practical tips for environmental managers

7182019 Practical Tips for Environmental Managers

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983209 2002 Environmental Management and Training LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PO Box 538 Union WA 98592-0538

Toll Free 1-877-EPA-LAWS Tel 360-898-1114 eFax 760-284-6219

normanproactenvcom wwwproactenvcom

1

Practical Tips for Environmental Managers

By Norman S Wei

9832099832092002 Environmental Management and Training LLC

Congratulations - so you are now in charge of your companyrsquos environmental compliance programs Here are some practical tips you can use to excel in your job

1 Stay current with environmental regulations If you are responsible for environmental

compliance you should make a practice of visiting EPArsquos website at least once a weekAlso make a point of checking your state agencyrsquos website since state regulations can be

and often are more stringent than federal requirements Join your trade association Thereis a good chance that it will have a committee monitoring any changes in regulationsspecific to your industry

Some environmental managers subscribe to rather expensive newsletters or services to

track changes in regulations These services generally cover the entire 40 CFR (Title 40of the Codes of Federal Regulations) Keep in mind that regulations do not and cannotchange overnight By law any proposed changes in regulations would require a public

comment period Visiting agenciesrsquo websites and keeping taps of your trade associationrsquosmonitoring activities will often suffice

2 Make sure plants personnel have ownership It is critical that the folks who areresponsible for implementing any plans have ownership of those plans If you hire

consultants to prepare these plans for you make sure the plant personnel are involvedduring the development stage Also ensure that these plans are straightforward and easy

to implement Focus on quality rather than quantity If people canrsquot understand the plan

or if it is too cumbersome or wordy nothing will be implemented

3 Support plants with funding requests As the corporate or plant environmentalmanager it is your job to make sure the plant has the necessary funding to comply with

environmental requirements When you discover a non-compliance issue at the plant youshould sit down with the person in charge and offer to prepare a capital appropriationrequest if necessary It is then your job to follow through the request with senior

management to get it approved in a timely manner

4 Choose consultants and vendors carefully The key point here is not to be mesmerized by those ldquofull servicerdquo large firms The success of your project hinges on the quality of

the consultant assigned to it Several decades ago a number of large consulting firms didhave excellent reputation among regulatory agencies in that if these firms worked on your projects the agencies would pretty much accept these consultantsrsquo work Unfortunately

this landscape has changed dramatically as a result of mergers and acquisitions amongthe consulting firms Name does not mean much any more You really need to focus onthe individual consultantrsquos capability instead of the firmrsquos reputation Never hire big







2

firms to do small jobs for you (For more insights on selecting consultants read myarticles in the July and September 2002 issues of this magazine)

5 Choose your TSDF carefully Given the Superfund Lawrsquos joint and several liability

provision you want to minimize the chance that the place where you ship your hazardous

wastes to (Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility) will turn into a Superfund site Duediligence is needed here Do not rely solely on the waste transporter to determine when

your wastes end up

Many big corporations often have purchasing policies that require you to obtain threequotes and select the lowest bidder Such policy may not work with environmental projects due to the ldquojoint and severalrdquo liability aspects of the Superfund law For

example in the case of hazardous waste disposal you should always go with thetransporter and disposal site that are least likely to incur Superfund liability for you

Often these are not the lowest bidders You need to do your own due diligence

6 Be prepared for the next spillaccident Develop an employee response plan Ask

yourself the question ldquoWhat happens when there is a chemical spill at the plantrdquo Makesure there is an up-to-date contingency plan at the plant ndash one that is easy to read and

implementable If the document is too unyielding simplify it Again you are going forquality rather than quantity Prepare easy to follow instructions for your staff in the eventof a spill No one is going to follow a convoluted set of procedures in the event of an

emergency It is also a good idea to do a ldquopost mortemrdquo after a chemical spill todetermine what caused the accident and share this finding with your other plants

7 Work effectively with agencies Much of your job involves negotiation with regulatoryagencies ndash whether you are applying for a permit or trying to reduce a proposed penalty

It is to your benefit to maintain a good professional working relationship with theseagencies And you should make sure that your plant management also does the same In

most cases an antagonistic or adversary relationship with the agencies that have the laws behind them will only drain your limited resources with an unfavorable outcome Makesure your consultant does not have a bad reputation with the agency (For more insights

on working with agencies see my article in the March 2002 issue)

8 Review your draft permit If you apply for a permit and the agency has issued you adraft permit take the time immediately to review it carefully before it becomes final Thisis the window of opportunity to resolve any remaining problematic issues with the

agency You can still negotiate with the agency to get things changed at this stage Oncethe permit becomes final you will often have to go through a lengthy complicated and

costly permit modification process if you need changes made

9 Do not write too many internal memos - especially confidential memos Unless you

feel comfortable seeing your ldquoconfidentialrdquo memo published on the front page of the New York Times donrsquot write it The more confidential the memo the more likelihood

that it will be copied and distributed If you walk through a plant and see problems go sit







3

down with the person in charge of the plant and try to resolve the issue without writingself-incriminating memos that are distributed all over the company These types of CYA

memo donrsquot carry you too far because in the final analysis you are responsible forresolving the problem

10 Restrict distribution of memos or emails It is a common practice in big corporations tohave long distribution lists for internal memos It seems that everyone wants to be

included especially if a senior officer is the recipient of that memo You need to strike a balance between keeping people informed and maintaining control of sensitive

information Try to restrict memo distribution to only those who have a REAL need toknow This is particularly true if a legally privileged document is involved Once a privileged document is disclosed to a third party who has no need to know the privilege

is considered waived Consult you legal counsel concerning how best to protect yourdocuments

11 Make connection with your in-house consul Make a point of inviting your in-houseattorney to your plants so that the attorney has a clear understanding of the environmental

issues facing you When the real need for legal consul occurs later the attorney will beable to work with you in a much more effective manner At least he wonrsquot have to ask

you what type of widgets you make

12 Establish and communicate your environmental policy Every company should have a

clearly laid out corporate environmental policy It does not need to be a 50-page manualThe policy should be signed off by a senior executive (CEO or VP of Environmental

Affair) and communicated to all employees Many companies do an excellent job ofcommunicating and implementing their safety policies The simple reason is that it ismuch easier for senior management to track safety performance than it is for

environmental performance When a companyrsquos safety program is working wellmanagement will see an immediate reduction in workers compensation It shows a clear

cost-benefit relationship (or return on investment) to senior management Environmental performance is more along the line of cost (penalty) avoidance and is much more difficultto track and it does not show immediate cost savings in most cases You may have to

swallow your pride and follow the lead of your safety program Because thatrsquos where theaction is for most senior management

13 Document all your good faith efforts Remember ndash everything is negotiable with theagencies If you should ever incur a violation and the agency proposes to impose a fine

on your facility your record of past good faith efforts will come in handy If you or moreimportantly your plant maintains a good professional working relationship with the

agencies the chance of getting your penalty reduced is that much greater

14 Provide environmental training Not all training is necessary for all people It depends

on the responsibilities of your employees EPA-related training requirements are oftenvague and non-prescriptive in nature You need to determine what level of training is







4

need for a particular job skill But whatever you do make sure you document all yourtraining efforts

15 Set up a document retention policy Every company should have a document retention

policy This is a policy that states that all internal memos not required to be kept by law

will be routinely destroyed after a specified period of time This prevents sensitivedocuments from being discovered later in a legal proceeding You should also make sure

that your employees understand that it is illegal to destroy any documents once agovernment agency has requested those documents as part of a legal proceeding or

investigation Such action could lead to charges of obstruction of justice A case in pointthe worldrsquos largest public accounting firm was brought down because it was found guiltyof obstruction of justice in connection with the Enron scandal

16 Perform due diligence before you lease or buy propertiescompanies If your

company is planning to lease or purchase a piece of property you should insist that aPhase I environmental assessment be performed on it Phase II may be needed based onthe findings of the initial assessment The purpose here is to quantify the environmental

status of the property in terms of pre-existing pollution so that when it comes time toreturn the leased property to the owner you will have an environmental baseline as a

reference Without the baseline your landlord could demand that you return the propertyto him in a pristine condition

17 Minimize hazardous waste generation The only way to reduce your long-term liabilityis to minimize the amount of hazardous wastes that is generated Many companies are

working with their solventpaint suppliers to formulate low VOC content material Thiswill reduce your waste disposal costs and also your annual air emission fees In somestates such as California your annual air emission fees can be very high and it pays to do

waste minimization

About the author Norman S Wei is the founder and principal ofEnvironmental Management and Training LLC a consulting and trainingfirm based in Union Washington He can be reached by email at

normanproactenvcom His company website is wwwproactenvcom Toll

free phone 1-877-EPA-LAWS







2

firms to do small jobs for you (For more insights on selecting consultants read myarticles in the July and September 2002 issues of this magazine)

5 Choose your TSDF carefully Given the Superfund Lawrsquos joint and several liability

provision you want to minimize the chance that the place where you ship your hazardous

wastes to (Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility) will turn into a Superfund site Duediligence is needed here Do not rely solely on the waste transporter to determine when

your wastes end up

Many big corporations often have purchasing policies that require you to obtain threequotes and select the lowest bidder Such policy may not work with environmental projects due to the ldquojoint and severalrdquo liability aspects of the Superfund law For

example in the case of hazardous waste disposal you should always go with thetransporter and disposal site that are least likely to incur Superfund liability for you

Often these are not the lowest bidders You need to do your own due diligence

6 Be prepared for the next spillaccident Develop an employee response plan Ask

yourself the question ldquoWhat happens when there is a chemical spill at the plantrdquo Makesure there is an up-to-date contingency plan at the plant ndash one that is easy to read and

implementable If the document is too unyielding simplify it Again you are going forquality rather than quantity Prepare easy to follow instructions for your staff in the eventof a spill No one is going to follow a convoluted set of procedures in the event of an

emergency It is also a good idea to do a ldquopost mortemrdquo after a chemical spill todetermine what caused the accident and share this finding with your other plants

7 Work effectively with agencies Much of your job involves negotiation with regulatoryagencies ndash whether you are applying for a permit or trying to reduce a proposed penalty

It is to your benefit to maintain a good professional working relationship with theseagencies And you should make sure that your plant management also does the same In

most cases an antagonistic or adversary relationship with the agencies that have the laws behind them will only drain your limited resources with an unfavorable outcome Makesure your consultant does not have a bad reputation with the agency (For more insights

on working with agencies see my article in the March 2002 issue)

8 Review your draft permit If you apply for a permit and the agency has issued you adraft permit take the time immediately to review it carefully before it becomes final Thisis the window of opportunity to resolve any remaining problematic issues with the

agency You can still negotiate with the agency to get things changed at this stage Oncethe permit becomes final you will often have to go through a lengthy complicated and

costly permit modification process if you need changes made

9 Do not write too many internal memos - especially confidential memos Unless you

feel comfortable seeing your ldquoconfidentialrdquo memo published on the front page of the New York Times donrsquot write it The more confidential the memo the more likelihood

that it will be copied and distributed If you walk through a plant and see problems go sit







3



























4













waste minimization










3



























4













waste minimization










4













waste minimization




practical tips for environmental managers

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