IDEM Update NIRPC EMPC January 8, 2009

IDEM Update NIRPC EMPC

January 8, 2009

Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, QEP Commissioner

IN Department of Environmental Management

1

Question for EMPC

• Can people with diverse interests work together to address environmental challenges?

or • Are the diverse interest groups destined to

leave these issues unresolved until all legal avenues are exhausted—a lengthy process?

2

US Courts Overturning Rules

• 2007—Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) Boiler MACT—directly impacted about 10 sources with coal fired boilers

• May 2008—Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) impacted all Power Plants

• July 2008—Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) impacted all Power Plants and most Indiana air pollution strategies

3

BP Air Permit• 38 day public comment period, 342 written

comments received • Public meeting and hearing – 1,200 attended,

44 commented • Construction permit issued May 1 and

operation permit issued June 16• Multiple appeals of these permit decisions to

OEA, Federal Court and the EPA Administrator 4

We Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment

NRDC Statement on Tar Sands• “BP’s decision to tap into the Canadian wilderness is

‘based on addiction, not reality,’ says Ann Alexander, senior attorney at the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental group. ‘Tar sands crude oil is dirty from start to finish. It’s bad enough that [BP is] fouling our natural resources here in the Midwest, but it’s completely destroying them up in Canada. There are good sources of energy we can turn to that don’t involve turning entire forests into a moonscape.’”

5

Duke-Edwardsport Power Plant• First commercial Integrated Gasification

Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant in the U.S. • 44 day public comment period• Public meeting and hearing – over 600 citizens

attended • Construction permit issued January 25 and

operation permit issued in March• Permit decision appealed

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7

Permit Backlog Reduction• In 2005, there were 263 administratively

extended NPDES permits• Six of those 263 remain to be issued:

– US Steel Gary Works– US Steel Midwest Division– Arcelor Mittal Indiana Harbor East– Arcelor Mittal Indiana Harbor West– Arcelor Mittal Burns Harbor– Hoosier Energy Merom Plant

Impact of NPDES Extensions

• These companies are not required to meet the Great Lakes Initiative discharge limits—e.g. mercury.

• These companies are not required to meet other more stringent discharge limitations, testing and reporting requirements.

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Impact of NPDES Extensions• Many of the objections to the USX permit

related to the time allowed by the permit for the Company to meet the new standards.

• Without a renewed permit, USX has no deadline for meeting the new standards.

• The other four steel plants with extended permits also have no deadline for meeting the new standards.

9

IDEM’s Mission and Environmental Goal

IDEM is responsible for protecting human health and the environment while providing for safe industrial, agricultural, commercial and governmental operation vital to a prosperous economy. Our goal is to increase the personal income of all Hoosiers to the national average while maintaining and improving Indiana’s Environmental Quality.

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Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index

Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy Yale University Center For International Earth Science

Information Network (CFIESIN) Columbia University

http://www.yale.edu/epi/

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12

Performance Metrics Jan 2009

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Quality of Hoosiers' Environment Result Target Comments

% of Hoosiers in counties meeting air quality standards 84% 100% 80% 2 counties & 981,839 of

6,345,289 above standard

% of CSO Communities with approved programs to prevent the release of untreated sewage 93% 100% 20% 90+9 (99) out of 98+9 (107)

Permitting Efficiency Total calendar days accumulated in issuing environmental permits, as determined by state statute

Land 16,647 66,565 86,864 131 permits

317 permits

24 permits

Air 72,845 207,000 385,000

Water 29,712 48,000 200,000

* Places emphasis on back logged permits

Compliance Total percentage of compliance observations from regulated customers within acceptable compliance standards

Inspections 96.22% 97% 75%

Self reporting 94.93% 99% 95%

Continuous monitoring (COM) 99.85% 99.90% 98.95%

* Tracks observations and not just inspections

Organizational Transformation Budgetary agency dollars spent on key outside contracts for core agency functions.

Dollars spent on outside services per year $1,500,000 $0 $3,447,017 $1.5 OLQ

Performance Metrics June 2005

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New Drinking Water Metric

• Percent of Hoosiers Drinking Safe Water– Percentage of Indiana population that receives

drinking water from facilities that are in full compliance with safe drinking water regulations

– Federal (EPA) Goal is 90%

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Total Permit Calendar Days

16

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Air

Water

Land


Air Permits Branch Rapid Improvement Activities• Lean/Kaizen Methodology to improve efficiency

– Significant Source Modifications (Construction Approvals) 9/07 Event

• Process time reduced from 220 days to 121 days avg. –Permit Renewals 12/07 Event

• Process time reduced from 678 day avg. to all those issued in ’08 within 270 days allowed (calendar days)

• Eliminate backlog of administratively extended permits

– 1/1/08 - 156 permits

– 1/7/09 only 9 remaining17

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New 2008 Laws• HEA 1001 Property Tax Reform was the Major Issue

in the 2008 Legislative Session

• SEA 45—The Great Lakes Water Compact with implementing legislation

• HEA 1120—Ban phosphates in residential dishwasher detergent sold after July 1, 2010

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New 2008 Laws• SEA 43 addresses many environmental issues

– Clarifies mercury switch removal program requirements to:

• Allow payment for removal of mercury containing anti-lock braking switches and other mercury containing devices

• Exempt wrecked vehicles where the mercury switch is not easily accessible

– Allows IDEM to accept electronic signatures– Clarifies Requirements for Local Land Use Approvals for

Solid Waste Landfills that have not yet accepted Waste

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• SEA 43 Continued– Removes the requirement that IDEM have a laboratory

division– Removes the requirement to display operator

certificates at a treatment plant– Allows a single vehicle ID and land application permit

approval for a septage hauler– Eliminates the requirement that IDEM obtain social

security numbers as part of good character approval process

– Allows IDEM to use ELTF for tank inspections

21

New 2008 LawsSEA 43 Continued

– Requires public notice of rules that are proposed to sunset

– Protects a community from being required to pay storm water fees to two entities

– Clarifies Environmental Criminal Language

• SEA 46 modified the marketable record title for real property to eliminate the need to renew a environmental restrictive covenant every 50 years

Agency Accomplishments• All 1,269 tons of VX Agent stored at the

Newport Chemical Agent Facility since 1969 has been safely destroyed. VX destruction started in May of 2005 and was completed in August 2008

• Digital Inspector Tool is in use for solid waste inspections including CAFOs, Auto Salvage Yards and Landfills.

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Agency Accomplishments• All IDEM lead CSO Communities have entered

legal agreements to address their CSO issues.• Increased permit speed and virtually

eliminated permit and enforcement backlogs.• Entire State met the 0.08 ppm Ozone air

quality standard for the period 2006-2008, all but Lake and Porter Counties designated attainment. PM2.5 Air Quality looks good.

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0.01

0.030.03

0.03

0.130.03

0.06

1.390.46

Lead Monitor

Lead 2005 - 2007 Design Values(Highest Quarter, ug/m3)

0 20 4010 Mi

0 20 4010 Km 24

Agency Initiatives• Virtual File Cabinet—electronic filing system—over

30,000,000 pages now available electronically. Visits to IDEM file room down over 90% from 445/mo 1Q 2007 to 35/mo 2Q 2008.

• TEMPO—Enterprise wide electronic integration of all IDEM information—part of the process to allow us to receive and process electronic permit applications and reports.

• Applied for EPA approval for electronic submittals25

Agency Initiatives• Returned enforcement function to the air, water

and land programs and eliminated the separate office of enforcement.

• Provide consistent Statewide air quality permitting, monitoring and enforcement services by directly managing the air program functions previously contracted to: Anderson, Evansville, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, and Vigo County.

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Office of Enforcement2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008*

Referrals 607 467 547 591 606 433

Violation Letters 5,222 4,980 4,268 4,024 3,958 17**

Notices of Violation 457 318 202 427 420 314

Agreed Orders 349 314 258 417 372 363

Commissioner’s Orders 15 6 41 38 39 31

Dismissals 121 44 48 46 57 39

Complies/Closed 308 312 317 577 568 382

AG Referrals 13 17 4 33 52 21

27*2008 data is incomplete **Does not include Program Violation Letters

Criminal Convictions• Wabash Environmental Technologies and Derrik

Hagerman—Clean Water Act felonies. Sixty months of imprisonment and $237,000 in restitution (Terre Haute)

• Miller Environmental and Anthony MuCullough—Clean Water Act felonies. Four months imprisonment and $510,000 in penalties (Shelbyville and Rushville)

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Criminal Convictions

• Richard Reece—RCRA felonies. Six months in half way house, six months home detention and $60,000 restitution (Muncie)

• Hassan Barrel and Alan Hersh—RCRA felonies. Awaiting sentencing (Fort Wayne)

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Reasons for Enforcement Change• No improvement in compliance rates in 4 years• EPA HQ told me both enforcement models

(separate office or in program) are used effectively

• Enforcement often told me cases could not move because they were “waiting on program staff”

• Unpublished enforcement policies resulted in unexpected actions—too timid and too aggressive

31

Forbes “America’s Greenest States” Report

• “So who’s at the bottom? Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana and, at No. 50, West Virginia. All suffer from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it. Expect them to remain that way.”

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Forbes Report Conclusion• Does not rank States based upon government

verified environmental quality data• Appears to be a ranking based upon adherence of

States to a group of policies advocated by the NGO’s providing information used in the rankings

• The data used in the report is as old as 2003 and goes up to 2005

• We are implementing improvements and have made great progress

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Questions?

Tom EasterlyCommissioner

Indiana Department of Environmental Management317-232-8611

[email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

Antidegradation Status• Stakeholder kickoff Meeting on March 7, 2008• Discussed concepts and schedule at two large

stakeholder meetings on 4/29 and 6/25• Working group of twelve members from the

environmental, business and municipal segments formed to come up with draft rule language and/or identify areas for IDEM to resolve

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Antidegradation Status• Working group has met on 7/15, 8/12, 9/16 ,

10/30, 12/11/08 and 1/6/09, next is 1/26/09• Working group agenda items:

– Applicability (7/15) & (10/30)– Exemptions (8/12) & (10/30)– DeMinimis (9/16) & (10/30)– Water Quality Improvement Projects (1/26/09)– Antidegradation Demonstrations (12/11/08)– Public Notice/Public Comment (1/6/09)

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Documents

IDEM Update NIRPC EMPC January 8, 2009