March 2006 - PUBLIC EDITION

• NMSHMM's Annual Dinner Marks the Changing of the Guard
• Committee News:
  • Membership
  • Legislative Affairs
  • Communication
• NMSHMM Annual Dinner
• Local News Stories
• Upcoming Meetings and Events
• Monthly Meeting Location
• NMSHMM Officers and Committee Chairs

NMSHMM's Annual Dinner Marks the Changing of the Guard
Paul Karas, CPG, CHMM
Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (CDM)

Each March NMSHMM’s flagship event, the Annual Dinner, heralds the end of the fiscal year and the transition to a new Board. Our bylaws define the elected officer terms, balancing the retention of a portion of the Board for continuity and institutional knowledge with the infusion of new blood to keep NMSHMM dynamic and moving forward. I am pleased to report the results of the 2006 elections and composition of the board for the 2006/2007 fiscal year:

Newly Elected Board Members:

• Richie Spangler, President-Elect - A hazardous waste management specialist with Sandia National Laboratories, Richie completes his term as NMSHMM Secretary and begins a new role as President-Elect. He will continue on to serve as President for the 2007/2008 year.
• Mike Sanders, Secretary - New to the NMSHMM Board, Mike is a geologist with GRAM Inc. currently supporting environmental restoration projects at Sandia National Laboratories. The Secretary position has a two-year term.
• Barry Birch, Director-at-Large - Also new to the Board, Barry was elected for a one-year term as director-at-large. He recently made career move transferring from the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Hazardous Waste Bureau to the Solid Waste Bureau.
• Debbie Finfrock, Director-at-Large - A professional engineer, owner and President of Finfrock Engineering, Debbie was elected to a second one-year term as Director-at-Large.

Continuing Board Members:

• Brian Salem, President - Moving from President-elect to the top Board position for the 2006/2007 year, Brian is a compliance specialist with the NMED Hazardous Waste Bureau. Brian is active in a number of other professional organizations including the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).
• Kelly Bowles, Treasurer - A Safety Manager from Emcore Inc., Kelly will continue for the second of her two-year term as treasurer.
• Paul Karas, Past-President - And finally, I will be stepping aside from my role as President and will continue to serve on the Board, supporting the activities of several committees including membership, programs, and education/professional development.

Our new Board represents an excellent cross-section of industry, consulting, and regulatory professionals. I look forward the working with all of the new and continuing Board members, as well as the general membership, for a successful 2006/2007 year!

In this month’s newsletter, you will find details of the March Annual Dinner to be held on Friday, March 10. We have a very interesting speaker this year in Mr. Philip Newman, Sandia National Laboratories. Richie Spangler has coordinated what promises to be an excellent event and dinner with opportunities to network and socialize with other hazardous material professionals and guests. The new Board looks forward to seeing many of you there and hearing your ideas for NMSHMM for the next year! Please RSVP soon!

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Committee News:

Membership
Kelly Bowles, CHMM
Committee Chair

Time to Renew Your Membership!!
NMSHMM's new year begins April 1st, so if you haven't renewed your membership, now is the time to do it. CHMMs can still renew using the combined dues option, and all members can renew through the website by credit card or print out a renewal form and send it in with a check. All options are detailed on the NMSHMM website – just click on the membership link for more information.

In the last few newsletters, we introduced the new ACHMM/NMSHMM combined dues option that allows CHMMs to pay annual national and local dues with one payment. So far the combined dues program is a tremendous success. In December and January, 19 members used this option to pay annual dues, including several brand new members, and a few that had not renewed their NMSHMM memberships in a few years. Welcome to all!! We hope you will take advantage of the many benefits of NMSHMM membership. Please check out the rest of this newsletter for all the upcoming activities.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Garduno's on the Green on March 10th for the annual NMSHMM dinner and social event. Richie Spangler has organized what promises to be a fun and food-filled event. Don't forget, you can also renew your membership in person at the annual dinner.

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Legislative Affairs
Debbie Finfrock, PE
Committee Chair

Regulatory Update
70 Federal Register (FR) 72480 provided notice of the 2005 revised Priority List of 275 Hazardous Substances under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Ten substances on the 2003 list were replaced with two new substances and eight substances previously under consideration. The FR Notice gave no Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) reference for the list.

71 FR 654 issued new National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, called the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule for public water systems that use surface water sources. It is intended to reduce microbial levels, particularly Cryptosporidium, offset by the risk of disinfection byproducts. This final rule affects 40 CFR 141 and 142.

EPA proposed a replacement Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Industrial Activities in 70 FR 72116 for Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10. There are 29 categories of industrial activities covered (40 CFR 124.15). 71 FR 894 proposes an exemption from NPDES stormwater permit requirements for oil and gas field activities, including construction (40 CFR 122.26).

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Communication
Eric Johnson, CHMM
Committee Chair

NMSHMM Web Site
NMSHMM is updating the web site. We have removed old material and updated the board minutes. The general meeting attendance records have been reformatted to show credits towards CHMM recertification. Once a new logo is selected, we will change the headers and background to include the new logo. If you have any suggestions or information to post on the web site, please contact Sheldon Liebman, our

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NMSHMM Annual Dinner

Come one . . .Come all to the annual dinner meeting being held at 5:30 PM, Friday, March 10, at Garduno’s on the Green at the Balloon Fiesta Park (9401 Balloon Museum Drive) north of Alameda Blvd, west of Interstate 25. The featured speaker will be Philip Newman, Environmental, Safety, and Health and Emergency Management Center at Sandia National Laboratories.

The evening will start at 5:30 pm with a cocktail and appetizer hour. There will be a cash bar available throughout the evening. Dinner will be served at 6:30 pm and the program will begin at 7:00 pm with the featured speaker, induction of new officers, and some other society news, including the first annual NMSHMM Unsung Hero Award and member door prizes. (Note that this meeting will take the place of our regularly scheduled monthly luncheon meeting for March).

The cost to attend will be $25.00 per person (same price for members and non-members this year!). Spouses and other guests are welcome; tell your ES&H colleagues. Please RSVP by March 2, 2006 to  and remember that due to space and menu commitments, any cancellations must be received by close-of-business March 2, 2006 to avoid billing for the dinner; however, you can send someone else in your place if you are unable to make it. Payment will be collected at the door and credit cards can be accepted. When you RSVP please provide your menu selection from the following Southwestern specialties:

Broiled Petite Ribeye Steak in Green Chile Sauce with Southwestern Roasted Potatoes, or
Grilled Margarita Chicken with Lime Buerre Blanc and Wild Rice, or
Vegetarian Selection (Pasta Primavera, or similar dish)

Each dinner will come with:

Southwestern Salad with Three Cheese Topping, choice of dressing
Calabacitas/Vegetables
Hot Tortillas
Chef’s Dessert Selections

The appetizers will include stuffed mushrooms and chile cream cheese pinwheels. In addition, we will have a guacamole and chile con queso station available and chips and salsa on every table.

Please join us in what is certain to be a great annual dinner.

P.S. Did we mention the door prizes? (Members in good standing only)

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Local News Stories

• Los Alamos National Laboratory workers contained a release of plutonium oxide that was packaged in a plastic jar enclosed in a plastic bag. Monitors detected the release on December 19 in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area-55. (Albuquerque Journal, 1-25-06)
  
• The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a $2.9 million contract to Net Gain Corporation to operate a vehicle tracking system for nuclear waste shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 1-27-06)
  
• Ed Wilmont, Los Alamos Site Office manager, said expansion of Area G, at Los Alamos National Laboratory, by about 30 acres is needed because an environmental restoration project underestimated the amount of waste to be handled. “Alternatives to expansion, such as shipping waste to commercial sites out of state, are impractical because of technical issues and cost.” (Santa Fe New Mexican, 1-27-06) Both Los Alamos County and the Town of Toas oppose the expansion. Last year, Santa Fe County passed a nuclear disarmament resolution that recommends halting of all nuclear waste disposal in New Mexico (Albuquerque Journal, 2-11-06)
  
• The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) announced the availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for DTRA activities on White Sands Missile Range. Information on the PEIS can be found on the PEIS web site at www.dtra.mil/Toolbox/Directorates/TD/programs/dpeis/index.cfm. (Federal Register, 1-27-06, Volume 71, Number 18, pages 4571-4572)
  
• The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) extended the 60-day public comment period from January 23 to February 22 on the WIPP hazardous waste permit. The Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque requested an extension of at least 60 days. Under the permit, DOE wants to (1) reduce the number of tests on waste shipments, (2) demonstrate that an alternative method of storage at WIPP will comply with environmental standards for volatile organic compounds, and (3) store remote-handled wastes that emit more penetrating radioactivity (Santa Fe New Mexican, 1-30-06)
  
• Avistar, a subsidiary of Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), has developed wireless gas monitoring technology to detect leaks of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a greenhouse gas 23,000 times more potent per molecule than carbon dioxide. PNM uses SF6 gas in its substation to prevent high-voltage current from jumping between contact points inside a sealed circuit breaker. (Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook, 2-2-06)
  
• NMED and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish recommend that people do not eat channel catfish in the Rio Grande near Los Alamos, Abiquiu Reservoir, Cochiti Reservoir, and Brantley Lake. NMED detected high levels of contaminants in the catfish including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the Rio Grande, Abiquiu Reservoir, and Cochiti Reservoir; mercury in Abiquiu Reservoir, Cochiti Reservoir, and Brantley Lake; and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) in Brantley Lake. The contaminant levels pose no risk for drinking or swimming according to NMED. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 2-3-06)
  
• President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 would increase funding to LANL for nuclear-weapons work and renewable-energy research. DOE funding would increase from $1.84 billion for fiscal year 2006 to $1.85 billion for fiscal year 2007. It should be noted, that LANL’s overall budget is about $2.2 billion for 2006 because the lab receives additional funding from other agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (Santa Fe New Mexican, 2-7-06)
  
• As part of a plan to develop new nuclear weapons, LANL may eventually start producing plutonium nuclear weapon cores (or “pits”) under President Bush’s budget proposal. The pits are semi-spherical plutonium shells used with high explosives to start a nuclear weapon’s chain reaction. (Albuquerque Journal, 2-7-06)

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Upcoming Meetings & Events

March 7, 11:30 am, Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) New Mexico Chapter meeting, Furr's Cafeteria, 6100 Central SE, Albuquerque. AWMA meetings are normally held the first Tuesday of each month and include a technical presentation and chapter news update.

March 7, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

March 9-11, Xeriscape Conference, Convention Center, Albuquerque.

March 10, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Annual Dinner, at Garduños on the Green (near the Balloon Park). The speaker will be Philip Newman, Environmental, Safety, and Health Director for Sandia National Laboratories. NMSHMM 2006-7 officers will take office. Cost will be $25.00 per person. Please RSVP to . (Note that this meeting will take the place of our regularly scheduled monthly luncheon meeting for March).

March 15, 5:30 pm, National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) meeting, Fiestas 4400 Carlisle NE (at Montgomery). Cyndie Abeyta, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with give a presentation on the Status of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Research and Water Quality Monitoring.

March 16-18, Northwest New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair. For more information contact Linda McCormick through  or visit the web site at http://www.unm.edu/~scifair/.

March 17, 11:30 am, American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) meeting, Furr's Cafeteria, 6100 Central SE, Albuquerque. ASSE normally holds a technical meeting on the 3^rd Friday of each month except for April (Annual Professional Development Conference) and June (Installation of Officers).

March 20-23, New Mexico Rural Water Association, 28th Annual Conference, Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town.

March 21, 6:30 pm, Mid Rio Grande Chapter of the American Red Cross monthly Disaster Services meeting at the chapter's office, 142 Monroe SE, Albuquerque. For information call Nancy Holley (505) 265-8514 x37.

March 23-25, National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair. For more information contact Linda McCormick through  or visit http://www.aises.org/events/naisef/NAISEF_Newsletter_2006.pdf.

April 4, 11:30 am, Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) New Mexico Chapter meeting, Furr’s Cafeteria, 6100 Central SE, Albuquerque. AWMA meetings are normally held the first Tuesday of each month and include a technical presentation and chapter news update.

April 17, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

April 18, 6:30 pm, Mid Rio Grande Chapter of the American Red Cross monthly Disaster Services meeting at the chapter’s office, 142 Monroe SE, Albuquerque. For information call Nancy Holley (505) 265-8514 x37.

April 19, 11:30 am, NMSHMM General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Blvd. NE.

April 21, 8:30 am, CHMM Exam, University of New Mexico Science and Technology Park, Park Center Building, 851 University Boulevard SE, Room 201. For information contact Larry Watson at (505) 277-5488.

April 23-26, National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) national conference in Albuquerque. For information visit the web site: www.naep.org.

June 12-15, Managing Waste in the Wide Open Spaces, a Regional Joint Conference in Albuquerque, hosted by the New Mexico Chapters of the National Recycling Coalition, Solid Waste Association of North America, and NMED Solid Waste Bureau. For information visit www.recyclenewmexico.com or www.nmswana.com.

Did we miss something?? To get your event added to the calendar please contact Eric Johnson at .

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Monthly Meeting Location

Our regular monthly meetings are held at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill (6601 Uptown Boulevard Northeast; click here for a map). Meetings are held the third Wednesday of the month (unless replaced by a special event as announced via this newsletter) from 11:30 am until 1:00 pm. If you have any ideas for speakers or field trips, please contact a NMSHMM board member.

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Please send contributions for future newsletters to Eric Johnson at . Thanks!

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