Advantages of finite‐structured environmental insurance policies

Over the last five years, insurance products have been expanded to assist companies better manage environmental liabilities. The most progressive of these products is a finite‐structured program whereby the convergence of insurance and financial markets expand the meaning of “alternative risk transfer.” Finite programs blend financial markets and banking concepts with risk transfer concepts to more effectively and efficiently allow the insured to manage the financial implications of its environmental liabilities. This article presents the advantages of using finite‐structured environmental insurance policies and discusses how potential insureds can protect against several types of remediation project risks, including cleanup costs, inflation uncertainty, and variability in investment returns. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Environmental Effects Monitoring in Sydney Harbor During Remediation of One of Canada's Most Polluted Sites: A Review and Lessons Learned

This article reviews a comprehensive marine environmental effects monitoring program (MEEMP) comprised of components capable of detecting changes in the marine environment over short or extended temporal scales during remediation of one of Canada's most polluted sites at the Sydney Tar Ponds. The monitoring components included: water and sediment quality, amphipod toxicity testing, mussel tissue, crab hepatopancreas tissue, and benthic community assessments. The MEEMP was designed to verify the impact predictions for the remediation project (i.e., no immediate damage to the marine ecosystem through remediation activities). Some components were capable of providing conclusive data (e.g., sediment and water quality), while others only yielded data that were inconclusive or difficult to attribute to remediation activities (e.g., intertidal community assessments and amphipod toxicity testing). Components that provided only inconclusive results or were difficult to attribute to remediation activities were discontinued, resulting in substantial cost savings during the project, but without compromising the overall objectives of the program, which was to monitor for potential adverse environmental effects of remediation on the marine environment in Sydney Harbor and to verify environmental effects predictions made in the Environmental Impact Statement for the project. The rationale for discontinuing certain MEEMP components and discussion of conclusive results are incorporated into “lessons learned” for environmental remediation practitioners and regulators working on similar large‐scale multiyear remediation projects. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Best management practices for environmental restoration programs

Based on a review of hundreds of environmental restoration program optimization reviews, this article describes management tools found in successful and efficient remediation programs. Projects that consistently struggled to achieve their objectives were observed to be missing certain, or to have inadequately used, these tools. The tools are articulated as best practices because when they are present and actively used, project shortcomings were minimal. Priority objectives for site owners and project managers include improving efficiency and effectiveness through performance management, reducing resource usage and energy consumption, ensuring protectiveness, and reducing uncertainty in management decision making. Restoring environmental resources damaged by historic waste management practices began in earnest in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the broad recognition of the problems caused by environmental discharges and spills when wastes are not managed appropriately. Under new regulations, soil and groundwater remediation projects could be, and were, conducted within a defined framework. The number and variety of restoration projects that were launched resulted in a slew of projects progressing through the stages of characterization, decision, and cleanup, and more were added to the cleanup process each year. In the 1990s, the Department of Defense noted that many cleanup efforts were projected to incur substantial operational, maintenance, and monitoring costs for decades into the future. This was correctly perceived as an opportunity to optimize those systems and programs, minimize costs, and reduce health and environmental risks. The best practices outlined in this article address management tools that were identified in optimization efforts that led to effective and efficient environmental remediation projects. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

香港青山B电厂4×680MW机组排放控制工程OHS风险控制方案介绍

以香港青山B电厂4×680MW机组排放控制工程（CPBEC）为例，介绍了海外环保EPC项目OHS风险控制的特点和风险控制方案，阐述了目前国内环保企业OHS风险管理中存在的主要问题和改进措施。     

Modelling of environmental impacts of solid waste landfilling within the life-cycle analysis program EASEWASTE

A new computer-based life-cycle assessment model (EASEWASTE) has been developed to evaluate resource and environmental consequences of solid waste management systems. This paper describes the landfilling sub-model used in the life-cycle assessment program EASEWASTE, and examines some of the implications of this sub-model. All quantities and concentrations of leachate and landfill gas can be modified by the user in order to bring them in agreement with the actual landfill that is assessed by the model. All emissions, except the generation of landfill gas, are process specific. The landfill gas generation is calculated on the basis of organic matter in the landfilled waste. A landfill assessment example is provided. For this example, the normalised environmental effects of landfill gas on global warming and photochemical smog are much greater than the environmental effects for landfill leachate or for landfill construction. A sensitivity analysis for this example indicates that the overall environmental impact is sensitive to the gas collection efficiency and the use of the gas, but not to the amount of leachate generated, or the amount of soil or liner material used in construction. The landfill model can be used for evaluating different technologies with different liners, gas and leachate collection efficiencies, and to compare the environmental consequences of landfilling with alternative waste treatment options such as incineration or anaerobic digestion.     

A bench scale PVD remediation system experiment

Prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) have been used for decades for soil improvement. Recent research has shown that PVDs can also be used to remediate contaminated fine-grained soils. A research program was undertaken at The University of Texas at Austin to study the use of PVDs in soil flushing (pump and treat). This research program included both analytical and experimental studies. The focus of this paper is the experimental part of the research effort. The design and results of two experiments are presented. These results provided insight into the operation and design of PVD remediation systems and exposed areas that need additional research. The laboratory results support prior research that indicate that PVD remediation systems can be an effective means of remediating contaminated fine-grained soils. In addition, the importance of keeping the injection and extraction rates similar to minimize consolidation was highlighted. The measured heads did not indicate that a significant amount of drawdown occurred over the course of the experiment. More research needs to be done on maintaining a consistent extraction rate and additional post experiment concentration measurements would be required if determining the tracer mass balance is the focus of any future experiments.     

Estimating Social Impacts of a Remediation Project Life Cycle With Environmental Footprint Evaluation Tools

This article presents a methodology to calculate the social cost of sustainability metrics with environmental footprint evaluation tools. Measuring the impacts of a remediation project on society is challenging because the methods by which these impacts can be measured have not been established. To perform a complete sustainability assessment of a project's life cycle, costs borne by society in terms of environmental, economic, and community impacts must be evaluated. Two knowledge gaps have been identified among the sustainability assessments currently being performed during a remediation project's life cycle: (1) lack of methodologies available to evaluate impacts on the socioeconomic aspects of remediation and (2) lack of sustainability assessments conducted during the site characterization stage. Sustainability assessments were conducted on two case studies using the methodology proposed in this article: one during the site characterization stage and the other during remedial action. The results of this study demonstrated that costs borne by society from a remediation project are significant and metric specific. This study also highlighted the benefits of conducting a sustainability assessment at the site characterization stage using environmental footprint analysis tools, cost benefit analysis, and an evaluation of costs borne by society. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Perimeter air monitoring for soil remediation

Most environmental project managers are well versed in characterizing and remediating contaminants in soil and water media. When soil remediation activities are conducted at an environmental site, however, some project managers are faced with monitoring contaminants in the air medium for the first time. Remediation activities can disturb contaminants that are normally immobile in soil and transfer them to air. The resulting increase in airborne concentrations of contaminants, even if temporary, may be a health concern for individuals in neighboring residences or businesses. Perimeter air monitoring may be required by a regulatory agency to determine if unhealthy conditions are created and if work practices should be limited or modified. This article serves as a resource for project managers involved in perimeter air monitoring for soil remediation and provides a general summary of candidate sites, remediation activities that release contaminants, regulatory requirements, equipment and target contaminants, monitoring locations and schedule, analytical methods, and data interpretation. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Life-cycle impacts of the use of industrial by-products in road and earth construction

A two-stage study "Life cycle analysis of road construction and earthworks" was part of a more extensive Finnish research project "Assessment of the applicability of secondary products in earthworks". In the first stage of this work a life-cycle impact assessment procedure for the comparison and evaluation of alternative road and earth constructions was developed. Additionally, a database containing the environmental burdens of the most significant construction materials and unit operations was constructed. In order to evaluate the applicability of the procedure, the use of coal ash, crushed concrete waste and granulated blast-furnace slag in road construction was evaluated in case studies. The use of these secondary products was also compared with the use of natural materials in corresponding applications. The aim of the second stage was to transfer the assembled data for utilisation as a practical model by creating an inventory analysis program to calculate and compare the life cycle impacts of the most common road constructions and foundation engineering methods. The data obtained in the first stage was also augmented to the extent necessary for this purpose. The results of case studies indicate that the production and transport of the materials used in road constructions produce the most significant environmental burdens. Production of the bitumen and cement, crushing of materials and transport of materials are the most energy consuming single life-cycle stages of the construction. A large part of the emissions to atmosphere originates from energy production. In the expert assessment, consumption of natural materials and leaching behaviour were also regarded as being of great significance.     

Performing a regulatory compliance audit: Guidance for environmental managers

An important tool for managing environmental responsibilities is compliance auditing. Auditing the facility allows the environmental manager to identify problems, address potential violations, and streamline environmental compliance expenditures. However, the audit and associated program must be developed within the context of immediate and long-term goals. Before initiating the physical audit, the environmental manager should identify the scope of the audit, select a team, establish the audit process, and decide on report documentation issues, such as confidentiality. If the audit program is developed correctly, todays environmental manager can streamline long-term compliance while managing the company's liability.     

Enhanced reductive dechlorination of PCE in unconsolidated soils

An Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) forum was recently held that focused on six case studies in which bioremediation of dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) was performed. The objective was to demonstrate that there is credible evidence for bioremediation as a viable environmental remediation technology. A discussion of the first case study from the ITRC forum was published in the previous issue of Remediation. This article presents a discussion of the second case study, which involves enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD) of tetrachloroethene (PCE) in unconsolidated soils—primarily silts and clays with very low permeabilities. The project results indicate that complete reductive dechlorination was achieved and provide encouragement that large amounts of nonaqueous solvent can be brought into the reductive dechlorination treatment process by dissolution and desorption, giving support to the contention that the capacity to attack nonaqueous mass is a prerequisite for any effective treatment of DNAPL source zones. The site geology for this project was relatively unfavorable, and further work is needed to confirm that the ERD technology can economically reach a natural attenuation endpoint for this type of setting. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Residential recycling programs: Environmental,economic and disposal factors

The type of recycling program initiated by state or local government is related to (a) the environmental awareness of the population and the subsequent reflection of that awareness in government, (b) the state's municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal situation, and (c) the market conditions for recycled materials. Two hypotheses are studied: (1) voluntary participation recycling programs are initiated when environmental awareness is the driving force and market conditions are good and (2) mandatory participation recycling programs result when the driving force is MSW disposal difficulties.New Jersey and Oregon, two of the states, with statewide mandatory and voluntary recycling programs respectively, are studied with respect to the events leading to the enactment of their recycling programs. The hypotheses are supported by the events in each state. Hypothesis 2 is further supported by data from 48 states comparing information on each state's MSW disposal situation with the local and statewide recycling programs reported in a survey. The percentages of mandatory recycling programs increase with increasing MSW disposal difficulty. A measure of environmental awareness must be developed before hypothesis one can be studied with cross-sectional data.     

Obtaining Approvals for Oil and Gas Projects in Shallow Water Marine Areas in Western Australia using an Environmental Risk Assessment Framework

The oil and gas industry is of major economic importance to the state of Western Australia. The majority of its activities are offshore, some occurring in shallow marine areas adjacent to sensitive resources such as coral reefs and mangroves. One of the main issues for the oil and gas industry is continued access to marine acreage. Increasing public concern about the environmental protection of the coastal and marine environment has increased the focus on the various users. This has resulted in the development of statutory and administrative processes, more stringent environmental assessment and operating conditions, and greater scrutiny on the issue of access of proposals to some areas. Detailed environmental assessment and management plans are generated for all drilling and development projects. An environmental risk assessment approach utilising computer modelling, habitat mapping, research and monitoring is used to evaluate the risk of a project on adjacent resources and to obtain government approval. The Wonnich appraisal drilling program, which consisted of two wells drilled from the same surface location situated one kilometre away from an area of high conservation value, will be used as a case study of the risk assessment procedure used by one oil and gas company.     

Economic viability study of a separate household waste collection in a developing country

This article reports a study of the economic viability of a separate household waste collection project, and considers its social and environmental benefits. The study was developed from the database obtained through the pilot project on separate collections in João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba, in the northeast region of Brazil. The pilot project had been supported by the local municipal council since September 2000. The methodology applied to this study of economic viability is based on the economic quantification of the benefits and costs involved in the process of a separate collection of household waste. The benefits to the environment, owing to the reduction of the final disposal of household waste, were also evaluated. The results of this research are encouraging for the benefit cost relation (B/C) of both the quantified economic components and the environmental aspects. The values found for the relation B/C ranged from 1.27 to 1.77 depending on the economic quantification of the direct and indirect benefits to the components involved in the project, i.e., the waste collectors, the municipal council, the sellers of recycled material, and the recycling industry.     

Centralized incineration treatment of infectious waste for regional hospitals in Taiwan

Taiwan has a high population density. Recently, rapid advances of medical activities have caused an environmental problem in managing the wastes generated by hospitals or clinics. Government regulations, public concern and an increased commitment to a clean environment have also brought more attention to the handling problems of medical waste. A project to plan and manage the first centralized incineration plant for infectious hospital waste has been carried out in Taiwan. This paper summarizes the results of the execution of this project. It addresses the experience gained in siting a regional incinerator, its technical operation to meet local environmental regulations and the management of the regional plant. Public concern against incineration was considered to be the most important criterion to address during establishment of the incinerator, as well as good operational performance. The operational problems encountered most frequently in the regional plant with possible causes and solutions to the problems are summarized in this paper. It was also found that a delivery manifest was useful to manage the delivery of infectious waste.     

烟气脱硫吸收塔增容改造技术方案探讨

目前国内投运的部分石灰石—石膏湿法脱硫装置中,由于燃煤硫分变化而面临着吸收塔增容改造的局面。以实际案例探讨国内燃煤电厂脱硫装置吸收塔增容改造的常用技术方案,并比较分析其优缺点。吸收塔增容改造项目应本着因地制宜的原则,结合原塔性能分析、实际设计参数、现场场地、工程投资等因素,进行多方案技术经济比较,寻求适合该改造项目的最优方案。     

Technical and economic analyses in the development of bioremediation processes

The very large extent of subsurface and groundwater contamination with toxic organic compounds has prompted research on a number of bioremedial processes. The justification of this research has been to achieve lower overall remedial costs than are incurred by currently existing technologies. Laboratory studies are often undertaken with the notion that a new set of process conditions can reduce reagent consumption or the time for treatment by a significant factor with an attendant reduction in overall remediation costs. Research programs are initiated on the basis of these simple premises. Our work has shown that many research projects have been undertaken for the wrong reasons and that experimental effort has often not been directed toward large-scale implementation. A preliminary process analysis has been shown to be a very valuable component of any research and development program on bioremedial and other innovative technologies. As described in this article, the analysis (1) identifies the critical engineering and cost parameters and (2) provides guidance to the research program in the design of experiments and the collection of data. The methodology is also useful in the review of proposed new technologies and treatment equipment. The article includes an example of a process analysis for an actual development project directed toward the remediation of solids contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons to illustrate the benefits and the power of the technique.     

Environmental cleanup of the nation's former nuclear weapons sites: Unprecedented public‐private challenges at the largest facilities

In 1994, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a contract reform program intended to strengthen oversight capabilities and encourage the creation of contract and incentive structures, which would effectively facilitate the treatment of onsite contamination and waste. The remedia‐tion and disposal of these legacy wastes is the core of the Department's environmental manage‐ment mission (Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2003). Despite a concerted effort toward achieving the goals of the reform, progress has been slow. Many projects continue to necessitate cost and time extensions above those originally agreed upon. Although the Department insti‐tuted an accelerated cleanup program in 2002, promising to shave some $50 billion and 35 years from its earlier cost and schedule projections, there have been delays in critical project areas that call into question the attainability of the proposed reductions (GAO, 2005). Numerous explana‐tions have been offered as to why achieving these goals has proven so difficult, many of which have concluded that flawed contracting practices are to blame. This article concludes that the root of the problem is much deeper and that the organizational criticisms aimed at DOE are as much a legacy as the waste itself. Although the focus of this article is on large former nuclear weapons sites, these types of contracting and organizational issues are often found at other gov‐ernment and private complex hazardous waste sites. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The challenge of remediation technology development

A huge commercial environmental industry, currently estimated at some $130 billion in size in the United States alone, has sprung up to manage and remediate environmental problems. Hundreds of innovative remediation technologies are being developed under EPA's SITE program, which has provided R&D funding for more than 100 new treatment technologies. Despite the obvious demand, numerous regulatory, marketing, technical, and financial barriers have impeded progress in the field of remediation technology development. Developers of remediation technologies are faced with a significant challenge to overcome these barriers and successfully bring a technology to market. This article examines the barriers to technology development and offers strategic planning alternatives for long-term economic success and commercial viability of remediation technologies.