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The Standard
February 2010 - Page 1

Progress Continues At TVA Kingston Fly Ash Cleanup
More than 1 year after the fly ash release at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) facility in Harriman, Tennessee, Environmental Standards continues to provide program-wide quality assurance (QA) oversight and enterprise-level data management to TVA in support of the cleanup efforts. As reported in an article appearing in USA Today on January 8, 2010, Environmental Standards has a 3-year, $10.5-million contract with TVA. Environmental Standards’ professionals provide on-site QA oversight for the groundwater, surface water, sediment, ash, air, and biota sampling activities; provide on-site chemistry/analytical trouble-shooting; perform analytical data validation; prepare (or review) work plans, sampling plans, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and other quality documents; manage the flow of analytical data from the laboratories; and generate a variety of data reports for TVA and regulatory agencies. Through early January 2010, thousands of samples have been collected and analyzed to address the release; the following figures may provide a perspective of the volume of samples collected to date.

• 2863 - Surface water samples
• 1420 - Air (fixed-base) samples
• 598 - Biota samples
• 78 - Ash samples
• 48 - Groundwater (spring and well) samples
• 57 - Soil/sediment samples

Released coal ash continues to be dredged from the rivers adjacent to the Kingston facility. As of mid-January, 134 trains (containing 85 - 110 rail cars each) have transported a total of 1,240,500 tons of ash off site for disposal. Dredging on the Emory River began in March 2009 and the cumulative total volume of ash dredged from the Emory River through January 10, 2010, is 1,765,230 cubic yards.

It is anticipated that the cleanup activities at the Tennessee site will continue through 2011.

(Sources: TVA’s Kingston Ash Recovery Project Weekly Report, January 4-10, 2010; US EPA’s Kingston Fly Ash Release website; and TVA’s website.)

Low Energy Star Score Prompts Changes at Environmental Standards
As reported in the previous edition of The Standard, Environmental Standards is pursuing improved sustainability in our own business practices and policies in pursuit of a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Certification for our office headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. With two LEED Accredited Professionals (APs) on staff, we are currently navigating through the LEED for Existing Buildings Operation and Maintenance (EBOM) process.

As part of the process, we recently determined our building’s Energy Star Score, which was surprisingly low. Like household appliances, buildings can have Energy Star Ratings. Based on US EPA’s National Energy Performance Rating System, a building’s performance is determined by comparing its energy use to other, similar types of facilities. The US EPA rating system accounts for differences in operating conditions, regional weather data, and other relevant considerations. Buildings are rated on a scale of 1 - 100, and buildings that score in the top 25th percentile (a score of 75 or above) earn the Energy Star designation. Under the LEED EBOM rating system, existing buildings are required to score at least a 69 as a prerequisite to applying for LEED certification. Points that count toward LEED certification are earned when the Energy Star Score is at or above 71, with an increasing number of points available for higher scores. The low Energy Star Score for our building was, at first, disappointing; however, we know the low score indicates that we could realize significant savings on our energy bill.

Environmental Standards is in the process of reviewing practices and equipment options that will improve our energy performance. For example, we have requested that employees turn off their office lights when they anticipate being out of their offices for more than one-half hour. While this practice takes some getting used to, many employees are catching on. We hope to issue a similar request for computers and monitors upon upgrading some of our in-house server equipment. We are also closely evaluating our lighting systems and have recently been awarded a PA Small Business Energy Efficiency Grant to assist with retrofitting our dated T-12 fluorescent light fixtures to accommodate more energy-efficient T-8 lamps. Furthermore, we are investigating the use of occupancy sensors, daylight sensors, and solar power for our exterior lights and signage.

To educate ourselves about LEED, several employees recently toured the SKF USA, Inc. building in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania. Environmental Standards assisted SKF by providing Phase I and Phase II site assessment services for this property a few years ago. The Kulpsville SKF building is LEED Gold Certified and includes such features as Forest Stewardship Council-certified flooring, high-efficiency lighting, carbon dioxide monitoring, automatic daylight controls, native landscaping, and preferred parking for fuel efficient vehicles. The tour was a wonderful opportunity for Environmental Standards to reconnect with a great client and learn about the strides that were taken to create an environmentally friendly facility on a property we helped to clean up.