Canada’s National Energy Board has given Enbridge permission to reverse the flow of its Line 9, moving crude oil from western Canada and the Bakken shale to refineries in Quebec and Ontario, Oil and Gas Journal reports.
The federal Council on Environmental Quality and the California governor’s Office of Planning and Research have jointly issued a new handbook, NEPA and CEQA: Integrating Federal and State Environmental Reviews. The handbook provides advice to federal and California agencies, applicants, project sponsors, and consultants on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act environmental review processes.
United Park City Mines has entered into an agreement with multiple federal and state agencies, including the EPA, Bureau of Land Management and US Fish and Wildlife Service, to assess, clean up, and restore more than 2,700 acres that are contaminated with historic mining waste within the Richardson Flat Superfund site near Park City, Utah. Various parties’ mining operations produced substantial quantities of ore and mine waste that contributed to surface water, groundwater and soil contamination, the EPA said. Contaminants of concern include lead, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium.
The California Air Resources Board has posted a Low Carbon Fuel Standard Re-Adoption Concept Paper, which will be discussed during a LCFS workshop tomorrow.
The California Air Resources Board has published proposed amendments to its Truck and Bus regulation, to be discussed at an April meeting. Proposals include a longer phase-in period for diesel particulate matter requirements for trucks that operate exclusively in certain rural areas with cleaner air; a compliance route for owners currently unable to qualify for a loan to finance required upgrades; and adjusted schedules for low-use vehicles and certain work trucks.
Malteurop North America will pay a civil penalty of $525,000 for discharges from a malting plant that the EPA alleges caused high levels of hydrogen sulfide to form in the sewer system of Great Falls, Mont., and will reimburse the city $21,396. Meanwhile the city will pay a civil penalty of $120,000 and complete a supplemental project valued at $125,000 to remove pollutants from stormwater runoff during precipitation events.
Utility Services will buy 18 Mississippi wastewater treatment facilities and wastewater collection and transmission systems from Total Environmental Solutions, Inc. and assume TESI’s responsibilities to perform injunctive relief at an estimated cost of $1.075 million, under a proposed settlement reached with the EPA, Department of Justice and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. TESI must pay a civil penalty of $225,000. The case involved effluent violations and unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage, the EPA says.
