Compliance with Environmental Laws - Research Paper Example

Environmental Management Student Lecturer Date Introduction The air transportation industry is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which has absolute jurisdiction over all aircraft operations. State and local governments are not allowed to regulate any aircraft operations in the U.S. environmental factors influencing this industry include fueling, aircraft cleaning, oil / lubricants, fluids, batteries, aircraft de-icing, de-painting, small parts cleaning and machine shop wastes. Compliance with Environmental Laws Regulation of management systems for solid and perilous waste across industries in the country is done by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This act places the duty of appropriate treatment and discarding of harmful waste on the entity generating it from the instance it is produced until the time of its final disposal. This calls for continuous monitoring of the waste disposal procedures. Being a process which is most often outsourced, thorough inspections and audits of the firms used in waste management must be carried out to ensure compliance with the RCRA(Holling). Solid & Hazardous Wastes identification guidelines are laid down in 40 CFR Part 262. Firms in the air transport industry are required to comply with the guidelines described in this regulation to the latter. This begins with getting hold of an EPA ID number and preparing a manifest for all waste products. All hazardous waste must be properly packaged and labeled to meet the standards set for the units set up for waste accumulation. This as well as accurate record keeping as well as reporting requirements have to be closely adhered to. 40 CFR Part 268 places focus on land disposal restrictions. This regulation states that hazardous waste must be treated before it is disposed on land. Airplane operations have a lot of hazardous waste and therefore this is applicable to the industry. Airline carriers have designated storage, treatment, and disposal facilities and therefore compliance with this regulation is simply providing accurate information and relevant notifications to guarantee correct treatment of waste before disposal. Compliance with 40 CFR Part 279 requires the airline to follow the standards for proper storage of used oil. Used oil refers to oil that has been taken either from the aircrafts or ground vehicles. This oil must be appropriately contained, labeled, and properly stored to avoid oil spills and leakage into soil and water. 40 CFR Part 112 and 40 CFR Part 300 also provides guidelines for when handling used oil from the aircrafts as well as ground support vehicles. These guidelines give procedures to follow during oil discharges for instance immediately notifying the relevant environment authorities. Compliance with these two statutes requires the setting up of contingency plans plus response plans for the facility. The Clean Water Act is a federal statute whose purpose is to restore and preserve the physical, biological, and chemical integrity of water, particularly surface waters. Airlines generate large quantities of waste water that has the capacity of running off into ground water. This water must be appropriately managed and hence the airline industry is guided by the Clean Water Act so as to stop hazardous wastes from polluting ground water. To comply with the provisions of this Act, use of alternative techniques in plane cleaning, the employment of oil-water separators, as well as having water collectors and good drainage systems. Environmental Control Methods, Procedures and Programs In relation to the environment, there are several control methods, programs, and procedures that can be developed to address the hazards presented by the airline industry. This will include staff education on compliance with environmental friendly procedures associated with the wastes and activities indicated above. Aircraft and Vehicle Cleaning When cleaning aircrafts and the support vehicles, detergents are used. The waste water from the cleaning process may contain some albeit low metal concentrations, cleaning chemicals, oil and grease, dirt, solvents and grit. Such materials when released can contaminate soil and water both surface and ground. With these hazardous materials with a potential to cause serious environmental degradation, I would designate cleaning areas where the waste water can be amassed and consequently drained into catch bowls to be collected together with wastewater from elsewhere airport. Treatment of this waste water can then be implemented either onsite or it can be released to an external treatment plant. Development of a policy that proposes the use of phosphate-free detergents in cleaning is important while also installing flow restrictors which will control wastage of water. All the water used should be subjected to recycling where possible as well as ensuring all drains are fitted with oil/water separators. Dry washing vehicles with chemical cleaning and waxing agents will also ensure maximum utilization of water resources and minimal environmental degradation(Andre R. Cooper). 1. Aircraft and Vehicle Fuelling Release of fuel into the air, in soil or water has grave and negative environmental consequences and therefore they must be handled very carefully. Monitoring of fuel tanks should be instituted as well as the use of automatic shut–off systems to prevent the discharge of fuel into the environment. Procedures that allow employees to instantaneously report leaking nozzle connections, pipe joints or damaged to fuel hoses should be established. Daily inspection of fuel equipment for leaks and damages is also very important. Ensuring that fuelling is done in properly lit areas and the nozzle is under no circumstances left unattended throughout the fuelling process. During maintenance operations, fuelling should never been done because of the inherent risks. Radar and radio equipment should also be powered down during the process. If a fuel spill occurs, vacuum sweepers should be on hand to clean it up before it can penetrate the environment. 2. Used Oil and Lubricants Collection and recycling of used oil is an important environmental control method. Drip tables with used oil collection buckets in maintenance facilities and also under support vehicles should be used to collect draining oil for this purpose. This collected used oil as well as petroleum based solutions should be forwarded to an industrial recycling facility. Proper labeling of drip pans and containers should also be maintained. 3. Aircraft De-Icing or Anti-Icing This activity makes use of materials such as diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and propylene glycol which are harmful chemicals if they spill into water and soil. These chemicals are toxic to life forms and therefore their runoff should be prevented. Collection of these fluids should be done at an isolated location for purposes of recycling and treatment. This can either be outsourced or onsite. 4. Batteries Labeling of battery types is essential for storage which should be done in an enclosed area. This area should be weather proof as well as watertight to prevent any leaks. Regular inspection of the stored batteries should be done to ensure that there are no cracks and leaks during removal from aircrafts and vehicles. 5. Painting During the process of stripping aircrafts of paint as well as re-painting, many perilous substances mat be produced. These substances comprise of paint sludge and stripping agents that do a lot of damage to the environment. In efforts of environmental care, strippers that have already been used can be stored and later on reused. The stripping baths may also be reused a number of times before changing it. Issues Associated with working with Government Officials When dealing with government officials, it is necessary that organization is maintained to the utmost. All documents that relate to their business should be properly filed; these documents include inspection and audit records, logs and manifests. Proper and easily understood filing should be maintained so that all employees can be able to retrieve any document at the government agency’s request. There are also some documents that are required to be kept for a certain period of time by law, this should be observed to the latter. Issues in Ensuring Company Personnel Follow Environmental Regulations Employee education is one of the major issues that may mitigate the efforts of ensuring that everyone complies with the appropriate environmental regulations. This calls for a thorough and regular education for all staff on regulations and their applications(Berkes). As audits of the facilities are regularly scheduled, the employees should be at hand to provide assistance to the environmental professionals as need be. Many employees feel that audits are performed to fish for errors and mistakes, this should not be the case. Ethical and Professional Dilemmas Conformity with the various environmental regulations can prove to be particularly costly, not forgetting time, and labor intensive. It may also interrupt regular business and cause many disruptions throughout a company. It is very common for environmental professionals in upper management to feel the pressure to pay no attention to a regulation or bend the rules in regards to an obvious contravention when the solution will cost a hefty amount of cash or cause operational disruption. Such situations put the professionals’ career and reputation in jeopardy. In the course of a career, environmental professionals form strong friendships with many of their colleagues from different departments. This may make it hard for this professional to carry out inspections and audits as well as enforcing the rules with them. Difficulty to take corrective measures because violations are consistence with friends is a serious ethical as well as professional dilemma. Airline firms being large institutions with over 1000 employees, it is common to find cover ups of various regulations that might have been going on for an extended period of time. Uncovering these violations may lead to law suits or large fines against the firm and thus the environmental professional may feel the pressure to continue with the cover up rather than uncovering and resolving the problems. This on the other hand may cost the professional his/ her job. Conclusion In conclusion, even if this is a very tasking event that may cost an organization a lot, from labor, time and resources, it is very vital and therefore applying it in any region is of great benefits. Those entrusted with the compliance to the observing of the environmental regulation need to ensure that no firm whatsoever violates this, if environmental management systems have to work. Uncovering these violations may lead to law suits or large fines against the firm should be implemented so as to uncovering and resolve the problems surrounding industries. Works Cited Andre R. Cooper, Sr. “Enviromnental Compliance Made Easy: A Checklist Approach for Industry.2nd Edition.” 2003. Berkes, F. “Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organisations and social learning.” Journal of Environmental Management (2009): 1692-1702. Holling, C.S. Adaptive environmental assessment and management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1978. www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR. n.d. 21 November 2012 . Sample Waste Disposal Checklist Material Segregated and Recycled (Y/N) Domestic Trash (Y/N) Other Disposal (Y/N) Scrap metal Wood pallets Fluorescent lamps Vehicle batteries Used tires Used oil ENVIRONMENTAL SCREENING CHECKLIST FOR MAINTENANCE YES NO N/A Hazardous Waste Generation Storage and Management Does the facility have an EPA hazardous waste generator ID number? Does the facility store hazardous waste in appropriate storage containers? How does the facility manage/dispose of its hazardous waste? Does the facility have a written contingency plan or basic contingency procedures in place for responding to spills and releases of hazardous wastes? Spent Solvents and Parts Cleaning If halogenated solvents are used in cleaning equipment, has the facility submitted a notification report to the air permitting agency? Does the facility store spent solvents in labelled containers? How does the facility manage/dispose of spent solvents? Read More

Environmental Control Methods, Procedures and Programs In relation to the environment, there are several control methods, programs, and procedures that can be developed to address the hazards presented by the airline industry. This will include staff education on compliance with environmental friendly procedures associated with the wastes and activities indicated above. Aircraft and Vehicle Cleaning When cleaning aircrafts and the support vehicles, detergents are used. The waste water from the cleaning process may contain some albeit low metal concentrations, cleaning chemicals, oil and grease, dirt, solvents and grit.

Such materials when released can contaminate soil and water both surface and ground. With these hazardous materials with a potential to cause serious environmental degradation, I would designate cleaning areas where the waste water can be amassed and consequently drained into catch bowls to be collected together with wastewater from elsewhere airport. Treatment of this waste water can then be implemented either onsite or it can be released to an external treatment plant. Development of a policy that proposes the use of phosphate-free detergents in cleaning is important while also installing flow restrictors which will control wastage of water.

All the water used should be subjected to recycling where possible as well as ensuring all drains are fitted with oil/water separators. Dry washing vehicles with chemical cleaning and waxing agents will also ensure maximum utilization of water resources and minimal environmental degradation(Andre R. Cooper). 1. Aircraft and Vehicle Fuelling Release of fuel into the air, in soil or water has grave and negative environmental consequences and therefore they must be handled very carefully. Monitoring of fuel tanks should be instituted as well as the use of automatic shut–off systems to prevent the discharge of fuel into the environment.

Procedures that allow employees to instantaneously report leaking nozzle connections, pipe joints or damaged to fuel hoses should be established. Daily inspection of fuel equipment for leaks and damages is also very important. Ensuring that fuelling is done in properly lit areas and the nozzle is under no circumstances left unattended throughout the fuelling process. During maintenance operations, fuelling should never been done because of the inherent risks. Radar and radio equipment should also be powered down during the process.

If a fuel spill occurs, vacuum sweepers should be on hand to clean it up before it can penetrate the environment. 2. Used Oil and Lubricants Collection and recycling of used oil is an important environmental control method. Drip tables with used oil collection buckets in maintenance facilities and also under support vehicles should be used to collect draining oil for this purpose. This collected used oil as well as petroleum based solutions should be forwarded to an industrial recycling facility.

Proper labeling of drip pans and containers should also be maintained. 3. Aircraft De-Icing or Anti-Icing This activity makes use of materials such as diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol, and propylene glycol which are harmful chemicals if they spill into water and soil. These chemicals are toxic to life forms and therefore their runoff should be prevented. Collection of these fluids should be done at an isolated location for purposes of recycling and treatment. This can either be outsourced or onsite. 4. Batteries Labeling of battery types is essential for storage which should be done in an enclosed area.

This area should be weather proof as well as watertight to prevent any leaks. Regular inspection of the stored batteries should be done to ensure that there are no cracks and leaks during removal from aircrafts and vehicles. 5. Painting During the process of stripping aircrafts of paint as well as re-painting, many perilous substances mat be produced. These substances comprise of paint sludge and stripping agents that do a lot of damage to the environment.

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