Required by the Clean Air Act, and beating a court deadline, the US EPA issued a news release on April 18, 2012 stating that they have finalized air pollution standards related to oil and natural gas production. The updated standards are a result of input from the industry, public, public health groups and states. These include the first federal air rules for hydraulically fractured natural gas wells, and rules for emissions from storage tanks and other equipment.

The EPA estimates that the updated standards will save the industry $11 to $19 million annually.

Based on information collected from public comments, the updated standards establish a phase-in period to ensure that the necessary emissions-reduction technology is widely available. During the phase-in, until January 2015, natural gas well operators must flare their emissions or use “green completions” technologies that are already used at many wells. In 2015, the EPA will require each new fractured well to use green completions. This will not require new federal permits.

Costs to implement the updated standards are reduced as they are achievable with cost-effective, widely-available technologies combined with processes already used by an estimated 50% of fractured natural gas wells across the US. The combination will not only reduce harmful emissions by 95%, but will allow operators to sell additional natural gas collected.

During the production of natural gas, some gas escapes, causing air pollution. The updated standards require that operators capture the gas, which the operators can then sell, offsetting the cost of compliance. And, as approximately 13,000 wells are fractured or re-fractured each year, it is expected that reducing methane – the primary component of natural gas – will greatly benefit the environment.

It is the EPA’s goal that these standards will expand production of clean energy in the US while reducing negative impacts to public health.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson states, "The president has been clear that he wants to continue to expand production of important domestic resources like natural gas, and today’s standard supports that goal while making sure these fuels are produced without threatening the health of the American people. By ensuring the capture of gases that were previously released to pollute our air and threaten our climate, these updated standards will not only protect our health, but also lead to more product for fuel suppliers to bring to market. They're an important step toward tapping future energy supplies without exposing American families and children to dangerous health threats in the air they breathe.”

For more information, check out the EPA Web site.

After years of research and analysis, the US Environmental Protection Agency has finally passed the first Clean Air Act standard for future power plants. The rule is a step towards creating cleaner energy and decreasing pollution levels generated by the energy sector. The new standard is a result of a 2007 Supreme Court decision in the case Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, wherein several states sued the EPA to force the agency to begin regulating air pollution caused by carbon dioxide (CO₂) and greenhouse gases.

The Clean Air Act will only apply to future power plants, but even these can qualify for exemption. According to the EPA, the passed standard would exclude: new plants that have permits and plan to begin construction within the next 12 months; power plants renewing permits that are already a part of a Department of Energy demonstration project; plants that will not burn any fossil fuels; and any power plants not located in the continental US.

The Clean Air Act is a standard based on compromise with the energy sector, allowing for slower change over the long term, if at all, where necessary. The EPA already believes that most of the new natural gas combined cycle units (95% of them) will not need to adjust at all to meet the carbon pollution standard. Further to that, any new power plants that plan to employ a carbon capture and storage scheme will not need to meet the pollution cap average each year, as long as the plant’s 30 year average is lower than the proposed standard’s average over the same period of time.

According to ThinkProgress.org, the carbon pollution rule sets the standard at no more than 1,000 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt hour of electricity that is produced. Average natural gas units only emit approximately 800-850 pounds, while coal plants emit over 1,700 pounds of CO₂ per MWh. While this is well above the EPA’s standard, it does not apply to already existing plants, and new plants have a wider range of technology available to help them meet this standard.

While the new Clean Air Act for carbon pollution is a landmark piece of regulation in that it is one of the first federal rules for CO₂ pollution, it will be another 30 years before it can be determined successful or not. Furthermore, the public and health sector demand for cleaner energy has already resulted in the energy sector searching for cleaner solutions to air and waste pollution and a departure from such heavy coal and oil dependency, without the EPA passing a rule for it.

In the largest-ever fine handed down under the 1994 Environmental Protection Act, the Department of Environment and Resources Management (DERM) has fined the former owners, Copperco, Ltd., of the Lady Annie Mine A$500,000 for causing serious harm to the environment after discharging contaminated water from the mine site.

The Mt. Isa Magistrates Court imposed an additional A$83,110 for investigative costs.

The fines came on top of the A$11 million DERM had already obligated the mine's former owning entit to spend in cleanup and rehabilitation costs associated with what has been called the most serious water contamination in Queensland history.

During the wet season of 2009, the company had an uncontrolled release of highly toxic, acidic water into stormwater ponds and creeks that extended for 52 kilometers, killing freshwater crabs and fish in its wake. Complaints also came from downstream landholders that the water might harm livestock. The floods had exceeded the design capacity of Lady Annie stormwater ponds.

The Lady Annie Mine is located 120 kilometers northwest of Mt. Isa in Queensland, Australia, and from it Copperco had planned to produce 19 to 25 thousand tons of copper per year. Copperco was forced to put the mine up for sale to fund the cleanup. In 2010, Hong Kong's CST Mining Group, Ltd. purchased the site for A$135 million.

The Lady Annie Mine decision concludes actions against mines in the North West for serious breaches of the Environmental Protection Act. Actions against other mining entities included MMG Century, Ltd., which was fined A$130,000, and the Ernst Henry Mine, which was fined A$100,000 in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 wet season.

On April 2, 2012, Oakland, CA-based Solar Trust of America, LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection in a US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware (Case No. 12-11136). The company's Chief Operating Officer, Edward Kleinschmidt, stated that the company had missed two quarterly rent payments to the Bureau of Land Management, and was unable to make further payments that were coming due.

Solar Trust owns the development rights for the Blythe Solar Power Project as well as three other projects under development in the Southeastern California desert. The company listed assets of up to $10 million and debts of up to $100 million.

By far the largest enterprise, the Blythe Solar Project is a 7000-acre site dedicated to producing nearly 1000 megawatts of electric power, enough to supply about 300,000 homes, utilizing Concentrated Solar Power technology. CSP concentrates the sun's radiation into troughs of parabolic mirrors that superheat fluid-filled tubes resting at the center of the troughs. The tubing conveys the heat to a boiler, which in turn runs a turbine, producing electricity. The power produced was to go through a 230 kW transmission line to the Devers-Palo Verde #2 500 kV line on the Colorado River.

Initiated with great fanfare on June 17, 2011, at a ceremony attended by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Governor Jerry Brown, the project was to have created 1000 construction jobs, 3000 supply-chain jobs and 220 permanent jobs. Solar Trust also received a conditional commitment for a $2.1 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE), one of the largest ever granted.

The project had been inconvenienced initially by lawsuits brought by environmentalists and Native American communities, and its German parent, Solar Millennium, LLC was required to provide funding for more than 8000 acres of habitat for the desert tortoise, and other species endangered by the presence of the project.

In August, 2011, Solar Trust abruptly changed its rollout plans from CSP to photovoltaic (PV) production, reacting to plunging PV panel prices. During this strategic shift, the company lost its access to the massive DOE loan guarantee.

In December, 2011, Germany's Solar Millennium, a 70% stakeholder in Solar Trust, sought court protection. Solar Millennium attempted to sell its stake in Solar Trust to solarhybrid AG [sic]; however, that company went belly up as well. Millennium and solarhybrid both fell victim to subsidy cuts and equipment oversupply in the German market.

Ferrostaal AG owns the other 30% of Solar Trust, but has not made any financial contributions in the past two years.

Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources, LLC stepped up to provide financing and has expressed an interest in becoming an initial bidder for Solar Trust's assets, which include essential permits and a connection agreement with Southern California Edison's power grid. SCE has committed to $200 million in network upgrades. The Blythe project must come up with $27 million to support this connection agreement, and COO Kleinschmidt intimated that lenders, including NextEra, are poised to put up the money for those payments. According to Kleinschmidt, losing the connection agreement with SCE would render the entire project valueless.

Both federal and state energy goals were invested in the Blythe Solar Project. It would have impacted the Obama Administration's goal to have 80% of US energy production from renewable sources by 2035. It would have had even greater impact on California's mandated goal to have 33% of its energy production from renewables by 2020. Being the only city within 100 miles of the project, Blythe, CA, would have benefited by the influx of jobs.

There has been some misinformation posted on several blogs making comparisons between Solar Trust and Solyndra. Unlike Solyndra, a solar panel company that declared bankruptcy in 2011 owing $528 million to the US government, Solar Trust never finalized its federal loan guarantee. Solar Trust was actually paying rent to the federal government's Bureau of Land Management before its Chapter 11 filing.

Solar Trust of America, tragically, ran a gamut replete with a turn in the renewable energy market in Germany, lawsuits, and change of strategy that cost the company its government funding. The project still has the potential of bettering local economies and providing a source of cheap, clean energy. Hopefully, the entrepreneurial spirit has not left the California desert and someone will step up to continue the project in the near future.

While the debate continues on the viability of renewable energy on a national level, one community in Minnesota has shown that it can create a well-functioning renewable source of energy on a smaller scale. Through a combination of biomass fuel production, wind energy, and water reclamation, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) is able to power the town through sustainable energy, reducing its dependency on oil production and natural gas.

As the SMSC’s Web site points out, the Dakota phrase for earth is “Unci Maka,” which literally translates to “Grandmother Earth.” With this focus on the close relationship with the earth, the SMSC has taken several important strides towards environmentally friendly energy resources.

One of the biggest steps has been the construction of the Koda Energy plant, which burns malting and food processing byproducts, raw materials such as wood chips and sawdust, biosolids, and dry grasses. The burned biomass generates approximately 12.5 – 24.1 megawatts of electricity. Waste heat created from the electrical generation is put to use by Rahr Malting, one of Koda’s partners and a main source for the biomass material. Excess energy that is not used by Rahr or the SMSC is sold to Xcel Energy and placed back on the grid.

A wind turbine also provides a primary energy source for the Shakopee Community. The 1.5 megawatts of energy created by the wind turbine are metered at the nearby Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative and later sold to Basin Energy, the supplier for MVEC. While the Community is located in a low-wind site, the wind turbine generates enough energy during high-wind periods that energy can be stored for use during low-wind periods.

Water reclamation has been an important interest area for the SMSC over the past twenty years. Until 2006, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community had to make use of an older regional government facility for its sewer system.

This created several problems. First, the facility dumped waste directly into the Minnesota River, acting as a leading cause of water pollution in the area. Second, because the sewer system was outsourced to the other facility, the Community was required to make formal requests for extra units whenever new housing was built. But in 2005, the SMSC was able to begin building its own Water Reclamation Facility (WRF).

With the help of the current WRF, the Community is able to use treated effluent for irrigation purposes, and as a result has reduced groundwater use by 35 million gallons per year. The facility can also boast the latest technology in water reclamation by using biologically aerated filtration systems to clean the reclaimed water. Biosolids that are left after the water has been treated and removed to the irrigation system are dried, compressed, and used as fertilizer at the local golf resort and farms.

While technology continues to make energy sources such as solar and wind power a more manageable solution to oil and gas, the latter options still dominate the national fuel and energy sectors due to the immediate availability of cheap energy on a larger scale. However, as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has shown, a combination of energy resources can reduce almost 100 percent of a small area’s dependency on oil and natural gas.

San Francisco, CA. Horizon Lines, LLC was fined $1,500,000 after pleading guilty to two felony charges of making false statements concerning the Oil Record Book for their vessel, S/S Horizon Enterprise. Instead of maintaining an accurate account of all oil transfers and discharges, ship engineers sabotaged pollution control equipment, which normally ensures oily waste is not discharged into the ocean. To hide this from the US Coast Guard during routine inspections, engineers covered their tracks by making false entries in the Oil Record Book stating they had operated equipment correctly and in compliance with both international and national oil pollution laws. Horizon Lines has admitted that this practice occurred for a number of years.

US Attorney Melinda Haag stated, “Horizon’s intentional tampering with its pollution control equipment showed a blatant disregard for the environment. This case demonstrates our commitment to enforcing US and international oil pollution laws to protect our natural resources.”

The $1,500,000 is a plea agreement, with $500,000 going towards environmental projects in the San Francisco area. Horizon Lines must also implement a comprehensive environmental compliance plan to reduce the chance of repeating this behavior on any vessel in their fleet.

The charges and plea agreement are the result of a joint investigation conducted by the EPA’s Criminal Investigative Division and US Coast Guard Investigative Services.

“We are pleased this case has been resolved, but even more satisfied to hear the company is taking steps to prevent any further incidents of pollution,” said Cynthia Stowe, the Coast Guard Captain of the Port of San Francisco. “US Coast Guard inspectors and investigators are hard at work each and every day inspecting ships for compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations. When violations are found, we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure violators are brought to justice and steps are taken to protect and restore the maritime ecosystems and natural resources important to the environmental and economic health of our nation and coastal communities.”

March 25, 2012 marks the 101st anniversary of New York City’s deadliest industrial accident, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, where - in less than 20 minutes - 146 workers burned, or jumped or fell to their deaths while trying to escape the flames.

The Fire Safety Commission at the time reported that over 95% of New York shops had defective safety conditions. Lacking usable (or any) fire escapes and adequate exits, crowded and cluttered sweatshops were dangerous to all, particularly since a common management practice was to lock employees inside during work hours to discourage breaks and stealing.

Specific to the Triangle tragedy, individual witnesses and survivors agreed on numerous circumstances that contributed to the high number of deaths – several of which were preventable:

• The fire was likely started by a match or cigarette butt tossed into a scrap bin on the 8th floor of the 10-story building.
• Factory environment: long work tables difficult to get around, crowded rooms cluttered with flammable materials, oily floors from leaking machinery.
• Boxes (of work materials) blocked the exit.
• The door leading to the stairwell was locked from the outside.
• The building had no sprinkler system, only water pails – many of which were empty.
• The sole fire escape, many years rusted, collapsed.
• Firemen’s hoses lacked enough pressure to reach the fire.
• Firemen’s ladders reached only the 6th floor.
• Firemen’s nets all split upon impact.

Soon-to-retire NYC Fire Chief Edward F. Croker had cited Triangle’s location (the Brown Building, fka, the Asch Building at 23-29 Washington Place) numerous times for lack of fire escapes, the last being only a week before the fire. Property owners and their representatives always resisted, claiming sprinklers were “cumbersome and costly” and that such enforced regulations would “wipe out industry in the state.”

But with the Triangle fire, things began to change.

One week after the fire, on April 2, 1911, the National Women’s Trade Union League organized a protest over unsafe working conditions. United in outrage, thousands urged the state to form a Bureau of Fire Prevention.

On June 30, 1911, state legislature formed the Factory Investigating Commission (FIC) to investigate safety and working conditions in workplaces throughout New York. In a report following the Triangle fire, the Commission quoted NYC Fire Chief John Kenlon as stating, “Had an automatic sprinkler system been installed in the Triangle Waist Company building, he believed that not a single life would have been lost.”

In 1912, the state of New York passed 8 of 15 reform bills proposed by the FIC.

In 1913, FIC recommended 28 additional bills, 25 of which are passed.

A few of the regulations passed as a result of the Triangle fire, which still strive to keep employees safe across the country today:

• Registration of factories.
• Practiced fire drills.
• Installation of automatic sprinklers.
• Fire prevention: removal of rubbish; fire-proof receptacles for waste material; protection of gas jets; smoking prohibited in factories.
• Prohibition of the eating of lunch in rooms where poisonous substances are prepared or generated during manufacture; adequate hot and cold washing facilities.
• Summary power of Commissioner of Labor over unclean / unsanitary factories.
• Doors must remain unlocked during business hours.

The aftermath of this horrific fire resulted in laws that led to the workplace safety we enjoy today. As some attempt to undo safety standards for the sake of saving money, we should look back at the lives lost, and celebrate the security and safety we have now. After the speeches, parades and memorials of the 100th anniversary are long over, let us recognize the 101st anniversary and beyond, so that this legacy may never be forgotten.

David Edwards is a Harvard professor, writer and inventor who has a penchant for alternative methods of enjoying food and drink. He has come up with LeWhif, a breathable chocolate product (also available in tea and green tea flavors), and LeWhaf, a carafe that allows users to enjoy their favorite drink as a cloud of fog that is sucked through a special straw.

Edwards and his company, Breathable Foods, Inc., also invented AeroShot, an energy fix consisting of caffeine and B vitamins in a disposable inhaler the size of a tube of lipstick. While Breathable Foods' product line is indeed creative and novel, the company's method of promoting AeroShot caught the attention of New York Senator Chuck Schumer and the US Food and Drug Administration.

On March 5, 2012, the FDA issued a warning letter to Breathable Foods citing several labeling and safety issues with AeroShot.

In the letter, the agency noted that the AeroShot product was touted on the company Web site as both an inhalable and ingestible substance, which would undoubtedly lead to confusion.

On one part of the Web site, the product was described as "Breathable Energy," which users were instructed to "puff in." Other references called AeroShot "airborne energy," "inhalable caffeine," and "caffeine inhaler."

Other characterizations of the product, however, called it a dietary supplement, an "ingestible food," and instructs users to swallow it. The FDA claimed that, due to the physical processes involved, the product could not be intended both for inhalation and ingestion.

In addition, Breathable Foods failed to provide users with a domestic address and phone number to report any serious adverse event associated with the product.

Because of the misleading labeling of the product, the FDA also cited safety concerns about the possible effects of the product. By suggesting that it be inhaled, users may take caffeine directly into the lungs. The safety of such use has not been well studied.

Inconsistencies also led the FDA to cite the statement, "AeroShot is not recommended for those under 18 years of age," because other labeling states that the product is "not intended for people under 12," which suggests that the product is suitable for children 12 and over.

Pediatricians are concerned that the inhaler could be harmful to developing lungs, and that it could be addictive.

Finally, Breathable Foods conveyed contradictory messages about the use of AeroShot with alcohol. Links to news articles included on the company Web site refer to AeroShot being used as a party drug in combination with alcohol.

Senator Schumer said, "Caffeine allows you to drink a lot more alcohol, but when you do it by drinking coffee you have to fill up by drinking cups and cups of coffee," Schumer said. "Ten, 12 snorts of this, and you can drink an unseemly level of alcohol."

The FDA also asked the company for documentation on some of their research claims, and was given a 15 day window in which to respond.

Breathable Foods was quick to comply with the FDA's warning letter and did a complete rework of their Web site. Instructions for the use of the product were clarified and online links to misleading articles written about AeroShot now lead to a blank page. The FAQ page gives potential users a full explanation of the product and any safety concerns, and the FDA has found the company to be compliant with their concerns.

The lesson here: Breathable Foods makes some remarkable products, but exuberant creativity overshadowed common-sense when the company failed to portray their products in a clear manner. Were it not for the intervention of the FDA, AeroShot customers ran the risk of misusing the product with potentially dangerous outcomes.

OSHA has placed JSW Steel in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program and proposed penalties of $469,420 as the result of employee-initiated complaints and a concurrent site-specific target inspection.

JSW Steel (USA) Inc is a private company in Baytown, TX, and is an integrated steel manufacturer, producing hot-rolled plate and DSAW pipe mainly for the energy and petrochemical industries. It boasts of being the largest private-sector steel manufacturer in terms of installed capacity.

OSHA cited the company with 11 repeat, 23 serious, and 2 other-than-serious violations for exposing employees to health and safety hazards at its Baytown plant.

Acting on complaints by employees, OSHA initiated a safety inspection on September 7, 2011, while simultaneously conducting a site-specific target inspection, which it performs on sites with high injury or illness rates. Both inspections were a follow-up to a previous one that occurred in November, 2008.

The inspections established the following repeat violations:

• failing to provide covers for open pits and floor holes,
• failing to develop and conduct inspections for energy-source lockout/tagout procedures,
• failing to ensure mounted and available fire extinguishers,
• failing to remove damaged rigging and lifting equipment from service,
• failing to provide guarding for rotating machine parts, and
• failing to ensure proper labeling of chemical containers.

In May, 2009, the company paid penalties of $146,500 for similar violations resulting from the November, 2008 inspection.

Serious violations included:

• failing to cover floor openings,
• failing to provide guards and railings for walkways and platforms,
• failing to ensure adequate width of stairways leading to emergency exits,
• failing to secure compressed gas cylinders,
• failing to ensure the use of protective equipment (goggles and gloves), and
• failing to ensure lockout/tagout procedures were followed on cranes.

JSW also failed to evaluate the workplace for respiratory hazards and provide training on the use of filtering face pieces.

JSW Steel has been placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), which focuses enforcement efforts on employers who willfully and repeatedly endanger workers by exposing them to serious hazards. SVEP establishes procedures and enforcement actions, including increased inspections, such as mandatory follow-up inspections of a workplace found in violation and inspections of other company sites where similar hazards or deficiencies may be present.

John Hermanson, OSHA's Regional Administrator, stated, "This company has operated in a way that disregards the safety and health of its employees. OSHA will not tolerate employers that do not protect their workers."

Helium - the second lightest element in the universe with an atomic weight of 4.002602 - is an inert gas that can be cooled to temperatures of -270 Celsius without becoming a solid, making it indispensible in the operation of, among many things, superconducting magnets used in MRI scanners, telescopes and particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider. Helium also holds an important place in the defense industry.

It also has some far less profound applications, which consume great quantities of the gas annually - applications such as party balloons and squeak-voice huffing. These latter applications have drawn the ire of researchers.

This month, the Guardian reported that the UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory wasted three days and £90,000 (US$ 143,091), when, during an important experiment exploring the structure of matter, they could not obtain a supply of helium. Needless to say, the scientists were in a less-than-celebratory mood.

"We put the stuff into party balloons and let them float off into the upper atmosphere, or we use it to make our voices go squeaky for a laugh. It is very, very stupid. It makes me really angry,” said Oleg Kiricheck, the research team leader.

Cornell University Professor Robert Richardson is also concerned. He believes that, with our current reserves of helium, the price of the element severely discounts its real value. By his estimation, the price of a single party balloon should cost as much as $100. Richardson suggests increasing the price of helium by 20-50% to eliminate excessive waste.

Although helium ranks next to hydrogen as the most abundant element in the universe, here on earth it is a finite commodity. The helium that is here is all we have!

Helium is collected during natural gas and oil drilling. If the gas is not captured, it dissipates into earth's upper atmosphere and is lost forever. The same happens when a party balloon is released into the air, or when it self-deflates, because helium atoms are so small that they can easily move through the balloon's latex shell.

Party balloons do not represent the only wasteful expenditures of helium. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade typically uses 400 Mcf a year, although there have been recent attempts to recycle some of the helium used in the floats. NASA uses up to 75 MMcf annually to pressurize rocket tanks. The agency has made no attempt to recycle this huge amount of gas. Weather balloons also consume about 140 MMcf of helium per year.

At the present rate of supply depletion, the United States will become an importer of helium from the Middle East and Russia within 10 years, and the world will run out of helium within 30 years. This would have major implications for space travel and exploration, scientific and nuclear research, medical advances and early detection of diseases.

Possible solutions for this problem should address supply, not pricing. A drastic increase in the price of helium as a preservative measure would cause a huge spike in billing for medical procedures, such as MRIs, scientific research, and defense expenditures, as well as party balloons.

These days, it is often unpopular to suggest government intervention; however, the solution to the complete loss of our helium reserves to some rests under the mantle of regulation. To date, the US government has failed miserably! In 1996, an impulsive Congress decided to sell off all the country's strategic helium reserves by 2015. This resulted in a market that was suddenly glutted with cheap helium because supply-and-demand forces were not established to determine price.

The solution to preventing the disappearance of helium from this planet lies in the scientific and medical communities, whose applications for this noble element are far nobler than those of the world at large. They should, first and foremost, monitor their own processes to prevent waste and attempt to recycle helium as much as possible. Researchers, medical professionals, along with the government, could be helpful in setting up conservation programs to bring public attention to the crisis and its consequences and may go a long way to reduce or eliminate the wasteful use of helium.

Once earth's stockpile of helium is diminished or depleted, the next available source is literally on the moon, where it has been determined that rocks have absorbed generous amounts of helium. As unrealistic as the concept is of establishing mining operations on the moon at the present time, the implications of halting research and meteorological projects, space exploration and medical procedures is unfathomable.