Zephyr Environmental Corporation: News

Announcements
Zephyr is pleased to announce that the following personnel joined our team during Q1 of 2008!

Ms. Bonnie Blam, a Certified Safety Professional, brings with her many years of environmental, health and safety (EHS) consulting and industry experience. Prior to becoming a consultant in 2001, she spent 19 years in industry, including 15 years within the Environmental Engineering group at IBM Corporation. Her industry experience includes EHS program and compliance management, as well as EHS consulting for semiconductor manufacturing, photomask manufacturing, jewelry manufacturing, electronics re-manufacturers/recyclers, and Universities. Bonnie's technical expertise includes industrial waste management, wastewater discharge permitting and compliance, storm water pollution prevention, emergency response planning, air emissions permitting and compliance management, chemical management, and EHS management systems (ISO14001 and OHSAS18001).

Mr. Patrick Kainer has been employed as a consultant for eight years and his field experience includes various threatened and endangered species surveys and habitat assessments, along with wetland determinations and delineations. Patrick has also prepared multiple environmental reports that meet the guidelines and requirements set by the National Environmental Policy Act, the City of Austin, and Travis County. Over the past two years, Patrick has spent the majority of his time preparing environmental documents of various levels for the Texas Department of Transportation. Patrick has assisted on other projects including Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, Geologic Assessments, Biological inventories, and Archeological investigations.

Ms. Teena Shelby joined Zephyr's Austin office with over 20 years of administrative support experience, including the last four years working in the environmental consulting sector. She has extensive experience working with many types of clients on environmental, health and safety reports and regulatory requirements.

Zephyr Offers Certified Opacity Readers
Zephyr Environmental Corporation's ability to provide reliable and technically innovative consulting, training, and data systems has recently expanded. Zephyr now has the ability to provide high quality visible emission monitoring services, in accordance with EPA Reference Test Methods 9 and 22. Zephyr's certified Opacity Readers can travel quickly and cost-effectively (from our Austin, Houston or Baltimore office) to your facility to:

We employ certified opacity readers in all three of Zephyr's offices. In addition, Zephyr's Opacity Readers will be supported by staff that provides unparalleled consulting experience in air quality. Please contact Paul Little at (281) 668-7347 to discuss your visible emission and opacity issues and/or request this service.

Bill Jones and Roger Brower's presentation on the Implications of AERMOD on a Chemical Plant at the 100th Annual AWMA Conference and Exhibition in Pittsburgh, PA on June 26, 2007.

Brett Davis, PE gave the following presentation on Climate Change Business Planning to the North Texas Chapter of the Semiconductor Environmental Safety & Health Association on June 7, 2007.

The Changing Face of Enforcement for the Cement Industry

On August 31, 2006, in Austin, Texas, Zephyr Environmental Corporation (Zephyr) hosted a workshop entitled, "The Changing Face of Enforcement for the Cement Industry." Attendees heard presentations from industry representatives, EPA, TCEQ, industry consultants and environmental attorneys.

David Garcia, Chief of the Air/Toxics Inspection and Coordination Branch, Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division, EPA Region 6 began the workshop by addressing the recently announced federal enforcement initiative aimed at the cement industry. Mr. Garcia reviewed the criteria EPA uses to select a new sector for enforcement review, and spoke about the NSR program, which is an EPA priority. He confirmed that the cement industry is one of three new sectors currently being looked at by EPA. Jennifer Sidnell, Director of the Field Operations Division for TCEQ followed David and spoke of their interaction with EPA during the enforcement initiative. Following their presentations, an anonymous question and answer session with TCEQ and EPA was held via a moderator.

Lynne Spector of Zephyr provided a transition for the rest of the speakers with a presentation on 'Understanding the Rules and Issues' - a synopsis of the NSR and MACT (NESHAP) programs.

Vice President of Environmental Affairs at Buzzi Unicem USA, Inc., Dan Nugent, gave a very well recieved presentation on experiences with Section 114 requests from an industry perspective. Mr. Nugent detailed the amount of material requested, the team assembled, the man-hours used, and the timeline followed for two very different case studies. He concluded his story with a comparison of what information was requested in past Section 114 requests versus the requests that were currently being sent today.

John Steib, Deputy Director, Office of Compliance and Enforcement, TCEQ, was the lunchtime speaker. His presentation, entitled "Future Enforcement Direction: State Perspective," directed attention to the risk-based investigative strategy in identifying and monitoring pollution sources within the state.

Attorneys from several law firms presented the bulk of the afternoon session. Jim Harris of Thompson and Knight, spoke about civil enforcement/citizen suits. He explained what they are and how best to prepare for and defend against a citizen suit.

The rest of the workshop dealt with enforcement preparation- considerations before, during and after an enforcement action. Pat Raher of Hogan & Hartson and currently a member of the Clean Air Act Advisory Board gave an enlightening overview of the background of enforcement initiatives - both past and the current cement intiative. He explained how an EPA initiative extends to individual companies and how those companies can minimize their enforcement risk. His presentation finished with a look at an investigation timeline and things to consider when responding to an investigation.

Al Axe of Winstead PC focused on possible options before an inquiry or inspection takes place. He presented an in-depth review of the components of the Texas self audit policy, as well as EPA's incentives, scope and conditions for self-policing. He finished his presentation with an assessment of the applicability of these policies in light of the current cement initiative. Roger Brower of Zephyr followed Mr. Axe's presentation with a case study of a company that utilized the self-disclosure policy on a national level and the lessons learned through that experience.

The final subject of the day concerned information a company should know if an enforcement action has taken place. Jim Morriss III of Thompson & Knight spoke about issues involved with settlements and supplemental environmental projects (SEPs). He clearly explained important components involved in a settlement and the elements and legal guidelines for SEPs.