ASP - Associate Safety Professional Environmental Management Questions and Answers 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A facility maintains an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity of 1,500 gallons in various 55-gallon drums and one 400-gallon tank. The facility is located where a potential spill could reasonably be expected to discharge into a nearby creek. Under EPA regulations, what is this facility required to develop and implement?
- A Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) contingency plan
- A Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan (Correct answer)
- A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
- A Process Safety Management (PSM) program
Correct answer: A Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan
The EPA's SPCC rule (40 CFR Part 112) applies to facilities with an aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 U.S. gallons that could reasonably be expected to discharge oil into navigable waters. Since the facility's capacity is 1,500 gallons, it exceeds the threshold and must have an SPCC Plan.
Question 2: A safety professional is reviewing a waste stream from a manufacturing process. The waste is an aqueous solution with a pH of 1.5. According to the EPA's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), this waste would be classified as hazardous due to which characteristic?
- Reactivity
- Toxicity
- Corrosivity (Correct answer)
- Ignitability
Correct answer: Corrosivity
Under RCRA, a waste exhibits the characteristic of corrosivity if it is aqueous and has a pH less than or equal to 2 or greater than or equal to 12.5. A pH of 1.5 falls into this category, making the waste a D002 hazardous waste.
Question 3: The ISO 14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is based on a continuous improvement model. During which phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle would an organization conduct internal audits and monitor key environmental performance indicators?
- Plan
- Do
- Act
- Check (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Check
The 'Check' phase of the PDCA cycle involves monitoring and measuring processes and performance against the environmental policy, objectives, and legal requirements, and reporting the results. This includes activities like internal audits and tracking performance indicators.
Question 4: A construction company is preparing a site that will disturb more than one acre of land. To comply with the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements, what must the company develop and implement?
- A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) (Correct answer)
- A Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) plan
- A Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan
- An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
Correct answer: A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
The NPDES Construction General Permit requires construction sites that disturb one or more acres of land to develop and implement a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). The primary goal of a SWPPP is to identify potential sources of pollution and implement best management practices (BMPs) to prevent pollutants from being carried into stormwater runoff.
Question 5: Under the Clean Air Act, which of the following would classify a facility as a "major source" of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)?
- Potential to emit 5 tons per year of a single HAP and 15 tons per year of a combination of HAPs.
- Potential to emit 100 tons per year of any criteria air pollutant.
- Potential to emit 12 tons per year of a single HAP or 28 tons per year of a combination of HAPs. (Correct answer)
- Potential to emit 50 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in an attainment area.
Correct answer: Potential to emit 12 tons per year of a single HAP or 28 tons per year of a combination of HAPs.
A facility is defined as a major source under the Clean Air Act if it has the potential to emit 10 tons per year or more of any single hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or 25 tons per year or more of any combination of HAPs. The values of 12 tons (single) and 28 tons (combination) both exceed these thresholds.
Question 6: According to the EPA's Pollution Prevention (P2) Hierarchy, which of the following actions represents the MOST preferred method for managing waste?
- Installing a scrubber to treat air emissions before release.
- Recycling used solvent for reuse in the same process.
- Incinerating hazardous waste to generate energy.
- Reformulating a product to use a non-toxic raw material. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Reformulating a product to use a non-toxic raw material.
The Pollution Prevention Hierarchy prioritizes waste management options. The most preferred method is source reduction, which involves preventing waste generation in the first place. Reformulating a product to use a non-toxic raw material is a prime example of source reduction. Recycling, treatment (scrubber), and energy recovery (incineration) are all lower on the hierarchy.
