The November LEPC Meeting was held at the High Point Fire Department on 11/11/04 and was hosted by Barry Tilley and Kevin Cowan.

 

Introductions were made and thanks to Barry and Kevin for hosting the meeting.

 

Treasurer Report – Bill Nieland

·         Balance - $15,498.72

 

Education & Outreach Committee – Debbie Meurs

·         No report

 

TERG – Barry Tilley

·         Emergency Response, Greensboro Fire, Guilford County Fire, and HP Fire are working on a plan for Homeland Security.

·         Joel Wood and Warren Ritter are leading the MMRS (Metropolitan Medical Response System) on a mass level.

 

Regulatory Review Committee – Billy Cobb

·         Met on October 25th with four members present.  Dick Dunmire passed out a sample sheet from JJ Keller online update service that he subscribes to which keeps you up-to-date on all the new regulations, meetings, alerts, etc. that are coming out.  He will let us know if anything new and pertinent to the group is brewing.

·         Committee will review the current Tips Sheet and Billy assigned sections of the sheet to be checked and updated if needed.  We will work on sheet update before the next meeting which is scheduled for Monday, January 10th, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. at the City of Grensboro Training Center.

 

Citizen Core Committee – Jennie Hege

·         Jennie is still in Florida working on the Hurricane Ivan situation.  No report.

 

By-Laws – Chuck Mortimore

·         No report

 

Web-page Committee – Dorothy Vannoy

·         No report

 

Program Committee – Kirk Weil

·         Working on 2005 schedule.

·         Hoping for a speaker regarding Tier II for the Jan Meeting.

·         Need topics – please let Kirk know of any topics you are interested in for the new year.

 

High Point Fire Dept – Barry Tilley

·         Will be hosting the Hazardous Material Group Standard Operations Guidelines Presentation.  Greensboro and Guilford County Fire Departments will be participating in this presentation.

 

Greensboro Fire Dept – Joel Wood

·         Working with grant money to where it is needed.

·         Joel introduced Chief Clarence Hunter (Dist 2 HazMat Teams) to the group.

 

Law Enforcement - Robert Elliot

·         No Report

 

Greensboro Emergency Services – Marilyn Braun

·         Chemicals are all charted for the Extremely Hazardous Substances and are linked to safety information.

·         Warren Ritter and David Hood will head up E Team Program.

 

Guilford County Environmental Health Dept – Cheryl Haigler

·         No Report

 

Guilford County Emergency Management – Ron Campbell

·         No Report

 

SERC – No Report

 

County Commissioners

·         No report and no attendance.

 

Executive Committee – Clarice Garrett

·         Guilford County Hazardous Material Plan draft is being developed.

·         City EOP did not reference the LEPC, so Ron and Don are putting in a sentence or two about our committee.

·         Clarice will request a copy for review.

·         Executive Committee will meet at a later date.

 

Guest Speaker – Larry Cravey (Project Manager ENSR International) lcravey@ensr.com

  Overview of Proposed Changes to
“All Appropriate Inquiry”

 

40 CFR 312 – Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries

 

  • Proposed rule for public comment in 8/26/04 Federal Register; comments due 11/30/04
  • Standard is required under Sections 101(35)(B)(ii) and (iii) of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
  •  
  • Purpose: to meet the “all appropriate inquiry” provisions necessary to qualify for certain landowner liability protections under CERCLA
  • Also applicable to persons conducting site characterization and assessments with the use of grants awarded under CERCLA Section 104(k)(2)(B)

AAI – Preamble

 

  • Standard is 39 pages long, 33 are Preamble
  • Courts can rely on preamble to the same extent as rule 
  • Role of Environmental Professional (EP) in investigation

1.        Committee decided that a team under EP supervision or responsible charge could perform investigation

 

2.       EPA recommends several times that site inspections be conducted by EP

AAI – Key Definitions

 

  • Environmental Professional (EP)
    1. PE or PG or state/federal license/certification to perform environmental inquiries + 3 yrs relevant experience;
    2. BA or BS degree in engineering, environmental science, or earth science + 5 yrs relevant experience; OR
    3. BA, BS or higher degree as of the date of the rule + 10 yrs relevant experience
  • Relevant experience

Participation in ESAs that may include environmental analyses, investigations, and remediation

 

 

 


AAI Objective is to Identify:

 

 

  • Current & past property uses and occupancies
  • Current & past uses of hazardous substances
  • Waste management & disposal activities that could have caused releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances
  • Current & past corrective actions and response activities undertaken to address past & ongoing releases of hazardous substances
  • Engineering & Institutional controls
  • Properties adjoining or located nearby the subject property that have environmental conditions that could have resulted in conditions indicative of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances to the subject property

 

AAI Scope

  • Scope:
    1. Interviews with past & present owners
    2. Reviews of historical sources & governmental records
    3. Visual inspections
    4. Commonly known or reasonably attainable information
    5. Degree of obviousness of the presence of a release or threatened release, and the ability to detect the contamination

AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope

  • Inspection/interviews:
    1. AAI adds interviews of past owners, operators and occupants of the subject property (ASTM has current)
    2. Abandoned property with evidence of uncontrolled access – AAI adds interviews with 1 or more owners of occupants of neighboring or nearby properties (a political issue, potentially)
    3. Adjoining properties must be visually inspected (from outside their property lines, generally)

AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope

  • Inspection/interviews:
    1. Site inspection not required under unusual circumstances (not including voluntary seller refusing access); however, then must:
    2. Visually inspect by other methods
    3. Document methods used to attempt access & why unsuccessful
    4. Document other sources consulted

AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope

  • Special Requirements:
    1. Note any relevant specialized knowledge held by the current purchaser and the EP
    2. Evaluate the relationship of the current purchase price to the value of the property, if the property were not contaminated
    3. Take into account the degree of obviousness of the presence of releases or threatened releases at the subject property

AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope

 

  • Government Research:
    1. Federal, State records currently required - adds tribal records and local government agencies (case law cited)
    2. Adds engineering and institutional controls to ½ mi.
    3. Title search – not required per preamble, but if deed restriction exists, this may be needed to meet AAI
  • Historical research approached differently
    1. Requirements looser than ASTM
    2. Must search back to the time the property was first used
    3. Data gaps must be identified in the report.

AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope

 

  • Database searches
    1. Some search radii differ from ASTM
    2. Radii may be changed per EP judgment (as in ASTM), provided rationale is documented by EP
AAI Scope vs. ASTM 1527-00 Scope
  • Report

Requires more extensive documentation of attempts to fill gaps, and determining the significance of the gaps on the EP’s ability to draw conclusions on the property’s potential to be contaminated

  • Declarations
    1. Signer declares that they meet definition of EP
    2. EP declares that AAI was performed in accordance with 40 CFR Part 312.

·         Report need not identify “extremely small quantities or amounts of contamination”

·         Opinion regarding additional appropriate investigation, if any

 

 

 

 

AAI – Potential Drivers

  • Industry “standard of care” – ASTM will match

Intended to increase baseline level of investigation in the industry, and improve consistency

  • Lender “wildcard”

May not feel need to follow, as secured creditor exemption is not dependent on AAI

May require due to impacts on borrower’s ability to repay

  • Rating agencies, Insurance Cos., and/or SEC may adopt

AAI – Other Implications

 

  • Implications if AAI used:

vIncreased turnaround likely

vIncreased cost

»Added time, plus database cost, (more if EP conducts all)

»Some “low cost” providers will not be able to meet EP

AAI – Do I Need to Comment?

  • Is your company

vlikely to want to claim a CERCLA defense?

vfinancing through a third party?

vplanning to securitize or obtain environmental insurance?

vabout to conduct an investigation driven by regulatory requirements?

  • Keep an eye on SEC requirements
  • Full text and comment instructions can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/aai/proposed_rule.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaker - Amy Stroud with the High Point American Red Cross spoke to us about the many things the Red Cross does for people everyday such as disaster relief, contacting a loved one in the military, teaching CPR, blood donations, shelter and feeding, along with many others.  We also looked at a video on the history of the American Red Cross.

 

December Social:  Hosted by Degussa (Alice Rimmer)

Natty Greene’s on South Elm Street

Time: 3:00 – 5:00 pm in the Loft

Date: Friday, December 3rd

 

Alice Rimmer has sent out invitations and directions.  If you need further information, please contact Clarice Garrett at 336-878-3843.  Hope to see everyone there!! 

 

We are looking forward to an exciting year for the Guilford County LEPC in 2005. 

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!

 

 

Penny Partido

Guilford County LEPC Secretary