April 2010
| PLEASE NOTE: Some newsletter content is only available to members in good standing of NMSHMM. |
- President's Message: Annual Dinner a Success and 40th Earth Day
- Membership: NMSHMM Dues - Time to Renew in April!
- Monthly Luncheon Meetings: Do You Have Any Recommended Restaurants?
- Local News Stories
- Upcoming Meetings and Events
- Monthly Meeting Location
- Job Openings (Last Update: February 24, 2010)
- NMSHMM Officers and Committee Chairs
| Our Mission |
| To
provide environmental professionals in the Southwest a
forum for professional development, education, and networking opportunities; and to offer our community environmental, health, and safety expertise |
President's Message: Annual Dinner a Success and 40th Earth Day
Debbie Finfrock, PE, CHMM
Finfrock Engineering
Thanks to Pete Dominici, Jr. for his speech at the NMSHMM Annual Dinner where he described a spring water rights case in the heart of Taos. This case highlighted the complexities of water rights law in New Mexico, and how working with the developer allowed the spring to become a feature of the new development, while preserving the access of a group of landowners who had always used the spring water.
This year, I would like to focus on our members and their accomplishments. Have any of you worked on an interesting project that you would like to describe during a lunch meeting, or do you have a colleague who likes to speak? We are always looking for speakers and tour ideas, so please contact me or any member of the NMSHMM Board with your thoughts. Also, we will try to regularly feature a member in our newsletter with a “Better Know a Member” section. Don’t be surprised if someone calls you or emails you with a list of questions. We want to know you better!
April 22 is the 40th celebration of Earth Day. As environmental professionals, we are more aware than most of the consequences of poor environmental stewardship. Parents have told me how their kids are learning more about environmental protection in school than we did. Consider sharing with your friends a more unusual conservation practice that you do - while I am waiting for the tapwater to heat up enough to do dishes, I save the running water in a bowl and then use it to water my plants.
Membership: NMSHMM Dues - Time to Renew in April!
Brian Salem, CHMM
NMED Hazardous Waste Bureau
Your $30 membership dues for the 2010-2011 NMSHM fiscal year are due in April. Thanks to the half of you who paid through AHMP or other means. For those who have not renewed, please renew on-line at the membership web page. Payment is accepted on-line by credit card or by mailing a membership form (available by clicking here) and a check to NMSHMM, P.O. Box 92132, Albuquerque, NM 87199.
NMSHMM dues are still a great value - for all the professional development, networking, and social events. NMSHMM dues are the same or less than many professional organizations charge for one luncheon meeting.
Monthly Luncheon Meetings: Do You Have Any Recommended Restaurants?
NMSHMM is considering switching our luncheon meetings to a centralized, easily accessible location to increase attendance, and we want your ideas. The NMSHMM Board would like to get input from members on a new, centralized location for the lunch meetings. We are trying to select a central location, one that is cost effective, and easily accessible to all members. Suggestions along the I-40 or I-25 corridors in Albuquerque are preferred, but all suggestions welcome. Please provide your feedback to .
The following are news stories reported during the past month:
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A fuel storage tank exploded at the Navajo Refinery in Artesia. One man was killed, and two were injured. A fourth man was missing and presumed dead. Two days after the explosion, one of the injured survivors filed a lawsuit that detailed the cause - a welding accident on a large tank partially filled with tar.
(KOB, 3/3/10 and 3/4/10)
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Public Service Company of New Mexico, University of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories, Northern New Mexico College, Electric Power Research Institute, and Premium Power Corporation will participate in a demonstration project to test a battery storage system for solar-generated electricity. The PV-Plus Battery Solution project will combine photovoltaics with a utility-scale battery system to research methods for storing renewable energy for later use.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-4-10)
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The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED reached a settlement including a penalty of $250,000 with Lea Land, Inc. for 21 solid waste violations at the company’s industrial waste landfill near Carlsbad. The violations include refusing to allow inspectors to enter and inspect the landfill; failing to compact and cover solid waste; failing to keep proper records; failing to characterize solid waste for potential hazardous constituents; failing to conduct ground water monitoring; operating the landfill without a certified operator; and unlawfully disposing of regulated asbestos waste, a prohibited waste at the landfill, on at least 129 occasions. NMED determined that the landfill violated its permit by disposing of 2 million pounds of asbestos-containing material at the landfill, including asbestos-cement material. In addition, a review of special waste manifests on file at the landfill showed 1,975 instances of omitted or inaccurate information required under New Mexico Solid Waste Management Regulations.
(NMED Press Release, 3/4/10)
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Time and concerns about earthquake safety have driven up projected costs for a large nuclear facility now being designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Division leader Rick Holmes says rough estimates for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement are now in the range of $4.5 billion, up from an original projection of $600 million, and many analysts assume costs will increase even more. The project that originally was expected to be finished in 2012 is now scheduled for completion in 2020 for completion and occupancy in 2022. Holmes says issues centered on earthquake safety at the site have added significantly to the cost.
(KOB, 3/6/10)
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Jal, in southeastern New Mexico, could see low-level radioactive waste shipments transported through the community next year on the way to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) disposal site near Carlsbad. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is expected to request shipments be routed through Jal after highway improvements are finished this summer.
(KOB, 3/8/10)
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Governor Bill Richardson signed a new law will allow the state to acquire conservation easements from ranchers and landowners to ensure property is not developed. The law would help protect land in New Mexico, improve wildlife habitat, and provide for open space for communities or recreation. The law also establishes a fund for the state to make grants for conservation and land restoration projects, and lawmakers allocated $5 million for conservation easements and other projects during a special session.
(KOB, 3/8/10)
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Federal appellate judges have upheld a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to issue permits allowing Hydro Resources Inc. to leach uranium at an aquifer that supplies drinking water to Navajo Nation residents in northwestern New Mexico. A panel of the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 opinion Monday that concluded the NRC took the "hard look" required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Eastern Dine Against Uranium Mining, Southwest Research and Information Center, and ranchers Grace Sam and Marilyn Morris challenged the NRC's approval of permits for Hydro Resources Inc. for in-situ leach mining near the Navajo communities of Crownpoint and Church Rock.
(Albuquerque Journal, 2/10/10; KOB, 3/9/10)
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The DOE is seeking volunteers to help advise it on LANL radioactive waste cleanup. The agency says it needs people to serve on the Northern New Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board, which makes recommendations to the DOE over such issues as waste management, stabilizing waste dump sites and future land use. Its members serve two-year terms. The board's vice chairman, Robert Gallegos, estimates working on the board takes up 10 to 20 hours a month.
(KOB, 3/9/10)
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Governor Bill Richardson signed HB 101, the Nuclear Workers’ Assistance Fund, which will fund a state advocacy program to help workers who became ill because of exposure to hazardous substances at DOE facilities or in the uranium mining industry. The bill, sponsored by State Representative Nick Salazar, will provide funding for NMED’s Office of Nuclear Workers’ Advocacy to help compensate uranium miners, lab employees and others suffering illnesses related to radioactive exposure.
(NMED Press Release, 3/9/10)
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LANL selected TerranearPMC LLC, a Texas-based company, to haul demolition debris and soil from LANL cleanup projects. An estimated 50,000 cubic yards of debris from demolished buildings and soil from the LANL’s World War II era landfill will be transported from LANL.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-13-10)
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The Santa Fe National Forest says cleanup of groundwater beneath the Nacimiento open pit copper mine near Cuba is under way and it will take several years to complete. Forest officials say federal stimulus funding of more than $1 million has supplemented the multi-million-dollar project. A bioreactor treatment plant started pumping groundwater from the inactive Nacimiento Mine this week. The water will be treated and released into Senorito Creek. Biological processes are being used to remove acid and precipitate dissolved heavy metals from the contaminated groundwater.
(KOB, 3/12/10; Albuquerque Journal, 3/17/10)
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NMED is seeking public comment on a draft document outlining options for developing a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases in New Mexico. NMED plans to petition the Environmental Improvement Board later this year to adopt a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases. "It's important for the Environmental Improvement Board to adopt a cap-and-trade program that will best suit the needs of our state,” said NMED Secretary Ron Curry. “This paper helps to clarify the options that are available for us.” NMED released the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowance and Trading in New Mexico draft issues paper, which is available at
http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/cc/. Comments on the issues paper are due by March 29, 2010.
(NMED Press Release, 3/17/10)
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New Energy Economy (NEE) has petitioned that the Environmental Improvement Board reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below their 1990 levels by 2020. Public Service Company of New Mexico, Southwestern Public Service, El Paso Electric, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, and several other organizations filed a motion with the Environmental Improvement Board in opposition to the NEE petition. Their motion states that the New Energy Economy petition “represents a fundamental, drastic departure from the statewide cap and permitting program under the original proposal.” NEE said the motion was an attempt to delay the process, while the groups filing the motion said the board should either reject the NEE petition or order a new public notice and provide more time for parties to prepare their cases.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3/13/10 and 3/19/10)
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New Mexico is pushing ahead with a plan to give hundreds of miles of rivers and streams and thousands of acres of wetlands special protection under the federal Clean Water Act despite concerns from farmers and ranchers. Governor Bill Richardson's administration has been seeking an Outstanding National Resource Waters designation since 2008. The administration is one step closer now that the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission has voted to consider the state's petition. A hearing date is scheduled for September 14. The petition proposes to designate as outstanding 1,450 miles of rivers and streams, 29 lakes, and about 6,000 acres of wetlands in federal wilderness areas. Critics say such a broad designation would create hardships for rural New Mexico.
(KOB, 3/17/10)
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Governor Bill Richardson stated he would support an effort to consider national monument status for southern New Mexico's Otero Mesa in a letter sent to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. An internal Interior Department document lists 14 sites, including Otero Mesa, that could be designated as national monuments through the federal Antiquities Act. The act gives presidents the authority to designate monuments without congressional approval. Otero Mesa is the largest publicly owned expanse of undisturbed Chihuahuan Desert grassland in the United States. The future of Otero Mesa has become a controversial debate between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry.
(KOB, 3/19/10)
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Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority announced that per capita water use is declining. Per capita water use in the Albuquerque area has decreased from 252 gallons per day in 1994 to 159 gallons per day in 2009.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3/19/10)
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The LANL Natural Resource Trustee Council today released its Preassessment Screen (PAS) that calls for the completion of an official natural resource damage assessment for LANL. The PAS, produced cooperatively by members of the Trustee Council, including the DOE and the State of New Mexico, is the first step in the official process for assessing injury to natural resources that may be attributable to LANL. The document was produced under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). Under CERCLA - federal, state and tribal entities are authorized to recover damages for injuries to natural resources that have occurred as the result of releases of hazardous substances. Compensation for the resource injuries is provided by the responsible party and is used to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and any lost human and ecological services the injured resources provide. The process does not address human health issues.
(LANL Press Release, 3/23/10)
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NMED environmental secretary wants the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) removed from environmental cleanup and surveillance programs at LANL. Secretary Ron Curry stated that the NNSA has had a "troubled history" in implementing a 2005 consent decree over cleanup. He wrote DOE Secretary Steven Chu that the agency's involvement "has compromised the pace and direction" of work to protect the New Mexico's water resources and its citizens' health. Curry wants cleanup issues left to the DOE's Office of Environmental Management - both for the consent decree with the state and a natural resources damage assessment sought this month by the LANL Resource Trustee Council. NNSA says it has an Environmental Project Office with the same support and priority as other NNSA work.
(KOB, 3/27/10)
- The DOE is approaching a state limit on the permissible level of hazardous vapors leaking from waste drums at WIPP and plans to ask that the limit be raised. Activists and government officials agree that the carbon tetrachloride vapors have not reached dangerous levels in the radioactive waste disposal facility, but disagree about the best way to deal with the problem. The DOE plans to submit a formal request to the NMED that a state limit on the allowable level of carbon tetrachloride be raised, said Roger Nelson, WIPP's chief scientist. "The exposures are insignificant," Nelson said in a telephone interview. "There are no worker risks." (Albuquerque Journal, 3/27/10)
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Society luncheon meetings are held at
Golden Corral Buffet on Central and Eubank (10415 Central Avenue NE) at 11:30 on the third Wednesday of the month (except Mar. and Dec.) |
| April 2010 |
April 6, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
April 8, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
April 8-9, Alliance of Hazardous Materials Managers (AHMP) Leadership Conference in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit AHMP web site at www.netforumachmm.org.
April 17, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. City of Albuquerque Open Space Spring Clean Up at the Menual open space east of Tramway Boulevard. Bring gloves, water, sun protection, and a snack. For more information, call Open Space Division at (505) 452-5200 or visit web site at http://www.cabq.gov/openspace.
April 20, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
April 21, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Golden Corral (10415 Central NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. Vickie Maranville, AMEC Earth and Environmental, Inc., will speak on “Low Level Radioactive Waste Management in the U.S. versus the United Kingdom.”
April 24, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. City of Albuquerque Open Space Spring Clean Up at the Piedra Lisa (south of Candelaria) open space east of Tramway Boulevard. Bring gloves, water, sun protection, and a snack. For more information, call Open Space Division at (505) 452-5200 or visit web site at http://www.cabq.gov/openspace.
| May 2010 |
May 4, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
May 11, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
May 13, Combined NMSHMM and New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
| June 2010 |
June 1, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
June 7, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
June 10, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
June 16, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Golden Corral (10415 Central NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. The speaker for this event will be Ken Wylie, PE. AMEC Earth and Environmental, Inc.
| July 2010 |
July 6, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
July 8, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
July 20, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
July 21, 6:00 pm, NMSHMM Evening Meeting in Santa Fe, at the Tiny’s, 1015 Pen Road, Santa Fe. The speaker for this event will be Mr. Mike Bowen, Executive Director of the New Mexico Mining Association.
| August 2010 |
August 3, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
August 8, NMSHMM Annual Isotopes Night
August 12, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
August 17, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
August 18, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Golden Corral (10415 Central NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. The speaker for this event will be Ken Wylie, PE. AMEC Earth and Environmental, Inc.
| September 2010 |
September 12-15, Alliance of Hazardous Materials Managers (AHMP) National Conference in Atlanta, GA. For more information, visit AHMP web site at www.netforumachmm.org.
Did we miss something? To get your event added to the calendar please contact Eric Johnson at .
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Society business meetings are
held at
AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, at 5:00 on the third Tuesday of the month (except Mar. and Dec.) |
Our regular monthly meetings are held at Golden Corral Buffet on Central and Eubank (10415 Central Avenue NE - click here for a map). Meetings are held the third Wednesday of the month (unless replaced by a special event as announced via this newsletter) from 11:30 am until 1:00 pm. If you have any ideas for speakers or field trips, please contact a NMSHMM board member.
For the latest job openings,
please click
here. (MEMBERS
ONLY)
Last Update: February 24, 2010
NMSHMM OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS
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Officers:
President
Past-President
President-Elect
Treasurer
Secretary
At-Large Director At-Large Director |
Committee Chairs: Communication Education/Professional
Development
Membership |
Please send contributions for future newsletters to Eric Johnson at . Thanks!