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Environment Quick News
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| A
Monthly Report on EPRI's Environmental Research Programs |
December 2009/January 2010 |
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Program members can use their epri.com ID and password to download
Acrobat PDF files of EPRI technical reports. For assistance, contact
the EPRI Customer Assistance Center at (800) 313-3774. |
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Dear Environment Sector members:
Transmission and distribution (T&D) issues are becoming
more prevalent as new lines are built to accommodate generation
from remote renewable resource areas or as lines are upgraded
to accommodate additional capacity. New meters are being installed
as part of the “smart grid,” as a result of demand-side
management programs and federal stimulus money being designated
for this purpose.
As more lines are built and new technology is deployed, we
have seen an increasing number of stories in the public media
that raise the issue of exposure to electric and magnetic
fields. People concerned about lines passing through neighborhoods
or near schools are asking questions about exposure to EMF.
As new automatic meters are placed on residences, questions
are being raised with regard to exposure from the wireless
technology involved.
EPRI research can help you address these issues by providing
information and facilitating public involvement. For example,
we just published an EMF DVD providing general background
on EMF issues, which you can use internally or share with
the public or regulators. Our transmission line siting methodology—which
includes a stakeholder involvement process—can be useful
as you plan siting for new lines.
For 2010, we are working with our colleagues in the Power
Delivery and Utilization (PDU) Sector to characterize fields
associated with new meters and electric vehicles. Our expanded
2010 program in ROW management (Program 57), jointly sponsored
by PDU and Environment, contains a body of work that should
help your companies address current and emerging environmental
issues related to the T&D system.
We fully expect that T&D environmental issues will continue
to grow in importance as the electric sector changes over
the next decade in response to regulatory trends and new technologies
coming into the marketplace.
Best wishes to you all for a happy holiday season.
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| Program 42: Air Toxics Health and Risk Assessment |
| . Earlier this year, EPRI
launched a pilot project to develop airborne observational
methods that can be used to quantify coal wildfire carbon
consumption and measure pollutant releases. |
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| . This paper describes
the development of a surrogate surface—a cation-exchange
membrane—through field and laboratory tests to better
characterize its potential use in measuring the dry deposition
of gaseous oxidized mercury. |
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| . Data gathered at Oregon's Mount Bachelor
Observatory from 2005 to 2007 were analyzed, and 16 periods
were identified during which particulate mercury was detected
for nine or more consecutive hours. |
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| Program 91: Assessment Tools for Ozone,
Particulate Matter, Regional Haze and Atmospheric Deposition |
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Stephanie Shaw presented results from a study of the organic-mass-to-organic-carbon (OM/OC) ratio at the recent American Association for Aerosol Research Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN. |
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| . The Secondary Particulate Health
Effects Study (SPHERES) project investigated how differences
in the chemistry of biogenic and anthropogenic secondary
organic aerosols (SOA) affect toxicity. |
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| . On
Nov. 2, EPRI Air Quality staff conducted a webcast to
bring member companies up to date on the possible secondary
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for SOx
and NOx. |
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| . Using speciated PM2.5 data generated
from a state-of-the-art chemical transport model, EPRI
researchers evaluated the use of several receptor models
for regional-scale applications. |
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EPRI’s Technology Innovation project on bioaerosols
in the atmosphere recently completed a pilot study to
field-test project methods and optimize sampling protocols. |
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| Program 92: Assessment of Air Quality Impacts on Health and the Environment |
| . The Secondary Particulate Health
Effects Study (SPHERES) project investigated how differences
in the chemistry of biogenic and anthropogenic secondary
organic aerosols (SOA) affect toxicity. |
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| . Annette Rohr and Ron
Wyzga recently provided comments to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency on the External Review Draft of the
Risk Assessment to Support the Review of the Particulate
Matter (PM) Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS). |
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EPRI’s Technology Innovation project on bioaerosols
in the atmosphere recently completed a pilot study to
field-test project methods and optimize sampling protocols. |
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| Visit
the Global Climate Webpage |
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| . The
Global Climate Change team’s newly redesigned website
is now available on epri.com. |
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| Global Climate Change Area News |
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On Nov. 18, Global Climate Change Area staff gave
EPRI’s Board of Directors an update on international
climate policy and emission offsets. |
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| . Steven Rose participated as
part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers in the
development of a new process for creating scenarios of
plausible futures to develop insights into some of the
most important climate questions confronting the international
community. |
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| Program 102: Global Climate Policy Costs and Benefits |
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Tom Wilson and Steven Rose presented EPRI’s
global climate research at the London Energy Forum’s
Climate Policy and Risk Assessment Workshop, held Nov.
9–10 in London. |
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| . Steven Rose was invited to give a presentation on the social cost of carbon (SCC) as part of the Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Economics Seminar Series on Nov. 24. |
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| . Stanford University’s
Energy Modeling Forum recently completed a two-year multi-model
international study evaluating the climate, technology,
and cost implications of hypothetical scenarios of delayed
accession of blocks of countries for various climate pathways
and long-run targets. |
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| Program 103: Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Options |
| . John Novak and Adam Diamant
attended the United Nation’s Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 15th Conference of Parties
(COP) in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. |
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| . Tom Wilson participated
in the International Energy Agency (IEA) workshop on Flexible
Operation of Coal Plants with CCS, held Nov. 11-12 at
Imperial College in London. |
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| Program 49: Coal Combustion Products—Environmental
Issues |
| New Report on Sampling and Analysis Procedures
for Boron. Sampling and Analysis
Procedures: Boron (1019024) will be available soon
on epri.com. Boron is a common constituent in fly
ash leachate, and accurate analytical methods are the
most critical aspect related to reporting and interpretation
of data. This report discusses the most widely accepted
analytical techniques for the determination of the element
boron as it occurs in liquids and solids at coal combustion
product management sites. For more information,
contact Ken Ladwig, (262) 754-2744, keladwig@epri.com.
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| Program 50: Manufactured Gas Plant Site Management |
| . The 2010 Manufactured Gas
Plant Symposium, to be convened in San Antonio, TX, on
Jan. 27–29, will cover a wide range of current topics
related to MGP site management and will present advances
in the technologies used to investigate and clean up former
MGP sites. |
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| Program 59: Power Plant Toxics Characterization |
| . The PISCES
Database web application version 2009a provides users
access to an online database of nearly 300,000 measurements
of trace chemicals in both internal and discharge streams
associated with fossil fuel–fired power plants. |
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| Program 53: Water Quality Criteria Development
and Assessment |
| . This
Technical Update presents a summary of laboratory experiments
designed to better define the relationship between arsenic
bioaccumulation and the concentration of arsenic in water,
taking into account the form of arsenic species accumulated
in the aquatic organisms involved. |
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| . Researchers at the University
of Illinois have developed a new approach to methylmercury
(MeHg) analysis in freshwater samples that is fundamentally
different from the current standard method. |
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| Program 54: Fish Protection at Steam
Electric Power Plants |
| . This Technical Report describes
how new technological developments in fish tags and telemetry
can advance the understanding of fish response to elevated
thermal fields and resolve differences between laboratory
experiments and field observation results. |
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| Program 55: Strategic Water Issues: TMDLs,
Availability, Climate |
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In a recent webcast, EPRI gave a mid-project update
to members of the Strategic Water Issues program on a
two-year study to identify trends in water resources and
provide a review of different factors that may lead to
changes. |
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| . EPRI recently provided an
update of a study on the potential use of stormwater by
power plants, including possible contaminants, treatment
concepts, and regulatory barriers. |
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| . EPRI’s Bob Goldstein was
invited to provide expert technical guidance in fulfilling
the sponsors’ objectives at two meetings on the
water-energy nexus, hosted by the Johnson Foundation in
Racine, Wisconsin in late November. |
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| Program 56: Effluent Guidelines and Water
Quality Management |
| EPRI Developing Comments on the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Proposed Information Collection Request
for Effluent Guidelines. EPRI staff
are reviewing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
(EPA’s) proposed Information
Collection Request (ICR) for the steam electric power
generating industry, as well as EPA’s recently released
final report Steam
Electric Power Generating Point Source Category: Final
Detailed Study Report. Working with the Effluent
Guidelines and Water Quality Management Program Steering
Committee, the program staff will develop and submit comments
to EPA before the Dec. 28 deadline. For more information,
contact Paul Chu, (650) 855-2362, pchu@epri.com. |
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This Technical Report is directed toward solving
new challenges to meeting U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System discharge limits for ammonia and selected metals
from coal-fired power plants. |
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| Program 58: Waterpower |
| . Several hydropower activities
have taken place over the last two months. |
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| . EPRI
kicked off the new American Eel Interest Group in a Nov.
3 webcast. |
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| . This Technical
Report describes comparison tests of methods for measuring
flow in short-converging hydroelectric plant intakes. |
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| Program 51: T&D Facilities & Equipment:
Environmental Issues |
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This Technical Update describes the interim results
of a planted post study currently under way at the Austin
Cary Memorial Forest in Gainesville, FL. |
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| Program 60: EMF Health Assessment and
Radio-Frequency Safety |
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| Visit
the EMF Health Assessment and RF Safety Public Webpage |
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| . This
DVD presents instruction on the physical fundamentals
of electric and magnetic fields, how electrical power
is transported from the generating station to the residential
customer or other end user, the sources of EMF exposure,
and a summary of data on EMF exposure levels. |
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| . The research in this report
describes electrical characteristics of line worker boots,
which play an important part in insulating line workers
from high voltage. |
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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY |
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| Program 62: Occupational Health and Safety |
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This interim Technical Report describes the status
of EPRI ergonomic research on utility fleet vehicles. |
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ENVIRONMENT FEDERAL HIGHLIGHTS (Washington D.C. Office, John Novak) |
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| For more information on the items below, contact
John Novak, 202-293-6180, jnovak@epri.com. |
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| November Briefings on the 2009 Update to
the Prism/MERGE Analysis. On
Nov. 9, Bryan Hannegan and John Novak provided a briefing
on the 2009 update to the Prism/MERGE analysis to staff
from two Department of Energy offices: the Office of Policy
and International Affairs, and the Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy. On Nov. 12, Bryan Hannegan and Barbara
Tyran briefed the staff of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality and the Office of Science and Technology
Policy on the update. On Nov. 18, John Novak presented
the update at the Fall Corporate Environmental, Health
& Safety Management Roundtable at the National Press
Club. The Roundtable was formed to help companies better
manage environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) programs
by maintaining an information exchange forum and sharing
successful EH&S management techniques. |
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| . John
Novak attended the Nov. 2–6 meetings of the Ad Hoc
Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties
under the Kyoto Protocol and the Ad Hoc Working Group
on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention in
Barcelona, Spain. |
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| Coal Combustion Product Studies.
On Nov. 10, Ken Ladwig, EPRI Senior Project Manager,
and John Novak met with staff from the office of Rep.
Markey (D-MA). Mr. Ladwig presented slides describing
“Recent EPRI Research on Sustainable Management
of Coal Combustion Products.” The presentation
can be downloaded on EPRI’s coal combustion product
management research website at www.epri.com/ccp. |
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| NEW SUPPLEMENTAL PROJECT
OPPORTUNITIES |
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| NEW MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS |
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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
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| *
denotes EPRI sponsored or cosponsored event |
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| Environment Sector |
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Webcast: Energy Sustainability Interest Group:
Action Research – Sustainable Behavior Project Update
Jan. 6, 1:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific. Contact:
Todd Maki, (650) 855-2162, tmaki@epri.com.
For logistics: Kitty Vroom, (650) 855-2255, kvroom@epri.com.
Open to members of the Energy Sustainability Interest Group.
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Webcast: Energy Sustainability Interest Group:
Public Service of New Mexico
Jan. 14, 1:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific. Contact: Todd
Maki, (650) 855-2162, tmaki@epri.com.
For logistics: Kitty Vroom, (650) 855-2255, kvroom@epri.com.
Open to members of the Energy Sustainability Interest Group.
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Environment Sector and Area Council Advisory Meetings
Mar. 15–18, Orlando, FL. Contact: Marsha Grossman, (650)
855-8760, mgrossma@epri.com.
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Environment Sector and Area Council Advisory Meetings
Oct. 11-14, San Antonio, TX. Contact: Marsha Grossman,
(650) 855-8760, mgrossma@epri.com.
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| Air Quality |
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| American Meteorological Society
90th Annual Meeting
Jan. 17-21, Atlanta, GA. Contact: Naresh Kumar, (650) 855-2990,
nkumar@epri.com. More
information is available at the event
website.
* EUEC
2010—The 13th Annual Conference & Expo
Feb. 1–3, Phoenix, AZ. Contact: Naresh Kumar, (650)
855-2990, nkumar@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
AAAR Specialty Conference—Air Pollution
and Health: Bridging the Gap from Sources to Health Outcomes
Mar. 22–26, San Diego, CA. Contact: Naresh Kumar, (650)
855-2990, nkumar@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds
May 24–27, Monterey, CA. Contact: Leonard Levin, (650)
855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
A&WMA 103rd Annual Conference & Exhibition
June 22–25, Calgary, Canada. Contact: Naresh Kumar,
(650) 855-2990, nkumar@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Power Plant Air Pollutant Control “MEGA”
Symposium
Aug. 30–Sept. 2, Baltimore, MD. Contact: Leonard Levin,
(650) 855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
American Geophysical Union 2010 Fall Meeting
Dec. 13–17, San Francisco, CA. Contact: Stephanie Shaw,
(650) 855-2353, sshaw@epri.com.
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| Global Climate |
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15th Annual EPRI Global
Climate Change Research Seminar
May 18–19, Washington, DC. Contact: Christina Kemp,
(650) 855-2044, ckemp@epri.com.
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| Land and Groundwater |
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EPRI MGP 2010 Symposium
Jan. 27–29, San Antonio, TX. Contact: Jeff Clock, (845)
608-0642, jclock@epri.com,
or Jim Lingle, (414) 355-5559, jlingle@epri.com.
EPRI received 83 abstracts and has chosen the most interesting
and technically innovative for platform sessions, with the
remainder as poster sessions. Tabletop displays will also
be included. Please register early since the symposium is
likely to be overbooked. More information is available at
the event
website.
EUEC 13th Annual Energy & Environment Conference
Feb. 1–3, Phoenix, AZ. Contact: Naomi Goodman, (650)
855-2193, ngoodman@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds
May 24–27, Monterey, CA. Contact: Leonard Levin, (650)
855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Power Plant Air Pollutant Control “MEGA”
Symposium
Aug. 30–Sept. 2, Baltimore, MD. Contact: Leonard Levin,
(650) 855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
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| Water and Ecosystems |
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Webcast: Ohio River Trading Project Quarterly
Update
Feb. 17, time TBD. Contact Katie Vroom, (650) 855-2417, kavroom@epri.com.
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Workshop on Western Water Availability Constraints
on Electric Power
Feb. 23–24, Albuquerque, NM (Public Service of New Mexico).
Contact: Robert Goldstein, (650) 855-2154, rogoldst@epri.com.
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Webcast: Ohio River Trading Project Quarterly
Update
May 19, time TBD. Contact Katie Vroom, (650) 855-2417, kavroom@epri.com.
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| T&D Environmental Issues |
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| The Bioelectromagnetics Society
32nd Annual Meeting
June 13–18, Seoul, Korea. Contact: Gabor Mezei, (650)
855-8908, gmezei@epri.com.
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Together…Shaping
the Future of Electricity® |
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| 1020564 |
December 2009/January 2010 |
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Electric
Power Research Institute
3420
Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304-1338 • PO Box 10412,
Palo Alto, California 94303-0813 USA
800.313.3774 • 650.855.2121 • askepri@epri.com
• www.epri.com
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