April 2009
| PLEASE NOTE: Some newsletter content is only available to members in good standing of NMSHMM. |
- President's Message
- NMSHMM Dues - Time to Renew in April!
- Local News Stories
- Upcoming Meetings and Events
- Monthly Meeting Location
- Job Openings
- NMSHMM Officers and Committee Chairs
| Our Mission |
| To
provide environmental professionals in the Southwest a
forum for professional development, education, and networking opportunities; and to offer our community environmental, health, and safety expertise |
President's Message
Mike Sanders, CPG, CHMM
GRAM, Inc.
Hello Everyone. I am honored to have been elected NMSHMM president for the 2009/2010 year. I am looking forward to working with the board and society members on a year of growth, fun, and career growth for members.
The annual NMSHMM banquet was again held at Season's Rotisserie and Grill, in Old Town, on Friday night, March 22, 2009. Richard (Rick) Sprott (a Richie Spangler contact-thanks Richie!) was the keynote speaker for the event and talked about his involvement with the Western Governor’s Association (WGA) Western Climate Initiative (WCI). He described efforts to enact climate change legislation as a “political buzz-saw” and offered multiple interesting anecdotes about his experiences working on multiple climate change initiatives. Rick was appointed Executive Director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality by Governor Jon Huntsman in June 2007, and retired in December 2008. Rick is the current president of the Air and Waste Management Association and resides with his wife Cindy in Angel Fire.
An Unsung Hero award was presented to Eric Johnson for recognition of his years of dedicated service to NMSHMM. Eric has served as several different board positions and has maintained the monthly society newsletter for a number of years, a major contribution! He was also very involved in the NMSHMM website redesign and has played an important role in the Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management (EHMM) overview course, field trips, luncheons, and other events. Eric’s generous contributions have had a major and lasting impact in continuing the viability of NMSHMM.
The beverages, hors d’oeuvres, and main dishes were excellent again this year. Thanks to board member Sandra Martin for researching, ordering, and bringing the cloth bags that were given to the 11 members in attendance. The evening was an excellent opportunity to mingle and enjoy the company of colleagues, spouses, and friends.
Past president Brian Pence summarized major events and accomplishments completed during his reign as President in 2008/2009 (good job, Brian-thank you for your service!) My remarks during the banquet included a summary of NMSHMM events for the coming year, including:
- Wednesday, April 15, noon to 3 pm: field trip to Assaigai Analytical Laboratory in Albuquerque.
- May 21: evening dinner meeting, 6 p.m., at Tiny’s restaurant in Santa Fe. Pete Maggiore with the Los Alamos office of North Wind, Inc. will be the featured speaker.
- August 9: Isotopes Night. NMSHMM is teaming up with the Health Physics Society to bring you skybox seats, skybox food, and skybox fun.
- August 30 to September 2, 2009: Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals (AHMP) National Conference in San Diego.
- September or October: possible field trip to the Temper-Pedic mattress factory on the West Mesa.
- November 16-18: EHMM overview course at the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) District 1 offices in Albuquerque.
- December: NMSHMM social.
Please join us on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 for the tour of Assaigai Laboratory, led by Brian Pence. The dinner event at Tiny’s in Santa Fe on Thursday, May 21 will provide and opportunity to network with our northern New Mexico colleagues, and hear an interesting talk from Pete Maggiore.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our members for their commitment and dedication to the field of hazardous materials/waste and health and safety management. I look forward to working with the NMSHMM board and members this coming year to continue to make NMSHMM a vibrant and effective organization to our members and community.
NMSHMM Dues - Time to Renew in April!
Debbie Finfrock, PE, CHMM
NMSHMM Membership Chair
Your $30 membership dues for the 2009-2010 NMSHM fiscal year are due in April. Thanks to the half of you who paid through AHMP or other means. For those who have not renewed, please renew on line at our membership web page. Payment is accepted on-line by credit card or by mailing a membership form (available on the web page) and a check to NMSHMM, P.O. Box 92132, Albuquerque, NM 87199.
NMSHMM dues are still a great value - for all the professional development, networking, and social events. NMSHMM dues are the same or less than many professional organizations charge for one luncheon meeting.
Local News Stories
Compiled by Eric Johnson, AICP, CHMM
The following are news stories reported during the past month:
- Craig Tucker, Tijeras resident and Assistant Deputy Administrator of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Secure Transportation (OST), was arrested for drunk driving on January 29, 2009. His blood alcohol test results were at 0.15, almost twice the legal limit. OST is in charge of federal agents who transport, escort, and defend shipments of nuclear weapons and special nuclear materials.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-4-09; Santa Fe New Mexican, 3-2-09)
- Governor Bill Richardson sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that recommended Rio Arriba and San Juan counties for ozone attainment under the Clean Air Act. This part of New Mexico meets the 0.075 parts per million standard for ozone attainment according to Deputy Environmental Secretary Jon Goldstein. New Mexico still recommends an ozone non-attainment designation for a small area around Sunland Park in southern New Mexico.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-14-09)
- High winds are delaying construction of wind turbines at the High Lonesome Wind Ranch south of Willard. Forty wind turbines are proposed at the ranch. Wind speeds average 40 to 50 miles per hour at the site, and gusts up to 114 miles per hour have been recorded.
(Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook, 3-16-09)
- Colorado Governor Bill Ritter requested EPA to reconsider issuing a permit for the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant. Scott Tipton, a Colorado state representative from Cortez added, “Just as New Mexico would not accept toxic pollutants to be dumped by Colorado into the Rio Grande, neither should Colorado allow avoidable pollutants to flow into our state from New Mexico.”
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-17-09)
- Lions Gate Water, a Canadian Firm, filed a notice in mid-March with the Office of State Engineer to appropriate approximately 15 billion acre-feet of salty, mineral filled groundwater found below 2,500 feet. At the end of March, Governor Richardson signed a law giving the State Engineer jurisdiction over wells drilled below 2,500 feet. Bill sponsor Representative Mimi Stewart admitted that much of the damage had already been done: “Some say this is sort of like closing the barn door after all the horses have escaped.”
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-21-09 and 3-31-09)
- The City of Farmington’s electrical utility is considering construction of a natural gas powered plant to generate electricity. Alternatives to the plant would be renewable energy or expansion of Farmington’s existing power plant.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-23-09)
- Dairies and feedlots will be required to report ammonia and hydrogen sulfide air emissions under an EPA regulation that became effective on January 20, 2009. Feedlots affected include concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) with more than 750 dairy cows or 1,000 non-dairy cows as well as certain poultry and swine facilities.
(Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook, 3-23-09)
- The DOE applied to recertify the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) with the EPA. DOE must recertify every five years to show compliance with EPA regulations for disposal of radioactive waste. The DOE will also reapply for a state hazardous waste permit for mixed and chemical waste with NMED.
(Carlsbad Current Argus, 3-24-09)
- On March 23rd, U.S Representative Ben Ray Lujan’s Farmington office and several Farmington city hall offices were evacuated when a suspicious package was found outside Representative Lujan’s office. After two hours of field testing by the Farmington Fire Department hazardous materials team, the package was determined not to be a threat.
(Farmington Daily Times, 3-24-09)
- Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and First Solar Inc. announced their proposal to develop a 30-megawatt solar energy facility on a site west of I-25 near New Mexico State Highway 58 between Springer and Cimarron. The 250-acre site is on Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch. The project would consist of 500,000, 2-foot by 4-foot photovoltaic panels, which would be one of the largest solar energy facilities in the country. The facility is located next to an existing 115-kilovolt transmission line.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-25-09)
- WIPP celebrated its 10th anniversary on March 25. The first shipment of transuranic radioactive waste arrived at WIPP in the early morning of March 25, 1999. In the past 10 years, WIPP has accepted more than 7,200 transuranic waste shipments, which resulted in the cleanup of 14 transuranic waste generator sites nationwide.
(Carlsbad Current Argus, 3-25-09)
- The New Mexico State Supreme Court ruled that the New Mexico Oil and Conservation Division (OCD) does not have the authority to levy fines against companies, and fines must be processed through the New Mexico Attorney’s General Office and the courts. “We believe the OCD needs to have the ability to regulate our industry, and we believe the OCD has the ability to regulate our industry. Our only issue is the fact that, at times, the OCD appears to be the sheriff, prosecutor, judge, jury and hangman,” said Raye P. Miller, of Marbob Energy Corporation, who filed the suit. “We’re going to have to fall back and regroup,” responded Mark Fesmire, OCD Director.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-26-09)
- NMED issued a 5-year conditional permit for the Red Rocks Regional Landfill, which serves McKinley and Cibola counties. NMED made the permit conditional because of past regulatory violations.
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-27-09)
- Contaminated soil and groundwater were discovered at the new Santa Fe district courthouse site under construction at Sandoval Street and Montezuma Avenue. The contamination is believed to come from three gas stations that were in the area from the 1920’s through 1970s.
(Santa Fe New Mexican, 3-27-09)
- With Yucca Mountain in Nevada no longer being considered as a nuclear waste repository, Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest intends to lobby for such a project somewhere in the 250 million-year-old salt beds east of Carlsbad. Roger Nelson, chief scientist for DOE’s Carlsbad Field office mentioned: “The safest way to isolated something that you don’t want for a very, very long time is find an ancient salt formation and put your waste in the middle. New Mexico Environmental Secretary Ron Curry has a different perspective: “The federal government must abide by the promise it made to New Mexicans more than a decade ago and focus on WIPP’s original purpose to dispose of only transuranic waste. We will vigorously oppose any attempt to expand or alter the mission of WIPP to allow high-level waste.”
(Albuquerque Journal, 3-29-09)
- A total of $384 million from the federal stimulus plan will be used for cleanup activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and WIPP. LANL will receive $212 million through 2011 to clean up contamination at areas such as the DP Mesa site and the Tritium System Test Assembly Building. WIPP will receive $172 million to prepare waste sites at various locations in the United States to send waste shipments to WIPP.
(Albuquerque Journal, 4-1-09)
- Isotopes Inc. plans to construct a $93 million facility to extract fluorine gases from tailings produced by uranium enrichment. The facility would be constructed on a 600-acre site located approximately 15 miles west of Hobbs. Tailings from the Louisiana Energy Services national Enrichment Center in Eunice would provide the tailings for fluorine gas extraction. (Albuquerque Journal, 4-1-09)
|
Society luncheon meetings are held at
Golden Corral Buffet on Central and Eubank (10415 Central Avenue NE) at 11:30 on the third Wednesday of the month (except Mar. and Dec.) |
| April 2009 |
April 7, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
April 9, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
April 14, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at GRAM offices, 8500 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
April 15, Noon-3:00 pm, Assaigai Analytical Laboratories Field Trip, 4301 Masthead NE. Tour will be followed by lunch. Optional box lunches will be available for price of $11. NOTE: Attendees who do not cancel 24 hours in advance must pay for their box lunch, if a lunch was ordered. Please send reservations to by April 13.
| May 2009 |
May 5, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
May 14, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
May 19, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at GRAM offices, 8500 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
May 21, 6:00 pm, NMSHMM Dinner/General Meeting in Santa Fe, Tiny’s Restaurant, 1015 Pen Road in Santa Fe. Speaker will be Pete Maggiore, of Northwind Inc, on Los Alamos National Laboratory Environmental Restoration Projects. NOTE: Dinner orders must be place 24 hours in advance to obtain separate tickets. Please send reservations to by May 19.
| June 2009 |
June 2, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
June 11, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
June 16, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at GRAM offices, 8500 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
June 17, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Golden Corral (10415 Central NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. Speaker to be announced.
| July 2009 |
July 7, 11:30 am, New Mexico Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) monthly meeting at the Golden Corral (10415 Central Avenue NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. For more information, e-mail .
July 9, New Mexico Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) technical meeting, Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 2004 Wyoming Blvd. NE. For more information, e-mail .
July 14, 5:30 pm, NMSHMM Board Meeting at GRAM offices, 8500 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque. All members are welcome.
July 15, 11:30 am, NMSHMM Luncheon/General Meeting at Golden Corral (10415 Central NE, northeast of Eubank) in Albuquerque. Speaker to be announced.
| August 2009 |
August 9, Isotopes Night. NMSHMM and the Health Physics Society will share a skybox at the game.
August 30 - September 2, AHMP National Conference, San Diego. For more information see AHMP web site at www.achmm.org
| November 2009 |
November 16-18, Essentials of Hazardous Materials Management (EHMM) Course presented by NMSHMM at the NMED Albuquerque office, 5500 San Antonio Drive NE. For more information, please click here.
Did we miss something? To get your event added to the calendar please contact Eric Johnson at .
|
Society business meetings are
held at
AMEC Earth and Environmental, 8519 Jefferson NE, at 5:00 on the third Tuesday of the month (except Mar. and Dec.) |
Our regular monthly meetings are held at Golden Corral Buffet on Central and Eubank (10415 Central Avenue NE - 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.
For the latest job openings, please click here. (MEMBERS ONLY)
NMSHMM OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS
|
Officers:
President
Past-President
President-Elect
Treasurer
Secretary
At-Large Director At-Large Director |
Committee Chairs: Communication Education/Professional
Development
Membership |
Please send contributions for future newsletters to Eric Johnson at . Thanks!