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MassDEP Sponsors Environmental Compliance Assistance Seminar for Coating Industry
Commissioner Burt Seeks to Reinvigorate Agency Assistance to Business Community
MassDEP organized and hosted a compliance assistance seminar for over 75 companies in Central and Northeastern Massachusetts, with a focus on the industrial coatings industry. The seminar was developed as part of Commissioner Laurie Burt's efforts to re-energize technical assistance offered by MassDEP.
The program was designed to help industrial coatings companies stay in compliance with a number of environmental regulatory requirements, including air quality and hazardous waste rules. It also helped to explain how the regulators and inspectors viewed those requirements in the context of a facility inspection.
MassDEP's Central and Northeast regions teamed up with the state Office of Technical Assistance and Technology (OTA), the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI), the Central Massachusetts Business Environmental Network (CMBEN), and Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) to host the seminar, which covered a number of regulatory issues affecting industries that apply coatings to materials.
The all-day session was held in Devens, and featured a broad agenda, with presentations by U.S. EPA, OTA, TURI, U.S. Department of Defense and MassDEP. Over 75 Massachusetts businesses were represented, with attendance topping 100.
Commissioner Burt opened the program by reiterating the importance of technical assistance and outreach in the context of MassDEP's overall mission. "One of my goals as Commissioner is to reinvigorate the compliance assistance programs that MassDEP offers," she said. "I hope we can use new partnerships, new technologies and new ideas to help meet businesses' needs to stay current with environmental protection requirements."
The Commissioner explained to the audience how the seminar emerged as a result of both a recent enforcement action and recent meetings with state Senators Harriette Chandler and Pamela Resor. The Senators expressed a strong interest in new opportunities to connect with the business sector on technical assistance. Senators Chandler and Resor reiterated those same points in their own welcoming remarks to the audience.
Bob McConnell of EPA kicked off the presentations portion of the day with a discussion of national and regional air quality trends and the importance of air quality permitting in Massachusetts. MassDEP Air Quality permit staffers Patricia Arp and Dana Nicoll were next, and they offered detailed technical presentations summarizing regulatory requirements for coaters.
Attendees also heard from OTA staffers Marina Gayl and Michelle Miilu on the latest in toxics tracking software, as well as tips for accurately tracking material use and opportunities for technical assistance.
This was followed by an update on upcoming regulatory changes and streamlining efforts outlined by Tom Cusson of MassDEP's Central Regional Office, as well as a presentation by Northeast Region Office inspector David LaBrode on common violations identified by MassDEP during facility inspections.
The afternoon also featured a panel discussion on source reduction, alternative materials use and military specifications, with information presented from people who have explored alternative chemicals and materials to reduce air quality impacts. Chris Ford of BAE Systems, Wayne Ziegler with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and TURI Laboratory Director Jason Marshall participated in the panel.
Feedback from the session has been positive and its success can be clearly measured by the uptick of technical assistance requests received by OTA, TURI and MassDEP.
The day's presentations can be accessed at MassDEP's website at www.mass.gov/dep/service/onltrain.htm for those interested in learning more about these topics.
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