Expired PAEP Webinar – April 14, 2022

Entrainment Survival:

Using Science to Defy Misconceptions 

Thursday, April 14, 2022

at 12:00 (Noon) Eastern

Environmental regulations often require that a permittee comply with criteria which may be defined as thresholds that cannot be exceeded or minimum thresholds which must be met. Science is often used to develop these criteria, but there are times when adequate science simply does not exist.    Often in such cases, an extremely conservative approach is taken when establishing the criteria.    One example of this is the regulation of thermal discharges under the Clean Water Act and parallel state regulations.  Originally, without data demonstrating otherwise, regulators assumed that all entrained organisms (zooplankton, fish egg, fish larva) would die during passage through a cooling system, and required dischargers to use technologies such as closed-cycle cooling systems, flow reduction measures, or fine mesh screens at intakes.  If all entrained organisms were fated to die as a result, then any of these would provide some degree of impact reduction.

Since the 1970’s, site-specific studies using an evolving set of sampling gear and techniques have successfully demonstrated that substantial portions of entrained organisms can survive the process.    These studies, several of which will be described, provided regulators with the science to override the default assumption, and allow a more informed selection of the site-specific BTA that reduced overall environmental impacts and compliance costs.  Attendees will learn the importance of site-specific regulatory determinations, and how scientifically-defensible studies can reduce costs and improve environmental outcomes.

Presenter:    Brooks Fost, VP and Senior Scientist, ASA Analysis & Communications, Inc., a certified MBE/WBE

Registration Deadline: April 12, 2022.

Note: Registration is for one entrant. Any other individuals who would like to join this session are required to complete their own registration forms. The registration fee is set per person, not per connection.

PAEP Members – Webinars are free to current members but you will still need to register.

Non-Members – the fee for the webinar is $20 per person.

Registrants will be sent an email, closer to the event date, providing information on how to join the webinar.

“The purpose of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Professionals is to promote environmental education, research, planning, assessment, review, and management through the formation and operation of a nonpolitical multidisciplinary professional society.” The content of our webinar series is not developed by PAEP, but by the presenters themselves.