Compares existing staff skills against those needed to support the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. This information is being used to: identify skills gaps and skills excess to more effectively focus training dollars; promote necessary cross-training to ensure all skills exist across all geographies; assist in directing succession management so that critical skills are not lost upon staff retirement; and assist in the creation of Staff Development Plans to use in identifying career advancement opportunities for individual employees.

The Brookings Institution: Modernizing government’s approach to data sharing and preparing the future infrastructure workforce.

In 1992, nine unemployed young men and women living at Ward Eight's Valley Green public housing community volunteered to change their lives by restoring the obscenely polluted Anacostia River. Motivated by the belief that their strong hearts, minds, and muscles could reclaim the Anacostia they pulled on waders, climbed into the polluted Lower Beaverdam Creek and started to prove that their river and their lives were worth saving. Their struggle launched a community youth movement to take back their Anacostia River.

This session will provide briefings on how agencies are addressing PFAS nationwide, including Gen-X in North Carolina. Following the briefings, time will be available for Q&A, and for participants to discuss this important issue.

The session will discuss: a new anaerobic digester in northern Virginia, including the challenges that were encountered in the development of this project; EPA’s new report about anaerobic digesters throughout the country, with an emphasis on those ADs that process food waste; and food scrap processing (including postconsumer food scraps) followed by management at existing anaerobic digesters, with details of specific projects.

During this session, States and EPA OUST will discuss the status of States seeking State Program Approval (SPA) and meeting the 2015 UST regulatory requirements. States will also provide information on successes and challenges with implementing the UST regulations and outreach to the regulated community. Following brief presentations from EPA OUST and Kentucky DEP, the ASTSWMO Tanks Subcommittee will moderate a discussion inviting all participants to share information from the State, region, and organizations.

Abandoned hardrock mining sites pose significant threats to both health and the environment. However, the ability to address these threats to health and the environment are hindered by the absence of an overarching regulatory framework, limited communications, funding, incomplete national inventory, and limited coordination amongst Federal, State and tribal governments to prioritize and leverage the cleanup and reclamation of abandoned hardrock mining. This session will showcase what States and the Federal Agencies are doing to address these sites.

The session will address State management and regulation of electronic waste (e-waste). Background and a report-out of results of ASTSWMO information-gathering on this topic will be provided. The session will also include brief presentations of various State approaches, and brainstorming among attendees to gain input for the Hazardous Waste and Materials Management Subcommittees’ further work on e-waste issues.

Redevelopment of Brownfield properties stimulate a community’s economy by removing blight, improving neighborhoods, and creating jobs and tax revenue. The economic and social benefits are clear. Equally important are the environmental outcomes associated with the reuse of contaminated properties and how that relates to public health. Join representatives from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and the Washington DC Department of Public Health for a discussion on how to partner with public health organizations on Brownfield and Superfund projects.

As States have updated their UST programs and processes in response to the 2015 UST regulations, data collection, availability, and reporting have become a major topic of conversation. Reporting on new inspection requirements, reporting findings to EPA and State legislatures, and measuring the success of the program are just a few of the issues States are discussing. Following a brief update on the UST Task Force’s Common Compliance Violations reporting, representatives from ECOS and Canary Compliance will present and lead a discussion on available tools and concepts for data collection and reporting, and brainstorm how a consistent approach may be helpful in implementing the new regulations.