Environmental
Assistant
WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Spring/Summer 2007 VOL. 11 NO. 2
Keslar has been working at DEQ for over
Keslar named DEQ 4 years. Prior, she worked in Denver for an
Employee of the year environmental consulting firm.
INSIDE
“During 2006 the monitoring staff and
others in AQD really worked hard to keep
our program on track and I want to thank
them for their help and dedication. I am
really happy to be working with such great
people,” added Keslar.
1-2
DEQ Award Ceremony
She received her Bachelors of Science in
Chemical Engineering from Clarkson
University and her Masters of Science in
Environmental and Occupational Health
3
VRP Program Fees
On March 10, 2007, the Wyoming De-
partment of Environmental Quality
honored several employees who have
from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Lori Bocchino, AQD program manager,
said that Keslar richly deserves this recog-
4
Lupe Road
given dedicated service to the department
and State of Wyoming.
nition for her hard work and dedication.
“The last year has been very demanding
from so many angles, and Cara was in-
5
Methane Springs
6
Cara Keslar, supervisor for ambient and
emissions monitoring in the Air Qual- strumental in getting the division through
ity Division, was named the 2006 DEQ several big challenges. I couldn’t have been Information Tech
Public Servant. happier when her name was announced,”
said Bocchino.
“There are so many talented and hard-
working people in the Air Quality Divi-
sion, it is a great honor to be chosen for
“She is recognized by our customers and
her colleagues as an expert on technical
7
Calendar
this award”, said Keslar.
Please See AWARDS, pg 2
ADMINISTRATION
AWARDS Years of Service Awards
(continued from page 1) THIRTY-FIVE
YEARS OF SERVICE
matters related to monitoring GLENN L. MOONEY
and assessing the quality of the
air around us. She cares deeply THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE
about the division’s responsibili- TAMARA S. BJERKE
ties to the public and often has to MARK G. MOXLEY
balance on the fine lines between Deanna Hill, Land Quality
the needs of our many clients TWENTY-FIVE
- citizens, industry, and other state YEARS OF SERVICE
and federal agencies managing MARGARET G. DAVISON
ALAN K. GUILE
the resources of our state,” added DEANNA K. HILL
Bocchino. KURT W. KING
JOHN M. MURRELL
Other employees recognized for PAIGE W. SMITH
their service include:
TWENTY YEARS OF SERVICE
JOYCE E. HOLMES
EDWARD J. MOCK
Bob Lucht,
FIFTEEN YEARS OF SERVICE
Solid and Hazardous Waste RONALD L. EWALD
GEORGIA CASH HOENIG
BRIAN K. LOVETT
MARLIES L. NELSON
JOHN E. YETKA
TEN YEARS OF SERVICE
DANIEL R. CLARK
Steve Toalson,
MARK A. CONRAD
Administration TAVIS C. EDDY
CHRISTOPHER L. HANIFY
KATHY M. OGLE
REBECCA A. PETERS
Judy Meredith, Water Quality DARLA J. POTTER
JANET M. STEPHENS
MARK F. THIESSE
PAUL E. WOLLENZIEN
JUNE C. WOOD
FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE
COLE A. ANDERSON
GEORGE W. BOULTER
KATHY M. BROWN
Georgia Cash Hoenig, ADRIAN L. DUCHARME
JANE A. FRANCIS
IT Initiative ERIC G. HARGETT
JANET L. LYDIGSEN
Lori Bocchino, Air Quality
AMBER D. POTTS
JASON F. THOMAS
2 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07
SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE
Fees to increase for Volunteer Remediation Program
fees were not adequately cover-
ing our expenses”, said VRP
coordinator Carl Anderson,
Ph.D. “We did a cost analysis
and concluded that the $50 an
hour rate was more in line with
our actual costs.”
Costs not being covered by the
current fee include the full cost
of salaries and benefits for the
DEQ staff, as well as, a portion
of the transportation costs as-
sociated with visits to VRP sites
Cheyenne, WY – Beginning identified a process to facilitate
and meetings with volunteers
April 1, 2007, the Department streamlined cleanups and en-
and their contractors.
of Environmental Quality courage the productive reuse of
(DEQ) staff time spent work- contaminated properties.
For questions and concerns
ing on most sites in the Vol- regarding this fee increase please
untary Remediation Program The enabling legislation in-
contact Carl Anderson at (307)
(VRP) will be raised from $35 cluded the implementation
777-7740. This release serves as
an hour to $50 an hour. of a fee system and schedule
written notice of the increase in
designed to cover all reason-
the fee assessment.
In addition, the DEQ is in- able direct and indirect costs of
creasing the application fee to DEQ staff participation in any
$500 for any VRP application VRP related activity.
received on or after April 1,
2007. This will be used to pay At the time of program initia-
for the first ten hours of staff tion, the DEQ set the appli-
time spent on that site. cation fee at $350. This was
intended to cover the first ten
The VRP program, enacted hours of DEQ staff time. Ad-
by the Wyoming Legislature ditional staff time spent above
in 2000, provides guidance, the ten hour limit was then
oversight, and other services to assessed a $35 per hour fee.
volunteers cleaning up con-
taminated sites. The VRP law “We recognized that the $35
an hour and $350 application
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07
3
SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE
Lupe Road Site Draft Sampling Plan transported through the air or
by storm water off the site,” said
Post.
Samples of the air and soil from
the site and sediment from a
interment drainage will be col-
lected and analyzed for asbestos.
The sampling plan is available on
the departments website (http://
deq.state.wy.us.), at the Laramie
County Library, and at the 4th
floor-west receptionist’s desk in
the Herschler Building.
Cheyenne - The Environmental ment,” said Tim Post, project
manager for DEQ.
Protection Agency, in coordina-
tion with Wyoming Department
of Environmental Quality and “Several residents near the prop-
Laramie County Health Depart- erty expressed concern over these
ment, has prepared a sampling materials,” added Post.
plan for a private property off of
Lupe road near Cheyenne. The vacant properties lie between
Four-Mile Road and Lupe Road,
approximately one quarter mile After the field work and sample
east of Yellowstone Road near analyses have been completed,
Cheyenne, WY. EPA will prepare a report detail-
ing the results of the data collec-
According to Post, after several tion effort and the risk to human
meetings with Laramie County, health and the environment.
State and Federal officials, a site
sampling plan was the next step For more information regarding
in determining any health haz- the sampling plan, please tele-
ards. phone either Tim Post at (307)
777-8759 or Keith Guille at
“This property is suspected to (307) 777-6105.
contain asbestos materials on the “The purpose of this sampling
site that could pose a threat to plan is to collect data to confirm
human health and the environ- or refute whether friable asbestos
is on the site and if it is being
4 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07
WATER QUALITY
is published quarterly by
the Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality
DEQ to hold “After reviewing the data, the source
for the bubbling methane springs is
JOHN CORRA
Director
public meeting over from gas and not from water,” said
Glenn Breed, geologist and project
TODD PARFITT
Deputy Director
DIVISION ADMINISTRATORS
Methane Springs manager for DEQ.
RICK CHANCELLOR
Land Quality
“The strongest evidence is that very lit- LEROY FEUSNER
tle water is associated with the springs. Solid and Hazardous Waste
The bubbling effect is caused by gas, DAVE FINLEY
Air Quality
which is most likely sourced from coal
EVAN GREEN
beds,” added Breed. Abandoned Mine Land
TODD PARFITT
The meeting will have a 30 minute Industrial Siting
presentation followed by a question JAMES S. UZZELL
Management Services
and answer period. A panel of repre-
JOHN WAGNER
sentatives from the various organiza- Water Quality
tions will be present to answer relevant
On Monday April 23, the Wyoming questions concerning methane springs Cheyenne Office
Herschler Building, 4W
Department of Environmental Qual- in the area. 122 West 25th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82002
ity (DEQ) will hold a public meet- 307-777-7937
ing to discuss the status of methane The meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. Casper Office
springs located near Rawlins. until 3:30 p.m. at the Jeffrey Commu- 152 North Durbin Street, Suite 100
Casper, WY 82601
nity Center. 307-473-3467
Recently, historic methane springs Sheridan Office
1866 South Sheridan Ave.
were found to be potentially more If you have questions or comments Sheridan, WY 82801
307-673-9337
active in the Atlantic Rim area south please contact Keith Guille at the Wy-
of Rawlins. Some citizens were con- oming Department of Environmental Lander Office
510 Meadowview Dr.
cerned that the springs may be associ- Quality at 307 777 6105. Lander, WY 82520
307-332-3047
ated with the injection of produced Spill Hotline
waters from coal bed methane devel- 307-777-7781
opment. Website
http://deq.state.wy.us/
DEQ E-mail
The DEQ, Wyoming Oil and Gas deqwyo@state.wy.us
Conservation Commission, Bureau of
Land Management, Wyoming State Comments, suggestions
or address changes can be
Geological Survey and Anadarko directed to Keith Guille,
Newsletter Editor, at 307-777-6105 or e-mail
Petroleum Company have met sev- kguill@state.wy.us
eral times to establish a scientific and GO PAPERLESS
engineering understanding of the Save paper by viewing this
newsletter online. If you don’t need a
methane springs in the area. printed copy, please let us know.
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07 5
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IT Initiative Update
much as possible, the Air Qual-
ity Division (AQD) Oil and Gas
(O&G) permitting program for
both personnel and applicants,”
said Cynthia Madison, program
supervisor for DEQ. “It’s intended
to reduce the time the staff and
applicants spend generating and
tracking certain task’s.”
Madison added that when com-
pleted they will have a state of the
art permitting program for both
AQD and the state’s O&G opera-
tors that will be an envy of other
states.
The Wyoming Department of the department,” added Cash-Hoe-
The responses to the Request for
Environmental Quality (DEQ) is- nig.
Proposal are due to the Wyoming
sued a Request for Proposals (RFP) According to Cash-Hoenig, the IT
Department of Administration and
on March 19 for the Informa- Implementation Project is expected
Information, Procurement Section,
tion Technology Implementation to bring consistency and timeli-
Room 323E, Emerson Building,
Project. ness of permitting, ease of submis-
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 on or
sion and review, improved access
before May 8, 2007 at 5:00 PM.
This project will include construc- and storage of data, better internal
tion & implementation of an communications, and easier access
For more information regarding
agency-wide IT system, facilita- to information to the public.
the Request for Proposal (RFP)
tion of comprehensive web-based process contact Mr. Dean Jeffries,
permitting and electronic reporting Other benefits have been expressed
with the Wyoming Department of
and will provide enhanced public by numerous DEQ staff.
Administration and Information,
access to agency information. Procurement Section, Room 323E,
“One of the big benefits of this
Emerson Building, Cheyenne,
“Currently, a significant portion project will be the increased com-
Wyoming 82002.
of DEQ’s work is done manually,” munication within our division
said Georgia Cash-Hoenig, IT and programs,” said Leah Krafft,
For details relating to the DEQ
project manager. “The work pro- program supervisor for DEQ.
IT Implementation Project please
cesses can be labor intensive and Krafft said that permit applications
contact Ms. Georgia Cash Hoenig,
time challenged, information is of- will be much easier to track within
with the DEQ, Herschler Building
ten not easily accessible or transfer- the department and divisions.
3-W, 122 West 25th Street, Chey-
able. After an extensive review, we enne, Wyoming 82002.
identified opportunities to improve “The conceptual objective for the
efficiency and transparency within IT Initiative is to automate, as
6 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07
Calendar of Events
APRIL ‘07
Apr 11, 2007, Dead Horse Creek Watershed Based Permitting Meeting - Bozeman Trail Conference Center, Buffalo, WY 9:00 a.m.
Apr 19, 2007, WYPDES Permitting and Application Process: Training Session for the Coal Bed Natural Gas Industry
- Parkway Plaza, Natrona Conference Room, Casper, WY 10:00 a.m.
Apr 22, 2007, Earth Day
Apr 23, 2007, Public Meeting: Atlantic Rim Methane Springs - Jeffrey Community Center, Rawlins, WY 1:30 p.m.
MAY ‘07
May 28, 2007, Memorial Day, Offices Closed
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANT SPRING/SUMMER 07
7
WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PRESORTED
Herschler Building - 122 West 25th Street - 4W STANDARD
Cheyenne, WY 82002 U.S. POSTAGE PAID
CHEYENNE, WY
PERMIT NO. 7