|
Editor's
Notes:
|
|
The Department of Environmental Protection has extended
the deadline to apply for Illegal Dump Cleanup grants to January 27.
Regardless of how you voted in the last
presidential election, change will undoubtedly come to our Nation
starting on January 20. For example:
- The Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform recently released
the results of an investigation into Clean Water Act enforcement.
The investigation revealed that the clean water program has been
decimated as hundreds of enforcement cases have been dropped,
downgraded, delayed, or never brought in the first place. The
Committee plans to work with the new Administration to restore the
effectiveness and integrity to the program.
- According to the Washington
Post, few federal agencies are expected to undergo as radical a
transformation under President-elect Barack Obama as the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, which
have been at the epicenter of many of the Bush administration's most
intense scientific and environmental controversies.
- President-elect Barack Obama is
considering a stimulus
package that will include a heavy dose of spending on
environmentally friendly projects aimed at creating “green-collar
jobs” and saving energy.
|
Topic
of the Month:
Road Salt and
Water Quality - Links of Interest
As
we are in the throes of another snowy, icy winter, many people are wondering
what can be done to protect drivers from icy roads while protecting rivers and
streams from road salt contamination. More...
|
The Low Impact Development Center, Inc.
has launched a new
resource website for green highways and green streets projects. The site provides examples and guidance for
communities and institutions that are developing green infrastructure
strategies for water resource protection, community development, and
to address climate change through greening roads and communities.
|
|
News Clips:
|
CBF Offers First-Ever Tool To Assess Nitrogen
Footprint
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation this week unveiled the first online
nitrogen calculator designed to educate watershed residents about their
contribution to the nitrogen pollution damaging local rivers, streams
and the Chesapeake Bay. More...
Blueprint for a Green
County
The environment, both urban
and rural, is about to become a major focus in the future development of
Lancaster County. More...
BMP Challenge Program Expands
The BMP CHALLENGE program has helped 102 corn producers
since 2000 experiment with conservation
practices on their farms, without risk to income. More...
Rescue Dog Given New Training As
Sewage Sniffer
A couple of years ago, Sable was rescued
from a shelter in Lake Odessa, MI by a former K-9 law-enforcement
officer. Now the dog works with his owner for a local consultant to
detect illicit sewage discharges in Bay County. More...
|
Policy
Update:
|
‘Wanted’ List Exposes Environmental
Fugitives
A
new Web tool is available to enlist the public and other law
enforcement agencies in tracking down fugitives accused of violating
environmental laws and evading arrest. The Web site includes photos of the accused, summaries of their
alleged environmental violations, and information on each fugitive’s
last known whereabouts.
|
|
|
The alleged violations include smuggling of
ozone-depleting substances, illegally disposing of hazardous waste,
discharging pollutants into the air and water, laundering money and
making criminally false statements.
|
|
With new televisions being a popular gift during the holidays, many
families are looking for environmentally correct ways to get rid of
their old TVs. The PADEP urges Pennsylvania residents to recycle
their electronic discards, including televisions, rather than disposing
of them in the trash. DEP maintains a listing of electronics collection events and sites on
its Web site. Outside of PA, enter your zip code at MyGreenElectronics.com
to find recycling locations near you.
|
eGovernment Engineering
Government Engineering is an online
and print resource for engineering professionals. This excellent publication
includes articles from around the US on such topics as water, stormwater, solid
waste, wastewater, erosion control, street maintenance, transportation and
bridges, traffic, technology in public works, fleet maintenance, grounds
maintenance and recreation, and pipeline engineering. http://www.govengr.com/index.htm
|
Learn more about the Tidal Delaware Water Trail in Philadelphia through new
online maps and a website which identify access points, safety considerations,
points of interest and amenities along the 56-mile stretch of tidal river from
Trenton to Marcus Hook. http://www.tidaltrail.org/
|
|
New Tools and
Publications:
National Research Council Report on Urban Stormwater Released
The National Research Council, Water Sciences and Technology Board has just
released the report "Urban Stormwater Management in the United
States." The report is the result of a study commissioned by EPA in
2006 to evaluate the NPDES stormwater program and make recommendations for
improvement of the program. The report provides a description of the
history of stormwater management in the United States; an overview of stormwater
regulations and the federal regulatory program; and information on a number of
relevant scientific and technological issues such as hydrology, geomorphology,
biology, monitoring and modeling. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12465
EPA Publishes Draft Handbook for Developing Watershed
TMDLs
EPA’s Office of Water has issued a draft “Handbook for Developing
Watershed TMDLs,” available for public comment until February 18. EPA is looking for ways to help states expedite development of scientifically
defensible TMDLs. The draft document identifies the issues for practitioners to consider and
tools and resources that can help them when planning for and developing
watershed TMDLs. http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/techsupp.html
AIA Sustainability Report Released
The American Institute of Architects (AIA)
commissioned a report, "Local Leaders in Sustainability - Green
Incentives," that defines and examines types of incentive programs, details
the inherent barriers to success, and highlights best practice examples from
around the country. http://www.aia.org/release_061708_GreenInce
Free Open Source Geographical Database
Available
Geonames.org is a free geographical database that
makes available names of places in various languages, elevation, population and
other types of data from various sources. The GeoNames geographical database is
available for download free of charge under a creative commons attribution
license. It contains over eight million geographical names and consists of 6.5
million unique features of 2.2 million populated places and 1.8 million
alternate names. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-realweb7/index.html?ca=drs-
Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure
- New Additions
EPA is developing a series of
documents, collectively called the Municipal Handbook, to assist local officials
with implementation of green infrastructure programs. Recently, three
additional installments in the series were released: Green Infrastructure
Retrofit Policies, Green Streets, and Rainwater Harvesting Policies. http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/greeninfrastructure/munichandbook.cfm
|
|
Newsletter
Editor/ Design and Layout:
Rebecca
Buerkett
|
|
Subscribe to this newsletter!
An email version
of F. X. Browne, Inc.'s Sustainable Environments is now available. To be added to our mailing list, please visit
http://www.fxbrowne.com/subscribe.
|
F. X.
Browne, Inc. – Environmental Consulting
Engineers – Planners – Scientists
31 Years of Excellence & Innovation
Corporate
Office: Lansdale, PA
Pocono Office: Marshalls Creek, PA
New York Office: Saranac Lake, NY
For more information, call us at (215) 362-3878 or visit:
http://www.fxbrowne.com
For a printer
friendly version of the newsletter, click here.
F. X. Browne, Inc. Sustainable Environments by F. X. Browne, Inc. is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Unless otherwise cited, all photos
in this newsletter © Rebecca Buerkett. Photos may not be used or reproduced without
permission.
Clipart from Microsoft
Office Online.
|
