PHOENIX — Arizona schools won the EPA’s Spring Air Quality Flag Program Challenge to protect people’s health. Schools state-wide are raising brightly colored flags to help students and members of the community be aware of daily air quality conditions. The colored flags correspond to the Air Quality Index to inform community members about air quality forecasts so they can take steps to protect their health.

The Spring Challenge aimed to increase the number of participating schools and organizations and raise awareness about the Air Quality Index colors and associated health messages.

“We applaud Arizona for enrolling 63 new schools in the Flag Program and winning the nationwide challenge,” said Alexis Strauss, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “These flags give community members information to make smart choices about their outdoor activity levels.”

“As one of the first schools in Arizona to participate in the Air Quality Flag Program and now going on nearly a decade, our K-8 students have learned how air quality affects their daily activities and lives from the color of the flag and what they can do to protect themselves from poor air quality,” said Annette Heasman, Registered Nurse, P.L. Julian School, Phoenix, Arizona.

“Having served as the model for EPA’s nationwide Air Quality Flag Program, Arizona is proud to continue to be a leader in this effective voluntary public health program, which makes a difference in the lives of some our most vulnerable children and adults,” said ADEQ Air Quality Division Director Timothy Franquist.

Each day a flag is hoisted above schools, or other community sites, that participate. In the school setting, recess and physical education are sometimes held indoors on days with particularly poor air quality, especially for sensitive populations, like children with severe asthma. The program also contains an environmental education component with teacher lesson plans about air pollution, and the science behind air monitoring technology.

Our daily lives are affected by local air quality, which can change from day to day, season to season, and even vary depending on the time of day. The EPA’s Air Quality Index provides information about the health effects of common air pollutants, and how to avoid those effects. The flags alert people to that particular day’s air quality, so they know when to modify their outdoor activities.

“As participation in Arizona’s Flag Program continues to grow, we are hopeful that community awareness too will increase and positively impact both children’s and public health,” said ADEQ Children’s Health Program Lead Julie Finke. “Our success in Arizona is due to our community’s ongoing commitment and the tireless promotion work of our partners and local coordinators, whom we recognize and thank for their participation and efforts.”

Getting up-to-date air quality information is easy by subscribing at www.enviroflash.info or downloading the AirNow app. You can get the daily air quality forecast sent to your email, cell phone or Twitter. This is especially helpful for those who are sensitive to the effects of air pollution, such as children, adults who are active outdoors, people with heart and lung disease, and older adults.

For more information on the Air Quality Flag Program visit EPA’s AirNow website at www.airnow.gov/flag.

For more information about the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality program, please visit: http://www.azdeq.gov/node/603.

PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced today significant cost savings for the State of Arizona as part of its most recent accomplishments in support of Governor Douglas A. Ducey’s commitment to efficient, accountable government.

ADEQ made significant changes to its office layouts and overall footprint, which resulted in ADEQ vacating nearly 30,000 square feet of office space at its headquarters location (1110 W. Washington St.) and an entire building previously used by ADEQ’s Vehicle Emissions Inspection (VEI) program near 40th St. and State Route 202 in Phoenix. ADEQ also returned 26 vehicles.

ADEQ’s changes are saving the State of Arizona close to $600,000 in annual rent, are expected to generate income for the State from auction sales of the former VEI property, appraised at approximately $1.5 million, and its returned fleet vehicles. Working in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Administration, the headquarters space now will be rented by other State agencies, creating additional cost savings for Arizona.

Not only have ADEQ’s actions saved money, but as part of its headquarters office re-organization, ADEQ relocated personnel to make sure cross-functional teams are seated together to provide efficient customer service. ADEQ also sent more than 17 tons of paper to be recycled and reduced office equipment expenses.

“At ADEQ we love to reduce waste to the environment AND reduce waste in our operations,” said ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera.

PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced today the appointment of Ian Bingham, ADEQ Ombudsman and Tribal Liaison since 2010, to ADEQ Communications Director. This appointment expands Mr. Bingham’s current service, as he is continuing his role as Ombudsman and Tribal Liaison. In his new capacity, Mr. Bingham will counsel agency executive leadership and direct and manage strategic, proactive marketing and branding activities, internal and external communication and outreach.

Of additional benefit to ADEQ and Governor Douglas A. Ducey’s governmental transformation initiative, Mr. Bingham has designed and implemented processes that remove process waste, increase efficiency and dramatically improve performance since the mid-1990s.

“Widely admired and respected inside and outside of the agency, Mr. Bingham exhibits a true passion for and deep understanding of the value effective communication brings to furthering the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality mission of protecting and enhancing public health and the environment,” said Director Cabrera. “Mr. Bingham leads by example – his commitment to the environment and our community go far beyond his work at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in his service as a member of the Board of Directors for the Stewardship Action Council, Arizona Environmental Strategic Alliance Advisor, and mentoring youth by coaching basketball since 1989,” Director Cabrera added.

Now in his 25th year of agency service, his prior experience includes management positions in the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Inspections and Compliance and Corrective Action programs, Waste Programs Division Enforcement Coordinator, technical advisor for UST, Arizona Environmental Performance Track Program Administrator, and most recently, Voluntary Environmental Stewardship Program Coordinator, and Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee Representative.

PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced today the first Superior Court judicial judgment related to state leaking underground storage tank (UST) non-compliance, since the state’s UST laws were overhauled in 1997. William W. Arnett will pay $1.3 million in civil penalties and direct costs for UST law violations beginning in the late 1980s at his property, 411 N. 5th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona, where a UST used for storing and dispensing gasoline was located. The judgment concludes a September 2010 lawsuit filed by ADEQ and the attorney general’s office against Arnett in Maricopa County Superior Court following many years of effort to work cooperatively with him to clean up soil and groundwater contaminated with gasoline at his Tucson property.

Three reasons this judgment is significant:

• It is the first leaking UST case to result in a Superior Court judicial judgment since the state’s UST laws were overhauled in 1997;
• It establishes, as a matter of law, that defendants in civil actions brought by ADEQ for violations of state environmental laws are not entitled to a trial by jury; and
• It establishes that defendants cannot misrepresent the true owner of a UST to block ADEQ from seeking sanctions against that owner at a later date.

“Our mission is to protect and enhance Arizona’s public health, air, water, and soil, and support environmentally responsible economic growth,” said ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera. “Each and every day, we work cooperatively with our customers to adhere to environmental requirements and best practices to prevent issues from occurring.” Director Cabrera added, “Our next line of defense is to take proper actions, including enforcement, to address threats to our environment when they are found.”

Because the UST owner and operator were uncooperative, ADEQ stepped in and performed the necessary cleanup of Arnett’s gasoline leak to subsurface soil and groundwater to protect public health and the City of Tucson’s drinking water supply. ADEQ’s cleanup work began in October 2012, and was completed in April 2014.

“ADEQ proactively strives to educate and assist our customers to avoid time consuming and costly litigation,” ADEQ Waste Programs Division Director Laura Malone commented. “While we ultimately achieved environmental protection, had Arnett cooperated with ADEQ from the beginning, a positive outcome would have been achieved years sooner and at a fraction of the cost incurred by the state and its taxpayers.”

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About ADEQ UST Program
ADEQ has three active programs to support state laws regarding statewide UST operations and associated environmental investigations and cleanups. These programs work in concert to ensure proper operation and maintenance of USTs, to protect public health and natural resources through requiring UST owners and operators to undertake timely investigations and cleanups of contamination resulting from UST releases, and to provide funds for these actions when needed. To find out more about these programs, please visit:

http://azdeq.gov/environ/waste/ust/index.html

PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced today issuance of a first of its kind air quality permit in Arizona to Concord Blue Eagar, LLC (Concord) for a new facility in Apache County, to produce renewable electricity and wood char using innovative processes. In record time for a class II permit, it took ADEQ only 85 days to complete the process from an administratively complete application to issuance, which gives the company authorization to construct and operate the facility.

Located in rural Arizona, the new facility is expected to create more than 40 new jobs – 30 during construction and 12 full-time once operation begins – benefitting the local economy, community and the environment. According to Concord, the facility will process 75 tons per day of wood fuels to operate.

“The Concord Blue facility in Eagar, Arizona offers the potential to increase the market value for small diameter ponderosa pine stands that we need to thin in order to create fire adapted communities and resilient ecosystems in the forested regions of our state,” said the State Forester, Jeff Whitney.

Using a unique technology that heats wood to create a natural-gas-like fuel, Concord plans to generate electricity from materials collected during forest thinning operations, as well as community plant trimmings and sawmill wood debris. Applying this technology at its Eagar plant will produce one megawatt of electricity for the Navopache Electric Co-Op Incorporated, as well as generate enough power to run the plant.

“Concord’s plan to use wood from forest thinning would help foster healthy forests, reduce excess wood that could fuel larger forest fires, clean up unwanted wood debris, and promote community safety,” ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera said. “Swiftly permitting the Concord facility also is an outstanding example of how ADEQ is working with industry to support environmentally responsible economic growth in Arizona.”

Concord Blue Vice President Project Management Scott Noll stated, “Throughout the permitting process, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality air permitting staff provided very helpful guidance regarding air dispersion modeling and did an excellent job expediting their review process once our full application was deemed complete.”

Thanks to significant process improvements implemented agency-wide, ADEQ now issues air quality permits 70 percent faster than just four years ago. Governor Ducey has challenged all state agencies to operate at the speed of business and ADEQ is delivering with faster, cheaper, better government without sacrificing environmental protection. Additional examples include:

• A 25 percent reduction in vehicle emissions testing fees for more than one million Maricopa County residents;
• A more than 50 percent reduction in the average time required to return facilities to compliance; and
• Reducing the time it takes for customers to obtain public records by 70 percent by being the first Arizona agency to leverage technology to make its public record metadata available through an online application called MegaSearch.

Concord plans to begin operating the power plant by the end of 2016 and is working to secure the necessary wood fuel contracts. For more information about the Concord technology, please visit: http://www.concordblueenergy.com/