A Conversation with your Neighbor: Daphne Muse

On March 25, 2009, Northgate was fortunate to have a conversation with Daphne Muse about social justice and the meaning of community.

Ms. Muse shared her views on the environmental infrastructure of social justice, pointing out that we cannot continue to fertilize social justice with toxic soil, water it with rising sea levels, or sustain it with polluted air. "It is incumbent upon us to provide a truly sustainable infrastructure, in order for us to cultivate social justice in our everyday lives." We shared ideas and inspirations about how to get involved in your neighborhood, how to learn about historical ecology from your neighbors, how to share technical information with non-technical folks, and the importance of taking pride in your community.

Ms. Muse considers Oakland an unpolished jewel in the crown with elements of beauty that rival the splendor of Italian villages where she's spent time.

Daphne Muse has served as the director of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) at Mills College since 2004. There she works with Student Fellows to provide co-curricular programming and projects that enrich learning, inquiry and scholarship while supporting local, national, and global activism focusing on women and women's rights. In May 2008, she graduated the first cohort of WLI Roundtable Fellows. Conducting cutting-edge work in media, gender studies and environmentalism, those Fellows are now positioning themselves to make remarkable inroads across the country and around the globe.

Ms. Muse is the author of four books and more than 300 feature articles, essays, reviews, and commentaries for major newspapers, academic journals and online zines. Her work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Black Scholar, San Jose Mercury News, and the Washington Post, and has been aired on NPR, Radio One, and Pacifica. In 2008, Muse was nominated for a National Women's Book Association Award and also nominated by President Janet L. Holmgren for a Civic Ventures Purpose Prize. She has been a guest speaker and served on panels at Google, the McNair Scholars Conference, Case Western Reserve University, UC Berkeley, and Rutgers University.

For twenty years, Muse served as president of the Fruitvale San Antonio Community Association in and conjunction with that role developed the Annual Halloween Book Giveaway. For more than 25 years, Muse gave away new children's books, some of them autographed by award-winning authors including Gwendolyn Brooks, Thatcher Hurd, and Virginia Hamilton, to children in the community and sometimes their parents, too.

Thank you, Daphne, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to have what we hope will be the first of many conversations with us!

Green Remediation Resources

April is Green Remediation month at EPA's Technology Innovation Program Contaminated Site Clean-Up Information website (CLU-IN)

During April 2009, CLU-IN will focus on "green" resources. In celebration of Earth Day, CLU-IN and TechDirect (CLU-IN's monthly newsletter) will draw attention to resources that promote energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, greenhouse gas reductions, water conservation and quality, waste reduction, material recycling or reuse, reduced consumption of all natural resources, and other sustainable strategies for contaminated site cleanup.

Resources include:

• Webinar archives for previous green remediation seminars and presentations
• Links to profiles and case studies of green remediation sites
• The Green Remediation Best Management Practice Tool Kit, which offers a handful of links to agency fact sheets
• EPA's Green Remediation Primer
• EPA fact sheet, Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Site Remediation of Contaminated Sites
• EPA fact sheet of BMPs for excavation and surface restoration
• Green Remediation fact sheet
• National Association of Remedial Project Managers (NARPM) Green Remediation Training manual

Comments and feedback are also requested on the following EPA initiatives:

EPA's Green Remediation Standard
EPA is considering the development of voluntary standards and a verification system for "green cleanups" that would guide and stimulate efficient, cost-effective, and low-impact site remediation by encouraging property owners, developers, and communities to go beyond state and federal requirements for cleanup and land revitalization projects. EPA is soliciting stakeholder feedback on the framework through April 30th.
- see below for more information -

EPA Region 9's LUST Cleanup Footprint Calculator
EPA Region 9 is working on a tool that quantifies environmental externalities that result from the cleanup of a Leaking UST site in California. Output metrics will include green house gas emissions, energy usage, and water usage. This calculator will capture relevant information and calculate environmental benefits of the most common remedial technologies used at LUST sites, including Soil Vapor Extraction, Pump and Treat, Soil Excavation, and Dual-Phase Extraction. Feedback and comments are solicited on their wiki page.

EPA Region 2's Clean and Green policy
The aim of this policy is to enhance the environmental benefits of Superfund cleanups. The core principles of the plan include:
* Use of 100% of electricity from renewable sources
* Concrete made with Coal Combustion Products (CCP) replacing a portion of traditional cement
* Clean diesel fuels and technologies
* Methane capture at landfill sites

- More on the EPA Green Remediation Standard -
The framework of the EPA's Green Remediation Standard will be a starting point for an ASTM subcommittee under E50-04. The CLU-IN website includes a 1-page summary of the project, the draft framework, and a feature to allow individuals to provide input on the draft framework. This feedback feature is not a formal comment period where the EPA will respond to input.
EPA's cleanup programs plan to collaborate with the ASTM International to develop a green cleanup standard through a consensus process. EPA worked with its State partners to develop the draft framework that outlines desired outcomes for a green cleanup standard. The standard will establish a uniform approach, implemented voluntarily, to encourage property owners, responsible parties, developers, and communities to use green cleanup practices during project planning and implementation. EPA plans to finalize the framework and post it in June 2009. ASTM International established a subcommittee and will use EPA’s proposed framework to kick-off the effort. To learn more, go to ASTM International’s website:
http://www.astm.org/DATABASE.CART/WORKITEMS/WK23495.htm.

An End to the Era of Denial on Global Warming?

EPA Takes Another Step Towards Regulating Greenhouse Gases
Felicity Barringer, NY Times, March 23, 2009

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to declare that greenhouse gases (GHGs) are pollutants that pose a danger to the public’s health and welfare. If that determination is made final, it will pave the way for federal regulation of carbon dioxide, methane, and other GHGs linked to global warming.

An endangerment finding would allow federal regulation of motor vehicle emissions. It could also open the door to regulatory controls over power plants, oil refineries, cement plants, and other factories that emit GHGs.

Read the complete NY Times story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/science/earth/24epa.html?hp

And also in the SF Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/23/national/w122327D98.DTL&tsp=1

A Mandatory GHG Registry for the US?

EPA Proposes Tracking Industry Emissions
Kate Galbraith, NY Times, March 10, 2009

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule on Tuesday that would require suppliers of fossil fuel and industrial chemicals, manufacturers of motor vehicles and engines, and large direct emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with emissions equal to or greater than 25,000 tonnes per year to quantify and report their GHG emissions. The EPA says that the rule, promulgated under the Clean Air Act, would account for 85-90% of the country’s emissions of GHGs.

Many facilities already account and report the information voluntarily through various registries or federal agencies.

Large stationary sources of GHGs would be included in the new requirements. For example, buildings with an aggregate maximum rated heat input capacity equal to or greater than 30 mmBTU/hour (thousand thousand BTUs per hour) would have to comply, as would manure management systems that have emissions equal to or greater than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year.

A 60-day comment period and two public hearings will take place in April 2009. If the rule is finalized this fall, as the EPA hopes, reporting could begin in 2011, after the monitoring of 2010 emissions.

Read the EPA's press release here, get more information on the proposed rule here, and read the complete NY Times story here.

2008 Coastal Cleanup Day Tally Released

In September 2008, the Ocean Conservancy's 23rd International Coastal Cleanup Day netted the following waste from waterways and shorelines around the world in a single day:

• 6,800,000 pounds of debris, 11.4 million items overall
• 3,200,000 million cigarette butts (1.3 million in the US alone)
• 1,400,000 million plastic bags
• 942,000 food wrappers and containers
• 937,000 caps and lids
• 26,585 tires
• 19,500 fishing nets in the United Kingdom
• 11,000 diapers in the Philippines

Nearly 400,000 volunteers scoured about 17,000 miles of coastline, river bottoms and ocean floors during the event. In the course of picking up the trash, participants found 268 marine animals that survived being entangled in debris; 175 weren't so lucky and died.

Of the 104 participating countries, the US supplied about half the volunteers.

Read more in the SF Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/10/national/a090043D65.DTL) or at www.oceanconservancy.org.

Brothers on the Rise

On February 24, 2009 Northgate geologist Brendan J. Mulholland was a guest speaker at the Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, California.

Brendan spoke to a group of adolescent boys enrolled in the Brothers on The Rise (BOTR) program. BOTR is a program for at-risk boys and identifies problems or issues related to academic achievement. BOTR's mission is to responsibly empower school-aged males to achieve individual success, develop healthy relationships, and contribute to a more just and equitable society. Their program works to resolve issues, change outcomes, and improve grades.

Brendan described his own challenges as an adolescent, and provided the boys an overview of Northgate’s daily operations as an environmental engineering firm.

He told the boys that the community recognizes their willingness and commitment to overcome obstacles and encouraged the boys to keep up the good work.

A follow-on visit by BOTR to Northgate’s office is planned.

More Wetlands on SF Bay Shoreline?

Richmond hopes to protect 5 miles of wetlands
Carolyn Jones, SF Chronicle, March 2, 2009

Developers, city officials, and park advocates are working to transform three parcels of private property in Richmond - a 5-mile stretch of wetlands that is among the last undeveloped swaths of San Francisco Bay shoreline - into permanent open space, most likely part of the Eastshore State Park. Public meetings are scheduled and city staff is working on possible zoning changes to residential or open space as part of revamping the city's general plan.

The land, a marsh that's home to egrets, herons and 15 threatened species, stretches from the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, just north of the Chevron oil refinery, to Point Pinole Regional Shoreline. The Richmond Rod and Gun Club occupies the southern portion, and the rest is zoned for light industrial uses. The Giant Powder Co. and the town of Giant, both now vanished, once occupied the northern end.

Not everyone thinks open space is the best use of the shoreline. Richmond City Councilman Nathaniel Bates says the city already has too many parks. "We need jobs and economic development," Bates said. "Instead of just buying more land, I'd like to see the park district spruce up the parks they already have."

Read the complete article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/02/MNJO165QOI.DTL

Catch the Wave

Will California's Quest for Wave Power Sink or Sail?
Josie Garthwaite, NY Times, February 27, 2009

Having completed a wave power study, San Francisco submitted a preliminary application to federal regulators on February 27 for a permit to develop a 10 to 30 megawatt (MW) project to tap ocean energy eight miles off the city’s west coast. The proposed project has the potential to generate up to 100 MW. But while the technology has a big fan in Mayor Gavin Newsom, regulatory hurdles may prove a show-stopper. Last year state commissioners decided the technology was too new and the prices too high, and denied approval for PG&E and Finavera Renewables to develop what would have been the country’s first commercial wave power project.

Research and development of wave power technologies has rapidly expanded in recent years. The first commercial units are scheduled to go online in Portugal this year, producing 2 MW of energy. Despite several studies, no commercial operations are online in the US.

San Francisco is hoping to change that.

Read more in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2009/02/27/27gigaom-will-calis-latest-wave-power-project-sink-or-sail-24696.html
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/wave-power-for-san-francisco/

CEQA Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Senate Bill 97 mandates the development of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines "for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions or the effects of greenhouse gas emissions."

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the California Resources Agency, Cal EPA, and the California Air Resources Board have issued a technical advisory containing informal guidance for addressing climate change in CEQA documents.

How does this affect you and your clients?

Many development, redevelopment, and remediation projects are subject to CEQA.
- a CEQA project is one that requires discretionary approval by a government agency

Affected agencies must now address greenhouse gases (GHGs) in addition to other environmental issues and impacts.
-Identify all the GHG emission sources
-Calculate/estimate GHG emissions
-Identify mitigation measures and alternative methods/approaches
-Identify preferred mitigation strategies

OPR is required to prepare, develop, and transmit the guidelines to the Resources Agency on or before July 1, 2009, and the Resources Agency must certify and adopt the guidelines on or before January 1, 2010.

Visit the OPR website to view the Preliminary Draft CEQA Guideline Amendments and submitted written comments.

New LEED AP in the House!

Northgate congratulates Axel Rieke for recently passing his LEED AP exam!

LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification process. LEED Accredited Professionals (APs) have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles and the LEED Rating System.

LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. The LEED Professional Accreditation program is administered by the Green Building Certification Institute, established with the support of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).