter Standards
Bring Healthier Air
After thorough reviews of the latest scientific
research on the health effects of air pollutants,
EPA tightened national air quality standards on
fine particulate pollution in December 2006,
ozone in March 2008, and lead in October
2008.
Adoption of the new standards has triggered
a series of planning processes involving EPA,
states, tribes and local air districts that will ex-
tend the progress toward healthier air seen in
most areas since the 1970s.
Trends in Particulate Pollution
In 1997, EPA set standards for fine particulates,
or PM25 (particulate matter of 2.5 microns or
smaller), when scientific evidence showed them
to be an even greater health threat than larger
particles.
EPA has been tracking levels of fine particulate
matter since 1999 and has seen improvement
nationwide. In the Pacific Southwest, two areas
did not meet the 1997 standards: California's
San Joaquin Valley and South Coast. The state
has since provided EPA with detailed plans on
how these two areas would meet the standards
by the required Clean Air Act deadline.
In December 2006, EPA tightened the 24-hour
PM25 standard from 65 to 35 micrograms per
cubic meter. As a result, EPA in December
2008 designated areas that met or failed to at-
tain the new standard (see map). In the Pacific
Southwest, these nonattainment areas were lo-
cated in California and Arizona. Both states are
on track to provide EPA with implementation
plans for attaining the new PM standard.
A federal appeals court has asked EPA to re-
evaluate the annual PM25 standard (for longer-
term exposure), which the agency had left un-
changed at 15 micrograms per cubic meter.
Since December 2006,
EPA has tightened national
air quality standards on
fine particulate pollution,
ozone and lead.
Refining the Ozone Standard
After scientific studies showed that the earlier
standard for ozone was insufficient to protect
public health, EPA in 1997 tightened the stan-
dard to 0.08 parts per million (effectively 0.084
ppm with rounding). The agency again revised
the ozone standard in March 2008, tightening it
to 0.075 ppm with no rounding.
State and tribal recommendations identifying
areas that meet or fail to meet the new ozone
standard were due to the agency by March 12,
2009. EPA expects to finalize designations in
March 2010, after which states must submit
plans showing how they will meet the new stan-
dard by the Clean Air Act deadline.
Tightening Limits on Lead
Scientific evidence about the health effects of
lead (Pb) has grown dramatically since EPA set
the initial standard in 1978. Studies have shown
In December 2008, EPA designated areas
that fail to meet the new PM,C standard.
that exposure to very low lead levels can be
harmful, especially to young children.
In October 2008, EPA tightened the standard
from 1.5 down to 0.15 micrograms per cubic
meter. Currently, EPA is improving the existing
lead monitoring network by requiring monitors
both in areas with industries that emit more
than a ton of lead per year, as well as in urban
areas with more than 500,000 people.
More on air quality:
www.epa.gov/air w
PM.. Nonattainment Areas
LEGEND
PMj6 NonattaJnment Areas
County Boundaries
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4 Clean Air
Primer
Community Involvement
Helps Solve Local Problems
Traditionally, environmental protection has been
a government-driven process. For example, to
improve air quality, EPA adopts national health
standards; states and regional air districts adopt
plans and pollution control measures needed to
attain the standards. Increasingly, another ap-
proach is also getting results—community in-
volvement in government decision-making.
Decisions about planning, zoning and permits
are made by all levels of government. These de-
cisions often have an impact on local air, water
and land quality. EPA is collaborating with local
groups in some highly impacted communities to
assist them in engaging on local environmental
issues. The agency provides local groups grant
resources and technical assistance to expand
their opportunities to address environmental
concerns.
Building Capacity and Reducing
Exposures in the San Joaquin Valley
The small city of Arvin, at the southern end of
California's San Joaquin Valley, has multiple en-
vironmental challenges. First is unhealthy air—
Arvin is downwind of most of the valley's air pol-
lution sources. Every four days, on average, the
ozone (smog) levels exceed the national health
standard.
Environmental hazards
in Arvin include air
pollution, a Superfund site,
contaminated drinking
water, and pesticide use.
According to the San Joaquin Valley Unified
Air District's plan for attaining the federal health
standard for ozone, it will take Arvin longer to
attain than just about anywhere else in the val-
ley. Valley-wide decisions about planning, zon-
ing, and permits can speed up the process or
slow it down.
Other environmental hazards in Arvin include
a Superfund site, other waste sites, arsenic-
contaminated drinking water, and exposure
to pesticides drifting from surrounding farms.
Arvin is 88% Hispanic, has a 25% unemploy-
ment rate, and a median household income of
only $23,000.
EPA is collaborating with the local Commit-
tee for a Better Arvin to build capacity, engage
regulatory partners, and protect public health.
Last year, the committee co-hosted two work-
shops with EPA, California's Gal/EPA, and
EPA staff and local residents at a community
meeting to discuss environmental hazards in
Arvin, Calif.
rown & Bryant Supettund Site?
Arvin, California
CUAN-UP IN PROGRESS
others. These workshops informed nearly fifty
participants about EPA programs, grant oppor-
tunities, and tools for the community to better
understand toxic hazards. The committee se-
cured a $20,000 EPA grant for environmental
education and capacity building.
EPA is also helping the community address its
other challenges. The agency's drinking water
program conducted inspections and took en-
forcement actions for arsenic violations in five
valley communities, including the Arvin Com-
munity Services District, which serves 16,000
people. The district is now installing additional
water treatment facilities and, until they are
built, notifying the public of unhealthful levels of
arsenic in the water supply. The program also
organized a community meeting to understand
residents' concerns and inform them about
how to spot future violations.
EPA's Superfund program held public meet-
ings with Arvin city officials, the Committee for a
Better Arvin, and the Arvin Community Services
District to update everyone about groundwater
cleanup work underway at the Brown and Bry-
ant Superfund site. In addition, EPA inspected
aboveground fuel storage tanks in response to
community concerns, and informed the com-
mittee about how to identify violations and call
in complaints.
Above: Perimeter of the Brown &
Bryant Superfund site in Arvin, where
groundwater cleanup is underway.
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Clean Air
Reducing Impacts of Goods
Movement in Southern California
The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are
the entry point of 40% of all imports to the U.S.
and the source of 20% of diesel particulate
emissions in Southern California. Air pollution
associated with goods movement—including
ships, diesel trucks and trains—causes an es-
timated 1,200 premature deaths in the South
Coast Air Basin annually, with one-tenth of
that attributed to the ports alone. Los Angeles
County has a population of 10 million, with mi-
norities making up nearly 70%.
The ports are the
source of 20% of diesel
particulate emissions in
Southern California.
Last year, EPA collaborated with minority and
low-income communities in Southern California
to focus enforcement efforts and to influence
port expansion plans. First, to educate its staff,
EPA hosted national Environmental Justice
Goods Movement Workgroup member Prof.
Andrea Hricko and Prof. Ed Avol, an air pollu-
tion health effects expert who serves on mul-
tiple port and goods movement committees.
The two University of Southern California pro-
fessors took part in a presentation and six staff
meetings on health research, emission reduc-
tion strategies, and ways to improve both EPA
and public participation.
As an outgrowth of that visit, EPA and the West
Coast Diesel Collaborative cosponsored an en-
vironmental justice workshop in Southern Cali-
fornia to publicize grant funding opportunities.
Representatives of 20 local groups attended
the workshop. Riverside's Center for Communi-
ty Action and Environmental Justice secured an
EPA grant to educate and organize residents to
get involved in local decision-making to reduce
particulate air pollution. Riverside County has
millions of square feet of distribution centers
that serve the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach.
EPA's enforcement programs prioritized inspec-
tions at industrial sites in Wilmington that posed
potential environmental and public health
threats. The agency also organized two Com-
munity Tools and Resources workshops, one in
Riverside County and another in the ports area.
In commenting on five environmental impact
statements for port-related projects, EPA rec-
ommended additional mitigation measures to
offset significant and unavoidable impacts to
neighboring communities. The agency also rec-
ommended a community health impact assess-
ment, which would estimate the health effects
of the air pollution and other potential health
stressors added by the projects and would help
identify appropriate mitigations.
In addition, EPA grants helped to replace more
than 900 old, polluting trucks operating in and
around the ports with new, clean-burning natu-
ral gas trucks, bringing cleaner air to neighbor-
ing communities (see related story, p. 8).
About 40% of all U.S. imported goods come ashore
at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and are
moved inland by diesel trucks and trains.
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6 Clean Air
Places
Protecting People from
Natural Hazards:
California's Wildfires,
Hawaii's "Vog"
Not all air pollution is man-made. In Northern
California in June 2008, lightning ignited more
than 2,000 wildfires. While most were extin-
guished within a few days, some of the largest
continued for weeks, creating a pall of smoke
that covered much of the state.
On the Big Island of Hawaii, residents contend
with "vog," or volcanic smog: the sulfur dioxide
(SO2) and sulfate particles from Kilauea Volcano.
While these events are beyond human control,
EPA works with state and local governments to
reduce people's exposure to air pollution.
Tribal Request for Assistance in Fire Areas
In California, the stubbornest fires burned in
rural Humboldt, Trinity and Siskiyou counties,
including the lands of the Hoopa, Yurok and
Karok Tribes. The three tribes requested assis-
tance with air monitoring from state and federal
agencies, including the California Air Resources
Board (GARB) and EPA.
When the tribes also requested help with health
messaging and issuing advisories to residents,
EPA's Tim Wilhite worked with the Indian Health
Service and the Hoopa Tribe on communica-
tions. But urban areas hundreds of miles away
from the fires, like Sacramento, Fresno and the
San Francisco Bay Area, were also affected by
the smoke. Local officials and residents could
see and smell the smoke for weeks, and won-
dered if breathing the air was hazardous.
In response, EPA was able to share air quality
data, along with links to public health informa-
tion on how to minimize smoke exposure, via
the AIRNow Web site. The AIRNow site also
proved its value later in the year when the pre-
dictable spate of late-dry-season wildfires hit
in Southern California—and continues to offer
useful advice about minimizing exposure to air
pollution.
Hawaii "Vog" Threatened
Residents, Visitors
On March 19, 2008, there was an explosion
at Halemaumau crater in Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park—the first since 1924. Later, two
more explosions opened vents that emitted up
to 7,000 tons per day of SO2, more than qua-
druple the normal "background" level recorded
in previous years. To protect nearby residents
and park visitors, the state and county request-
ed EPA assistance with air monitoring and fore-
casting unhealthy air conditions.
Above: Satellite photo of the Hawaiian Islands
showing cloud cover (bright white areas) and
volcanic smog, or "vog" (misty gray areas).
EPA's Janet Yocum helped state and county
officials with air monitoring and data analysis
during their initial emergency response. Cath-
erine Brown, Susan Stone and Scott Jackson
worked with the Hawaii Department of Health
(DOH) to create a more permanent system for
alerting the public to vog's health impacts. They
helped DOH initiate real-time reporting for SO2
via the Hawaii DOH Web site and helped add
reporting of fine particulates to EPA's AIRNow
Web site. EPA is working with DOH and other
agencies to develop next-day online forecasting
as well.
The monitoring showed that people living near
the park were sometimes exposed to unhealthy
levels of S02 and particulates. Data were trans-
lated into real-time air quality alerts (posted on
the Hawaii DOH and AIRNow Web sites) show-
ing where vog and fine particulate pollution
reached unhealthy levels.
Real-time air quality information:
www.airnow.gov v
More on natural hazards:
www.epa.gov/naturalevents w
More on vog:
www.hawaii.gov/gov/vog w
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Clean Air 7
People
Maggie Waldon:
A Tenacious Approach to Air Enforcement
Having English Bulldogs has taught Maggie
Waldon a thing or two when it comes to work-
ing in the Pacific Southwest Air Division's En-
forcement Office. "Bulldogs never give up and
neither do I," she says.
At five feet tall, Maggie doesn't appear threaten-
ing—but what she lacks in height she makes up
for in determination. Since joining the Enforce-
ment Office in 2001, Maggie has specialized in
developing cases that require the stubbornness
of a bulldog.
At first, it was easy enough focusing on com-
panies that were illegally emitting hazardous air
pollutants in their solvent degreasing operations
and getting them to use non-toxic alternatives
or air pollution controls. Then Maggie's focus
began to turn to emissions of both hazardous
air pollutants and volatile organic compounds,
especially those being emitted by aerospace
companies, refineries and manufacturers of
polystyrene foam.
These companies were emitting volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), air pollutants that were dif-
ficult to quantify because there were no proven
measurement systems and existing analytical
methods fell short. "The problem with VOCs
is that they are invisible," says Maggie. "Once
the polluting activity has ceased, it's hard to go
back and prove that there were excess emis-
sions." VOCs threaten public health because, in
the presence of sunlight, they react with other
pollutants to form the photochemical oxidant
known as ozone (or smog).
"When we started doing inspections of poly-
styrene manufacturers five or six years ago,
the industry was 'under the radar' of regula-
tors," Maggie says. The facilities aren't large,
but there are lots of them. They make the foam
that's embedded in walls of new buildings for
insulation, laid beneath newly-paved roads and
runways (it's less brittle than cement), and the
familiar packing "peanuts" and cheap foam
coolers for picnics.
Estimating emissions from these facilities is
more complicated than just putting an emis-
Cases against 10
polystyrene manufacturers
have a major impact.
sions monitor on a smokestack. VOCs can
leak out of equipment, pipes and connections
anywhere between the foam manufacturing
process and the control device. At one facility,
Maggie found that the VOCs weren't going to
a control device at all. The facility's permit re-
quired the gases to go to a boiler, but instead
they were being piped through a hole in the
wall, directly into the air.
After Maggie initiated several enforcement ac-
tions against polystyrene manufacturers in the
Pacific Southwest Region, other EPA regional
offices began inspecting polystyrene manufac-
turers in their regions. Then the industry's trade
association held a national meeting to discuss
how to respond. Ultimately, Maggie initiated civil
enforcement cases against 10 manufacturers.
Some of these are already concluded, with fa-
cilities paying penalties ranging from $150,000
to $400,000 and installing state of the art con-
trol devices. Some are still in negotiations be-
tween EPA, the Department of Justice, and the
manufacturers.
As part of a national enforcement team look-
ing at oil refineries, Maggie helped negotiate a
settlement with ConocoPhillips in which Cono-
coPhillips agreed to pay a penalty of $4.5 mil-
lion and spend an additional $10 million on
environmentally beneficial projects to reduce
emissions further and to support activities in the
communities where it operates. ConocoPhillips
operates refineries in the Los Angeles area, San
Luis Obispo, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Maggie also supports regional emergency re-
sponse operations as a member of the Re-
sponse Support Corps and the Radiation
Emergency Response Team.
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8 Clean Air
Innovations
New Clean Air
Technologies Emerge
As usual, California is at the center of the action
in the quest for cleaner technologies.
On July 9, 2008, at the California Emerging
Clean Air Technology Forum in Merced, federal,
state and local agencies joined forces to de-
velop and implement technologies needed for
California to meet federal air quality standards,
to reduce people's exposure to air toxics, and
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This year,
the forum is continuing as an ongoing collab-
orative effort between EPA, the California Air
Resources Board (GARB), the South Coast and
San Joaquin Valley air districts, Gal/EPA, and
the California Energy Commission.
California Emerging Clean Air
Technology Forum
ii ''il "•ului.non Agency
<3=Air Resources Board
San Joaquin Valley
AIR POUUTIO" CONTROL DISTRICT
These agencies signed a commitment to devel-
op, test and deploy new sustainable technolo-
gies to accelerate progress in meeting national
air quality standards. Experts from across the
nation presented the latest research on hydrau-
lic and plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel
cells, air monitoring and remote sensing, agri-
cultural water pump efficiency, and diesel mo-
bile source controls, among others.
Inset: Announcement for interagency forum held in Merced, Calif., in July 2008.
Above right: Former EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri shows
difference in exhaust emissions between old diesel earth-movers and new
ones that meet California's new emissions standards.
The Merced event focused on new and emerg-
ing technologies to reduce air pollution from
both mobile and industrial sources. This group
will determine which technologies to move
forward and implement the research projects
to help meet California's unique air quality
challenges.
On January 5, 2009, EPA, GARB and the South
Coast Air Quality Management District spon-
sored an event at the Puente Hills Landfill to
showcase cleaner burning tractors, bulldoz-
ers and other earth moving equipment that is
ahead of schedule in meeting the state's new,
stringent diesel emissions standards. The new
regulation requires the installation of diesel soot
filters on off-road diesel engines and encour-
ages the replacement of older, dirtier engines
with newer emission-controlled models.
The largest grant recipient for diesel emission
reduction activities, nonprofit Cascade Sierra
Solutions, received $1.13 million from EPA in
September 2008 in a first of-its-kind grant to
help lower the fuel costs of truckers and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and diesel pollution.
An additional $17.1 million will be leveraged by
the Cascade Sierra Solutions partners to pro-
vide below-market interest rate loans to truck-
ers, allowing them to install idle reduction tech-
nologies on more than 1,700 trucks.
Under the program, truckers will save approxi-
mately $10 million in fuel costs per year, or over
2.5 million gallons of diesel fuel per year—and
at the same time reduce 28,000 tons of carbon
dioxide, 32 tons of particulate matter, and 630
tons of nitrogen oxides per year.
Learn more:
www.epa.gov/region9/air/cecat-forum ^
www.westcoastcollaborative.org w
i
The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act
Since 2004, EPA has issued grants for projects
throughout the West Coast that save fuel while reduc-
ing diesel emissions. The Diesel Emissions Reduction
Act of 2005 (DERA) provided additional funding to
cut emissions from diesel engines nationwide. Since
2004, EPA issued grants totaling $32 million for 115
projects in the Pacific Southwest, affecting more than
7,463 on- and off-road engines.
Diesel engines emit nitrogen oxides, CO2 and soot,
which are linked to thousands of premature deaths,
hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks and millions
of lost work days. These grant projects will have im-
mediate and significant benefits for public health, and
will help to advance new technologies and approach-
es for the future.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 will provide more than $33 million to states and
other eligible entities in the Pacific Southwest to sup-
port the implementation of diesel emission reduction
technologies through DERA. Under this program,
funding will be used to achieve significant reductions
in diesel emissions while maximizing job preservation
and creation.
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Clean Air 9
Crossing Borders
MARPOL Annex VI Treaty
to Require Cleaner Ships
EPA has been instrumental in carrying out a
newly-ratified treaty to prevent air pollution from
ships: the MARPOL Annex VI Treaty.
This treaty sets up an international maritime
program that consists of two sets of standards
to control ships' emissions. The first sets a cap
on the sulfur content of fuel, while the second
limits nitrogen oxides emissions from ships' en-
gines. The U.S. ratified the treaty in 2008.
Diesel engines on oceangoing vessels such
as container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, and
cruise ships are significant contributors to
air pollution in many of our nation's cities and
ports, especially ports in the Pacific Southwest
Region, such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and
Oakland. Controlling these emissions not just
here but throughout the world will provide im-
portant air quality benefits to many millions of
coastal and inland residents.
Most ships that come to the U.S. are flagged
in other countries, but they're subject to inter-
national standards. State and local air qual-
ity regulators have long been frustrated by air
pollution from ocean-going ships, since states
and local governments for the most part can't
regulate them under the Clean Air Act. As land-
based emissions have come under tighter and
tighter limits, especially in Southern California's
South Coast Air Quality Management District,
ship emissions from fast-growing port traf-
fic has accounted for a growing portion of the
smog and particulate pollution.
On October 9, 2008, the 168 member states of
the United Nations' International Maritime Orga-
nization (IMO) adopted stringent new standards
The U.N. International Maritime Organization set
new, stringent standards limiting ships' emissions of
smog-forming nitrogen oxides.
to control harmful exhaust emissions from the
engines that power oceangoing vessels. This
is a critical first step that may eventually help
millions of Americans and many more people
around the world to breathe cleaner air. To fully
realize the significant benefits of this program,
countries that have ratified the treaty can seek
an emission control area (EGA) designation
from the IMO.
Since the U.S. ratified the treaty, EPA (the lead
U.S. federal agency) has been working with
the U.S. State Department, U.S. Coast Guard,
and the Government of Canada to develop a
comprehensive approach to establishing EGAs
along all U.S. and Canadian coasts. EPA ex-
pects to submit the U.S./Canadian application
for EGAs to the IMO in late March in preparation
for consideration at its next regularly scheduled
meetings in July 2009. Approval of the applica-
tion could then take place as early as the IMO's
March 2010 meeting.
More on oceangoing vessels:
www.epa.gov/oms/oceanvessels.htm w
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Clean Water
Here in the Pacific Southwest,
public awareness of water is-
sues peaks during droughts,
floods, major oil spills, and sew-
age spills. Keeping our waters
clean requires routine but essen-
tial work every day of the year by
EPA and state, regional and local
agencies.
for discharge without harming aquatic life or people. (It's
a particular challenge on remote tribal lands and Pacific
pport and other
stainably.
resources to help utilities operat
see story, p. 2»,j
These facilities are built and operated by local govern-
ments, but EPA and state governments provide funding
water must be to protect designated uses such as fishing
watersheds. EPA also works
'ater runoff
from polluting waterways by controlling pollutants at their
Restoration of degraded streams and estuaries is
another essential element in the protection of watersheds
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Clean Water 11
Trends
Meeting the Challenge
of Sustainable Water Infrastructure
EPA's Sustainable Water Infrastructure and Cli-
mate Change initiative promotes energy and
water efficiency at wastewater and drinking
water utilities in the Pacific Southwest. Such
management practices conserve water, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, and save money,
freeing up funding for training and capital im-
provement projects.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Water Division has
launched a Sustainable Water Infrastructure
Web site, which provides agencies and opera-
tors with information about a comprehensive
four-step energy management process, case
studies, efficient and renewable energy tech-
nologies, and funding opportunities—including
the State Revolving Fund loan programs, which
have been bolstered by the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (see box).
To promote energy and water efficiency, EPA
has also begun a series of energy management
workshops and ENERGY STAR benchmarking
classes in the Pacific Southwest. The first work-
shop drew an audience of more than 100 utility
operators and managers.
Improving energy
efficiency at drinking
water and wastewater
facilities reduces
greenhouse gas emissions
and operating costs.
Water and wastewater facilities are among the
largest and most energy-intensive systems
owned and operated by local governments, ac-
counting for approximately 30-50% of munici-
pal energy use. U.S. drinking water and waste-
water facilities annually spend about $4 billion
on energy, representing about 53 million metric
tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions.
Additionally, the costs of adapting water in-
frastructure to climate change impacts—like
drought, increasing storm severity, sea level
rise, saltwater intrusion, and reduced snow
pack—will be substantial.
More on sustainable infrastructure tools:
www.epa.gov/region9/waterinfrastructure W
More on the Recovery Act in the Pacific Southwest:
www.epa.gov/region9/eparecovery w
What you can do to conserve water:
www.epa.gov/watersense w
The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act
On February 17, President Obama signed the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The act,
part of a concerted effort to create jobs and stimulate the
U.S. economy, provides $288 billion in economic recovery
tax relief and $499 billion in targeted priority investments
with unprecedented accountability measures built in.
Of the $6 billion in ARRA funding allocated for water infra-
structure projects through the State Revolving Fund (SRF)
loan programs, approximately $650 million will go to proj-
ects in the Pacific Southwest Region. In addition, 20% of
the funding is designated to be used for environmentally
innovative projects that address energy efficiency, water ef-
ficiency and innovative stormwater management.
EPA estimates that it will cost approximately $500 billion
over the next 20 years to meet America's drinking water
and wastewater infrastructure needs. Since 1970, EPA's
Construction Grant and SRF programs have provided over
$140 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastruc-
ture, and EPA continues to provide annual SRF program
capitalization grants.
Inset: EPA provides sustainability guidance to utilities.
-------
12 Clean Water
Primer
Strengthening Discharge Permits
for Coastal Cities
As every major city in the United States dis-
charges treated wastewater into nearby water-
ways, EPA places a high priority on establishing
and enforcing stringent state and federal dis-
charge permits to protect public health and the
environment.
In December 2008 and January 2009, EPA
took action affecting municipalities in Califor-
nia, Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, and
how thoroughly they treat their water before
discharge. These actions will help protect rec-
reational users of ocean waters such as anglers
and surfers, as well as marine life.
The Basics of Wastewater Discharge
To comply with the Clean Water Act of 1972,
most municipal wastewater treatment plants
use both primary and secondary treatment.
Primary treatment involves screening out large
floating objects, such as rags and sticks, re-
moving grit, such as sand and small stones,
and allowing wastewater to settle, followed by
the removal of collected solids. In secondary
treatment, primary-treated wastewater flows
into another facility where bacteria consume
most of the organic matter in the wastewater
before it is discharged.
Amendments to the law in 1977 allow for vari-
ances from secondary treatment for certain
ocean discharges, provided the plant meets
specified criteria. One important requirement
is that the discharge must meet water quality
standards adopted by the state to protect ma-
rine life and recreational activities such as swim-
ming, surfing and fishing.
Many coastal cities that once sought variances
from secondary treatment have chosen to up-
grade their treatment plants to meet Clean Wa-
ter Act requirements without variances. This is
especially true in areas with heavy recreational
beach use. Also, as water supplies become
more valuable, an increasing number of munici-
palities are adding advanced treatment tech-
nologies to their secondary treatment plants to
clean the wastewater to the point it can be used
safely for landscape irrigation and other uses.
Upgrading Treatment Plants in California
In January, EPA announced an agreement with
the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Qual-
ity Control Board and the East Bay Municipal
Utility District (EBMUD) that requires the district
to address wet weather discharges of partially-
A clarifier at the Honouliuli treatment facility in
Honolulu.
treated stormwater, which includes some sew-
age, into the bay.
Terms of the agreement, contained in a revised
discharge permit, require EBMUD to identify ar-
eas with the highest wet weather sewage flows
for sewer repair and flow reduction. In addition,
EBMUD must develop a program requiring re-
pair of leaking private sewer pipes that extend
from homes and businesses to city sewer
mains, spend at least $2 million annually in in-
centives to accelerate repair of private sewer
pipes, and improve maintenance and repair of
sewers.
Also in January 2009, EPA approved a permit
incorporating a variance for the Morro Bay/
Cayucos wastewater treatment plant in Morro
Bay, Calif. The permit will enable the facility to
continue operating while work is underway to
complete a secondary sewage treatment facil-
ity within five years. In addition, after working
with EPA, the Central Coast Regional Water
Quality Control Board, and other state and local
authorities, the discharger has decided to go
beyond Clean Water Act requirements and im-
plement tertiary treatment and water recycling.
Tertiary treated water can be used for farm and
landscape irrigation.
EPA has also proposed to approve San Di-
ego's request for a similar variance, as the city
Above: The East Bay Municipal Utility District has
agreed to improve its infrastructure to reduce wet-
weather discharges into San Francisco Bay.
-------
Clean Water 13
recently upgraded its Point Loma Metropolitan
Wastewater Treatment Plant to disinfect treated
wastewater. Point Loma's discharge point is 4.5
miles offshore, about 300 feet deep. EPA will
make a final decision in mid-2009 after consid-
ering comments from the public.
Recent EPA actions will
require municipalities to
more thoroughly clean
up their wastewater.
Upgrading Treatment Plants in
Hawaii and the Pacific Islands
In January, EPA denied Honolulu's request for
continuation of two variances allowing the city
to discharge wastewater from two treatment
plants without secondary treatment. EPA had
reviewed the city's applications for the vari-
ances, including water quality data from the last
several years, and carefully considered and re-
sponded to public comments. EPA concluded
that the discharges from the Sand Island and
Honouliuli treatment facilities do not meet Clean
Water Act requirements, including standards
designed to protect recreational use and marine
life in the vicinity of the offshore ocean outfalls.
The Honolulu treatment plants will be required
to upgrade to full secondary treatment, pending
the outcome of a recent appeal.
In 2006, a sewage spill into
Honolulu's Ala Wai Canal caused a week-long
closure of a portion of Waikiki Beach.
"We will work with Honolulu to upgrade its two
largest wastewater plants, and make other im-
provements to its wastewater systems," said
Alexis Strauss, director of EPA's Water Division
in the Pacific Southwest Region.
In January, EPA proposed to deny variances
for the Agana and Northern District wastewater
treatment plants in Guam and the Tafuna and
Utulei wastewater treatment plants in American
Samoa. EPA's tentative decisions include find-
ings that the discharges do not meet the crite-
ria for protecting recreation and marine life. EPA
is accepting comments from the public on the
proposed denials and will consider the com-
ments received before making final decisions.
Taken together, the recent actions by EPA
will result in substantial improvements to wa-
ter quality in the coastal waters of the Pacific
Southwest.
"W,, r ^V cause i-ness
^^^^__^_
-------
14 Clean Water
Places
Restoring Coastal Watersheds
in California
California's coastal streams and estuaries, from
the Tijuana Estuary on the U.S.-Mexico border
to the Smith River near the Oregon border, are
critical habitats for endangered fish and wildlife,
as well as water sources for people.
Endangered species like the Coho Salmon,
Southern Steelhead Trout, and Red-Legged
Frog still live in coastal streams as far south
as Malibu, but they struggle to survive in wa-
terways degraded by water diversions and
drought, soil erosion, pollution, dams, gravel
mining, and channelization.
Recognizing these threats, EPA partners with
state and local agencies and nonprofits to pro-
vide funding and oversight for critical watershed
protection efforts through a broad range of pro-
grams. EPA is part of the West Coast Gover-
nors' Agreement on Ocean Health, joining to-
gether the efforts of Washington, Oregon and
California with federal agencies to focus on the
Pacific Ocean.
The San Francisco Estuary Project received a
nearly $5 million EPA grant in December 2008
to fund projects run by more than a dozen local
organizations to help protect the Bay's fragile
ecosystem. Examples include reducing urban
storm runoff, removing mercury from upstream
watersheds, and improving habitat for native
fish. In addition, every year EPA funds non-
point source pollution prevention projects along
coastal streams.
A wide-ranging new effort is the West Coast
Estuaries Initiative for the California Coast, part
of EPA's Targeted Watershed Grant Program.
These grants advance partnerships that con-
serve, restore and protect the water quality,
habitat and environment of coastal waters, es-
tuaries, bays and nearshore waters. Congress
appropriated a total of $7.5 million in 2007 and
2008. Nine projects, now underway, were cho-
sen in a competitive process (see below); state
and local matching funds leveraged $11 million
more.
A recent EPA enforcement settlement against
housing developers for stormwater violations
at construction sites included a $608,000 proj-
ect to prevent sediment runoff into Mendocino
County's Garcia River. Specifics include fixing
roads, decommissioning unused roads, and re-
storing the tree canopy and native vegetation in
two Garcia River tributaries.
More on watershed priorities:
www.epa.gov/region9/water/watershed
West Coast Estuaries Initiative for the California Coast: 2007 and 2008 Grants
Restoration of Waukell Creek Wetland/Stream
Habitats, Klamath River (Yurok Tribal Fisheries
Program) $547,832 (Federal: $493,000) North Coast
Mattole River Estuary (Mattole Salmon Group)
$2,325,242 (Federal: $958,435) Humboldt/Mendocino
Counties
Green Infill—Clean Stormwater (Association of
Bay Area Governments/SFEP) $3,461,995 (Federal:
$996,495) San Francisco Bay
Lower Carmel River Floodplain Restoration Project
(Big Sur Land Trust) $2,992,000 (Federal: $992,000)
Carmel Bay/Monterey County
San Gregorio Creek Watershed: Filling Critical Flow
Needs (American Rivers) $589,646 (Federal: $441,146)
Coastal San Mateo County
Transforming Inflows to Elkhorn Estuary: Lower
Carneros Creek Wetlands (Ag. & Land-Based
Training Assoc.) $1,459,962 (Federal: $999,962)
Monterey Bay
Moro Cojo Slough Restoration and Management
Plan (Moss Landing Marine Labs, San Jose State
Univ.) $360,847 (Federal: $267,347) Monterey Bay
South San Diego Bay Coastal Wetland Restoration/
Enhancement (San Diego Unified Port Dist.)
$2,229,043 (Federal: $1,000,000) South San Diego
County
Tijuana River Watershed: Water Quality & Community
Outreach (SW Wetlands Interpretive Assoc.)
$1,799,297 (Federal: $990,898) Border/South San Diego
County
-------
Clean Water 15
People
Amy Miller:
Reducing Stormwater Impacts
Amy Miller is team leader of the Pacific South-
west Water Division's Stormwater and Wetlands
Enforcement Team. She supervises the group,
but still gets out into the field for inspections
and case development.
"With wetlands cases, it's like CSI on TV—you
look at the damage and try to find out what it
was like originally, what happened, and who did
it," she says. In a recent Arizona case, a de-
veloper bulldozed more than three square miles
of land, destroying an ancient mesquite forest,
and damming, rerouting and channelizing the
Santa Cruz River.
"I hiked all over the property, and it was like a
moonscape," Amy recalled. During the next
heavy rainfall, downstream flooding resulted.
The developer paid penalties of $1.25 million-
one of the nation's largest penalties for a wet-
lands violation.
Industrial Stormwater cases are different. In-
spectors look for potential pollution sources at
open sites like ports, mines and construction
sites. Port facilities are subject to Stormwater
requirements. Due to ports' close proximity
to waterways, trash and contaminants on the
ground during rainstorms are often washed di-
rectly into the water.
In 2007, Amy's team and the Los Angeles Re-
gional Water Quality Control Board conducted
55 inspections of tenants at the ports of Long
Beach and Los Angeles, resulting in 20 com-
pliance orders. In 2008, EPA and the Central
Valley Regional Board conducted a similar audit
at the Port of Stockton. The agencies also con-
Opposite page, top: State and federal water quality
officials visit the Tijuana Estuary, where excess
sediment and trash threaten a highly valued aquatic
ecosystem.
ducted on-site audits on the ports' own storm-
water compliance programs.
Beverage manufacturers are another potential
source of Stormwater pollution. In one case,
she says, "There was oil and grease on the
ground, and the stench of spoiled soft drinks
on hot asphalt was terrible."
The beverages contain nutrients and are acidic,
which can harm sensitive stream ecosystems.
The spoiled liquids should have been disposed
of in the sanitary sewer system—where the ef-
fluent is treated —not in the Stormwater system,
which drains to creeks and beaches.
"You go out into the field
and work with people
to solve problems. Each
case has an endpoint,
where you can see the
environmental results."
In a recent case against two California soft drink
facilities, the legal settlement required the com-
pany to pay about $1 million in penalties and
hire an environmental director to ensure that
best management practices are followed. Amy
says the next time she inspected the facilities,
"They were so clean. It was very rewarding to
see the entire staff change their ethic."
When Amy was at Golden Gate University Law
School in San Francisco in the mid-1990s, she
was planning a career in foreign service with
the U.S. State Department. Then she took an
internship at EPA, and it changed everything.
"I fell in love with enforcement," she says. It's re-
ally not as strange as it sounds. "You go out into
the field and work with people to solve prob-
lems. Each case has an endpoint, where you
can see the environmental results."
-------
Clean Land
Toxic sites on land can harm
people three ways: By direct
contact, polluting water, or con-
centrating pollutants in the food
chain. This chapter illustrates
how EPA is working to clean up
toxics and block all three path-
ways of exposure.
smelters long ago deposited toxic metals like arsenic and
lead. Today, EPA is working with landowners and smelt-
ing companies to investigate and clean up contaminated
soil in local yards and parks while assessing air quality
impacts.
sxic dumping from decades ago pollutes groundwater
eas. EPA is overseeing dozens of sites where groundwater
moved up the food chain into fish. EPA has partnered witr
local governments to keep these fish off the dinner tabk
through outreach and a ban on selling them.
In Las Vegas, a closed landfill threatens to pollute the city's
water supply. EPA won a court ruling that makes respon-
sible parties pay for a long-term solution.
iloyees is making a big
difference in China by putting the agencys experience
and expertise to use in helping China deal with pressing
toxics issues.
-------
Clean Land 17
Trends
Cleaning Up Toxic Legacy
of Smelters in Arizona Towns
Since the inception of EPA's Superfund program
in 1981, most cleanups have focused on the
toxic legacies of earlier industries. In the Pacific
Southwest, EPA has been involved in cleanups
of mining sites since the early 1980s. A recent
focus has been investigating and cleaning up
smelters—where the ore extracted from mines
is heated in a furnace until it liquefies, and the
pure metal separates from the unusable molten
slag.
Historically, smelters were a dirty business. Be-
fore the 1970s, they emitted stack smoke high
in toxic metals such as lead, copper and arse-
nic as well as sulfur dioxide from burning sulfur.
Mining towns were built around the smelters,
and homes and yards were covered with toxic
dust day after day, year after year.
Today, stack smoke at smelters has been con-
trolled and only a few smelters are still operat-
ing, but people living in the rural smelter towns
are at risk from the toxics deposited in their
yards decades ago.
At the ASARCO Hayden Plant site in Arizona,
which still produces copper from a smelter,
EPA's Superfund program is overseeing the
removal of contaminated soil from up to 300
yards in residential areas under an Administra-
tive Agreement and Order on Consent signed
by ASARCO and EPA in 2008. Through this
agreement, which utilizes the Superfund Alter-
native approach, EPA and the responsible par-
ty, ASARCO, are implementing the Superfund
cleanup process—from public involvement to
Record of Decision and cleanup—even though
the site is not added to EPA's Superfund Na-
tional Priorities List.
ASARCO filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but un-
der the agreement the company set aside $15
million that can only be used for the cleanup
and that will be available even if the Hayden
Smelter shuts down. At several other smelter
sites in Arizona, mining and smelting compa-
nies have recognized their responsibility and
are doing their own remedial investigations and
cleanup. These include smelter sites in Supe-
rior, Douglas and Ajo, Ariz.
EPA is overseeing removal
of contaminated soil
from yards of up to 300
homes in Hayden, Arizona.
In the case of the Humboldt Smelter in Dewey-
Humboldt, Ariz., however, the smelting com-
pany went bankrupt and the smelter shut down
decades ago. There are no surviving entities to
pay for cleanup, but several hundred people still
live there. EPA added this site to the Superfund
National Priorities List in 2008. Initial soil sam-
pling found several "hot spots" of contamina-
tion in the yards of several homes. Here, the
top two feet of soil has been removed and the
bulldozed yards have been re-covered with a
two-foot layer of clean soil.
In early 2009, EPA set up air monitors around
Dewey-Humboldt to measure the particulates
(dust) in the air, and the metal content of the
dust. Results will be used to evaluate cleanup
options.
In Hayden, population 800, the town park's top
two feet of soil has been removed and replaced
with clean soil, making it safer for children to
play there. The aging plant at Hayden has com-
plied with smokestack air pollution regulations,
but air monitoring in town has shown levels
of arsenic, lead and chromium still exceeding
public health standards, probably due to toxic
fumes escaping from leaks in the plant outside
the smokestack.
As the exact source of air contamination in
Hayden is discovered and controlled, the town's
residents can look forward to breathing easier.
The smokestack of a copper smelter rises above
Hayden, Ariz.
-------
18 Clean Land
Primer
Reclaiming Groundwater
in the Arid West
With years-long droughts underway in Arizona,
Nevada and California, surface water is in short
supply. It's more important than ever to restore
contaminated groundwater, making it safe for
use as drinking water. Since the early 1980s,
EPA's Superfund program has been doing just
that at dozens of sites throughout the arid West.
In the early 1900s, groundwater went straight
to the tap, because it was assumed to be pure.
But since the 1930s, liquid fuels and hazard-
ous wastes dumped on the ground in some
areas have seeped into the groundwater, mak-
ing it unfit for human consumption. In some
cases, "plumes" of chemically contaminated
groundwater have spread vertically into deep-
er groundwater aquifers and laterally for miles
across property boundaries and city limits.
At more than 60 of these sites, EPA Superfund
staff have been working with responsible par-
ties and contractors to get groundwater clean-
R.4E. | R.5E
Grnundwater treatment by Air Stripping
Began operation in 1897
Owned and operated by Arizona American
Water Company
, Treated groundwater discharged lo AAWC
potable water system
« Groundwatef treatment by Air Shipping
• Began operation In 1394
• Owned and operated by the City ol Sconsdale
• Treated groundwater discharged to Scottsdale
water system
ndwater treatment by Ultraviolet Oxidation
and Air Stripping
Began operation in 1909
Owned by Siemens and operated by
NIBW Groundwater
Treatment Facilities
• Groundwater treatment by Air Stripping
• Began operation In 1999
• Owned and operated by Motorola
• Treated groundwater discharged to SRP
Irrigation systems
up and containment systems (such as pump-
and-treat) up and running. These groundwater
treatment facilities, scattered throughout the
West's major urban areas, are quietly churn-
ing out millions of gallons of clean water each
day. In many cases, the treated water is being
returned to groundwater basins or supplied di-
rectly to municipal water providers.
Some pump-and-treat facilities have been op-
erating for more than a decade now, and the
groundwater beneath them is approaching
drinking water standards. At these older sites,
EPA is conducting five-year reviews to ensure
that the treatment systems are still functioning
as intended. In a few cases, however, contami-
nated groundwater has just recently been dis-
covered and mapped, and cleanup is still in the
planning stages.
The old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure," goes double for groundwa-
ter. It's much cheaper to prevent contamination
than to clean it up. Since the early 1980s, EPA
and states, territories and tribes have enforced
strict regulations on underground fuel tanks,
aboveground oil facilities, and hazardous waste
generators and handlers to prevent new spills
and leaks. Still, much work remains to clean up
the toxic legacy of the past.
• At the San Fernando Valley Superfund sites
in Los Angeles County, cleanup of chlori-
nated solvents (such as TCE and PCE) in
groundwater has been underway for more
than a decade, and the three pump-and-
treat systems there have produced more
than 60 billion gallons of clean drinking
Left: Map and photos of groundwater treatment
facilities at the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund
site in Scottsdale, Ariz.
-------
Clean Land 19
water while removing more than 200,000
pounds of solvents from the groundwater.
In recent years, hexavalent chromium
contamination has emerged as a growing
problem that has affected some of these
systems and forced a reduction in pumping
rates in order to continue meeting perfor-
mance standards. EPA has attacked this
problem on two fronts, working with state
agencies to identify, investigate and clean
up the sources of contamination while
also working with the city of Glendale and
responsible parties (who are on the hook
to finance cleanup) to design and build
two chromium treatment demonstration
projects in Glendale.
• Drinking water wells in the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power's (LADWP)
Tujunga well field in the San Fernando
Valley have recently been discovered to
be contaminated with the chemicals TCE
and PCE. EPA is working with LADWP and
the state Department of Toxic Substances
Control to identify possible sources for
these chemical contaminants.
• Construction of groundwater treatment sys-
tems is expected to be completed this year
at the San Gabriel Valley El Monte site in
Los Angeles County. Once complete, these
systems will generate over 1.9 millions gal-
lons of treated groundwater per day, which
will be used to meet the potable water
supply needs of local businesses and more
than 7,600 homes.
• For the past several years, the San Gabriel
Valley Superfund sites in South El Monte,
Whittier and Baldwin Park have collectively
treated and distributed almost 57,000 acre
feet of drinking water per year (over 18.5
billion gallons), enough water to supply
several million households in Los Angeles
County.
• At the Visalia Pole Yard, in Visalia in the San
Joaquin Valley, responsible party Southern
California Edison used an innovative steam
injection-vapor extraction system to remove
more than 400,000 pounds of contami-
nants in soil and groundwater. Two years of
monitoring data indicate that the ground-
water cleanup goals have been met.
• In the Phoenix area, several NPL sites (In-
dian Bend Wash North and South, Phoenix
Goodyear Airport North and South, and
Motorola 52nd Street) have extensive PCE
and TCE contamination in groundwater that
stretches for several miles. Multiple treat-
ment systems are operating throughout
the three sites. During 2008, more than
6.3 billion gallons of water were treated
with these systems, and more than 6,300
pounds of TCE were removed from the
groundwater at these sites. Thousands
of people in the Phoenix area are served
drinking water that has been treated by one
of these systems.
The Tucson International Airport Area
Superfund site is in the southeastern part
of Tucson. The groundwater in the area has
multiple TCE plumes, as well as a 1,4-Diox-
ane plume, associated with this site. There
are five groundwater treatment systems
with a combined pumping rate of 6,000
gallons per minute. Over the last 22 years,
almost 50 billion gallons have been treated,
removing 200,000 pounds of solvents.
Water from one of the treatment systems
comprises 9% of Tucson's water supply
and serves 50,000 Tucson residences.
More on Superfund in the Pacific Southwest:
www.epa.gov/region9/superfund v
Above: Aerial view of groundwater treatment facility at the
Tucson International Airport Area Superfund site.
Left: Air stripping trays remove contaminants from groundwater.
-------
20 Clean Land
Places
Containing Sunrise Landfill
to Protect Las Vegas Drinking Water
In August 2008, EPA settled an enforcement
action against the company responsible for
the 440-acre Sunrise Mountain Landfill in Clark
County, Nev. The agreement, which requires the
company to build and operate a comprehensive
remedy for the site that will prevent waste from
washing downstream into Las Vegas Wash and
Lake Mead during rainstorms, caps a decade
of effort by a small group of EPA staff.
The landfill's cover was breached by a heavy
rainstorm in 1998, discharging waste into the
wash, which in turn flows into Lake Mead, the
main source of drinking water for the Las Vegas
area, the Phoenix area and parts of Southern
California. In response EPA issued administra-
tive orders under the Resource Conservation
N
and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act. The
operators did short-term repairs, but resisted
developing a comprehensive closure.
Overcoming the operators' myriad technical
and legal objections required patient, persistent
effort by EPA staff. Unwilling to leave any as-
pect of the closure plans to chance, they sys-
tematically negotiated an exhaustively detailed
design for a lasting landfill cover and stormwa-
ter controls.
The company, Republic Services of Southern
Nevada, has paid a $1 million civil fine to re-
solve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act,
and will pay an estimated $36 million to imple-
ment a comprehensive closure. In addition to
stormwater controls, the plan includes an ar-
mored engineered cover,
methane gas collection,
groundwater monitoring,
and long-term operation
and maintenance.
The settlement will ensure
effective long-term con-
trol of the landfill, which
contains over 49 million
cubic yards of waste. The
remedy is expected to
take roughly two years to
build. Upon completion, it
is estimated to prevent the
release of over 14 million
pounds of contaminants
annually, including storm-
water pollutants, methane
gas and landfill leachate.
Aerial view of the Sunrise Landfill near Las
Vegas, Nev.
For 40 years prior to 1993, the Sunrise Moun-
tain Landfill received most of the Las Vegas
area's waste, including municipal solid waste,
medical waste, sewage sludge, hydrocarbon-
contaminated soils, asbestos, and construction
waste.
For 40 years, Sunrise
Mountain Landfill
received most of the
Las Vegas area's waste.
The landfill was operated on behalf of Clark
County by entities related to Republic Services
of Southern Nevada from the 1950s through
1993, when the landfill stopped accepting
more waste. Following the landfill cover failure in
1998, EPA ordered Republic Dumpco, a related
company, and the Clark County Public Works
Department to correct violations of the federal
clean water laws and immediately stabilize the
site.
The technical advances in developing the
unique surface armoring of the landfill serve as
a precedent for other desert landfill sites requir-
ing comparable protections from erosion and
infiltration. When construction is complete in
two years, the Sunrise Landfill should be able to
successfully weather a 200-year storm event.
More on Sunrise Landfill:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/sunrise w
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Clean Land 21
People
Luis Garcia-Bakarich:
Reaching Out on Cleanups
Luis Garcia-Bakarich has been a Superfund
community involvement coordinator for just
three years, and he's already been nominated
for a national EPA award for exceptional public
service.
At the Brown and Bryant Superfund site in Cali-
fornia's San Joaquin Valley, he earned the trust
of a community where people feel plagued with
environmental problems—the Superfund site,
poor groundwater quality, and some of the na-
tion's worst air pollution. When the community
criticized EPA's proposed cleanup plan, Luis
began meeting with concerned residents, initi-
ating a dialogue between the community and
EPA's technical staff. By the time EPA finalized
the plan, the community group sent EPA a
"thank you" letter for the work he led.
Luis is also the Pacific Southwest Region's
coordinator for the Technical Assistance Ser-
vices for Communities (TASC) contract, which
provides technical and educational services
to communities affected by hazardous waste
sites. Through his efforts, seven communities
have received TASC services, including four
completed projects and three underway.
But his most significant contribution has been
his vital role in the Navajo Abandoned Ura-
nium Mine Project (see story, p. 26). In 2008,
the project included assessment and cleanup
of potentially contaminated radioactive homes
and structures, testing of water sources, and
informing nearby residents.
With an emphasis on partnership, Luis col-
laborated with the Navajo Nation EPA to con-
duct effective outreach and provide informa-
tion so residents can be more informed about
the risks associated with abandoned uranium
mines. The abandoned mines are in remote
areas, near isolated homes and communities.
Luis worked with the Navajo Nation EPA to de-
scribe the work to be done on each resident's
property. He helps coordinate outreach efforts
and materials for both the communities and the
tribal agencies.
Early on, he helped organize a stakeholder
workshop in Gallup, New Mexico, to discuss
the project's five-year cleanup plan. Approxi-
mately 150 people attended, including repre-
sentatives from 13 federal agencies, the Navajo
Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the states of New Mex-
ico and Arizona, two universities, nonprofits,
and private citizens.
Effective outreach
helps protect Navajo
residents from uranium
contamination.
Later, Luis worked collaboratively with EPA and
Navajo Nation staff on outreach, including the
development of a communications strategy
that he presented to Navajo Division of Health
and Indian Health Service personnel, to ensure
that Navajo families don't drink contaminated
water. He developed signs that are now per-
manently displayed at livestock wells that are
unfit to use for drinking water due to uranium
contamination. In addition, Luis created a half-
page ad in the Navajo Times warning residents
about the locations of the contaminated wells
and prepared illustrated reports for members of
Congress.
Working in concert with colleagues in EPA's Pa-
cific Southwest Tribal Program, Luis has con-
tributed significantly to EPA's strong relationship
with the Navajo Nation.
-------
22 Clean Land
Partnership
Reducing Public Health Impacts
of Contamination on Palos Verdes Shelf
While the shimmering waters off the coast of
Los Angeles appear blue and clear, a large de-
posit of toxic DDT and PCB-contaminated sed-
iment on an expanse of ocean floor known as
the Palos Verdes (PV) Shelf has created a health
risk to consumers of local fish.
The most contaminated species of fish, white
croaker, is readily caught by subsistence fishers
from local piers and can be bought in local mar-
kets. Local residents who eat these fish, includ-
ing children and pregnant women, are exposed
to dangerous levels of DDT and PCBs.
EPA banned use of the pesticide DDT in 1972,
and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) a few
years later, but the toxic legacy continues. An
FISH IS GOOD FOR YOU
WHEN FISH IS SAFE TO EAT!
White croaker, also known as kingfish or
tomcod, caught from certain areas off the
coast of Los Angeles County may contain
higher levels of the chemicals DDTs and
PCBs. White Croaker with high levels of
these chemicals were found in markets.
Here's What
you can do
To reduce the risk
Buy fish only from a
tources: licensed fish wholesal-
er, distributors or commercial
fishermen
Know whare your suppliers are
catching theirfish
Keep and file all i-
fl*h Is purchased
To protect
your health
Consumers
here the fish comes
from and be sure that your
'• market owner is aware of
Buy fish from market owners who
get fish from approved sources
Yourfishislikelytobesafeto
eat, ifyour market owner is buy-
ing from approved sources
For more information contact your Local Health Department
estimated 110 tons of DDT and 11 tons of
PCBs flushed down the sewers by local indus-
tries in the 1940s to the 1970s lies on the PV
Shelf.
Over the past seven years, however, EPA's Sha-
ron Lin, Jackie Lane and Lori Lewis have col-
laborated with local partners to create a highly
successful stakeholder-driven public outreach
and education program to teach at-risk popu-
lations about safer fish consumption practices:
the Palos Verdes Shelf Institutional Controls
(ICs) program. They have worked closely with
federal, state and local health agencies, com-
munity-based organizations and environmental
groups to reach vulnerable populations and re-
duce their health risk.
Sharon has been working with the Fish Contam-
ination and Education Collaborative (FCEC), a
partnership of state agencies and local groups,
to educate local community members on the
dangers of eating bottom-feeding fish from the
area. To further involve the partners, Sharon ne-
gotiated four Cooperative Agreements in 2007-
2008 to provide funding and create alliances
with local and state agencies: the City of Long
Beach, the Orange County and Los Angeles
County Departments of Public Health, and the
California Department of Fish and Game. These
agencies are providing enforcement and out-
reach support to supplement the community
and angler outreach and education efforts.
The FCEC partners have reached more than
100,000 community members in more than ten
languages. After training through the ICs pro-
gram, public health nurses from L.A. County,
Outreach poster warns coastal residents to avoid eating
white croaker due to DDT and PCB contamination.
Orange County and Long Beach have been
working closely with a number of community-
based organizations serving different ethnic
groups. In the past year, outreach was done
through L.A. County Department of Public
Health programs, reaching thousands more
people, including more than 360 obstetricians
and 1,200 pediatricians.
The angler outreach program, carried out by
Heal the Bay and the Cabrillo Marine Aquari-
um, reaches anglers at piers, shorelines and
bait shops. Pier outreach occurs at 10 piers
and eight shoreline locations on a year-round,
weekly basis.
Evaluation and measurement of behavior modi-
fications based on the ICs program has shown
that the message "Know your fish, reduce the
risk" has effectively reached thousands of an-
glers, fish markets and consumers. Community
members are modifying their fishing and con-
sumption behaviors to reduce their health risks.
The collaborative effort has been so successful
that the community partners of the FCEC were
recognized with a 2009 EPA National Citizen
Excellence in Community Involvement Award.
Learn more:
www.pvsfish.org ^
www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/pvshelf W
Above: Training session for
Palos Verdes Shelf outreach workers.
-------
Clean Land 23
Crossing Borders
Assisting China's Efforts
to Protect Land, Waters and People
In April 2006, top EPA officials traveled to China
for the official signing of the Hazardous and Sol-
id Waste Annex and Strategy, formalizing EPA's
partnership with China on these issues.
Since then, EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional
Office has been leading the implementation of
this strategy—by maintaining contact with Chi-
na's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP),
helping China strengthen its hazardous waste
regulations and clean up contaminated sites,
and improving its emergency response capaci-
ties through workshops and study tours both in
the U.S. and China.
EPA's point person in this partnership, and in
many ways its architect, is Lida Tan of the Pa-
cific Southwest Superfund Division. A native of
China, she came to the U.S. at the age of 18 in
1983, and has been with EPA for the past 20
years. The Hazardous and Solid Waste Annex
began as her idea in 2005. EPA's Office of In-
ternational Affairs approved, seeing it as an op-
portunity to open up a whole new area of coop-
eration with China. Lida drafted and negotiated
both the annex and strategy. When discussions
stalled, she simply picked up the phone.
For the past three years, Lida has worked with
EPA colleagues in offices throughout the na-
tion, plus California's Department of Toxic Sub-
stances Control, to carry out the strategy. They
organized more than 10 workshops in China,
and hosted dozens of study tours in the U.S.
for MEP officials.
Highlights include:
• PCB Cleanup: China's first Superfund-like
cleanup involves more than 47 PCB sites
and permitting an incinerator to destroy
the PCB waste. This project will serve as a
model for PCB cleanups in other provinces.
EPA organized four workshops for China on
PCB investigation, sampling, incineration
and permitting.
• Waste Management and Pollution
Prevention: China has a waste law, but
has sought EPA's help on its implementa-
tion and enforcement. Lida organized five
workshops on the U.S. waste program,
including permits, inspections, and enforce-
ment. She has also coordinated within
EPA in advising MEP on recycling, medical
waste, and extended product responsibility.
• Hazardous Waste Regulation: In 2008,
MEP noted EPA's contribution when it
adopted hazardous waste manifest regula-
tions and emergency response prepared-
ness requirements for hazardous waste
treatment facilities.
• Emergency Response: After a major ben-
zene spill into the Songhua River in 2005
fouled the drinking water of Harbin and
flowed into Russia, emergency response
became a top priority for China. EPA led
four study tours in the U.S., and organized
two workshops on chemical safety and
emergency planning/response in China.
• Contaminated Soil: EPA is providing tech-
nical support to MEP as it drafts regulations
to address soil contamination.
EPA's Lida Tan, Ben Machol and Amy Zimpfer
(sitting, near center) with delegation of
environmental officials from China, Januarys, 2009.
-------
Much of EPA's work in the Pa-
cific Southwest cuts across
boundaries. Addressing the envi-
ronmental needs of the region's
Indian tribes and Pacific island
territories, for example, involves
many of EPA's programs—as
does addressing environmental
justice concerns in communities
across the region.
rovide safe drinking water
abitants and
clean up contaminated sites. Working as partners with EPA,
they've made great strides toward that goal in recent years.
On the Navajo Nation, safe drinking water is just one goal
of an ambitious five-year plan, now underway, to address
the most hazardous uranium mining sites. EPA is working
with the Navaio Nation EPA to assess environmental haz-
at more thar
: these sites
chemical weapons were destroyed at a specially-designed
incineration facility in the 1990s. EPA recently worked with
the U.S. Army to ensure that no toxic hazards remain.
In the urban community of South Phoenix, Arizona, a
three-year effort to reduce toxics used at industrial sites
in a residential neighborhood has garnered positive results
for both businesses and residents.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 25
Trends
Safe Drinking Water
Coming to Islands, Tribes
The Pacific island territories and the tribal lands
of the Pacific Southwest Region face significant
challenges to providing safe drinking water. In
some places infrastructure is inadequate or
nonexistent, and limited funding, challenging
local economic conditions and remote loca-
tions often make it difficult to upgrade or install
systems.
The result is a striking disparity: 27% of the
people in the Pacific island territories and 13%
of the homes in Indian Country lack access to
safe drinking water, compared to 0.6% of all
U.S. homes.
The island and tribal governments, working with
EPA, have made significant progress toward the
goal of safe drinking water for everyone in the
past five years. For instance, the proportion of
people with access to safe drinking water in the
U.S. Pacific islands—Guam, American Samoa,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mari-
ana Islands (CNMI)—has climbed from 39% in
2003 to 73% in 2008.
But more financial assistance will be neces-
sary to reach 100%. "We have plenty of shov-
el-ready projects, but lack adequate funding,"
says EPA's John McCarroll, supervisor of the
Pacific Islands Office of the Pacific Southwest
Region. Some of these projects will be funded
with approximately $4 million provided under
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA).
Saipan, in CNMI, is the only municipality of its
size in the U.S. without 24/7 drinking water
service. In parts of Saipan, at certain hours of
the day, people turn on their taps and get noth-
ing. In 2008, with the help of a $3.2 million EPA
grant, CNMI completed the Kanat Tabla water
In Saipan, the proportion of
homes with 24/7 drinking
water service jumped from
25% in 2005 to 65% in 2008.
storage tank, which brought 24/7 drinking wa-
ter to more of Saipan. The proportion of resi-
dents with continuous drinking water service
jumped from just 25% in 2005 to 65% in 2008.
In Guam, improvements have resulted from a
$105 million bond issuance by the government
of Guam and the implementation of a court or-
der (sought by EPA) to the island government
mandating drinking water and wastewater im-
provements. Both are necessary for safe drink-
ing water, because leaky sewage systems can
pollute drinking water with disease pathogens.
When such contamination has occurred, the
Guam government has issued "Boil Water"
notices to residents—that is, people must boil
their tap water before drinking it.
In 2008, however, Guam enjoyed its fourth year
in a row without Boil Water notices, and had no
health-based violations of safe drinking water
regulations. And Guam's court order provided
a model for a similar order EPA negotiated to
improve CNMI's water system. The order is an-
ticipated to take effect in 2009.
On tribal lands in the Pacific Southwest, EPA-
funded projects in 2008 brought safe drink-
ing water to 3,000 additional homes in Indian
Country. Meanwhile, on the Navajo Nation in
the Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, and
New Mexico, EPA worked with the Navajo Na-
tion EPA to protect residents after sampling in
isolated desert locales revealed 22 wells with
unhealthy levels of radionuclides such as ura-
nium (see story, page 26).
In February 2009, the White Mountain Apache
Tribe celebrated groundbreaking of a drink-
ing water treatment plant that will treat up to
2 million gallons per day of river water to serve
10,000 residents. The facility will replace a
dwindling groundwater supply unable to meet
the demands of the reservation.
The project, which features an innovative,
award-winning green building design, will be
partially funded by the ARRA, which will provide
a total of about $8 million to the Pacific South-
west Region for tribal drinking water projects.
An aging water tank on Saipan that collapsed.
Above: EPA provided $3 million in funding to construct
the new million-gallon Kanat Tabla water tank to improve
access to drinking water for Saipan residents.
-------
26 Communities and Ecosystems
Primer
EPA, Navajo Nation
Address Uranium Contamination
From 1944 to 1986, nearly four million tons of
uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands
under leases with the Navajo Nation. Today the
mines are closed, but a legacy of uranium con-
tamination remains, including more than 500
abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) as well as
homes and drinking water sources with elevat-
ed levels of radiation.
The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight
and Government Reform Committee directed
five federal agencies—EPA, the Bureau of Indi-
an Affairs, Department of Energy, Indian Health
Service, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission-
to work together to attack the problem. Over the
last two years, a team of 30 staff and managers
from EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office
organized five federal agencies and developed
a coordinated five-year plan to address con-
taminated homes, wells, mine sites, mills and
dumps. This landmark plan outlines a cleanup
strategy and details the cleanup process for the
Navajo Nation over five years—work that is now
underway.
The team of federal and Navajo Nation agen-
cies has assessed more than 100 Navajo
homes, 240 wells and 80 abandoned mines to
determine threats to residents. Working in part-
nership with the Navajo Nation EPA, the team
has removed 27 contaminated homes.
EPA and the Navajo Nation
are addressing the most
urgent risks first—uranium-
contaminated water
sources and structures.
The lands of the Navajo Nation include 27,000
square miles within the boundaries of Arizona,
Utah, and New Mexico in the Four Corners
area. The unique geology of these lands makes
them rich in uranium, a radioactive element in
high demand for the development of nuclear
weapons and power plants from the closing
months of World War II in the mid-1940s to the
present.
Many Navajo people worked the mines, often
living and raising families in close proximity to
the mines, mills, and dusty piles of processed
ore. Potential health effects include lung can-
cer from inhalation of radioactive particles, as
well as bone cancer and impaired kidney func-
Windmill pumps groundwater into a storage tank on
the Navajo Nation.
tion from exposure to radionuclides in drinking
water.
In 2005, the Navajo Nation asked EPA's Super-
fund program to take the lead on the Northeast
Church Rock Mine site, located adjacent to the
United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) Superfund
site. In 2006, EPA issued an administrative or-
der to UNC to conduct a removal investigation
at 14 separate areas. The Superfund program
later cleaned up four residential yards and one
home to the north of the Northeast Church
Rock Mine site. EPA is working with the Navajo
Nation EPA and UNC to arrive at a final remedy
for the entire site.
In 2007, EPA released the Navajo AUM As-
sessment Report and Geospatial Data Atlas. A
collaborative effort with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, the Navajo Abandoned Mine Land
Reclamation Program and the Navajo Na-
tion EPA, it is an exhaustive assessment and
analysis of all known uranium mines on the
Navajo Nation. It ranked the Northeast Church
Rock Mine site as the highest priority. EPA has
distributed copies of the report to the Navajo
Above: Portable geiger counter and GIS equipment
map radiation readings.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 27
Nation and is using it to analyze and prioritize
AUM sites, and to identify all the sites in need
of further investigation using the site screening
process.
In 2008, EPA and the tribe focused on the ur-
gent issue of uranium-contaminated water
sources and structures. Approximately 30% of
the Navajo population does not have access
to a public drinking water system and may be
using unregulated water sources with uranium
contamination. EPA and the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control tested 249 unregulated water
sources, and found that 22 exceeded drinking
water standards for radioactive contaminants.
EPA and the Navajo Nation EPA have launched
an aggressive outreach campaign to inform res-
idents of the dangers of drinking contaminated
water (see story, p. 21). The two agencies are
also working with the Indian Health Service to
develop alternative drinking water supplies.
During the next four years, EPA will focus on the
problems posed by abandoned mines, com-
pleting a tiered assessment of more than 500
uranium mines and taking actions to address
the highest priority sites. As mines that pose
risks are discovered, EPA will identify those sites
with potentially responsible parties for possible
enforcement action. At those sites on Navajo
Trust lands without such responsible parties,
EPA will conduct removal actions as funding is
available. EPA will coordinate with government
agencies regarding sites that are on state and
federal lands.
Although the legacy of uranium mining is wide-
spread and will take many years to address
Above: Workers demolish and remove a
contaminated home.
Right: A natural rock arch on the Navajo Nation.
completely, the collaborative efforts of EPA,
other federal agencies and the Navajo Nation
will bring an unprecedented level of support to
the people at risk from these sites. Much work
remains to be done, and EPA is committed to
working with the Navajo Nation to remove the
most immediate contamination risks and to find
permanent solutions to the remaining contami-
nation on Navajo lands.
For more information:
www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/navajo-nation
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28 Communities and Ecosystems
Places
Johnston Island:
Achieving Clean Closure
For decades Johnston Island, a remote atoll
more than 700 miles southwest of Honolulu,
was the repository for some of the world's most
deadly hazardous waste: more than 400,000
bombs and artillery shells filled with four million
pounds of a nerve agent so potent that a drop
of it on your skin can be fatal. All of the nerve
agent was incinerated in the 1990s in a factory-
like complex on the island.
Today, the island is part of a wildlife refuge pro-
viding the only nesting habitat for birds in thou-
sands of square miles of the Pacific Ocean. EPA
recently oversaw a final round of confirmatory
sampling to demonstrate clean closure.
The U.S. Army designed and built JACADS
(Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal Sys-
tem) as a prototype for similar plants now built
and operating on the U.S. mainland to dispose
of chemical munitions. EPA worked with the
Army from design of the incinerator facility to
clean closure, a period of about 30 years, to
ensure that human health and the environment
were protected every step of the way.
When the facility was operational, the island
was inhabited by thousands of military and civil-
ian operators who would have been at risk from
any leaks of nerve agent. EPA issued the Army's
permit with numerous conditions to prevent any
release, including constant air monitoring. The
agency periodically sent inspectors to look for
any flaws in the operation and constantly re-
viewed the Army's reports.
By November 2000, the last of the chemical
agent was destroyed. In 2002-2003, the Army
dismantled JACADS, removed all buildings,
cleaned up the site, and completed closure
verification sampling. EPA's review of the sam-
pling methods and results, however, found defi-
ciencies in some of the quality
control analyses and spatial
data coverage. As a result, the
agency could not certify clean
closure.
So EPA assigned a multidisci-
plinary team of staff and man-
agers to work collaboratively
with the Army to resolve these
issues. Team members had
expertise in sampling design
and management, analytical
chemistry, and other relevant
specialties. They met with the
Army's experts and contrac-
tors to review over 400,000
data points and decide which were techni-
cally valid. EPA concluded that while most of
the data were valid, 100 locations on the island
would require re-sampling.
Today, Johnston Island and
its nesting seabirds are
part of a wildlife refuge.
Because the island's infrastructure was gone
and the airstrip unusable, the Army hired a pri-
vate research vessel and had it fitted with all
necessary equipment. The re-sampling crew
spent five days traveling each way to and from
Honolulu, and seven days working on the is-
land, with nights spent on the boat. EPA's
JACADS project manager, John Beach, was a
member of the re-sampling effort and oversaw
the Army's work.
"We worked in an atmosphere of mutual re-
spect with the Army," says EPA Pacific South-
west Waste Division Associate Director Arlene
Kabei. "But we had to request that the Army
return to the island for some re-do. It was a
testament to the scientifically-credible work by
both the Army's and EPA's teams that the Army
also accepted the need for more validation data
to assure clean closure."
Since the cleanup, Johnston Atoll, a coral reef
ecosystem that is home to hundreds of thou-
sands of seabirds, was given complete protec-
tion as part of the recently established Pacific
Remote Islands National Monument.
Johnston Island is home to
hundreds of thousands of nesting seabirds.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 29
People
Karen Henry: Working with Communities
for Environmental Justice
Karen Henry is uniquely qualified to be in the
Pacific Southwest Region's Environmental Jus-
tice (EJ) program. She grew up in a Richmond,
Calif., neighborhood across the street from rail-
road tracks used by diesel locomotives. Just
beyond that lay the sprawling Chevron refinery.
One day the playground in the middle of her
apartment complex was fenced off because it
was found to be contaminated with lead. She
recalls wondering, "Why did the government let
us play there for years?" She also had asthma
when she lived there, but it disappeared when
she moved to a different neighborhood.
Because of her experiences, Karen knows how
residents in communities with disproportion-
ate impacts feel. She also knows how agency
scientists and engineers think, since she holds
degrees in biochemistry as well as civil and en-
vironmental engineering.
Karen has been a member of the EJ program
since its inception. In the late 1990s, Karen
helped EPA pilot a new collaborative problem
solving (GPS) process to replace the earlier top-
down standard procedure of government agen-
cies, known as "DAD": Decide, Announce, De-
fend. She worked with Barrio Logan, a Latino
neighborhood in San Diego—one of 15 pilot
projects across the nation. People there were
concerned about air pollution from a metal plat-
ing shop. Karen brought together a OPS group
that involved EPA and community members as
co-leads, state and local agencies, and industry.
"When people work together on an ongoing
basis, it builds relationships," she says. "Agen-
cy people relate to the community as people
they know. Industries usually want to be good
neighbors." With different agencies present, if
one said it didn't have jurisdiction to do what
the community was asking, another could step
in, Karen says. In this case, state air regulators
set up air monitoring stations around the plating
shop—and found that it was emitting chromium
into the air.
With CARE grants and
collaborative problem
solving, communities are
in a leadership position.
Ultimately the local government denied the
plating shop its operating permit, and it closed.
EPA offered compliance assistance training to
other businesses in the neighborhood. When
the two-year pilot was over, EPA adopted OPS
nationwide. More than a decade later, the Bar-
rio Logan collaborative is still going, working on
reducing air pollution from the port. The col-
laborative has also reached 6,500 people in
auto-related businesses, and two-thirds have
adopted pollution reduction practices.
Today, the OPS model is duplicated at the state
level, and with EPA's newer Community Action
for a Renewed Environment (CARE) grant pro-
gram. In every case, Karen says, "The commu-
nities are in a leadership position." She's cur-
rently working with groups in West Oakland,
Pacoima (in Los Angeles), and Bayview/Hunt-
ers Point (San Francisco).
In Hunters Point, residents are concerned
about developers bulldozing serpentine rock
and kicking up asbestos dust. Recently, the de-
veloper has started watering down the area to
keep the dust down, and the local air district
and the community are doing air monitoring.
"EPA doesn't have authority here, but we try to
mediate solutions," Karen says. "People do dis-
agree, but I'm usually able to help residents and
agencies listen to one another so they can solve
problems together."
-------
30 Communities and Ecosystems
Partnership
Reducing Toxics,
Resource Use in Arizona
In South Phoenix, Arizona, industries that use
toxic chemicals share a low-income neighbor-
hood with thousands of residents. In 2005, fol-
lowing community meetings, 21 South Phoe-
nix businesses joined a partnership to reduce
their air emissions. Meanwhile, a $225,000 EPA
grant helped the state's Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality launch a statewide effort to
improve environmental performance. Both pro-
grams report positive results.
South Phoenix Partnership
For several years, South Phoenix residents ex-
pressed concerns about air pollution from in-
dustry and diesel trucks. From 1992 to 2001,
seven major chemical fires occurred, sickening
many people who sought medical help at hos-
pitals. To address these concerns, EPA estab-
lished a pollution prevention partnership with
the key stakeholders—community residents,
21 companies, and several state and local
agencies.
The goals of the South Phoenix Industry Chal-
lenge/Good Neighbor Partnership were to re-
duce toxic exposures from industrial emissions,
to reduce diesel emissions from city garbage
trucks and street sweepers, and to prevent ac-
cidental chemical releases. In three years, 21
facilities reduced air emissions by a total of
85,000 pounds.
Participants also reduced a total of 60 million
kWh of electricity, 373,000 pounds of hazard-
ous waste, and 827,000 gallons of water, mea-
sured per unit of production. One partner, the
City of Phoenix, retrofitted 64 diesel vehicle en-
gines that operate in South Phoenix to reduce
particulate emissions. The partnership has now
become a model for community toxics reduc-
tion projects across the nation.
"No longer will South Phoenix be known as a
heavy polluter, and we are grateful to the South
Phoenix companies who stepped forward to
clean up the air," commented Maricopa County
Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox.
Arizona Partnership Program
With the aid of a $225,000 Innovation Grant
from EPA, the Arizona Department of Environ-
mental Quality expanded Arizona Performance
Track. The program recognizes business and
government facilities that are good environmen-
tal stewards, and who go above and beyond
the minimum requirements set by regulations.
Four of eight members have completed one
reporting cycle and show the following results:
• Ping Inc., a golf equipment manufacturer,
reduced its energy use by 24% in three
years, the equivalent of 5,000 metric tons
of CO2. Ping also cut its annual use of
smog-forming mineral spirits by 44%.
• Intel Ocotillo avoided 4,000 pounds of ex-
cess air emissions that could have resulted
from its increasing production. The facil-
ity also saved 244 million gallons of water
by improving on an already highly efficient
water management system.
• The City of Scottsdale recently conserved
615 acres of wildlife habitat. Past efforts
by Scottsdale bring their total to more than
14,416 acres added to the McDowell-
Sonoran Preserve. The city has also re-
charged more than 4 billion gallons of water
to its underground aquifer since 2004.
• Xanterra South Rim LLC reduced its green-
house gas emissions by 6%, equal to 855
metric tons of CO2, and cut water use by
2.7 million gallons, on a per-visitor basis.
Earlier, Xanterra reduced 14 million gallons
per year from its 2002 baseline.
More on the South Phoenix partnership:
www.phoenixindustrychallenge.com w
More on Arizona Performance Track:
www.azdeq.gov/function/about/track.html <^
EPA's Leif Magnuson (far left) with
participants in the South Phoenix Industry
Challenge/Good Neighbor Partnership.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 31
Partnership
Internship Program
Brings Students West
In the summer of 2008, EPA's regional Civil
Rights Office hosted four students from Histori-
cally Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
for summer internships. The students got a
chance to experience the work EPA staff does
in the field, in the regional lab, and at the office
in downtown San Francisco.
The effort began with the establishment of the
regional office's first HBCU Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) as part of its commitment
to pursue stronger relationships with HBCUs to
support educational and employment oppor-
tunities for African Americans, and to attract a
workforce as diverse as the public EPA serves.
Xavier University in New Orleans was selected
as the first school as it offered the opportunity
to directly support the revitalization of commu-
nities impacted by Hurricane Katrina, of keen
interest to many regional EPA staff who person-
ally volunteered to secure safe drinking water
and clean up oil spills and hazardous waste in
affected areas.
The recruitment effort at Xavier included a pre-
sentation by Dr. Patrick Wilson, a toxicologist at
EPA's Pacific Southwest Office. His talk inspired
several students to apply for internships, includ-
ing Luther St. James of Daytona Beach, Fla.,
and Antoinette Lane of Oakland, Calif., both
biology students interested in medical school.
The regional office later recruited students from
other HBCUs with which EPA has MOUs: Sim-
one Combs, from Spelman College in Atlanta,
and Cynthia Williams, from Howard University
in Washington D.C.
Arriving in June 2008, the interns were assigned
a variety of tasks and field trips. Luther spent
his first week on the Navajo Nation in northeast
Arizona with Luis Garcia-Bakarich (see story, p.
21) of EPA's Superfund Community Involvement
Office. They traveled many miles meeting with
residents of the Navajo Nation, informing them
about dangerous radiation levels in their homes.
According to Luther, "it was a humbling experi-
ence" to witness first hand the direct effects of
pollution on their lives.
Each intern kept a weekly work diary. Simone
wrote: "At the Region 9 lab in Richmond, we
saw what kinds of work are done at the lab and
even got to help out by plugging a bunch of
fish for mercury analysis. The following day we
drove up to the Leviathan Mine Superfund site
in the Lake Tahoe area, to help Peter Husby test
the creek water. . . . [V]isiting the mines was one
of the experiences that impressed me the most.
We wrapped up our week by helping facilitate
the CYCLE program in which middle and high
school kids spent a day at the lab."
More than two dozen EPA staff and managers
worked with the interns during the summer,
serving as educators, mentors, field trip guides,
and even serving home cooked dinners. All
agreed that watching the students learn and
grow from their many experiences was per-
sonally rewarding, and that they look forward
to seeing these young people become our na-
tion's next generation of environmental leaders.
Above: Interns plug fish tissue for mercury analysis at
EPA's laboratory in Richmond, Calif.
Left: Xavier University intern Luther St. James on an
EPA work trip to the Navajo Nation, June 2008.
-------
Compliance and Stewardship
One of EPA's essential func-
tions is to ensure compliance
with environmental laws—mak-
ing sure they mean as much on
the ground as they do on paper.
Here we look at some of the past
year's most successful enforce
ment cases in the Pacific South-
west—and the EPA staff who
make them happen.
This chapter's other focus, stewardship, looks at EPA's
work on sustainable solutions to long-term environmen-
tal challenges big and small, from local redevelopment to
global climate change.
EPA's Brownfields Program spurs redevelopment where
former industrial sites are lying unused due to suspected
contamination. In Nevada City, California, the sites are
legacies of historic gold mining. On the other side of the
Sierra, at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, redevelopment
is already bringing economic benefits.
In Hawaii, EPA research grants are funding ground-break-
ing scientific studies of the impact of rising carbon diox-
ide levels on coral reefs. Early results suggest that if the
oceans absorb too much CO2, acidification may doom
reef-building organisms.
Meanwhile, in a desert valley near Las Vegas, Nellis Air
Force Base points the way to a sustainable future. Nellis
installed the nation's biggest solar photovoltaic generat-
ing system, and the base is conserving water and energy
while reducing toxic waste.
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Compliance and Stewardship 33
Trends
Enforcement Actions Secure $2 Billion
for Environmental Improvements
In fiscal 2008, EPA enforcement actions in the
Pacific Southwest resulted in commitments
of more than $2 billion for toxic cleanups and
other environmental improvements—a record
amount for the region.
The largest cleanup commitment, $876 million,
resulted from a Clean Water Act case against
the City of San Diego for sewage leaks and
spills over several years. The city is scheduled
to spend the funds to upgrade and maintain its
sewage collection system through 2012. Hon-
olulu, in a similar case, is committed to spend
$300 million on sewage system upgrades to
prevent spills like the one that closed Waikiki
beaches for a week in 2006.
One settlement will result
in a nearly 40% reduction in
emissions from a Southern
California cement plant.
Federal agencies made commitments totaling
$810 million to clean up contaminated soil and
groundwater at five federal facility Superfund
sites in California. Based on enforceable agree-
ments with the Department of Defense and the
Department of Energy, these federal agencies
will implement cleanups at Camp Pendleton,
El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Edwards Air
Force Base, Fort Ord and Lawrence Liver-
more National Laboratory. Contaminants at the
sites range from unexploded ordnance to toxic
chemicals to radioactive materials.
In other major cases, owners of a landfill near
Las Vegas will take action to prevent waste
from contaminating waterways at an estimated
cost of $36 million (see Sunrise Landfill, p. 20)
and ExxonMobil paid a $2.64 million penalty for
PCS leaks from an offshore oil platform (see
Chris Rollins, p. 38).
Cleaning Up Cement Kilns
EPA's Pacific Southwest Office took part in a
national enforcement initiative against fossil-
fuel-burning cement kilns that spew excessive
air pollution.
The case against Cemex California Cement's
plant in Victorville in San Bernardino County,
California—the state's largest source of smog-
forming nitrogen oxides (NOx)—was one such
action. A March 2009 settlement set new lim-
its for air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide
(SO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and NOx, reduc-
ing emissions at the Cemex plant by 3.8 mil-
lion pounds per year— nearly 40%. Cemex also
must pay a $2 million penalty.
EPA also settled a case involving emissions of
NOx, particulate matter, and other pollutants
against another cement plant, Riverside Ce-
ment's Oro Grande facility near Victorville, Calif.
As part of the settlement, the company shut
down seven 50-year-old kilns before starting
up a new, cleaner kiln to replace them. Shutting
down the old kilns cut NOx emissions by 3 mil-
lion pounds per year compared to the new kiln.
The company also paid $394,000 in penalties.
Enforcement Results in FY 08
Pacific Southwest vs. National Totals
Pacific Southwest Region's
share of national totals
Commitments to Pollution Control
and Cleanup
National: $11.8 billion
Penalties Assessed
National: $127 million
Contaminated Soil to Be Cleaned
National: 100 million cubic yards
Contaminated Water to Be Cleaned
National: 255 million cubic yards
Targeting Neighborhood Plating Shops
EPA and state regulators make routine inspec-
tions of industrial facilities, but the list of regu-
lated locations is a long one. So inspections are
often prioritized to target issues or geographic
areas of particular concern.
In Los Angeles, EPA hazardous waste inspec-
tors in 2008 targeted metal plating shops in the
Pacoima/Sun Valley area and the Compton/
Gardena area. In 26 inspections in these low-
income neighborhoods, EPA found significant
violations at eight facilities. Enforcement actions
are now underway.
Above: Enforcement results for the Pacific Southwest
Region, one of 10 EPA Regions.
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34 Compliance and Stewardship
Primer
Returning Brownfields
to Productive Use
Disused industrial sites, rail yards, and under-
ground fuel tank sites are often candidates for
redevelopment, but can lay unused for decades
because developers don't want to get stuck
with unknown cleanup costs.
EPA's Brownfields program provides grants and
technical expertise to assist cleaning up and
redeveloping contaminated lands, making it
easier for such lands to become vital, function-
ing parts of their communities. In the past two
years, for example, EPA's Brownfields program
has spurred redevelopment in Nevada City and
Newark, California, and at the Reno-Sparks In-
dian Colony in Nevada.
Golden Opportunity for Abandoned
Mines in Nevada City
Nevada City, in Northern California's Gold
Country, is working with federal and local part-
ners to assess abandoned gold mine sites.
The city is using EPA Brownfields assessment
funds to find out whether these sites are safe
as future recreation areas. Funds are used to
assess properties, prioritize sites for cleanup,
and analyze cleanup options. The project also
strengthens local partnerships through commu-
nity outreach activities.
The city (population 3,000) has a 160-year his-
tory of gold mining operations, with 16 ma-
jor mines in the area. After gold was discov-
ered, Nevada City rapidly became the largest
and wealthiest mining town in California, with
10,000 residents. Hydraulic mining in the late
1800s changed the landscape drastically. Min-
ers aimed high-pressure hydraulic monitors, like
large water cannons, at the hillsides, washing
away millions of tons of earth and rock.
The gold-bearing muck washed downstream in
trenches "charged" with mercury, a toxic liquid
metal which has the unusual property of dis-
solving gold. The mercury was then collected
and evaporated in furnaces, leaving behind
pure gold. The mercury vapor was condensed
back into liquid and used again, but at every
step, some mercury was lost. Today, recre-
ational gold miners are finding as much mercury
as gold in local creekbeds.
Nevada City and its partners are assessing five
major mine tailings areas that are close to resi-
dential neighborhoods and elementary schools.
Historical research and initial assessments indi-
cate that these sites are probably contaminated
with mercury and arsenic. This affects numer-
ous downstream communities, potentially con-
taminating drinking water and making fish un-
Hirschman's Pond, near Nevada City, Calif., where
hydraulic gold mining has left contamination.
safe to eat. Deer Creek was once an important
fishing resource, but now there's a fishing ban
in effect.
Nevada City's primary partner is the local non-
profit Friends of Deer Creek (FODC). Their aim is
to further community understanding and stew-
ardship of the Deer Creek watershed. When
the nonprofit was ready to begin assessment,
EPA provided a comprehensive sampling plan.
When FODC wanted to analyze samples at low
cost, EPA evaluated the proposed laboratory
methods and showed how to do it while adher-
ing to the agency's sampling protocols.
Four areas have already been sampled. After
assessment and cleanup, the sites will be open
to the public for recreation, learning about lo-
cal history, and ecological restoration. Nevada
City plans an interpretive "Tribute Trail" linking
the sites.
Nevada City and the FODC are collaborating to
find where there's mercury in the Deer Creek
watershed, better understand how it moves,
and reduce or eliminate downstream mercury
transport. The project will help protect local res-
idents and downstream communities from the
toxic legacies of mining —mercury and arsenic.
A Green College Campus in Newark, Calif.
In the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area,
EPA in 2004 awarded a $200,000 Brownfields
grant to the Ohlone Community College District
to clean up hazardous substances contamina-
tion on an 82-acre property on Cherry Street in
Newark that had been used for agriculture. To-
More on Brownfields:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/brown w
Watch videos:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/nevada-city W
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/RenoSparks w
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Compliance and Stewardship 35
day, the site is a new community college cam-
pus that provides training, education, and other
services.
In addition to hosting an environmental studies
program, it's the first community college to be
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) Platinum-certified—the highest rating
for an energy and resource-saving develop-
ment. Solar panels generate up to half of the
electricity needed by its Newark Center build-
ing, and school furniture is made from at least
65% recycled materials.
The district serves Newark, Fremont and a
portion of Union City, with a combined popula-
tion of about 250,000. Of the district's 7,974
full-time equivalent students, approximately
84% are Asian, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic.
Minority populations account for nearly half of
Newark's residents. The new campus provides
job training in a variety of health sciences and
technology fields, as well as jobs for instructors
and campus employees.
Boosting Economic Development
at Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
At the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Nevada,
EPA helped transform idle contaminated prop-
erty into economic development that benefits
the tribe's 1,000 members, as well as other
Native Americans in the region and the City of
Reno.
Several years ago, EPA's $2 million grant to the
State of Nevada created a revolving loan fund
for brownfields cleanup. The state loaned about
$1 million to the tribe—the first brownfields loan
Brownfields redevelopment helped finance the new
Tribal Health Center at the Reno-Sparks Indian
Colony, near Reno, Nev.
to an Indian community in the western U.S. The
tribe used it to find and remove 1,000 tons of
soil contaminated with lead and petroleum from
former industrial operations.
The 22-acre property is being redeveloped into
a commercial site, including a Wal-Mart Super
Center. The site will produce up to $6 million in
tax revenues annually, which will be used to re-
pay the bonds that financed a new Tribal Health
Center, as well as ongoing local government
services such as public safety and schools.
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36 Compliance and Stewardship
Places
Studying Climate Impacts
on Hawaii's Coral Reefs
In 2006, EPA awarded a $747,000 Science
to Achieve Results (STAR) grant to Paul Jok-
iel of the University of Hawaii, and others, for
research on the effects of climate change on
Hawaiian coral reefs. His recent findings sug-
gest that ocean acidification due to human ac-
tivities could cause significant change to coral
reef communities in shallow warm oceans.
Coral reefs are sensitive to higher temperatures
and ocean acidification, which are influenced
by rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere associated with climate change.
Acidification interferes with the ability of reef or-
ganisms to make calcium carbonate skeletons
and therefore threatens the physical structure
of reefs.
Dr. Jokiel built a mesocosm (controlled environ-
ment) facility at the Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology to test the impact of increased CO2 on
common calcifying reef organisms. The meso-
cosms simulated a doubling of today's CO2 to
levels expected later in this century.
In long-term experiments, corals in the meso-
cosms exposed to elevated CO2 had a 15-20%
reduction in calcification rate, but no changes
in reproduction or recruitment of corals were
detected. However, CCA cover was reduced
86%, and one form of CCA, rhodoliths, actu-
ally shrank within the mesocosms with elevated
CO2. This is alarming, since CCA hold a reef
together by cementing carbonate fragments
into massive reef structures, and they provide
chemical cues to attract settling larvae of reef-
building corals.
Scientists find that future
climate changes will
likely harm coral reefs.
These findings provide evidence that future
climate changes are likely to have significant
adverse impacts on coral reef ecosystems
throughout the world. Calcifying organisms like
corals and CCA are essential to the growth, re-
cruitment and stabilization of reefs. Their mas-
sive wave-resistant reef structures protect tropi-
cal shorelines, and provide habitat for a myriad
of fish and other organisms that support coastal
human populations.
The question remains as to whether coral reefs
can adapt to the relatively rapid environmental
changes that are now occurring. In a Limnology
and Oceanography paper (2008), Jokiel and
others present a modeling tool to evaluate coral
A Hawaiian coral reef provides food and habitat for
fish and other marine life.
reef responses to changes in ocean tempera-
ture and chemistry. The model can help manag-
ers assess the interactions of stressors in ways
specific to local conditions and populations,
and can aid in evaluating relative risk.
A 2007 EPA report by Dr. Jordan West, Climate
Change and Interacting Stressors: Implications
for Coral Reef Management in American Sa-
moa, provides specific recommendations for
minimizing impacts of climate change for reefs
in American Samoa.
Protecting Coral Reefs
EPA has taken a strong role in protecting coral
reefs in Hawaii and other U.S. islands in the
Pacific through research, grant funding, tech-
nical assistance, program development, and
enforcement. Recent activities are addressing
threats to coral reefs from climate change and
land-based pollution. In the past two years, EPA
has provided technical assistance and more
than $5 million to American Samoa, Guam,
and the Northern Mariana Islands for coral reef
protection.
Wendy Wiltse, a Honolulu-based EPA biologist,
reviews proposed harbor improvements, beach
sand replenishment, aquaculture, and other
projects that have direct impacts to coral reefs
in Hawaii and the Pacific islands. Through the
Army Corps of Engineers permit process, she
helps minimize impacts to reefs and assists in
designing effective mitigation. Dr. Wiltse is also
very active in Hawaii's efforts to reduce land-
based pollution, such as silt-laden runoff, which
threatens the health of Hawaii's reefs.
More on coral reefs:
www.epa.gov/region9/water/oce/coralreefs.html v
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Compliance and Stewardship 37
Innovation
Nellis AFB Accelerates
Environmental Performance
Over the past year, reporters have been beating
a track to Southern Nevada's Nellis Air Force
Base, to see Nellis' sparkling new 140-acre
photovoltaic electric power generating facility—
the nation's largest photovoltaic array.
There, 72,000 solar panels track the desert sun
each day to generate up to 14 megawatts of
power—enough to provide 20-30% of the facil-
ity's electric power. The solar panels avoid the
annual generation of 18,000 metric tons of car-
bon dioxide (CO2). The array is sited, in part,
over a closed, historic landfill, thereby making
creative use of an area with limited develop-
ment potential.
This $100 million system was built through the
coordinated efforts of the Air Force, MMA Re-
newable Ventures LLC, and Nevada Power.
The huge 14-megawatt
solar array gets attention,
but Nellis also reduced
energy use, water use,
and hazardous waste.
MMA Renewable Ventures financed and oper-
ates the solar power plant, selling electricity to
Nellis Air Force Base at a guaranteed fixed rate
for the next 20 years. Nevada Power supported
the project by purchasing Renewable Energy
Credits generated by the solar array.
Nellis has already achieved a 16% reduction
in energy use from lighting retrofits, improved
air conditioning equipment and "cool roofs"—
Nellis Air Force Base now has the nation's largest
solar photovoltaic generating system.
white ceramic paint on rooftops to reduce heat
absorption, which cuts air conditioning power
use. And they've gotten a 50% (20-ton) reduc-
tion in hazardous waste from a variety of proj-
ects, including recycling fuel from spill pads and
encouraging the reuse of hazardous materials.
But Nellis' environmental performance doesn't
stop there. Guided by its Environmental Man-
agement System (EMS), Nellis is setting addi-
tional goals to reduce its impacts. Base man-
agers aim to reduce water use by 11 %, or 100
million gallons of water annually, as a result of a
$2.8 million xeriscaping project. They're replac-
ing thirsty lawns and landscaping with plants
adapted to desert environments, which need
little water. Given the continuing drought in the
Southwest, water conservation is a high priority
throughout the region.
The base's jet plane maintenance activities and
building maintenance have routinely generated
waste paint—a hazardous waste—and waste-
water contaminated by zinc. The base has set a
goal to cut both of the waste streams, reducing
paint waste by 2,600 pounds and reducing zinc
discharges to water by 120 pounds a year.
Nellis' successful implementation of its EMS has
provided the foundation for its environmental
accomplishments to date and its future goals.
An EMS is a set of policies, processes and
practices that enable a facility to reduce its en-
vironmental impacts and increase its operating
efficiency. Nellis' EMS is notable because of the
size of the facility and its success in gaining the
involvement and cooperation of Air Force per-
sonnel as well as civilian staff and contractors.
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38 Compliance and Stewardship
People
Chris Rollins:
Tracking Down PCBs and Hazardous Waste Violations
On January 29, 2009, EPA levied fines totaling
$518,500 on two Maryland-based companies
that allegedly exported a PCB-laden ship from
San Francisco, even though the ship—the re-
tired passenger liner Oceanic—had already left
U.S. waters when EPA took action. The mes-
sage was clear: You can run, but you can't hide
from EPA's law enforcers.
In this case, the key enforcer was Chris Rollins,
a long-time San Franciscan and UC Berkeley
graduate with a degree in physical sciences.
Neither Chris nor any other U.S. officer, includ-
ing the Coast Guard, was able to board the ship
after it left port, since it avoided U.S. jurisdic-
tion en route to the Persian Gulf. But Chris and
the regional enforcement team examined thou-
sands of pages of records subpoenaed from
companies that owned or worked on the vessel
to establish the violations.
Chris first came to EPA's Pacific Southwest
Regional Office as a part-time student intern in
early 1998, when he started work in the Pesti-
cides Program. After graduation in December
of that year, he gained full-time status and be-
came a pesticide inspector, making the rounds
of stores that sell pesticides, checking for
violations of pesticide labeling and registration
regulations.
Highly toxic PCBs, including
"invisible" uses on obsolete
ships, cannot legally be
exported from the U.S.
For the past year and a half, he's been in the
Waste Division, where he conducts inspec-
tions and develops cases involving violations
of regulations governing hazardous waste and
PCBs—polychlorinated biphenyls. EPA banned
the production of PCBs in 1978, after tests
showed that they cause cancer in animals and
harm the nervous, immune, and endocrine sys-
tems in humans.
PCBs' most widespread use was in electrical
transformers and capacitors—familiar to most
people as the canisters sitting atop powerline
poles. Most of the liquid PCBs formerly inside
these canisters have been replaced with less
toxic chemicals, but all such equipment made
before 1979 is assumed to have some residual
PCBs. This is legal, but yellow warning labels
are required for PCS concentrations of 500
ppm or more.
Ships built before 1979, such as the Oceanic,
may contain PCBs in cable insulation, gaskets
and watertight seals, and paint. PCBs, includ-
ing these "invisible" uses on ships, cannot le-
gally be exported from the U.S. The primary
means of legal disposal are high-temperature
incineration for liquid PCBs and special hazard-
ous waste landfills for PCBs in solids.
In another major case Chris worked on re-
cently, ExxonMobil paid $2.64 million to settle
allegations that the oil giant illegally disposed
of at least 389 gallons of PCBs that leaked
from transformers on an offshore oil platform
in Southern California's Santa Barbara Channel
over a two-year period. No release to ocean wa-
ters was ever documented. Some of the PCBs
ended up in an oil pipeline to tanks onshore,
where it was diluted into large quantities of oil,
and some went to the wrong type of landfill.
Watch Chris in EPA's video about PCBs:
www.epa.gov/region9/pcb-ship w
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Compliance and Stewardship 39
People
Donna "Kahi" Kahakui:
Enforcing the Law in Hawaii
Go ahead. Think of the long-running TV show,
Hawaii Five-0. Now, instead of Dano (as in
"Book 'im, Dano"), think Donna. That would be
Donna Kahiwaokawailani Kahakui, one of two
EPA Special Agents based in Honolulu, work-
ing for the Criminal Investigations Division (CID).
In Hawaii's law enforcement community, she's
known as Kahi.
Before coming to EPA in 2002, Kahi was al-
ready known as an environmental activist and
athlete. She founded Kai Makana, a volunteer-
run nonprofit that educates and mobilizes peo-
ple to understand and preserve marine life and
the ocean environment through youth mentor-
ship and community-based programs. One of
their projects involves stewardship of Mokauea
Island, an islet off Honolulu where ancient Ha-
waiian lifeways are recreated.
Kahi is also a champion outrigger canoe pad-
dler. In April 1999, she completed the first re-
corded solo outrigger canoe paddle from the
Big Island to Oahu—a 140-mile marathon in 58
hours that her CID colleague Gary Guerra calls
"superhuman." That's just one item on a long
list of paddling records (Molokai to Oahu, 32
miles in 5 hours, 11 minutes) and accomplish-
ments, both solo and as a member of outrigger
crews.
Unlike on Hawaii Five-0, most of the CID's work
is carried out quietly. This cadre of EPA agents
investigates environmental crimes—not un-
knowing violations, which carry financial penal-
ties, but willful lawbreaking that earns jail time.
Kahi covers the State of Hawaii, while Gary
primarily covers American Samoa, Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, and some of Hawaii.
They collaborate closely with other law enforce-
ment agencies that can provide backup. Sever-
al years ago, they initiated quarterly Hawaii En-
vironmental Enforcement Task Force meetings,
where federal, state and local law enforcement
authorities gather to plan cooperative efforts.
Like detectives, they often work odd hours,
conducting interviews with whistleblowers out-
side the workplace. In one recent instance, Kahi
worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to success-
fully prosecute a couple of sailors who routinely
dumped oil off their vessel.
EPA investigators
initiated quarterly Hawaii
Environmental Task
Force meetings to plan
cooperative efforts.
In 2008, Kahi went in with plenty of backup to
an illegal hazardous waste dump in Leeward
(western) Oahu, shut it down, and called in an
EPA Emergency Response Team to safely clean
up and remove drums of oil and chemicals. The
soil was contaminated with lead, arsenic, and
chromium. EPA ordered the owner to clean up
the site. Two men associated with the dump
were later charged and convicted for firearm
violations.
Kahi Kahakui (right) and Nahina Leeloy together
paddled outrigger canoes almost 180 miles from
Oahu to Kauai to Ni'ihau, to raise awareness of the
need to take care of the ocean.
With EPA and other federal and state agencies
putting the spotlight on the Waianae Coast, the
evironmental violators have been put on alert
and now realize that they are being watched
and will be held accountable for their actions,
says Gary.
The United States Attorney for the District of
Hawaii, Ed Kubo, has sent an equally clear
message to those who do not adhere to the
environmental laws and do not care to protect
and preserve the Hawaiian Islands. Kahi, Gary
and EPA-CID are committed to doing just that.
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/
stands I
Areas in red are part of EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
-------
Contact Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9 Contacts
Phone Inquiries
415.947.8000
or 866.EPA.WEST (toll-free)
Email Inquiries
r9.info@epa.gov
EPA Web Site
www.epa.gov
For Pacific Southwest Issues
www.epa.gov/region9
Offices
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA94105
EPA Pacific Islands Contact Office
300 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 5124
Honolulu, HI 96850
3.541.2710
EPA San Diego Border Office
610 West Ash St., Suite 905
San Diego, CA92101
619.235.4765
EPA Southern California Field Office
600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1460
Los Angeles, CA90017
213.244.1800
To Obtain This Report
Order from EPA's Environmental Information Center at
866.EPA.WEST (toll-free), email r9.info@epa.gov
or view and print from the Internet at
www.epa.gov/region9/annualreport
EPA
Printed on 100% recycled paper, 50% post-
consumer content—process chlorine-free
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
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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
Laura Yoshii, Acting Regional Administrator
Jane Diamond, Acting Deputy Regional
Administrator
Bridget Coyle, Civil Rights Director
Steven John, Southern California Field Office
Director
Office of Public Affairs
415.947.8700
Kathleen Johnson, Director
Public Information/News Media Relations
Partnerships: State, Congressional Liaison
Enforcement and Compliance Coordination
Office of Regional Counsel
415.947.8705
Nancy Marvel, Regional Counsel
Legal Counsel
Civil and Criminal Enforcement
Defensive Litigation, Ethics
Air Division
415.947.8715
Deborah Jordan, Director
Air Quality Plans and Rules
Permits, Enforcement, Monitoring
Air Toxics, Radiation, Indoor Air
West Coast Collaborative, Grants
Superfund Division
415.947.8709
Keith Takata, Director
Site Cleanup, Brownfields, Oil Pollution
Federal Facilities and Base Closures
Emergency Response & Planning
Community Involvement, Site Assessment
Waste Management Division
415.947.8708
Jeff Scott, Director
Pollution Prevention, Solid Waste
RCRA Permits/Corrective Action
RCRA Inspections & Enforcement
RCRA State Program Development
Underground Storage Tank Program
Water Division
415.947.8707
Alexis Strauss, Director
Clean Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Marine Sanctuaries Act
Communities and Ecosystems Division
415.947.8704
Enrique Manzanilla, Director
Agriculture Program, Environmental Justice
Pesticides, Toxics, TRI
Environmental Review/NEPA
Tribal Programs, Pacific Islands
U.S.-Mexico Border Program
Stewardship/Performance Track
Management and Technical Services Division
415.947.8706
Nancy Lindsay, Acting 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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