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1. NEW, EASIER WEB ACCESS TO CLEAN AIR MARKETS EMISSIONS DATA, 2. NEW EPA LIBRARY FACILITIES OPEN IN WASHINGTON, D.C., 3. EPA ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR MINORITY ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS, 4. AGENCY ADVISORY COMMITTEE WILL MEET TO DISCUSS SUPERFUND, 5. EPA PROPOSES GRANTING TWO PETITIONS FOR EXEMPTIONS TO IMPORT FOR DISPOSAL, 6. LOUISIANA CORP., FORMER MANAGER PLEAD GUILTY, 7. WEST VIRGINIA MAN SENTENCED IN HAZARDOUS WASTE, DRUG CASE

Release Date: 09/19/2002
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Press Advisory

Following are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need
more information on any of these subjects, call the appropriate contact.

EPA has a powerful new query tool on its Clean Air Markets web site. This user-friendly tool provides faster and easier public access to emissions and facility data for the thousands of units affected by the Acid Rain Program and the NOx Budget Program (a nitrogen oxides emissions reduction program to mitigate ozone problems in the Northeast). This is the latest e-Government product in the ongoing efforts of the Agency to conduct business on-line and better serve the public. The new approach allows users to define the exact data they want from EPA's extensive records, and to receive it in an easy-to-use format. Users can select from a number of predefined emissions data reports or create their own queries. Also available are characteristics of units located at each facility, including fuel type and pollution control equipment. Users can even download prepackaged files with hourly emissions data. This new tool is available at: https://www.epa.gov/airmarkets, under Data and Maps.


EPA has opened new library facilities at its Federal Triangle complex in Washington, D.C. The new libraries will house the Agency’s four important collections in one central location to provide the American public with easier access to environmental information resources. The four collections are: Headquarters Environmental Management and Policy, the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Chemical Library, Pollution Prevention Information Center and the INFOTERRA/USA international environmental resource. There are study carrels, Internet terminals and staffed information desks to assist the public in each library. The new libraries hold 40,000 volumes and are just a portion of the over 300,000 volumes that EPA has in its National Network of Environmental Libraries. For more information on library locations and times, see: www.epa.gov/oei/natlibra/.


EPA is now accepting applications for its undergraduate and graduate Minority Academic Institutions fellowship programs. The fellowship programs were created to encourage promising students to pursue careers in the environmental field and to support EPA’s mission by ensuring a supply of well-trained environmental specialists to meet the environmental challenges of the future. Minority Academic Institutions are defined as Historically Black Colleges or Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions and Alaska Native Serving Institutions. Applicants must be citizens of the United States, its territories or possessions or be lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. The deadline for receipt of applications is Nov. 18. EPA plans to award about 20 undergraduate fellowships and 25 graduate fellowships by July 22, 2003. For more information about the fellowship programs, see: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/current/2003_mai_grad.html and http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/current/2003_mai_under.html.



EPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) Superfund Subcommittee is holding its second public meeting from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, and from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Marriott Crystal Gateway, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Va. The Superfund Subcommittee was formed by EPA in May to make recommendations on the role Superfund should play in addressing the nation’s most polluted and costly hazardous waste sites. The subcommittee membership represents a broad spectrum of Superfund interests and expertise, from community representatives to industry. At this meeting, work groups of the subcommittee will report on their work since the June 2002 meeting. For more information about the subcommittee and a copy of the agenda, visit EPA’s web page at: https://www.epa.gov/oswer/SFsub.htm. The public is welcome to attend all portions of the meeting and are invited to file written statements and/or make brief oral statements. To provide oral comments at the meeting, contact Lois Gartner, the Designated Federal Officer for the NACEPT Superfund Subcommittee, at 703-603-9046.



EPA is proposing to grant two petitions submitted by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) seeking exemptions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which bans the import of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the United States. The petitions address shipment of PCB-containing items generated at U.S. overseas military installations and would enable shipment to the U.S. solely for the purpose of disposing of the items under strict TSCA safety guidelines. Polychlorinated biphenyls are man-made (synthetic) chemicals that were used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, fluorescent lighting fixtures and other electrical equipment. Since the late 1970s, the United States has been removing PCBs from use and disposing of remaining materials. One petition is to import and dispose of PCBs stored by DLA on Wake Island, a United States territory in the Pacific ocean west of Hawaii. The second is to import PCBs from several U.S. military bases in Japan. EPA believes DLA has demonstrated in its petitions both that import of these materials poses no unreasonable risks to human health or the environment and that good faith efforts to find alternatives have been sought. For additional information, see the Federal Register notice at: https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-TOX/2002/September/Day-17/t23718.htm.



PCS Nitrogen Inc., which operates a chemical plant in Geismar, La., pleaded guilty on Sept. 10 to violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and its former environmental manager, Michael Patterson of Prarieville, La., pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). In its plea, PCS admitted that employees at its Geismar facility failed to include 20 sources of air pollution in the company’s CAA Title V air permit. If the federal plea is accepted by the court, PCS will pay $1.75 million in fines to the federal government and $250,000 in fines to the state of Louisiana. PCS will also serve five years probation and complete the installation of over $9 million in additional pollution control equipment at its Geismar facility. Patterson admitted that he violated the limits of the wastewater discharge permit for the gypsum stacks at the PCS facility. When sentenced, he faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with assistance from EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Baton Rouge.

Gregory L. Swiney of Clendenin, W.Va., was sentenced to 97 months in prison on Sept. 12 for illegally disposing of hazardous wastes in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and for the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine. Swiney manufactured methamphetamines and illegally disposed of ignitable liquid hazardous wastes including toluene and acetone in or near the communities of Clendenin, Elkview and Sanderson in southern West Virginia. Laboratory wastes from methamphetamine manufacture can present a significant fire and explosion hazard and can be highly toxic to individuals who come into contact with them. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Charleston.


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