August Mack Environmental, Inc. is a full-service environmental consulting firm specializing in environmental, health and safety; environmental due diligence; closure, investigation and remediation; and sustainability services to the industrial, legal, financial, government and health care sectors throughout North America. On this blog, August Mack's team of experts will share their insights and experience on various EH&S topics. Check back for frequent updates!
August
Mack has long been known as a consulting and engineering firm in
Central Indiana… our roots. Over the years, August Mack has
grown to react to needs of changing regulatory and business
conditions by adding offices in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and
Missouri and completing projects in 40+ states. Throughout
23+ years, we have seen enormous changes in the regulatory
programs. Some sites that would have historically qualified
as Superfund sites can now be managed under Brownfield or...
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In times of a poor economy or
elevated scrap metal markets, everyone becomes a demolition
contractor. It’s times like these that everyone needs to be
reminded of what needs to occur prior to the demolition.
Asbestos surveys are typically required prior to any demolition
activity and these should certainly be destructive in nature in
order to identify all potential sources of asbestos.
Attempting an asbestos removal on a partially demolished structure
only increases liability and cost. The...
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Many people (consultants,
contractors and users) who work primarily in one specific area get
so focused on that program that they miss some of the overall
regulatory items. One of these items is benzene in
soil. Many UST contractors inaccurately think that all
benzene contaminated soil or media is nonhazardous without knowing
the regulatory reason. For soil from leaking petroleum storage
tanks, they are correct; for many other instances they are
not. In fact the exclusion indicates “Petroleum...
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Being involved in various portions
of remediation projects, I understand there is a lot of confusion
regarding lab data results and its use. Below are clarifications on
a couple items that are routinely confused:
- TCLP data is used for waste
characterization and rarely if ever used for cleanup
criteria.
- Hazardous waste sites may routinely
have acceptable OSHA exposures and non-hazardous waste sites may
have unacceptable exposures of breathing air.
- Total concentrations are used for
cleanup criteria...
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On August 21, 1999, arsonists set
fire to an estimated seven million tires at the Kirby Scrap Tire
Facility located in Sycamore, Ohio. This would later be classified
as one of the largest tire fires in the state’s history and would
take approximately 250 firefighters three weeks to
extinguish.
The former tire collection facility is situated on 140
acres located in Sycamore, Ohio. The scrap tire facility started
collecting tires in the 1950s and, at the time of the fire,
contained an estimated...
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Take advantage of August Mack's
newsletter articles and webinars to educate yourself on various
EH&S issues. Go to the upper right side of this blog and
click on the links to access these valuable resources.
House Enrollment Act (HEA) 1162
requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)
to consider risk-based solutions to environmental impacts. An
important part of risk-based thinking is the use of "multiple lines
of evidence". This webinar will summarize risk-based closure
thinking and explain how "lines of evidence" are used in the
process of obtaining environmental closure. You will learn what
specific "lines of evidence" are most helpful and why.
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This webinar will familiarize
attendees with Ohio's UST governing agency, define common
nomenclature used and detail all responsibilities required to
complete a legal closure. We will also provide information on what
options are available for closures with contamination above
applicable action levels, future investigation requirements as well
as the necessary steps to obtain a "No Further Action" letter from
the state.
Click here to register for this webinar
presented by one of August Mack's
Ohio...
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Register here to learn about the
components required in an Energy Control Program (Lockout/Tagout).
Having a properly prepared program is the first step in protecting
your employees. This is followed by training, implementing and
review the program to ensure it is working.
All of August Mack Environmental's webinars are presented by
Environmental Compliance
Specialists.
The buildings we spend the
majority of the day in play an important role in our daily lives.
The primary purpose of a building is to protect people from the
elements and to support human activity. Buildings should not make
people sick, cause them discomfort or otherwise inhibit their
ability to perform. If environmental exposures are not well
managed. costly remediation and/or potential liability as a result
of ensuing environmental issues can occur. In addition, with
ever-changing regulations,...
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For the 12-month period ending
March 21, 2010, 1,531,997 bankruptcies were filed. Of those, 61,148
were business filings - a 27.4 percent increase in the number of
filings! With the growing number of bankruptcies the likelihood of
a company or individual simply "walking away" from an unwanted
property increases significantly. Sometimes abandoning not only the
physical assets and land, but also abandoning a wealth of potential
environmental contamination problems and/or waste.
Register here to...
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The NESHAP for Industrial,
Commercial and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters, 40 CFR
Part 63, Subpart DDDDD (the "Boiler MACT") was vacated in June
2007. This web seminar will provide updated information on the
status of EPAs development of a revised Boiler MACT. Information
will be provided on new requirements, compliance dates, submittal
requirements and deadlines. In addition, information regarding the
development of any source- specific MACT standards by state
regulatory agencies will...
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House Enrollment Act (HEA) 1162
requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)
to consider risk-based solutions while evaluating environmental
closures. Risk-based closures can include several approaches for
example:
- Applying pre-approved closure
levels
- Determining site-specific closure
levels
- Considering risk of exposure
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The wanted list contains the names,
vital statistics, mug shots and violations of 21 people on the run
from justice for allegedly participating in environmental crimes.
The crimes range from smuggling banned pollutants to illegally
dumping hazardous waste. Examples of violations are listed
below:
- Illegally importing R-12 Freon (Currently R-12 is on the ozone
depleting list and requires special permits)
- Illegally discharging hazardous substances into navigable
waters of the U.S.
- Illegally dumping...
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MACT stands for Maximum Achievable
Control Technology. You might be thinking you do not know much more
now than when you thought MACT was just some four-lettered acronym
that did not apply to you. The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAAs) of
1994 are responsible for the MACT acronym. As part of the 1994
CAAAs, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
(NESHAPs) were required to be established for approximately one
hundred and 188 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The basis for
these...
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According to the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA), there are approximately 30,000
industrial facilities in the United States at risk for dust
explosions due to the materials they utilize and the processes they
operate. OSHA states there have been in excess of 350 dust
explosions resulting in more than 100 fatalities and numerous
injuries since 1980. There were 15 fatalities in 2003 alone
including the dust explosion at Hayes Lemmerz, a plastic dust
explosion at a...
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