Center for Industrial Services

In this issue ...

1. EPA FINALIZES EXTENSION FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE SPCC RULE.

On June 17, 2004, EPA proposed to extend, by 12 months, certain upcoming compliance dates for the July 2002 SPCC amendments. EPA has now finalized an 18-month extension for the dates in 40 CFR 112.3(a) and (b) for a facility to amend and implement its SPCC Plan to comply with the requirements as amended in 2002 (or, in the case of a facility becoming operational after August 16, 2002, prepare and implement a Plan in a manner that complies with the 2002 amended requirements). EPA has also amended the compliance deadlines in 40 CFR 112.3(c) for mobile facilities. EPA is granting the extension to, among other reasons, provide sufficient time for the regulated community to undertake the actions necessary to prepare and update their Plans in light of a recent partial settlement of litigation involving the July 2002 amendments. The extension is also intended to alleviate the need for individual extension requests.

This extension follows a previous 18-month extension announced on April 17, 2003, and extends deadlines for an additional 18 months from the dates promulgated at that time. The new compliance dates are February 17, 2006, to amend an existing SPCC Plan, and August 18, 2006, to implement the Plan. Affected facilities that start operations between August 16, 2002 and August 18, 2006, must prepare and implement an SPCC Plan by August 18, 2006. Affected facilities that become operational after August 18, 2006 must prepare and implement an SPCC Plan before starting operations.

The final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 11, 2004.

For further information, please see http://www.epa.gov/oilspill.

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2. ANNUAL UPDATE WORKSHOP FOR THE HAZARDOUS WASTE REDUCTION PLAN.

If your facility is a Large or Small Quantity Hazardous Waste Generator then you are required to have a Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan and update it annually. This year the University of Tennessee is offering a totally new workshop to help those responsible for this plan by providing an organized approach for easily formulating or revising their plan.

The remaining session is being offered in Knoxville on Tuesday, October 19.

Bring your entire team. Click Here to Register. This workshop includes multiple exercises where participants work in groups to develop policy, scope, objectives, and communicate their ideas within the group. After attending this workshop, participants will be able to organize a team to address waste reduction and compile a waste reduction plan for their company that meets all aspects of the regulation.

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3. BOILER MACT PUBLISHED

The final NESHAP rule for institutional boilers and process heaters has been published in the Federal Register September 13, 2004. EPA estimates that the rule nationwide could affect 58,000 existing units and 800 new boilers and process heaters a year. To be subject to the rule, the unit would need to be located at a major source of HAPS.

The rule had been signed February 26, 2004, but until its publication, compliance dates had not been established. For new sources, that date is November 12, 2004 or upon startup, whichever is later. For existing sources the compliance date is no later than September 13, 2007. For more information on the rule you can go to the following web site:

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/boiler/boilerpg.html

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4. OUTREACH ON MERCURY IN FISH AND SHELLFISH.

EPA and FDA are distributing What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish, a brochure that presents the recommendations from the joint national mercury advisory that the two agencies issued in March 2004. EPA recently distributed the brochures, with a letter signed by EPA and FDA, to over 170,000 members of the U.S. medical community as well as state, tribal, and local health departments, WICs, Pregnancy Planning Centers, and other public health organizations.

You can get copies of the brochure, available in both English (document number EPA-823-F-04-009 ) and Spanish (document number EPA-823-F-04-010 ), by calling the EPA distribution center at 1-800-490-9198 and giving them the appropriate document number. You can also learn more about EPA’s fish consumption advisory program at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/ . (Online copies of the brochure are also available here.)

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5. OSHA CHANGES RESPIRATORY PROTECTION STANDARD WITH NEW PROTOCOL.

OSHA has published a final rule revising the Respiratory Protection Standard to add a new quantitative fit-testing procedure to assist workers and employers in the proper fit and selection of respirators.

The rule becomes effective September 3, 2004.

"Selecting the proper respirator is a vital step in protecting a user against potential over-exposures and adverse health effects," said OSHA Administrator John Henshaw. "The additional fit-testing protocol will help employers and employees to select the right respirator based on the conditions in their workplaces."

The new fit-testing protocol, referred to as the Controlled Negative Pressure (CNP) REDON protocol, requires three different test exercises followed by two "redonnings" of the respirator. The three test exercises, listed in order of administration, are normal breathing, bending over, and head shaking.

The procedures for administering the new CNP REDON protocol, with three test exercises and the two respirator donnings to an employee, and for measuring respirator leakage during each test, are summarized below:

• Facing forward. In a normal standing position, without talking, breathe normally for 30 seconds; then, while facing forward, hold breath for 10 seconds during sampling.
• Bending over. Bend at waist for 30 seconds and hold breath for 10 seconds during sampling.
• Head shaking. Shake head back and forth vigorously several times while shouting for approximately three seconds and, while facing forward, hold breath for 10 seconds during sampling.
• First redonning. Remove respirator, loosen all face-piece straps, and then redon the respirator mask; after redonning the mask, face forward and hold breath for 10 seconds during sampling.
• Second redonning. Remove respirator, loosen all face piece straps, and then redon the respirator mask again; after redonning the mask, face forward and hold breath for 10 seconds during sampling.

Details of the new respiratory protection fit-testing requirements and the notice of the final rule are published in the August 4, 2004, Federal Register .

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6. COMPANIES VOLUNTEER TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Thirteen companies have joined the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Climate Leaders” program to voluntarily reduce emissions and set aggressive long-term emissions reduction goals. Another 10 companies have established emissions reduction targets. There are now 54 companies involved in the program with combined revenues that add up to more than 6 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product. Twenty of the 54 participants have set emissions reduction goals, which EPA estimates will prevent a total of 7.5-million metric tons of carbon equivalent per year.

The 10 new reduction goals are:

• 3M will reduce total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2002 to 2007;
• Advanced Micro Devices will reduce global gas emissions by 40 percent from 2002 to 2007;
• American Electric Power will reduce gas emissions by 4 percent below an average 1998-2001 base year by 2006;
• Cinergy Corp. will reduce its total gas emissions by 5 percent from 2000 to 2010;
• Eastman Kodak will reduce total worldwide gas emissions by 10 percent from 2002 to 2008;
• FPL Group will reduce its gas emissions by 18 percent per kilowatt-hour from 2001 to 2008;
• Interface Inc. will reduce its U/S. gas emissions by 15 percent per unit of production from 2001 to 2010;
• International Paper will reduce total U.S. Gas emissions by 15 percent from 2000 to 2010;
• PSEG will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent per kilowatt-hour from 2000 to 2008; and
• United Technologies will reduce global gas emissions by 16 percent per dollar of revenue from 2001 to 2006.

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7. TENNESSEE POLLUTION PREVENTION PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE 2004.

There is still time to register for the Planting P2 2004 Conference that will be held at Montgomery Bell State Park October 25 and 26.

Planting P2 2004 will be held in conjunction with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) Annual Environmental Awards Conference. The conferences are planned during the same week to allow maximum participation and an opportunity for those desiring to attend part or all of both events.

The dates for each conference are: Planting P2 2004 is October 25-26. TCCI Annual Environmental Awards Conference is October 26-27.

Planting P2 2004 will be a great opportunity for representatives from business, industry, education, environmental organizations, and government agencies to network. Conference attendees will learn about the benefits of state and federal environmental leadership programs, corporate success stories and techniques, advantages of pollution prevention, and methods for improving environmental performance. The conference will feature a recognition ceremony for business and industry leaders in the Tennessee Pollution Prevention Partnership (TP3), a State of the Environment presentation by TDEC senior management, and a keynote speech by Cam Metcalf, an internationally recognized expert in pollution prevention.

TCCI is managing the registration for Planting P2 2004 and the TCCI Annual Environmental Awards Conference. You may obtain conference information and the registration from on the TCCI web site at www.tnchamber.org or the TDEC web site at www.tennessee.gov/environment/dca/tp3/p2conference.php. Please check the fees for each conference and register for the events of your choice. The fee for each conference includes admission to all sessions, materials, refreshment breaks, hospitality, BBQ dinner, breakfast, and combined lunch. Additional registration information may be obtained from Suzie Lusk (TCCI) at 615.256.5141.

Conference participants are responsible for their room reservations. Room reservations at Montgomery Bell State Park Inn can be made online at www.tennesseeanytime.org/parks/, or by calling Montgomery Bell’s toll-free number at 800.250.8613.

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8. PAPER RECYCLING REACHES RECORD HIGH; MORE NEEDED.

For the first time in history, more than half of the paper consumed in the United States is being recycled according to the American Forest & Paper Association. During 2003, 49.3 million tons of paper was recycled, in increase of 69 percent since 1990, when 33.5 percent of the paper consumed in the United States was recycled. Americans are now recycling 339 pounds of paper for every person in the country, up from 233 pounds per person in 1990.

Recovered paper now represents 37 percent of the raw material used to make new paper and paper products. But the industry needs more used paper in its production process. “As domestic and export demand for U.S. recovered paper continues to grow, domestic supply will be squeezed by an anticipated 50 percent surge in U.S. exports of recovered paper,” says AF&PA “Most of that demand will come from Asia, particularly China.”

Americans “need to do more” to recycle paper, says Fred von Zuben, chairman of the AF&PA recovered fiber committee and chairman of the Newark Group. The paper association wants Americans to recycle 55 percent of all paper consumed by 2012.

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9. RECYCLING COSTS OVERSTATED.

Over the past nine years, Nova Scotia has emerged as a world leader in recycling, sending only about half its garbage to landfills or incinerators.

While recycling programs cost more than dumping trash into a big hole, a new study finds that the sparsely populated Canadian province is actually saving money by reducing its waste. When all the costs and benefits of those programs are measured, and depending on what factors are taken into account, the report (.pdf) says that Nova Scotia saves anywhere from $25 million to $125 million every year.

The report is by GPI Atlantic (the "GPI" stands for Genuine Progress Index), a research group that has spent a decade developing tools for quantifying hard-to-measure realities such as the value of volunteerism, household work or air quality. "If there's no number associated with something, it's assumed to be zero," said Sally Walker, a senior researcher at GPI Atlantic and co-author of the report. Simply adding up the costs of recycling and the revenue generated from sales of recycled materials would show that the program cost the province $18 million a year more than just throwing trash into landfills, Walker said. To get an accurate picture of the real value of Nova Scotia's recycling and composting program, the report considered a number of factors, including how much energy was saved by using recycled materials instead of those extracted from virgin resources. It also determined the direct and indirect value generated from new employment in the recycling sector and from nearly doubling the life span of the remaining landfills. "It takes three to four or even more times as much energy to make something from raw materials than from recycled," Walker said. The report also included the real but uncounted cost of existing landfills, which leak, gave off noxious gases and are home to large numbers of rats and seagulls -- all of which affect the quality of life and property values of nearby residents. Ugly, not-in-my-backyard fights over new landfill sites in the largely rural province of less than a million people sparked the move to recycling in the first place during the mid-1990s, said Barry Friesen, solid-waste resource manager at the Nova Scotia Department of Environment. In 1995, the province set up programs to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills by 50 percent. By 1998 all organic and other types of waste -- like beverage containers, newsprint, used tires and waste paint -- were banned from landfills and had to be recycled. The program has enjoyed wide public support, mainly due to extensive public consultation at the outset, as well as the new jobs it provided in a region with high unemployment due to the decline of industries such as fishing, coal and lumber, said Friesen. It took just five years -- until 2000 -- for Nova Scotia to reduce its wastes by 50 percent through a wide range of programs, including a deposit/refund system for all beverage containers, curbside organic collection for nearly all homes and businesses, and recycling of all paint, tires and other similar materials. However, Nova Scotia's recycling numbers slipped to 46 percent of all trash in 2003. Friesen attributes this mainly to the increase in difficult-to-recycle plastic products and the fact that people buy more goods in general, putting more pressure on the system. But Nova Scotia continues to push forward and will begin recycling all electronic waste next year. "The GPI Atlantic report is a vindication of the investment we've made in this," he said. The concept behind GPI originates with an Oakland, California, economic research organization called Redefining Progress. With a mandate to shift the U.S. economy and public policy toward sustainability, it issues annual GPI reports on the nation's economy.

In the most recent report, it found that the gross domestic product, the traditional economic measure, had overestimated the health of the U.S. economy by $7 trillion in 2002. The key factors contributing to this over-counting were the expenditures and losses resulting from the accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and others, the report said.

The gross domestic product only measures economic activity and is not a barometer of how well the nation is doing, said Jason Venetoulis, a senior research associate at Redefining Progress.

GPI considers the value of unpaid housework, caring for children and the elderly, volunteerism and the hours spent on free time or family and community activities, factors not included in the dollar-based GDP. It subtracts time wasted on commuting, a decline in resources, personal and institutional debt, and other negatives. It also considers both the quality and distribution of economic growth. By contrast, when the homes destroyed by hurricanes in Florida are rebuilt, the costs will boost GDP even though neither residents nor the country are truly better off as a result.

Since traditional economic measures don't capture the full costs of using raw resources or benefits, recycling programs are seen as costly, said Venetoulis. "The true costs of using raw materials to make things are not reflected in their price," he said. These uncounted costs include subsidized fossil-fuel extraction and use, environmental impacts and disposal costs, among many others. "These are real costs that society ends up bearing," Venetoulis said, adding that in the United States, the GPI concept hasn't gone much beyond the circles of academia and environmentalists. However, it is catching on elsewhere. Indicators like GPI are being calculated for several European nations. And this fall, GPI Atlantic, along with other organizations, is developing a Canadian Index of Wellbeing that integrates social, economic and environmental measures. Said Walker: "We'll never achieve sustainable development without something like GPI because traditional economics doesn't value sustainability."

-- Source: Wired News, Stephen Leahy, September 13, 2004

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10. NEW WEBSITE TRACKS CHEMICAL MAKERS’ PERFORMANCE.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has launched a new website that significantly expands publicly available performance data on the U.S. chemical industry.

The new website ( http://www.ResponsibleCare-US.com ) creates easy public access to industry-wide and, for the first time, company-specific performance data in environment, safety, security, product stewardship, economic and other areas. The website makes available the most information on performance of any private sector group.

“This website opens a new chapter of transparency for America’s leading chemical companies,” said ACC’s President and CEO Greg Lebedev. “It clearly demonstrates our industry’s focus on making readily available the performance results of Responsible Care®.”

Responsible Care is the U.S. chemical industry’s award-winning performance initiative that has led to emissions reductions of 70 percent and a worker safety record that is four times better than the average of the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Responsible Care companies recently increased the scope and specificity of this voluntary initiative, resulting in new standardized performance measurements, or metrics, that will be published annually on this new site.

In many cases, website visitors can view historic data showing how companies and the industry have improved performance over time. Companies choose whether to display up to five years of historic data and whether to post additional comments to help put the information in context.

“This is a groundbreaking step for our industry,” said Lebedev. “For more than fifteen years, ACC’s Responsible Care initiative has helped our nation’s chemical makers improve performance above and beyond government requirements. This new website allows ACC members to make these performance results more transparent so employees and the public can help identify even more opportunities for further improvements.”

While benchmarking and tracking performance can be a highly effective driver of performance, Lebedev stressed that website visitors should be wary of making company-to-company comparisons. “Our membership is highly diverse, including very large companies with tens of thousands of employees and dozens of facilities along with smaller enterprises with fewer than one hundred employees,” said Lebedev. “Comparison between companies is complicated. Regardless, even though their products and operations vary considerably, every ACC company has played an essential role in improving the industry’s performance and making this website possible.”

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11. IS THE PAPERLESS OFFICE STILL A DISTANT DREAM?

The paperless office may still be a distant dream. In the paper chase interim, we should be recycling more and developing alternatives to wood-based paper.

While many futurists predicted that we’d be enjoying the paperless office around this time, Americans are still at the epicenter of a paper blizzard. Were you under the impression that the electronic age would free us from all that? According to The Myth of the Paperless Office, a company’s use of e-mail causes an average 40 percent increase in paper consumption. The demand for ream after ream of white paper is putting a huge strain not only on America’s forests, but the world’s. And it’s forcing the environmental movement to consider the alternatives.

Read the full article including information on hemp and kenaf based paper sources at:

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1735

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12. BUILDINGS DESIGNED IN COOL SHADES OF ‘GREEN’.

Step inside a new condominium at The Henry, an upscale residential tower in the chic heart of Portland, Oregon’s flourishing downtown. See the doors and kitchen cabinets made of pressed straw. Notice no new-building smell from paint, glue, and carpet. Puzzle at the funny toilets with two flush buttons. Be aware that incandescent lights are nowhere to be found. Stroll down the hall to the handy recycling bins. Turn on tap water heated by exhaust from clothes dryers and ranges. Marvel at the abundance of natural light and ventilation. Tap on hardwood floors cut exclusively from sustainable forests.

Welcome to Portland’s newest “green” building – energy-efficient, water-stingy and full of features stressing the natural over the chemical, the recycled over the new and the renewable over the finite. The 123-unit Henry is part of a wave of green projects sweeping the country and revolutionizing the way we design and build.

Whether the tag is “eco-friendly,” “sustainable” of “high-performance,” green buildings are going mainstream in a big way. In three years, the U.S. Green Building Council has certified 89 office or apartment buildings, manufacturing plants, condos, convention centers, schools, and libraries. More than 1,100 buildings have applied for the council’s Good Housekeeping-type seal of approval.

“It’s not like putting on a hair shirt and moving into a cave,” says Dennis Wilde, senior project manager for The Henry. “A green building doesn't look any different than what people are used to.”

Once a fringe movement, a legacy of the 1970’s energy crisis that never quiet caught on, the green building boom is attracting converts as disparate as New York Governor George Pataki, A Republican, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a Democrat who has vowed to make his city the USA’s greenest.

A growing number of cities and states insist on green features in buildings that get tax dollars. The federal government requires its new buildings to meet green standards. Foundations are making green design a condition for grants. Local governments are adding “sustainability” to the job titles of planners and managers. Architecture students are pressuring universities for more courses in green design. Americans distressed by poor indoor air quality and “sick-building syndrome” are demanding fresher environments to live and work in.

Profit-driven developers and builders are going green because today’s sustainable buildings are price-competitive with conventional ones. Manufacturers and suppliers of green building materials are rushing to cash in on an expanding market. The initial cost to go green may be slightly higher, but the payback in energy efficiency, water conservation and worker productivity easily recoups those outlays, experts say.

“To build a green building is only very marginally more expensive, and the margin is decreasing all the time,” says Scott Lewis, a green building contractor here.

As cost fades as a hurdle, green building is gaining virtually unassailable status as the right thing to do. There’s carping from a few critics that standards are sometimes too restrictive. Libertarians grouse when tax credits or grants subsidize green projects – though that’s not what’s fueling the trend, nor are such subsidies typically large.

An $800,000 fund Portland set aside in 2001 to help green projects is nearly sent, and the city officials have no plans to renew it. Long a hub of environmental activism and green values, Portland has a sustainable building ethic that is deep-rooted: 44 green buildings totaling 4 million square feet.

The 48.5 million, 15-story Henry, one of the country’s first large residential buildings to go green, is the city’s most expensive condo project: Prices range from $280,000 for one-bedrooms to $1.3 million for three-bedroom penthouse units. But it also sold out quicker than any other – the last condo was snapped up nine months before completion. Similarly, all 293 units in the 27-story Solaire green apartment building near Ground Zero in New York rented quickly – most at 4% to 5% above market rates.

“Sustainability was very important to us, “says Mary Krueger, a database administrator who with her husband, Phil, bought a two-bedroom Henry unit after selling their four-bedroom suburban house. “I’m real notorious as an avid recycler, just real conscious of what we use and what we do to the environment.

Industry standards and a scoring system, adopted in 2000, brought accountability and accelerated green building. The 4,000-member Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED) has become a benchmark followed by developers, architects and elected officials across the USA. Its sought-after silver, gold, and platinum ratings verify the “greenness” of a project.

Just as studies show better test scores by students who learn in well-lighted spaces and higher retail sales in stores with skylights, many experts suspect that worker productivity also improves in eco-friendly offices. Some employers report lower absenteeism and higher retention rates in green buildings.

“In our old space, people complained constantly about bad air,” says John Zmolek, executive vice president of Verity Credit Union in Seattle. “We haven’t had a complaint in six years.”

Because energy is a big-ticket operating cost, saving it is a key green goal. The Henry, with a rooftop “chiller” to cool water for air conditioning, saves an estimated 35% over a conventional building. The Solaire in New York cuts energy use by 67% a peak times, says developer Timothy Carey, President of Battery Park City Authority.

“All things being equal, I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t make an ethical or moral choice to buy something that had green features,” says Henry developer Robert Gerding, whose company has $1.5 billion in green projects completed or in the works, 90% of its portfolio. “Obviously, I’m a true believer, but this is something that has to happen.”

Sustainable building is by no means confined to green bastions such as the Pacific Northwest and California. Pittsburg has more green buildings than any other U.S. city, including its new convention center, which achieved LEED gold. The nation’s highest profile construction project, the Freedom Tower and other buildings around the World Trade Center site in New York, will use green principles.

At least 10 states and 23 cities and counties – Los Angeles; Seattle; San Diego; Dallas; Kansas City, MO; San Jose, California; Chicago and Portland among them – require or are considering requiring a LEED rating for all public buildings.

As of October, the General Services Administration, builder of non-military federal buildings, requires LEED certification on structures that cost $2 million or more. “As an agency, our goal is silver,” GSA architect Don Horn says. “Some have taken the challenge and gone for the gold.”

Green doesn’t have to mean exotic. Developers earn points for low-tech basics such as positioning buildings to maximize sunlight inside and to lower the wind’s effect on heating needs. Retro ideas such as office-building windows that open to let in fresh air are in vogue. Tall windows with “light shelves” to bounce daylight into interior spaces and motion sensors to shut lights off when people leave rooms trim energy costs.

Green, or planted, roofs that insulate and reduce runoff have made a jump from Europe, as have low-pressure heating and air conditioning vents that run under raised floors. Directing builders to recycle construction waste earns points. And materials recycled and natural materials – adding the coal byproduct fly ash to concrete, for example – is a LEED goal.

Those pressed-straw cabinets in The Henry are wheatboard, similar to particleboard but without the toxic resins. Wheatboard was more expensive than particleboard until Home Depot began stocking it and drove the price down. Paints that don’t emit gas from VOCs – volatile organic compounds – once added tens of thousands of dollars to building costs. Now they’re price-neutral. Natural-fiber carpets are becoming more competitive with the petrochemical-based standard.

“It’s an exploding market,” Portland consultant Lewis says. “Many vendors are chasing it.”

Some green designs are pushing the envelope. Pittsburgh’s convention center, the world’s largest green building, purifies sink and toilet water with ultraviolet light and recycles it for flushing and irrigation. Biotech giant Genzyme’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA, has rooftop mirrors and solar panels to direct sunlight inside and light fire-escape stairwells.

Toyota’s sprawling new complex in Torrance, CA, has a solar-energy system that generates up to 20% of demand. Chicago’s Center for Green Technology, a renovated former factory, has floors made of recycled rubber tires and an elevator that runs on canola oil instead of polluting hydraulic oil.

During rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center at Ground Zero, all large diesel engines had to have filters and use low-sulfur fuel to cut emissions. New York City later made that mandatory in all public construction. Plans for Freedom Tower include wind turbines to produce up to 10 % of the building’s electricity.

“Now we’re seeing friendly competition among builders and design teams and between cities and states about how green they can be,” says Christine Ervin, executive director of the Green Building Council.

No sooner had the Audubon Society announced early this year that its Los Angeles center was the most environmentally friendly building in the nation – more LEED platinum points than any other – than the Natural Resources Defense Council trumped it. Despite producing all its own energy and touting features such as organic linoleum floors and steel rebar made with melted-down handguns, the society’s building came up short to the NRDC’s three-story Santa Monica, CA offices – 53 points to 53.

As the boom progresses, companies see that in the 50- to 100- year life cycle of a green building, costly upgrades such as solar devices and super efficient mechanical systems pay for themselves many times over. But speculative developers who must recoup costs more quickly are coming around, too. Gerding, a partner in Portland’s Gerding/Edlin Development is proof of that. He bought a Henry unit himself.

David Miller, a University of Washington architecture professor, says even practitioners of so-called “high design,” the superstars of the profession, are integrating sustainable concepts to stay competitive.

But green enthusiasts say that despite remarkable progress in a short time, no one has built a truly sustainable building, one that is a net producer of energy, one that gives back to the environment more than it takes away.

“What we’re doing isn’t green building and it isn’t sustainable – yet,” Lewis says. “It makes me wince when someone says they’re building a sustainable community. A sustainable community is an Indian tribe in the Amazon.”

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13. NEW WEB-BASED TOOLS PROVIDE PUBLIC ACCESS TO LOCAL BROWNFIELD INFORMATION.

EPA introduced two new interactive Brownfields web tools that will give the public access to interrelated information about local Brownfields properties. The tools allow residents to locate Brownfields in their area and provide access to new detailed information about the individual Brownfields grants.

Grants are awarded to communities across the United States for assessment planning, cleanup and job training. EnviroMapper combines interactive maps and aerial photography to locate and display those Brownfields properties that have received EPA grants. The public can locate properties by a variety of means, such as zip code, city, county, tribe, state or congressional district. Envirofacts provides other detailed information on properties, such as property profiles, grant profiles, performance reports and contact information. Users can also search parts of Envirofacts directly by providing certain key details such as a grant name or number. The two new tools identify and provide information on those Brownfields that have received EPA grants, but do not show all Brownfields in the country, such as those funded solely by state and local governments.

Brownfields are real estate properties where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Users can access the Brownfields Envirofacts or EnviroMapper on the new Find EPA Brownfields Projects Where You Live page at http://epa.gov/brownfields/bfwhere.htm

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13. 14. NEW TRACKING OF ENVIRONMENTAL COST DISCLOSURES.

U.S. financial regulators have agreed to improve the way they track disclosure of corporate environmental costs, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In the 74-page report, the GAO recommended and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to creation of a searchable database at its Web site so investors and analysts can track environmental liabilities like clean-up costs, fines, and potential risks from pollution and hazardous materials.

The changes would also help the SEC assess how well it enforces environmental disclosure and adjust its reporting requirements, said the GAO, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

The GAO made the recommendations after finding that the agency, which regulates the securities markets, does not systematically track environmental liabilities in company filings.

"It does not have the information it needs to analyze the frequency of problems involving environmental disclosure, compared with other types of disclosure problems," it concluded.

Environmentalists and some investors say many corporations hide or downplay clean-up costs, fines, and other environmental liabilities that shareholders should know about.

The critics have said hidden liabilities could range from tens to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Industrial companies ranging from Dow Chemical Co. (DOW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , to Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) have faced billions in liabilities over issues like asbestos exposure and plant pollution.

The report also recommended the SEC work more closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use information that could help track down environmental liabilities at companies.

The agency said it also has addressed the problem with earlier actions, such as posting comment letters on its Web site, a policy scheduled to begin in August. Comment letters go back and forth between the SEC and companies addressing revisions and disclosures.

Democratic Senators. Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Independent Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont had requested the report from the GAO. The senators wanted to determine how effective the SEC's reporting rules work for environmental costs and to make recommendations to the agency.

"Environmental risks and liabilities are among the conditions that, if undisclosed, could impair the public's ability to make sound investment decisions," the GAO reported.

The study - conducted from Feb. 2003 and June 2004 - surveyed 30 experts who use SEC filings, including investors and financial analysts. It also looked at 15 earlier studies on the extent to which companies report environmental liabilities in SEC filings.

It found that investors disagree about how clear the SEC's reporting requirements are when it comes to environmental disclosures.

Critics claim the SEC's reporting requirements have not been specific enough, the report said. For example, rules are vague about disclosing environmental liabilities when their exact cost is uncertain, or when costs don't need to be paid in the near future. As a result, companies refuse to add these potential costs to their books, critics charge.

Companies feel the requirements are adequate and argue that they need flexibility to fit their circumstances, the report's survey found.

One of the sleeper issues of the decade may be the "environmental liabilities" that publicly traded companies do or don't disclose to their stockholders and the public. Some companies' balance sheets could look radically different with full accounting of things like potential Superfund cleanup costs. This is not just an academic issue -- as the lost savings of many people in the recent years' corporate accounting scandals show. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently did a study that offers a good way for reporters to start covering these issues. GAO's bottom line about corporate environmental liabilities: nobody knows how bad they are -- but the Securities and Exchange Commission should improve "transparency of information."

Environmental Disclosure: SEC Should Explore Ways to Improve Tracking and Transparency of Information GAO-04-808, July 14, 2004

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-04-808

-- Source: USA: July 20, 2004 Story by David Brinkerhoff

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15. QUALITY, MANAGEMENT, AND ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY WORKSHOPS – October 2004 through December 2004

For more information about the courses listed below, please visit our Web site. Or, call us: 615.532.8657 or toll-free at 888.763.7439. To register for any of these courses, please use this registration form.

Certain courses are underwritten by TDEC Division of Community Assistance funding under the Waste Reduction Assistance Program contract. Tennessee Pollution Prevention Partnership (TP3) Partners and Performer-level members receive a discount on registration fees for these open-enrollment courses. To learn more about TP3, please call George Smelcer at 615.532.4912, George.Smelcer@tennessee.edu; Harding Aslinger at 423.425.2364, Harding.Aslinger@tennessee.edu or contact Don Stone at 615.532.4924, Don.Stone@tennessee.edu. Or, you may visit the TDEC Web site at http://www.state.tn.us/environment/dca/tp3/.

** TP3 discount applies to Partner and Performer Level Members
† Government Employee Discount Available

In-plant courses on topics such as Lean Manufacturing, Quality Management, Human Performance Technology, Manufacturing Management and Operations, and Environment, Health and Safety also are available on your schedule. Please visit our Web site for course information, or call us at (615)532-8657 or (888)763-7439 to request a catalog.

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SUBSCRIBE FREE: http://www.tmep.utk.edu/

Feedback by e-mail: Harding Aslinger
Feedback by phone: 423.425.2364
WRAP Sheet archive: http://www.cis.tennessee.edu/publications
WRAP Sheet is published by the Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Program: http://www.cis.tennessee.edu

The University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services
Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Program
193 Polk Avenue, Suite C
Nashville, TN 37210
Phone: (615) 532-8657
Fax: (615) 532-4937

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