News from The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Press Release Issued April 3, 2014
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Tags: Corporate Governance, Business & Legal, SEC, OSHA, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS, Oil & Gas, climate change
The Clean Water Act (CWA) provides federal agencies with authority to regulate a wide range of activities that may affect “waters of the United States”—sometimes called “navigable waters.” These activities include water quality planning and discharge regulation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and delegated states, and regulation of projects that may lead to “dredge and fill” of waters, through permits issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
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Tags: Business & Legal, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS, EPA, Underground Storage Tanks, effluent, Stormwater
Continual Improvement is an important aspect of any EMS and ISO 14001 references it in five separate clauses. To fully benefit from it, it’s not enough to implement a system based on ISO 14001, or even to have your EMS certified as ISO 14001-compliant—you must monitor and maintain your system, and find ways to improve to it. Similarly, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) reviews and revises its standards in an ongoing effort to improve relevance and effectiveness. ISO 14001:2004 is currently undergoing review, with some big changes expected in the new version due in mid-2015.
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Tags: Corporate Governance, Business & Legal, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS
State law requires the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District to publish a list each year of regulatory measures that may be considered for adoption or amendment during the upcoming calendar year. The District posted its list for 2014 on January 5, 2014, which can be seen below. Before adopting or amending any regulation, the District publishes a notice in a local newspaper and holds a hearing to accept comments from affected businesses and other interested parties.
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Tags: Health & Safety, California Legislation, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS, Greenhouse Gas, ghg, mact, Santa Barbara
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has made a number of changes to the list of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity for purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65).
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Tags: Health & Safety, California Legislation, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS, EPA, Hazcom
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers a Worker Protection Standard (WPS) designed to protect workers exposed to agricultural pesticides. WPS is patterned after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA's) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) for workers in most industrial and commercial settings. EPA adopted the WPS in 1992, and just proposed its first revisions on February 20, 2014. Some of these changes incorporate revisions to HCS adopted by OSHA in 2012 (see my earlier blog), while others catch up on two decades of industrial hygiene and worker safety practices. Comments will be due 90 days after the proposal is published, with final approval to follow sometime later.
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Tags: Business & Legal, Employer Best Practices, Health & Safety, OSHA, Employee Rights, Environmental risks, Environmental, EPA, Hazcom
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires you to document all shipments of regulated hazardous wastes. Domestic transportation is documented using Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifests, which are shipping documents prescribed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which revises Manifest forms occasionally—including major changes back in 2006. Now EPA has acted again, to create an electronic manifest (“e-Manifest”) option that will take force once EPA finishes the web-page data system required to receive and manage electronic filings.
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Tags: Health & Safety, Environmental risks, Environmental, EPA, Hazcom, RCRA
EPA has a new fact sheet, “Section 609 Regulatory Requirements: Motor Vehicle Air Conditioning” that outlines the requirements to be followed to prevent the release of refrigerants during the servicing of MVACs and MVAC-like appliances. This fact sheet discusses the regulatory requirements for technician training and certification, sales restrictions, safe disposal, recordkeeping, equipment certification, and approved equipment. It also addresses the importance of protecting our ozone layer and explains the serious impact MVACs can have on the climate:
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Tags: Employer Best Practices, Health & Safety, California Legislation, Environmental, Transportation
The year 2013 has been another relatively quiet one for most environmental health and safety (EH&S) compliance personnel. Continuing differences in Congress have stymied would-be initiatives on both sides of the partisan aisles, so there were no meaningful legislative changes.
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Tags: Health & Safety, OSHA, Environmental risks, Environmental, EHS, EPA, Hazcom, Transportation
Canadian regulators are focusing their attention on facilitating development in the oil and gas industry, and they are also increasing the accountability of operators. Significantly, environmental liability insurance requirements are expected to increase for both pipeline and railway operators, reducing the extent to which governments and taxpayers cover the costs of cleanup and other damages caused by spills and accidents.
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Tags: Business & Legal, Environmental risks, Environmental, Oil & Gas, Insurance, Insurance Claims, Transportation, Canadian