The Director briefed the participants on the status of the environmental offices in meeting our workplan objectives. The following topics were discussed:

a.) Office of Waste Management - Almost all tasks are on schedule.

b.) Office of Technical and Customer Assistance

• There has been a one-quarter slip in the schedule for producing the Pollution Prevention and Small Business Assistance guidebook. The training program for DEM personnel in pollution prevention and small business assistance is being coordinated with NEWMOA. Three half-day seminars are being planned that will be tailored to each media group's specific needs.
• A new objective has been added, to develop and support a self-sustaining, multi-disciplinary Center for Cleaner Production and Environmental Health at the University of Rhode Island. We have negotiated an MOU with Korea to support the Center (signed May 2000) and have applied for $150,000 in EPA funding.

c.) Office of Compliance and Inspection

• OC&I has dedicated 5% of the wetlands compliance staff effort to check compliance at permitted facilities.
• OC&I will be utilizing the new Immediate Compliance Order and Notice of Intent field documents for enforcement of the lead paint regulations.

d.) Office of Air Resources

• EPA has funded a project to do extensive air toxics monitoring in Providence.

e.) Office of Water Ð Alicia Good reported:

• There has been significant progress in reducing the RIPDES permit backlog since the beginning of the year. In January, 68% of the major RIPDES permits were expired and the backlog has been reduced to 32%. The Cranston, Warwick, West Warwick, and Woonsocket permits were issued in the 4^th quarter.
• The final draft of the Barrington and Runnins River TMDL was completed and is in the comment stage. Palmer River, Greenwich Bay, Green Hill Pond and the Saugatucket are in the public process stage.
• A successful wetlands open house was held with approximately 200 people attending. These were mostly homeowners and teachers interested in learning more about the wetland permitting process.
• A Wetlands Guide to Permitting has been developed and is now available.

There was a general discussion concerning the DEM policy for arsenic in soil. Arsenic is a naturally occurring substance found throughout Rhode Island. The regulatory problem is how to differentiate elevated levels of naturally occurring arsenic from spills. Terry Gray suggested that DEM has jurisdiction over a site if there is evidence of a spill. There would be a presumption that a spill occurred if the monitored value exceeded 7 ppm. Any soil that had arsenic levels less than 1.7 ppm would not trigger a regulatory response.

The Director mentioned that DEM was looking at a tiered approach that would also rely on best management practices to minimize contact with the soil. He was also interested in shifting some of the responsibility of site remediation efforts to environmental consultants. He thought that if consultants could certify their work as being accurate, it could lead to better submittal of plans and sites being cleaned up faster.

Participants raised the following concerns:

a.) The existing regulatory approach is not helpful in resolving the issue.

b.) Industrial sites take too long to be processed.

c.) It is often cost-prohibitive to clean up small sites.

d.) Virgin soil that is brought into a site can have higher levels of arsenic than the material being removed.

The Director briefed the group on bills that DEM was tracking. He passed out information that gave DEM's position and status of the bills. He briefly discussed bills that:

1. Encourages the purchase of pollution prevention equipment;
2. Brings all C&D processing facilities under the provisions of the Refuse Disposal Act;
3. Clarifies that waste oil is not a hazardous waste;
4. Requires testing requirements on certain heavy duty diesel engines;
5. Expands the prohibition of out of state waste being disposed at Central Landfill;
6. Streamlines DEM's program with regard to battery disposal and,
7. Adopts the Lead Hazard Mitigation Act.

Participants were encouraged that DEM was supportive of S2885aa, which promotes the rehabilitation of existing buildings. Director Reitsma indicated that support of this bill would help cities to rebuild existing structures rather than encouraging new building construction on farmlands. A concern was raised on the S 2957A, which deals with lead paint mitigation. The bill as currently worded would cause problems when older buildings are renovated.

A general question was raised concerning DEM's ability to track complaints and OTCA's use by the public. The group was informed that the Office of Compliance and Inspection has a complaint tracking system. Ron Gagnon mentioned that the OTCA receives almost 200 calls a day, and file reviews and pre-application meeting requests have increased. He now gets about two requests per week for pre-application meetings instead of the once per month usage rate when the office first offered the service.

The Director mentioned that DEM would be sponsoring a stakeholder steering group meeting on Greenhouse Gasses in July. We are working with the Department of Administration, Office of Statewide Planning and the Energy Office, among others, to look at opportunities to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. These reductions will be sought through higher efficiency, conservation, renewable energy sources, and alternative transportation that result in increased competitiveness of Rhode Island businesses. Any new initiatives in this area will build on existing programs.

This issue was discussed as part of the budget briefing.

Other issues that were discussed include the following: