August 2010
| PLEASE NOTE: Some newsletter content is only available to members in good standing of NMSHMM. |
- President's Message: New Lunch Meeting Location
- Plan NOW to Attend the 2010 Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management Course
- 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: New Lunch Meeting Location
Debbie Finfrock, PE, CHMM
Finfrock Engineering
First let me thank Mike Bowen, Executive Director of the New Mexico Mining Association for his informative talk on mining at our July Santa Fe meeting and for patiently answering our many questions. August’s meeting promises to be equally informative, with our 2009 Unsung Hero Eric Johnson and David Strasser discussing the Katrina Response - 4.5 Years Later.
PLEASE NOTE NEW LUNCH MEETING LOCATION - Given low member turnout and bad experiences at the Golden Corral, we are trying out a new lunch meeting venue. Our August 18 lunch meeting will be held at the Macaroni Grill on Louisiana and I-40 from 11:30-1:00 pm. I discussed some of our issues with the manager (getting checks right after food so people can leave early if need be, people coming in late), and he assures me they can handle it. We’ll see how it goes - please give your feedback on the location to me or any other Board member. We would like to see more of you at the meetings. We have exciting talks for September on enhanced bioremediation and chemical oxidation and November on a cleanup project in Iraq. We are planning an evening field trip in October to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History for the evening of October 20, 2010 - more details on this exciting event will included in future newsletters.
Plan NOW to Attend the 2010 Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management Course
Paul Karas, CPG, CHMM
The 2010 Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management (EHMM) Course will be held Monday through Wednesday, November 15 - 17, 2010, at the NMED District 1 office, 5500 San Antonio Drive NE, Albuquerque, NM. The 3-day course offers a comprehensive review of the physical and chemical properties of hazardous materials, environmental laws and regulations, and safety and health principles important to every environmental and safety professional. This is an excellent opportunity to prepare for the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) or Certified Hazardous Materials Professional (CHMP) Exam or to satisfy training or re-certification requirements, enhance competence in the profession, and to stay current with new rules and regulations.
Watch for information about course registration and logistics in future newsletters and on the NMSHMM website. Please contact Paul Karas, NMSHMM Education/Professional Development Committee Chair, at 505-243-3200 or if you are interested in learning more about the EHMM, to volunteer for the EHMM organizing committee, or to be considered as an instructor.
Local News Stories
Compiled by David Strasser, CHMM, and Eric Johnson, CHMM, AICP
The following are news stories reported during the past month:
-
The Los Alamos Study Group says the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) needs to be followed before the building Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) can move forward with the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement nuclear facility since the project has not been subjected to a NEPA analysis. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) says it has begun preparing a supplemental analysis to determine whether a new or supplemental environmental impact statement should be prepared to satisfy NEPA requirements.
(KOB, 7/2/10)
-
Excavation work of 22,000 cubic yards of trash and dirt started at a northern LANL landfill dating from the era of the secret World War II Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Program Manager Andy Baumer said the excavations could discover something that could go to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos.
(KOB, 7/6/10)
-
The U.S. Forest Service awarded $1.7 million to small businesses in Arizona and New Mexico to expand their use of waste wood. The businesses will produce or process products using biomass from fuel reduction projects on National Forest land.
(KOB, 7/7/10)
-
A study conducted by the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute found that exposure to wood smoke, from an in-door stove or fireplace, doubled a person’s risk to developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “The association between wood smoke and lung disease is as strong as the association between cigarette smoke and lung disease,” said Lovelace researcher Dr. Akshay Sood.
(Albuquerque Journal, 7/7/2010)
-
The U.S. Air Force is proposing to install 23 new monitoring wells to determine the extent of groundwater contamination from a Kirtland Air Force Base jet fuel spill. Fourteen of the wells would be installed off-base in Albuquerque neighborhoods in the vicinity of Gibson and San Pedro SE. The proposal will be reviewed by NMED.
(Albuquerque Journal, 7/8/10)
-
A leak of 1,200 gallons of high-strength hydrochloric acid from a holding tank in Farmington forced 20 people to evacuate their homes. Farmington fire fighters pumped the acid from the tank, owned by Schlumberger field services, to another tank. After several hours, residents returned to their homes, and none of the residents needed medical treatment.
(Albuquerque Journal, 7/13/10)
-
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is requesting a third round of applicants for its 2011 Recycling and Illegal Dumping tire grants. The grant program is focused on abatement of illegal dumps and promoting recycling, particularly for used tires.
(NMED Press Release, 7/19/10)
-
The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office and the Interstate Stream Commission sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that requested that the Rio Grande silvery minnow’s status under the Endangered Species Act be lowered from Endangered to Threatened. Since the minnow was listed in 1994, it has been at the center of debates over water use in the Rio Grande basin.
(Albuquerque Journal, 7/20/10)
-
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. is evaluating whether to restart mining and milling at the Chino copper mine at Hurley in southwestern New Mexico. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. suspended operations at Chino, where 940 workers were employed, in late 2008 after a steep drop in copper prices.
(Associated Press, 7/22/10)
-
NMED Secretary Ron Curry sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz urging him to review a 2008 report confirming the need to better manage unauthorized off road vehicle use in New Mexico’s National Forests. “In the arid southwest, a significant percentage of the state’s water supply originates in headwater streams on federally managed National Forests lands,” Secretary Curry stated in the letter. “It is imperative that the federal government assist in efforts to assess and mitigate impacts to water quality associated with federal land management policies.”
(NMED Press Release, 7/23/10)
-
A coalition of western states and Canadian provinces has produced the Western Climate Initiative strategy yet for controlling greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 years to levels 15 percent below those produced in the year 2005. The main element of the strategy is a cap-and-trade system that would go into effect in January 2012, gradually ramping down emissions levels. The system would begin with power plants, and then expand to large industrial producers and transportation.
(KOB, 7/27/10)
-
The EPA published the latest data on industrial releases and transfers of toxic chemicals between January 1 and December 31, 2009. EPA is making the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data available within weeks of the reporting deadline through its Web site and in the popular tools, TRI Explorer and Envirofacts. The database contains environmental release and transfer data on nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories reported to EPA by more than 21,000 industrial and other facilities. Facilities are required report their data by July 1st of each year.
(EPA Press Release, 7/28/10)
-
Plutonium waste from the Department of Energy’s Savannah River facility in South Carolina may be headed to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. NNSA is considering shipping 14 tons of waste to WIPP as one of various several options for disposing or reusing the waste. Other options under consideration include mixing the plutonium into glass logs or processing some of the waste into nuclear reactor fuel.
(Albuquerque Journal, 7/28/10)
- A Burlington Northern Santa Fe derailment on July 27 resulted in a spill of approximately 30,000-40,000 gallons of fuel oil near Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. The oil was confined to a dry arroyo. Trucks vacuumed approximately 22,000 gallons of fuel, and the remaining fuel seeped into the soil where it was excavated with earth-moving equipment. Impacts to wildlife at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge appeared to be minimal according to John Vrandenburg, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist at the refuge. (Albuquerque Journal, 7/29/10 & 7/29/10)
|
Society luncheon meetings are held at
Macaroni Grill, I-40 and Louisiana at 11:30 on the third Wednesday of the month (except Mar. and Dec.) |
| 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. All-you-can-eat food and your seat cost $25 per person. Reservation are filled, but contact to be put on a waiting list.
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. Join us at our new location, the Macaroni Grill, I-40 and Louisiana in Albuquerque. David Strasser, NMED, and Eric Johnson, Marron and Associates, will speak about Katrina disaster recovery and response - 4.5 years later. This will also be an opportunity for meeting attendees to discuss the BP oil spill, which has affected some of the same areas.
| September 2010 |
September 7, 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 .
September 7, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
September 8, 11:30 am. NMSHMM General/Luncheon Meeting, at the Macaroni Grill, I-40 and Louisiana in Albuquerque. Jim Studer will present “State of the Union: Chemical Oxidation and Enhanced Bioremediation.” This presentation will focus on the current state of the practice in environmental remediation involving coupled chemical oxidation and enhanced bioremediation (oxidative and reductive pathways).
September 9, 11:30 am. 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 .
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.
| October 2010 |
October 5, 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 .
October 14, 11:30 am, 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 .
October 19, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
October 20, 6:30 pm. NMSHMM Evening Field Trip at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, 601 Eubank Blvd. SE in Albuquerque. Details on reservations and activities to follow.
| November 2010 |
November 2, 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 .
November 9, 5:00 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
November 10, 11:30 am. NMSHMM General/Luncheon Meeting, at the Macaroni Grill, I-40 and Louisiana in Albuquerque. John Cochran, Sandia National Laboratories, “Cleanup at Al Tuwaitha in Iraq.”
November 11, 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 .
November 15-17, Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management (EHMM) Course, Albuquerque office. Please contact Paul Karas, NMSHMM Education/Professional Development Committee Chair, at 505-243-3200 or if you are interested in learning more about the EHMM, to volunteer for the EHMM organizing committee, or to be considered as an instructor.
Did we miss something? To get your event added to the calendar please contact Eric Johnson at .
|
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 upcoming lunch meetings will be held at the Macaroni Grill on Louisiana and I-40 from 11:30-1:00 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
|
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!