Locus Verifiers Accredited Under New California GHG Reporting Rule

Locus among the first to be accredited by California Air Resources Board

SAN FRANCISCO 19 April 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has been accredited by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to provide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions verification services. Locus is one of a select few companies to obtain this accreditation.

Locus has provided verification services since 2010 for dozens of reporting entities. Recent amendments to the CARB regulation have prompted the regulators to retest and recertify all verifiers to ensure thorough understanding of the new regulations. Locus verifiers passed the first round of re-certification, in which less than half of previously certified verifiers were re-certified. Locus verifiers were also re-approved to complete verifications under all three specialty sectors, including transactions, oil and gas, and process emissions. Locus is approved to begin the verification process immediately for the 2011 reporting year. Verification of that data is due 1 September 2012.

The GHG verification services cover facilities in California that are regulated by the California Air Resources Board. Locus is accredited as a verification body through CARB and has lead verifiers certified in all reporting sectors. While verification is a requirement this year through AB 32, companies are also using third-party verification to promote their brands and the accuracy of their emissions information.

“We are very pleased to receive this confirmation that our verification staff are among the top experts in the field of greenhouse gases. Locus continues to expand its carbon practice at a rapid pace. Coupled with our carbon software services and domain expertise in all three key AB 32 reporting sectors in California, Locus is becoming a partner of choice for all companies wishing to be credible in their carbon reporting practices,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

EPA Makes Public Fracking Rules, Delays Compliance Until 2015–New Rules Deal With Emissions, Not Drinking Water

Companies using hydraulic fracturing technique will have until 2015 to comply with new rules designed to reduce air pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency released today long-awaited rules on hydraulic fracturing, in one of its first efforts to regulate the widely used technique of extracting oil and natural gas. There was no mention about groundwater protection.

The rules, first proposed in July 2011, would require drillers to capture the emissions resulting from drilling the wells. The oil and gas industry representatives last week told the EPA that controls on wells that have low amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from drilling-related emissions won’t be cost-effective. American Petroleum Institute (API) opposed the rule and suggested that it should only apply only to wells whose gas stream is at least 10-percent volatile organic compounds.

“By ensuring the capture of gases that were previously released to pollute our air and threaten our climate, these updated standards will not only protect our health, but also lead to more product for fuel suppliers to bring to market,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement.

Locus presented at the 2012 DoD – Environmental Monitoring & Data Quality (EMDQ) Workshop in La Jolla, CA

The DoD Environmental Data Quality Workgroup is pleased to announce the 9th annual DoD Environmental Monitoring & Data Quality (EMDQ) Workshop.

Transparency: It’s not just for windows

Locus Technologies, in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, developed Intellus New Mexico— a new, web-based environmental data application that will display the same internal data that Laboratory scientists and regulatory agencies see and use for environmental analysis and monitoring of the LANL site.  The new system contains more than 9 million records, including historical data as well as a near-real-time view of ongoing data collection activities.

Managing Hydrofracking Data in Cloud

There is little dispute in both scientific and business communities that groundwater protection and water usage in general at hydrofracking sites provide the biggest challenges for this young and promising industry.

Locus presents at Groundwater Resources Association Symposium on Compounds of Emerging Concern

GRA is pleased to announce its symposium on compounds of emerging concern in groundwater.

Del Monte invests in enterprise software for energy, water

A management application from Locus Technologies will provide an integrated view of energy and water consumption across the food giant’s operations.

Del Monte Foods Selects Locus Software for Energy, Sustainability, and Resource Management

Solution to Drive Food Manufacturer’s Integrated Environmental Management

SAN FRANCISCO, California, December 12, 2011 — One of the nation’s largest food companies has joined with a Silicon Valley innovator to advance its position as a leader in sustainable energy and environmental resource management. Locus Technologies today announced that Del Monte Foods has selected Locus Technologies’ award-winning ePortal™ platform to provide a comprehensive, integrated system for monitoring and managing its energy use, water, and other sustainability efforts throughout the corporation’s facilities.

Together, the two companies are combining the latest in sustainable agricultural, food processing, and product delivery efforts with next-generation online technologies for Environmental Enterprise Resource Planning (EERP). In particular, ePortal will provide Del Monte with enterprise tools to optimize consumption of environmental resources to lower greenhouse gas emissions and encourage more sustainable growth.

For several years, Del Monte has pursued an aggressive agenda for environmental sustainability, including reductions to its waste stream, greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption.

Today’s announcement adds the critical component of energy management to this integrated resource approach by using Locus’ web-based environmental management and analytical tools for a simpler, more effective sustainability campaign. Through a single Cloud-based secure system, the Locus platform will collect, monitor, and analyze multiple streams of energy and environmental data flowing from Del Monte’s operational locations, with consumer production ranging from Kingsburg, California to Mendota, Illinois, as well as a wide array of Pet Food manufactured throughout the United States.

Locus’ ePortal works with Del Monte’s resource planning system to aggregate critical financial and operational data into a single platform for effective environmental resource monitoring and management.

“Companies are looking beyond single solution to address their energy, resource management, water, and compliance needs,” said Neno Duplan, president and CEO of Locus Technologies. “They seek solutions that help to align their energy, environmental emissions, and resource management strategies to become more efficient and to manage their energy and water consumption. ePortal provides that simple, integrated system, similar to ERP, that manages all environmental, energy, water, and other sustainability needs under a single portal infrastructure and Single Sign On (SSO) on the web,” Duplan said.

“By working with Locus, we will improve our ability to analyze and forecast our reliance on critical environmental resources, which will help Del Monte meet its sustainability goals,” said Robin Connell, Sustainability Programs Manager for Del Monte Foods. “Management of our complex set of activities requires robust software architectures that are best delivered via the Cloud. We found all of these in Locus’ platform.”

 

ABOUT DEL MONTE FOODS
Del Monte Foods is one of the country’s largest producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded pet products and food products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $3.7 billion in net sales in fiscal 2011. With a powerful portfolio of brands, Del Monte products are found in eight out of ten U.S. households. Pet food and pet snacks brands include Meow Mix®, Kibbles ‘n Bits®, Milk-Bone®, 9Lives®, Pup-Peroni®, Gravy Train®, Nature’s Recipe®, Canine Carry Outs®, Milo’s Kitchen® and other brand names. Food product brands include Del Monte®, Contadina®, S&W®, College Inn® and other brand names. The Company also produces and distributes private label pet products and food products.

For more information on Del Monte Foods, visit the Company’s website at www.delmontefoods.com.

Del Monte. Nourishing Families. Enriching Lives. Every Day®

Fracking Under Fire

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking oil and gas companies in the US to provide it with detailed information—including chemicals used and efforts to minimize environmental impact—about their use of hydrofracking.

The federal government’s investor-and-markets watchdog is stepping into the heated environmental debate surrounding hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” according to government and industry officials, even as state and federal environmental officials have begun to bring greater pressure on the industry. The process, which involves pumping water, chemicals and sand underground to free difficult-to-reach natural gas in shale basins, has come the center stage of political and environmental discussions.

At the same time the New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is recommending a one-year moratorium on the hydraulic fracturing, after conditionally vetoing legislation that would have permanently banned the practice.

“Fracking” as it is often known, has provoked a fierce battle between environmentalists, who see it as a threat to public health, particularly drinking water, and natural-gas companies, which argue it is safe, and an economic windfall to …

Locus CEO on Managing Nuclear Information in the Cloud

The burden of data management for the nuclear power industry is second only to that of managing nuclear material itself. Read here.