October 2006 - PUBLIC EDITION

• ACHMM Selects Albuquerque for 2007 Leadership Conference
• Education/Professional Development Committee News
• October Field Trip
• Local News Stories
• Upcoming Meetings and Events
• Monthly Meeting Location
• Job Openings
• NMSHMM Officers and Committee Chairs

ACHMM Selects Albuquerque for 2007 Leadership Conference
Brian Salem, CHMM
New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Hazardous Waste Bureau

Fall is here and the rains have continued. Daily flood warnings are giving way to snow forecasts. Get your snow equipment ready.

The NMSHMM Board submitted a proposal on August 25 to sponsor the next Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers (ACHMM) Leadership Workshop here in Albuquerque in April 2007. The proposal was well accepted by the ACHMM Board as reported to NMSHMM Board members at the National Conference. On Wednesday September 20, ACHMM announced that we had in fact won the proposal to host the workshop. The workshop will be free and will provide excellent training acceptable for certification points toward your re-certification. This will increase our chapter's profile with ACHMM and provide some quality training for our membership.

Our September meeting was held in Santa Fe this month. Tiny's Restaurant served up a great dinner for the attendees. The presentation by Marcy Leavitt on NMED's efforts to gain primacy for the Clean Water Act's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System was well received by the members who enjoyed an opportunity to mingle afterwards. Ms. Leavitt made a convincing case for the state to pursue primacy legislation, but an announcement last week indicates that lack of a formal definition of "waters of the state" and identified funding sources for the program will prevent the program from being presented at next year's legislative session.

NMSHMM presented a check for $1,000 to the Albuquerque Citizen Corp Council at the start of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training class that began on September 5. At the conclusion of this class, there will be almost 100 citizens of Albuquerque trained to respond to emergencies in their neighborhood or elsewhere within the city. CERT members responded to the Bosque fire watch prior to the rains and the flooding in Belen. It's a great program to be involved in. Please contact me or go to the City of Albuquerque web site (www.cabq.gov) for more information.

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Education/Professional Development Committee News

CHMM National Overview Course and CHMM Exam
It's Not Too Late to Register!!
Larry Watson, MBA, CHMM
NMSHMM Education/Professional Development Committee Chair, Honeywell International Inc.

This year's 3-day CHMM National Overview Course is only one month away, but there is still time to register. If any of you need a little coaxing to get to the "tipping point," please let me know. As you may know, this training is a great complement for your re-certification efforts, as a general hazardous materials management refresher, or as preparation to sit for the CHMM Exam. You can sign up right now by clicking here. Did you know we have reduced rates for repeat registrants? CHMM Exam applications were due a few weeks ago for the CHMM Exam on October 28. However, if you are still interested in applying, I will see what I can do to facilitate a timely review of your completed application. Call me now at (505) 803-0011!!

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October Field Trip

NMSHMM to Visit Eclipse Aviation on October 18
Mike Sanders, CPG, CHMM
NMSHMM Secretary, GRAM, Inc.

The field trip to the Eclipse Aviation facilities in Albuquerque is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18, and will be held in lieu of the October lunch meeting. We will meet Charlie Steele, Eclipse Environmental Health and Safety Manager, at Eclipse headquarters (located just west of the airport, on the west side of I-25 [more detailed directions will be provided later]) starting at 1:30 pm, and will start the formal tour at 2:00 pm. It will take approximately 3 hours to go through the entire facility, so the tour should end at about 5:00 pm. Eclipse will be in full production mode in October, so this will be an opportunity to observe the entire small jet manufacturing process from beginning to end. The trip is open to both NMSHMM and non-NMSHMM members, with a maximum of 55 people, first come, first served. In order to sign up for this tour, please send an email with attendee name(s) to:  by October 11.  An email with detailed directions to Eclipse headquarters will be sent out to all folks on the sign up list shortly after the Oct. 11 sign up deadline.

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Local News Stories

• Lightning is believed to have caused the explosion of a 500-barrel oil tank in Hobbs. "The only thing that was left of that (tank that exploded) was just the base. The rest of the tank was probably thrown about 60 feet outside the fence area," according to Hobbs Fire Department Lieutenant Larry Bryant. Four other tanks also caught on fire, but no injuries were reported (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8-23-06).
   
• Two Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department detectives and a deputy were exposed to suspected sodium cyanide fumes when they responded to the suspected suicide of a 61-year old man at a trailer in the community of El Rancho. When Los Alamos city hazardous-materials team members visited the trailer, they found a container with a sodium cyanide label and fine granules of suspected cyanide. Undersheriff Robert Garcia said, "That stuff is very controlled; I don't even know where you'd go to find something like this." (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8-26-06).
   
• Southeastern New Mexico maybe the location of another nuclear facility in addition to the recently approved Louisiana Energy Services uranium processing plant near Eunice. A local government alliance intends to submit a bid for a $5 million Department of Energy study for a facility to reprocess highly radioactive used nuclear fuel. The facility could provide an option to the current U.S. policy of storing nuclear power plant fuel on-site while waiting for eventual disposal at the Yucca Mountain in Nevada (Albuquerque Journal, 9-2-06).
   
• State and Santa Fe Police found a handwritten recipe for preparing methamphetamine and meth lab equipment in a grease pit behind the Rio Chama Steakhouse. State Police narcotics lab testing of the equipment found grease and nothing more. "They probably had no clue what they were doing," said State Police spokesman Lieutenant Rick Anglada (Albuquerque Journal, 9-13-06).
   
• The University of California, the former Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) manager, was assessed a $1.1 million fine by the National Nuclear Security Administration for nuclear safety lapses that occurred in 2005. The University of California will not have to pay the fine since the university is a non-profit organization and is exempted from such penalties. (Albuquerque Journal, 9-14-06).
   
• At least five cases of humans affected by E. coli bacteria from spinach were reported in New Mexico during the recent nationwide E. coli outbreak in Spinach. As of mid-September, the outbreak source was identified as Natural Selection Foods in San Juan Bautista, California. The Food and Drug Administration had the spinach recalled and recommended not eating spinach (Santa Fe New Mexican, 9-16-06).

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Upcoming Meetings & Events

October 3, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

October 17, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM board meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

October 18, 1:30 pm, NMSHMM field trip to Eclipse Aviation. (No lunch served at this event.) RSVP to:  by October 11.

October 25-27, CHMM National Overview Course (NOC) at the University of New Mexico. For more information and a link to our secure payment form, please click here.

October 28, CHMM Exam at the University of New Mexico.

November 7, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

November 14, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM board meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

November 15, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. David Henry, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will discuss Military Munitions Response Action - Hazardous, Toxic, and Radiological Waste.

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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Job Openings

For the latest job openings, please click here.  Last Update: September 19, 2006 (MEMBERS ONLY).

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

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