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EPA’s SmartWay Honors Freight Carriers for Exceptional Supply Chain Efficiency

October 29, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is honoring 40 truck carriers as industry leaders in supply chain environmental and energy efficiency with its annual SmartWay Excellence Awards at the 2018 American Trucking Associations Annual Management Conference & Exhibition in Austin, Texas. Awardees represent the top performing, environmentally-responsible SmartWay carriers that move more goods more miles with lower emissions and less energy. Today’s awardees demonstrate how businesses in this crucial economic sector can save on fuel costs, shrink their emissions footprints and contribute to healthier air in the communities they serve.

“Today, EPA is honoring top-performing SmartWay Carrier Partners with this year’s 2018 SmartWay Excellence Award for their leadership in moving more goods with less fuel,” said EPA Office of Air and Radiation Assistant Administrator Bill Wehrum. “These companies inspire others in the freight sector to invest in innovative technologies and business practices that save fuel, cut costs and protect the environment.”

The 2018 SmartWay Freight Carrier Excellence Award recipients are:

ABF Freight System, Inc.

Arlo G Lott Trucking Inc

C.A.T. Inc.

C.R. England, Inc.

Cliff Viessman, Inc.

Contract Transportation Systems, Co. (Sherwin Williams)

CRST Dedicated Services, Inc.

CRST Expedited, Inc.

Doug Andrus Distributing LLC

Duncan and Son Lines, Inc.

Eagle Transport Corporation

Grammer Industries, Inc.

Halvor Lines, Inc.

Hirschbach Motor Lines

Hub Group

J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

K & S Carriers, LLC

Knight Transportation, Inc.

Logistics Trans West Inc. - Logistiques Trans West Inc.

Meijer Logistics LLC

Navajo Express, Inc.

New World Van Lines

NFI Industries

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.

Owens & Minor Distributing, Inc.

Palmer Moving and Storage

Penske Logistics, LLC

Raven Transport

Saia Motor Freight Line, LLC

Schilli Corporation

Schneider

Sheehy Mail Contractors, Inc.

Southeast Transportation Systems, Inc.

Swift Transportation Co. of Arizona, LLC

Thompson Emergency Freight Systems

Truline Corporation

UPS Small Package

Werner Enterprises

White Arrow LLC

Woody Bogler Trucking Company

Background

EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership is a market-driven initiative that empowers businesses to move goods in the cleanest, most energy-efficient way possible to protect public health and reduce emissions. Demonstrating a commitment to environmental responsibility and freight efficiency through SmartWay provides for a more sustainable and competitive business environment.

Since 2004, SmartWay Partners have avoided emitting more than 103 million metric tons of harmful air pollution, while saving more than 215 million barrels of oil and $29.7 billion in fuel costs – equivalent to eliminating annual energy use in over 14 million homes. SmartWay partners also help protect clean and healthy air by significantly reducing pollution that contributes to smog, including fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.

For more information about SmartWay Excellence Awards, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/smartway/smartway-excellence-awardees

For more information about SmartWay, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/smartway

New England’s Warm Summer Leads to Slight Increase in Air Quality Alert Days

October 3, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

BOSTON – The EPA has confirmed that New Englanders experienced a slight increase in the number of unhealthy air quality days this year, compared to 2017. Based on preliminary data collected between March and September 2018, there were 28 days when ozone monitors in New England recorded ozone concentrations above levels considered healthy. By contrast, in 2017 there were 25 unhealthy ozone days in New England.

Hot, sunny, summery weather is conducive to ozone formation, and is variable from year to year. The 2018 summer was warmer than average in New England, and slightly warmer than the summer of 2017. Since 1983, New England has experienced a decrease in the number of unhealthy ozone days. In 1983, New England had 118 unhealthy days, compared with only 28 this year. This downward trend is due to a reduction in emissions that form ozone. The number of unhealthy days (when ozone concentrations exceed the 0.070 parts per million standard) vary from year to year, due to weather conditions.

The number of unhealthy ozone days in each state this summer, and for last summer are as follows:

State	2018 Ozone Exceedences	2017 Ozone Exceedences
Connecticut	23	20
Massachusetts	12	12
Rhode Island	12	6
New Hampshire	6	5
Maine	3	6
Vermont	1	1

"While we have made good progress reducing ozone pollution over the past several decades, more work needs to be done to ensure that people can enjoy good air quality, even during a hot and dry summer when conditions favor the formation of ground-level ozone," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn. "EPA is continuing to take action to reduce ozone pollution, so we are optimistic that air quality will continue to improve in New England."

In 2014, EPA finalized stringent standards for new cars sold after 2017. The automobile and gasoline rule, known as Tier 3, will help lower automobile pollution by a significant margin. The Tier 3 emissions standards for cars represent an additional 80% reduction of ozone causing pollution when compared to the average in 2014. EPA has also issued an update to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), which will significantly reduce summertime nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions from power plants in 22 states in the eastern U.S.

EPA recently finalized its designations for the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and EPA is continuing to work with our state partners to implement these standards. In the Northeast, average ozone levels have dropped by nearly 20 percent since the year 2000. Nationally, emissions of nitrogen oxides – the key precursor to ozone – have dropped by over 40 percent in the last decade.

Ground-level ozone is formed when volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen chemically react in the presence of sunlight. In New England, cars and trucks give off the majority of the pollution that makes ozone. Burning of fossil fuels at electric power plants, which run at high capacities on hot days, emit substantial amounts of ozone-making pollution. Gasoline refilling stations, print shops, household products like paints and cleaners, as well as gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment, also contribute to ozone formation.

More information:

View or sign up for Free daily air quality forecasts: https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/aqi.html . Current air quality conditions and forecasts are also available at: www.airnow.gov .
Historical charts of unhealthy air days from 1983 through 2018 are available for each New England state on EPA New England's web site at: https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/histexc.html.
A preliminary list of the unhealthy readings recorded this summer in New England by date and monitor location, and corresponding air quality maps for each day, can be found at: https://www3.epa.gov/region1/airquality/o3exceed-18.html.
EPA's most recent national air trends report: https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/ozone-trends#ozreg

New Report Identifies 30 Solutions for Reducing Greenhouse Gasses Through Behavior Change

September 30, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

ARLINGTON, VA. - A new report from Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment quantifies the contribution individual behavior change can make toward curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The Center’s analysis of 80 climate solutions outlined in Project Drawdown, a comprehensive plan to mitigate global warming, found that individual behavior plays a significant role in 30 of them. Further analysis of those 30 solutions, based on the emissions reduction potential estimates in Drawdown, found that greater adoption could help reduce about one-third of the projected global emissions between 2020 to 2050. The report also offers practitioners behavioral science tools to promote the adoption of the solutions.

“Undoubtedly, this list does demonstrate the massive potential that individuals and communities can have in terms of contributing to efforts to reduce emissions,” reads the report. “Solving the global climate change crisis is going to rely on, in one way or another, changing human behavior.”

The report divides the 30 solutions into four categories (food; agriculture and land management; transportation; and energy and materials) and identifies significant potential for mitigation. The total emissions reduction potential of these solutions is between 393 and 729 gigatons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases. Based on Drawdown’s modeling estimates, the projected total greenhouse gas emissions from 2020-2050 is 1,979 gigatons. Therefore, large-scale adoption of these 30 behavioral solutions could mitigate up to 36.8 percent of emissions between 2020 and 2050, increasing the chances for achieving the necessary milestones to keep global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

"Tackling climate change can seem overwhelming, and people often feel like they can’t possibly make a difference. This report proves otherwise,” said Brett Jenks, President & CEO of Rare. “Our findings should offer hope to everyone looking for what they can do on a personal level to help address the climate crisis.”

The final chapter of the report outlines ways that behavior change tools can be applied to conservation and climate action.

“Compiling this list of solutions is just one step. Now we need people to adopt them,” said Kevin Green, Senior Director at the Center for Behavior & the Environment at Rare. “The Center for Behavior & the Environment is dedicated to connecting the growing body of knowledge about human behavior and decision making with many inspiring efforts all over the world to promote the adoption of sustainable, climate-smart behaviors.”

To encourage adoption, Rare will look to proven solutions. Earlier this year, Rare was joined by Conservation International, National Geographic, The Nature Conservancy, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Wildlife Fund in launching Solution Search, a global competition to identify, reward, and spotlight innovative, promising solutions to helping consumers adopt more climate-smart behaviors. The competition is currently in the judging phase, with finalists set to be announced later this Fall.

The report’s authors include Katie Williamson, Katie Velasco, and Kevin Green of the Center for Behavior & the Environment; and Aven Satre-Meloy, a doctoral student and Rhodes Scholar in the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University.

A copy of the report can be downloaded at Rare.org/Center.

The report is the first produced by the Center for Behavior & the Environment, which Rare established in 2017 to apply the latest insights from behavioral research to the world’s biggest conservation challenges. By closing the loop between the science of human motivation and decision-making and the practice of environmental stewardship, Rare hopes the Center will serve as a catalyst for promoting widespread adoption of more sustainable behaviors.

EPA Recognizes Supermarkets Across America for Smart Refrigerant Management

September 25, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 13 organizations in the supermarket industry for their achievements in protecting human health and the environment under its GreenChill Partnership Program. The GreenChill Partnership works with food retailers to reduce refrigerant emissions and decrease their impact on the ozone layer by supporting a transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, lowering charge sizes and eliminating leaks, and adopting green refrigeration technologies and best environmental practices.

“We applaud all the supermarket chains that have demonstrated tremendous environmental leadership through the prevention of refrigerant releases and the use of advanced refrigeration technologies,” said EPA Office of Air and Radiation Assistant Administrator Bill Wehrum. “It’s good for the environment, and it’s just good business.”

Over the past decade, EPA’s GreenChill Partnership has grown from 4,500 stores to over 11,000 stores nationwide, representing about 29 percent of the U.S. supermarket industry. If supermarkets nationwide reduced the amount of refrigerant they leak to the current average leak rate for GreenChill partner companies, they could avoid $212 million each year in the cost of refrigerant that needs to be replaced.

EPA recognized GreenChill partners in the following categories:

Best Corporate Emissions Rate
Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.) earned the Program’s most prestigious recognition for achieving the lowest refrigerant emissions rate among retail supermarket chains. City Market Onion River Co-op (Burlington, Vt.) received this recognition for the category of small-independent grocers.

Most Improved Emissions Rate
Hanover Co-op Food Stores (Hanover, N.H.) was honored with the “Most Improved Emissions Rate” recognition for achieving the Program’s largest refrigerant leak rate reduction compared to 2011, the year it joined GreenChill. Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.) lowered its emissions rate more than any other partner compared to the previous year.

Goal Achievement
GreenChill’s four “Superior Goal Achievement” winners voluntarily set and achieved their challenging corporate goal for reducing refrigerant emissions. Winners include Coborn's Inc. (St. Cloud, Minn.), Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.), Hy-Vee (West Des Moines, Iowa), and Harris Teeter (Matthews, N.C.). Hy-Vee (West Des Moines, Iowa), was the sole partner to earn “Exceptional Goal Achievement” for meeting an even more stringent “stretch” refrigerant emissions reduction goal.

Distinguished Partner
Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas) was honored with the “Distinguished Partner” recognition for leadership through active participation and information sharing in this year’s GreenChill Program events.

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program recognized individual stores for meeting strict performance criteria that demonstrate their refrigeration systems have minimal impacts on the ozone layer.

GreenChill presented the following store certification recognitions:

Best of the Best
Lidl US (Arlington, Va.) was honored as “Best of the Best” for its innovative approach to refrigeration in its GreenChill certified store in Kinston, N.C. The Lidl USA store only uses stand-alone refrigerated cases with a very small amount of an environmentally-friendly refrigerant.

Store Certification Excellence
Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) and Sprouts Farmers Market (Phoenix, Ariz.) earned recognition for achieving more GreenChill store certifications than their peers over the past year; this is each company’s seventh and sixth consecutive time earning this recognition, respectively.

Store Re-Certification
Five stores were recognized for achieving GreenChill certification for five consecutive years. Winners include Hannaford in Turner, Maine, Sprouts Farmers Market in Fresno, Calif., Stater Bros. Market in Redlands, Calif., Weis Markets in Hillsborough, N.J., and Whole Foods Market in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Hannaford and Whole Foods stores were two of the first in the U.S. to adopt an environmentally-friendlier advanced refrigeration system that uses carbon dioxide as its only refrigerant.

More about the GreenChill Partnership and winners' achievements: https://www.epa.gov/greenchill

OAR Wrap Up: Proposed Rules Saving More Than $115 Million Annually in Regulatory Costs

September 20, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

WASHINGTON - Over the course of one week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed three separate rules — the Refrigerant Management Rule Amendments, Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program Technical Amendments, and Oil & Gas Targeted Improvements — totaling more than $115 million in regulatory cost savings. In addition, EPA has officially converted four regional haze Federal Implementation Plans (FIP) into State Implementation Plans (SIPs).

“These rules would provide greater certainty to the regulated community in areas where previous EPA actions exceeded its legal authority or caused confusion and undue burdens,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “A lack of certainty from EPA hinders environmental protections and causes paralysis in the marketplace, and we are committed to fixing that.

Refrigerant Management Rule Amendments

Today, EPA proposed the Refrigerant Management proposed rule, which would generate approximately $40 million in regulatory savings annually. The proposed rule amendments revisit the Agency’s approach to regulating appliances containing substitute refrigerants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), based on PEA's proposed interpretation that the Agency exceeded its statutory authority in extending refrigerant management requirements to appliances containing non-ozone depleting substitutes. This proposed rulemaking in no way affects the current requirements for ozone-depleting refrigerants.

EPA will take comment on the proposed rule for 45 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register and will hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C. Details on the public hearing will be available shortly.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/section608/revised-section-608-refrigerant-management-regulations

Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Program

The Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Program rule proposed today would correct minor technical errors in the GHG emissions regulations finalized in the 2012 rulemaking establishing standards for model years 2017-2025 light-duty vehicles. These amendments would clarify the calculation methodology in the regulations and allow the program to be implemented as originally intended. This proposal is separate from the recently announced joint EPA—National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed SAFE Vehicles Rule to address some of these underlying standards. Once this action is published in the Federal Register, there will be a 30-day comment period.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/proposed-rule-technical-amendments-light-duty-vehicle

State Implementation Plans

EPA has converted regional haze FIPs in Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia into SIPs. In 2012, EPA issued a FIP covering many states, including these. This well-coordinated, cooperative approach, allows Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia to meet federal requirements while ensuring the protection of human health and the environment.

“I am pleased that the EPA is approving West Virginia’s plan,” said West Virginia Governor Jim Justice. “Protecting visibility in areas like Dolly Sods and Otter Creek is important for tourism and economic development. West Virginia appreciates the responsiveness of the new leadership at EPA and in this case, it means West Virginia has the freedom to develop its own plan and not have a one size fits all plan forced on us.”

During the Obama Administration, more than 50 Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) were imposed on states, including over a dozen under the Regional Haze program. Under the Trump Administration, EPA has turned approximately one FIP into a SIP every month.

Once the SIPs are published in the Federal Register, they will be available here:

Oil & Gas Targeted Improvements

The Oil & Gas Technical Package proposed targeted improvements to the 2016 New Source Performance Standards for the oil and gas industry that streamline implementation, reduce duplicative EPA and state requirements, and significantly decrease unnecessary burdens on domestic energy producers. This oil and gas targeted improvements package is expected to save up to approximately $484 million in regulatory costs from 2019–2025 or $75 million annually.

The proposed improvements include: aligning requirements between EPA's rule and existing state programs; modifying the frequency for monitoring leaks (also known as “fugitive emissions”) at well sites and compressor stations; and making it easier for owners and operators to use emerging measurement technologies in their leaks monitoring surveys.

The Agency continues to consider other policy issues in the 2016 rule, including the regulation of GHGs in the oil and gas sector, and will be addressed in a separate proposal at a later date.

EPA will take comment on the proposed rule for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register and will hold a public hearing in Denver, Colo. Details on the public hearing will be available shortly.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-oil-and-gas-targeted-improvements-package-advance-president-trumps-energy

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