Practical Solutions for Today's Regulatory Environment
Sophic Pursuits, Inc.
EnvComNews - Information that you can use!
In the flood of information resources, sometimes its hard to keep up with trends, changes, and even the regulations that may impact your compliance programs. Sophic Pursuits, Inc. helps you, the person responsible for managing compliance, with monitoring a variety of information sources to distill it to news you can use.
This page will provide you with links to resources and news items to help you with your compliance effort.
Refinery Air Regulation - Proposed Rule. The next public hearing on the proposed rule will be in Galena Park, TX on August 5, 2014.
On 7/24/2014, EPA announced a Request for Information to seek comment to potential revisions to its Risk Management Plan (RMP) Regulations. The pre-publication copy of the RFI is available here. This action would include more chemicals under the rule for high-hazard substances.
EPA's Draft Strategic Plan - You can find EPA's Strategic Plan here.
Need Chemical Health and Safety Resources - Check out the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety - Join the Division and get the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety
Hazard Communication
December 1, 2013 was a training deadline for the new Global Harmonization Standard. You can link to OHSA's updated page here. Don't forget to include this new training for your new employees, and incorporate it into your 2014 Training Goals.
ANSI Standards - Ever have trouble finding the ANSI standard referenced in an environmental or safety regulation? ANSI just announced that it is providing free, read-only access to documented incorporated by reference into US government regulations. The full press release from Oct. 30, 2013 is located here. And you can go directly to the tool by clicking this link.
EPA has been working on its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and has recently published its toxicological review of methanol and 1,4-dioxane. Got to this link for more information.
NIOSH - Establishes new nanomaterial control recommendations.
Air
6/30/2014 - EPA's draft consolidated petroleum refinery rule was posted in the Federal Register. Comments are due by August 29, 2014. EPA's website indicates that the final rule should be out by May 2015.
8/21/2013 - EPA has developed a consolidated petroleum refinery rulemaking repository: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/petref.html
8/05/2013 - EPA issued final updates to its 2013 VOC performance standards for Storage Tanks. Get more information on the Oil and Gas regulatory actions here: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/actions.html#aug13
Community-Right-to-Know
Chemical Information (including TSCA and related matters)
2013-28510.pdf (PDF — 292 KB)
12/4/2013: Not a big surprise - EPA to require use of electronic reporting for all TSCA reports.
11/25/2013: OSHA is going to use TRI data to target inspections. This is not really a major surprise, as emergency planning, risk management plans and release information are inter-related.
11/12/13: EPA has updated information related to the TRI reporting for the 2013 reporting year. See the changes at EPA's TRI website.
09/11/2013: EPA has opened up its database for chemical information - ChemView - http://www.epa.gov/chemview/. The concept is to provide health and safety information for those chemicals listed in the TSCA inventory. ChemView currently contains information on more than 1500 chemicals from the following data sources - data submitted to EPA under a test rule, EPA hazard characterizations for 1,016 chemicals, and EPA actions related to significant new use rules (SNURs).
08/27/2013: EPA issues final rule which requires facilities to report non-trade-secret Toxic Release Inventory Information using EPA's electronic software. https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/08/27/2013-20744/electronic-reporting-of-toxics-release-inventory-data?utm_content=header&utm_medium=slideshow&utm_source=homepage
08/12/13: EPA announces a series of public meetings for the remainder of 2013 and throughout 2014 on the development of Integrated Risk Information System.http://www.epa.gov/iris/
Ethanol/Renewable Fuels
11/1/2013 - The renewable fuel standards require that certain percentages of fuels contain materials derived from renewable fuels. While operations of the facilities that produce these materials are not necessarily regulated by product type, i.e. they fall under chemical production facilities or refineries depending on the site producing the material. Following the technological developments associated with renewable fuel production allows companies to predict where the new materials may be produced, and the costs. For the environmental professional, the changes that may occur may impact how these facilities are regulated. Sophic Pursuits is following some of the technological developments in the renewable fuels area.
Link to European Biofuels
Safety and Environment - How things may change.
December 2013 - In response to the West, TX explosion a working group - Chemical Facility Safety and Security - was formed. This group was comprised of top-level officials from several federal agencies. The group is expected to issue a report in early 2014, outlining recommendations for improving practices at chemical plants to improve safety and security. It is expected that there will be numerous proposed regulations both environmental and safety to come out of this working group.
Water
The comment period is over - now we will wait and see. 10/29/2013 - EPA has extended the comment period until 12/12/13. Find more information here. - In September, EPA quietly released a review document (you can link to it here) that may fundamentally change the definition of waters of the United States. This new definition can impact water rights throughout the United States. The document is currently out for Public Review through November 6, 2013.