News – Page 21 – The Business Environmental Program

Liquid Composter Saves Fish Company 800,000 lb CO2e

Big River Fish Corporation has acquired a liquid food composter machine from Power Knot LLC to digest waste fish on site and save sending the waste to the landfill.

The LFC-200 (pictured) reduces the carbon footprint of the company by over 800,000 lb of CO2e per year and has a payback of less than two years, Big River Fish says.

BRF is situated a few miles from both the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The company processes Asian carp that is caught in these rivers for sale in the US and China. Although many shipments from BRF comprise whole fish, much fish is processed at the facility. BRF sells the fillets, leaving the head and guts as waste.
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EIA Releases U.S. Energy Production Projections

Source: Environmental Protection OnLine

EIA has released its Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013) Reference case today. The report predicts that the growth in total energy production will exceed the growth of total energy consumption in the U.S. through the year 2040.

“EIA’s updated Reference case shows how evolving consumer preferences, improved technology, and economic changes are pushing the nation toward more domestic energy production, greater vehicle efficiency, greater use of clean energy, and reduced energy imports,” said EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski. “This combination has markedly reduced projected energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.”

Some of the key findings in the case are as follows:
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Food Allergies May be Caused from Pesticides in Tap Water

Source: Environmental Protection.com

According to a new study, pesticides currently used in treatment processes for tap water could be to blame for food allergies that afflict 15 million Americans.

In a new study published in the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), high levels of dichlorophenol, a chemical that is used to chlorinate water and in pesticides, have been found to create food allergies when found in the human body.

“Our research shows that high levels of dichlorophenol-containing pesticides can possibly weaken food tolerance in some people, causing food allergy,” said allergist Elina Jerschow, M.D., M.Sc., ACAAI fellow and lead study author. “This chemical is commonly found in pesticides used by farmers and consumer insect and weed control products, as well as tap water.”

During the study, 10,348 participants in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey, 2,211 allowed their dichlorophenol levels to be measured from their urine. Of those tested, 411 participants had some form of food allergy and 1,016 had an environmental allergy.

“Other dichlorophenol sources, such as pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables, may play a greater role in causing food allergy,” said Dr. Jerschow.

Food allergy symptoms can range from a mild rash to a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis. The ACAAI advises everyone with a known food allergy to always carry two doses of allergist prescribed epinephrine. A delay in using epinephrine is common in severe food allergic reaction deaths.

What’s really killing energy behavior change?

Source: GreenBiz.com
By Lee Ann Head
Published November 28, 2012

For many years, we’ve asked consumers who they most blame for rising energy costs. And for years, respondents have said they most blame either 1) oil companies, or 2) the U.S. government – with utilities much farther down the list. This year, in light of declining natural gas prices, we edited the question, asking who (or what) respondents thought most affects energy costs. With this change, “blame” shifted dramatically to utilities, followed closely by oil companies and the U.S. government.

Most pertinent, however, is who Americans don’t blame – themselves. Only 12 percent blamed energy costs on their own demand, because 80 percent of consumers think they use the same or less energy in their homes than they did five years ago. And we know this simply isn’t true — American residential energy consumption hit record highs last year.
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EPA Lists Chemicals For Endocrin Disruptor Screening Program

EPA has released the list of roughly 10,000 chemicals that it anticipates will eventually undergo screening for potential developmental risks as part of its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), following repeated calls from the agency’s Inspector General (IG) seeking such a list.

The list and accompanying white paper follow requests from the IG last year that EPA estimate the number of chemicals that should undergo EDSP screening, in order to better manage the long-stalled and often controversial program. Congress mandated EPA create such a program in the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, but it was not until 2009 that EPA issued the first test orders to chemicals to undergo EDSP screening.

The list and white paper represent an early step in the “EDSP Comprehensive Management Plan” the agency released last summer, where it indicated that it would issue in fiscal year 2013 its long-delayed list of drinking water contaminants it plans to test. The list of chemicals are to be addressed during the five-year time frame of the EDSP management plan. EPA drafted the plan in response to critical IG reports last year. A May 2011 IG report faulted the agency for taking longer than a decade to create the screening program and blamed part of the program’s delays on mismanagement, arguing that there was no management plan for the program’s operation.
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Pharmaceuticals difficult to treat in drinking water

Great Lakes Echo.org

The emerging threat of pharmaceuticals, everyday chemicals and personal care products in drinking water may be the most difficult that water treatment plants have faced.

Lake Michigan takes 99 years to “turn over,” meaning chemicals that entered the lake a century ago may only just be exiting, the Alliance for the Great Lakes reported just this week.

The report says that surface water in Lake Michigan contains six of 20 “priority” chemicals, or emerging contaminants identified by environmental engineers from Michigan State University. They include flame retardants and a cholesterol-lowering drug.

After treatment, only a fire retardant remained in ready-to-drink water.

Experts say that membrane bioreactors may remove some pharmaceuticals while treating wastewater, but they cannot catch all of the diverse medicines.
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Energy Department Announces New Clean Cities Projects to Diversify U.S. Fuel Economy, Prepare for Advanced Vehicles

Source: Energy.Gov

WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Energy Department today announced 20 new projects to help states and local governments cut red tape and develop the infrastructure, training and regional planning needed to help meet the demand for alternative fuel cars and trucks, including vehicles that run on natural gas, electricity and propane. These projects build on the important steps the Obama Administration has taken to expand the transportation options available for businesses and communities and improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles in the market today and for years to come.

“Building a clean and secure U.S. transportation system that leverages our domestic energy sources will give American families, businesses and communities more options and reduce fueling costs,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “At the same time, these projects will help lead the way to further reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and protecting our nation’s air and water.”

Through the Department’s Clean Cities initiative, these projects address a range of community infrastructure and training needs, such as providing safety and technical training for fleet operators, mechanics, first responders and code officials; streamlining permitting and procurement processes; and helping public and private fleets integrate petroleum reduction strategies into their operations.
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Water wars

Source: Nature.com

Environmental protections must not wait until a population is about to disappear.

Where there are serious threats to the environment, governments should not postpone cost-effective preventative measures because the scientific evidence is inconclusive. So says the precautionary principle, an idea enshrined in several international treaties, including the declaration signed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Many scientists think that this principle should have long ago triggered action to curb the damage to aquatic wildlife caused by the synthetic hormone ethynyl oestradiol (EE2), an ingredient of birth-control pills that passes through wastewater treatment plants and into streams and lakes (see page 503). In 2004, for example, the UK Environment Agency declared that the hormone feminizes male fish and is likely to damage entire fish populations. It later concluded that this damage is unacceptable in the long term.

Eight years on, the evidence against EE2 continues to mount, but the European Commission is only now proposing the first serious effort to tackle the problem, suggesting tight limits on the hormone’s concentration in the environment. The legislation would set a global precedent. But its prospects look bleak, mainly because of concerns about how best to limit the escape of EE2 into the aquatic environment, what that would cost and who should pay.
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