Is your career COMPASS pointing you towards a career in geography, GIS, or urban planning? Don’t let a lack of planning leave you out in the TUNDRA. Join our panel of professionals as they discuss the variety of career opportunities in the fields of geography and urban planning. This event will provide you with the opportunity to network with professionals who represent academic, government sector, private industries, and more. NAVIGATING your career plans requires that you utilize your available RESOURCES, ABSORB the information around you, DEVELOP yourself, BUILD your network, and PLAN for the future. We are confident that this session will help you DESIGN your personal ROAD MAP to success.

Speakers include:

Darrin Domingo, MBA, REA II, CHMM, Principal, EDI Consultants, Inc., UCLA Alumnus 1993

Jeffry Carpenter, City Planner, City Of Los Angeles, UCLA Alumnus 1971

Gerald Gubatan, Senior Planner, Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), UCLA Alumnus 1983

Michael Shin, PhD, Associate Professor, UCLA Geography Department

Bart B. Sokolow, D.Env., P.E., R.E.A., President, EnvironmentalAdvisors, Inc., UCLA Alumnus

Dallas, Texas – March 31, 2010) Today, EPA disapproved the Qualified Facilities exemption rule that TCEQ had submitted for inclusion in its federally approved State Implementation Plan. The rule allows companies that have Texas issued air permits to avoid certain federal clean-air requirements including public review when they modify their plants. EPA has determined that this regulation does not meet several federal Clean Air Act requirements. “Today’s action improves transparency by requiring companies that modify their operations to notify the public and will assure that all air emitting sources are properly permitted under the Clean Air Act,” said Al Armendariz, Regional Administrator. “Improved public review will better inform our communities about the environmental conditions where they live.” The Clean Air Act ensures that businesses across the country operate efficiently and cleanly. Under the Act, all states must develop plans for meeting federal requirements to protect pubic health, including an air permitting program. Since EPA approved Texas’ major clean-air permitting plan in 1992, the state has submitted over 30 regulatory changes to the EPA approved plan. Today’s action represents final agency decision on one of those regulatory changes. In September 2009, EPA issued a Federal Register Notice proposing to disapprove the TCEQ’s Qualified Facilities Program and invited public comment. EPA has completed its careful review of comments and is now issuing its final decision. EPA has been meeting with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, industry representatives, and environmental groups to discuss deficiencies with air emission permits issued by the state agency to industry in the state. These discussions have led to Texas proposing new rules used to issue permits. EPA intends to work with the state and interested parties as air quality permits are transitioned in a gradual and structured manner to be consistent with state and federal law. EPA is committed to a close partnership with industry, environmental organizations, and community leaders as we work with the state to update the state-issued permits. In July 2009, EPA and Business Coalition for Clean Air (BCCA) Appeal Group, Texas Association of Business, and Texas Oil and Gas Association reached an agreement regarding the timing of federal review of regulatory changes to Texas’ air permitting program. EPA is likely to issue final decisions on two additional changes--the Flexible Permits Program and New Source Review Reform regulations—before the end of the year.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to revoke a January 2009 rule that changed the way existing industrial facilities combine upcoming construction projects to determine if Clean Air Act permits are needed.

EPA is concerned that the changes made last year to its “aggregation policy” would make the agency’s New Source Review permitting program less effective, allowing facilities to increase emissions that may impact air quality without a thorough review.

The new proposal responds to a petition to reconsider the 2009 rule. The 2009 rule directed facilities and permitting authorities to combine emissions from construction projects only when the changes are “substantially related,” such as having more in common than the timing of construction.

EPA is proposing to go back to its original policy, which required combining projects based on a broader range of factors. This would ensure that potential emissions increases that could harm air quality do not avoid review and the installation of state-of-the-art pollution controls.

New Source Review is a pre-construction permitting program to ensure air quality is maintained when factories, industrial boilers and power plants are built or modified. The program ensures that state-of-the art emission control technology is installed at new plants or existing plants that are undergoing a major modification.

EPA also is proposing to extend the effective date of the 2009 aggregation rule for an additional six months, to give the agency time to complete the reconsideration. EPA will take comment on the proposal rule for 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. More information: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/actions.html.

A federal appeals court Dec. 29, 2009, affirmed a $3.1 million judgment in favor of the United States against Raytheon Aircraft Co. in a case stemming from trichloroethylene contamination at an airport in Herington, Kan. (Raytheon Aircraft Co. v. United States, 10th Cir., No. 08-3237, 12/29/09).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a trial court judgment under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, saying Raytheon had not established that the assessment of the response costs was in error.

The dispute involved trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination at the Tri-County Public Airport, which the U.S. Army had used from 1942 to 1945. In a May 2008 bench trial, the federal district court found no support for Raytheon's claims that the company was not the sole source of the seven-mile plume of TCE contamination (Raytheon Aircraft Co. v. United States, 556 F. Supp. 2d 1265, 67 ERC 1805 (D. Kan. 2008)).

Raytheon is a successor to Beech Aircraft Corp., which operated the airfield during the 1950s. The Army used TCE during World War II to remove grease from airplane parts. The United States and Raytheon agreed they were the only two potentially liable parties for the contamination, which was confirmed in the groundwater by the state of Kansas during the mid-1990s. After the Environmental Protection Agency was notified, it conducted an expanded site inspection and remedial investigation and concluded the TCE contamination was from Beech's use of vapor degreasers at the site.

Raytheon unsuccessfully argued it was not solely liable for the contamination at the site and $3.1 million in response costs. The Tenth Circuit explained that when the government seeks recovery of its costs, the burden of proof on the question lies with the defendant. The trial court concluded Raytheon had not established the assessment of such costs was in error and the appellate court affirmed the determination.

Text of the decision is available at http://www.ck10.uscourts.gov/opinions/08/08-3237.pdf