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INSIDE

THIS ISSUE

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New EPA Ruling

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Charleston Office Moves

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Louisiana Office Moving Soon 2

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The Year in Review 2009 3

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2009 Appalachian RegionalReforestation Initiative4

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24-Hour Emergency Response 5

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Brian Parker to Serve asVice-Chairman

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2010 Transportation ResearchBoard Environment andEnergy Research Conference

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Virginia DEQ State LeadContract Awarded

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Energy Mineral LawFoundation6

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A Five-Year Saga Comes toan End and MM&A Brings the Water Home to IlukaResources

New EPA Ruling for UndergroundCoal Mines

On June 28, 2010, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, signed subpart FF (Underground Coal Mines)into effect as part of the Mandatory Reporting Rule (MRR). Beginning January 2011 and reportingin March 2012, Underground Coal mines will now have to report CH4emissions under the MRR. Itappears that at least quarterly sampling and analysis of CH4data will be required of all VentilationAir Methane (VAM), degas, and Coalbed Methane (CBM) efforts. For more information go to:http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgrulemaking.html

Charleston Office Moves

Charleston staff members moved into theirnew offices on June 25. The new addressfor this office is: 601 Morris Street, Suite 204,Charleston, WV 25301, Tel: (304) 344-3970, Fax:(304) 344-3986.The new office is across from theAppalachian Power Park, the new home of theSouth Atlantic League West Virginia Power.

Louisiana Office MovingSoon

This August, Shreveport staff are making amove to be more centrally located. This movewill provide for the expansion of the office tobetter serve the needs of our clients. The newaddress for the Shreveport office will be: 910Pierremont Road, Suite 117, Shreveport, LA71106, Tel: (318) 848-4848, Fax: (318) 848-4849.

Marshall Miller & Associates

ranked a top 500 engineering firm in ENRmagazine for the eleventh year in a row!

For more information regardingany news story, contact TracyPaine at (804) 314-1684 or e-mailat

tracy.paine@mma

.com

MILLER HILITES

ISSUE 021 • SUMMER 2010

Office Locations in KS, KY, LA, NC, PA, TN, VA, WV

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The Year in Review 2009

By Steven M. Carpenter, Corporate Risk Manager/Director - CarbonManagementThis summer, the American Bar Association, Section of Environment,Energy and Resources, in conjunction with the National Energy –Environment Law and Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa College ofLaw, Marshall Miller & Associates Carbon and Environmental staff werehonored to author and edit the “Site Remediation” section of the annualreport. The report was edited by Steve Carpenter and co-authored by KhalilPorter and Amy Hendershot. The following is a summary of the section.With the passage of the 2009 Stimulus Bill, the issuance of the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mandatory Reporting of GreenhouseGases Rule (MRR) in September, additions made to the MRR this pastspring to include the Oil & Gas industry as well as the Carbon Capture andStorage systems, along with a lackluster December at the United NationsClimate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 2009 proved to be a year ofenvironmental consciousness among many Americans and the rest of theworld. Within the environmental industry, there is a constant battle to dowhat’s best for the environment, and the reality of a lack of funding to do so.Not surprisingly, the economic uncertainty surrounding the real estateand manufacturing industries contributed to a significant slowdown inremedial activity with almost half of remediation firms reporting flat tonegative revenue growth between 2008 and 2009. On the other hand, almost three quarters of firms reporting any increase in remedial activity at thefederal, state, and local levels, were likely a result of the economic stimuluspackage.The environmental industry is late to the information age; however, thereis a growing trend towards capturing, storing, transferring, and visualizingsite data into actionable, decisive digital information. Access to easilyunderstood site information facilitates communication among key partiesand provides real-time quality assurance to field activities, as well asongoing project budget controls not available to the traditional “waiting for the lab analysis” approach. Most consulting firms have implemented somedegree of digital record keeping and visualization tools. However, these tools remain an area where much is needed in terms of standardization,efficiency, and cost control.The global marketplace is expending a great deal of effort in understandingand implementing concepts of sustainability. These efforts have beenextended to the field of site remediation on a number of fronts. Leading theeffort primarily in, but not limited to, the United States is the SustainableRemediation Forum (SuRF). Additionally, measures have been taken atEPA, state, and project levels to implement elements of sustainabilitywhen considering options for site remediation, including lowering theoverall carbon footprint and considering the social impact of the remedialactivities. Specific actions taken include the use of alternative energysources, requiring the use of low-sulfur or biodiesel fuels for equipment, andminimizing the transportation activities associated with site remediation.With the 2009 U.S. economy in a state of crisis rivaling that of the GreatDepression, President Obama signed the Stimulus Bill into law in February2009. In addition to prioritizing education and lowering healthcare costs, theStimulus Bill also allocated moneys to environmental cleanup projects whichwould in turn create new green jobs that would be higher paying and couldnot be outsourced.The Stimulus Bill allocated $18.8 billion for environmental projects related to clean water, flood control, and environmental remediation; $7.22 billion of those funds will be administered by the EPA for its programs that “protectand promote both green jobs and a healthier environment.” The EPA is givingpriority to projects that can be started and completed expeditiously, whichwill likely give new life to environmental projects that were shovel-ready butunable to receive funding.From the EPA budget, $600 million is to be used for the remediation ofsuperfund sites and uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites that threaten human health and the environment. As of December 28, 2009, theEPA had 1,270 sites on its National Priority List, generally considered themost contaminated sites in the nation. Many Superfund sites are ready forconstruction, but lacked funding due to budget shortfalls. Over 600 sites withongoing construction could be accelerated. As the ramped-up spendingallows more of the Superfund sites to be remediated, there is also thepotential for the EPA to increase its litigation efforts to recoup the cleanupcosts from the responsible parties.The EPA will administer $100 million in competitive grants to evaluateand remediate Brownfield sites (former industrial and commercialsites contaminated with hazardous components which complicate theredevelopment or reuse of the site). In 2008, the EPA was only able to fund37% of its Brownfield applications. The stimulus moneys are aimed atremediating more of these sites to take them from problem properties toproductive community use.The Stimulus Bill also allocated $200 million to the EPA for cleanupof petroleum from leaking underground storage tank (UST) systems atapproximately 1,600 additional sites. As of September 2009, the EPA hadconfirmed over 488,000 UST releases. There are an estimated 116,000 siteswith the potential to contaminate important water supplies.As the EPA moves the designated funds to the state level, Americans willbe able to see the stimulus moneys impacting their environment by cleaningup their local neighborhoods. As the EPA Administrator Jackson noted, it is a“perfect example of economic growth and environmental protection workinghand in hand to the benefit of all Americans.”The utilization of nanomaterials as a contaminated site remediation tool israpidly gaining momentum in the environmental cleanup industry. The timeand cost required for cleanup has a significant influence on the remediationstrategy, particularly considering the current state of the U.S. economy.Nanomaterials have proven to have the potential to reduce the costs and time of remediating contaminated sites, as well as eliminate the need for treatment and removal of contaminated media in the cleanup process.The application of nanomaterials at contaminated sites is still in its infancy,but is rapidly evolving. The production of nanomaterials for remediation is trending to increase significantly over the next decade. The most recentadvances in nanomaterial technology are the ability to design and producematerials that are geared for specific remedial solutions, and eliminate thegeneration of undesirable remediation byproducts.

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Nanotechnology is defined as “the understanding and control of matterat dimensions between approximately one and one hundred nanometers,where unique phenomena enable . . .” properties not commonly displayedby particles of the same material at a macroscale. “One nanometer isone billionth of a meter.” “Nano-sized particles have large surface areasrelative to their volumes and may have enhanced chemical and biologicalreactivity.” This allows for increased contact with contaminants, therebyresulting in rapid reduction of contaminant concentrations. “Because of their minute size, nanomaterials may pervade very small spaces in thesubsurface and remain suspended in groundwater, which would allow theparticles to travel farther than macro-sized particles and achieve widerdistribution.”Despite high performance and low cost potential of nanomaterialremediation, there are unanswered questions regarding the fate and transport of remaining free nanomaterials in the environment. The EPA hassuggested that further research is needed to understand “whether theyare persistent, and if they have toxicological effects on various biologicalsystems.” Nevertheless, nanomaterials are being applied at an increasingnumber of sites with varying geologies, resulting in a large number of thesites meeting remediation goals.

2009 Appalachian RegionalReforestation Initiative (ARRI) Award

Tim Probert (left) MM&A senior scientist/forester is pictured with Keith Porterfield, Assistant Director, WVDEP from the Oak Hill Regional office,at an Arbor Day/ tree planting event on reclaimed surface-mined lands of Cliffs Natural Resources near Pineville, WV.

Tim Probert, Senior Project Scientist/Forester with the EnvironmentalScience Department in Bluefield, Virginia recently received the 2009 WestVirginia State Award for Excellence in Reforestation. This award waspresented by Thomas Shope, Director, Appalachian Regional Office, UnitedStates Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining during an ArborDay celebration and tree planting event attended by several federal andstate local agencies and dignitaries. Also on hand were local environmentaland watershed groups and students from Wyoming County high schools.The event was held on reclaimed surface mined lands presently owned byCliffs Natural Resources near Pineville, WV.Tim was also recognized at the 2010 Joint Mining Reclamation Conferenceheld in Pittsburgh, PA on June 8th, during an awards luncheon sponsoredby the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative group. He waspresented this award for exemplary performance incorporating the ForestryReclamation Approach (FRA) during surface mine reclamation. The FRAincludes 5 basic steps, which include: 1) Creating a suitable rooting mediumfor good tree growth that is no less than four feet deep and comprised of topsoil, weathered sandstone and/or the best available material; 2) Looselygrading the minesoil established in step one to create a non-compactedgrowth medium; 3) Using ground covers that are compatible with growing trees; 4) Planting early successional tree species for wildlife and soilstability and commercially valuable crop trees; and 5) Using proper treeplanting techniques.Tim has a B.S. degree in Forest Resource Management and an M.S. inForestry from West Virginia University. He has over 25 years of experiencein forest management, environmental science and reforestation of surfacemined lands in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. Tim has been involvedin reforestation research on surface mined lands, co-authoring researchpapers and articles, and has spoken at conferences and workshops on the topic of reforestation. He has been closely involved with the evolutionof forestland planting plans, permitting and oversight of post-miningreforestation for many coal company clients since the mid 1980’s and helpedadvance and apply the fundamentals of the FRA among coal clients he hasserved, including the push to plant more commercially valuable hardwoodspecies on reclaimed mine sites. Through his employment with PocahontasLand Corporation, Wagner Forest Management, Gaddy Engineeringand Marshall Miller & Associates, he has worked on over 50 forestlandplanting plans that are in various stages of restoring over 20,000 of acres ofreclaimed surface mined land to forests. His efforts have helped reestablishroughly 10 million trees on surface mines throughout the Appalachiancoalfields where he has worked.Tim is a member of the West Virginia Chapter of Allegheny Society ofAmerican Foresters (WVSAF) and is Chairman of the Woodlands AwardCommittee, which recognizes the efforts of coal companies that arefollowing the FRA approach. Through the reclamation process, thesecompanies are establishing productive sites for commercially valuableforests to be reestablished on surface mined lands in West Virginia.Congratulations Tim!