What's New?

6/25/09
DOE Requires Greening Considerations Be Made for Contracts Using ARRA Funding

On June 16, 2009, a Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation (DEAR) (No. AL-2009-08) was issued to provide information and guidance regarding "greening" considerations for projects using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding at DOE sites. DOE issued the Acquisition Letter (AL) to ensure that ARRA funding is used, to the maximum extent practical, to establish "green" processes and supply chains. The AL is applicable to all contracts where work is performed on a DOE covered workplace, defined in 10 CFR 851.3, in furtherance of a DOE mission. All such contracts are to contain requirements to reduce energy and water consumption, construct high performance and sustainable buildings, procure environmentally preferable and energy efficient products, reuse and recycle demolition and deconstruction materials, and reduce or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals and hazardous materials. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the DOE Acquisition Letter.

DOE Acquisition Letter (51,662 bytes, 4 pp.)

5/15/09
Presentation on Green Buildings Available

On May 14, 2009, a Josh Silverman, DOE Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (HS-22), made a presentaion at the USGBC 2009 Federal Summit entitled "Blazing a Green Building Trail: Strategies for Assessing and Greening Agency Building Inventories". The 2009 Federal Summit, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) was a daylong exchange of ideas on how to meet the goals of sustainability in buildings and communities. The HS-22 presentation discussed DOE's policy framework for sustainable buildings, DOE's approach to achieving sustainability, lessons learned, and building assessment tools. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the DOE presentation.

DOE Presentation (614,527 bytes, 32 pp.)

5/1/09
DOE Requests Comments on Proposed Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases

On April 10, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule that would require the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors of the economy. The rule would apply to fossil fuel suppliers and industrial gas suppliers, as well as to direct greenhouse gas emitters. The proposed rule does not require control of greenhouse gases, rather it requires only that sources above certain threshold levels monitor and report emissions. The rule would affect any DOE site that meets the reporting threshold, and the Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (HS-22) has issued an Information Notice to discuss the proposed rule and request comments. Field and Program Offices should review the proposed rule and submit comments by May 11, 2009, to Josh Silverman, HS-22, at josh.silverman@hq.doe.gov or 202-586-6535. In developing comments, please indicate the specific pages and section of the Federal Register notice to which each comment pertains. Please use the link below to access PDF files of the DOE Information Notice and the EPA proposed rule.

DOE Information Notice (192,404 bytes, 8 pp.)

74 FR 16448 (1,506,575 bytes, 285 pp.)

4/29/09
EMS Status Report Update Available

On January 15, 2009, the Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (HS-22) transmitted an status report to the Federal Environmental Executive concerning the status of "fully implemented" environmental management systems (EMSs) at DOE. A final update will be issued on July 15, 2009, following the Department's June 30 deadline for "fully implemented" EMSs. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the EMS Status Report.

EMS Status Report (27,701 bytes, 4 pp.)

4/29/09
DOE Responds to NPS Survey

On March 3, 2009, the Office of Nuclear Safety and Environment (HS-20) transmitted information to the National Park Service (NPS) on DOE's archeological programs and projects for FY 2008. This report was prepared in response to a request from NPS for information that it could use to help prepare the Secretary of Interior's Report to Congress on Federal Archeology. For more information on DOE's archeological programs and projects in specific or cultural resource management in general, contact Beverly Whitehead (HS-22) at beverly.whitehead@hq.doe.gov or (202) 586-6073. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the DOE response to the FY 2008 archeological programs and projects survey.

DOE Response (165,481 bytes, 42 pp.)

4/9/09
DOE Celebrates Earth Week 2009

The Department of Energy will celebrate the 39^th anniversary of Earth Day during the week of April 20^th in Forrestal and the week of April 27^th in Germantown. DOE will showcase numerous exhibits from DOE Program Offices as well as outside vendors to further educate its employees on leading more environmentally-friendly lives. The DOE Environmental Sustainability Awards (EStar) will be presented on April 22 at 10:30 a.m. at Forrestal in Room 1E-245. Through the EStar awards, DOE recognizes exemplary environmental sustainability practices across the complex. This year eight EStar Award winners and three EStar Honorable Mention winners were selected from 35 "Best in Class" environmental sustainability initiatives covering eight DOE sites across the complex. For more information on the 2009 DOE Earth Day activities, look for more information in an upcoming DOE Cast or contact Beverly Whitehead (HS-22) at beverly.whitehead@hq.doe.gov or (202) 586-6073. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the DOE Earth Week 2009 article.

DOE Earth Week 2009 article (133,122 bytes, 29 pp.)

4/9/09
EMS Status Report for FY 2008 Available

On April 9, 2009, the DOE Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance (HS-22) transmitted a preliminary report, "U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management System Status Report for Fiscal Year 08 Pursuant to Executive Order 13423 Strengthening Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management," to the EPA. The preliminary report contains tabulations of the number of DOE EMS facilities and organizations, EMS scorecard metrics used, EMS effectiveness questions posed, and responses to questions on the benefits of EMS on the environment and on environmental issues. A final report will include an extensive summary of responses to the narrative questions on DOE experiences with EMS implementation. Please use the link below to access a PDF file of the DOE memorandum.

DOE Status Report (133,122 bytes, 29 pp.)

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