Life cycle cost evaluation of the digital opacity compliance system

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established EPA Reference Method 9 (Method 9) as the preferred enforcement approach for verifying compliance with federal visible opacity standards. While Method 9 has an extensive history of successful employment, reliance on human observers to quantify visible emissions is inherently subjective, a characteristic that exposes Method 9 results to claims of inaccuracy, bias and, in some cases, outright fraud.The Digital Opacity Compliance System (DOCS), which employs commercial-off-the-shelf digital photography coupled with simple computer processing, is a new approach for quantifying visible opacity. The DOCS technology has been previously demonstrated to meet and, in many cases, surpass the Method 9 accuracy and reliability standards (McFarland et al., 2006). Beyond its performance relative to Method 9, DOCS provides a permanent visual record of opacity, a vital feature in legal compliance challenges.In recent DOCS field testing, the opacity analysis of two hundred and forty one (241) regulated air emissions from the following industrial processes: 1) industrial scrubbers, 2) emergency generators, 3) asphalt paving, 4) steel production and 5) incineration indicated that Method 9 and DOCS were statistically equivalent at the 99% confidence level. However, a life cycle cost analysis demonstrated that implementation of DOCS could potentially save a facility $15,732 per trained opacity observer compared to utilization of Method 9.     

Impacts of freshwater wetlands on water quality: A landscape perspective

In this article, we suggest that a landscape approach might be useful in evaluating the effects of cumulative impacts on freshwater wetlands. The reason for using this approach is that most watersheds contain more than one wetland, and effects on water quality depend on the types of wetlands and their position in the landscape. Riparian areas that border uplands appear to be important sites for nitrogen processing and retention of large sediment particles. Fine particles associated with high concentrations of phosphorus are retained in downstream wetlands, where flow rates are slowed and where the surface water passes through plant litter. Riverine systems also may play an important role in processing nutrients, primarily during flooding events. Lacustrine wetlands appear to have the least impact on water quality, due to the small ratio of vegetated surface to open water. Examples are given of changes that occurred when the hydrology of a Maryland floodplain was altered.     

Chloroplastic responses of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) seedlings to ozone exposure

Integrity of chloroplast membranes is essential to photosynthesis. Loss of thylakoid membrane integrity has been proposed as a consequence of ozone (O(3)) exposure and therefore may be a mechanistic basis for decreased photosynthetic rates commonly associated with ozone exposure. To investigate this hypothesis, Pinus ponderosa seedlings were exposed to ambient air or ozone concentrations maintained at 0.15 or 0.30 microliter l(-1) for 10 h day(-1) for 51 days during their second growing season. Over the course of the study, foliage samples were periodically collected for thylakoid membrane, chlorophyll and protein analyses. Additionally, gas-exchange measurements were made in conjunction with foliage sampling to verify that observed chloroplastic responses were associated with ozone-induced changes in photosynthesis.Needles exposed to elevated ozone exhibited decreases in chlorophyll a and b content. The decreases were dependent on the duration and intensity of ozone exposure. When based on equal amounts of chlorophyll, ozone-exposed sample tissue exhibited an increase in total protein. When based on equal amounts of protein, ozone-exposed samples exhibited an increase in 37 kDa proteins, possibly consisting of breakdown products, and a possible decrease in 68 kDa proteins, Rubisco small subunit. There was also a change in the ratio of Photosystem I protein complexes CPI and CPII that may have contributed to decreased photosynthesis. Net photosynthetic rates were decreased in the high ozone treatment suggesting that observed structural and biochemical changes in the chloroplast were associated with alterations of the photosynthetic process.     

The effects of opening an artificial tidal inlet on hydrography and estuarine macrofauna in Corpus Christi, Texas

Packery Channel is part of a complex of storm washover channels which, before 1912, have opened intermittently, linking the Laguna Madre and Corpus Christi Bay, Texas with the Gulf of Mexico. On 21 July 2005, with the assistance of Hurricane Emily, Packery Channel was prematurely opened to the Gulf of Mexico, months before construction of a dredged channel was scheduled to be completed. A before-versus-after, control-versus-impact (BACI) design was used to assess the effects of reopening Packery Channel on water quality and estuarine macrofauna in Mollie Beattie Coastal Habitat Community (MBCHC), Corpus Christi Bay. Two deep (approximately 1 m below m.s.l.) and two shallow (approximately 0.2 m below m.s.l.) stations were sampled monthly for physical and biological characteristics at both control and impact sites between November 2003 and March 2009. The opening of Packery Channel created a unique situation where salinities decreased after the channel opening by ameliorating hypersalinity in Laguna Madre rather than increasing salinities as would occur in most estuaries worldwide. Salinity also fluctuated in a diurnal pattern after the opening of Packery Channel. Apart from salinity, Packery Channel has caused little hydrographic change in MBCHC since opening in July 2005. There was little effect on the macrofaunal community composition. There was a greater difference in community composition between deep and shallow stations than between either before and after or control and impact sites. There have been no significant changes in abundance, biomass, or N1 diversity caused by the opening of Packery Channel.     

Prolonged withdrawal: A possible predator evasion behavior in Balanus glandula (Crustacea: Cirripedia)

The duration of cirral withdrawal in Balanus glandula (Darwin) varies by a factor of three depending on the type of stimulus applied. Contact with potential predators including thaidid gastropods (Thais emarginata, T. lamellosa), and forcipulate asteroids (Leptasterias hexactis, Pycnopodia helianthoides) elicits significantly longer withdrawal durations than contact with an herbivorous gastropod (Tegula pulligo), a grazing, spinulosid asteroid (Henricia leviuscula) or a neutral, brown algal stimulus (Fucus distichus). By substantially attenuating the release of metabolites, prolonged withdrawal probably increases the likelihood of being bypassed by nonvisual predators relying on chemical cues to verify that barnacles are alive. The reduced response to the non-predatory species indicates that this is not a generalized response to gastropods or asteroids, but rather that it appears to be specific to potential predatory species.