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April 2017 www.newmoa.org
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Stephanie D'Agostino, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has stepped up to serve as the 2017 Vice Chair for NEWMOA's Board. She has kindly agreed to respond to a few questions so that those who don't know her well can get a better idea of her background, priorities, and personal interests.
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NEWMOA:
Tell us about yourself and your background.
Stephanie: I've been working in Pollution Prevention (P2) at NHDES for nearly 25 years. I have an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science, and a Master's Degree in Resource Management and Administration. Prior to my employment at NHDES, I worked for two other state agencies, the Office of Emergency Management and the Office of State Planning, doing community-level planning for hazardous events and coastal resource management, respectively. Earlier in my career I did stints as a park ranger and a whale watch naturalist. I love being out in nature, but also doing environmental policy work. Both are rewarding!
NEWMOA: What do you at NH DES?
Stephanie: I currently supervise the Pollution Prevention Section, which is part of the Planning, Prevention and Assistance Unit in the Commissioner's Office. My responsibilities include overseeing the Pollution Prevention, Household Hazardous Waste, Used Oil Grant, Mercury Reduction, and most recently, the Toxics in Packaging Program. The focus of most of these programs is to assist businesses, communities and others in efforts to be more efficient and to keep toxics out of the waste stream. The Mercury Reduction Program, which was a multi-media, Department-wide effort, has resulted in a 95 percent reduction in mercury emissions from in-state sources. Both the P2 and the Mercury Reduction Programs have received Environmental Merit Awards from the U.S. EPA.
During the past 25 years, we have seen our Pollution Program grow and mature into a program that is well respected within our agency, as well as the business community. We focus mainly on small businesses, but we will assist any size facility that needs P2 or compliance help. Currently, we are working with various sectors, including hospitality, craft brewers, and small quantity hazardous waste generators. Our mission is to help these businesses remain financially viable while reducing their impacts on the environment.
NEWMOA: What are your priorities for NEWMOA? What do you hope it will accomplish?
Stephanie: NEWMOA serves a critical role in the region by enabling the state waste and pollution prevention programs to work effectively and efficiently on issues of common concern. I would like to continue to work with the other board members and with NEWMOA staff to ensure that the organization has the resources to sustain itself and pursue its mission. Identifying and pursuing diverse sources of funding is important for NEWMOA to be able to implement the goals and objectives in its strategic plan. My hope is that we can be successful in finding the means to continue to move the organization forward in its efforts to promote waste reduction, solve difficult waste management problems, and address emerging contaminants.
NEWMOA has always been on the cutting edge of environmental protection in the region, providing information, training state staff and the consulting community, and helping state programs tackle the most difficult of waste management problems. In this era of diminishing resources and increased competition, it's important for
NEWMOA to continue its success by expanding partnerships, pursuing innovative funding solutions, and effectively communicating both challenges and successes.
NEWMOA: What's one thing you would like people to know about you?
Stephanie: I love animals, but most especially dogs. My current canine companion is a one-year old Rhodesian Ridgeback named Romi, who is full of spirit and mischief. She keeps me active, and on my toes!
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Board of Directors
NEWMOA's
Board
met for two days in March to share updates from EPA and state programs, continue its strategic planning process and discuss upcoming program activities.
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news@NEWMOA
news@NEWMOA is designed to help our members and colleagues keep informed about the Association's projects and activities. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you are a member of a NEWMOA working group, committee, program, or listserv; an invitee to NEWMOA events; a colleague at EPA or a related organization; connected to the Association in some other way; or have expressed interest in our work. If you have questions about delivery of this e-Newsletter, contact
Lois Makina,
(617) 367-8558 x312.
Share this newsletter with others in your agency or organization that might be interested.
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Waste Site Cleanup Program
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PFAS in the Northeast: State of Practice & Regulatory Perspectives
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Monday, May 8th
Quinebaug Valley College
Danielson, CT
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Tuesday, May 9th
Westford Regency
Westford, MA
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Wednesday, May 10th
Fireside Inn & Suites
Lebanon, NH
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Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large class of chemicals that have been used in numerous consumer and industrial processes due to their oil and water resistant properties and their exceptional stability. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are two of the most common PFAS found in the environment and in the human body. PFAS have been widely used in many applications, including carpet and fabric protection, food packaging, and aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) used for firefighting. Several states in the northeast have sites where drinking water is impacted above EPA's 70 parts-per-trillion health advisory level for PFOA and PFOS (combined).
The workshop will provide information on various aspects of investigating and treating sites with PFAS contamination, including:
- Sources of PFAS in the environment
- Sampling and analysis
- Pre-cursers and transformation
- PFAS toxicology
- PFAS fate and transport, including air deposition
- Treatment options for drinking water systems and private wells
- Remediation strategies for PFAS
- Case studies, policy developments, and lessons learned
Presenters include:
Dr. Michelle Crimi, Clarkson University
Dr. Jennifer Guelfo, Brown University SRP
Dr. David Klein, Brown University
Dr. Erika Houtz & Dr. Allan Horneman, Arcadis
Don Ivey & John Matthis, Calgon Carbon
Dr. Raymond Ball, EnChem Engineering
Steve Woodard, ECT
Angela Gallagher, Massachusetts DEP
Lea Anne Atwell, New Hampshire DES
Steve Maybury, New Jersey DEP
Richard Spiese, Vermont DEC
Dr. Linda Gaines, U.S. EPA Headquarters
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Gold Sponsor: All 3 locations
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Gold Sponsor: All 3 locations
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Silver Sponsor: All 3 locations
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Silver Sponsor: 1 location
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Hazardous Waste Training
Over the past few months, NEWMOA has held training calls that covered pharmaceutical waste topics, hazardous waste issues facing retails outlets, and the results of inspections of vape shops
and e-cigarette outlets.
Upcoming calls will focus on e-waste issues and ways to assess the integrity of waste storage tanks. These calls are for state and federal hazardous waste inspectors and other compliance and enforcement and regulatory development staff.
If you are a state or EPA inspector, regulatory development staff, or otherwise involved with hazardous waste enforcement and are interested in joining NEWMOA's monthly calls, contact Terri Goldberg
to be added to the email notification list.
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Solid Waste & Sustainable Materials Management Program
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Transfer Station Operator Training
Communities in many rural areas operate transfer stations to provide waste management services to their residents. Most of these municipalities operate their transfer stations with small budgets that can limit infrastructure development and maintenance and can contribute to safety and environmental problems of which operators are unaware or not equipped to address. Operators and attendants sometimes witness potentially dangerous activities by residents, such as climbing onto the metal recycling pile to retrieve items, or putting hazardous materials into the trash they are throwing into the compactor. Often these employees do not have the skills to confront users of their facilities when they are engaging in these kinds of potentially dangerous activities. The workers often retrieve the hazardous materials from the compactor and put them aside awaiting an appropriate opportunity to remove them, typically at a once-a-year regional household hazardous waste collection event. Depending on where and how the items are stored, the attendants might be creating a safety hazard or release to the environment.
Workers at transfer stations also witness residents throwing away materials that are recyclable, such as milk jugs and aluminum beer/soda cans, or items that could be reused. Residents also throw away significant quantities of food that could be diverted from disposal, such as by composting at home.
NEWMOA has initiated a program to provide training and technical assistance for transfer station operators on safety and sustainable systems for reducing, reusing, and recycling wastes. NEWMOA's effort focuses on two rural regions in New Hampshire and Vermont this year. The goals are to:
- Improve safety at transfer stations for workers and users of the facilities
- Help communities save money by reducing disposal costs
- Conserve landfill disposal capacity by reducing the volume of waste disposed
The Project engages local stakeholders in developing and disseminating operational safety b
est management practice posters; producing waste reduction, reuse, and recycling handouts for transfer station users; and offering workshops. NEWMOA is developing workshop curriculum and offering this training. For more information contact:
Jennifer Griffith
or Rachel Smith.
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Pollution Prevention & Sustainability Program
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Zero Waste Connection
The
Zero Waste Connection
is a professional social network of zero waste program managers from federal, state, and local programs and independent experts that support their work.
There are more than 235 network members who share their experiences, learn about other programs, and gain strategies for advancing their zero waste-related efforts through the site. There are many different resources and communication tools on the site to enable members to share ideas and resources.
NEWMOA's staff foster exchanges through the site and share updates with members through periodic email announcements. Join
www.zerowasteconnection.org and become part of the conversation.
For more information, contact
Rachel Smith
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Interstate Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC)
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Mercury-Added Product Notification
IMERC is busy gathering and reviewing 2016 Triennial notification forms submitted through the
IMERC e-filing system
. Manufacturers, distributors, and importers of mercury-added products had to file their forms by April 1, 2017.
Notification through the e-filing system enables companies to comply with the Mercury-added Product Notification and Labeling requirements of Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota (labeling only), New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (labeling only). Reporting is required for any company that sold or distributed mercury-added products into the states listed above during calendar year 2016.
In January and February, IMERC conducted four demonstration webinars to review the basic functionality and features of the online reporting system. Participants learned how to update their contact information, reset passwords and other user credentials, report on the phase-out of mercury-added products, and enter the total mercury content for their products based on sales. More than 50 companies attended these webinars.
A recording of the webinar is posted on NEWMOA's YouTube page. For more information, visit: www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/imerc/efiling.cfm.
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Product Labeling
Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (lamps only) prohibit the sale of mercury-added products unless they have a label indicating that the product contains mercury and informing users about proper disposal. The purpose of labeling mercury-added products is to:
- Inform consumers at the point of purchase that the product contains mercury and may require special handling at end of life
- Identify the products at the point of disposal so that they can be kept out of the trash and recycled
The labeling laws apply to any product that contains mercury, a mercury compound, or a component containing mercury if the mercury is intentionally added to the product (or component) for any reason.
The label must meet certain specified standards regarding wording, size, location, visibility, and durability unless the states have approved an alternative labeling plan that allows the manufacturer to vary from one or more of the specified standards.
A manufacturer may apply to IMERC for approval of an alternative labeling plan where:
- Strict compliance with the requirements is not technically feasible
- The proposed alternative would be at least as effective in providing presale notification of mercury content and instructions on proper disposal
- Federal law governs labeling in a manner that preempts the state authority
Companies can request approval for alternative labeling or renew a plan that was previously approved by completing the Alternative Labeling Request Forms and submitting them to IMERC. The Clearinghouse facilitates review and discussion of the proposed alternatives. This joint review process helps to ensure that alternative labeling plans submitted for approval by a manufacturer meet the requirements in all of the IMERC-member states. IMERC has been busy over the past year engaging lamp manufacturers on alternative labeling and reviewing and approving applications.
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Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse (IC2)
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High Priority Chemicals Data System
NEWMOA plans to issue a Request for Proposals (RfP) to:
- Develop a Web-based data system for the IC2 through which companies can submit data on chemicals in products to participating states and participating state agency staff can administer the system
- Establish a node presence on the EPA National Environmental Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) and create an Exchange Network data flow
- Publish data through an application programming interface
- Create a public-facing search interface to allow external users to query the database and download data in several common data formats
NEWMOA will seek competitive bids to address the proposal guidelines and scope of work. Funding for this project is provided by a NEIEN grant awarded to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), in partnership with NEWMOA and the Washington Department of Ecology. As part of its responsibilities under the grant, NEWMOA expects to issue the RfP and a contract to the selected firm and oversee development of the system.
Procurement Workgroup
During the fall, a group of IC2 members interested in state and local agency procurement programs and in exploring how the Clearinghouse can play a role in most effectively advancing low toxicity product procurement came together to form an IC2 Procurement Workgroup. Areas of interest include:
- How patterns of chemical use can inform environmentally preferable procurement
- What product categories would be good targets for action
- How states and municipalities can work together to enhance the market for less toxic products
- Specification language and joint procurement
- Collaboration with other organizations focused on procurement
States' Chemicals of Concern
California, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have developed lists of priority chemicals to fulfill the requirements of their chemical policy legislation. The IC2 has developed an online, searchable
database that allows users to:
- Search for chemicals on one or more of the state lists
- Identify source lists
- Identify hazards and toxicity characteristics associated with the chemicals
- Find useful information resources
Users can browse the lists by state, Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN), source lists on which the chemicals appear, listing reasons, or any combination of these search criteria.
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