Water Supply and Irrigation System -Industry Report
Your industry reports should tell about the industry, what they do or make, how they affect the environment, what kinds of pollution controls (P2 or engineering controls) they have in place, and what types of permits they routinely must have. You may use your weekly readings and discussion board postings as a foundation and build content for your report. I do expect your final technical report to be much more comprehensive. The rubric will include points for technical writing style, organization, presentation, technical accuracy, and discussing each of the Federal laws that we have covered in this course and addressing how they affect your chosen industry (currently or in the past). If you have chosen an industry which isn’t regulated by some of the major laws but does have other federal or state regulations, please write your paper accordingly. For example, if your industry doesn’t generate hazardous waste but is more heavily regulated by other environmental laws pertaining to aquaculture, you may shift your discussions to those laws.
There have been a few questions about the industry reports and how to submit them. Some students have asked if they could be completed early. Some of you wanted to know if I would post the grading rubric. Please post your assignment here. When you submit your report please submit it as an attached electronic file. Give it a unique title using in this format: Your course number and section, the semester, your first initial & last name, and the type of industry. (For example: ESCI4301W01_S15_JSmith_NAICS32519_PetroChem.doc). The report should be in final APA format (single-spaced). It must be submitted through the SafeAssign plagiarism checker. You can use the SafeAssign program to evaluate the originality of your report and I highly recommend that you do so.
I expect that all of the major Federal (US) regulations covered in this class and in your textbooks will be mentioned in your industry reports. I also expect students to identify any and every federal environmental regulation that pertains to their selected industry. You may also mention state regulations, industry standards and guidelines, and international treaties if they apply. If a student has selected a relatively low environmental impact industry (for example: ice-cream cone manufacturing) and you are absolutely sure that no ice cream cone manufacturers have ever generated RCRA wastes and have never contributed to a superfund site, then say so as you mention each of those regulations in your report. If I know about an ice cream cone manufacturer that contributed to a Superfund site and you did’t find it then that will be a serious grade deduction. On the other hand, since you might not find any reference to any of our studied regulations for ice cream cone manufacturers, you will surely have to justify your industry selection by writing about other federal environmental regulations…..not just regulations, but environmental regulations.
Please do not “pad” your report with a lot of superfluous verbiage. Don’t just regurgitate paragraphs about what one specific law is or does. I really don’t want to read about the basics of the laws in these reports. I do want to see specifically how the laws relate to your selected industry. Each semester students spend pages talking about RCRA or CERCLA when their industry has no real connection to those laws. For example: If your industry has never produced any hazardous waste and no company in the industry is listed as a generator, then simply state, “The ______ industry has never generated any hazardous waste and is not regulated under RCRA”. Be sure. Have they generated asbestos when taking out old boilers or insulation? Are companys in your industry typically LQGs, SQGs, or CESQGs?
Other information necessary
Is your industry generally compliant? Discuss either how they benefit from lax enforcement or to what degree they have cleaned up their emissions since the CAA was passed. What kind of air pollution control systems do they use and how much is it costing per year? Are there any significant differences in the enforcement of air pollution control regulations in your industry between the states or countries where they operate? Think about every aspect of the industry. Consider their vehicles, their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, boilers, diesel motors, laboratories, and any products they use. Do not just look at the smokestacks. Think about indoor air quality. If you selected the agriculture industry, think about the air emissions of irrigation pumps, crop dusting, and fertilizing or pest control with gases. If you selected the construction industry or waste disposal consider the gases and fumes; but also consider the dust they create from driving on roads. All of these are relevant air emissions for this discussion and for your industry report. Note: Most of you have been using these discussion forums to begin development of your industry reports. That is why I post them and what they are designed to do. If possible, you should stay focused on your industry with the postings and with your industry reports. If your chosen industry does not have any air emissions, then try to expand to associated industries that will give you something to write about. Those of you who have chosen the agricultural industry for example might want to discuss the diesel emissions from diesel powered irrigation pumps or the odors from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
What water contaminants does your industry typically have to manage? Does your industry typically get their own NPDES permit and discharge to the waters of the state or do they pre-treat and discharge to a POTW? What kinds of pollution control systems and chemicals do they use? Do you have a feel for how expensive this compliance is? Are there typically penalties for exceedences?
