Capaccio – EH&S Regulatory and Industrial News

Though my plan is to use this blog to share my experiences related to my Toxics Use Reduction presentation for the Cancer Council of Australia …I thought I should get this out of the way at the onset of the trip. Many of you have asked me to verify whether the Bart Simpson episode about the Coriolis effect is true. Rumor has it that the Coriolis effect causes the vortex which causes a flushing toilet to spin in the opposite direction…counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere. After close scrutiny, I must report that the flushing action of the toilets down here don’t really lend themselves to proving this theory.  So we used a draining bathtub instead. Please click on the following button to see for yourself.

Coriolis Effect

I’ve also attached some shots of kangaroos, koalas and the awesome surf at Australia’s most popular surfing beaches…

Lucy, Nick ,and Frankie Servidio  – Great Ocean Road, Victoria AU

The letter was sent by Suzi Peck,  Director of the Toxics Use Reduction Program, Bureau of Waste Prevention, for the MassDEP

Facility Manager and/or Toxics Use Reduction Planners: 2012 is a planning year under the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) and facilities covered by TURA are required to complete their TURA planning for this planning cycle by July 1, 2012. Last December, MassDEP sent a postcard alerting that notice to employees regarding the planning process was to be completed by January 1, 2011. Facilities that are required to submit a Form S for at least one chemical by July 1, 2012, and who have submitted a Form S for that chemical on a prior year, are required to complete one of three types of planning for the 2012 planning year:

Toxics Use Reduction (TUR) Planning
Resource Conservation (RC) Planning
Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

Toxics Use Reduction (TUR) Planning
If a facility has completed only one TUR plan and one TUR plan update, then the facility is required to develop a toxics use reduction plan or plan update, and to submit a TUR Plan Summary to MassDEP by July 1, 2012. In addition, if a facility prepared a Resource Conservation Plan in 2010, it must return to TUR planning for the 2012 planning cycle or integrate TUR planning into an Environmental Management System. Facilities that completed aResource Conservation Plan in 2010 are also required to submit a Resource Conservation Progress Report to MassDEP by July 1, 2012.

Resource Conservation Planning
If a facility has completed a TUR plan and two plan updates (i.e., completed TUR plans for three planning cycles), it may elect to prepare a Resource Conservation Plan for the 2012 planning year. Resource conservation planning is aimed at reducing energy, water, materials, or non-reportable chemicals. This option may be attractive to facilities that have succeeded in reducing toxics use and are looking for other opportunities to further environmental improvement and facility efficiency. If you choose this option, submit a Resource Conservation Plan Summary (instead of a TUR Plan Summary) to MassDEP by July 1, 2012, documenting your planning effort. In addition,if your facility did a Resource Conservation plan in planning year 2008, and completed a TUR plan and a Resource Conservation Progress Report in 2010, then you may return to Resource Conservation planning in 2012.

Environmental Management Systems
If a facility has completed a TUR plan and two plan updates (i.e., completed six years of TUR planning), it may integrate TUR into its Environmental Management System (EMS). This option allows companies that already have an EMS to integrate TUR into this more comprehensive system, thereby reducing duplication of effort. If you choose this option, then submit an EMS Progress Report to MassDEP by July 1, 2012 documenting that your EMS addresses toxics use reduction.

Plan Submittals due by July 1, 2012
Depending on which option you choose, a TUR Plan Summary, RC Plan Summary, or EMS Progress Report must be submitted to MassDEP by July 1, 2012. This means that all required planning must be completed before this date. MassDEP encourages facilities to file Plan Summaries online through eDEP, available at: www.mass.gov/dep/service/compliance/edeponlf.htm

Plan Certifications
TUR Plans must be certified by a MassDEP approved Toxics Use Reduction Planner. RC Plans must be certified by a
TUR Planner that also has specific training in resource conservation (see 310 CMR 50.63) and has been approved by
MassDEP to certify RC Plans. EMS Progress Reports must be certified by either a TUR Planner with training in EMS and approved by MassDEP to certify EMS plans, or by an EMS professional with training in TUR.

For more guidance on certification requirements, please consult the MassDEP web site at:
http://www.mass.gov/dep/toxics/approvals/turforms.htm#cert

If you do not have a certified in-house TUR Planner, you should consider hiring a general practice TUR Planner to guide you through the planning process. An updated list of certified Planners (as of February 2012) is available on MassDEP’s web site at:www.mass.gov/dep/toxics/tura/planners.htm

Guidance, Training, and Technical Assistance
Helpful web links for further guidance, training, and technical assistance resources include:

Regulations, Fact Sheets and Guidance: MassDEP
www.mass.gov/dep/toxics/laws/policies.htm

Continuing education training sessions on TUR planning, RC planning and EMS: MassDEP
 http://www.mass.gov/dep/toxics/tura/training.htm

This site includes links to training and workshops provided by the Toxics Use Reduction Institute, Office of Technical Assistance and Technology and MassDEP.

For questions or more information on TURA planning requirements please contact the MassDEP staff listed below:

Toxics Use Reduction Planning, Lynn Cain, lynn.cain@state.ma.us, 617-292-5711
Resource Conservation Planning, Lynn Cain, lynn.cain@state.ma.us, 617-292-5711
Environmental Management Systems, Cynthia Chaves, cynthia.chaves@state.ma.us, 617-292-5848

ThroughoutMassachusetts, releases of materials containing volatile organic compounds (e.g., petroleum products, dry cleaning fluids, industrial solvents) have impacted soil and/or groundwater.  When these releases occur near buildings, volatilization of contaminants in the subsurface can result in the intrusion of vapor-phase contaminants into indoor air spaces and can pose a risk to workers and other building occupants.

In June 2010, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) updated its Standard Practice for Assessment of Vapor Intrusion into Structures on Property Involved in Real Estate Transactions (E2600-10).  This guide defines a procedure to identify, during a Phase I property assessment, whether a vapor intrusion condition exists, likely exists, cannot be ruled out, or can be ruled out because a vapor intrusion condition does not or is not likely to exist. 

In response to the regulated community’s questions and concerns, in December 2010, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) issued an Interim Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance document to provide regulatory guidance on assessing and mitigating vapor intrusion pathways at sites regulated by the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP). This document addresses approaches to the assessment and remediation of vapor intrusion in order to maintain compliance and eventual site closure within the MCP.

Both the ASTM guide and the MassDEP guidance documents can be applied to property with existing structures, property with structures that will be substantially rehabilitated, property without existing structures but having planned structures (e.g.,, property in development), or property without existing structures and with no planned structures (e.g.,, undeveloped property with no planned development).

Following receipt of public comments, due by March 1, 2011, the MassDEP will finalize the Vapor Intrusion Guidance document.  If you have a concern about the potential for your existing or planned property to have a vapor intrusion impact, call Dawn Horter at 508.970.0033 ext. 118.