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The "Resource Conservation Challenge" is the major topic for this year's RCRA National Meeting, which is being co-sponsored by the US EPA and the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA). The meeting will be held in Washington DC August 12-15, 2003.

According to the meeting hosts, this year's conference program will feature presentations on a variety of topics of interest to the chemical process industries, including Green Products and Purchasing, Solid and Hazardous Waste Minimization, Industrial Ecology, RCRA Brownfields, RCRA Risk Assessments, Permitting Innovations, Regulatory Updates and International issues (e.g. import/export).

The Resource Conservation Challenge, initiated by EPA in September 2002, will result in less hazardous and solid waste from industry as well as the public, more economic growth and greater energy savings. Thus, the theme of this year's conference is "Putting Resource Conservation into RCRA". For more information on the Resource Conservation Challenge, see www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/index.htm.

The Resource Conservation Challenge emphasizes partnerships and improved approaches to implementing RCRA. Industry, government, nongovernmental organizations and the public are invited to participate. Building on the success of EPA's WasteWise Partnership Program and other voluntary initiatives, the EPA is challenging industry to reduce the generation of 30 chemicals most commonly found in hazardous waste by 50 percent by 2005.

[ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to remove methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) from the Clean Air Act's list of 188 hazardous air pollutants emitted from large industrial facilities. Since 1996, the EPA has exhaustively reviewed the potential health and environmental effects that could result from exposure to MEK emitted from industrial facilities, and EPA has concluded that the sources of exposure regulated by the Clean Air Act are not likely to cause adverse human health or environmental problems. The health effects information on MEK that EPA used to make this decision has undergone independent scientific peer review. MEK is used as a solvent in the surface coatings industry. Industries also use MEK for producing adhesives, magnetic tapes, printing inks, degreasing and cleaning fluids, antioxidants, and perfumes. The EPA's proposed delisting of MEK as a hazardous air pollutant does not affect other ways this chemical will be regulated. MEK will continue to be regulated as a volatile organic compound because of its contribution to smog. In addition, MEK emissions would still be reported as part of EPA's Toxics Release Inventory. This proposal is open to public comment for 90 days after publication in the Federal Register. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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On April 2, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit directed the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to publish a proposed hexavalent chromium rule no later than October 4, 2004 and a final standard no later than January 18, 2006. The Court issued the ruling based on a recommendation from a court-appointed mediator trying to resolve a suit from Public Citizen Health Research Group seeking to require OSHA to promulgate a new standard on chromium. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revised two rules contributing to its efforts to reduce national emissions of toxic air pollutants. The first action amends a rule known as the "General Provisions" which establishes a common set of requirements for developing rules or standards to regulate emissions of toxic air pollution. In the second action, EPA is amending its rule known as the "Section 112(j) or MACT Hammer rule." This rule currently affects over 40 categories of industry for which EPA has yet to issue national air toxics emissions standards. The 1990 Clean Air Act charged EPA with a very large task – in just 10 years the Agency was to issue regulations that would reduce air toxic emissions from over 170 categories of industries. To date, the EPA has issued rules to control emissions of air toxics from 112 of the 154 categories of industries currently listed for control. Sixteen of the original categories have been delisted or are included within other categories. The EPA is committed to completing the remaining emissions standards by the deadlines agreed to in a March 2003 settlement agreement with the Sierra Club – all will be completed by June 14, 2005. These amendments include a backstop to insure that emissions reductions will occur by requiring states to set emission limits on a facility-by-facility basis should EPA not be able to finalize the remaining air toxics standards as agreed. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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On May 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in the Federal Register to solicit public comment about criteria and standards the EPA would use in deciding the extent to which it will rely on certain kinds of human research to support its actions to protect public health and the environment. This notice begins a process to establish rigorous scientific and ethical standards that the EPA would apply in its analysis of various types of research involving people exposed to toxicants to identify or quantify their effects. The EPA will particularly focus on "third-party intentional dosing human studies," but recognizes that standards applicable to these studies may also be applicable to other types of studies. "Third party studies" refers to research not conducted or supported by the EPA or other federal agencies, and therefore not governed by the Common Rule to ensure that human test subjects have adequate protections. The EPA is seeking public comments on how to determine the extent to which it will consider or rely on results from particular types of studies involving human subjects, and how the EPA might be able to establish robust standards for the protection of human subjects, in preparation for developing a rule or policy on this issue. The EPA's focus in developing a future policy or rule must be protection of the welfare of human research subjects and adherence to the most rigorous ethical and scientific standards. Along with public comments,the EPA will also carefully consider advice expected later this year from the National Academy of Sciences. This process will allow EPA to review its approach to human subjects research and develop a rule or policy in a transparent and participatory manner. Comments on this ANPR will be accepted for 90 days. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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IRS 501(c)3 tax-exempt educational and scientific organization is soliciting for donations of real estate in furthering its charitable and research purposes. [PRWEB Apr 15, 2003] [PR Web]

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among other things, John Graham hopes to determine which regulations deliver the biggest bang for the buck."

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The Engineering Foundation is soliciting abstracts for the first interdisciplinary conference on Green Engineering,to be held in Sandestin, Florida on May 18-22, 2003. The conference is an effort to bring together engineers and scientists from multiple backgrounds to define the underlying principles of this emerging field. Green engineering is the design, commercialization, and use of processes and products, which are feasible and economical while minimizing 1) generation of pollution at the source and 2) risk to human health and the environment. The discipline embraces the concept that decisions to protect human health and the environment can have the greatest impact and cost effectiveness when applied early to the design and development phase of a process or product.

The conference organizers plan to approach Green Engineering as an interdisciplinary subject, spanning all of the traditional engineering specialties. Planned conference topics include:

• Introduction to the topic of green engineering and discussion of green engineering goals.
• Life cycle analysis as a tool.
• Minimizing waste, environmental impact, and energy usage
• Product and process design
• Global Issues
• Development of closing document stating principles
• Publications

  Abstracts are due by October 1, 2002. A book of extended abstracts will be presented at the start of the conference. Throughout the conference, attendees will develop a set of guiding principles that will define the scope of green engineering, leading to a conference publication in the form of a book, a series of articles in refereed journals, or a single conference publication as a special issue in an appropriate journal. Additional information about the conference, and an online abstract submission form, are available at the conference web site [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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In Search of Representativeness: Evolving the Environmental Data Quality Model. This reprint, entitled "In Search of Representativeness: Evolving the Environmental Data Quality Model" was published in the November/December 2002 issue of the journal Quality Assurance: Good Practice, Regulation, and Law. This article asserts that data representativeness is fundamental to data quality, yet the data quality model for contaminant data remains focused on analytical methods to the neglect of strategies to accommodate environmental heterogeneity. Advancing technology enables the cost-effective, high density, adaptive sampling needed to assure data representativeness, supporting a next generation data quality model that explicitly manages sampling uncertainties (November 2002, 12 pages). View or download at http://clu-in.org/techpubs.htm .

Guidance on the Use of Passive Diffusion Samplers to Detect Volatile Organic Compounds in Ground Water Discharge Areas, and Example Applications in New England (Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4186). This document was published by the USGS, DOI, and EPA. It was prepared under the auspices of the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Monitoring and Measurement for the 21st Century Initiative. The document provides guidance on passive vapor diffusion (PVD) sampler assembly, deployment, and recovery to detect volatile organic compounds in ground-water discharge areas. The report also discusses the use of PVD samplers at nine Superfund sites in New England to identify likely discharge areas for VOCs in ground water (December 2002, 80 pages). View or download at http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/wri/wrir024186/pdf/wri024186.pdf .

Calculation and Use of First-Order Rate Constants for Monitored Natural Attenuation Studies (EPA 600-S-02-500). This paper was published by the U.S. EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory. It explains when and how to apply first-order attenuation rate constant calculations in monitored natural attenuation (MNA) studies. First-order attenuation rate constant calculations can be an important tool for evaluating natural attenuation processes at ground-water contamination sites. Specific applications identified in U.S. EPA guidelines (U.S. EPA, 1999) include use in characterization of plume trends (shrinking, expanding, or showing relatively little change), as well as estimation of the time required for achieving remediation goals (November 2002, 28 pages). View or download at http://www.epa.gov/ada/download/issue/540S02500.pdf. For hard copies, contact Kay Cooper at (580) 436-8651 or fax (580) 436-8503.

Reminder! Using Science to Assess Environmental Vulnerabilities

(ReVA-MAIA) Conference, May 13-15. This conference is sponsored by the U.S. EPA. Its purpose is to bring environmental decision makers and researchers together to illustrate practical uses of recently developed approaches, tools, and decision support systems that can be used to assess current and future environmental vulnerabilities. The conference will highlight research approaches and models developed by ORD's Regional Environmental Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program; however, all researchers interested in the assessment of environmental vulnerability and environmental forecasting are invited to participate. Agenda and registration information available at http://www.reva-maia.org .

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In a Federal Register Notice that published on December 30, 2002, EPA set forth for public comment the approach EPA plans to use for selecting the first group of chemicals to be screened in the EPA's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). EPA requested that comments be submitted on or before March 1, 2003. In response to several requests to extend the deadline for submitting comments, EPA has extended the comment period to April 1, 2003. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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Biodegradable vegetable oil can now replace petroleum based products in industry. This eliminates toxic waste and cleans the environment. [PRWEB Mar 8, 2003] [PR Web]

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The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) transmitted its 51st Report to the Administrator of the EPA on November 26, 2002. In the 51st ITC Report the ITC is adding 43 vanadium compounds to its Priority Testing List and removing 39 chemicals from the Priority Testing List. The ITC is asking EPA to add 43 vanadium compounds to the TSCA section 8(a) Preliminary Assessment Information Reporting (PAIR) rule and rescinding its requests to add 2 chemicals to the TSCA section 8(a) PAIR rule and 36 chemicals to the TSCA section 8(d) Health and Safety Data Reporting rule. The ITC continues to request voluntary information submissions directly from trade organizations, producers, and importers, while working to improve the utility of the Voluntary Information Submissions Innovative Online Network (VISION) and Voluntary Information Submissions Policy (VISP).

Comments, identified by docket ID number OPPT-2002-0075, must be received on or before March 28, 2003. For more information, contact Barbara Cunningham, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, EPA at (202) 554-1404 or by e:mail at TSCA-Hotline@epa.gov. For technical information contact: John D. Walker, ITC Executive Director, EPA, at (202) 564-7526; fax: (202) 564-7528; or e-mail: walker.johnd@epa.gov. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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In an effort to update key scientific risk assessment methodologies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released for public review and comment draft final guidelines for cancer risk assessment, as well as a supplemental guidance for assessing early-life exposure to carcinogens. The release of these draft documents is an important step in EPA's revision of cancer risk assessment guidelines first published in 1986. These guidelines provide a framework for EPA scientists to assess possible cancer risks from exposures to environmental pollutants.

EPA has been working to revise the 1986 guidelines in light of significant advances in scientific understanding of how cancer may be caused. EPA's guiding principle for revisions to the cancer guidelines is that its cancer risk assessments be both public health protective and scientifically sound. The draft guidelines have also previously been the subject of public review and independent scientific peer review. Today's draft document reflects many of the comments and suggestions provided to EPA by various reviewers.

Because the draft final "Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment" recommend consideration of possible sensitive subpopulations and lifestages (such as childhood), EPA is also releasing for public comment a draft "Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Cancer Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens." The draft supplemental guidance is part of EPA's response to a 1994 recommendation by the National Research Council that "EPA should assess risks to infants and children whenever it appears that their risks might be greater than those of adults." Following public review and comment, the draft supplemental guidance will be peer reviewed by EPA's Science Advisory Board. [ChemAlliance Environmental News]

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Bangkok Post Feb 28 2003 1:45PM ET [Moreover - Environment news]

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Risk Assessment. HH and Eco. Testing, Testing, 1,2,3...

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