Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

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Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

• Programs of the Pollution Prevention and
  Education Section
• Danielle L. Doss, Engineering Specialist
• Houston Regional Office

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Pollution Prevention and Education

• Mission Statement
• Help our customers prevent pollution, conserve
  resources, and achieve compliance through
  education, outreach, technical assistance, and
  innovative technologies.

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Pollution Prevention and Education

• Programs
• P2 planning
• Clean Texas
• Renew
• WRPA
• SAV

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Bright ideas.
Better performance.
How can SAV benefit your facility?
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Site Assistance Visit

• Free, non-regulatory, non-enforcement pollution
  prevention site assessment
• Multi-media

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Assistance to Entities

• Market to entities that are priority for TCEQ
• Entities with poor compliance history rating that
  want to improve performance
• Sites identified with help of TCEQ Regional
  Offices

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Program Goals

• Pollution Prevention
• Reduce costs
• Target emission reductions, energy efficiency,
  water conservation
• Improve performance

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SAV

• Basis is in the Waste Reduction
• Policy Act
• Multi-media approach
• Source reduction and waste minimization the goal
• Targeted marketing (e.g. poor performers)

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Why Pollution Prevention?

• Protects public health
• Reduces or eliminates the creation of pollutants
  through increased efficiency in the use of raw
  materials, energy, water, or other resources
• Reduced regulatory exposure
• Saves money

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Pollution Prevention Activities

• Equipment or technology modifications
• Process/procedure modifications
• Reformulation or redesign of products
• Substitution of raw materials
• Improvements in operational practices

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Case Study Herbicide Manufacturing Facility

• Original process - Copper was reacted with
  sulfuric acid to form copper sulfate which in
  turn reacted with caustic soda to form cupric
  oxide and used as a raw material in fungicide
  production. The copper containing water then was
  released to a pond to precipitate the sludge.
  Over the years around 240,000 cubic foot of
  copper rich sludge has been accumulated.
• Problem identified during SAV visit The copper
  rich sludge poses a threat to the environment by
  leaching copper into the ground and eventually to
  the Sims Bayou.

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Case Study Herbicide Manufacturing
Facility(contu)

• Solution The sludge is treated in situ with
  sulfuric acid to leach out the copper and the
  solution is rerouted to the process.
• End Result of SAV Visit
• The copper recovery will permanently remove the
  chance of copper being leached out into the
  state waters.
• Approximately one to two million dollars worth of
  copper will be recovered from the sludge.

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Commitments

• SAV identifies P2 opportunities
• Entity commits to action plan
• Entity commits to report on progress and
  environmental results

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Format

• Half-day to full-day onsite visit
• Opening meeting (e.g. plant manager)
• On-site assessment
• Closing meeting

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Confidentiality

• Facility is free to limit access to specific
  parts of a site
• Facility can withhold process information deemed
  confidential or proprietary
• Any photos remain property of the facility

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Confidentiality Waiver

• SAVs are non-regulatory and confidential.

• Confidentiality would be forfeited if an imminent
  threat to human health or the environment is
  discovered

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The SAV Team

• Composed of professional engineers and scientists
• Austin, Houston/Beaumont, and Dallas

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Gulf Coast Oil and Gas Pollution and Prevention
Workshop

• FREE Workshop to discuss compliance with Texas
  regulations, reduction in pollution and save
  money for owners

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Oil and Gas Workshop

• Natural Gas Losses cost us all
• Money and Product Loss for owner
• Loss of pollution prevention through VOC
  emissions

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Oil and Gas Workshop

• Workshop goals
• Offer strategies on improving efficiency
• Decreasing or eliminating pollution of VOCs

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Oil and Gas Workshop

• Workshop dates are March 25 and 26
• Workshop held at University of Houston-Victoria
• For more information
• www.p2planning.org

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Contacts
Jeff Voorhis(512) 239-3178
Danielle Doss [phone]
Mesha Williams-Jones [phone]
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Questions?