 |
Environment Quick News
|
 |
|
| |
| A
Monthly Report on EPRI's Environmental Research Programs |
May 2010 |
|
|
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. |
|
| |
|
|
Dear Environment Sector members:
One of our goals at EPRI is to anticipate and be prepared for emerging issues. In the late 1980s we anticipated that hazardous air pollutants might become an issue, so we started the PISCES project (which we now call the Power Plant Multimedia Toxics Program) to characterize releases of all potentially toxic substances from air, water, and solid discharges. In the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, EPA was required to study the issue of hazardous air pollutants and prepare a Report to Congress. Since we had already started down this road, we were able to provide significant input to that study.
As the toxics issue evolved, mercury became the primary substance of concern. However, EPA is now examining a much broader set of hazardous air pollutants as part of its Information Collection Request (ICR) and resulting Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) regulatory process. Selenium, which we have been studying for several years, is gaining more regulatory attention. Like mercury, selenium can exist in many forms in the discharges from coal-fired power plants. In response to member requests, we will be holding a webcast to communicate our existing research on selenium from both the Environment and Generation sectors, and to identify needed further research. We have also appointed an Issue Manager, Naomi Goodman, who is already working on these activities. Please feel free to contact Naomi if you have ideas or questions, (650) 855-2193, ngoodman@epri.com.
We would again like to thank you for your contributions to our research programs. The 2011 Portfolio is about to be launched, and the list of critical issues seems to grow even larger. Our goal in 2011 is to broaden participation so that we can address these issues most effectively. Please give your participation careful consideration.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| .
Prior to its September meeting, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's)
Science Advisory Board (SAB) is expected to accept or reject a report, approved by an
SAB Work Group, describing inorganic arsenic as an oral carcinogen. |
|
| Presentations from 2010 Spring Environment
Sector and Area Council Meetings Available.
Presentations from the March 2010 meetings of the
Environment Sector and Area Councils are now available
on epri.com. Please use your epri.com ID and password
to sign in first, then use this
link and select the Program Material or Sector Council
Material tab. Documents may be restricted to members
who fund the specific programs. |
|
| .
Attendees at the May 3–4 Energy Sustainability Interest Group workshop in Boston
participated in a wide range of discussions, including sustainability in the supply chain,
success cases for sustainability, creating goals and choosing targets, sustainability in
operations and planning, and a review of ongoing interest group projects. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Air Quality Area News |
| . Professor Tony
Wexler of the University of California, Davis will present
EPRI research in a live webcast of the Chair’s Air
Pollution Seminar on June 2, sponsored by the California
Air Resources Board. |
|
| . Papers
from EPRI air quality and health research played a prominent
role in the recent American Association for Aerosol Research
Specialty Conference—Air Pollution and Health: Bridging
the Gap from Sources to Health Outcomes. |
|
| Program 91: Assessment Tools for Ozone,
Particulate Matter, Regional Haze and Atmospheric Deposition |
| . An EPRI project has refined the methods
used for calculating emissions for on-road vehicles. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Visit
the Global Climate Webpage |
|
| Program 102: Global Climate Policy Costs
and Benefits |
| . On April
20–22, EPRI staff participated in the first meeting
of the Energy Modeling Forum’s Working Group 24
on Technology Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. |
|
| Program 103: Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Options |
| . This
journal article lays out an emissions reduction protocol
that could be used to credit offsets for avoided nitrous
oxide emissions from reduced nitrogen fertilizer use in
agricultural crop production in the Midwest. |
|
| .
EPRI’s Victor Niemeyer conducted an analysis
to assess the potential for using wind generation to reduce
carbon emissions in future energy production. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Program 50: Manufactured Gas Plant Site
Management |
| . At
a Green Remediation workshop held during EPRI’s
March advisory meetings, Mr. Carlos Pachon of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) described how the
Agency is developing green remediation principles to mitigate
environmental impacts from cleanup projects that might
include power plant and substation site closures. |
|
| Program 59: Power Plant Multimedia Toxics
Characterization |
| . Approximately
500 U.S. coal- and oil-fired power plants are gathering
stack testing data to comply with the Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA’s) Information Collection Request
(ICR) for hazardous air pollutants. To ensure ICR data
quality, EPRI invites power plants to participate in a
voluntary, no-cost data quality review conducted by EPRI. |
|
| Information Collection Request: How to
Report Data in Electronic Form. Responding
to the EPA Information Collection Request for Electric
Utility Steam Generating Units: ICR Part III Electronic
Data Reporting (EPRI Product 1020914). The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) requires companies to report data
from Part III of its Information Collection Request (ICR)
for Electric Steam Generating Units in electronic form
using EPA’s software. This brochure explains the
electronic reporting process, offering suggestions to
avoid problems and minimize effort. The brochure is one
in a series of technical papers that EPRI has prepared
to help power plant owners provide high-quality ICR data
to EPA. For more information, contact Naomi Goodman, (650)
855-2193, ngoodman@epri.com. |
|
| RY2009 Land Release Estimating and Record-Keeping
TRI at Power Plants (LARK-TRIPP) Software Available.
Land Release Estimating and Record-Keeping TRI at Power Plants (LARK-TRIPP)
RY2009 Version 1.0 (EPRI Product 1019895). This
most recent version of EPRI’s software estimates
chemical releases from power plants for use in 2010 Toxics
Release Inventory reporting to the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The program is newly upgraded to allow automatic
data transfer into EPA’s TRI-ME Web online software.
For more information, contact Naomi Goodman, (650) 855-2193,
ngoodman@epri.com. |
|
| . This report updates a methodology
for estimating sulfuric acid emissions from fossil-fuel–fired
electrical power production facilities. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Program 55: Strategic Water Issues: TMDLs,
Availability, Climate |
| . On April 14, EPRI held a joint
strategy meeting with Idaho National Laboratory and industry
representatives to discuss the cooling water issues facing
existing and proposed nuclear units. |
|
| . This paper
describes a new application of the Watershed Analysis
Risk Management Framework (WARMF). |
|
| Program 56: Effluent Guidelines and Water Quality Management |
| . Researchers investigated commercially
available technologies for removing selenium from flue
gas desulfurization (FGD) water in full-scale case studies
at 10 coal-fired power plants. |
|
| Program 58: Waterpower |
| . Roger Bedard, EPRI's Ocean
Energy Leader, who retired at the end of March, recently received a Lifetime Achievement
Award at the Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference in Seattle. |
|
| Update on DOE-EPRI Project Quantifying
the Full Value of Hydropower in the Transmission Grid.
On March 22, EPRI’s Tom Key and Karen Forsten
met with the National Hydro Association Director and the
DOE Hydro Program Manager to plan for industry cost-share
support of the DOE-EPRI project “Quantifying the
Full Value of Hydropower in the Transmission Grid.”
The first industry advisory meeting for this project was
held at the National Hydropower Association Annual Conference
in Washington DC on April 28. For more information, contact
Tom Key, (865) 218-8082, tkey@epri.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Program 51: T&D Facilities &
Equipment: Environmental Issues |
| . At
a Green Remediation workshop held during EPRI’s
March advisory meetings, Mr. Carlos Pachon of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) described how the
Agency is developing green remediation principles to mitigate
environmental impacts from cleanup projects that might
include power plant and substation site closures. |
|
| Program 57: ROW: Siting, Vegetation Management,
and Avian Issues |
| . EPRI is working with the Department
of Energy (DOE) to develop and test a bat detection and
shutdown system for utility-scale wind turbines. |
|
| Program 60: EMF and RF Health Assessment
and Safety |
|
| Visit
the EMF and RF Health Assessment Webpage
|
|
| EPRI Measures Magnetic Fields From Common
Electrical Appliances. EPRI
Appliance Measurement Study (EPRI Product 1020862).
This Technical Report describes a measurement survey
that characterizes magnetic fields from common electrical
appliances used in the home, with an emphasis on appliances
that have become available since similar surveys were
published in 1985 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers and in 1993 by EPRI in its 1,000-home
study. The present study provides data that
can be used to address exposure concerns or to model magnetic
field exposure characteristics based on appliance use.
For more information, contact Rob Kavet, (650) 855-1061,
rkavet@epri.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
ENVIRONMENT FEDERAL
HIGHLIGHTS (Washington D.C. Office, John Novak) |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| For more information on the items below, contact
John Novak, (202) 293-6180, jnovak@epri.com. |
|
| National Rural Electric Environment Association.
On March 23, John Novak participated in the Spring
Meeting of the National Rural Electric Environment Association
at the headquarters of the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association. John’s role included a report on the
international climate negotiations in Copenhagen and on
EPRI activities on the Hazardous Air Pollutants Information
Collection Request and Maximum Achievable Control Technology. |
|
| Briefing for Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission. On March 26, Bob Goldstein
(by phone) and John Novak provided a briefing on electric
power sector water availability and use for Jeff Wright,
Director, Office of Energy Projects at the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, and his staff. The mission of the
Office of Energy Projects is to foster economic and environmental
benefits for the nation through the approval and oversight
of hydroelectric and natural gas pipeline energy projects
that are in the public interest. |
|
| . On April 6, Tom Wilson and John Novak
participated in a Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum
Roundtable on CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NEW SUPPLEMENTAL PROJECT
OPPORTUNITIES |
|
|
| |
|
|
| UPCOMING EVENTS |
|
|
| *
denotes EPRI sponsored or cosponsored event |
|
| Environment Sector |
|
| *
Environment Sector and Area Council Advisory Meetings
Sep. 27–30, San Antonio, TX. Contact: Marsha Grossman,
(650) 855-8760, mgrossma@epri.com.
|
|
| Air Quality |
|
| Goldschmidt™ 2010 – Earth,
Energy and the Environment
Jun. 13–18, Knoxville, TN. Contact: Arnout Ter
Schure, (650) 855-2281, aterschu@epri.com.
Dr. Ter Schure will chair a session on Atmospheric Oxidation
of Mercury by Reactive Halogen Species. More information
is available at the event
website.
Air & Waste Management Association 103rd
Annual Conference & Exhibition
Jun. 22–25, Calgary, Canada. Contact: Naresh Kumar,
(650) 855-2990, nkumar@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Joint ICACGP–IGAC Conference—Atmospheric
Chemistry: Challenging the Future
Jul. 11–16, Halifax, Canada. Contact: Eladio Knipping,
(202) 293-6343, eknippin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
2010 Joint Conference of International Society
of Environmental Epidemiology and International Society of
Exposure Science
Aug. 28–Sep. 1, Seoul, Korea. Contact: Annette
Rohr, (650) 855-2297, arohr@epri.com.
* Power Plant Air
Pollutant Control “MEGA” Symposium
Aug. 30–Sep. 2, Baltimore, MD. Contact: Leonard
Levin, (650) 855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
9th Annual Community Modeling and
Analysis System Conference
Oct. 11–13. Contact: Naresh Kumar, (650) 855-8758,
nkumar@epri.com. More
information is available at the CMAS
website.
National Atmospheric Deposition Program 2010
Annual Meeting and Scientific Symposium
Oct. 19–21, Lake Tahoe, CA. Contact: Leonard Levin,
(650) 855-7929, llevin@epri.com
or Arnout Ter Schure, (650) 855-2281, aterschu@epri.com.
More information is available at the NADP
website.
American Association for Aerosol Research 29th
Annual Conference
Oct. 25–29, Portland, OR. Contact: Eladio Knipping,
(202) 293-6343, eknippin@epri.com.
Air & Waste Management Association Symposium
on Air Quality Measurement Methods and Technology
Nov. 2–4, Los Angeles, CA. Contact: Stephanie
Shaw, (650) 855-2353, sshaw@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.
|
|
| Global Climate |
|
| *
10th Annual IEA-EPRI-IETA Greenhouse
Gas Emissions Trading Workshop
Sep. 20–21, Paris, France. Contact: Adam Diamant,
(510) 260-9105, adiamant@epri.com.
|
|
| Land and Groundwater |
|
| Air & Waste Management 103rd
Annual Conference & Exhibition
Jun. 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–Sep. 2, Baltimore, MD. Contact: Leonard
Levin, (650) 855-7929, llevin@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website. |
|
| Water and Ecosystems |
|
| *
Summer Water & Ecosystem Area Council Meeting
Jun. 23–25, Whitefish, MT. Contact: Katie Vroom,
(650) 855-2417, kavroom@epri.com.
* Webcast: Ohio
River Trading Project Quarterly Update
Aug. 18, 10 a.m. PDT. Contact: Katie Vroom, (650) 855-2417,
kavroom@epri.com.
* Symposium: Hydrokinetic
Electricity Generation and Fish: Asking the Right Questions,
Getting Useful Answers
Sep. 12–16, exact date TBD, Pittsburgh, PA. Contact:
Paul Jacobson, (410) 489-3675, pjacobson@epri.com.
This symposium will be held as part of the American
Fisheries Society Annual Meeting.
* Webcast: Ohio
River Trading Project Quarterly Update
Nov. 17, 10 a.m. PDT. Contact: Katie Vroom, (650) 855-2417,
kavroom@epri.com. |
|
| T&D Environmental Issues |
|
| The Bioelectromagnetics Society
32nd Annual Meeting
Jun. 14–18, Seoul, Korea. Contact: Gabor Mezei,
(650) 855-8908, gmezei@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
International Conference on Green Remediation:
Environment, Energy and Economics
Jun. 15–17, Amherst, MA. Contact: Jeff Clock,
(845) 608-0642, jclock@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium
(PIERS)
Jul. 5–8, Cambridge, MA. Contact: Gabor Mezei,
(650) 855-8908, gmezei@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
International Society of Arboriculture 86th
Annual Conference & Trade Show
Jul. 23–28, Chicago, IL. Contact: John W. Goodrich-Mahoney,
(202) 293-7516, jmahoney@epri.com.
More information is available at the event
website.
* 2010 EMF Scientific
Advisory Committee Meeting
Aug. 16–17, New York, NY. Contact: Gabor Mezei,
(650) 855-8908, gmezei@epri.com. |
| |
|
Together…Shaping
the Future of Electricity® |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
