Last year Tom Barham, SCS Engineers’ General Counsel and Field Services Construction Director made headlines at SCS with his admission to the United States Supreme Court Bar. We are extremely proud of Tom!
This month Tom had the opportunity to have lunch with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as part of a fireside chat sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel. The discussion was led by Ted Olsen, a former Solicitor General of the United States who has argued 62 cases before the Supreme Court.
Justice Ginsburg was remarkably open and candid about her career and generous with her advice, including sharing advice from her mother in law on how to have a successful marriage, which she noted as “the best advice she ever received.”
As a pioneer in women’s rights and civil rights in America, Justice Ginsburg was involved in many important cases as an advocate and a judge. Asked about which cases stood out, she recalled a case challenging Virginia Military Institute’s (VMI) male only cadet policy. She noted that this was one case Mr. Olsen lost 7-1 and the one vote he got was from Justice Scalia who was already was on VMI’s side and needed no more advocacy to secure his opinion. (According to Mr. Olsen, RBG is known for her “wicked sense of humor”.) The case was memorable not for its legal precedent, but because of correspondence from the family of a female cadet. The female cadet’s father, a Marine and VMI graduate, wrote Justice Ginsburg to thank her for helping to create the opportunity for his daughter to attend VMI.
Subsequently, another letter from the daughter arrived with a Keydet pin which the daughter received upon graduation. The pin traditionally is given to the mother of the graduate, but since the cadet’s mother passed away before her graduation, the cadet sent it to Justice Ginsburg explaining that the Justice was like the grandmother to her and all future generations of female cadets. Justice Ginsburg keeps the letter and pin on her desk at the Supreme Court.
On how to have a successful marriage, Justice Ginsberg’s mother in law advised that it is best sometimes to be deaf to things you don’t want to hear, and handed her a pack of earplugs. Justice Ginsburg explained she has found that advice very helpful, choosing to be deaf to unpleasant things sometimes said.
“When you think about it, it was remarkable to have an opportunity to have lunch with a sitting Supreme Court Justice,” said Tom. “I even had an opportunity to ask for her advice on teaching fundamentals of the Constitution and our legal system to the international students in the class I teach in the University of Maryland Graduate School of Civil Engineering. Maybe I can get The Notorious RBG to guest lecture next semester?”
About Tom Barham
Mr. Barham is SCS Engineers General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Construction Services. He is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia bars, and holds a degree in building construction. He has over 30 years of experience in construction and construction law.
Mr. Barham provides SCS Field Services with expertise in construction management, including procurement, scheduling, budgeting, and estimating, as well as other contract formation and administration activities.
Mr. Barham has directed several full service (design/build) projects and has been involved in numerous projects such as Landfill Gas (LFG) collection systems (blower/flare stations, extraction wells, horizontal collection trenches, header lines, and condensate collecting/containment systems); groundwater pump and treat systems (stripping towers, recharge galleries, groundwater wells, deep recharge wells, collection/distribution piping, and pump stations); bio-treatment facilities (containment areas, moisture/nutrient application, and soil mixing); underground storage tanks (excavation, testing, triple rinse, and restoration); soil vapor extraction systems (cat/ox treatment facilities, vapor extraction wells, collection header lines, and air make-up wells).
“This program directly supports the county’s Roadmap to a Sustainable Waste Management Future by helping businesses to implement recycling programs,” says Leonard. “And not only recycling but waste reduction, as well, all of which, of course, contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, resource management and sustainable materials management.”
Read the article about L.A. County’s Plan for Sustainable Waste Management
For years, Wisconsin landfills have relied on compliance with the storm water (stormwater) management requirements in the Chapter NR 500 code series to achieve compliance with the NR 216 storm water standards. Effective June 15, 2016, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) changed their policy, and now requires landfills and associated non-commercial borrow sites to obtain separate industrial storm water permit coverage.
Read the SCS Engineers Technical Bulletin to determine what action you may be required to take and by what date.
If you have questions or need help filing or developing a plan, please contact:
Betsy Powers, PE
(608) 216-7347
Sherren Clark, PE, PG
(608) 216-7323
…and as waste settles, it can have an effect on equipment,” according to Pat Sullivan of SCS Engineers in this ClimateWire article. As the U.S. EPA focuses on pushing landfill owners into cutting down on methane emissions some worry that a combination of tightening regulations and poor cost analysis might put some smaller landfills out of business.
LANDFILL EMISSIONS: Going to the dump? You might make electricity
Kavya Balaraman, E&E reporter
Reprinted from ClimateWire with permission from E&E Publishing, LLC. Copyright 2016.
Recent direct communications with SWRCB and local Regional Boards’ have indicated that during the 2016-2017 permit cycle year, inspections will be more detailed for facilities considered to be at high risk, which were specifically named as those with a long history of water quality violations, as well as scrap metal recyclers, and End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling. There will also be increased focus on facilities that discharge to impaired waterbodies with adopted Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements.
Industries should take action now if there is any uncertainty in regards to the meeting permit regulations. Contact your local SCS Engineers’ office or one of our industrial stormwater experts in California, Cory Jones or Jonathan Meronek. If you need questions answered, or if you are unsure of your business’s requirements, and believe that your facility may be in violation, SCS will help sort through the permitting red-tape. This includes SMARTs filing, NOI/NEC or NONA submittals, SWPPPs and Monitoring and Implementation Plans.
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An informative and complete discussion from Jeffrey L. Pierce of SCS Engineers, Energy Practice of siloxanes and landfill gas (LFG) utilization. Plus, presentations on the economics and performance of siloxane removal from biogas; advice on siloxane sampling, analysis and data reporting recommendations on standardization for the biogas utilization industry.
Read the NSPS – EG Technical Bulletin
Article by Cheryl Moran, CHMM
Technological advances in traditional printing and the advent of digital printing can make it more challenging to know when you need an air permit and which permit is best for your operations.
There are two main activities that may trigger air permitting – construction and operation; each of these comes with its own permitting requirements. Always check to see if you are required to apply for a construction permit before bringing new equipment on site. Once a source is installed, an operating permit will be necessary, which is the focus of this article.
Federal Title V operating permits (also referred to as Part 70 permits) are required for any facility that is considered a “major source” of air pollution. For purposes of operating permits only[1], a major source is a facility that has the potential to emit (PTE) more than 100 tons per year (tpy) of any criteria pollutant; volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM10), or more than 10 tons of any individual hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or more than 25 tpy of combined HAPs . Permitting thresholds are lower for facilities located in non-attainment areas.
Some facilities take limits on material throughputs, hours of operation, or emissions in order to artificially lower their PTE to qualify for a Federally Enforceable State Operating Permit (FESOP). These permits are also called “synthetic minor” permits.
Facilities that do not exceed federal permitting thresholds may still need to acquire a state operating permit. State permitting programs have more options than ever before and several states are summarized below.
ILLINOIS:
All “emission units” are required to secure an air permit, or register with the Illinois EPA, even very small sources of air pollution. An “emission unit” is any piece of equipment located at an emission source that has a potential to emit air pollution. Registration of Smaller Sources (ROSS) is for operations that emit less than 5 tpy of combined criteria pollutants. Sources with a potential to emit more than 5 tpy, but whose emissions are less than the threshold for a FESOP, may qualify for a “life-time” operating permit.
Visit for more information on the Illinois EPA permitting program.
WISCONSIN:
ROP Type A Registration Permit is for facilities with actual emissions of less than 25 tpy for criteria pollutants and 6.25 tons per year for HAPs.
ROP Type B Registration Permit is for facilities with actual emissions of less than 50 tpy for criteria pollutants and 12.5 tpy for HAPs.
ROP C Registration Permit for Printers is only available to printers. To qualify for this permit, emissions of each criteria pollutant are limited to 25 tons per year, and HAPs are limited to 12.5 tons per year.
General Operation Permit (GOP) for Printers applies to digital, screen, lithographic web printing (both heatset and coldset), and lithographic sheetfed printing.
INDIANA:
Source Specific Operating Agreement for Surface Coating or Graphic Arts Operations is available to printers with total VOC and HAPs that do not exceed 15 lb/day (7 lb/day in select counties).
Permit by Rule may be used for facilities that qualify for an operating agreement with criteria pollutant and HAP emissions that do not exceed 20% of the major source limits.
Find more on the Indiana permit options at http://www.in.gov/idem/airquality.
Whether you are applying for a state operating permit, or a federal operating permit, all applications will go through your state environmental regulatory agency.
[1] For construction permitting purposes, the thresholds that define a “major source” are typically higher than the operating permit thresholds.
For more information contact Cheryl Moran at SCS Engineers, Wisconsin or Ann O’Brien at SCS Engineers, Illinois, or for an SCS professional in your state.
Cheryl Moran is a Project Manager with SCS Engineers with more than 20 years of experience in the printing industry. She is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) and has worked with air, water, and waste issues including permitting, environmental recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring programs, hazardous waste management, environmental compliance audits, and sustainability programs.
Ann O’Brien is a Project Manager with SCS Engineers. During her 32-year career in the printing industry she was responsible for environmental compliance programs, including, but not limited to, air and water quality permitting, environmental recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring programs, hazardous waste management, environmental compliance audits, and environmental site assessments and due diligence associated with real estate transactions and corporate acquisitions.
Author: Ann O’Brien
Alert: Toxic Release Inventory Form A and Form R Reports were due July 1, 2016
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) was created by EPA in response to several events that raised public concern about local preparedness for chemical emergencies and the availability of information on hazardous substances.
Printing is one of the industry sectors required to annually report releases of certain chemicals. A printing facility with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees is required to report if the facility exceeds established chemical thresholds. Note that TRI reporting is not based on the amount of emissions to atmosphere or how much waste is generated. Instead, a company that manufactures or processes more than 25,000 pounds or otherwise uses more than 10,000 pounds of a TRI-listed chemical were required to report releases of these chemicals by July 1, 2016.
There are currently over 650 chemicals covered by the TRI program including chemicals commonly used by printers, such as toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, glycol ethers, solvents, and metals. Of particular interest to lithographic printers is the wide use of glycol ethers in fountain solutions and more recently in cleaning solutions, to take the place of solvents with high vapor pressures. It is important to mention that “glycol ethers” is a chemical category and within this category there are hundreds of individual chemicals that are reportable. Safety Data Sheets (SDS) do not indicate the presence of “glycol ethers” as a constituent of a raw material so a printer must look up each listed constituent and compare it to the list of TRI chemicals to determine whether is it reportable.
For more information, contact Ann O’Brien () or Cheryl Moran () at SCS Engineers.
Ann O’Brien is a Project Manager with SCS Engineers. During her 32-year career in the printing industry she was responsible for environmental compliance programs, including, but not limited to, air and water quality permitting, environmental recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring programs, hazardous waste management, environmental compliance audits, and environmental site assessments and due diligence associated with real estate transactions and corporate acquisitions.
Cheryl Moran is a Project Manager with SCS Engineers with more than 20 years of experience in the printing industry. She is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) and has worked with air, water, and waste issues including permitting, environmental recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring programs, hazardous waste management, environmental compliance audits, and sustainability programs.
SCS periodically prepares technical bulletins to highlight items of interest to our clients and friends. These are published on our website. This SCS Technical Bulletin addresses:
Read and share the SCS Technical Bulletin here.
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