CRE Environmental Compliance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under CERCLA (Superfund), which party is generally NOT considered a potentially responsible party (PRP) for cleanup costs?
- Current owner of a contaminated site
- Past owner who operated during contamination
- Transporter who selected the disposal site
- A neighboring property owner with no connection to the waste (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A neighboring property owner with no connection to the waste
CERCLA imposes liability on current/past owners and operators, generators who arranged for disposal, and transporters who selected the site — not unrelated neighboring property owners.
Question 2: A reliability engineer is evaluating a process change that will reduce coolant water discharge temperature. Which environmental benefit is the primary concern this addresses?
- Reducing particulate matter emissions
- Preventing thermal pollution in receiving waters (Correct answer)
- Lowering greenhouse gas concentrations
- Minimizing solid waste generation
Correct answer: Preventing thermal pollution in receiving waters
Elevated discharge water temperatures constitute thermal pollution, which can lower dissolved oxygen levels and harm aquatic ecosystems in receiving water bodies.
Question 3: The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) grants EPA authority to regulate which category of substances?
- Pesticides used in agriculture
- Food additives and colorings
- Industrial chemicals not covered by other statutes (Correct answer)
- Pharmaceutical compounds
Correct answer: Industrial chemicals not covered by other statutes
TSCA gives the EPA authority to regulate the manufacture, import, processing, distribution, use, and disposal of industrial chemical substances not already regulated under other statutes.
Question 4: In environmental compliance auditing, what does a 'corrective action plan' (CAP) primarily document?
- Initial audit findings and methodology
- Steps to remediate identified deficiencies and prevent recurrence (Correct answer)
- Regulatory agency enforcement actions
- Baseline environmental conditions at a facility
Correct answer: Steps to remediate identified deficiencies and prevent recurrence
A corrective action plan details specific steps, responsibilities, timelines, and verification measures to address non-conformances identified during an environmental audit.
Question 5: Which type of environmental permit requires facilities to report their total releases of listed toxic chemicals annually to the EPA?
- NPDES Multi-Sector General Permit
- Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirement (Correct answer)
- Title V Air Operating Permit
- RCRA Hazardous Waste Permit
Correct answer: Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirement
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) under EPCRA Section 313 requires facilities in covered industry sectors to annually report releases and transfers of listed toxic chemicals.
Question 6: A facility implementing an ISO 14001 EMS conducts a 'significant environmental aspect' determination. What factor is typically NOT part of this evaluation?
- Severity of the environmental impact
- Probability of the impact occurring
- Employee preference for specific work tasks (Correct answer)
- Regulatory requirements related to the aspect
Correct answer: Employee preference for specific work tasks
Significant environmental aspect determinations consider impact severity, likelihood, regulatory requirements, and stakeholder concerns — not employee task preferences.
Question 7: Which metric is commonly used to track a facility's progress toward reducing its carbon footprint over time?
- Total recordable incident rate (TRIR)
- Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity (Correct answer)
- Mean time between failures (MTBF)
- Defects per million opportunities (DPMO)
Correct answer: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity
GHG emissions intensity (emissions normalized by production output) is a standard metric for tracking carbon footprint reduction relative to production scale.
CRE Environmental Compliance 3
Under CERCLA (Superfund), which party is generally NOT considered a potentially responsible party (PRP) for cleanup costs?