Looking for better ways to comply with environmental regulations or improve efficiency?   We know you are busy and don't always have the time or expertise to evaluate new processes or operating procedures that will minimize waste and save resources like energy and water.   That's where Illinois EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention (OPP) can lend a helping hand.    Every year, OPP recruits 15 -25 upper-level university students to work on pollution prevention (P2) projects during the summer.   While students are placed primarily at industrial facilities, they have worked at community colleges, local governments and small business development centers.   The purpose of the program is to help facilities identify and implement waste reduction, energy efficiency and water conservation measures that save money.  Students typically have backgrounds in engineering.   The cost to host a student is approximately $8,100.   OPP will recruit and train the students, and the intern will work as a temporary full-time employee for 11 weeks.   The P2 intern program has been in existence for over 20 years and interns have worked at a variety of Illinois businesses, including Caterpillar, Motorola, Abbott Laboratories, Nalco, Woodward, Carlisle SynTec, Case New Holland, Innertech, Cooper B-Line, Innophos, Harris Corporation, Cadbury Adams and Vapor Bus International.    For more information about the intern program, contact Rick Reese at 217-557-8671 or visit www.epa.state.il.us\p2\internships.

Time to re-order your workbook calendars! 

If you need a 2012-2014 Stage I/II Vapor Recovery Recordkeeping calendar or a 2013 Dry Cleaner Recordkeeping calendar please notify us:

Fax order form to (217) 557-2853

OR call the SBEAP helpline at 1-800-252-3998

OR email us at dceo.sbeap@illinois.gov

Facilities subject to the USEAP's Chemical Manufacturing Area Source NESHAP (Part 6V) were required to submit their notice of compliance status to the Illinois EPA by October 29, 2012. However, on October 25, 2012 the USEPA extended the compliance deadline for this rule until December 24, 2012.

You can find the deadline extension at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-10-25/pdf/2012-26285.pdf

The full text of the rule can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/area/fr29oc09.pdf

On September 19, 2012 the USEPA adopted amendments to its regulations covering chromium electroplating, chromium anodizing tanks, and steel pickling facilities. For the chromium electroplating facilities, some of the changes include:

• Existing large hard chromium limit lowered from 0.015 mg/dscm to 0.011 mg/dscm.
• Existing small hard chromium limit lowered from 0.03 mg/dscm (and 0.015 mg/dscm ) to 0.015 mg/dscm.
• Existing decorative and anodizing chromium limit lowered from 0.01 mg/dscm to 0.007 mg/dscm.
• In lieu of meeting emission limits, the old rule allowed facilities to meet alternative surface tension limits of 35 dynes/cm (measured with a tensiometer) or 45 dynes/cm (measured with a stalagmometer). The new limits for surface tension are 33 dynes/cm (measured with a tensiometer) or 40 dynes/cm (measured with a stalagmometer).
• For all new hard (large and small), decorative, and anodizing the emission limit is lowered to 0.006 mg/dscm.

The rule includes a provision where there is no need to retest if the previous test met the new emission limits and the facility is using the same controls. The amendments include housekeeping practices that address storage, drip trays, splash guards, cleanup, buffing and grinding. New reporting requirements include requiring electronic reporting requirements (ERT) for any performance tests that are listed on the ERT web site (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ert/index.html).

For steel pickling hydrochloric acid regeneration plants, the final rule removes the alternative compliance method and also now requires that all emission limits must be met at all times, including during startup, shutdown and malfunctions.

This is a summary of some of the main points of this rule, for the full text of the new rule go to: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-09-19/pdf/2012-20642.pdf

You can also contact the Small Business Environmental Assistance Program for more information at our hotline number: 800-252-3998.

The revisions to the FTC's Green Guides reflect a wide range of public input, including hundreds of consumer and industry comments on previously proposed revisions.  They include updates to the existing Guides, as well as new sections on the use of carbon offsets, "green" certifications and seals, and renewable energy and renewable materials claims.
"The introduction of environmentally friendly products into the marketplace is a win for consumers who want to purchase greener products and producers who want to sell them," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "But this win-win can only occur if marketers' claims are truthful and substantiated.  The FTC's changes to the Green Guides will level the playing field for honest business people and it is one reason why we had such broad support."

In revising the Green Guides, the FTC modified and clarified sections of the previous Guides and provided new guidance on environmental claims that were not common when the Guides were last reviewed.
For more information visit:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/10/greenguides.shtm