National Environmental Monitoring Technology Conference Coming to Boston

Environmental monitoring technology is the crucial first step in protecting and improving the environment. By providing good information in a reliable way, environmental monitoring enables regulators, managers and the public to know when our beaches are dirty, water supplies are not safe, back yard soil contains lead, and air quality is unhealthy. Making progress on environmental protection and cleanup requires collecting good information, understanding it, and sharing it with the public and project managers.

On September 19& 20, public and private sector professionals in this burgeoning field will be coming to Boston for a national environmental monitoring conference hosted by EPA. The conference is aimed at environmental businesses, non-profits, government agencies, academics, and others interested in how to collect or share environmental information. In addition to plenary and simultaneous panel sessions, there will be space for poster presentations and a trade show with over 100 exhibitors. Among the sessions: 'Using the Internet to communicate Environmental Issues','Applications of Real Time Air Quality Monitoring', 'How to Commercialize Your Technology', and 'Environmental Monitoring Using Remote Sensing and GIS'

The conference is sponsored by EPA New England and several national EPA offices, the Environmental Business Council of New England, and the Boston University School of Public Health. Registration will be accepted up until the day of the conference, but early registration rates are only available until September 11. Contact EPA at 1-888-EPA-7341. (Outside New England 617-918- 1111).

More information, including a full list of sessions and speakers, is available through EPA New England's web page: go to and click on "Technology Conference".

Exemplary Corporate Environmental Performance Rewarded In New EPA Program

Businesses achieving outstanding environmental results now have a way to get rewarded for their efforts through EPA's new National Performance Track Program. Based in large part on EPA New England's Star Track Initiative, the new national program will benefit facilities whose environmental performance exceeds minimum regulatory requirements.

Announced on June 24, the National Environmental Performance Track creates a system that recognizes performance at two levels. The National Environmental Achievement Track facilities are top environmental performers. They have a systematic approach to managing environmental responsibilities and take extra steps to prevent pollution and to be good corporate citizens. The National Environmental Stewardship track, which is still being developed, is for companies that are helping to define best practices within their industries and are leading the way in protection of the environment.

Benefits for participating companies include national recognition, regulatory and administrative flexibility, a reduction in both record keeping and reporting requirements, and flexibility in meeting certain regulatory requirements.

Applications are now being accepted for the program. Deadlines for application are Sept. 1 for charter applicants, who will be notified of acceptance into the program in November and who will receive additional recognition benefits; and Sept. 30 for notification in December. More information, including application forms and instructions, is available at: www.epa.gov/performancetrack. E-mail inquiries can be directed to: track@indecon.com.

A key ingredient in the development of the National Performance Track was the experience and contributions of participants in EPA New England's Star Track program. EPA New England extends our sincerest thanks to our Star Track participants: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Worldwide Beauty Care - Stamford, CT; Unilever Home and Personal Care USA - Clinton, CT; US Postal Service Hartford Vehicle Maintenance Facility and Processing and Distribution Center - Hartford, CT; BOC Gases - Kittery, ME; International Paper Company Androscoggin Mill - Jay, ME; Acushnet Rubber Co. Inc, New Bedford, MA; GAF Materials Corporation - Millis, MA; PerkinElmer Optoelectronics - Salem, MA; Spalding Sports Worldwide - Chicopee, MA; Texas Instruments, Inc., Materials and Controls Group - Attleboro, MA; US Coast Guard, Air Station Cape Cod - Cape Cod, MA; Dexter Corp., Polymer Systems - Seabrook, NH; Environmental Soil Management, Inc. - Loudon, NH; Sanders, A Lockheed Martin Company - Hudson, Nashua, Litchfield, Manchester, Merrimack, NH; Toray Plastics (America), Inc. - North Kingston, RI

EPA and IBM Sign XL Agreement; Five Expected this Year in New England

EPA New England's Project XL team continues to be a national leader at finding more efficient and more effective ways to keep our environment clean. On July 31, an agreement was signed between EPA and IBM's facility in Essex Junction, VT. Under the agreement, wastewater from an innovative new plating system containing non-dangerous amounts of copper was reclassified as non-hazardous waste, saving IBM significant disposal costs (in general, all plating wastewater is automatically considered hazardous). In return, IBM has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the facility by 40% overall. According to Ira Leighton, EPA New England's Acting Deputy Administrator: "The redefinition will not hurt the environment, but the greenhouse gas reduction will provide an environmental benefit for everyone."

The agreement is part of EPA's project XL, which creates new approaches to environmental regulation through site specific experiments in innovative regulation. EPA New England is a national leader in the program, with 6 already signed agreements and 2 more expected this year, out of a projected 50 projects nationally. According to George Frantz, EPA New England's XL coordinator, this year marks a step forward in the XL process: "In each of the first three years of Project XL, we had one agreement signed in the region. We've now learned how to make things happen quicker and this year, we'll have five."

Two additional projects EPA New England XL projects are to be signed this year. One agreement will allow Lead Safe Boston to more easily dispose of debris from lead remediation projects, and the other will give the Narragansett Bay Commission flexibility to shift some of their enforcement resources from companies with superior records of environmental performance to companies whose performance needs improvement. Already signed this year were two projects with International Paper in Jay, one allowing the plant to replace certain conventional air emissions monitoring with real-time predictive modeling, and one providing relief from certain best management practices in return for International Paper's commitment to significantly lower emissions for color and COD. Other projects previously signed include a sludge delisting with HADCO Corporation, support for MADEP's Environmental Results Program, and an agreement with the University Labs Consortium to test a new system of hazardous waste management designed for laboratory settings.

More information on these and other projects can be found on EPA's XL web page at

News Flashes
Updated August 23, 2000

Long Island Sound Lobster Study
EPA is conducting a $125,000 environmental monitoring study to better understand what environmental conditions may be causing devastating lobster die-offs in Long Island Sound. As part of the six-month study, special equipment will be used to profile sediments and assess conditions on the bottom of the Sound where sediment, water and lobsters come into contact. The agency also will deploy five continuous dissolved oxygen monitors in the western Sound during the period when dissolved oxygen is typically lowest - late summer and early fall. Lobsters will also be analyzed for disease at EPA's Narragansett, RI Laboratory.

Buzzards Bay No-Discharge Zone
EPA-New England this month approved Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts as a "No-Discharge Area," a designation that makes it illegal for boaters to discharge treated or untreated sewage from their vessels into bay waters. Encompassing 210 square miles in 11 coastal communities, the designation is the largest no-discharge zone approved to date in Massachusetts. The approval means that 13,000 boats homeported in the bay - as well as visiting boats - must now use "pumpout" facilities to discharge their septage waste. Factoring in Rhode Island's statewide zone, this month's action means that all coastal waters from the RI/Connecticut border to Vineyard Sound near Cape Cod are now covered by the no- discharge designation.

EPA Takes Action Against RI Landfill
Rhode Island's Central Landfill has been under the EPA microscope in recent months. This month, EPA-NE issued its third enforcement order this year to the 150-acre landfill, one of the largest municipal landfills on the East Coast. Among other requirements, the facility was ordered to improve gas collection equipment to reduce gas discharges and to undertake more extensive surface monitoring to make sure gas collection systems are working efficiently. The order comes on the heels of years of complaints from residents about unpleasant odors from the facility. "EPA will continue focusing enforcement attention on this facility until the Central Landfill is an efficient, law-abiding operation," EPA-NE Administrator Mindy Lubber said in a tatement.