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.