Environmental Protection Logo

Poll

Industry Trends

Clearing the Fog

November 1, 2004By John P. Bachner

When negotiating contracts, environmental consultants need to understand the legal implications of the term standard of care

Environmental professionals, civil engineers, and most other professionals are legally obligated to meet the standard of care, i.e., to apply the care and skill ordinarily applied by local peers performing similar services at the same time.

Force Multiplier

November 1, 2004By Richard MacLean

Stakeholder networking has undergone a dramatic transformation -- what might it mean to your organization?

In 1999, when former Vice President Al Gore stated during an interview on a CNN television program that he "took the initiative in creating the Internet," neither political party had any idea of the significance his invention would have on American politics.

Manager's Notebook: Communicating Environmental, Health and Safety Value

October 1, 2004By Richard MacLean

First identify the real obstacles to communication

Environmental, health and safety (EHS) managers are keenly aware that their careers and longevity within their organizations are dependent upon their ability to demonstrate that they bring something of value to the table beyond just the donuts for a meeting. It's a subject in need of considerable attention, especially in today's tight economy. This month we examine how to identify the communication barriers that impede real progress.

A Real World Approach

September 1, 2004By Kathleen J. Kniff, Anthony J. Sadar

Improving education in the environmental-science classroom in middle schools and high schools by moving toward a more project-based curriculum

Industry experts are frequently asked by teachers, professional associations, and their own relatives to relay their expertise to the science classroom, either in person or through a site tour. This request for more school participation from environmental professionals will probably increase as the United States strives to deliver more practical examples to students. This article focuses on the environmental-science classroom and provides some insight for a successful class experience from a professional-teacher perspective.

Living in a Post-Enron World

September 1, 2004By John L. Payne

A primer to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the new disclosure requirements related to environmental liabilities

It is no secret that the financial scandals of recent years have had a dramatic impact not just on the business world itself, but also on individual investors and government regulators. Enron, WorldComm, Tyco, MCI and others have entered the popular lexicon as words that will forever be associated with rampant greed and seemingly non-existent oversight. Whether we've seen the last of the fall of the giants, involving nearly incomprehensible loss of capital, is anyone's guess.

Site Closure Strategies

September 1, 2004By David H. Simpson, Rusty B. Norris, PE, PLS, RSM

Reducing the liabilities and costs of remediation by focusing on end results, continually reassessing project goals and controlling O&M expenses

U.S. industry faces the daunting task of managing investigations and clean-ups at thousands of contaminated properties. In staying abreast of new technology and ever-evolving regulatory programs, companies must address many challenges involving regulations, technologies, and costs.

Better Benchmarking

July 1, 2004By Richard MacLean

How to derive more value and insight in a survey-weary world

Benchmarking is an important tool for evaluating one's practices relative to best-in-class. If done properly, it can even inspire innovation. The majority of these studies, however, are designed and executed poorly and yield dubious or even counterproductive conclusions. Environmental, health and safety (EHS) studies, in particular, are prone to these problems.

Compliance Survival Tactics

June 1, 2004By Greg Gasperecz

How to protect yourself from the Title V data explosion in the absence of a flak jacket

The Title V operating program resulting from 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act requires that facilities demonstrate, in one document, their compliance with all applicable regulations and requirements of the act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that, as of 2003, 95 percent of Title V permits have been issued nationwide. As such, approximately 19,000 facilities are required to submit annual certifications and semiannual deviation reports.

Making Sustainability Work In Today's Society

June 1, 2004By Donald A. Flory, Ron Sparks, CSP, PE, REM

The growing movement focused on managing our environmental, economic and social resources for the long term

The correlation between age and the perception of time is an interesting study. When a teenager is 15, the sixteenth birthday seems to take forever to arrive. The flip side of this situation is that when you are 55, time seems to flash by at an incredibly faster rate.

Preparing for an Uncertain Future

June 1, 2004By Richard MacLean

Environmental strategic planning essentials

The very nature of environmental issues has grown much more complex: from local contamination to global impacts; from toxic hot spots to breaks at the DNA level; from pollution control to supply chain reliability; from regulations to voluntary product certifications; and so on. Strategic planning offers the best approach against being caught off guard, indeed to gain a competitive advantage. Here's how to go about it.

On Guard

May 1, 2004By Mark Wysong

Guidelines for chemical terrorism preparedness

Today we live in a newly dangerous world where it is impossible to predict when and how acts of chemical and biological terrorism may occur. Preparing our organizations and communities to address these threats is vital, of course, for the consequences of not being unprepared can be devastating.

The Brink of Change

May 1, 2004By Anthony J. Buonicore, Dianne Crocker

The forces that govern the way environmental due diligence is conducted are changing; significantly, in some respects. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now in the final stages of drafting the first rule for "all appropriate inquiry" (AAI), a term for the investigation into a property's potential for environmental contamination prior to purchase.

The Search for Deep Green

May 1, 2004By Richard MacLean

Characteristics of companies that take environmental, health and safety performance seriously

Benchmarking is very much in vogue, but how do you identify the best in class? It is more difficult than you may imagine, since reputation and many of the readily available metrics are poor determinants of deep green. What are the ideal indicators? First and foremost, they are a shopping list of sound environmental, health and safety (EHS) practices for boards of directors who are worried about corporate governance and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002

Are You Ready?

April 1, 2004By Merrie Spaeth

Given the odds that something bad will happen at your facility at some point in the future, now is the time to prepare for dealing with an environmental crisis

Readers of this publication are typically highly trained and credentialed professionals; many have graduate degrees in technical fields. Whatever your field or job function, you can count on one more thing in addition to death and taxes: something will go wrong. We all followed the extensive, painful analysis after the blackout in 2003; the finger-pointing and bad publicity continues. If your company suffers a spill, emission, explosion, contamination, fatality or any one of a number other incidents, are you ready? Most people think crisis preparation and crisis communication are someone else's job.

Dust Off Your Plan

April 1, 2004By Pat Huff

Having an environmental management information system in place can help you to smoothly implement your company's stormwater pollution prevention plan

Has your stormwater pollution prevention plan been shelved along with the best intentions of your best management practices? If so, you are not alone. Leaner environmental, health and safety (EHS) staffs may appear more productive to management, but oftentimes these lean staffs inadvertently ignore aspects of their jobs, completing the activities with reporting deadlines and letting less-defined requirements gather dust in notebooks on the shelf.