Copyright

(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.
Showing posts with label U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

U.S., state officials ask about asbestos

Today's post is shared from timesunion.com/
Federal and state environmental agents have interviewed the former city engineer and his assistant about the city's handling of two demolition projects involving asbestos, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The emergency razing of 4-6-8-10 King St. in August 2013 and the tearing down of buildings at the King Fuels site in South Troy this year have drawn the attention of criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The agents asked Russ Reeves, the former city engineer, and Barbara Tozzi, a former city engineering assistant, about the circumstances of the work and the handling of asbestos, the person, who wished to remain anonymous, said. The agents also queried Reeves regarding the nature of relationships at city hall and the involvement of individuals in the projects.
Stop-work orders were issued for both demolition projects by the state because of concerns about procedures for dealing with asbestos in the 19th-century structures.
The questions were similar to those asked by the FBI when one of its agents interviewed Reeves earlier this year. The state Labor Department also has investigated the asbestos removal.
The city's request for proposals for the development of the Scolite site on the Hudson River in South Troy also was discussed in the latest interview, the person said.
Reeves resigned as city engineer, saying that city officials were not concerned about public safety when the...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Thursday, September 5, 2013

UNITED STATES REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH SAFEWAY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES NATIONWIDE

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov


In a settlement agreement with the United States, Safeway, the nation’s second largest grocery store chain, has agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty and implement a corporate-wide plan to significantly reduce its emissions of ozone-depleting substances from refrigeration equipment at 659 of its stores nationwide, estimated to cost approximately $4.1 million, announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice today. 

The settlement involves the largest number of facilities ever under the Clean Air Act’s regulations governing refrigeration equipment.

The settlement resolves allegations that Safeway violated the federal CAA by failing to promptly repair leaks of HCFC-22, a hydro-chlorofluorocarbon that is a greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance used as a coolant in refrigerators, and failed to keep adequate records of the servicing of its refrigeration equipment. Safeway will now implement a corporate refrigerant compliance management system to comply with stratospheric ozone regulations.

 In addition, Safeway will reduce its corporate-wide average leak rate from 25 percent in 2012 to 18 percent or below in 2015. The company will also reduce the aggregate refrigerant emissions at its highest-emission stores by 10 percent each year for three years. “Safeway’s new corporate...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]
….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.