Just before Obama leaves office, EPA Funds Projects to Support Water Conservation and Prevent Chemical Pollution from New Jersey Businesses During Flooding

Just before Obama leaves office, EPA Funds Projects to Support Water Conservation and Prevent Chemical Pollution from New Jersey Businesses During Flooding
EPA Provides $399,358 in Grants to Rowan University, the College of New Jersey And the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
12/05/2016
Contact Information:
John Martin (martin.johnj@epa.gov)
212-637-3662

(New York, N.Y. – December 5, 2016) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $399,358 to organizations in New Jersey to fund projects that will help businesses reduce chemical pollution and conserve water. These grants, which were awarded to Rowan University, the College of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, are part of the approximately $5 million in grants the EPA awards each year to prevent pollution across the nation.

"New Jersey is facing its worst drought conditions in years, while many low-lying areas of the state remain under threat of flooding,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “These pollution prevention grants will help businesses conserve water and reduce the use of toxic chemicals, protecting people’s health throughout the state.”

The EPA awarded the Sustainability Institute at the College of New Jersey $197,023 to provide technical assistance to businesses located in flood-prone areas of the state. The technical assistance will focus on strategies to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals and ensure the safety of chemical storage and use by businesses in areas at risk of flooding. The College of New Jersey will also develop a best management practices manual, and will provide training to businesses and local governments at three locations throughout the state. Results of this training and outreach effort will be disseminated statewide through the College of New Jersey’s Sustainable Jersey certification program.

With the help of a $104,000 EPA grant, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will train high school students in Cape May County in water conservation techniques. The students will then provide technical assistance to thirty businesses in the cities of Wildwood and Ocean City on water conservation practices and products, focusing on businesses that cater to the county’s large influx of summer tourists each year, such as restaurants and hotels. Increased water demand in Cape May County has significantly reduced its aquifers, causing its aquifers and residential wells to be threatened by saltwater intrusion.

Rowan University will use a $98,335 EPA grant to provide pollution prevention technical assistance to a Nestlé Corporation facility in Freehold, New Jersey. Rowan University will implement green engineering strategies at this facility to reduce water use, energy consumption, and waste generation, thereby lowering operating costs for the manufacture of coffee. Using this facility as a case study, Rowan will then hold a seminar on pollution prevention practices for personnel at other Nestlé facilities and in other areas of the food manufacturing sector. Rowan will also share this case study and best management practices at professional conferences and in trade publications.

For more information on the EPA's pollution prevention program, visit http://www2.epa.gov/p2.

NRG Dickerson Plant Found to be Source of Potomac River Oil Sheen; less than 150 gallons of oil leaked

NRG Dickerson Plant Found to be Source of Potomac River Oil Sheen
Company Agrees to Join Unified Command Working to Remedy the Situation, Protect Public Health
12/05/2016
Contact Information:
Terri A. White (white.terri-a@epa.gov)
215-814-5523

PHILADELPHIA, (December 5, 2016) – The Unified Command, led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has identified the NRG Dickerson Power Plant in Maryland as the source of the sheen that showed up on the Potomac River more than a week ago. U.S. Coast Guard laboratory analysis on Dec. 5 of sheen samples taken from the River identified the product as lubricating oil matching samples taken at the Dickerson plant and at Whites Ferry. NRG officials have been notified and agreed to join the Unified Command as the responsible party. All Unified Command parties are working to remedy the problem and ensure protection of public health. The discharge, which has largely dissipated, was less than 150 gallons.

On Nov. 27, NRG notified and began working with EPA and other Unified Command agencies to identify the source. By Dec. 2, the sheen had diminished considerably, with nominal sheen sighted in two locations – south of Whites Ferry and near NRG’s Dickerson power plant. On Dec. 4, shoreline assessments completed by foot and then by boat from Whites Ferry up to the Dickerson Plant revealed degraded sheen in these same areas. There is no evidence of new sheen. Rather, it appears that degraded sheen from the original discharge which is lodged in small discreet spots south of the plant, releases due to changing weather and shoreline conditions.

Inspections at all locations where boom is in place to protect drinking water intakes confirmed that the boom continues to divert the degraded sheen away from intake locations. Inspection and maintenance of boom will continue, as will sampling at water intakes by the water utilities. EPA continues to support requests for analyses performed by the agency’s mobile lab on-site at the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant.

Based on information provided to EPA during daily conference calls with the water utilities, none of the intakes actively used by water utilities have revealed spill-related constituents. Treated water is also being sampled by water utilities to determine if spill-related constituents are present.

The Unified Command consists of EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Department of Environment, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Health, Washington D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment, and NRG.

cited NN Metal Stampings Inc. for nine serious and two other-than-serious safety violations after workers exposed to machine, electrical hazards

December 6, 2016

OSHA finds workers exposed to machine, electrical hazards

Employer Name:

NN Metal Stampings Inc.

510 Maple St.

Pioneer, Ohio

Citations issued: Dec. 2, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited NN Metal Stampings Inc. for nine serious and two other-than-serious safety violations. OSHA initiated an investigation after receiving a complaint of unsafe working conditions at the Pioneer company that stamps metal parts for the automotive and appliance industry.
The agency's August 2016 inspection found the company:

• Exposed workers to operating parts of machinery because parts were not locked out during service and maintenance and employees were not properly trained on machine safety procedures.
• Failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment for workers performing electrical work.
• Violated electrical safe work practices.
• Did not develop safety procedures for die setting, mechanical power presses and other machinery.
• Failed to inspect fork trucks prior to each use and re-evaluate operators at least every three years.

Quote: "Each year hundreds of workers are injured because employers fail to implement machine safety procedures and train workers to safely perform their jobs," said Joe Margetiak, acting area director of OSHA's Toledo office. "NN Metal Stampings needs to immediately review their safety and health management system and training procedures to protect workers on the job." 

Proposed Penalties: $77,322

View Citations here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the Toledo Area Office at (419) 259-7542.

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Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Deputy Dies After Car Plummets Into Sinkhole
Updated at 05:31am, December 6, 2016


A deputy in San Antonio, Texas, has died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday night.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, was off-duty at the time of the fatal crash, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. Two other people were injured.

Nishihara, who had worked as a reserve deputy for seven years, had transitioned into a part-time deputy role at the Bexar County Courthouse, Bexar Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said in a statement.

“My heart and prayers go out to the family involved in this tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor said in a statement.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, Nishihara’s car was headed down Quintana Road when it crashed into a 12-foot-deep sinkhole, CNN affiliate WOAI reported. Rushing water quickly poured into the car from a sewer main. Soon, the vehicle submerged.

By Monday morning, emergency responders shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission, during which emergency workers attempted to pull the vehicles out of the sinkhole.

“We suffered a few collapses that widened the sinkhole, and our technical rescue team firefighters were exposed to raw sewage at a fast, flowing rate, as well as very cold water,” Chief Charles Hood of the San Antonio Fire Department told WOAI.

San Antonio Councilman Rey Saldana has since called for action in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future.

“We must identify the origins of the problem that caused yesterday’s sinkhole incident,” Saldana said in a statement.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

New Jersey State trooper and male driver killed after the male driver traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle

New Jersey state trooper dies of injuries after crash





Chopper 6 over a crash in Millville, New Jersey involving a state police vehicle.

Updated 1 hr 18 mins ago
MILLVILLE, N.J. -- A New Jersey state trooper and another man were killed in a head-on highway crash.

It happened around 7 p.m. Monday in Millville, in the southern part of the state.









The scene outside Cooper University Hospital where a New Jersey state police trooper was pronounced dead after a crash on December 5, 2016.
A man traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle. Trooper Frankie Williams was on duty and responding to a call at the time of the collision, state police said in a statement early Tuesday.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. Trooper Williams, 31, was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he was pronounced dead, state police said.

News helicopter video showed the mangled cars and debris littering the roadway. The crash remained under investigation early Tuesday.

State police said Williams, of Atlantic County, was a member of the 156th State Police Class, which graduated January 29, 2016. He was assigned to Port Norris Station.

No other information was immediately available.

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud. South Ogden police said in charging documents Nov. 28, 2016, that Chute reported her Jeep stolen and filed an insurance claim. Police said a friend had told Chute he "can make the Jeep disappear." The Jeep was found in the bottom of a ravine near Mantua.
 
 South Ogden woman charged with insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Monday , December 05, 2016 - 5:00 AM
 





MARK SHENEFELT, Standard-Examiner Staff


  SOUTH OGDEN, UTAH — A South Ogden woman has been charged with felony insurance fraud after she reported her Jeep Cherokee stolen and it was found at the bottom of a national forest ravine in Box Elder County.

South Ogden police said Kimmi Chute, 47, reported the theft to police and filed an auto insurance claim for the vehicle, saying it had disappeared overnight June 30. But the Jeep was located July 1 via GPS trackers installed by the dealership that had leased it to Chute.

Officers later learned Chute had been having financial troubles, the Jeep had transmission problems and she had told others she could no longer afford the $600 payment, a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court said. Under questioning Aug. 1 at the police station, she admitted she had talked to a family friend who “told her he can make the Jeep disappear,” the document said.


That man showed up at her home two days later, and she asked him if he had taken the Jeep, but he wouldn’t tell her, the probable cause statement said.

Ken Knighton, owner of K&J Auto in Bountiful, said he reported the GPS’s coordinates to authorities. The Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office found the mangled Jeep in a ravine in the Cache National Forest near Mantua.

“We lost our shirts on this deal,” Knighton said Friday.

Chute’s insurance carrier denied the claim, and K&J Auto has a high insurance deductible on its leased vehicles, Knighton said. He estimates he lost up to $5,000.

GPS devices are installed in leased vehicles as a loss prevention move, he said. It allows some people who could not otherwise afford a vehicle to get a decent car with a $300 down-payment or deposit.

“It’s a hell of a risk for us,” he said.

South Ogden Police Detective Tony Perfetto said Friday, “You are starting to see a lot of these places helping with our investigations. They are more and more protective of their investments.”

State Insurance Department statistics show the agency handles an average of 36 false auto theft cases each year. The total rose to 49 cases in 2015.

Armand Glick, director of the department’s Fraud Division, said most of such cases are referred to his agency by insurance carriers.

“We’re probably able to prove about half of those cases,” Glick said. “They’re difficult to prove unless you’ve got a witness or the vehicle has been listed for sale for months or mechanical issues — three days prior they are diagnosed and all of a sudden the car is gone.”

Many cases stem from individuals in rough financial times, Glick said, but the Fraud Division also investigates organized fraud rings.

“We had one big staged ring with 14 to 17 cars all related to the same group,” he said. “They were racing vehicles, they’d blow the motor, they’re still paying on the car, they have someone chop it up and it’s reported stolen.”

Perfetto said he’s investigated three insurance fraud cases this year, including a staged burglary.

“Property crime is on the upward trend, unfortunately,” he said, attributing much of it to people trying to pay for their drug habits.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates the crimes cost the economy $96 billion annually. It said up to 30 percent of policy holders’ insurance premiums are due to charges added to cover industry losses from fraud.

Not just consumers commit insurance fraud, the coalition said, noting insurers and service providers also defraud — especially in the health care industry.

In South Ogden, Chute was served with a summons Nov. 28 to appear in court Jan. 10 to answer a second-degree felony count of false or fraudulent insurance claim. Court records show she has not yet been assigned or hired an attorney.

Perfetto said police were unable to develop charges against the 45-year-old man suspected of rolling the Jeep into the ravine.

OSHA cites Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing for 1 willful, 2 serious violations. Roofing company did not provide adequate fall protection for roofers working at commercial site in O'Fallon, Illinois

December 5, 2016

Roofing company did not provide adequate fall protection
for roofers working at commercial site in O'Fallon, Illinois
OSHA cites Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing for 1 willful, 2 serious violations

O'FALLON, Ill. - Federal investigators saw eight workers at risk of falls of more than 14 feet while re-roofing a commercial structure in O'Fallon in October 2016 because their employer failed to provide adequate fall protection.


As the construction industry continues to grow, falls continue to be the leading cause of death. Source: http://www.bls.gov

On Nov. 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing Inc. of Greenville, one repeat and two serious safety violations.

"An adequate fall protection system must be used whenever employees are working at heights greater than 6 feet," said Aaron Priddy, OSHA's area director in Fairview Heights. "Preventable falls account for nearly 40 percent of all deaths in the construction industry. OSHA is committed to protecting construction workers from unnecessary injuries or worse."

Inspectors also found:

• Warning lines were not properly rigged.
• A competent person did not inspect the work sites frequently.

Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing faces $61,721 in proposed federal fines. View current citations here.

Federal safety and health officials are determined to reduce the numbers of preventable, fall-related deaths in the construction industry. OSHA offers a Stop Falls online resource with detailed information in English and Spanish on fall protection standards. The page provides fact sheets, posters and videos that illustrate various fall hazards and appropriate preventive measures. OSHA standards require that an effective form of fall protection be in use when workers perform construction activities 6 feet or more above the next lower level.

The ongoing Fall Prevention Campaign was developed in partnership with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda program. Begun in 2012, the campaign provides employers with lifesaving information and educational materials on how to prevent falls, provide the right equipment for workers and train employees to use gear properly.

Joiner Sheet Metal & Roofing has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Fairview Heights Area Office at 618-632-8612.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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OSHA finds flooring subcontractor Subfloor Systems Inc. workers exposed to dangerous falls at construction site; Subfloor Systems Inc., a Dallas-area employer faces $87K in fines

December 5, 2016

OSHA finds flooring subcontractor Subfloor Systems Inc. workers exposed to dangerous falls at construction site; Subfloor Systems Inc., a Dallas-area employer faces $87K in fines

Employer Name:

Subfloor Systems Inc.

10509 Tube St.

Hurst, Texas

Citations Issued: Nov. 8, 2016

Investigation Findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed a Subfloor Systems' foreman and other employees working without fall protection at the construction site of a commercial building. After its Sept. 19, 2016, investigation, the agency cited the company with one willful violation for exposing workers to potential falls. In January 2016, OSHA cited the company with a willful violation after its investigation of an employee's serious injury after falling 22 feet.

Proposed penalties: $87,297

Quote: "Subfloor Systems is repeatedly demonstrating a negligence to protect workers from fall hazards and OSHA will not tolerate this willful disregard of safety," said Jack Rector, OSHA's area director in Fort Worth. "The company must provide fall protection and take the necessary steps to ensure no other employees are injured."

Link to citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/SubfloorSystems_1176662.pdf

Information: Subfloor Systems has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Fort Worth Area Office at 817-581-7303.

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