In This Issue

  OSHA News:   OSHA Revises Recordkeeping Requirements for Workplace Illnesses and Injuries

  CSB News:  CSB Issues Its First Annual Report

  Politics and Legislation
           1.  U.S. Senate Passes New Pipeline Safety Bill
           2.  Meet the New EPA Administrator and Secretary of Labor

  Industry Focus:  
           1.  No Buyers on the Horizon as Premcor Closes Blue Island refinery
           2.  AcuSafe Poll: Do You Think Environmental and Safety Regulations and Enforcement Are too Tough?  

  Resources:  
           1.  RMP*Review Available - An Improved Tool for Reviewing and Analyzing Risk Management Plans
           2.  TRI Guidance for Dioxins Now Available
           3.  Update on OSHA electronic compliance assistance tools (eCAT)

  Incident News:  
            1.  Monthly Summary of Incidents, January 11, 2001 - February 25, 2001 
            2.  Matson fined $3 million for bilge violations

  Events Update:  
            1.  AIChE Spring 2001 National Meeting
            2.  International Oil Spill Conference

          
 

Story Abstracts

Meet the New EPA Administrator and Secretary of Labor
Christine Todd Whitman and Elaine Chao were confirmed as EPA Administrator and Secretary of Labor respectively by the U.S. Senate in late January. For a biographical snapshot of these two women and some of their early remarks about how they will carry our the duties of their new appointments, please go to our full article.  

AcuSafe Poll: Do You Think Environmental and Safety Regulations and Enforcement Are too Tough?
With the closure of the Premcor Refinery, and similar closures in other plants across the country, it raises the question as to whether environmental and safety regulations are too stringent. We are asking our readers what they think about the issue. Please contribute to our online poll. Results will be posted in an upcoming issue of the newsletter. 

 

• an officer or employee of the United States;
• an officer or employee of an agent or contractor of the Federal Government;
• an officer or employee of a State or local government;
• an officer or employee of an agent or contractor of a State or local government;
• an individual affiliated with an entity that has been given, by a State or local government, responsibility for preventing, planning for, or responding to accidental releases;
• an officer or employee or an agent or contractor of an entity described above; and
• a qualified researcher as defined by the statute. 

These restrictions are intended to protect the privacy of companies from casual scrutiny, especially in viewing the results of the offsite consequence analysis. 

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Guidance for Dioxins Now Available
In October 1999, EPA amended its TRI regulation (EPCRA § 313) to add dioxin and similar compounds to the list of chemicals that must be reported. The new dioxin category must be included in TRI reports beginning with the 2000 reporting year (the reports being due by July 1, 2001). These substances must be reported if the dioxin and dioxin-like compounds are present as contaminants in a chemical, and if they were created during the manufacturing of that chemical.  A new guidance document, developed to help regulated parties report on dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, is now available on the web at: http://www.epa.gov/tri/guidance.htm#dioxins

Update on OSHA electronic compliance assistance tools (eCAT)
OSHA *eCATs are electronic Compliance Assistance Tools that provide guidance information for developing a comprehensive safety and health program. Although Safety and Health Programs are required by some states, there is no general OSHA requirement for such a program. Therefore, this eCAT includes elements that go beyond specific OSHA mandates, such as recommendations for good industry practice. As indicated in the disclaimer, eCATs do not create new OSHA requirements.  For more info, go to http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/safetyhealth_ecat/index.htm

 
Matson fined $3 million for bilge violations
U.S. cargo shipper Matson Navigation Co. will pay $3 million in fines after admitting it illegally dumped bilge water that may have been contaminated with waste oil, the U.S. Attorney in Seattle said on January 11, 2001.  San Francisco-based Matson, a unit of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc. specializing in moving cargo between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii, will also be placed on probation for three years, U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer said in a release.  Matson will pay $500,000 each to settle cases in San Francisco and Seattle and $2 million to settle a case in Los Angeles, with half the proceeds funding environmental and law enforcement programs at coastal national parks in California and Washington state.  In several cases from 1996 through 1998 crew members on the Matson ship Lihue falsely stated that they had removed waste oil before discharging bilge water, even though the ship's pollution control equipment was out of order at the time. 
Pflaumer noted that the government had not found any evidence that contaminated oil was actually discharged into the ocean. Matson issued a statement apologizing for what it called "the actions of a few" employees. The prosecution stems from an ongoing probe by the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency, under which Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. paid $27 million in fines in 1999 for illegally dumping oil and chemicals. 

• 4th International Conference on Refining Processes
• 13th Annual Ethylene Producers Conference
• Houston Air Quality Topical Conference
• 35th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium
• 5th Bi-Annual Process Plant Safety Symposium
• Distillation Topical Symposium
• Astrochemical Engineering Topical Conference
• Vehicular Fuel Performance Topical Conference
• Natural Gas Utilization Topical Conference
• Implementing Sustainability in the Process Industries Technology, Policy and Management

For more information and registration details, please visit the AIChE web site at http://www.aiche.org/conferences/spring/index.htm.

International Oil Spill Conference
An International Oil Spill Conference is being held in Tampa, Florida March 26 - 29, 2001. Co-Sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, API, International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), and International Maritime Organization (IMO), this major event will have classes and exhibits to satisfy anyone with responsibility for oil spill prevention and control. For more information, please go to their web site at http://www.iosc.org/, or contact Madeleine Sellouk at 202-682-8332.

 
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