U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9
EPA-909-R-10-002
EPA Progress Report 2010
Pacific Southwest Region
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From the Regional Administrator
Dear Readers,
This year, EPA is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of both Earth Day and the founding of our federal agency in 1970.
As you'll see by reviewing the timeline that runs through this report, EPA, together with our states, Native American tribes, and
island territories, have made a great deal of progress in cleaning up the environment and improving human health.
In 1970, Americans were angry at the lack of attention being paid to critical issues of clean air, water and land. Congress re-
sponded to the ongoing crisis of smog and polluted water by passing the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972).
In 1980, after the toxic tragedy of Love Canal in New York, the Superfund law was enacted to clean up toxic dumps and hold
the responsible parties accountable.
Our region is host to the nation's second largest city, Los Angeles, where smog-causing pollution has been reduced in the past
40 years by 70%, thanks to sustained effort at the federal, state and local levels. Ninety-seven percent of the Pacific South-
west's population is now served by community water systems supplying water that meets all applicable health-based drinking
water standards. EPA has completed cleanup at more than half of the 128 Superfund sites in the Pacific Southwest. We have a
lot to be proud of and much work still to be done.
One thing is clearer today than ever: What's good for the environment is also good for the economy. President Obama's Re-
covery Act funding aided much-needed infrastructure renewal while helping the nation come back from its worst recession since
the 1930s. In the next decade, a green innovation revolution will keep our nation competitive and help us tackle complex new
environmental challenges.
Climate change is such a challenge. We can start today to reduce our dependency on foreign oil by deploying cutting-edge
renewable energy systems, by developing the next generation of electric vehicles, and by purchasing Energy Star appliances.
This march towards green innovation must lift all boats. We need to meet the needs of our most vulnerable communities first.
Across America today, poor and minority communities remain at greatest risk from exposure to environmental health hazards.
Green collar jobs are now going to communities that need employment and a cleaner neighborhood.
Earth Day and EPA were both created 40 years ago by individuals who saw the power of simple actions to transform our lives
and communities. In this regard, much has remained the same. Everyone still needs do their part. To make it a little easier, we've
compiled a list of 40 things we can all do to lighten our footprint on the planet and save a little money—at home, at school, at
work, on the road, or anywhere.
We hope you will join us in our commitment to protect the health of our environment, our communities and our families. I look
forward to working with you and EPA's many partners, from state governments to remote tribal communities to small busi-
nesses, to embrace these challenges and leave the world a better place for our children.
Jared Blumenfeld
Regional Administrator
EPA Pacific Southwest Region
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Table of Contents
SPECIAL FEATURES IN OUR 40iH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Clean Air.
Clean Water...,,,, ,,,,.. 10
Clean Land..,.,,,.,,,.,,,.,,.,,,,. 16
Communities
and Ecosystems.
26
Compliance
and Stewardship
34
I
40 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet... Centerfold
Contact Information..,,,.,,,.,,,.,.,,,.,,,..Inside Back Cover
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1971
Two Standard Oil tankers
collide in heavy fog
beneath Golden Gate
Bridge, 2:00 a.m. January
19, spilling 840,000 gallons
of oil, fouling Bay Area
shorelines.
40 things.
AT HOME
Adjust your thermostat
—up in summer, down
in winter
Everyone wants clean air, but theres no
simple way to achieve it across a vast
region with differing sources of air pollu-
tion, topography and weather patterns.
EPA works with states, local air districts
and communities to develop state and lo-
cal regulations that are tailored to local
air issues while ensuring that air quality
will meet federal health standards.
In recent years, EPA's Pacific Southwest
Region has partnered with scores of
stakeholder groups on innovative non-
regulatory approaches to reduce air pol-
lution in communities that are dispropor-
tionately affected.
This chapter looks at the results of coop-
erative efforts to reduce diesel emissions
generated by the ports of Oakland, Long
Beach and Los Angeles, which affect the
health of people living near the ports and
freeways used to move freight inland.
Responding to the concerns of parents
of school-age children, EPA has initiated
rooftop monitoring of toxic air pollutants
at 40 schools across the nation, includ-
ing four in California. EPA has also part-
nered with several agencies to create the
California Air Response Planning Alliance
to help protect people's health during air
quality emergencies caused by fires.
> See the complete list of "40 things you can do to save the planet" in the centerfold
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Clean Air
West Oakland CARE Grant,
Toxics Reduction Collaborative Get Results
EPA has a long history of involvement in West
Oakland, Calif., a community surrounded by
three freeways, the 4th largest container port
in the U.S., a large postal facility and numer-
ous industries. Starting in 2002, with the
release of a report from the West Oakland
Environmental Indicators Project entitled
"Neighborhood Knowledge for Change,"
EPA's West Oakland Toxics Reduction Team
focused on addressing the toxics issues
raised in the report.
After the EIP report was released in 2002,
EPA issued a small grant to a local nonprofit
to begin addressing toxics issues. The EPA
team began working closely with the com-
munity and other stakeholders on specific
issues, including toxic emissions from a
large yeast manufacturer and diesel emis-
sions from trucks on the streets. The EPA
team and its partners provided scientific
and regulatory expertise and improved the
community's access to government decision
making processes. Early successes includ-
ed the voluntary, permanent closure of the
yeast facility when its owners could not meet
emissions standards; and the City of Oak-
land creating alternate truck routes to keep
idling diesel trucks off residential streets.
Encouraged by these results, EIP applied
for and received an EPA Communities for
a Renewed Environment (CARE) grant. The
CARE program is designed to pull together
the community, EPA and other stakeholders
to assess the toxic impacts in a local area,
and then prioritize mitigation efforts for re-
ducing toxics, while working to develop the
community's long-term capacity to address
environmental issues.
EPA's team worked closely with EIP to de-
velop a collaborative approach to further
reduce toxics: the West Oakland Toxics Re-
duction Collaborative (WOTRC). Co-led by
EPA and the EIP, the collaborative included
diverse stakeholders, including concerned
citizens, state and local agencies, business-
es, independent diesel truckers and the Port
of Oakland.
The collaborative divided into workgroups to
address toxic reduction issues, then brought
options to the full group. Results include:
• Providing alternative fuels (biodiesel,
compressed natural gas) and a new
truck information and service center to
assist 2,000 truckers in complying with
stringent truck standards.
• Training dozens of households on
asthma prevention measures, institu-
tionalizing the program through local
agencies and organizations, and using
an innovative Health Impact Assessment
to get mitigation measures for a senior
center and other facilities.
• Developing a "roadmap" for community
engagement in Brownfields site cleanup
and redevelopment processes.
• Working with industrial recyclers to move
out of residential areas while staying in
West Oakland.
• Encouraging the Port of Oakland to
develop a Maritime Air Quality Improve-
ment Plan. The plan set a goal of reduc-
ing toxic risks in West Oakland 85% by
2020.
• Building leadership and capacity: One of
the EIP members was named to the Port
Commission, and a local independent
truck operator established the Truck
Information Center.
In a new phase of the collaboration, now un-
derway, the community continues to engage
with local stakeholders to reduce toxics.
The effort is now a national model for com-
munity collaboration. EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson even attended one of the collab-
orative meetings in 2009 on her first visit to
California.
EPA's West Oakland team includes Richard
Grow, John Brock, Karen Henry, Mike Band-
rowski and Amy Zimpfer. The team's work
in the community wrapped up in October
2009, but the community's work continues.
1972
Congress passes Clean
Water Act. California
legislature passes Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act.
California voters pass
Coastal Conservation
Initiative. EPA bans DDT.
Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources
Board, Jack Broadbent, Executive Officer of the Bay Area
Air Quality Management District, and Margaret Gordon of
the West Oakland Toxics Reduction Collaborative.
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4 Clean Air
1973
Congress, President Nixon
approve Endangered
Species Act. EPA begins
enforcement action
against eight ore smelters
in Arizona and Nevada for
excessive sulfur dioxide
pollution.
Recovery Act Fulfills Promise
of Reducing Diesel Emissions
Above: EPA Regional
Administrator Jared
Blumenfeld and Nevada Gov.
Jim Gibbons in Sparks, Nev.,
to announce EPA funding for
new, cleaner school buses
to reduce kids' exposure to
diesel emissions.
Below: EPA Administrator
Lisa Jackson meets the press
at the Port of Long Beach,
October 2009.
When you're behind a big
truck or bus, you can usu-
ally smell diesel emissions in
the air. That's because, while
stricter emissions standards
for cars took effect in 1975—phasing out
dirty pre-1975 models by the 1990s—die-
sel emissions from heavy-duty trucks, bus-
es, bulldozers, tractors and other vehicles
stayed the same.
In the late 1990s, after a thorough review of
scientific studies on the subject, EPA found
diesel emissions to be a significant health
threat, and set stricter standards for new
diesel engines. The standards took effect for
engines built starting in 2007.
Air quality gains from these cleaner diesel
engines will be slow in coming, since the old
ones usually last 25 to 30 years. That's why
EPA's Pacific Southwest and Pacific North-
west regions started the West Coast Diesel
Collaborative in 2003—to get cleaner air
quicker, by uniting a variety of stakeholders
to replace and retrofit diesel engines sooner.
The ongoing effort got a major boost in 2009
with $300 million that Congress appropri-
ated for the purpose nationwide under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Diesel Emissions Threaten Health
The scientific data on the health effects of
diesel emissions is unequivocal. Diesel emis-
sions contribute to unhealthy levels of fine
particles, ozone and air toxics. Fine particles
have been associated with an increased risk
of premature death, hospital admissions for
heart and lung disease, respiratory symp-
toms such as asthma, and other adverse
health effects. Long-term exposure to diesel
exhaust may pose a lung cancer hazard.
The collaborative is a public-private part-
nership working to reduce diesel emissions
along the West Coast. It was the first pilot
project of EPA's national Clean Diesel Cam-
paign, and has brought together more than
1,000 partners across seven states in EPA's
Pacific Southwest and Northwest regions,
plus Canada and Mexico.
EPA began awarding funds for innovative
technologies and practices to reduce die-
sel emissions in 2004. By the end of 2008,
EPA had provided $19 million in funding to
collaborative partners, leveraging an ad-
ditional $28 million and affecting 1,600 en-
gines. Some engines were replaced, others
retrofitted with pollution controls. Then came
the Recovery Act, bringing $33 million to
the region for this purpose in just one year.
This leveraged an additional $56 million from
project partners, for a total of $89 million.
To announce the new funding, EPA Adminis-
trator Lisa Jackson participated in an event
in early October 2009 at the Port of Long
Beach with Acting Regional Administrator
Laura Yoshii, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
and the mayors of Los Angeles and Long
Beach. Californians who live or work near
the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and
Oakland are particularly affected by diesel
-------
Clean Air
emissions, since diesel trucks and equip-
ment are constantly moving cargo to, from
and within the ports.
The fine particles in diesel
emissions have been
associated with asthma,
hospital admissions for
heart and lung disease,
and other health effects.
The two ports received a total of $6 million in
Recovery Act funds to replace, repower, or
retrofit 139 pieces of diesel-burning equip-
ment, including engines on gantry cranes
and harbor craft. California, Nevada, Hawaii
and Arizona each received $1.7 million for
projects to reduce diesel emissions. The first
three of these states are using the money to
replace, repower, or retrofit school buses.
Arizona is installing electrical outlets at truck
stops near the U.S.-Mexico Border to re-
duce idling when truckers stop for a meal or
overnight.
In most of the U.S., it may still be a few years
before you can breathe clean air if you're
stuck behind a big rig in heavy traffic, but
millions of people who live near the ports
of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland
are already benefiting from cleaner diesel
engines.
Learn more:
www.westcoastcollaborative.org/arra-dera-grants.htm
Sherwood Rowland
blish study showing
lorofluorocarbons
rCs) used in
spraycans, Styrofoam
and refrigeration damage
Right: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger take a look at new, cleaner
diesel equipment to be used at the Port of Long Beach.
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6 Clean Air
1975
To comply with Clean
Air Act, auto makers put
catalytic converters on
all new 1975 model cars,
which use unleaded gas
only. Smog and lead levels
start declining.
EPA's School Air Toxics
Monitoring Program
It's a well-established fact that children are
more vulnerable to the health hazards of air
pollution than adults; their lungs are still de-
veloping and they play hard, breathing more
air for their size than adults. Yet schools are
often located near major air pollution sourc-
es like freeways, factories and airports. To
get a more accurate estimate of exposure
and the risk to our children in schools, EPA
started a School Air Toxics Monitoring Pro-
gram in 2009, involving 63 schools around
the nation.
In the Pacific Southwest, air monitoring be-
gan in August 2009 at three Southern Cali-
fornia schools, and in June at one Northern
California school. EPA is working closely with
the local air quality districts, who operate the
monitoring equipment. The schools were
chosen due to their proximity to sources
of air toxics: Felton Elementary is close to
the 1-405 freeway and Los Angeles Interna-
tional Airport. Soto Street Elementary is at
the intersection of four major LA freeways.
Santa Anita Christian Academy is near the El
Monte Airport, where leaded aviation gas is
used by aircraft. Stevens Creek Elementary
in Silicon Valley's Cupertino is near a large
cement plant.
At the Cupertino school, the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District has been moni-
toring for hexavalent chromium (Cr6+), since
that substance had recently been found in
the air near two cement plants elsewhere
in California. Inhalation of Cr6+ at high lev-
els can damage the respiratory system and
cause cancer. So far, the levels of Cr6+ at
the school have been well below risk-based
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^^
screening levels, but the district will continue
monitoring until there is data for a full year,
to ensure that all seasonal air patterns have
been monitored.
For the three Southern California schools,
the initial data indicate that the air is typical
for the Los Angeles area. The good news is
that the schools do not appear to be "hot
spots" for pollution, but air pollution levels
throughout the LA area are still too high and
need be reduced.
Once EPA finishes the monitoring, EPA will
review that data in terms of exposure and
risk and report results to the communities.
EPA will work with the local school districts,
air districts and communities to find ways to
reduce levels of air pollution where needed.
Additional information, including monitoring
data, are posted at www.epa.gov/schoolair.
Indoor Air also a Focus
EPA is also working with many schools to
ensure that indoor air is healthy. This is a
priority because we all spend, on the aver-
age, 90% of our time indoors. At the Pacific
Southwest Regional Office, the Indoor En-
vironments Team of Barbara Spark, Shelly
Rosenblum and Katie Stewart brings EPA's
Tools for Schools to classrooms through
grants and via the team's own efforts.
In 2009, the team funded partners working
with schools in the San Francisco Bay Area,
the Los Angeles Unified School District and
Yuma, Arizona. The team is directly involved
with several school districts from the Sacra-
mento area to Napa, and works directly with
students and teachers through Earthteam, a
coalition of Bay Area science teachers and
students. Earthteam provides lecturers to
high school classes to educate students on
the effects of both indoor and outdoor air
pollution on asthma and other health issues.
Air Quality Tools for Schools:
www.epa.gov/schools w
More on Indoor Air Quality:
www.epa.gov/iaq w
Above: EPA has been monitoring air toxics at Felton
Elementary School, which is close to the I-405 Freeway
and Los Angeles International Airport.
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Clean Air 7
Enforcement:
Cement Plants Initiative Reduces Air Pollution
EPA has prioritized the investigation of ce-
ment manufacturing plants across the na-
tion, since they are among the largest sta-
tionary sources of smog-forming nitrogen
oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide. This Clean
Air Act enforcement effort will achieve sig-
nificant emission reductions at dozens of ce-
ment plants, including two near Victorville in
San Bernardino County, Calif.
The latest actions, against LaFarge North
America, require a $5.1 million penalty and
pollution control upgrades at 13 of its U.S.
plants. These include the nation's first se-
lective catalytic reduction system to control
NOx emissions at a cement plant.
The law's new source review provisions re-
quire that the largest emission sources ob-
tain permits and install stringent pollution
controls when initially built or making major
modifications. EPA found that some cement
plants failed to comply. Because NOx emis-
sions and resulting smog can cause respi-
ratory problems, compliance will provide
health benefits, especially in areas that fail
to meet federal health standards for ozone
(smog).
In the largest single-facility settlement yet in
EPA's initiative, CEMEX California Cement
LLC paid a $2 million fine and is taking steps
to reduce smog-causing pollution by 40% at
the company's Victorville, Calif., manufactur-
ing plant, one of the nation's largest cement
producers. Air quality in this area, near the
eastern border of Los Angeles County, fails
to meet the national ozone standard.
An EPA investigation found that the plant
had been releasing nitrogen oxides (NOx),
sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, without
permits setting emission limits, which are
required under the Clean Air Act. Under the
settlement, the facility must meet new limits
for these pollutants, including stringent limits
for NOx that will reduce emissions by up-
wards of 1,890 tons per year.
According to 2007 emissions data main-
tained by the California Air Resources Board,
the CEMEX Victorville plant, along with eight
other cement plants in California, are among
the state's 25 largest stationary sources of
NOx. EPA is investigating most of these ce-
ment plants, and settled another case in-
volving excessive NOx emissions in 2008.
This one, the TXI Oro Grande/Riverside Ce-
ment facility, just 10 miles from CEMEX, paid
a $394,000 penalty.
EPA also issued Clean Air Act notices of
violation to CalPortland Company's Mojave,
Calif., plant in August 2008 and March 2010
and its Rillito, Ariz., plant in August 2003,
and Lehigh Cement Company's Cupertino,
Calif., plant in March 2010. A notice of vi-
olation presents preliminary findings to a
company and gives it an opportunity to sub-
mit information to EPA or begin settlement
discussions.
"These enforcement actions will result in
cleaner air in areas where the plants are
located," said Deborah Jordan, director of
EPA's Pacific Southwest Air Division. "The
CEMEX Victorville cement plant is the larg-
est stationary source of NOx in California, so
the state-of-the-art air pollution controls that
Right: A cement manufacturing plant.
CEMEX is installing should have a significant
positive impact."
The CEMEX settlement resolved EPA's
claims that CEMEX violated the Clean Air Act
by making plant modifications to its Victor-
ville plant resulting in significant increases in
its capacity to pollute, without first undergo-
ing required regulatory review, obtaining re-
quired permits, and installing state-of-the-art
emission controls to reduce emissions such
as NOx.
1976
Congress passes
Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act,
regulating hazardous
waste and phasing
out PCBs. California
legislature restricts new
nuclear power plants.
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8 Clean Air
1977
Congress and President
Jimmy Carter pass Clean
Air Act Amendments,
strengthening air quality
standards.
When Smoke Gets in
Your Eyes, Call CARPA
Air quality emergencies have been increas-
ing in the Pacific Southwest over the past
several years, especially wildfires, which
have grown in size and destructiveness to
life and property. One of the challenges to
timely, effective responses to these emer-
gencies is the number of government agen-
cies that respond to them. Dozens of state,
local, federal and tribal agencies may get
involved.
Air pollution control and public health agen-
cies are now developing the emergency re-
sponse capability to use portable air moni-
tors and public exposure health guidelines
to determine the health impacts of harmful
air pollutants to downwind communities.
Typically, first responders such as local fire
and hazardous materials agencies conduct
air monitoring around fires and other harm-
ful releases of smoke and toxic fumes. They
use "occupational" health guideline limits
to determine health impacts to firefighters
and nearby residents. But a new model was
needed to bring air quality and health agen-
cies together to develop their capabilities to
address broader health impacts during air
quality emergencies.
Following the disastrous 2003 wildfires in
Southern California, EPA's regional Home-
land Security Coordinator John Kennedy
formed a partnership with the California Air
Resources Board (GARB) and the state's
Emergency Management Agency to bring
together agencies involved at the federal,
state and local levels in air quality manage-
CARPA tackles the
challenge of coordinating
the many agencies
that respond to air
quality emergencies.
ment, emergency response, public health
and public information. In 2006, John co-
founded the California Air Response Plan-
ning Alliance (CARPA).
CARPA's mission is to promote a compre-
hensive response to air emergencies, and to
improve the ability of air agencies to provide
public health officials with data and informa-
tion they can act on immediately. A voluntary
organization, CARPA focuses on building a
collaborative network at all levels of govern-
ment in California to develop tools and train-
ing to help agencies gather data effectively,
to interpret the data into a clear message
for the public, and to get the message out
quickly during emergencies.
CARPA's three-step response model in-
volves collecting data, crafting a message
based on the data, and communicating it.
The CARPA Steering Committee's member
agencies now include EPA, GARB, the Cali-
fornia Emergency Management Agency, and
representatives from other federal, state and
local air quality, public and environmental
health, and emergency response agencies.
CARPA held its inaugural Summit Meeting in
October 2008 and convened experts from
around the country to present their best
practices in data collection, data interpre-
tation and communication. More than 200
people attended. In March 2009, John and
CARPA co-chair Jeff Cook of GARB received
the Government Innovation Award from the
American Society for Public Administration
for their work in forming and leading CARPA.
The next CARPA conference is planned for
October 2010 in Sacramento.
CARPA Web site:
www.arb.ca.gov/carpa/carpa.htm
tf >
Left, right, above: Different views of the
Station Fire in Los Angeles, September 2009.
Smoke from wildfires can be a greater
short-term health threat than smog.
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Clean Air 9
Sona Chilingaryan:
Reducing Agriculture's Air Quality Impacts
The San Joaquin Valley has some of the
worst air quality in the nation. Valley resi-
dents have high rates of asthma, which is
aggravated by particulate pollution. Several
sources, including agriculture, contribute to
this pollution.
Reliable information about how to control
dust from farm fields is essential for effective
regulation of this particulate pollution. EPA's
Sona Chilingaryan, working with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) on an in-
novative project for assessing agricultural
particulate controls, traveled to farm fields
near Hanford and Los Banos.
Project assessing dust
controls will help make
regulations more effective.
Sona is a native of Armenia who immigrated
to Southern California with her family when
she was eight years old, in 1989. After ten
years in Glendale, she earned degrees at
the University of California at Berkeley and
joined EPA in 2005.
Sona's job in the regional Air Division's Rule-
making Office is to review state and local air
quality regulations to see if they're stringent
enough to meet the federal Clean Air Act's
standards. For the past six years, the San
Joaquin Valley Air District has had a Conser-
vation Management Practices rule in effect,
requiring farmers to reduce PM10, particu-
late matter that includes particles up to 10
micrometers in diameter—1/7 the width of
a human hair—emitted by field tillage and
harvesting.
One way to do this is by leaving dead plant
stalks on the ground, rather than plowing
them under, which also saves time and mon-
ey for farmers. Another way is by a "com-
bined operation," which similarly reduces
the number of times a tractor must drag
dust-raising equipment through a field. The
Conservation Management Practices rule
has helped the valley attain federal health
standards for PM10, and ongoing research
is helping provide data that can help make
these regulations more effective.
Sona was part of a joint effort by USDA sci-
entists, the San Joaquin Valleywide Study
Agency, the California Air Resources Board,
the local air pollution control district and the
agricultural community to gather data on
how effective conservation management
practices are for reducing PM10. In addition
to setting up traditional air sampling devices
that use filters to measure PM emissions in
the field, EPA and USDA contracted with
Utah State University's Space Dynamics
Laboratory to bring in LIDAR, a light detec-
tion and ranging instrument.
LIDAR directs a light beam through the dust
plume. The signal that bounces back can
help measure properties of the plume. For
comparison, the experiment was repeated
without any control measures being em-
ployed, and was done in spring and fall at
different farms to capture different parts of
the annual routine of farm operations. While
the data had not yet been published when
this story went to press, Sona says she
Sona Chilingaryan
could see that the conservation manage-
ment practices were effective at reducing
emissions.
The results are relevant to agricultural ar-
eas with unhealthy levels of particulate pol-
lution throughout the Western states. Over
the past year, Sona has also been working
with state and local air agencies to develop
effective rules to control particulates from
sand and gravel mining and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) from facilities that make
fiberglass boat hulls and fake marble coun-
tertops. "We work with state and local agen-
cies to make these rules more effective over
time," Sona says. For people with asthma,
that's welcome news.
1978
Stringfellow Acid Pits
hazardous waste dump
in Riverside County, Calif.
threaten to overflow. CFCs
banned in spraycans.
Toxic waste seeps into
homes in Love Canal, NY.
-------
Clean Water
if, A
1979
EPA Pacific Southwest
Region awards more than
$750 million in grants
to local governments to
build sewage treatment
facilities.
40 things.
AT SCHOOL
Help students volunteer
for local habitat
restoration projects
Water quality is something many of us
take for granted. For the vast majority
of Americans, healthful drinking water is
available at the turn of a tap. However,
thousands of miles of water and sewer
lines, and drinking water and wastewater
treatment facilities, must be built, main-
tained, upgraded and ultimately replaced.
Today, most of this infrastructure in ur-
ban areas is more than half a century old,
and long overdue for renewal. In 2009,
EPA provided substantial new funding
through the American Recovery and Re-
investment Act to help all 50 states make
inroads on this growing backlog, while
putting people back to work during the
nation's worst economic downturn since
the 1930s.
The biggest funding increases came
where they were most needed—on Pa-
cific Island territories, where tap water is
not always drinkable (see p. 27).
EPA has also been involved in ongoing
efforts to restore the ecological health
of the San Francisco Bay Delta Estu-
ary, the West Coast's largest estuary. In
2009, EPA used the enforcement tools of
the Clean Water Act to require infrastruc-
ture renewal, provided partial funding for
it through State Revolving Funds, and
made targeted grants to reduce polluted
runoff from cities and agriculture.
> See the complete list of "40 things you can do to save the planet" in the centerfold
-------
Clean Water 11
Restoring the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
EPA and other federal agencies have com-
mitted to a robust re-engagement in restor-
ing the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem
and addressing California's water needs. In
2009, six federal agencies signed a Memo-
randum of Understanding and produced a
plan to achieve on-the-ground results and
complement the state government's ongo-
ing work.
EPA's Bay-Delta role includes a wide range of
activities to address critical issues through-
out this vitally important ecosystem, which
stretches from Red Bluff to Bakersfield, and
from the Napa Valley to San Francisco to
Silicon Valley. Included in these activities is
EPA's competitive grant program to support
partnerships that protect and restore San
Francisco Bay watersheds.
Through the San Francisco Bay Water Qual-
ity Improvement Fund, EPA has supported
projects to reduce polluted runoff from ur-
ban areas and agriculture; limit specific pol-
lutants to restore water quality; and protect
and restore fish and wildlife habitat including
riparian corridors, floodplains, wetlands and
Above: Children at San Francisco's Aquatic Park,
on San Francisco Bay.
open waters of the Bay. By early 2010, EPA
had selected projects involving nearly 40
partner agencies and nonprofits throughout
the San Francisco Bay Area, totaling $14.7
million in federal grants that are leveraging
another $11.7 million from other sources.
These projects include:
Estuary 2100—Resilient Watersheds for
a Changing Climate (San Francisco Es-
tuary Partnership/Association of Bay Area
Governments) $11.4 million (Federal: $5
million)
This includes 19 projects in four program
areas: wetland and watershed restoration;
monitoring changes in the Bay; low impact
development and stormwater best manage-
ment practices; and public outreach.
Cesar Chavez Street Headwaters Pilot
Low Impact Development Project (San
Francisco Planning Department) $2.2 million
(Federal: $1.2 million)
This project will implement a green infra-
structure design on a mile-long corridor of
Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco, in-
cluding installation of stormwater planters,
run-off reducing improvements, and perme-
able concrete. The goal is to reduce runoff to
the city's combined sewer/stormwater sys-
tem, reducing the amount of partially-treated
sewage that flows into the bay when rain-
storms overwhelm sewage system capacity.
Clean Watersheds for a Clean Bay (Bay
Area Stormwater Management Agencies
Association) $6.9 million (Federal: $5 million)
This is a multi-year regional effort to reduce
sediment-bound pollutants in the bay and
Right: San Francisco Bay
Facing page: Klamath River photo courtesy
of the Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation.
restore water quality by limiting the amount
of toxic PCBs and mercury in stormwater
that reaches the bay.
Estuary 2100 Phase 2-Building Part-
nerships for Resilient Watersheds (San
Francisco Estuary Partnership/Association
of Bay Area Governments) $6 million (Fed-
eral: $3.6 million)
This includes seven projects to reduce pol-
luted urban and agricultural runoff, take ac-
tions to limit specific pollutants in the North
Bay, and protect and restore vital San Fran-
cisco Bay fish and wildlife habitats.
1980
President Carter signs
Superfund law, making
polluters liable for toxic
cleanups, just before
President Ronald Reagan
takes office.
-------
12 Clean Water
1981
National Research
Council reports acid rain
in northeastern U.S.,
Canada making lakes too
acidic for frogs, fish. Calif.
Gov. Jerry Brown allows
malathion spraying to
combat medflies.
Recovery Act Generates Green Jobs,
Renews Water, Wastewater Systems
America's aging water infra-
structure is in need of major
renovation. EPA estimates
that it will cost approximately
$500 billion over the next 20
years to meet America's drinking water and
wastewater infrastructure needs. On top of
that, water agencies face great challenges in
maintaining their operations as affected by
drought, severe storm events, coastline ero-
sion, saltwater intrusion and reduced water
storage capacity.
Congress typically provides State Revolv-
ing Fund appropriations each year for EPA
to distribute to states, tribes and territories
for drinking water and wastewater infra-
structure. The American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act in 2009 significantly increased
the funds available (see also SRF Team story,
p. 15).
The Recovery Act requires at least 20% of
water funding go to innovative projects that
promote energy efficiency, water efficiency
or innovative stormwater management. In
the Pacific Southwest, all four states have
exceeded this requirement. Energy efficiency
is vital as approximately one-fifth of Califor-
nia's entire electricity production, and one-
third of its natural gas, is used to transport
and treat water.
Innovative Water and Wastewater
Projects Funded By the Recovery Act
• Arizona is using $1 million to design
water system improvements that in-
corporate energy and water efficiency,
renewable energy use and production,
and/or green stormwater infrastructure.
• The Southern Nevada Water Agency is
conducting energy audits of the Alfred
Merritt Smith and River Mountain water
treatment facilities to identify and imple-
ment improvements that yield energy
and water conservation benefits, while
reducing operation and maintenance
costs.
• The Eastern Municipal Water District's
Anaerobic Digester will allow the Moreno
Valley (Calif.) sewage treatment facil-
ity to produce 40% of its energy needs
through anaerobic digestion of sludge,
producing methane that is burned to
generate electricity, and reducing the
volume of sludge for disposal.
• Peoria, Ariz., has built a 50-kilowatt solar
power facility at a wastewater treatment
plant to reduce fossil fuel use and mini-
mize its carbon footprint.
• The Inland Empire Utilities Agency's
Dewatering Facility Expansion Project is
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
energy needed for sludge dewatering by
30% while increasing capacity, reducing
hauling costs and fuel use, and creating
nearly 200 jobs in Southern California
• In El Cerrito, Calif., the Green Streets
Rain Gardens Project is building gardens
within sidewalks and street parking ar-
eas to filter stormwater runoff, removing
sediment, pesticides and other toxics
that would otherwise flow into San Fran-
cisco Bay. The rain gardens also provide
a green buffer to the asphalt and cement
in a high-density urban area.
• Oakland's Rainwater Harvesting Project
is providing rain barrels, rebates and
guidance for residents to reduce storm-
water impacts and re-use rainwater for
irrigating gardens.
• Oahu County, Hawaii, is using more than
$5 million to replace corroded cast iron
drinking water pipes installed 55 to 70
years ago. New PVC pipes save water
by having fewer leaks and save energy
by being smoother.
Left: Peoria, Ariz., used Recovery Act funds to
build a solar array to provide power to its water
reclamation facility.
Above: This new rain garden in El Cerrito, Calif.
reduces polluted runoff entering the city's
storm drain system and San Francisco Bay.
-------
Clean Water 13
Regional Lab Goes on the Road with
New Technology, Out to Sea on the Bold
Since 1994, EPA's Pacific Southwest Re-
gion's laboratory has focused on analyzing
samples brought to its Richmond site, as
well as gathering data at remote locations,
thanks to new technology and an unusual
West Coast voyage of EPA's ocean research
vessel Bold, which normally operates on the
Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.
Remote Monitoring and Mobile Lab
At the Leviathan Mine Superfund Site, high
in the Sierra Nevada about 200 miles east
of San Francisco, water tainted with sulfuric
acid emanates from a former mine. Treat-
ment systems on the site do not operate
year round, and it's difficult to monitor water
quality in nearby creeks that receive mine
site drainage in winter, when deep snow
covers the landscape. EPA has set up a
satellite telemetry system that monitors the
water continuously for pH, conductivity and
other parameters, and transmits the data
hourly to a database provider that posts it
on the Internet. The system works entirely off
solar-charged 12-volt battery power.
In 2008, the lab acquired a new cargo van
that's been outfitted as a mobile lab. In a
water supply emergency—such as a ma-
jor earthquake that breaches water mains
in an urban area—the van can be rapidly
re-configured to perform drinking water mi-
crobiological analyses to answer the urgent
question of whether it's safe to drink. The
mobile lab has its own 8 KW generator, and
can be used to analyze up to 400 samples
for pathogens.
Voyage of the Bold
The Regional Lab staff supported ocean
survey work aboard the EPA vessel Bold,
deployed to the West Coast for the first
time. The Bold provided support to conduct
critical ocean disposal site monitoring work
that is otherwise impossible for EPA's Pacific
Southwest Office.
The Bold's California voyage began with a
side scan sonar survey and sediment sam-
pling at an ocean disposal site off San Di-
ego. Similar survey work was conducted at
other California sites. The Regional Lab ana-
lyzed the chemical make-up of the sediment
samples. Off the Southern California coast,
the U.S. Geological Survey also profiled the
ocean floor to locate offshore earthquake
faults in the vicinity of other EPA-approved
ocean disposal sites.
In the Northern California port of Eureka,
the EPA science crew collected sediment
samples from the Humboldt Open Ocean
Disposal Site, where dredged material from
Eureka's harbor is deposited. In addition to
sediment chemistry, the sediment samples
yielded marine invertebrates that live in the
mud and sand—from polychaete worms up
Left: EPA's Mobile Lab
Above and right: EPA ocean survey vessel Bold
made its first West Coast voyage in 2009.
to 8 inches long, to tiny amphipods barely
visible to the naked eye. These marine or-
ganisms were identified and counted to
see if their numbers and diversity indicate a
healthy bottom habitat.
EPA Blog on the Voyage of the Bold:
blog.epa.gov/blog/category/bold/autumn09
1982
Toxics found in Silicon
Valley groundwater. Dioxin
discovered in soil in Times
Beach, Mo. Pesticide
found in Hawaii's milk.
Selenium poisons wildlife
at Kesterson refuge, Calif.
-------
14 Clean Water
Wastewater Infrastructure:
Building a Better East Bay MUD
1983
EPA's Super-fund Program
investigates groundwater
contamination from
aerospace industry in
Southern California's San
Fernando and San Gabriel
Valleys.
Our wastewater infrastructure is aging,
causing sewage spills and overflows. Sew-
age and stormwater from six communities
and one sanitary sewer district on the east-
ern shore of San Francisco Bay flow through
sewer pipes to East Bay Municipal Utility Dis-
trict's (EBMUD) wastewater treatment plant
near the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza. The average
age of these sewer pipes is 50 years, with
some pipes as old as 130!
Pipe breaks, blockages caused by tree roots
or grease, and even too much rainwater
seeping into the pipes through joints and
cracks can lead to overflows of untreated
sewage into streets, homes, creeks and
the Bay. Regular maintenance and replace-
ment of pipes is key to preventing spills and
overflows. However, communities often find
it difficult to continuously assess, repair and
replace this unseen asset.
As many aging sewer pipes have cracks,
misconnections and other flaws, stormwater
and groundwater can infiltrate the sewers
when it rains. The increased flow can lead
to a tenfold increase in the volume of waste-
water reaching the treatment plant. To pre-
vent overflows, EBMUD diverts some of the
flow to its three wet weather facilities, which
discharge partially-treated wastewater to the
Bay on occasion.
Aging sewer pipes
can lead to overflows
of untreated sewage
into streets, homes
and water bodies.
Through cooperative enforcement actions,
EPA and the San Francisco Bay Regional
Water Quality Control Board have tasked
EBMUD and its seven communities to re-
duce infiltration into the sewers through in-
frastructure renewal and improved mainte-
nance. The goal is to eliminate discharges
from the wet weather facilities. Through a
strategy of long-term investment by EBMUD
and its communities, primarily through user
fees, to achieve sustainable infrastructure.
EPA and the Regional Board entered into a
binding agreement with EBMUD in January
2009. EBMUD agreed to identify areas with
the highest flows, require repair and/or re-
placement of damaged private sewer pipes
that extend from homes and businesses to
The Oakport Wet Weather Facility processes
excess sewage diverted from EBMUD's
wastewater collection system.
community sewers, and improve mainte-
nance programs.
In addition, EPA inspected the sewer sys-
tems of the seven communities. Based on
those findings, EPA took enforcement ac-
tion against all seven communities in No-
vember 2009. As a result, the communities
are required to do similar work to reduce
infiltration.
EPA actions aimed at infrastructure renew-
al and maintenance in Southern California
over the past few years proves this strategy
works. Legal settlements with the cities of
Los Angeles and San Diego have greatly re-
duced sewage spills. Both cities have invest-
ed hundreds of millions of dollars in repair
and replacement of sewer pipes as well as
improved cleaning and maintenance.
Los Angeles reduced sewer overflows from
444 in 2004 to just 159 in 2009. San Diego's
sewer overflows dropped from 365 in 2000
to just 38 in 2009. Over the past five years,
Los Angeles has rehabilitated or replaced 54
miles of sewers and completed nine sewer
capacity expansion projects. Over the past
decade, San Diego has rehabilitated or re-
placed 240 miles of sewers.
In each case, EPA has worked in concert
with local agencies to find lasting solutions
that protect public health and the environ-
ment in the San Francisco Bay Area and
Southern California, to benefit over 30 mil-
lion people.
-------
Clean Water 15
The SRF Team:
Speeding Recovery Act Funding to Shovel-Ready Projects
Thanks to the American Rein-
vestment and Recovery Act,
Wsome EPA staff had greatly
increased workloads over the
past year. Among them were
the regional Water Division's State Revolv-
ing Fund (SRF) Team of Jose Caratini and
Juanita Licata in San Francisco, and Susan
Polanco in Hawaii.
There were no complaints, however, be-
cause the Recovery Act made $610 million
available for new loans and grants to cash-
strapped states, tribes and local water sys-
tems in the Pacific Southwest to build or
replace aging drinking water and wastewa-
ter facilities—treatment plants and pipelines
that ensure our drinking water is safe and
our beaches and waterways are healthy for
recreation, fish and wildlife.
After the Recovery Act passed in February
2009, the Drinking Water Program in Cali-
fornia alone received applications for more
than 2,100 projects that would have cost a
combined total of $6 billion. The state's fis-
cal crisis had dried up bond money normally
used for many of these projects. In the end,
EPA provided $159 million for drinking wa-
ter projects and more than $269 million for
wastewater projects in California.
The new money funded 252 long-planned,
shovel-ready projects in the Pacific South-
west. Most of the money was disbursed
through the State Revolving Funds to local
governments, who repay loans after their
new facilities are built. Then the money can
be loaned again, and repaid again, and it
keeps revolving. This year, every federal dol-
lar was matched by about $2 in state and
local funds.
Jose, Juanita and Susan reviewed applica-
tions, worked with the states to develop use
plans, and processed approved funding.
They also oversaw the projects to ensure
funds are spent according to Recovery Act
rules. For example, American-made iron and
steel must be used, and 20% of the funds
must go to "Green Infrastructure" projects,
such as installation of water meters on un-
metered properties to prevent water waste,
installation of low-friction pipes and efficient
pumps to save energy, and use of solar
power to run treatment plants.
Above: Susan Polanco
Right: Jose Caratini and Juanita Licata
Nevada's SRF had financed 54 drinking wa-
ter and wastewater projects in 1999-2008.
In 2009 alone, the Recovery Act funded 29
more Nevada projects.
In just one year, the SRF Team approved
funds for 146 wastewater projects and 106
drinking water projects in California, Arizona,
Hawaii and Nevada. State and local agen-
cies put projects out for bid and awarded
contracts. Due to tight deadlines mandated
by Recovery Act and state rules, work that
usually took months was done in just a few
weeks. By February 17, 2010, a year after
the Act became law, most of the projects
were under construction.
1984
Catastrophic leak at
chemical plant in Bhopal,
India kills 2,500 people.
Congress strengthens
1976 law regulating
hazardous waste, creating
stricter standards for
disposal sites.
-------
Clean Land
1985
Scientists report hole in
stratospheric ozone over
Antarctica getting larger
each Spring. Santa Cruz
voters ban facilities for
offshore oil, inspiring other
coastal localities to do
likewise.
40 things.
ON THE ROAD
Walk, bike, carpool or
take transit as much as
possible
Congress passed the Superfund law in
1980, giving EPA responsibility for clean-
ing up abandoned hazardous waste sites,
enforcement authority to get responsible
parties to pay for cleanups, and funding
to get the job done quickly when there's
an imminent threat to human health or the
environment. Cleanup sites range from
abandoned mines to schools where stu-
dents have spread mercury contamina-
tion by playing with the toxic liquid metal.
In 2009, funding from the American Rein-
vestment and Recovery Act accelerated
the ongoing cleanup work at Iron Moun-
tain Mine near Redding, Calif., and doz-
ens of short-term cleanups of soil con-
taminated by leaking underground fuel
tanks at abandoned gas stations (pages
18-19).
In the last few years, EPA's Pacific South-
west office has pioneered "cleaner clean-
ups," where environmental impacts are
minimized by, for instance, using solar
power generated on-site, as at the Aero-
jet site near Sacramento, Calif, (see fac-
ing page, p. 39).
Disasters like wildfires, floods and tsu-
namis can leave containers of fuel and
other toxics scattered over a wide area.
EPA responds quickly, sending On-Scene
Coordinators to organize collection and
safe disposal of such toxic debris (see p.
24-25).
> See the complete list of "40 things you can do to save the planet" in the centerfold
-------
Clean Land 17
Solar-Powered Cleanup
at Aerojet Superfund Site
The Aerojet General Corp. Superfund site is
a contaminated groundwater site near Ran-
cho Cordova, Calif., east of Sacramento.
The plume of contaminated groundwater
is nearly 27 square miles in size, includ-
ing a portion beneath the American River.
Since 1953 Aerojet and its subsidiaries have
manufactured liquid and solid fuel rocket en-
gines on the site. About 1,200 people are
employed there.
In the 1950s through the 1970s, the facil-
ity dumped hazardous wastes in surface
ponds, landfills, deep injection wells, and
leach fields, polluting the groundwater, which
ultimately reached the river. Today, a new
solar-powered system is pumping and treat-
ing the contaminated groundwater, gradually
restoring it to drinking water quality.
Since the site was listed on EPA's Superfund
National Priorities List in 1983, the company
has investigated the extent of the ground-
water contamination, and built treatment
systems to restore the aquifer. This effort re-
quires pumping and treating millions of gal-
lons of water every day, and will continue for
decades.
Cleanups like this have a significant indi-
rect environmental impact that wasn't con-
sidered when the pump-and-treat systems
were built: The electricity to run them 24/7
year after year comes from remote power
plants, either burning fossil fuels like coal
and natural gas, or from hydroelectric dams.
Contaminated
groundwater is gradually
being restored to
drinking water quality.
To mitigate some of these environmental im-
pacts, Aerojet partnered with their electric-
ity provider, the Sacramento Municipal Util-
ity District (SMUD) and a solar development
company, Solar Power, Inc. to commission
and build a 40-acre photovoltaic power ar-
ray, which converts sunlight into electricity.
The first phase broke ground in June 2009,
and was completed in November. The array
uses a single-axis tracking system to follow
the sun through the day to maximize elec-
tricity production. The array is made up of
more than 11,000 panels with a capacity to
generate 3.6 megawatts.
A second phase of the solar "farm" will be
completed by summer 2010. Its final gen-
erating capacity will be 6.0 megawatts, us-
ing almost 30,000 panels, making this the
largest single-site industrial solar-powered
Left: Groundwater treatment facility at Aerojet
Superfund site.
Above: EPA's Kevin Mayer at the new solar power
facility at the Aerojet Superfund Site.
SMUD
SOLAR^POWER
Partnership For
Sustainability
system in California, and the largest at a
Superfund site in the country. The system
will provide more than 20% of the electric-
ity required to operate the groundwater re-
mediation system at Aerojet. It sits on land
that was otherwise considered difficult to sell
or develop due to the ongoing Superfund
cleanup. EPA and state officials worked with
Aerojet to build the solar facility in a location
that minimized environmental impacts and
doesn't hinder ongoing cleanup activities.
During its first year at full power, the system
will generate enough clean power to offset
enormous amounts of greenhouse gases
and smog-forming pollutants that would
have been emitted using power from gener-
ating plants burning fossil fuel. EPA's online
Power Profiler estimates the annual emis-
sions prevented for power used in the Ran-
cho Cordova area at 6,000 tons of carbon
dioxide, 4 tons of sulfur dioxide and 5 tons of
nitrogen oxide. With a life expectancy of 25
years for the new solar array, it adds up to
a significant environmental benefit while pro-
tecting the valuable groundwater resources.
1986
California voters
approve Proposition 65,
requiring disclosure of
toxics. Congress passes
Emergency Planning/
Right-to-Know Act. Los
Angeles agrees to upgrade
sewage treatment.
Estimate emissions reductions with the Power Profiler:
www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/how-clean.html
Facing page: Photo courtesy of the Bishop Paiute Tribe.
-------
18 Clean Land
Iron Mountain Mine:
Recovery Act Funding Advances Cleanup
Mining was a mainstay of the
California economy for a cen-
Wtury, starting with the Gold
Rush of 1849. But the envi-
ronmental costs of historic
mining have come due at places like the
Iron Mountain Mine near Redding, California,
where EPA's ongoing efforts to protect the
Sacramento River from the mine's toxic run-
off accelerated in 2009 thanks to new fed-
eral funding.
In April 2009, EPA received $20.7 million in
funding from the American Reinvestment
and Recovery Act to speed the long-term
cleanup of zinc and copper-contaminated
sediments from the Iron Mountain Mine
Superfund Site. Rick Sugarek, EPA's proj-
ect manager for more than 20 years, and
Cynthia Wetmore, construction manager for
the site for 17 years, put the money to work
almost immediately, building a system to
dredge and remove contaminated sediment
from the bottom of the Spring Creek Arm of
Keswick Reservoir on the Sacramento River,
which received the mine's toxic runoff for
more than 40 years.
The Recovery Act funds, along with anoth-
er $23 million provided by EPA, are paying
workers to build and operate a system of
dredges, pumping stations and pipelines to
remove the toxic sludge and transport it to
12-acre, plastic-lined pits for permanent dis-
posal. When the removal is finished in 2011,
18 months ahead of the original schedule,
the filled pit will be capped with clay, soil
and plants, to keep the contaminated soil in
place. Construction was completed in Sep-
tember 2009, a year ahead of schedule. By
December, dredging had already removed
about one third of the sludge.
Seven-square-mile Iron Mountain, mined
for iron, silver, gold, copper, zinc and pyrite
from the 1860s to 1963, is honeycombed
with tunnels and pits. By 1940, the mine's
toxic runoff was dumping a ton of toxic dis-
solved metals a day into local creeks and the
Sacramento River, polluting a drinking wa-
ter supply used by thousands of people and
sometimes killing the river's prized salmon.
World's Most Acidic Water
Pyrite, exposed to water and air, produces
sulfuric acid. This acid seeps through the
mountain and leaches out copper, cadmium,
zinc and other heavy metals. The resulting
toxic brew—the most acidic water naturally
found on earth—once flowed into sections
of three creeks before reaching the river, vir-
tually eliminating aquatic life.
In the 1950s, Keswick Dam was built on
the Sacramento, downstream from these
creeks. Fish kills were reduced, but not
eliminated. In 1983, EPA designated the Iron
Mountain Mine as a Superfund site. Since
1986, EPA has overseen many actions at the
site to reduce the toxic runoff, and treat the
remaining flows to remove contaminants. Af-
ter completion of a treatment plant in 1994,
these actions now capture 98% of the toxics
coming out of the mine.
Before the treatment plant was built, heavy
metals precipitated into a sludge and fell to
the bottom of the Spring Creek Arm of the
reservoir, accumulating 200,000 cubic yards
of toxic sludge that could threaten salmon
if a major storm were to erode the bottom
sediment.
Left: Dam and water treatment plant at the Iron Mountain Mine
prevent toxic dissolved metals from polluting the Sacramento River.
Above: Bulldozers preparing storage site for contaminated sludge
dredged from Keswick Reservoir.
-------
Clean Land 19
Recovery Act Accelerates
UST Cleanups, Protects Groundwater
Throughout the Pacific South-
west, groundwater is an im-
Wportant drinking water source.
In many places, it's threatened
by hydrocarbon fuels seep-
ing from leaking underground storage tanks
(USTs) at abandoned gas stations and other
fuel tank sites. The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act has provided $200 million
nationwide, and more than $21 million in the
Pacific Southwest, to clean up these sites.
This vitally important work is also delivering
on the promise of stimulating the slumping
economy and employing people throughout
the region.
For example, a former bulk fuel storage site
was left vacant for years in Ashland Park,
near San Leandro, Calif. Redevelopment
was hampered by the need for site assess-
ment and cleanup. There was no responsi-
ble party capable of funding the cleanup. In
2009 the California State Water Resources
Control Board granted Recovery Act funds
to the Hayward Area Recreation and Park
District to clean up the site. The cleanup has
cleared the way for redevelopment. Plans
call for construction of a youth center, a two-
acre park and a school gymnasium.
In 2010, California plans to use more than
$15 million in Recovery Act funds to assess
and clean up at least 10 additional UST sites.
Investing in these cleanups will jump-start
other jobs and investments in communities
throughout California.
Throughout the country, Recovery Act funds
are being used by EPA in partnership with
states, tribes and territories to finance UST
cleanups. In the Pacific Southwest, clean-
ups are underway in Arizona, California and
on tribal lands, and are about to begin in
Nevada, Hawaii and island territories in the
Pacific. Through the Recovery Act, EPA is
putting people to work and protecting the
environment.
Watch a Video about the Ashland Park Site:
www.epa.gov/region9/eparecovery/video/ashland
More about UST Cleanups in
Pacific Southwest Region:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/ust
1988
Congress bans ocean
dumping of sewage sludge
and industrial wastes,
after medical waste
washes up on NJ beaches.
Shell Oil refinery spills
365,000 gallons oil into
Carquinez Strait.
UST Recovery Act Funding Allocations
to Pacific Southwest States & Territories
Arizona
California
Hawaii
Nevada
Guam
Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands
$3,219,000
$15,577,000
$1,317,000
$1,266,000
$138,000
$57,000
Above and left: Cleanup of a former bulk fuel storage site in
San Leandro, Calif, has cleared the way for redevelopment,
including future Ashland Youth Campus.
-------
20 40 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet
THINGS
you can do to save the planet
EPA's mission is to protect human health and the environment. To honor
the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we invite you to join us by taking indi-
vidual action—here are 40 things we can each do to reduce greenhouse
gases and help save the planet:
AT SCHOOL
t
ON THE ROAD
1989
Exxon Valdez oil tanker
runs aground in Alaska's
Prince William Sound,
spilling 11 million gallons
of oil, fouling hundreds of
miles of shoreline, killing
fish and wildlife.
Stop junk mail (opt out)
Replace incandescent bulbs with
compact fluorescent lights—and turn
them off when not in use
Buy local, sustainably produced food,
and eat less meat
4 Adjust your thermostat—up in
summer, down in winter
5 Install water saving fixtures in bath
and kitchen
Buy Energy Star certified appliances
(www.energystar.gov)
7 Install solar panels or switch to
renewable energy sources
Shop at thrift stores and buy used or
refurbished products
9 Perform an energy audit of school
buildings
1O Teach students how to make eco-
friendly choices
11 Start a recycled materials art program
12 Create a compost bin for food
scraps—and recycle cans, bottles
and paper
13 Create an organic vegetable garden
14 Reduce or recycle toxic chemicals in
school laboratories
15 Help students volunteer for local
habitat restoration projects
16 Rent college textbooks instead of
buying them
17 Drive a more fuel efficient car, or join
a car share
18 Walk, bike, carpool or take transit as
much as possible
19 Reduce your air travel and use
e-tickets instead of paper
2O Go easy on the accelerator, use
cruise control, and keep your car
tuned up and tires well inflated
21 Make sure your mechanic recycles
used automotive oil and coolant
22 Choose a green hotel, eco-tours and
other earth-friendly travel choices
23 Ask hotel staff not to replace your
towels and sheets every day
24 Bring a reusable water bottle
-------
40 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet 21
if everyone did just one thing...
25 Print less, use 100% recycled paper
and print double sided
26 Reduce commuting by working from
home when possible
27 Use environment-friendly cleaning
supplies (e.g. Green Seal approved)
28 Buy EPEAT certified computers and
monitors (www.epeat.net)
EVERYWHERE!
Get involved—exercise your rights to
promote sustainable choices
34 Switch to reusable items, such as
bags and lunch containers
35 Turn off lights, appliances and
electronics when not in use
36 Bring your own reusable mug when
you go out for coffee or tea
DO JUST ONE THING FOR
A YEAR... AND IT ADDS UP
If one person drinks tap water
instead of one liter of bottled
water each day, it would save
the energy equivalent 1.6 Kilo-
watt-hours per day, 46 gallons
of gas per year, or 0.41 metric
tons of CO2.
If all 49 million people in the Pa-
cific Southwest Region did the
same, it would save the equiva-
lent of 2.3 billion gallons of gas
per year—the amount used by
3.8 million cars, or 20 million
metric tons of CO2.
If everyone in the USA did the
same, it would save the equiva-
lent of 14.2 billion gallons of gas
per year—the amount used by
24.1 million cars, or 126 million
metric tons of CO *
THINGS
1990
Congress and President
George H.W. Bush approve
Oil Pollution Act, Clean
Air Act Amendments to
reduce hazardous air
pollutants and industrial
emissions, require cleaner
gasoline in smoggy areas.
29 Use video and telephone conferences
to reduce travel
3O Green your meetings—replace paper
handouts with e-documents, recycle
waste
31 Start a composting program and set
a goal of zero waste
32 Organize co-workers to carpool or
bike to work
Buy recycled and recyclable
products, eliminate plastic and
styrofoam
38 Compost your food/organic waste
39 Recycle paper, glass, plastics,
electronics
4O Keep reusable shopping bags handy
and use everywhere you shop
-------
22 Clean Land
1991
Train derailment near
Dunsmuir, Calif., spills
toxic fumigant metam
sodium into Upper
Sacramento River, wiping
out all life in the river for
more than 40 miles.
EPA Funds Los Angeles Conservation
Corps' Green Building Job Training
EPA awarded the Los Angeles Conservation
Corps (LACC) a total of $700,000 in Brown-
fields job training grants in 2009 to recruit
and train residents from the city's impover-
ished Empowerment Zone for environmental
careers.
With this funding, LACC is training 160 par-
ticipants, and hopes to place at least 130
graduates in environmental technician jobs.
The training program includes 254-hour
and 400-hour training cycles in hazardous
waste operations, environmental technolo-
gies, lead and asbestos abatement, refinery
safety overview, forklift training and general
industry standards. Four certifications will be
offered.
As part of the program, LACC is collaborat-
ing with the LA Housing Partnership (LAMP)
to provide skilled workers to help revitalize
low-income housing areas across the city.
The inner city neighborhood where work
started on the first construction project has
significant populations of Mexican, Central
American, Filipino, Armenian, Korean, Thai,
Cambodian, African and Chinese immi-
grants. More than 80% of the residents of
the district are renters, with 40% of children
living in low-income households below the
federal poverty threshold.
Green Senior Housing
The development, Rosewood Gardens, will
be a 100% affordable senior housing devel-
opment. The builders are pursuing the Lead-
ership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) silver certification for mid-rise homes.
The building on Rosewood Avenue will have
54 one-bedroom apartments, a learning
center, library, laundry rooms, a central land-
scaped courtyard, private "porches" and
balconies and a large community center at
street level. A large open space and "prom-
enade" visually joins the new development
with the adjacent Rosewood Methodist
church in a landscaped buffer between the
two buildings. The new building draws inspi-
ration from the existing church architecture.
Rooftop solar panels will provide on-site
energy generation and solar thermal water
heating. When complete, the development
is expected to be the first certified LEED
for Homes mid-size building in southern
California.
The LAMP plans to educate residents to use
the "green" features and live sustainably. Ev-
ery resident will attend a "green orientation"
when they move in, to learn about the impor-
tance of recycling and how to do it, how to
Left: Trainees learning asbestos abatement
techniques.
dispose of toxic trash so that it does not end
up in the city's landfills, and how to conserve
energy and water. The residents will also
learn how to buy and use non-toxic cleaners
and household materials, and to optimize
ventilation.
One of the building's green features is the
location: it's an urban infill site in a densely
developed area, reducing the residents'
need for cars. It has a partial green roof,
drought-tolerant landscaping, on-site solar
power and solar hot water; individual heat-
ing, ventilation and cooling for each unit,
on-site filtration of storm water, designated
recycling and bicycle storage rooms, natural
ventilation in entrance lobby and stairs, En-
ergy Star appliances and electrical fixtures,
dual flush toilets and water-saving fixtures.
Builders are using no tropical wood, reduc-
ing construction waste and recycling 90% of
the remainder.
Above: EPA Acting RA Laura Yoshii (right)
presents $700,000 green building job training
grant to LACC Executive Director Bruce Saito
and trainee Brunny Maria Smith.
-------
Clean Land 23
EPA Adds B.F. Goodrich Site
to Superfund List to Expedite Cleanup
In January 2010, after adding the site to the
Superfund National Priorities List, EPA re-
leased a proposal for an initial groundwater
cleanup project at the B.F. Goodrich site. EPA
placed the site on the list after contaminated
groundwater forced the closure of drinking
water wells in the western San Bernardino
County, Calif., community of Rialto. Super-
fund is the EPA program that cleans up the
nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites
while pursuing reimbursement from respon-
sible parties.
"Adding the B.F. Goodrich site to the Su-
perfund list gives EPA the needed tools to
clean it up," says Keith Takata, EPA Deputy
Regional Administrator in the Pacific South-
west. "EPA is committed to making sure
that the cost of cleanup is borne by those
responsible for the contamination."
Since the 1940s, the B.F. Goodrich site was
used to store, test and manufacture muni-
tions, rocket fuel and fireworks by the gov-
ernment and businesses. The area's ground-
water is contaminated with trichloroethylene
(TCE) and perchlorate, forcing the closure of
public drinking water supply wells.
Work done at the site by EPA in 2009 in-
cludes installation of six 900-foot deep
groundwater monitoring wells, testing of 14
existing groundwater wells, and soil and soil
gas testing at a disposal pit used by the B.F.
Goodrich Corp. in the late 1950s and early
1960s.
The 160-acre site was part of a larger area
acquired by the U.S. Army in 1942 for an
inspection and storage facility for rail cars
hauling munitions to the Port of Los An-
geles. After the Rialto property was sold in
1946, it was used by munitions manufactur-
ers, fireworks manufacturers and other busi-
nesses that used perchlorate. In 1956 and
1957, West Coast Loading Corp. manufac-
tured two products containing potassium
perchlorate. From about 1957 to 1962, B.F.
Goodrich Corp. produced rocket fuel there
containing ammonium perchlorate, and
used TCE in the manufacturing process. Af-
ter that, the site was used by companies that
manufactured or sold fireworks.
TCE and perchlorate
contamination has
resulted in the closure
of public drinking
water wells.
Beginning in 2002, the California Regional
Water Quality Control Board worked to in-
vestigate and clean up the site. Since then,
EPA has spent approximately $6 million to
complete soil and groundwater testing, de-
velop a cleanup plan and pursue enforce-
ment efforts at the site.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a metal clean-
ing solvent. Drinking or breathing high levels
of trichloroethylene can damage the nervous
system, liver and lungs. Perchlorate is an in-
gredient in solid rocket fuel and many pyro-
technics, and can affect the thyroid gland.
Right: EPA contractors constructing a groundwater
monitoring well at B.F. Goodrich Superfund Site.
Nationwide, 1,607 sites have been placed
on the National Priorities List, of which 105
are in California. Construction of cleanup fa-
cilities and infrastructure has been complet-
ed at about 2/3 of the 1,607 sites.
More on the Goodrich Site:
www.epa.gov/region9/bfgoodrich
-------
24 Clean Land
1993
Heavy winter rain and
snow ends six-year
California drought. EPA
sets salinity standard for
Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta, to protect salmon
and other fish harmed by
water diversions.
Emergency Response:
Earthquake, Tsunami Hit American Samoa
At 6:48 on the morning of September 29,
2009, a massive magnitude 8.1 earthquake
shook American Samoa, with an epicenter
about 120 miles southwest of the islands.
Twenty minutes later, a tsunami followed,
striking American Samoa with a series of
four to five waves of 15 to 20 feet. Damage
was widespread. Local authorities reported
33 people killed.
American Samoa, a territory of the U.S., is in
the South Pacific, almost 5,000 miles from
the EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office.
The territory consists of five rugged, volcanic
islands and two coral atolls, with a popula-
tion of about 60,000 people, mostly indig-
enous Samoans.
Within five hours of the incident, EPA de-
ployed Lance Richman to the FEMA Region-
al Response Coordination Center in Oakland
to coordinate EPA's part in the federal re-
sponse. EPA's Regional Emergency Opera-
tions Center was activated. Soon afterward,
FEMA tasked EPA with assessing the tsu-
nami's impacts on oil storage facilities and
toxic hazardous materials, and collecting
and stabilizing the "hazmat."
EPA sent On-Scene-Coordinator Chris Rein-
er to American Samoa to start the work.
Reiner worked with American Samoa EPA
(A.S. EPA) on the assessment and collection
of containers holding toxics and household
hazardous waste. Reiner and Duane Newell
EPA responders collect
hazardous waste after a
devastating tsunami.
from EPA's Environmental Response Team
assembled a hazardous materials task force
with the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Strike
Team, the Hawaii National Guard Civil Sup-
port Team, and contractors. They responded
to oil spills, collected household chemicals in
devastated villages, pulled 55-gallon drums
off beaches and sidewalks, and rounded up
many other containers of toxics. They took
everything to a staging area for identification
and storage.
In three weeks, the hazmat team collected
50 drums of hazardous chemicals (about 35
of which were waste oil); 165 car and boat
batteries; 20 gallons of acids; 300 gallons of
paint-related wastes; 50 compressed gas
tanks and cylinders; and hundreds of smaller
containers of hazardous wastes.
Reiner and A.S. EPA met with local village
chiefs and advised them on separating haz-
ardous materials from other debris. They
Left and above: U.S. Coast Guard helps remove
drums of oil and chemicals scattered by tsunami
in American Samoa.
visited each village affected by the tsunami,
and set up household hazardous waste col-
lection sites.
There were many challenges. A week after
the first earthquake, a severe aftershock oc-
curred, triggering a tsunami watch. All EPA
operations ceased while crews moved to
high ground for safety. The American Samoa
Power Authority was concerned about the
structural integrity of a dam, and wanted to
lower the reservoir level by releasing water
into a stream. But the stream was full of trash
and debris from the tsunami. Reiner and his
team assessed the stream to see what this
new flow might wash into Pago Pago Har-
bor. They located an oil leak coming from
a damaged shipping container that had
been thrown about 1/4 mile inland, ending
up wedged against a tree and bridging the
stream. A.S. EPA built a series of small rock
dams and placed absorbent pads, which
stopped the oil spill until the USCG Pacific
Strike Team could remove its source.
EPA returned to American Samoa in January
2010 to complete the sorting, packing and
shipment of the collected hazardous materi-
als for recycling and disposal off-island.
Watch the video of EPA's cleanup effort:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaOPWBbMNho V
-------
Clean Land 25
Michelle Rogow:
Managing Urgent Toxic Cleanups
For the past 11 years, Michelle Rogow has
been an On-Scene Coordinator for EPA's
Superfund Program. She oversees clean-
ups at sites where toxics pose an imminent
threat to human health and the environ-
ment—like the abandoned Altoona Mercury
Mine in Northern California's Trinity Alps,
near Mount Shasta. During 2008 and 2009,
Michelle directed a crew of up to 50 people
who removed 143,000 cubic yards of mer-
cury-laden waste from a creekbed and the
surrounding area.
From July through November 2008, Michelle
lived at the isolated site in the Shasta-Trinity
National Forest along with the crew, in mod-
ular housing units that were trucked to the
site. In addition to overseeing the cleanup,
she oversaw the construction and mainte-
nance of the camp, including cooking and
cleaning staff, water supply and waste dis-
posal. The nearest neighbor was eight miles
away.
The crew worked six days a week, giving
them only one day to go into town, or to
stay in the national forest and hike around
Mt. Shasta to a nearby lake, as Michelle of-
ten did. "It was a good balance to my city
life the rest of the year," she says. "I enjoyed
that area, every day experiencing the reason
why we work at EPA—a natural and beautiful
ecosystem."
Mercury cleanup
sites can range from
abandoned mines to
busy high schools.
Michelle started her EPA career in the Mid-
Atlantic Regional Office in Philadelphia, while
she was a civil engineering student at Drexel
University. Drexel is a co-op university, where
students work at full-time jobs in their field
for half of each year. After graduation in
1994, she traveled across America and de-
cided to stay in San Francisco, where she
began working as a Superfund enforcement
investigator in EPA's Pacific Southwest Re-
gional Office.
Michelle became an On-Scene Coordinator
in 1999, and since then she has led numer-
ous emergency responses and cleanups.
At these sites she has directed a wide va-
riety of activities, from oil spill response and
cleanup to landfill firefighting to creek resto-
ration. In 2009 she responded to Avondale,
near Phoenix, Ariz., to oversee a cleanup
of mercury that high school students had
spread around their school and community.
As in many of the mercury spill cleanups Mi-
chelle has led, students had contaminated
their clothing, personal items, and, in some
cases, their homes. In addition to decontam-
inating the school, Michelle's team tested the
clothing of approximately 500 students and
faculty, and also tested 62 homes. Three of
them had to be evacuated due to high levels
of mercury contamination.
When she's not on-site on the U.S. mainland,
Michelle coordinates emergency cleanups in
the Pacific Islands, including American Sa-
moa, Guam and Saipan. As a result of her
experience on Saipan cleaning up 25 sites
contaminated with toxic polychlorinated bi-
phenyls (PCBs) using a thermal desorption
unit, she travelled to China last year to ad-
vise the Ministry of Environmental Protection
on their plans to clean up PCS waste. With
Michelle's help, the Chinese agency bought
their own desorption unit and will begin op-
erations this year.
Left: Heavy equipment prepares disposal site for mercury-
contaminated mining waste removed from creekbed.
Above: Michelle Rogow, On-Scene Coordinator, at a cleanup
site on Saipan.
1994
President Clinton signs
Environmental Justice
Executive Order, requiring
agencies to prevent
disproportionate impacts
in communities. EPA
launches Brownfields
Program.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems
I
1995
EPA launches market-
based program to reduce
sulfur dioxide pollution
that causes acid rain. EPA
requires municipal waste
incinerators to reduce
toxic emissions 90% from
1990 levels.
40 things.
AT WORK
Start a composting
program and set a goal
of zero waste
The Pacific Southwest Region is extraor-
dinarily diverse, both in ecosystems and
human communities. Landscapes range
from the arid Navajo Nation to the rain
forests of Kauai and coral reefs of Saipan.
Cultures include 147 Native American
tribes and communities, Hawaiians, Sa-
moans, Guamanians, and ethnic groups
from around the world who have migrat-
ed to Hawaii and North America over the
last three centuries.
Indian Country and Pacific island ter-
ritories have received federal funding
through EPA to help build, improve and
maintain safe drinking water and waste-
water facilities. In 2009, EPA celebrated
25 years of partnership with tribes on en-
vironmental issues. In addition, the pace
of improvements accelerated with the
American Reinvestment and Recovery
Act, and a more generous funding formu-
la for Pacific islands and tribes.
EPA also works with disadvantaged
communities where residents experi-
ence disproportionate impacts of pollu-
tion and waste disposal, and often lack
the resources and tools to address these
impacts. EPA has partnered with these
communities to provide technical sup-
port and grants to build local capacity to
pursue long-term solutions.
> See the complete list of "40 things you can do to save the planet" in the centerfold
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 27
Recovery Act Brings Water Infrastructure
to Tribes, Islands, Border Communities
Many Native American tribes,
Pacific island territories and
U.S.-Mexico border commu-
nities still lack access to basic
water and wastewater ser-
vice. While some improvements have been
made in recent years, the pace greatly ac-
celerated in 2009 thanks to funding from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
and a separate, major increase in annual
EPA funding for water facilities on tribal lands
and Pacific islands.
The projects chosen for Recovery Act grants
were "shovel ready"—already planned but
just awaiting funding. EPA worked coopera-
tively with tribal, island, and federal and state
governments to award the grants. By Oc-
tober, EPA staff shifted their focus to over-
sight—monitoring expenditures and tracking
progress of Recovery Act-funded projects.
About 13% of homes in Indian Country lack
access to safe water, compared with 0.6%
of homes in the U.S. as a whole. More than
30% of Navajo Nation residents lack ac-
cess to safe running water in their homes.
In 2009 and 2010, work funded by the Re-
covery Act is underway to bring safe, piped
drinking water to a total of more than 10,000
tribal homes for the first time. Another 8,000
homes will get wastewater services—flush
toilets, sewers and sewage treatment. EPA
is overseeing this work in partnership with
the Indian Health Service.
The Recovery Act is
funding safe, piped
drinking water for
10,000 tribal homes.
In the Pacific island territories of Guam,
American Samoa and the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands (which in-
cludes Saipan), 27% of people lack access
to safe drinking water. The island of Saipan,
with a population of 70,000, is the only U.S.
municipality of its size without 24-hour water
service. Guam is preparing for a U.S. military
base expansion which will increase the terri-
tory's population 25% by 2014.
In 2009 EPA issued 11 Recovery Act grants
for these territories, totaling $12 million for
improvements to drinking water and waste-
water infrastructure. This year (2010), $50
million has been allocated.
Along the U.S.-Mexico Border, one of the
biggest challenges is upgrading wastewater
Left: New storage tanks make it possible to pipe
safe drinking water to homes on tribal lands. Photo
courtesy of Big Pine Paiute Tribe.
facilities to handle the vastly-increased pop-
ulation that has settled on the Mexican side
in recent years, drawn by jobs at factories
known as "maquiladoras." More than 14.6
million people live in the border area, mostly
in 15 pairs of sister cities that straddle the
border. In one of these cities last year, No-
gales, EPA funding helped complete a $65
million upgrade of the Nogales International
Wastewater Treatment Plant, benefiting
more than 200,000 residents and improving
water quality in the Santa Cruz River, which
flows from Mexico into Arizona.
In another border city, Mexicali, EPA funding
through the Border Environment Coopera-
tion Commission is being used to construct
124 acres of wetlands to further clean efflu-
ent from the Las Arenitas wastewater treat-
ment plant.
Watch a Video on Border Environmental Issues:
www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder/features/border-video
Safe Drinking Water Act
Amendments require
water suppliers to
inform customers about
contaminants; Food
Quality Protection Act
tightens standards for
agricultural pesticides.
Above: The Nogales Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion,
completed in 2009, has cleaned up the Santa Cruz River.
Facing page: Photo courtesy of the Quechan Indian Tribe.
-------
28 Communities and Ecosystems
Getting Results Through Tribal/EPA
Partnerships: 25 Years of Progress
The year 2009 marked the 25th anniversary
of EPA's Indian Policy, which set forth the
Agency's trust responsibility to federally-rec-
ognized tribes and directed EPA staff to work
with tribes on a government-to-government
basis to protect the environment and human
health. Since then, the policy has been re-
affirmed by every new administrator. With
funding by EPA grants growing steadily over
the years, more than 80% of the 147 federal-
ly-recognized tribes in the Pacific Southwest
Region now have their own environmental
protection programs.
The combined area of these tribes' lands
is more than 27 million acres, with a total
population of 315,000 tribal members. This
timeline shows some of the major milestones
of the past three decades in the Pacific
Southwest's Indian Country.
1981: EPA's first grant to a tribe in the Pa-
cific Southwest funds a FIFRA (Federal In-
secticide, Fungicide, and Rotenticide Act)
program at the Gila River Indian Community.
1982: EPA issues first grant to the Intertribal
Council of Arizona.
1984: EPA Administrator John Ruckelshaus
adopts EPA Indian Policy (still in effect); EPA
issues grant to fund environmental programs
at Navajo Nation.
1985: First EPA grant for a tribal air program
goes to Navajo Nation.
1991: EPA Region 9 receives $205,000 for
grants to all qualifying tribes in the Pacific
Southwest.
1992: Congress approves Indian Environ-
mental General Assistance Program (GAP),
providing ongoing grants to tribes.
1995: EPA forms the Regional Tribal Opera-
tions Committee (RTOC) to provide guid-
ance from tribes for EPA's budget, programs,
regulations and priorities affecting tribes.
1996: Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments
authorizes Drinking Water Tribal Setaside
Program.
1998: Washoe Tribe of Nevada and Califor-
nia establishes Washoe Environmental Pro-
tection Department. Since then, the tribe
has recycled more than 600 abandoned ve-
hicles and thousands of white goods (such
as washers and dryers) and tires.
Left: Jean Gamache, manager of EPA's
Tribal Program Office, addresses tribe
members at the dedication of a new
drinking water storage tank at the
Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians in
Southern California.
SHARED SUCCESS
The Pacific Southwest is
home to about 315,000
tribal members.
1999: Gila River Indian Community starts
curbside trash collection to end backyard
waste burning; Kaibab Tribe starts Environ-
mental Youth Outreach Program.
2000: First Tribal Border Infrastructure proj-
ect completed: Cocopah Tribe's sewer
construction.
Above: Members of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
start with a ritual blessing at an event with EPA and the
Nevada Department of Environmental Protection. Photo
courtesy of the Reno Sparks Indian Colony.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 29
2001: Throughout the Pacific Southwest,
33 tribes implement hazardous waste
programs.
2004: Navajo Nation gains authority to run
air permit programs.
2007: The Gila River Indian Community sub-
mits a Tribal Implementation Plan (similar to
a state's Clean Air Act regulatory plan), later
approved by EPA.
2009: The Ramona Band of Cahuilla Indians
of Southern California became the first fully
"off-grid" reservation, with 100% renewable
electric power generated by sun and wind.
Cumulative and 2009 Results
The pace of environmental progress in In-
dian Country has been accelerating in recent
years. The following are among the many
goals achieved last year.
• In 2009, 130 tribes and tribal consortia
in the Pacific Southwest received a total
of $15.6 million in GAP grants.
• As of 2009, 93 tribes in the region had
implemented their own solid and hazard-
ous waste programs.
• Since 1987, in partnership with tribes
and the Indian Health Service, EPA's
Clean Water and Drinking Water Tribal
Set-Aside programs in the region have
provided $112 million for 450 projects to
improve infrastructure for 65,000 tribal
homes.
• The Water Pollution Control Program
has grown from five tribes eligible to
receive funding in 1989 to 98 tribes in
2009, of which 93 received funding. The
Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Pro-
gram has grown from 11 tribes eligible in
1997 to more than 77 tribes in 2009, of
which 67 received funding.
• EPA's Tribal Border Infrastructure Pro-
gram has provided $34 million to tribes
for 47 water infrastructure projects serv-
ing nearly 10,000 tribal homes near the
U.S.-Mexico Border.
• EPA has awarded more than $4 million
to tribes for source water assessment
and protection for more than 60% of
tribal drinking water systems in the Pa-
cific Southwest. The Navajo Nation has
its own program to ensure that 161 tribal
water systems meet federal drinking
water standards.
• Between 2004 and 2007, the Tohono
O'odham Nation cleaned up illegal
migrant camps along the U.S.-Mexico
Border, removing 13 tons of garbage
filling 1,231 large trash bags, plus 109
abandoned vehicles and 235 bicycles.
• Since 1997, EPA has worked with 12
tribes and spent more than $7 million
to investigate more than 120 Leaking
Underground Storage Tank sites, and
clean up and close 21 of them. In 2009,
EPA credentialed two Navajo Nation
inspectors, the first tribal tank inspectors
in the U.S., enabling the tribe to enforce
underground tank regulations.
• By 2009, EPA's regional Pesticides Office
funds 10 tribal pesticide programs and
one tribal consortium. The Pala Band
of Mission Indians and the Blue Lake
Rancheria fund their own pesticide regu-
latory programs. The Tohono O'odham
Nation uses GAP funds to monitor pes-
ticide use. Tribes were responsible for
57% of pesticide enforcement actions in
Indian Country nationwide.
• The Colorado River Indian Tribes have
collected, cleaned and recycled 24 tons
of plastic pesticide containers used by
farmers on 85,000 acres of agricultural
land.
• Between 2000 and 2008, 15 tribes
received grants to abate lead (Pb) haz-
ards. Projects funded included aware-
ness programs, soil testing and blood
lead screening for children and pregnant
women.
• In 2009, EPA awarded 30 tribal air
grants totaling more than $3 million, plus
a radon grant to the Navajo Nation. With
this funding, 26 tribes are monitoring air
for particulate matter, ozone (smog), or
air toxics.
• Since 1982, EPA has conducted 61
Emergency Response actions on tribal
lands in the region. Most were cleanups
of abandoned hazardous waste and
contaminated soil. EPA has worked with
20 tribes to support tribal Emergency
Response programs.
More on preventing lead
poisoning in Indian Country:
www.epa.gov/region9/toxic/lead/
lead-child-indiancountry
1998
New national leak
detection and prevention
standards for underground
fuel storage tanks take
effect December 22,
spurring replacement of
leaky tanks.
Above: Tribe members planting trees as part of a
wetlands restoration project funded by EPA. Photo
courtesy of the Gila River Indian Community.
-------
30 Communities and Ecosystems
1999
Visibility improved at
Grand Canyon, thanks to
EPA/federal plan requiring
scrubbers to reduce sulfur
dioxide emissions at coal-
fired Navajo Generating
Station.
Environmental Justice
in the Pacific Southwest
"The color of your skin or size of your wal-
let should not determine the quality of your
environment," says EPA Regional Adminis-
trator Jared Blumenfeld, who is making en-
vironmental justice one of his top priorities.
Environmental justice (EJ) is part of EPA's
routine work at the Pacific Southwest Of-
fice. In addition, EPA's EJ Program supports
the regional office in integrating environmen-
tal justice considerations into its programs
and decision-making. "Environmental justice
isn't an afterthought in EPA's Pacific South-
west Region," Blumenfeld says. "It's the first
thought."
In Southern California, EPA is collaborating
with community groups and government
agencies to address the health concerns of
people living near the 1-710 freeway, where
cargo from the Ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach moves inland by diesel truck.
Due to constant truck and rail traffic, resi-
dents of the densely-populated area are
exposed to more air pollution than other
Southland residents. EPA designated the
area one of the nation's 10 "EJ Showcase
Communities" —places where EPA enhanc-
es the agency's technical support of com-
munity efforts.
A three-year, $160,000 EPA grant to the
state Department of Toxic Substances Con-
trol is helping that agency partner with com-
munities to "ground truth" environmental
issues and target enforcement and compli-
ance efforts. Just north of the 1-710 corridor,
the Center for Community Action and Envi-
ronmental Justice is using an EPA EJ grant
to educate residents about air pollution risks
from heavy truck and locomotive traffic. The
group hopes to ensure that future policy
decisions protect the communities from in-
creased pollution.
In 2009, collaboratives in the Pacific South-
west received two of five nationwide En-
vironmental Justice Achievement Awards,
recognizing the successes of multi-stake-
holder partnerships. The Fish Contami-
nation Education Collaborative was
recognized for raising awareness about the
dangers of eating fish caught near the Palos
Verdes Shelf Superfund site off the coast of
Los Angeles. The Clean Trucks Program
was recognized for its effort to reduce big-rig
pollution from the Ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach by 80 percent by 2012.
Other successful projects are underway:
• In Richmond, Calif., the Asian Pacific
Environmental Network received an
EPA EJ grant to build the Laotian refu-
gee community's capacity to address
environmental justice and public health
issues associated with local planning,
development and land use.
• In East Oakland, Calif., Communities
for a Better Environment received an
EPA EJ grant to work with youth and
volunteers to conduct a diesel truck
counting study in the heavily trafficked
Hegenberger Corridor, with the goal of
changing truck routes to reduce impacts
on residents.
• In San Diego, the Environmental Health
Coalition helped low-income residents in
Barrio Logan work with the Port of San
Diego to introduce clean plug-in electric
power for docked ships, to replace the
ships' engines as generators. The group
received a $300,000 Community Action
for a Renewed Environment (CARE)
grant to continue its work.
• The small San Joaquin Valley city of
Arvin, which has 25% unemployment
and an 88% Hispanic population, has
the nation's highest number of days with
unhealthy smog levels. A $20,000 EPA
grant is helping the Committee for a
Better Arvin bring stakeholders together
to understand and address a variety of
environmental hazards.
• On the Wai'anaee Coast of Oahu,
Hawaii, the Pacific American Founda-
tion is using a CARE (Communities for
a Renewed Environment) grant to work
with low-income, mostly native residents
to address polluted runoff, mercury-
contaminated fish, illegal dumping in
streams, proximity to polluting facilities
and other concerns.
• In Black Falls, on the Navajo Nation,
the nonprofit Forgotten People used a
$20,000 EPA grant to help families af-
fected by uranium contamination of well
water by providing clean, safe drinking
water systems for 10 families while also
building community capacity to address
environmental problems.
Above: EPA's Pacific Southwest Environmental
Justice Team: (Standing) Karen Henry, Deldi Reyes,
Sharon Bowen; (below) Debbie Lowe, Zoe Heller.
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 31
Reducing Impacts
Through Environmental Review
From dams to highways to permits for gi-
gantic open-pit mines, federal agency ac-
tions and federal funding often have huge
environmental impacts. Under the 1969 Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), fed-
eral agencies must prepare a detailed Envi-
ronmental Impact Statement (EIS) before
making any decision that has a significant
impact on the environment. EPA's role is to
review the draft EISs, comment on them and
make sure they identify all reasonable mitiga-
tion measures that could alleviate the envi-
ronmental impacts.
Last year, EPA's Pacific Southwest Region
received 130 EISs for review—27% of the
national total. The formidable task of review-
ing them falls to the Environmental Review
Office, a group of 17 EPA staff and one man-
ager, Kathy Goforth. This behind-the-scenes
work resulted in significant environmental
improvements in many of the proposed proj-
ects and permits.
For example, the U.S. Forest Service planned
a logging operation in California's Shasta-
Trinity National Forest to thin dense forest
stands to reduce fire danger and improve
forest health. As a result of EIS comments
by EPA and the public, the Forest Service
chose an alternative plan that avoids con-
struction of new roads, removes fire-prone
piles of slash (dead branches usually left on
the ground after logging), and retains exist-
ing forest canopy in riparian areas.
Protecting Vernal Pool Wetlands
At the newest University of California cam-
pus in Merced, in the San Joaquin Valley,
EPA has been involved for several years, as
the campus was developed on rolling grass-
lands that included numerous vernal pool
wetlands. These wetlands provide habitat
for waterfowl, wildflowers and endangered
fairy shrimp. EPA's comments on the draft
EIS and throughout the planning process led
to preservation of 95% of the wetlands origi-
nally proposed to be filled, and mitigation
for the rest through preservation, restoration
and creation of similar wetlands.
In another case in the Southern California city
of Hemet, the Federal Highway Administra-
tion, Caltrans, and Riverside County Trans-
portation Commission (RCTC) proposed a
new alignment for State Route 79 that would
have impacted a 1,000-acre alkali vernal
pool complex. EPA's extensive early inter-
agency coordination on this project focused
on the need to avoid impacts to vernal
pools. In response, Hemet's city government
updated their general plan to remove this
alignment as the locally preferred alternative,
and the draft EIS will no longer include this
alignment. EPA's coordination on this proj-
ect prior to the release of the draft EIS led to
avoidance of the vernal pool complex.
In response to community concerns as well
as EPA's comments on the Port of Long
Beach's proposed Middle Harbor expan-
sion, the port committed $15 million to miti-
gate the impacts of increased air pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions on schools
and day care centers, and medical and se-
nior centers. The funding will be available for
projects like installing air filtration systems in
schools, replacing or retrofitting school bus-
es to reduce diesel emissions, and mobile
asthma testing and treatment stations for
children.
Left: EPA's review of the draft EIS for State Route
79 near Hemet, Calif., caused highway planners
to avoid paving this 1,000-acre vernal pool/
grassland complex.
2000
U.S. Army incinerates the
last of 400,000 obsolete
chemical weapons,
destroying their extremely
toxic nerve agent, under
EPA oversight at Johnston
Island in Central Pacific.
-------
2001
Under agreement between
EPA, Los Angeles, Indian
tribes, and air district, Los
Angeles begins irrigating
dry Owens Valley lakebed
to end nation's worst
participate air pollution.
32 Communities and..
Looking Back:
The Six Originals
Their ranks have thinned in recent years as
colleagues retired. Yet six "originals" remain,
employees who are still working after 39, 40,
even 43 years with EPA and its predecessor,
the Federal Water Pollution Control Admin-
istration (FWPCA). They could have retired
years ago, but they say they still enjoy the
work.
PHIL WOODS, civil engineer and now Water
Quality Standards Coordinator Emeritus,
started in 1967, when the FWPCA regional
office had only 40 employees and was lo-
cated in a small building near Crown Beach
in Alameda.
Phil retired in 2000, but took only six weeks
off before returning on a part-time basis.
Water Quality Standards are limits on each
of more than a hundred chemicals and con-
taminants where EPA draws the lines be-
tween drinkable, swimmable, clean enough
for fish and wildlife, or too polluted for these
uses, for all surface waters in the region. Phil
knows how, when and why each standard
was set.
MELANIE BLAHA was hired as a writer and
editor in January 1970 by FWPCA Regional
Administrator Paul DeFalco. Her first job was
translating dense technical reports written
by agency engineers into plain English, so
they could be released to the public.
Melanie wrote the Agency's first brochure.
"Our roles as employees were not yet clear,
so we had the freedom to identify a need, fill
it creatively, and make a lasting difference—
unlike other federal agencies, where every-
thing went by long-standing procedures."
Today Melanie coordinates international ac-
tivities, like planning and directing visits by
delegations of foreign visitors who come to
learn how EPA works.
ARNOLD DEN came to EPA on June 21,
1971, "right out of grad school." Arnold had
Bachelor's and Master's degrees in envi-
ronmental health, physiology, and industrial
hygiene from the UCLA School of Public
Health.
Arnold recalls two jobs as high points in his
career. In 1985, helping conduct EPA's na-
tional lake survey for acid rain, he flew by
helicopter to 100 lakes in the Sierra Nevada
to take water samples. More recently, he
has taught risk assessment and risk com-
munication workshops to federal and state
employees. He's taken the workshop on
the road to Australia, Hong Kong, Saipan,
American Samoa, and even Switzerland, by
request of their governments.
RICH HENNECKE had just graduated from
Sacramento State University with a degree
in Mechanical Engineering when he started
in the Enforcement Division in July 1971,
reviewing construction projects planned for
wetlands and waters.
Rich now multi-tasks in the Accounting Of-
fice. One of his tasks is overseeing the Se-
nior Environmental Employment Program,
which hires people over 55 years of age to
work at EPA.
WENDELL SMITH came to EPA in November
1971. After the Clean Water Act passed in
1972, he helped set up procedures to carry
it out. "It was like being an immigrant at El-
lis Island—everybody was trying to figure
out what to do next," he remembers. "It was
stressful but exciting."
When EPA began making grants directly to
Native American Tribes in the late 1980s, he
established the region's Tribal Water Quality
Program. Many tribal communities lacked
safe drinking water and sewage facilities.
"What an opportunity to help!" he says. He
began an intensive effort to inform tribes
about EPA grants, and soon his desk over-
flowed with grant applications from tribes
who began working with EPA.
WALLYWOO got his graduate degree in Envi-
ronmental Engineering from the University of
Massachusetts in December 1971, and was
hired by EPA's Boston regional office to re-
view environmental impact statements. For
25 years, he was a manager, first in Boston,
later in San Francisco.
In 1996 Wally became a coordinator of the
then-new Brownfields Program, oversee-
ing grants in California, Arizona and Hawaii.
"Being a Brownfields Coordinator is fun," he
says. "It's like playing Santa—selecting and
overseeing grants to cities, to recycle indus-
trial lands and reduce urban sprawl."
Above: The "Six Originals": Phil Woods,
Arnold Den, Wendell Smith, Rich Hennecke,
Melanie Blaha, Wally Woo
-------
Communities and Ecosystems 33
Russ Frazer:
Enforcement Officer, Toxics Release Inventory Team
A native of Bishop, in California's Owens Val-
ley, Russ Frazer grew up in the shadow of
the Union Carbide Tungsten mine.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that Russ
feels right at home when inspecting mines as
the enforcement lead for Region 9's Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI) Program. He also in-
spects a wide range of other facilities—from
metal platers and chemical manufacturers,
to bullet making factories and rendering
plants.
Under TRI, certain facilities that use toxic
chemicals must report to EPA how much
they release into the environment. EPA com-
piles that information into a database that
anyone with a computer can access, mak-
ing TRI a powerful tool for communities.
"The great thing about TRI is that it makes
the toxic chemical release information eas-
ily available to the public—with no logins or
password required," says Frazer.
In fact, TRI is EPA's largest public database,
with data on 23,000 facilities nationwide and
1,600 in Region 9. Anyone can punch in
their zip code to find and map TRI facilities
in their area, or search for air, water, land,
and underground releases by industry, city,
state and county, and by chemical. TRI even
includes the amounts of chemicals that were
recycled, treated, used for energy recovery,
and transported off-site for disposal.
"I've seen TRI work," he says. "We've seen
some facilities, whose TRI data is available
for public scrutiny, voluntarily change their
practices to reduce pollution, for example
from trying out lead-free solder, instead of
using lead-based solder. When they find it
works, they are willing to switch."
However, there are facilities subject to TRI
that have never reported or have under-re-
ported their chemical releases. On any given
day Russ may be researching targets, talk-
ing with facilities, analyzing reams of data,
writing reports, and working with Region 9
attorneys to resolve complicated case is-
sues. He currently heads up TRI inspections
at gold mining facilities, which release more
mercury into the environment than any other
industry in the U.S. The releases occur pri-
marily from land disturbance of millions of
pounds of waste rock and ore (both con-
taining naturally-occurring mercury), fugitive
emissions from heap-leach piles, and stack
emissions from roasters.
Prior to his environmental career, Russ spent
three years on a river patrol boat at the height
of the Viet Nam war. These boats (depicted
in the film "Apocalypse Now") were easy tar-
gets for shooters hiding in the jungle. Russ
was hit with shrapnel from a rocket-pro-
pelled grenade, earning him a Purple Heart.
After the war and engineering studies, he
worked as industrial waste inspector with
the Mountain View fire department. In 1976,
Mountain View started its Industrial Waste
Monitoring Program at a new secondary
sewage treatment plant, which used bacte-
ria to break down pollutants. To keep these
facilities operating effectively and prevent
toxics from reaching the Bay, cities had to
prevent Silicon Valley industries from dump-
ing toxics down the drain.
While there he became impressed with the
potential power of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right to Know Act that cre-
ated TRI. Little did he know that, some two
decades later, he would be a key player in its
enforcement.
More on the Toxics Release
Inventory:
www.epa.gov/region9/toxic/tri
Russ Frazer
2002
EPA and its Mexican
counterpart SEMARNAT
launch Border 2012
Program to cooperate
on clean air, water,
wastewater, hazardous
waste and emergency
response in border area.
-------
and Stewardshi
2003
EPA, Los Angeles water
board enforcement
action requires three
major oil companies to
clean up Santa Monica's
groundwater, which had
been polluted with gas
additive MTBE.
40 things...
EVERYWHERE!
Bring your own
reusable mug when you
go out for coffee or tea
andate of protecting public health
and the environment includes not just en-
forcing federal laws on waste manage-
ment and overseeing cleanups, but also
preventing waste from being generated
in the first place. EPA staff have part-
nered with other government agencies,
communities, nonprofits, tribes and in-
dustry to come up with creative solutions
to push further down the road to "zero
waste."
Two innovative hazardous waste preven-
tion partnerships that EPA initiated in the
Pacific Southwest showed remarkable
results across the U.S. and worldwide
in 2009. The U.S. Postal Service has be-
gun removing toxic lead weights from its
215,000 delivery vehicles (facing page).
And EPA's partnership with the computer
industry and a nonprofit is driving de-
mand for "green" information technology
in the U.S. and 40 countries around the
world (see p. 36).
EPA has piloted a novel method of reduc-
ing the environmental footprint of hazard-
ous waste cleanups at a Silicon Valley
site (see p. 39). And in California's Klam-
ath River Watershed, three tribes teamed
up to remove and recycle 400 abandoned
vehicles, along with the fuel and toxic
fluids that eventually would have leaked
and contaminated the soil (see p. 38).
> See the complete list of "40 things you can do to save the planet" in the centerfold
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 35
U.S. Postal Service "Gets The Lead Out"
with Help from EPA Program
The complete fleet of U.S. Postal Service
delivery vehicles will replace all their lead
wheel weights with lead-free ones because
of a voluntary partnership that started in the
Pacific Southwest with EPA's regional Waste
Management Division.
In February 2008, EPA recruited the Pacific
Area of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for
a partnership in the National Partnership for
Environmental Priorities (NPEP) to "get the
lead out." The USPS Pacific Area has a fleet
of over 30,000 vehicles in 34 maintenance
facilities in California and Hawaii. The part-
nership has eliminated a total of 5.5 tons of
lead from USPS vehicles.
The successful West Coast effort served
as the catalyst to switch the entire USPS
delivery fleet of 215,000 vehicles nation-
wide to lead-free wheel weights. When the
national partnership is completed, USPS
will have eliminated as much as 30 tons of
lead from entering the environment and the
workplace.
Lead is a toxic chemical of concern for EPA
because it bio-accumulates in the food chain,
damages ecosystems, and can cause brain
damage in humans, especially children. Na-
tionally, an estimated 1.6 million pounds of
lead fall off vehicle wheels every year. These
lead weights are ground into dust on high-
ways, which can be breathed, or ultimately
enter waterways as polluted runoff.
The EPA-Postal Service
Partnership will prevent
30 tons of lead from
entering the environment.
An average of 4.5 ounces of lead is clipped
to the wheel rims of every automobile in
the United States. Every car owner can do
something to get the lead out. When tires are
rotated or balanced, consumers should ask
their mechanics to replace the old lead ones
with new steel ones.
Part of EPA's partnership with the USPS in-
cluded raising public awareness by creating
a video to promote this partnership and also
encourage consumers to ask for lead-free
wheel weights at their car shops. The "Get
the Lead Out" video was featured on EPA's
YouTube channel and was so successful
that more than 10 public and private fleet
managers in the Pacific Southwest Region
also signed up as NPEP partners.
All of these voluntary toxic reduction partner-
ships are part of NPEP, which has a national
goal to partner with industries, municipalities
and federal facilities to reduce the use or
release of highly toxic chemicals, including
lead.
2004
EPA launches West Coast
Diesel Collaborative with
300 agencies, groups to
reduce air pollution from
diesel engines in Pacific
Coast states, northern
Mexico. British Columbia.
Above: Old lead wheel weights (top) are replaced
with new steel weights (bottom).
Left: EPA representatives recognized the
U.S. Postal Service team's effort in "getting the lead out."
-------
36 Compliance and Stewardship
It Bears rEPEATing: The Electronic
Product Environmental Assessment Tool
New national health
standard for fine
participate pollution—
PM26-takes effect. EPA
Pacific Southwest Office
begins helping China
set up hazardous waste
cleanup programs.
In 2003, EPA's Northwest and Pacific South-
west Offices initiated a dialogue with the
electronics industry and state and local gov-
ernments on e-waste: how to reduce the
impact of the millions of computers that are
sold, used and disposed of every year. The
result of that collaboration is the Electronic
Product Environmental Assessment Tool
(EPEAT).
Today, hundreds of large purchasers, from
local governments to corporations, use
EPEAT for all their computer purchases.
EPEAT has become one of the world's most
extensive and influential green IT product
rating systems, used in 40 countries. Its
registry has more than 1,000 products and
more than 30 participating manufacturers.
Minimizing Environmental Impacts
Participants wrestled with a fundamental
topic—how to encourage the design, manu-
facture and purchase of new computers with
the least environmental impact. The solution,
rolled out by EPA and the nonprofit Green
Electronics Council nationally in 2006, is
EPEAT (www.epeat.net). It has proven so
successful that EPEAT has driven green
innovation by electronics manufacturers
worldwide.
A personal computer, like a light bulb,
doesn't use much electric power—but mil-
lions of them add up to a significant share of
electrical energy use, with its environmental
impacts: Greenhouse gas emissions from
fossil fuel-burning power plants; coal, ura-
nium and copper mines (for copper power
lines); and dams. Computers have additional
environmental impacts through the metals
and other materials they're made of (includ-
ing toxics like cadmium, lead and mercury),
and their packaging and end-of-life manage-
ment. As recently as 2005, however, buyers
had little ability to buy—and manufacturers
little incentive to make—more environmen-
tally-friendly models, because there was no
common yardstick to demonstrate what was
"green."
In EPEAT's first year of
operation, registered
products helped save 42.2
billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity and prevented
124,000 metric tons of
hazardous waste.
From 2003 to 2005, EPA helped lead a group
of stakeholders to establish that yardstick.
Working together, they defined what makes
a computer greener and set up a system to
ensure products actually met those claims.
The EPA provided seed funding in 2006 to
the Green Electronics Council to launch the
EPEAT registry—a reliable way for buyers to
compare the environmental performance of
computers and monitors. The registry pub-
lished comparative ratings of 60 products
from three manufacturers, and it's been
growing ever since.
Naturally, EPA was one of the first electronics
buyers to use EPEAT in purchasing comput-
ers for EPA offices. But EPEAT harnessed
the purchasing power of the entire federal
government—probably the world's largest
buyer—with the President's January 2007
Executive Order, and later, Federal Acquisi-
tions Regulations, requiring federal agencies
to buy EPEAT-registered products for at least
95% of their electronics. By mid-2007, the
EPEAT registry included 500 products from
20 manufacturers, including industry giants
Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which registered
the first EPEAT Gold products—the top rat-
ing for environmental performance.
How Products Are Rated
Products that meet 23 required environmen-
tal performance criteria may be registered at
the EPEAT Bronze level. Depending on the
number of 28 additional optional criteria the
product meets, it can be rated EPEAT Silver
or EPEAT Gold, the highest level. Products
are rewarded with additional points as they
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 37
meet additional environmental performance
criteria related to every phase of the product
lifecycle, including recycling and disposal.
In 2007, EPEAT's first full year of operation,
EPEAT-registered products helped reduce
use of toxic materials, resulting in the elimi-
nation of 124,000 metric tons of hazardous
waste. EPEAT products also helped save
approximately 42.2 billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity—enough to power 3.7 million U.S.
homes for a year.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office
has played an ongoing role in the gover-
nance and management of EPEAT, includ-
ing cross-agency coordination, expansion
into the consumer market, and expansion
internationally.
In August 2009, prompted by the demand
from information technology purchasers
around the world, EPEAT launched its in-
ternational registry, enabling manufacturers
to list 'green' computers and monitors in
40 countries across the globe. Purchasers
in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China, Japan,
Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and
Mexico can now evaluate, compare and se-
lect electronics based on the products' envi-
ronmental performance in their country.
Expanding EPEAT's Scope
Today, EPA is funding the development of
standards for additional products to be in-
cluded in EPEAT, such as televisions, print-
ers, copiers, multifunction devices and serv-
ers. EPEAT also has partnered with major
tech-info platforms Channel Intelligence and
Lightly
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Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
CNET, putting the EPEAT marks and ratings
onto retail websites such as Ingram Micro,
Buy.com and others.
"HP offers EPEAT registered products in 36
of the 40 countries included in the global
expansion and supports EPEAT because
of its comprehensive, unbiased approach
to evaluating the environmental attributes of
products," says Steve Hoffman, Director of
Strategic Marketing and Sustainability Initia-
tives for Hewlett Packard's Personal Sys-
tems Group.
"We recognized early on that EPEAT pro-
vided an effective, credible tool to identify
computer hardware solutions for our clients
that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
eliminate toxic substances, increase recy-
cled content and reduce energy usage, at
no added cost and with no restrictions on
product or supplier choice," says Tashweka
Anderson, Sustainable IT Business Manager
at ComputaCenter in England.
More on EPEAT:
www.epeat.net
2006
Construction of cleanup
facilities is complete
at 1,000 Super-fund
hazardous waste sites
across the nation,
including half of the
125 sites in the Pacific
Southwest.
Above: How EPEAT rates a computer's
environmental performance.
-------
38 Compliance and Stewardship
North Coast Dump Cleanups:
Tribes Partner to Clean Klamath Watershed
One of the most difficult challenges on ru-
ral tribal lands is waste management. Na-
tionally, hundreds of open dumps on tribal
lands have been cleaned up and closed, but
thousands remain, along with thousands of
abandoned vehicles.
In 2008 and 2009, the neighboring Yurok,
Karukand Hoopa Tribes in California's Klam-
ath River Watershed joined forces with fed-
eral, state and local agencies to tackle waste
issues on their lands. Together they removed
and recycled more than 400 junk vehicles,
and removed 200 tons of trash from three
dump sites affecting two creeks and the
Klamath River.
The three tribes have worked for over a de-
cade on solid and hazardous waste issues,
with funding and other support from federal,
state, county and Native American organiza-
tions. Efforts to clean up major illegal dumps
in the region gained momentum in August
2008, when the California Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRe-
cycle) approved $800,000 to clean up three
large dump sites on the Yurok Reservation.
The dumps posed significant health threats
to residents as well as to fish and wildlife on
the Klamath River, a crucial habitat and mi-
gration route for salmon. The federal Indian
Health Service (IMS) contributed an addition-
al $30,000 to fund outreach efforts and train
a tribal workforce for the project. EPA, United
Indian Health Services, the California Rural
Indian Health Board, and Humboldt Waste
Management Authority also participated.
By September 2008, 18 Yurok tribal mem-
bers were HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste
Operations and Emergency Response)
certified to work on sites with hazardous
materials. Dump cleanups began in Octo-
ber. Steep terrain required the use of heavy
equipment, including a Sikorsky helicopter
to airlift dumpsters filled with waste from the
Klamath River Gorge. Over 200 tons of solid
and hazardous waste were collected and re-
moved, including tires, appliances, batteries,
flammable and toxic solids, and electronic
wastes—some of it from a steep slope that
spilled trash directly into the Klamath River.
While waiting to begin the second phase of
dump cleanups, the Yurok Tribe and Gal-
Recycle teamed with the Hoopa and Karuk
Tribes, EPA, and other partners to plan and
carry out other waste removal projects. In
June 2009, the three tribes removed 400
abandoned vehicles from their lands, elimi-
nating the potential for leaks of oil, antifreeze
and other toxic fluids. The tribes also co-
operated on holding household hazardous
waste collection events in October 2009.
In late 2009, EPA awarded $86,350 in grants
to the Yurok and Karuk Tribes to help them
reduce illegal dumping, increase reuse
and recycling, and move their communi-
ties toward sustainable waste management
practices.
The three tribes, working in cooperation with
EPA and the other agencies, have restored
the natural beauty of their lands while remov-
ing about 500 tons of junk vehicles and trash
that posed threats to public health and the
environment.
Learn More:
www.epa.gov/region9/waste/features/yurok-karuk
Left: Staging area for removal of abandoned vehicles
on the Yurok Reservation (photo courtesy of the
Yurok Tribe).
Above: Excavator moves down a steep slope to
remove trash from an illegal roadside dump (photo
courtesy of CalRecycle).
-------
Compliance and Stewardship 39
"Green Remediation" Makes
Hazardous Waste Cleanups Cleaner
Cleanups of hazardous waste sites can
cause pollution, in the form of air emissions
from fuel-burning bulldozers and trucks, as
well as from power plants or generators that
run electric pumps drawing contaminated
groundwater through treatment systems.
EPA's Pacific Southwest Regional Office
has developed an innovative Green Reme-
diation policy to measure and reduce the
environmental footprint of cleanups. The
policy requires analysis and efforts to reduce
air emissions, conserve water and energy,
and minimize the use of toxics in materials
and products. In a pilot study at the former
Romic East Palo Alto hazardous waste man-
agement facility in Silicon Valley, EPA used
some of the principles of a Life-Cycle As-
sessment approach to compare the environ-
mental footprints of three alternative cleanup
methods.
Romic East Palo Alto, which closed in 2007,
was a 13-acre site on the southern edge of
San Francisco Bay. Groundwater beneath
the site is contaminated with volatile organic
compounds (VOCs, which include paint thin-
ners, metal cleaners, and chemicals used
in dry cleaning and computer manufac-
ture). Here, EPA chose enhanced bioreme-
diation—in this case, injecting a mixture of
cheese whey and molasses into the ground-
water, to fortify the existing population of mi-
croorganisms that consume and biodegrade
VOCs.
The pilot study compared bioremediation
with two equally effective alternative cleanup
methods to determine which had the small-
est environmental footprint. One alternative
was a traditional "pump and treat" remedy:
pumping groundwater to the surface, treat-
ing it, and discharging the treated water to
the local wastewater treatment plant. The
other was a hybrid of bioremediation and
"pump and treat."
Bioremediation had the smallest environ-
mental footprint in terms of fresh water use,
air toxics emissions and CO2 emissions. Tra-
ditional pump and treat had the largest envi-
ronmental footprint.
Calculating the Footprint
The pilot study included off-site activities
such as manufacturing and transportation,
in addition to on-site cleanup activities. First,
the study estimated resources used, waste
generated, and air emissions from on-site
activities. These included construction ma-
terials, fuel, water, and electricity used, and
CO2 emitted. Also included were resources
used and air emissions from transportation
of people and materials to and from the site.
Plus, the study estimated the magnitudes of
15 environmental parameters, including the
water needed to manufacture materials used
on-site and in transportation, as well as re-
sulting air toxics and CO2 emissions—includ-
ing refinery emissions from fuel production.
EPA is now conducting similar pilot studies
at two more cleanup sites to further devel-
op a methodology for this type of analysis.
This methodology could ultimately be widely
used in EPA's decision-making process on
cleanup plans. For cleanups plans already
approved, it can help reduce environmen-
tal footprints. For example, at Romic about
80% of the diesel fuel used in bioremediation
will be used on-site. To help reduce the ef-
fects of diesel fuel used on-site, EPA staff are
working with Romic to select diesel equip-
ment with particulate filters, and to minimize
idling time.
More on EPA's Green Site Cleanups
in the Pacific Southwest:
www.epa.gov/region9/climatechange/green-sites.html
2008
EPA and Navajo Nation
launch five-year plan
to address uranium
contamination of land and
water from more than 500
abandoned uranium mines
on Navajo land.
Above: EPA contractor injecting
cheese whey and molasses into
contaminated groundwater to
enhance biodegradation of VOCs.
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40 Compliance and Stewardship
American Reinvestment
and Recovery Act
allocates $710 million
in Pacific Southwest for
clean air and clean water
projects, plus speeding
up hazardous waste
cleanups.
Carmen Santos:
Keeping Communities Safe from Hazardous Waste
water and leachate treatment systems, and
buffer property. Carmen chaired the BKK
Landfill multiagency Steering Committee for
about 13 years, working with other regula-
tory agencies plus the City of West Covina.
During her tenure, Carmen finalized the
ground water cleanup plan for the BKK site
in collaboration with others and required
BKK to conduct additional investigations to
reduce releases of landfill gas from the site
into outside air.
Redevelopment of
former BKK property in
West Covina, Calif.,
made possible the
award-winning Big League
Dreams sports complex.
In her role as the EPA project manager for
the BKK site, Carmen helped negotiate a
Prospective Purchaser Agreement to allow
a buyer, the City of West Covina, to rede-
velop certain portions of the site. The agree-
ment made possible the award-winning
Big League Dreams baseball sports com-
plex and a major retail center, West Covina
Heights, anchored by Target and Home
Depot.
With development underway, Carmen
worked in partnership with other parties to
require environmental monitoring and engi-
neering controls to limit the emission of va-
Carmen Santos has been with EPA since
1989. Carmen spent much of her career
managing the air, soil and groundwater sam-
pling and preliminary cleanup work at the
BKK Landfill site in West Covina, Calif. In the
last two years, however, she's been oversee-
ing cleanups of toxic polychlorinated biphe-
nyls (PCBs).
"I enjoy my job," she says. "I love my work
protecting the environment."
BKK is a 583-acre (nearly a square mile)
site with a closed hazardous waste landfill,
a closed municipal solid waste landfill, gas
collection and treatment systems, ground
pors from the BKK site. When methane gas
was found to be migrating from the Landfill
site, she required BKK to increase gas col-
lection so it won't affect anyone at the sports
complex. The California Department of Toxic
Substances Control (DTSC) now manages
the former hazardous waste landfill.
Two years ago, Carmen turned her atten-
tion to EPA's PCS cleanup program. PCBs
were used in electrical transformers, paint,
caulk, and many other applications before
manufacture in the United States of PCBs
was banned in 1979. Carmen oversees PCS
cleanups all over the Pacific Southwest—
about a dozen at any given time. If PCBs are
found in a property, the PCBs must be man-
aged following the regulatory requirements
promulgated under the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA).
Sometimes, PCB-contaminated materials
such as soils must be removed to an ap-
proved hazardous waste landfill. In other
cases, Carmen can work with the owners
to manage PCB-contaminated surfaces in
place where there's little chance for the pub-
lic or workers to be exposed to it, or find
other solutions acceptable and consistent
with the TSCA regulations.
"Each PCS site is different, and we have
some discretion about cleanup options, de-
pending on the size of the site and the risk
to human health and the environment," Car-
men says. "Once cleaned up, these sites
can be redeveloped."
-------
Contact Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Pacific Southwest/Region 9 Contacts
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
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
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:
2010-671-348
-------
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
Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator
Keith Takata, 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/Web Communications
Media Relations/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
Jane Diamond, 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 Program, Pacific Islands
U.S.-Mexico Border Program
Environmental Stewardship
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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