US EPA announced today that greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people. GHGs are the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; as well as other threats to the health and welfare of Americans.

EPA’s final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings do not in and of themselves impose any emission reduction requirements but rather allow EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles as part of the joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation. 

EPA’s endangerment finding covers emissions of six key greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – that have been the subject of scrutiny and intense analysis for decades by scientists in the United States and around the world.

EPA also finds that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat. On-road vehicles contribute more than 23 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions.

EPA’s proposed GHG standards for light-duty vehicles, a subset of on-road vehicles, would reduce GHG emissions by nearly 950 million metric tons and conserve 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of model year 2012-2016 vehicles.

EPA issued the proposed findings in April 2009 and held a 60-day public comment period. The agency received more than 380,000 comments, which were carefully reviewed and considered during the development of the final findings. For more information on EPA’s findings go to:  http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html

Duke Energy filed a progress report with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (“IURC”) on the status of its “clean coal gasification power plant” under construction in southwest Indiana. The update included a revised cost estimate of $2.35 billion for the plant. That means costs have gone up $365 million for the project.

If approved, the $365 million cost increase would result in approximately an additional 2 percent rate impact on customers between 2008 and 2013.  It remains to be seen whether Duke can live up to its many promises to deliver “clean coal” energy to  ratepayers  in Indiana.

The IURC granted the company permission in November to construct the clean coal power plant in Edwardsport, Ind. The commission will need to approve any cost increase for the plant. The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

If everything works as Duke promises, the 630-megawatt plant will use advanced integrated gasification combined cycle technology.  According to Duke, the new plant will produce 10 times as much power as the existing plant at Edwardsport, yet it will emit less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury than the plant it replaces.  

Moreover, Duke claims that the plant will emit 45 percent less carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour than the existing facility.  Wow, in my mind those are some honking big promises to fulfill.

Integrated gasification combined cycle technology uses a coal gasification system to convert coal into a synthesis gas (“syngas”). The syngas is processed to remove sulfur, mercury and ash before being sent to a traditional combined cycle power plant, using two combustion turbines and a steam turbine to efficiently produce electricity.  

In a bold prediction, Duke’s technology could also remove the carbon dioxide from coal during the syngas conversion process to enable it to be stored or sequestered in underground geologic formations. However, that process may be many years away. 

Duke only recently filed with state utility regulators a request for approval of plans for studying partial carbon capture and underground storage at the plant. If approved, the studies would look at the plant site’s suitability and costs for capturing and storing carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas.

The Edwardsport project is the first major new coal-fired power plant to be constructed in Indiana in more than 20 years.  The Indiana State Utility Forecasting Group predicts that Indiana will need new power generation equal to five projects the size of this plant by that same time period.  

The new power plant is slated to receive more than $460 million in local, state and federal tax incentives, which will help reduce the customer cost impact. The project will result in an average customer electric rate increase of a whopping 18 percent phased in from 2008 through 2013.

Duke Energy selected an existing power plant site in Edwardsport, Ind., for the project. The company currently states that it will retire the existing plant – with coal and oil units built between 1944 and 1951 – upon completion of the new facility.  Only time will tell if Duke lives up to its many promises to the ratepayers of Indiana.  Let’s hope so.

A report released by Washington, D.C.-based Environment America Texas, Ohio and Florida, Indiana and Pennsylvania as the greatest emitters of CO2.  The study was based on U.S. EPA emission data for 2007, the latest year for which final data were available. 

To no one’s real surprise, electric generating power plants located in Texas emit nearly twice the amount of CO2, as plants located in Ohio and Florida.

According to Environment America’s report, the nation’s power plants emitted 2.56 billion tons of global warming pollution in 2007. That amount of CO2 is equivalent to the pollution from nearly 450 million of today’s cars – nearly three times the number of cars registered in the United States in 2007. 

More than 70 percent of these emissions came from fossil fuel plants – primarily coal plants – built before 1980.  Indeed, two-thirds of fossil-fuel electric generating plants were built before 1980. The oldest plants in the nation are located in Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, Iowa, and North Carolina.  Some of these plants are more than 70 years old.

America’s aging fleet of coal-fired power plants emitted more than 80 percent of CO₂ pollution from U.S. power plants in 2007 and 36 percent of the total U.S. CO₂ pollution, as well as disproportionate amounts of smog- and soot-forming pollutants, toxic mercury, and other toxic air pollutants. 

Kentucky generates about 92% of its electricity from coal.   Thus, I don’t look for Kentucky or its regulatory agency to give this new report much credence.

The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board will hold its regular monthly meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, in the Board Room, 850 Barret Avenue, Louisville. The Board invites the public to attend.

Meeting Agenda

1.    Call to Order

A.    Recognition of Quorum

2.    Introductions – Daniel Durrett, Air Pollution Tech II; Deborah Vavrek, Air Pollution Tech II; and Stewart McCollam, Engineer I

3.    Approval of Minutes – Public Hearing <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/CE7D2F5A-DCD3-4BBA-AD76-D4FE27F546F8/0/BoardPublicHearingMinutes2009_10_21.pdf>  and regular Board meeting <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4CF41DD3-6F08-4C80-A9C3-30EA33069078/0/BoardMeetingMinutes2009_10_21.pdf>  on October 21, 2009

4.    Public Comment <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/APCD/Calendar/20091118BoardMeeting.htm#a1> [1]

5.    Unfinished Business

6.    New Business

7.    Committee Reports

8.    Staff Reports

•    Director
•    Air Quality Data <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DCB19A4F-F70D-464A-AF34-E8DD0D59E640/0/AirQualityReport2009_10.pdf> 
•   Enforcement <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/23993C7D-4B88-4CA6-87E5-D7BDBC6FB8C8/0/EnforcementStatus2009_11_12.pdf>  Status Report
•   Excess Emission <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/B2CD12C1-1423-4B1E-AA9E-0D396E46F126/0/ExcessEmissionEventReports2009_10.pdf>  Report
•    Permit <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/21E3D8A2-72C3-4E66-BDCE-94627AAC1055/0/PermitApplicationReport2009_10.pdf>  Application Report
•    Lawn Care <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1C6892AF-3E5C-45E9-B68D-1E61AF2CF570/0/LCCAReport2009_11.pdf>  for Cleaner Air Awards

 9.    Adjourn

You can download this agenda in PDF format <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/ADE7B7EE-359C-4605-96BD-DBA818E9CEB3/0/BoardMeetingAgenda2009_11_18.pdf> .

The next Board Meeting is  <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/APCD/Calendar/20091216BoardMeeting.htm> Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:00 a.m.

1 This is a regularly scheduled agenda item to give individuals and organizations an opportunity to address the Board on air pollution issues. Presentations shall be limited to two minutes, except that the Board Chair may, for cause, allow three minutes. Persons wishing to address the Board shall notify Joseph <http://www.louisvilleky.gov/APCD/EMailExecAdmininistrator.htm>  Schweinhart, Secretary/Treasurer (502‑574‑5145) and submit a completed speaker’s registration card to the Secretary-Treasurer before 10:00 a.m. of the day of the Board meeting.

A new EPA study shows concentrations of toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs in nearly all 50 U.S. states. For the first time, EPA is able to estimate the percentage of lakes and reservoirs nationwide that have fish containing potentially harmful levels of chemicals such as mercury and PCBs.

The data showed mercury concentrations in game fish exceeding EPA’s recommended levels at 49 percent of lakes and reservoirs nationwide, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in game fish at levels of potential concern at 17 percent of lakes and reservoirs. These findings are based on a comprehensive national study using more data on levels of contamination in fish tissue than any previous study.

Burning fossil fuels, primarily coal, accounts for nearly half of mercury air emissions caused by human activity in the U.S., and those emissions are a significant contributor to mercury in water bodies. From 1990 through 2005, emissions of mercury into the air decreased by 58 percent. EPA is committed to developing a new rule to substantially reduce mercury emissions from power plants, and the Obama Administration is actively supporting a new international agreement that will reduce mercury emissions worldwide.

The study also confirms the widespread occurrence of PCBs and dioxins in fish, illustrating the need for federal, state and local government to continue efforts to reduce the presence of these harmful chemicals in our lakes and reservoirs and ensure that fish advisory information is readily available.

It is important that women of child-bearing age and children continue to follow the advice of EPA and the Food and Drug Administration on fish consumption as it relates to mercury. This study is also a strong message to state and local governments to redouble their efforts in looking for opportunities to reduce mercury discharges, as well as developing fish advisories, especially to reach those in sensitive and vulnerable populations.

Results from the four-year National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue show that mercury and PCBs are widely distributed in U.S. lakes and reservoirs. Mercury and PCBs were detected in all of the fish samples collected from the nationally representative sample of 500 lakes and reservoirs in the study. Because these findings apply to fish caught in lakes and reservoirs, it is particularly important for recreational and subsistence fishers to follow their state and local fish advisories.

EPA is conducting other statistically based national aquatic surveys that include assessment of fish contamination, such as the National Rivers and Streams Assessment and the National Coastal Assessment. Sampling for the National Rivers and Streams Assessment is underway, and results from this two-year study are expected to be available in 2011. Collection of fish samples for the National Coastal Assessment will begin in 2010.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fishstudy

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a federal consent decree filed in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.  Under the Clean Air Act settlement, BASF will spend more than an estimated $250,000 to retrofit one refrigeration unit that currently uses such chemicals, replacing them with environmentally-friendly alternatives, and will either retrofit or retire two other units. BASF will also pay a civil penalty of $384,200. 

Under the negotiated settlement, BASF will replace one industrial refrigeration unit at its facility in Beaumont, and will either retrofit or retire two others at that facility. All of those units currently use hydro-chlorofluorocarbons, known as “HCFCs,” which destroy stratospheric, or “good” ozone. All replacement units will be able to use only non ozone-depleting refrigerants.

BASF has already replaced or retired four other refrigeration units at BASF’s facilities in Livonia, Mich.; Greenville, Ohio; and South Brunswick, N.J., at a cost of over $200,000. Combined, the measures that the company is performing will remove approximately 4,760 pounds of harmful HCFCs from their operations.

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down a  honking huge decision that may foreshadow increased implementation of controls designed to limit the amount of greenhouse gases released from fossil fuel electric generating plants.  It is a huge victory for those wanting to limit the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

The appellate court determined that two separate groups of plaintiffs could sue coal fired utility plants under federal nuisance law for annually releasing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.  The two groups of plaintiffs included 8 northeastern states, New York City, and three large land trusts.

In making its 139 page ruling, the Second Circuit overturned the district court, which had erroneously ruled that the case presented non-justiciable political questions.  What a terrible punt on the issue by the district court.  “On further review, the district court is overruled on the play.”  To make matter worse for the utility industry, the appellate court also ruled that TVA was not immune to suit. 

Hello Frankfort and Columbus, we better be moving forward on finding air pollution controls that work to reduce greenhouse emissions if we want to continue to depend almost solely on coal for generating electric power.  The days of coal fired utility plants without such controls are coming to an end.  That is simply a fact, like it or not.  You can either bitch about it or face up to the reality of the situation and FIX IT!!

We need lots of research dollars to develop working air pollution controls.  Can you say University of Kentucky and University of Louisville’s engineering departments working on such projects in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy??

On October 4^th, the town of Olin, Iowa was evacuated because of an atmospheric release from a 1,500-pound tank of anhydrous ammonia at the River Valley Cooperative on the south side of town. Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer. Olin, Iowa has about 700 residents. 

Anhydrous ammonia is classified as a hazardous substance. Anhydrous ammonia contains no water. Anhydrous is the Greek word for “without water.” Anhydrous ammonia has a very strong affinity for water. It requires large quantities of water to neutralize its caustic effects on moist areas of the body.

When anhydrous ammonia contacts water, it forms ammonium hydroxide. Living tissue is dehydrated quickly and the cells destroyed on contact. Anhydrous ammonia attacks any moist part of the body: eyes, ears, nose, throat, bronchia, lungs, any moist skin. Any tissue containing moisture is chemically burned.

 Most accidents with anhydrous ammonia are due to uncontrolled releases. Few problems occur when the ammonia is being handled and applied as intended. Most uncontrolled releases are due to improper procedures, careless or untrained workers, or faulty equipment.

Indspec Chemical Corp. faces more than $150,000 in state environmental and federal workplace safety fines for the leak in Petrolia, Pennnsylvania in October 2008.  Oleum leaked when a transfer tank overflowed because its pump was connected to an outlet without an automatic shut-off valve.

 Oleum is a harsh reagent, and is highly corrosive.  Oleum is extremely hygroscopic and must be diluted only with approximately 96 % sulfuric acid and not with water (you get a violent reaction!).

Oleum forms sulfuric acid when exposed to air and the cloud forced 2,500 people from their homes for a day. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says Indspec workers often used the outlet without an automatic shut-off valve to save time on weekends, when fewer workers were present.

Indspec is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and is the world’s largest resorcinol producer and the only commercial resorcinol producer in the United States. INDSPEC manufactures resorcinol, resorcinol-based resins and other resorcinol derivatives. INDSPEC also sells high  grade sodium sulfite and sodium sulfate.

Resorcinol is commonly used in manufacturing tires and rubber products, high performance wood adhesives, fire retardant plastic additives, and UV light stabilizers. Resorcinol is also used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of dyes and dyestuffs, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, plasticizers and polyurethane chain extenders.

 Indspec is a Responsible Care company.  The term “Responsible Care company” refers to members of the American Chemistry Council, which, as part of their obligations under Responsible Care, submit annual performance data that are made publicly available on the Responsible Care website.  

I suppose Indspec is now going to purchase that automatic shutoff valve.  Mark this one down as a penny saved, many dollars wasted on civil penalties and fines.

As we reported several months ago, EPA Region 4 is sampling the air outside 12 schools in the Southeast that were selected as part of EPA’s Schools Air Toxics Monitoring Initiative. The initiative, which is monitoring the air outside 63 schools in 22 states, is designed to help EPA and the state and local air pollution programs evaluate whether long-term exposure to toxics in the outdoor air might pose health concerns for children and staff at the schools.

Outdoor air at each of the schools is being monitored for at least 60 days, and air quality monitors will take a minimum of 10 samples during these sampling periods. EPA will use the information gathered in the initiative to help determine next steps, which could include additional monitoring or enforcement action where appropriate. Monitoring concluded in June at two schools in Tennessee and those reports have been posted to the EPA website http://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html.

Preliminary air toxics monitoring data from four additional schools were posted on the EPA’s Web site today. The schools are Lewis Elementary, North Birmingham Elementary, Tarrant Elementary, and the Riggins School, all in Jefferson County, Alabama. The data are posted at http://www.epa.gov/schoolair/schools.html.

The key pollutants of concern at these schools are:

• Arsenic — emitted from some industrial processes;
• benzene — emitted from burning coal and oil, motor vehicle exhaust, and evaporation from gasoline service stations, and found in industrial solvents;
• benzo(a)pyrene — formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances like tobacco or charbroiled meat, and
• lead — from human activities including burning fossil fuels, mining, and manufacturing.

Once monitoring is complete, the full set of results from the schools will be analyzed to evaluate the potential for health concerns related to long-term exposure to these pollutants. EPA will post these analyses to the Web.

Other schools where the air has or will be monitored in the Southeast include the Crabbe, Hatcher, and Charles Russell Schools in Ashland, Kentucky.; Enterprise High School in Enterprise, Miss.; Chicora Elementary School in North Charleston, S.C.; and in Tenn., Ashland City Elementary School in Ashland City, West Greene High School in Mosheim, Lakeview Elementary in New Johnsonville, and Vonore Elementary and Middle schools in Vonore.

We look forward to reviewing the air monitoring results from the three elementary schools in Ashland, Kentucky.