bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Supercritical oxidation in water and carbon dioxide
Authors: Kruse Andrea , Schmieder Helmut 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSupercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is a promising technology for the incineration of hazardous compounds in aqueous solutions. Even though the entire oxidation process in carbon dioxide is still somewhat unknown, this would be the optimum way of completely oxidizing the hazardous compounds which are first extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide. Results of high‐pressure oxidation of model compounds (ethanol, methanol, toluene) in carbon dioxide compared to SCWO are reported. Such comparisons will help to clarify the role of the reaction medium in high‐pressure oxidation.Under optimum conditions, oxidation in CO2 leads to the same excellent TOC conversion of more than 99.9% as in H2O for methanol and ethanol, and of more than 98% for toluene. Under certain conditions, a reaction mixture containing carbon dioxide ignites at a lower temperature than the comparable reaction mixture with water.
Hydrothermal oxidation of model molecules and industrial wastes
Authors: Cansell François , Beslin Patrick , Berdeu Bernard 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe environmental regulation evolution and the increasing wastewater disposal costs led to a new concept for the complete destruction of toxic substances and sludges. Hydrothermal oxidation of wastes was developed as an alternative technique in order to limit the risks of secondary pollution.After a brief presentation of previous works dealing with hydrothermal oxidation and supercritical water properties, results concerning two model molecules: methanol and glucose are presented. The oxidation kinetics of methanol is modeled and by‐products of glucose characterized.Results concerning industrial wastes such as paper mill sludges, mechanical wastewaters and cutting oils are examined. The influence of various parameters controlling the trans‐formation such as pressure, temperature and residence time are investigated.
New developments in base‐closure law and regulation
Authors: Swenson Raymond Takashi 
Published: February 2007

AbstractIn an article appearing in this journal a year ago, the author predicted that each year would see additional changes in laws and regulations affecting the base‐closure and redevelopment process.1 This new article shows how that has been fulfilled with two new statutes and a revised regulation that will each have significant impacts on how military bases are converted to civilian use. These include: (1) the new law providing DOD funding and a statutory role for Restoration Advisory Boards in base cleanup, (2) revisions to the DOD regulations governing economic development conveyances of base property to Local Redevelopment Authorities (LRAs), and (3) the second major change to the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act in as many years, designed to reconcile aid to the homeless with economic redevelopment.
Federal facilities and release reporting under CERCLA section 103(a)
Authors: Rudolph Thomas E. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractFederal facility environmental managers must be aware of, and comply with, numerous federal statutes that require the reporting of “spills” or “releases” of “hazardous substances” and other types of substances into the environment. By far, the most important release reporting requirement is Section 103(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).1 Section 103(a) of CERCLA provides: “Any person in charge of a vessel or a facility shall, as soon as he has knowledge of any release (other than a federally permitted release) of a hazardous substance from such vessel or facility in quantities greater than or equal to [reportable quantities] immediately notify the National Response Center of such release.”2 This article shows how federal facilities are required under the CERCLA waiver of sovereign immunity to comply with this requirement3.
Development of the EPA radiation site cleanup regulation
Authors: Newman Amy 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe U.S. EPA is developing a proposed rule that will establish a uniform standard for cleaning up radioactively contaminated sites. The rule will apply to federal facility sites and to sites licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or an Agreement State. The cleanup standard must be met if a site is to be released for public use. The regulation will not mandate the cleanup of any sites or provide remedy selection criteria on when cleanup is appropriate.EPA has coordinated the development of the rule with a wide range of governmental organizations and affected groups. A regulatory impact analysis of the rule's economic effects is underway, and the Agency plans to develop implementation guidance to help agencies responsible for radiation site cleanups meet the cleanup standard.This article discusses the latest technical and policy developments for the radiation site cleanup rule. The information presented is preliminary in nature and is subject to change as the regulatory development process continues. It is intended to be used primarily to maximize discussion and comment with interested parties.
Environmental monitoring at DOE's pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas
Authors: Gray Robert H. , McGrath Daniel A. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractEnvironmental monitoring for radionuclides and some chemicals has been conducted at DOE's Pantex Plant for over 20 years. Monitoring for a comprehensive suite of chemicals is more recent. Resulting data are used to calculate the radiological dose to the public and to assess the environmental effects of plant operations. Monitoring data show that concentrations of airborne radionuclides at the plant perimeter are in compliance with applicable standards. Radionuclide levels in soil and vegetation from both on‐ and off‐site locations are generally attributable to naturally occurring radioactivity and worldwide fallout. The radiological dose potentially received by an individual at the plant boundary, using worst‐case assumptions for all routes of exposure, was 0.00057 mrem in 1993, well below the DOE radiation limit of 100 mrem/yr to the public. No contamination has been found in the Ogallala aquifer beneath the plant or downgradient in a well field operated by the City of Amarillo. This article reviews the Pantex Plant monitoring program, summarizes the existing database, and discusses the changes needed to satisfy today's environmental regulations and to answer questions posed by a knowledgeable public.
NEPA mitigation: An effective strategy for implementing mitigation plans
Authors: Abbott John C. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractMitigation measures are required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to lessen the severity of potential impacts to the environment from a proposed project. But the real concern is seeing that these measures are actually implemented. NEPA does not have any specific guidance on how to implement mitigation measures, leaving this up to each lead agency. Mitigation measures are not being ignored. Several federal agencies are concerned about mitigation measures being implemented and have produced similar yet varying types of regulations on the implementation of mitigation measures. These range from the DOE's largely procedural guidance to the U.S. Department of the Army's detailed regulations on the monitoring and implementation of mitigation measures. This article offers guidance for implementing a strategy for mitigation plans. A mitigation plan is not an end in itself, but it should bridge the gap between paperwork and fieldwork.
Science in a Fishbowl: Public involvement in the hanford environmental dose reconstruction project
Authors: Shipler Dillard B. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (HEDR) Project was initiated in response to public, state, and Native American concerns about the potential health effects from the historical releases of radioactive materials from the Hanford Site. To allay concerns that DOE, the site owner and operator, was controlling the study, an independent Technical Steering Panel (TSP)—made up of technical specialists and public, state, and Native American representatives—was formed to direct the study. The TSP instituted a management process based on complete openness and public involvement in all aspects of the project including the definition of scope, budget, and priorities. This open approach—which could be called conducting “science in a fishbowl”—required more time and energy to ensure that concerns were understood and that stakeholders understood the radiation dose reconstruction process and results.
Citizen suits under federal environmental laws
Authors: Tobe Roslyn T. , Battle Laura C. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractOne of the important enforcement mechanisms of federal environmental laws is the citizen suit provision in each of the various pollution control laws. Eachyear, many citizens avail themselves of these provisions and sue federal facilities to ensure compliance with environmental laws. For example, under the Clean Water Act (CWA) there were 137 citizen suits brought against the government from May 1984 to September 1988.1 During the same time period there were 502 suits filed against private industry. The dollar amounts of penalties under citizen suits can be up to $25,000 per day per violation. In addition, the prevailing party may also recover attorney fees. The cost of defending a citizen suit can be staggering. For example, a CWA enforcement proceeding between Bethlehem Steel and two environmental organizations, NRDC and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, cost Bethlehem Steel $500,000 in attorney fees and litigation expenses.2 Even settlement of these cases can involve large amounts of money, as UNOCAL discovered when it paid $5.5 million to settle a CWA citizen suit filed by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.3 Payments of this magnitude can have a significant impact on operations at any facility; therefore, facility managers should acknowledge the likelihood of citizen suits and develop a strategy to prevent and respond to them.In the case of a suit against a federal facility, the court‐ordered payments may come out of either the Judgment Fund4 or the agency's funds. By comparison, environmental penalties are typically paid from the agency's appropriated budget rather than the Judgment Fund. Beyond monetary expenditures, a citizen suit may place extensive time‐labor demands on agency personnel at all levels. Facility personnel may be required to search and catalogue records, be available for depositions and hearings, and prepare reports related to the lawsuit. If a planned facility project is the subject of the suit, the litigation can often delay a project or hamper operations until the funding and/or support for the project die. Finally, litigation often carries the risk of bad publicity. Facility managers should be aware that media coverage of a citizen suit may expose the facility's entire environmental compliance record to public scrutiny.
McClellan air force base: Initial efforts in the environmental leadership program
Authors: Geissinger Linda 
Published: February 2007

AbstractMcClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento, California, was selected by EPA as one of 12 in the nation (ten private sector and two federal facilities) to participate in their Environmental Leadership Program. This program identifies and draws on the expertise of “top performers” in environmental compliance and pollution prevention to establish a long‐term leadership program.
Future land use and the selection of remedies under federal and state environmental cleanup laws
Authors: Rudolph Thomas E. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractEver since the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980, many legislators and commentators have stated that CERCLA and other similar environmental restoration laws should consider “future land use” in the remedy selection process. It may surprise many people to learn that there already is legal authority which allows consideration of future land use when selecting remedies under CERCLA or the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) “Corrective Action” rules. In addition, a number of states have recently enacted environmental restoration laws that consider future land use when selecting a remedy. This article provides an overview of the legal authority under CERCLA, RCRA, and other laws which allow future land use consideration when selecting a remedy. In addition, this article discusses two recent EPA administrative initiatives which could have a profound impact on the remedy selection process under both CERCLA and RCRA.
Data management system selection, design, and implementation: A case study
Authors: Silfer Andrew T. , Fountain Mark A. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThis article discusses the development of a data management system for a federal Superfund project in southwest Michigan that includes approximately 70 miles of river and lakes. Past efforts at the site have focused primarily on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the sediments, floodplain soils, surface water, and biota of the area. Project requirements necessitated the collection of over 2,000 environmental samples for various laboratory scans. Project‐scale, topography, and terrain considerations posed the challenge of how to cost‐effectively gather accurate position information and how best to spatially manage the resulting analytical and observational data to facilitate analyses that will be necessary during the project.After careful consideration and evaluation of several options, a management system was developed for the project including features such as: automatic import of digital analytical data; capability to remotely enter field observational data; capability to generate analytical data tables, thus reducing redundant keypunching and potential transcription errors; a risk analysis program that compares analytical data to various risk assessment criteria; a sample tracking mechanism; ability to integrate results of data validation activities; and capability to export position and analytical data to a variety of software mapping and analysis programs including AutoCAD (including use of “smart drawings”), various geostatistical software, WordPerfect, and Quattro Pro. With these and other benefits, the project team was able to cost‐effectively provide an efficient data management system to serve as the central repository of both observational and analytical data collected during the remedial investigation at the site.
An analysis of EPA's current approach to ecological risk assessments at military base closure sites
Authors: Fox Catherine A. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThis article presents an overview and qualitative analysis of ecological risk assessments at base closure sites nationwide. Much of the information presented was obtained from interviews, over a two‐year period beginning in the spring of 1994, with managers and staff from EPA Headquarters and Regions, Remedial Project Managers and Superfund Ecological Risk Assessment Support Staff involved with the daily operation of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program. Individuals from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of the Army, three states (Texas, California, and South Carolina), and one public interest group (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) also provided input to this study. This albeit small sample of scientists, attorneys, and others who participated in this study were chosen randomly. Their opinions, along with those of the author, do not represent the official policies of the organizations they represent. In addition, it should also be noted that the analyses and conclusions drawn in this article represent the views of the author and do not represent the opinions of all participants in this study.Included in this article is an overview of the regulatory requirements for ecological risk assessments at BRAC sites, and descriptions of the roles of various stakeholders in the process. Based on interviews with federal and state environmental decision makers, this article discusses technical and policy issues related to current ecological risk assessment activities at military base closure sites across the country. It also presents examples of ongoing ecological risk assessment studies to help illustrate the issues that must be resolved for successful risk characterization and environmental cleanup to take place. The article ends with a discussion of various options and recommendations for improving ecological risk assessments at current and future BRAC sites. These recommendations, based partly on interviews with study participants, are presented in the hopes of improving the overall cost and resource effectiveness of the program, financial as well as ecological. After all, it was evident throughout this study that the parties involved share the same goal–to clean up and transfer safe and valuable property as soon as possible so that community revitalization can occur. This article will show, however, that this goal may not be achieved unless the current system is significantly changed.
Determining the scope and level of detail appropriate for a programmatic environmental impact statement
Authors: Eccleston Charles H. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractSince the inception of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969, no definitive guidance has been established for determining the scope of issues or the level of detail suitable for presentation within a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (P‐EIS). Lacking such guidance, an inordinate amount of time and resources are often consumed in determining the issues and level of detail that are most appropriately addressed within a P‐EIS versus the more detailed scope and level of detail best reserved for lower‐tier documents. Experience indicates that P‐EISs are often over bloated and unnecessarily complex. Consequently, there is a great deal of inconsistency in the preparation of P‐EISs among federal agency programs.A paradigm for assisting decision makers in making such determinations is presented below. This model expedites the preparation of P‐EISs by providing a systematic approach for determining the scope and level of detail that are most appropriately addressed at the programmatic level. Thus, the model provides agencies with an excellent means for streamlining the NEPA process by descoping needless and unnecessary issues from the P‐EIS.
Implementing air force policy favoring seps: Are they a nonstarter fiscally?
Authors: Carey Chris 
Published: February 2007

AbstractIncreasingly, facilities that have been assesed a penalty for a violation of an environmental law have sought to reduce the amount of their penalty by agreeing to execute supplemental environmental project (SEPs). A SEP is defined by EPA as an “environmentally beneficial project which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant/respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.”1 SEPs are used by both the EPA and state regulatory authorities as an enforcement tool that provides affirmative environmental benefits beyond the deterrence and prevention that can be secured through the usual administrative and judicial mechanisms (e.g., penalties and injunctions).
The corps of engineers: Balancing regulatory and contracting authorities
Authors: Chionuma Bettye Y. Mims 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe performance and administration of a government contract are intertwined with contractor compliance with environmental laws. This presents a complex myriad of concerns for both the regulating federal agency, the federal agency administering the contract, and the contractor. This article examines the unique situation in which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) must exercise its sovereign obligations under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA), while administering a fixed‐priced construction contract in its proprietary capacity.
Superfund reforms and impacts on the army cleanup program
Authors: DeVeaux Jennie S. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe Army environmental cleanup program is largely governed by the Superfund process established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). This article examines relevant Superfund reform legislative proposals and their potential impact on future Army cleanup efforts. The provisions that are likely to have the greatest impact on the cleanup and transfer of Army properties are those that streamline the remedy selection process and allow greater flexibility in determining cleanup targets and types of remedies selected, expand state authorization, increase public participation in remedy and land‐use decisions, and confine the natural resource damage program. Funding impacts of these changes are difficult to estimate with precision but could be significant depending on implementing regulations and guidance. Although the enactment of comprehensive Superfund reform seems likely to be a casualty of Presidential election‐year politics, the Army may benefit from a number of piecemeal changes incorporated into the fiscal year 1997 National Defense Authorization Act that should facilitate the cleanup and economic reuse of base closure property.
Implementing relative risk site evaluations at air force installations
Authors: Sharma Sanjeev K. , Mardini Kamel , Paradkar Subhash 
Published: February 2007

AbstractIn April 1994, the Department of Defense issued management guidance directing the Services to begin developing their environmental restoration program guidance using a relative risk evaluation framework. The resulting Relative Risk Site Evaluation Framework categorizes sites and areas of concern in the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) into high, medium, and low relative risk groups to facilitate the prioritization of funding allocations. This article examines the Air Force's implementation of this guidance through the development of the Relative Risk Site Evaluation Framework at base closure sites managed by the Air Force Base Conversion Agency and by the Army Corps of Engineers in the restoration of formerly used defense sites (FUDS). Installations have the choice of two automated applications to assist them in the implementation of relative risk: the Relative Risk Site Evaluation Program (RRSEP) and the Relative Risk Mapinfo Interface (RRMI). Together, these user‐friendly automated systems provide installations with a flexible means of creating and managing remediation data to implement relative risk evaluation and communicate results of the evaluation to the stakeholders.
Wolves and the white sands missile range: The army's changing attitude toward its role under the endangered species act
Authors: Webster Joseph H. 
Published: February 2007

AbstractThe requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and greater emphasis on ecosystem management of natural resources on federal lands has presented some difficult challenges to the Department of Defense (DOD). Unlike most other agencies managing federal lands, DOD's national security mission requires the extensive use of its lands to conduct realistic training and the testing of military weapons and equipment. This article examines the Army's experience in attempting to reconcile these requirements involving the proposed reintroduction of the endangered Mexican gray wolf on the White Sands Missile Range. The Army's initial opposition to the proposed reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf resulted in prolonged litigation that actually reduced the Armys ability to influence the outcome. Drawing on this experience and the experiences at other installations like Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Army has issued new guidance directing base commanders to actively seek to incorporate conservation into their missions to ensure that environmental programs involving Army land are entered into as a matter of mutual consent, rather than through the imposition by judicial decree.