Environment - Winter 2000
The Newsletter of the California Environmental Protection Agency
In This Issue
- Cal/EPA Developing Environmental Indicators
- ARB Unveils New Community Health Program
- From My Corner - Winston H. Hickox
- DTSC Cleans Up Meth Labs
- DPR to Register Structural Pest Control Devices
- Bond Money Available for Water Projects
- AB 939: Challenges and Opportunities
- Water Board Collecting & Recycling Mercury
- ARB Strengthens Asbestos Control Rule
Cal/EPA Developing Environmental Indicators
Cal/EPA and its boards and departments are making significant changes in the way they assess the effectiveness of the state’s environmental programs.
Until now, each Cal/EPA board and department developed their own criteria for evaluating their programs. As a result, each board and department collected information that was primarily focused on a single environmental medium, such as air or water, rather than the overall health of California’s environment.
To change this, Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox has directed the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to take the lead in developing a comprehensive set of environmental indicators that reflect the latest and best science to provide an accurate picture of environmental conditions in California.
"In the past, we often measured our work by the number of permits we issued and number of inspections we conducted," Hickox said. "That enabled us to remedy the most immediate environmental problems of the 1970s and 80s. To confront the more complex environmental challenges of the 21st century, we will need a new set of indicators that gives us better insight into the cross-media movement of pollutants and the effect they are actually having on our health and the environment. We need these indicators so that we can meaningfully measure the results of our work and make policy decisions that will achieve the results we need."
| "The
key to our success is the development of environmental indicators. These
indicators will allow us to measure the effectiveness of Cal/EPA programs
by telling us whether our environment — our air, water, and land — is
getting cleaner and healthier."
Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox |
Cal/EPA’s new strategic vision calls for the development of environmental indicators as part of the Agency’s strategic planning process. The indicators will enable regulators, scientists, lawmakers, and the public to better understand the underlying causes of environmental problems as well as the state of the environment and the effectiveness of Cal/EPA’s programs.
Development of the indicators is a team effort. OEHHA has begun to work with other Cal/EPA boards and departments, the Resources Agency, the State Department of Health Services, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the University of California, and prominent scientists and stakeholder groups. The initial set of indicators is scheduled for development by August 2001. In the interim, OEHHA will form an interagency advisory group and an external advisory group to provide input. OEHHA also plans to convene an environmental indicators conference and establish an Internet site that can be used both for receiving and disseminating information on indicators. The continued evaluation and improvement of the indicators will be crucial as environmental conditions change and new scientific information becomes available.
It is still too early to know what the indicators will be. Some indicators may consist of conventional monitoring data, such as the level of key pollutants in air and water. Others may be new kinds of health and ecological data that illustrate or document environmental conditions in the state.
ARB Unveils New Community Health Program
To ensure that California communities have clean and healthy air, the Air Resources Board has established a Community Health Program to assess the impact on specific neighborhoods of exposure to multiple sources of air pollution.
The program combines the work of several ongoing projects, including the ARB’s indoor air, air toxics, and neighborhood assessment programs. The new program will use new air monitoring and survey techniques. And, for the first time, the ARB will explore strategies to reduce the cumulative effects of exposure to multiple sources of air toxics.
Until now, air toxics data has only been collected on a regional level. However, the new program will also focus on "micro-regions" as small as a 10-block area where the health risks from individual air pollution sources can be evaluated.
As part of the program, the ARB will conduct a series of health studies to ensure a margin of safety for infants and children, as required by SB 25 (Escutia). These studies will focus on multiple pollutants, children’s asthma, and the effects of air pollution on sensitive populations, such as people with heart disease.
Already in progress are the ARB’s Children’s Health Study, designed to assess the health effects of long-term air pollution exposure of children living in Southern California, and a 10-year study to determine how short- and long-term exposure to tiny airborne particles affect the development and progression of cardiovascular disease in the elderly. Another project, to be conducted in Fresno, focuses on the impact of air pollution exposure on childhood asthma.
From My Corner
Winston H. Hickox
Agency Secretary
I am pleased to announce the release of our new Strategic Vision, an update of Cal/EPA’s strategic plan (available on the Internet at www.calepa.ca.gov) that reflects the Davis administration’s values and principles.
Our mission is to restore, protect, and enhance the environment to ensure public health, environmental quality, and economic vitality.
Our vision is a California that enjoys a clean, healthy, sustainable environment that enhances the quality of life for current and future generations, and protects our diverse natural resources.
The Cal/EPA Strategic Vision was developed after a comprehensive review of the mission, goals, and programs of the six boards and departments within the agency to determine how we can better focus our efforts to protect public health and the environment. We also considered the input of key stakeholders – members and staff of the Legislature, and representatives of environmental organizations and the business community.
Our strategic goals are:
- Air that is healthy to breathe, sustains and improves our ecosystems, and preserves natural and cultural resources.
- Rivers, lakes, estuaries and marine waters that are fishable, swimmable, support healthy ecosystems and other beneficial uses.
- Groundwater that is safe for drinking and other beneficial uses.
- Communities that are free from unacceptable human health and ecological risks due to exposure from hazardous substances and other potential harmful agents.
- Reduce or eliminate the disproportionate impacts of pollution on low-income and minority populations.
- Ensure the efficient use of natural resources.
- Continuous improvement and application of science and technology.
- An efficient and effective Cal/EPA in pursuit of its mission.
We recognize that this strategic vision is not a detailed plan. It does, however, embody Cal/EPA’s vision and mission, our core values, and our strategic goals and objectives. The boards and departments of Cal/EPA will use these guiding principles to develop detailed action plans to implement the Agency’s vision through their respective strategic plans.
As we enter the 21st century, two tenets form the foundation of Cal/EPA’s strategic vision: the need for improved cross-media coordination in addressing environmental challenges, and our focus on achieving measurable environmental results.
The key to our success is the development of environmental indicators (see story on page 1). These indicators will allow us to measure the effectiveness of Cal/EPA programs by telling us whether our environment – our air, water, and land – is getting cleaner and healthier. Environmental indicators will also foster a multimedia approach to addressing environmental issues rather than the traditional single-medium reactive approach.
Cal/EPA is committed to a proactive, coordinated approach to environmental protection. It is my commitment that our strategic planning not be another paper exercise, but a dynamic process that will guide environmental protection in this state. As such, this process is designed to align and connect the individual strategic plans of Cal/EPA’s boards and departments into a single strategic vision – the vision of a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable environment for current and future generations of Californians.
Environment is published quarterly by the California Environmental Protection Agency at 555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525, Sacramento, CA 95814.Cal/EPA includes the Air Resources Board, Integrated Waste Management Board, State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Pesticide Regulation, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and State Regional Water Quality Control Boards.
Comments, suggestions or address changes can be made via fax at (916) 445-5563 or e-mail at cepacomm@calepa.ca.gov.
Department of Toxic Substance Control
DTSC Cleans Up Meth Labs
It happens about four times a day in California. Law enforcement or public safety officials find an illegal drug lab. The bad guys, known as "cookers," are arrested or scared away by law enforcement. A call is made to Cal/EPA’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. Workers don protective clothing and masks and respond to rural locations and urban centers to remove the hazardous chemicals.
Experts believe there are thousands of illegal drug laboratories in California that produce a variety of drugs, the most common of which is methamphetamine, also known as speed, crank, or meth. Directions on how to make these drugs and the ingredients are easy to come by.
The labs, which range in size from simple stovetop operations to sophisticated chemical laboratories, are found in homes, apartments, motels, and remote rural locations. Besides the illegal drugs they produce, the labs pose additional dangers to people and the environment. Sometimes the labs explode, injuring, or killing the "cooks" and endangering the lives of their neighbors. Toxic chemical wastes from these clandestine operations are often dumped indiscriminately into septic systems, onto the ground, or abandoned on other people’s property.
While local law enforcement agencies are investigating and arresting the illegal drug lab operators, the Department of Toxic Substances Control offers assistance to law enforcement, health departments, and other emergency-response agencies by providing hazardous substances removal contractors to clean up clandestine labs and abandoned waste chemicals.
The number of drug lab responses has more than doubled over the past five years. Last year, DTSC spent $5.3 million to clean up 2,094 drug labs and abandonments. Most of the labs were in the Southern California counties of Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles. Recently, the Central Valley has seen increased drug manufacturing activity.
Known or suspected illegal drug manufacturing operations should be brought to the attention of local law enforcement officers as soon as possible.
Department of Pesticide Regulation
DPR to Register Structural Pest Control Devices
The Department of Pesticide Regulation is moving to ensure that new, non-chemical methods to fight termites and other wood-destroying structural pests are effective and safe. DPR has begun accepting applications to register "structural pest control devices" marketed to control wood-destroying insects. Such devices typically use heat, microwave, or electrical treatments to kill pests. Their sale and use has been largely unregulated in California and most other states.
DPR registration will require applicants to provide efficacy and safety data to protect the public, workers, and the environment. Mandated by 1998 legislation, registration requirements take effect on July 1, 2001. The law gives DPR authority to seek civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation for any unregistered device sold, possessed, or used after that date.
Registration applies to devices intended to control termites, carpenter ants, powder post beetles and other wood-destroying pests. Exempted are devices that target decay-causing fungi, cockroaches and other household pests, and pests such as mice and rats.
Termites are the nation’s most destructive wood pests. In California, several hundred thousand treatments are directed against drywood termites annually. About 70 percent involve chemical spot treatments for small infestations, 20 percent are whole-structure fumigant treatments, and 10 percent use non-chemical methods, according to the University of California Integrated Pest Management Project.
Registration application forms may be downloaded from DPR’s Web site at www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/registration/regmenu.htm. For more information, contact Liz Pelham, program coordinator, at (916) 323-5149 or e-mail lpelham@cdpr.ca.gov.
State Water Resources Control Board
Bond Money Available for Water Projects
The State Water Resources Control Board is getting the word out on the availability of nearly $2 billion in bond money for water improvement projects throughout California.
Passed in March, Proposition 13 authorizes the State Water Board and five other agencies to provide $1.97 billion in grants and technical services to local water districts and municipalities for water quality, flood protection, and water reliability projects.
The Water Board will distribute $764 million through 10 separate bond programs covering water recycling, wastewater treatment, watershed protection, and storm water runoff, a critical and timely environmental issue in many areas of the state.
"The voters made it clear that they strongly support increased efforts to protect the quality of the state’s waters," said Stan Martinson, chief of the Water Board’s Division of Water Quality, who administers five bond programs involving nonpoint source pollution, water quality and watershed protection. "Based on that voter mandate, we wanted to aggressively promote these bond programs, so local agencies and nonprofit organizations can obtain funding for water protection projects without delay."
As a part of the public outreach effort, the Board has developed a special Internet Web page, www.swrcb.ca.gov/prop13/index.html, that provides information about each bond program along with specific information on how to apply for bond money. Similar information is available on the Web sites of the nine state regional water boards.
The State Water Board site is linked to the Internet sites of other government agencies that provide bond money or technical services, including the Department of Health Services and Department of Water Resources.
The State Water Resources Control Board, Cal/EPA, and other
government officials at a July 31 ceremony in Santa Monica to celebrate
federal approval of California’s Nonpoint Source Pollution Plan. At
the ceremony, the U.S. EPA presented the State with $10.5 million to
help control polluted runoff. Pictured (from left): David Nahai, Chair,
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board; Laura Yoshi, Deputy
Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA; Jeff Benoit, Director, Office of Ocean
and Coastal Resource Management; Mary Nichols, Agency Secretary,
Resources Agency; Arthur G. Baggett, Jr., Acting Chair, State Water
Board; Peter Douglas, Executive Director, California Coastal Commission;
and Nancy Sutley, Deputy Secretary, Cal/EPA.
Integrated Waste Management Board
AB 939: Challenges and Opportunities
By Linda Moulton-Patterson, Chair
California Integrated Waste Management Board
Since passage of AB 939, California’s Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, the state has evolved from a throwaway society to one whose waste recycling rate is the highest in the nation. Over the past decade, we have diverted over 140 million tons of "waste" from landfills, 22 million tons in 1999 alone — 37 percent of the 60 million tons generated. A successful partnership among local government, private business and the Integrated Waste Management Board has built a new infrastructure to handle the state’s future waste management needs.
The principle mandate of AB 939 is to reduce waste disposal 50 percent by 2000, compared to 1990. Every city and county in the state must meet this requirement. Next year, after all jurisdictions submit an accounting of their diversion efforts, the Waste Board will evaluate their success. We know already that many jurisdictions will reach the goal, but some will not. The Board can grant more time to communities that demonstrate a good faith effort to get there.
California jurisdictions have faced and met many challenges in their pursuit of the diversion goal and continue to find new opportunities to improve on their accomplishments. Some of these challenges and opportunities are described below.
Waste is not provincial. The collection, transportation, handling, and disposal of waste is an intricate web of franchise agreements, disposal contracts, economics, and local politics. Accurately measuring "diversion" can be a challenge.
In response to cities’ efforts to accurately count and report their diversion, in 1993 the Legislature allowed communities to regionalize programs. Many jurisdictions are now coordinating their measurement efforts and "pooling" their diversion successes to achieve greater diversion more cost-effectively.
No one size fits all. What works in one jurisdiction does not always work in another. Because AB 939 is performance-based, the opportunity exists for every city and county to design its own diversion and reduction programs.
Statewide waste diversion jumped 20 percent from 1998 to 1999 as newly implemented diversion programs around the state reached maturity. Such gains should be appreciated in perspective. In many cities, the public has embraced recycling but demonstrated an aversion to escalating service fees. We can be successful if we keep such realities foremost in planning waste management programs.
Targeted programs increase success. The Waste Board is committed to broadening the base of our waste diversion programs. More than half of what California throws away each year comes from our robust business sector. A significant opportunity to expand our efforts lies with the state’s thriving business and manufacturing community.
In 40 Recycling Market Development Zones across the state, new products from used materials are manufactured at an ever-increasing rate. Businesses in these zones processed 7 million tons of material diverted from landfills in 1999, creating jobs and markets for secondary materials.
New efforts to divert and market food scraps, construction and demolition debris, and lawn and garden compost are presenting exciting opportunities. Reusing scrap tires in asphalt paving, playground safety mats, and levee protection projects are proven and need to be expanded, especially in light of the recent tire recalls.
Business leaders and governmental agencies are increasingly receptive to procurement policies that endorse recycled-content products. Conscientious shoppers support companies that recycle and reduce their waste by patronizing "green" businesses. The Waste Board has honored more than 1,200 California businesses through its WRAP (Waste Reduction Award Program) awards for waste reduction and recycling success.
Sustainability through education. We place the education of our children at the top of our agenda, just as Governor Davis has done. The key to sustaining a clean environment for California’s future -- including our waste diversion success — is our children. Our new Integrated Education Initiative, a cooperative effort between all the boards and departments of Cal/EPA and the California Department of Education, paves the way for future generations of Californians to practice resource conservation every day and buy recycled-content products.
Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox throwing out the first pitch at a Rivercats baseball game against the Tucson Sidewinders in Sacramento. The game was sponsored by the Integrated Waste Management Board to promote used oil recycling, the mulching of grass clippings, and the 1-800-CLEANUP recycling hotline. The ‘Cats’ won 9-3.
More SWRCB News...
Water Board Collecting & Recycling Mercury
The State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the U. S. Department of Forestry have started a pilot program to recover mercury left over from gold mining in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The program, which began this summer, has collected and recycled more than 200 pounds of the toxic metal.
Mercury was used during the California Gold Rush to separate gold from rock and soil. The poisonous residue ended up in river and stream banks. Until now, modern-day gold miners who found and collected the leftover mercury did not have an easy or affordable way to properly dispose of the material. Shipping it to a recycler is costly because mercury is a hazardous substance that requires a special permit to handle, store, and transport amounts greater than 10 pounds.
The pilot collection project was made possible by a special variance from the Department of Toxic Substances Control that allows an individual who possesses more than 10 pounds of mercury to turn it over to State Water Board and U.S. Forest Service officials for recycling.
"The cooperation between the State Water Board and the Department of Toxics is an excellent example of state agencies working together to solve an environmental problem," said Art Baggett, acting chair of the State Water Board.
State Water Board staff have been meeting with a group of local, state, and federal officials over the past several months to establish a permanent mercury collection and recycling program.
More ARB News...
ARB Strengthens Asbestos Control Rule
The Air Resources Board (ARB) has toughened its regulation governing the use of rock and gravel containing asbestos to better protect the public from exposure to cancer-causing asbestos dust produced by outdoor surfacing operations such as covering unpaved roads and ornamental landscaping.
Asbestos is known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of lung tissue lining that is almost always fatal. The ARB’s action, amending the 1989 control measure, limits the asbestos content of ultramafic rock to less than 0.25 percent, the detection limit of current test methods. Sellers of rock containing more than 0.25 percent asbestos must provide written notice that the rock cannot be used in surfacing applications.
The ARB revised its asbestos rule due to concern about exposure to asbestos dust from El Dorado County quarries. Asbestos is the common name for a group of naturally occurring minerals that can separate into thin, inhalable fibers. The principal forms of asbestos include: crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthrophyllite. Chrysotile is the most common form of asbestos found in California, although all forms of asbestos are harmful to human health.
According to ARB data, there are about 200 mines and quarries in California that produce gravel and rock subject to the asbestos rule. ARB staff estimates it will cost quarries between 6 and 10 cents per ton of rock to test for asbestos.
Note: Reference to Cal/EPA Permit Assistance Centers, Ombudsman Directory, Important Numbers, and Cal/EPA Board & Department Web Sites were removed due to information being displayed was old.
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