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Sector Strategies Connector
Archives
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The Connector is a means to keep you informed about EPA's Sector Strategies Program, which works with 12 major economic sectors to promote continuous improvement in environmental performance. Initially, we will share information on sector issues and projects that we think will be of general interest. Over time, we want the Connector to be a venue for others to share information as well. Contact Peggy Bagnoli (bagnoli.peggy@epa.gov) to provide feedback on how to make this newsletter more useful to you.
Sixth Edition, January 2007
Headlines
- Director's Message
- Reporting on Performance Trends for 11 Manufacturing and Service Sectors
- EPA Awards Grant for a New Education Assistance Center
- Little Switches Add Up to Big Cuts in Mercury Pollution
- State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand
- New Sustainability Task Force for Ports
- 2nd Annual Smart & Sustainable Campuses Conference - Call for Presentations
- Connect With Us
Director's Message -
Environmental Stewardship and Metrics
The Administrator's Action Plan pledges that "EPA will identify and foster approaches . . . that promote environmental stewardship and produce results through innovation and collaboration." The Agency's drive for better results is tied to accountability - measuring the environmental progress of the stakeholders whose behavior we seek to influence.
This issue of the Connector highlights several recent milestones from our sector programs that promote stewardship and enhance our understanding of results achieved. First and foremost is the 2006 Sector Strategies Performance Report. This report presents data on performance trends in 11 major economic sectors. These metrics include hazard-weighted data that can help target future stewardship activities.
We also highlight some significant stewardship program accomplishments that have occurred since the last edition of the Connector. Read on to learn more about a new national program to get mercury out of millions of scrap vehicles, our new tool to promote beneficial reuse of millions of tons of foundry sand, and a new sustainable ports initiative.
Sector Strategies would like to welcome four new staff members to our group: Alison Keane, Daniel Kaiser, Paula van Lare, and Sarah Mazur. A list of EPA sector liaisons, with their contact information, is located at the end of this issue. As you read about our work on stewardship and measurement initiatives and our other activities as well, please don't hesitate to make a connection with us to share ideas and perspectives.
Bob Benson
Director, Sector Strategies Program
EPA Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation
Sector Strategies 2006 Performance Report -
Reporting on Performance Trends for 11 Manufacturing and Service Sectors
The 2006 Sector Strategies Performance Report profiles 11 sectors, highlighting economic statistics and trends and measuring environmental progress over the past 10 years. It tracks records in reducing water discharges, air emissions, waste generation, and toxic chemical releases, as well as their accomplishments in recycling and energy and water efficiency.
The 2006 report also introduces the use of toxicity-weighted data to supplement basic information on emission trends. The toxicity-weighted data provide insights about the greatest opportunities for each sector to make progress in reducing the toxicity of its releases. Detailed information on toxicity weighting, as well as all of the other data used in the report, can be found in the Introduction to Sector Profiles chapter.
New to this edition are two chapters that highlight important topics affecting all participating sectors:
- Leadership by Trade Associations describes how participating trade groups serve as valuable catalysts in the effort to improve environmental performance among their members; and
- Beneficial Reuse of Materials describes how participating sectors are turning would-be wastes into substitutes for raw materials and/or sources of energy.
You may download the 2006 Sector Strategies Performance Report (or individual sector chapters). We welcome feedback on the report and suggestions for how to make the next edition better.
- Carl Koch (koch.carl@epa.gov), 202-566-2972
Colleges & Universities Sector -
EPA Awards Grant for New Education Resource Center
On October 11, EPA announced that it will provide a five-year award of up to $350,000 to several university organizations to develop an online resource center for the education sector. The new Web-based center will provide the college community with tools and information for improving environmental management on campuses. Through guidebooks, tool kits, resource locators, virtual tours, webcasts, and other interactive features, the education resource center will be a one-stop shop for questions related to environmental compliance on campus.
In addition, the center will go "beyond compliance" to demonstrate the ways that colleges and universities are proactively reducing air emissions, minimizing waste, conserving water, and integrating sustainability into their campus operations.
The organizations receiving the grant are: the National Association of College and University Business Officers; the Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence; the Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association; and APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers.
- Peggy Bagnoli (bagnoli.peggy@epa.gov), 202-566-2957
Iron & Steel Sector -
Little Switches Add Up to Big Cuts in Mercury Pollution
This summer, EPA and eight partnering organizations announced a national program that will help cut mercury air emissions by up to 75 tons over the next 15 years. The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program will remove mercury-containing light switches from scrap vehicles before the vehicles are flattened, shredded, and melted to make new steel. Two trade associations participating in the Sector Strategies Program - the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Associations - are among the trade associations participating, along with environmental groups and the Environmental Council of the States.
Together with existing state mercury switch recovery efforts, this program will significantly reduce mercury air emissions from the furnaces used in steel making -- the fourth leading source in the United States after coal-fired utility boilers, industrial boilers and gold mining. Under the program, automobile dismantlers will remove the mercury-containing light switches from scrap vehicles prior to the vehicles being flattened and then shredded at scrap recycling facilities. The program will also provide a financial incentive for those who remove mercury switches.
For more information, please go to:
- The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program
- End of Life Vehicle Solutions (ELVS)
- The Summer 2006 edition of ECOstates, The Journal of the Environmental Council of States (PDF) (36 pp, 5.8MB, About PDF)
State and local mercury switch removal programs.
- Tom Tyler (tyler.tom@epa.gov), 202-566-2969
Metal Casting Sector -
State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand
The State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand is designed to significantly increase the volume of sand that is reused from foundry operations, saving landfill capacity and protecting natural resources. The guide, an assistance tool specifically for states, is design to help states improve an existing beneficial reuse program or develop a new program that fits a state's needs.
Foundry products are found in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy, including transportation, construction, agricultural equipment, and military weapon systems. Each year, foundries, also known as metal casters, dispose about 10 million tons of sand that they have used to form molds for cast metal products. Most of the disposed sand is not hazardous and can be reused in a variety of ways, including roadbeds, construction fill, and cement manufacturing, provided that states approve the specific uses.
Many foundries would like to find beneficial uses for their spent sand, rather than disposing of it in landfills. As a result, states are receiving more requests from foundries to approve various reuse activities. The Toolkit provides valuable step-by-step information to state agencies on how to set up programs that encourage sand reuse while still protecting public health and the environment. The Toolkit also can help states develop programs aimed at a wider range of industrial byproducts, such as coal combustion by-products and construction/demolition debris.
For a copy of the Toolkit visit the Beneficial Reuse of Foundry Sand Web page. The Toolkit was developed through the Sector Strategies program in partnership with the foundry industry and EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge.
- Jeff Kohn (kohn.jeffrey@epa.gov), 202-566-1407
Ports Sector -
New Sustainability Task Force for Ports
The Executive Committee of the American Association of Port Authorities has asked AAPA's Harbors, Navigation, and Environment (HNE) Committee to lead an Association-wide effort to develop a definition of sustainability that recognizes the multiple aspects of the issue, including economic, social, institutional, and environmental; and a proposed Association sustainability platform. A resolution will be developed for consideration at the annual convention in September 2007.
The HNE sponsored a seminar on sustainability in June '06 that drew strong interest from across the Association and fostered leaders' interest in strategically addressing the business case for sustainable port growth and operations.
- Kathleen Bailey (bailey.kathleen@epa.gov), 202-566-2953
Colleges & Universities Sector -
2nd Annual Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference - Call for Presentations
On April 18-19, 2007, EPA will join with several major university associations and the University of Maryland at College Park to deliver a comprehensive symposium on smart growth and sustainable practices that serve the economy, the community, and the environment. Sessions and workshops will be offered in the areas of campus planning, engaging the campus in sustainability, facility construction and operations, and assessment and measurement. A call for presentations is open until January 10, 2007.
- Peggy Bagnoli (bagnoli.peggy@epa.gov), 202-566-2957
Connect With Us
You can get more information on the activities of the Sector Strategies Program at our Web page. Or you can contact staff liaisons for each sector directly - they serve as a resource on environmental issues for their sectors. Here's a list of our sector liaisons:
Program Director -- Bob Benson (benson.robert@epa.gov), 202-566-2954
Deputy Director -- Shannon Kenny (kenny.shannon@epa.gov), 202-566-2964
Sector liaisons:
Agribusiness -- Dan Kaiser (kaiser.daniel@epa.gov), 202-566-0686
Cement -- Carl Koch (koch.carl@epa.gov), 202-566-2972
Colleges & Universities -- Peggy Bagnoli (bagnoli.peggy@epa.gov), 202-566-2957
Construction -- Peter Truitt (truitt.peter@epa.gov), 202-566-2970
Forest Products -- Paula VanLare (vanlare.paula@epa.gov), 202-566-2951
Iron & Steel -- Tom Tyler (tyler.tom@epa.gov), 202-566-2969
Metal Casting -- Jeff Kohn (kohn.jeffrey@epa.gov), 202-566-1407
Metal Finishing -- Bob Benson Paint & Coatings -- Barry Elman (elman.barry@epa.gov), 202-566-2958
Ports -- Kathleen Bailey (bailey.kathleen@epa.gov), 202-566-2953
Shipbuilding & Ship Repair -- Shana Harbour (harbour.shana@epa.gov), 202-566-2959
Specialty-Batch Chemicals -- Sarah Mazur (mazur.sarah@epa.gov), 202-566-2652 and Jeff Kohn
Cross-sector contacts:
EMS & Financial Sector -- Shana Harbour
Sector Air Issues -- Barry Elman
Sector Performance Measurement -- Carl Koch
Sector RCRA Issues -- Jeff Kohn
Please share your suggestions on ways to improve this newsletter. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or if there are others who you feel should receive the Connector, contact Peggy Bagnoli (bagnoli.peggy@epa.gov) or 202-566-2957. Thanks to our many stakeholders for their interest and participation in our collaborative sector partnerships!