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Summer 2015 www.newmoa.org
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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(617) 367-8558 x312.
Share this newsletter with others in your agency or organization that might be interested. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Board of Directors
NEWMOA's Board met in June to share updates from EPA and state programs, and review and discuss NEWMOA's activities and plans. This news@NEWMOA highlights some of the Board's priorities and initiatives.
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June 2015 Board Meeting - Fishkill, NY
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Best Wishes to Our Retiring Leaders
A number of active NEWMOA colleagues have recently retired. They have helped make the Northeast a cleaner and safer environment over the past few decades. We appreciate their dedication, commitment, and hard work and will miss their expertise and experience. We wish them all well in their next adventures.
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Gary Gulka
Gary Gulka has been leading the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's (VT DEC) pollution prevention (P2) and toxics reduction programs since the 1980s. Over that time, he has provided leadership, expertise, and commitment to advancing P2 in both Vermont and the region. Gary was among the small group of state and EPA officials that founded NEWMOA in the mid-1980s as an outgrowth of a series of annual conferences held in Waterville Valley, NH. Starting in 2006, Gary joined the NEWMOA Board and around that time, he became the chair of NEWMOA's P2 and Sustainability Program Area. He has been active on many NEWMOA Workgroups, including the P2 and Sustainability Steering Committee, Hospitality, Grocery, and many more.
Gary has focused on promoting green business practices in a number of key Vermont sectors, including metal products, manufacturing, auto body and repair shops, auto salvage yards, printers, lodging facilities, grocers, and others. He also provided leadership on the State and regional efforts to reduce mercury sources, particularly products and waste. He supervised the implementation of Vermont's ground-breaking mercury products reduction laws and has been actively involved with IMERC for many years. He helped to craft the mercury reduction model legislation that has led to so much success in reducing mercury use in products in the U.S. We will miss his leadership, good humor, insights, kindness, and dedication.
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Tom Lynch
Tom Lynch, a professional engineer and graduate from Clarkson University, started working at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) in 1985 and since then has provided leadership and expertise to a wide range of environmental programs in the State and region. He has been leading DEC's Recycling and Outreach Section for the past several years actively promoting expansion of recycling activities and programs across the State.
Tom has been active in various NEWMOA solid waste activities over many years, including the Solid Waste Steering Committee, the Beneficial Use Determinations (BUD), and Construction and Demolition (C&D) Materials Workgroups. Tom's friendly nature and helpful input will be missed by all of the members of these groups. Tom will be spending more time with family and friends and picking up litter along the beaches of Long Island.
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Rick Reibstein
Rick Reibstein started working at the Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) in 1989. He has been the Senior Environmental Analyst and Policy and Outreach Manager at OTA for many years. Rick has focused on promoting green business practices in a number of key Massachusetts sectors, including metal products, nanotechnology, auto body and repair shops, schools, hospitals, printers, dry cleaners, and many more. He was key in the establishment of the Commonwealth's environmentally preferable product purchasing program.
Rick was involved in numerous regional pollution prevention initiatives. Most recently, he was the co-lead on NEWMOA's Energy and Materials Flow and Cost Tracker (EMFACT) project from 2008 to 2014. He contributed robust ideas and leadership to the effort.
In addition to his involvement in regional activities, Rick was active in various national P2 organizations and programs, including the National P2 Roundtable.
Rick has been on the faculty of the Harvard Extension School and Boston University teaching environmental law and policy for many years. We will miss his contributions to NEWMOA.
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Scott Fortier
Scott Fortier started working at the Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) in 1992. He has provided on-site technical assistance to Massachusetts manufacturers in the chemicals and plastics industry since joining the Office, and most recently has headed OTA's primary service, managing the team that provides technical assistance to hundreds of businesses each year. Alongside his team, Scott has focused on promoting P2 in a number of key sectors, including metal products, biotechnology, polymers, manufacturing, dry cleaners, and many more.
Over the years, Scott's vast knowledge of TUR and his personable attitude have created great partnerships with Massachusetts businesses, and he will not be easily replaced at OTA.
Scott has been involved with NEWMOA's P2 and Sustainability Steering Committee helping to provide oversight and leadership for regional P2 initiatives. We will miss Scott's contributions to toxics use reduction (TUR) and P2.
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Mike Guilfoy
Mike Guilfoy started working at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES) in 1993. He became the Bureau Administrator in the waste program in 2005 and was a leader on solid waste issues in NH and the region. Mike provided valuable expertise in the State and region, focusing on solid waste enforcement, permitting, evaluation, and reporting.
Mike was active in various NEWMOA solid waste workgroups for many years, including the Solid Waste Steering Committee and the Mildly Contaminated Soils Management, Beneficial Use Determination, and C&D Materials Workgroups. Mike's institutional knowledge and keen insights will be missed at DES and across the region.
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Mary Sanderson
Mary Sanderson, a long-time creative, high energy, no-nonsense manager at EPA Region 1, has retired after 35 years of outstanding government service. Mary led the Federal Facility Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Underground Storage Tank (UST), polychlorinated byphenols (PCB), and Brownfields programs. Mary's expertise and her collaborative, yet decisive approach, will be missed.
During her tenure at EPA, Mary was a national leader in many program areas. Under her guidance, the New England Brownfields program awarded more cleanup and assessments grants than almost every other region in the nation. Her approaches to the Brownfields program have been considered national best practices by EPA HQs, and resulted in increased local tax bases, job growth, and health protections.
Mary's technical expertise and first-hand knowledge of the RCRA program made her a valuable resource to the national program's tackling of complex regulatory issues, including the definition of solid waste and hazardous waste pharmaceuticals. She constantly strove to champion the states' positions on a variety of RCRA issues. Mary also oversaw and guided the PCB Cleanup program. She was a leader in the developing area of PCBs in caulk and other building materials.
Her Federal Facility Superfund cleanup work may have resulted in her greatest accomplishments. From her groundbreaking work to compel the military to clean up Cape Cod's sole source aquifer, to her championing of green remediation and renewable energy, to her work to facilitate redevelopment of closing military bases under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) programs, Mary was a force for positive results.
Mike Wimsatt, Waste Management Director at New Hampshire DES, summed up Mary's career, "Mary is always willing to cut through the process to get to the core issues, and help us develop strategies for success, whether it was in site cleanup or implementing our RCRA compliance program. She is fearless in 'thinking outside the box' to achieve mutual state / EPA goals."
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Hazardous Waste Training
Over the past few months, NEWMOA held regular conference calls on such hazardous waste topics as:
- Policies concerning regulation of evaporators
- How hazardous waste programs encourage stakeholder and public involvement
- Land disposal restrictions (LDR) and universal waste generators and facilities
These training calls are for state and federal hazardous waste inspectors and other compliance and enforcement staff and regulatory development staff.
Hazardous Waste Inspector Workshops
NEWMOA held one-day hazardous waste workshops for the New England States enforcement program staff and for New Jersey on June 9th and 25th, respectively.
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The June 9th workshop focused on:
- State efforts to improve compliance at salvage yards
- Update from EPA Headquarters on RCRA rulemakings and policy changes
- Hazardous waste management at furniture strippers
- Management of hazardous waste in disaster debris
- Interesting compliance and enforcement cases
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The June 25th workshop focused on:
- Update from EPA Headquarters on RCRA rulemakings and policy changes
- Superfund and RCRA
- Results from EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) inspections of commercial Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (TSDF)
- LDR rules for generators and TSDFs
- Waste analysis at TSDFs
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Waste Site Cleanup Program
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Upcoming Workshop
NEWMOA will be holding "1,4 Dioxane Assessment and Remediation" workshops on September 22nd in Westford, MA and September 23rd in Danielson, CT . NEWMOA is planning a third workshop in Lebanon, NH on this topic for some time in November 2015. The workshops will provide information on:
- Toxicology
- Fate and transport
- Historic use and prevalence
- Regulatory guidelines, policies, and approaches
- Treatment technologies and recent developments
- Case studies and state panel
NEWMOA now offers table top exhibits at these workshops. For more information on reserving exhibit space, see www.newmoa.org/events/docs/175/WorkshopExhibitForm.pdf.
To be added to the NEWMOA email list for notices about future waste site cleanup workshops, email Jennifer Griffith.
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Solid Waste & Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Program
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SMART Strategies
NEWMOA recently completed a successful project to promote "Save Money and Reduce Trash" SMART strategies (aka pay-as-you-throw) in rural areas of New Hampshire and Vermont. NEWMOA developed case studies, outreach brochures, and fact sheets and presented on SMART to meetings of local government officials and to regional solid waste conferences. All of the materials developed under the USDA-funded project are available on the NEWMOA website.
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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.
NEWMOA launched the Network in the fall of 2014. Since that time, more than 220 people have joined to share their experiences, learn about other programs, and gain strategies for advancing their zero waste-related efforts. There are a number of different resources and communication tools on the site to enable members to share ideas, experiences, and resources.
NEWMOA staff continue to 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 Andy Bray.
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Interstate Mercury Education & Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC)
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A majority of NEWMOA's members with support from the States of Minnesota and Washington have joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in a recent petition calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to ascertain the amount and the uses of mercury produced, imported, or used in the United States, so the Agency can then reduce or eliminate the potent neurotoxin from industrial processes and consumer products.
Federal and state agencies attempting to track mercury production and use in the U.S. have long decried the lack of a national mechanism to collect information about mercury. Last September, EPA announced a voluntary effort to obtain these data, but those voluntary efforts were both too limited in scope and have been unsuccessful. The petition calls for EPA to issue a federal rule requiring companies to provide the data every three years, to coincide with IMERC's reporting program on mercury use in products.
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Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse (IC2)
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More than 22 IC2 members and supporting members met June 3-4 in Olympia, Washington to map out a strategy for the organization for the next few years. The Washington Department of Ecology provided funding support, which made it possible for participants to travel and meet in person. Ecology was a terrific host and shared some of the high points of the beautiful Olympia area.
To start the meeting, the participants talked about the many accomplishments of the IC2 since its founding and its value and importance to them as members.
Priorities that the group outlined for 2016 and beyond included:
- Development of a multi-state chemical use disclosure system for reporting and data sharing
- Expansion of the Alternatives Assessment (AA) Guide to cover some challenging areas, including AA for mixtures
- Support for IC2's training and capacity building efforts, including some exciting webinar ideas
- Support for IC2's information sharing through conference calls and the website
- Continued support for sharing chemical hazardous assessments, alternatives assessments, lists of chemicals of concern, and state legislation
- Development of a multi-state system for sharing the results of product testing for chemicals of concern
- Renewed emphasis on recruitment and outreach
There were a number of other important ideas and recommendations that came from the group's discussions that will inform the IC2's work.
The group also received an exciting preview of the soon-to-released book, Chemicals without Harm, by IC2 founder Ken Geiser.
At the end of the meeting, the participants expressed a renewed sense of commitment and energy for IC2's work.
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