EPA Imposes New Limits for Toxic Pollutants Released into Water

The Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) has imposed new standards for mercury, lead and other toxic pollutants that are discharged into the water bodies (rivers and streams) from steam-powered electric power plants.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the rules, the first national limits on pollutants from steam electricity plants, will provide significant protections for children and communities across the country from exposure to pollutants that can cause serious health problems.

The rule will remove 1.4 billion pounds a year of toxic discharge nationwide. More than 23,000 miles of rivers and streams across the US are polluted by steam electric discharges, which occur close to 100 public drinking water intakes and nearly 2,000 public wells across the nation, the EPA said.

Toxic metals do not break down in the environment and can contaminate sediment in waterways and harm aquatic life and wildlife, including killing large numbers of fish. Steam electric power plants account for about 30 percent of all toxic pollutants discharged into streams, rivers and lakes from U.S. industrial facilities. The pollutants can cause neurological damage in children, lead to cancer and damage the circulatory system, kidneys and livers.

The EPA said most of the nation’s 1,080 steam electric power plants already meet the requirements. About 12 percent, or 134 plants, will have to make new investments to do so. A water quality management software like Locus EIM can help utilities automate their compliance with this new rules and manage water quality across portfolio of their plants.

Colorado Mine Spill Highlights Superfund Challenges

The Colorado mine spill that sent three million gallons of toxic sludge into a river last month highlighted the struggles of the federal Superfund program to clean up contaminated mining sites across the American West, reported Wall Street Journal on 12 September 2015.

The program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, was set up in the 1980s to remediate the nation’s most polluted places, from old factories to landfills. But it has been especially strained by legacy mining sites, which are often impossible to permanently clean up and instead require water-treatment plants or other expensive measures to contain widespread pollution, experts say.

The result is that some old mining sites widely acknowledged to be severely contaminated—such as the Gold King mine that led to last month’s spill, and others dotting the Upper Animas River Basin near Silverton, Colo.—haven’t been contained or cleaned, as the EPA and other stakeholders squabble about the best solution.

Currently, dozens of mining sites around the U.S. are on the EPA’s “National Priorities List” for Superfund cleanups or proposed to be added to the tally. But the taxes designed to fund cleanup costs when responsible parties can’t be found expired in 1995, and the multibillion-dollar fund dwindled to zero in the 2003 fiscal year, according to EPA data. Congressional appropriations have since helped support the program, but they decreased to nearly $1.1 billion this fiscal year from $1.3 billion in 2010.

Locus makes ENR TOP 200 Environmental Firms as the only EHS Software company

California Governor Orders New Target for Emissions Cuts

California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order Wednesday, April 29, 2015 sharply speeding up California’s already ambitious program aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, saying it was critical to address “an ever-growing threat” posed by global warming to the state’s economy and well-being. In an executive order, Brown said the state must cut the pollutants to 40% below 1990 levels by the year 2030.
Brown’s order aligns the California’s goals with standards set by the European Union.

Mr. Brown said this tough new interim target was essential to prod the energy industry to act and to help the state make investment and regulatory decisions that would assure that goal was not missed.

Environmental and Sustainability Software: How one company’s cloud environmental and sustainability software is changing how firms and government manage environmental information.

How one company’s cloud environmental and sustainability software is changing how firms and government manage environmental information.

Locus Technologies receives EBJ Business Achievement award for Information Technology

Environmental Business Journal (EBJ) recognizes firms for growth and innovation in 2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 10 March 2015 — Locus Technologies announced today that Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication which provides high value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry, granted the company the 2014 award for Information Technology in the environmental and sustainability industry for the ninth time.

Locus was recognized for significant strategic strides in 2014 including entering the water quality management (drinking water supplies and waste water) market; introducing its new Locus Platform (a highly configurable, user-friendly interface to fully meet individual organizations’ environmental management needs); and launching Locus Mobile (a field data collection solution that is fully integrated with Locus’s flagship Environmental Information Management [EIM] platform). In addition, Locus continues to maintain its leadership position in the commercial nuclear industry by solidifying business with more than 50 percent of all U.S. commercial reactor facilities that use Locus EIM for radionuclides monitoring management.

“Locus continues to influence the industry with its forward-thinking product set and eye for customer needs,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal.

“We are very proud to receive the prestigious EBJ Information Technology award in environmental business for the ninth time. It is a statement of our vision and perseverance to accomplish this level of recognition, especially now as we lead the market by providing robust solutions for the emerging space of cloud and mobile-based environmental information management,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

The 2014 EBJ awards, hosted by EBI Inc., will be presented at the annual executive retreat called the Environmental Industry Summit XIII in San Diego, Calif. on March 11-13, 2015.

Could the Influence of “Under the Dome” — a Chinese Documentary about Smog Pollution — Equal the American Book the “Silent Spring”?

In just three days, Chinese documentary film “Under the Dome” generated 136 million views on the Chinese government Tencent video portal and sparked vibrant discussions of the country’s dense and devastating pollution problems, specifically health issues relating to smog. The huge online response illustrates perhaps indicates greater official tolerance for public discussion of the country’s environmental challenges.

Produced by Chai Jing, a former anchor at state broadcaster China Central Television, and presented in TED Talk style, the film released at 12 noon Saturday, 28 February 2015 taps researchers from around the world discussing the health effects of smog.

The enthusiastic response to the 104-minute film — and the fact government censors have permitted it to stream on major internet portals — suggest officials want to harness public pressure to build political support for tougher measures to combat the problem.

Chen Jining, environmental protection minister, said on Sunday he had texted Ms. Chai to thank her for a film “worthy of admiration”. Mr. Chen compared the film to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring, which is credited with galvanizing the modern environmental movement in the US, official media reported.

European Study on Chemical Composition of Fracking Wastewater: Can it be drinkable?

Have you heard of “halogenated hydrocarbons”? It is a group of chemicals containing elements that when consumed by humans, it can damage the nervous system and your liver. Normally, these compounds are not on your daily menu.  But studies suggest these elements are appearing in water as by the reuse of fracking wastewater which ironically has been treated with chlorine-containing antibacterial chemicals.  The process of cleaning the water is a common practice. More studies of treated wastewater are being conducted to more clearly determined if the creation of halogenated hydrocarbons from antibacterial chemicals occurs during treatment of wastewater or during reuse.

Produced water, water that is chemically cleaned, can contain a complex mixture of metals — salts and other chemicals, partly composed of the original fracturing fluid components — plus chemicals released by the rocks in the area. Large volumes of water used for fracking poses some level of side effects of the wastewater on human and environmental health. To investigate further, researchers in Europe, in one of the most comprehensive studies of chemical composition of its kind to date, took samples of produced water from three fracking sites in the US.  A number of different analysis techniques were used to determine the chemical composition of the samples, although not the concentrations of the different organic (carbon-based) constituents.

The researchers found that produced water contained a diverse array of chemicals including toxic metals such as mercury and the carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, a group of harmful chemicals, ‘polyaromatic hydrocarbons’ commonly found in mining and coal extraction wastewater, were absent.

A wide range of metals were found in all samples, but varied depending on the geology of the area. Among these were chromium, mercury and arsenic, all of which were found at levels exceeding US maximum contamination levels (MCL) for drinking water in at least one well. Over 50 different organic chemicals were identified, the majority of which were part of a group of chemicals called ‘saturated hydrocarbons’. Many of these were common to more than one well. They included carcinogens toluene and ethylbenzene. However, the researchers did not find polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are usually found in mining and coal extraction wastewater.

The authors believe that detailed chemical analyses of produced waters, such as theirs, highlight problems in wastewater treatment protocols,  In particular, the problem of developing a process that removes a wide range of organic compounds. While the findings of this research are based on fracking sites in the US, they may also be useful for other regions where fracking is being actively pursued, such as the UK, and could help to develop policies and techniques to reduce the risk of environmental contamination.

Fresh water continues to be challenged, not from just drought or salt contamination, but from the process of re-creating quality drinking water.

Locus Technologies’ Customer Exelon Corp. to Present at the NAEM EHS and Sustainability Software Conference Feb 24-25

Exelon’s Eric Schwarz to Discuss “Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 17 February 2015 — Locus Technologies, a leader in environmental compliance and sustainability management software, today announced that Exelon Corporation’s Radiochemist/Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator, Eric Schwarz, will present at The National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM) conference as part of the EH&S and Sustainability Software conference on Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. The presentation and demonstration will focus on his experience and insight on water quality management at Exelon’s nuclear facilities. Exelon is one of the largest U.S. power generators that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 7.8 million customers and distinguished as one of the nation’s cleanest and lowest-cost power generating organizations. At the conference, Locus will host its corporate booth, booth 12, located in Ballroom I, at the Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center.

Title: Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities
When: Two sessions – Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Where: Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center, Ballrooms I & II
Exelon to Discuss and Demonstrate: Radiological groundwater protection program operations and monitoring data management is critical for 11 nuclear facilities in the U.S. and Canada. The demo will show how Locus EIM, ePortal, and Locus Mobile provides enterprise tools for proactive trending, analysis, visualization, and reporting from massive data aggregation from varied sources.
Who: Eric Schwarz, Exelon’s Radiochemist/ Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator. Schwarz oversees the radiological environment monitoring and radioactive effluent controls for Exelon’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania. Schwarz’s nuclear radiochemistry career began in the U.S. Navy where, for more than 14 years, he gained technical expertise in several disciplines and specialties to ensure regulatory compliance and safety.

NAEM empowers corporate leaders to advance environmental stewardship, create safe and healthy workplaces, and promote global sustainability. Locus Technologies is a Gigabyte sponsor at this event.

US-China Deal on Carbon Emissions to Potentially Impact Climate Talks

In 1997, the world’s first climate change treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, failed to stop the rise of plant-warming pollution. Nearly two decades later, there is new hope for the impending climate change negations that are to occur in Paris next year.

Earlier this month, Obama and Xi Jinping, China’s president, came to an agreement to commit to lowering their nations’ carbon emissions. The ramifications of such a commitment from two of the world’s largest emitters has many environmentalists excited for a shift in global politics.

As David B. Sandalow, Obama’s former assistant secretary for energy policy and international affairs, comments, “For the world’s biggest emitters to be coming together and announcing concrete numbers, serious numbers, sends a signal to the world.” One of the many reasons the Kyoto Protocol is not considered a success is due to a standoff between the two nations who refused to sign the deal in 1997.

The Kyoto plan was meant to force developed countries, such as the United States, to cut fossil fuel emissions, while developing countries like China were exempt. Due to these conditions, the United States refused to ratify the treaty. Since 1997, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest carbon polluters. The standoff between two of the world’s superpowers caused many other governments to refuse to cut emissions as well.

Despite these negotiations, many experts claim that these emissions reductions are not enough to reduce the global atmospheric temperatures. Scientists expect the atmospheric temperature to increase by at least 2 degrees Celsius, tipping the planet into a trend of dangerous warming. Such conditions will result in the loss of large areas of arable land, melting Arctic sea ice and rapidly increasing sea levels, among many other dreadful climate changes.

These Scientists have concluded that in order to avoid such catastrophic conditions, the world’s largest economies must commit to a much more extreme plan of emission reduction, in a much shorter amount of time. Additionally, many Paris deal-negotiating experts claim that in order for significant change to occur, the final deal must include a tax on industries for their carbon emissions.

Although many are hopeful for the upcoming Paris negotiations, others are taking a more pragmatic stance. Laurence Tubiana, France’s climate change ambassador to the United Nations, states that she does not believe the Paris deal will result in a traditional treaty. Tubiana envisions a “Paris Alliance” which she anticipated will resemble a collection of targets pledge by individual countries, as well as governmental pledges to follow through with domestic action.

The opinions on how the Paris deal will pan out are varied; many are not convinced how the agreement between the United States and China will influence other major emitters. Despite these concerns, negotiators can all agree that if the treaty fails to stave off a 2-degree temperature increase, the 2015 deal must include provisions to assist poor countries deal with the resulting climate change.  Rich countries will meet in Berlin to formally announce their pledges for such provisions, with hopes of reaching their $100 billion goal.