June 2007 - PUBLIC EDITION

• HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY NMSHMM
• Committee News
  • Government Affairs and Local News Stories
• Upcoming Meetings and Events
• Monthly Meeting Location
• Job Openings
• NMSHMM Officers and Committee Chairs

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY NMSHMM
Richie Spangler, CHMM
Sandia National Laboratories

By the time you read this, NMSHMM will have officially celebrated its 10^th anniversary on May 23, 2007 (not May 19^th as was indicated in last month's column . . . bad president . . . bad, bad president). In celebration of this event, I would like to hold a NMSHMM night at Isotopes Park. This event is just in the planning stages, but I would like to gauge interest, so those of you who are interested please e-mail me with how many people might attend, I would appreciate it. One of the things we need to decide is whether to include food or just get group game tickets. Depending on the response, we might be able to make this the member benefit this year!

NMSHMM is continuing to keep itself involved with the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers (ACHMM) through various national level committees, including the Professional Development Committee, Chapter Development Committee, Membership Committee, the National Overview Course (NOC) Task Force, and Awards Committee. I want to thank all of those NMSHMM members volunteering their time to participate on these efforts.

As many of you already know, the CHMM credential is accredited through the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). What you probably do not know is the Institute of Hazardous Material Managers (IHMM) is currently seeking American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation as well. Part of this process is assembling a Job Task Analysis Working Group to help in the accreditation. I was asked by Dr. John Frick, IHMM Executive Director, to participate in this group, and I will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

It is not too early to start planning for the ACHMM National Conference. The conference is being held early this year, August 12-15 in Arlington, Virginia. This means you only have two more months until the conference, so get busy with those reservations. The conference looks like it has some outstanding speakers again this year and it is a great opportunity to network with your peers (not to mention the year's worth of continuing education units [CEUs] you get!).

Something else that is fast approaching is the annual NMSHMM NOC offering. This course takes a concerted effort to put together and Larry Watson and the Education Committee can always use another volunteer to help. Please contact Larry or one of the Board members if you are interested in either the preparatory work or teaching a course module.

I mentioned an update to the NMSHMM by-laws in an earlier president's message. Those by-laws have been approved by the ACHMM, and the chapter needs to vote on them. Expect to receive a copy of the proposed changes to the NMSHMM by-laws by e-mail if you are a current NMSHMM member. Please take some time to look them over and vote by responding to the e-mail.

I would like to thank Michael Mariano from the NMED's Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) for his talk at the May luncheon meeting. Michael explained to a packed house how the program works and used three case studies to illustrate the process. Michael gave us a pictorial tour of the Sandia Battery Site, a shooting range site, and an old mill site. I can say that it was an extremely interesting perspective on environmental remediation, and very different than anything I have run across in my professional career. To find out more about the NMED VRP, check out their web site: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/gwb/New_Pages/ROS_files/VRP_New/vrp_home1.htm.

The official definition of summer is the occasion of the summer solstice. At the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, the sun's apparent position on the celestial sphere reaches its greatest distance above the celestial equator, about 23 1/2° of arc. This translates to directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer for those of us who do not do astronomer speak. What this means it will not be officially summer until June 21, 2:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT) according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. However, it is "officially" vacation season with school being out, so I hope all of you enjoy your travels . . . safely . . . Are we there yet?

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Committee News

Government Affairs and Local News Stories
Compiled by Barry Birch, CHMM, and Eric Johnson, AICP, CHMM

• According to the State of New Mexico Integrated Clean Water Report prepared by the NMED, the top five water quality problems in New Mexico streams and rivers are: (1) high temperature; (2) increased sedimentation; (3) high turbidity levels; (4) increased levels of aluminum, copper, and mercury; and (5) excessive nutrients, such as algae. The principal causes of this pollution are non-point sources such as livestock grazing, urban storm water, water diversions, loss of riverbank habitat, and recreation. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 4-28-07)
   
• A Clovis neighbor was evacuated when residents discovered a hand grenade in a yard. Margaret Hodge, who uncovered the grenade with a rake said, "I thought it was a pine cone from the tree." An ordnance disposal team from Cannon Air Force Base was dispatched to the yard, collected the grenade, placed it in an armored trailer, and took the grenade away. According to Clovis Police Captain Lonnie Berry, "It looks like it's probably been in the ground for years." (Albuquerque Journal, 5-1-07; Santa Fe New Mexican, 4-29-07)
   
• The former Ponderosa Products plant located in Albuquerque's North Valley on Bellamah Avenue and 18^th Street was demolished. The plant once baked sawdust into sheets of plywood, but the plant went bankrupt in 2002 after the neighboring Duke City Lumber sawmill closed. The Sawmill Community Land Trust plans to redevelop the site into a mixed-use community with a restaurant, microbrewery, offices, and retail space. (Albuquerque Journal, 5-2-07)
   
• NMED intends to fine Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club at least $30,000 per day if it does not comply with NMED regulations. Contaminated water in the golf course ponds has caused the death of numerous ducks. NMED is requesting information on the number of acres of turf to be irrigated with reclaimed wastewater and the maximum depth of its nine ponds according to the NMED violation notice. (Albuquerque Journal, 5-2-07)
   
• Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) engineers are drillings a new well to monitor the extent of hexavalent chromium contamination in the regional aquifer. Another monitoring well detected chromium levels of 414 parts per billion (ppb), which is higher than the federal drinking water standard of 100 ppb and the state drinking water standard of 50 ppb. The suspected source of the contamination is a power plant cooling tower in Technical Area 3, from which an estimated 58,000-230,000 pounds of chromium were deposited into Sandia Canyon from 1956 to 1972. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-3-07)
   
• With Uranium prices increasing from $60 to $113 per pound in the last few months, there is renewed interest in uranium mines. No mines or mills are operating in New Mexico at present, but several companies are applying for exploration permits, drilling exploratory holes, securing mining claims, or planning to refurbish old mines and mills. (Albuquerque Journal, 5-6-07) The New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division recently approved permits for Strathmore Resources Ltd. to drill four holes north of Grants and for Max Resources Corporation to drill 14 holes about 15 miles north of Magdelena. (Albuquerque Journal 5-17-07).
   
• With the support of Senator Pete Domenici and Representative Tom Udall, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is expected to approve a program that would exempt former LANL employees from proving how much radiation they were exposed to or the cause of their cancer. Approximately 400-600 former LANL employees could receive $150,000 payments and coverage of medial expenses under the program. (Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-5-07)
   
• NMED will use a $4 million bioremediation system to treat perchloroethylene (PCE) contamination at a Superfund site in Española. The contamination has affected at least 280 million gallons of water and caused the closing of two City of Española wells. (Associated Press, May 2007)
   
• Approximately 1000 comments were received by the USEPA on the draft air permit for the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. The plant would be constructed on the Navajo Nation on a site near Burnham, New Mexico. (Associated Press, May 2007)
   
• LANL successfully recovered more than 15,000 radioactive items from businesses and academic institutions that no longer need the items containing radioactive substances such as plutonium, americium, and cesium. The items will be stored at LANL and eventually disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad. (Albuquerque Journal, 5-8-07)
   
• The 10^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a U.S. District Court Decision that dismissed a lawsuit by Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping against the Department of Energy (DOE) over WIPP. The decision affirms the process used by the DOE for a supplemental environmental impact statement on WIPP's radioactive waste disposal (Albuquerque Journal, 5-12-07; Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-11-07)
   
• The New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld the right of NMED to regulate isolated waters such as playa lakes, seasonally flowing arroyos, and waters in New Mexico's five closed basins. The decision runs contrary to a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled the Clean Water Act "did not extend to non-navigable, intrastate, isolated waters based solely on their use by migratory birds." Governor Bill Richardson said, "This ruling is a victory for clean water in New Mexico. This decision will allow the state to be immune from weakening federal protection for surface water quality that has occurred since 2001." Caren Cowan, executive Director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said the state's definition is "different and more stringent than the federal definition, and we think it is overly broad." (State of New Mexico Office of the Governor Press Release, 5-15-07; Santa Fe New Mexican, 5-16-07)
   
• The twin smokestacks in Hurley that formerly served the Phelps Dodge copper smelters were scheduled to be demolished on May 25. The smokestacks, one 625 feet tall and the other 500 feet tall, have been part of the local landscape but are no longer needed since the closure of the two smelters in 1999 and 2002. Gila Resources Information Project has filed a petition in state District Court seeking a restraining order to halt the demolition citing health concerns. Phelps-Dodge decided to delay the demolition because of the pending restraining order (Albuquerque Tribune, 5-15-07; Albuquerque Journal 5-30-07; Albuquerque Journal 5-23-07)
   
• A NMED report states that radionuclides (plutonium, strontium, and cesium) from LANL continue to be released into the soil and Rio Grande. Los Alamos and Pueblo Canyons appear to be the primary source of the contaminants. NMED recommended that LANL develop a storm water monitoring program and control sediment transport by installing weirs, restoring eroding banks, planting riparian vegetation, and restoring damaged wetlands (NMED Press Release, 5-18-07; Santa Fe New Mexican 5-18-07; Albuquerque Journal 5-19-07)

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Upcoming Meetings & Events

June 5, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque. Shirley Bailey, Federal Compliance and Business Development Specialist with Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants LLC, will present Environmental Management Systems.

June 19, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at Richie Spangler's house, 7940 Independence Drive NW, Albuquerque.

June 20, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. Cliff Ho, of Sandia National Laboratories, will discuss the Mixed Waste Landfill.

June 21, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) monthly technical meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

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

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

July 18, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. Michelle Vattanno, NMED, will discuss the NMED Pollution Prevention (P2) Program.

July 19, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) monthly technical meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

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

August 12-15, ACHMM National Conference in Washington, D.C. area at Crystal City Virginia. See ACHMM web site for more information.

August 16, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) monthly technical meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

August 21, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

August 22, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. Speaker to be announced. Note a field trip may be scheduled instead of the general meeting. Stay tuned.

September 4, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

September 18, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at CDM offices, 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE, Suite 200. All members are welcome.

September 19, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Uptown Sports Bar and Grill, 6601 Uptown Boulevard NE, Albuquerque. Speaker to be announced.

September 20, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) monthly technical meeting at Furr's Family Dining (6100 Central Avenue SE, southwest of San Pedro) in Albuquerque.

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.  (MEMBERS ONLY)

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

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