With more than 500 environmental professionals and community leaders in attendance, this year’s Environmental Regulatory Compliance Conference was held on Jan. 27-28 in Alexandria.
The City of Alexandria hosted the conference, along with the Louisiana Municipal Association (LMA), the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH).
Conference participants attended various sessions designed to update them on federal or state environmental regulations and to educate them on regulatory requirements for storm water, waste-water and water systems as well as to learn about air quality rules, bid laws, ethics and other issues.
“This year’s ERCC was the largest ever, with over 500 attendees and 40 exhibitors,” said Ann Wilson, Superintendent of the Environmental Services Department for the city of Alexandria. “The conference was a positive showcase for municipalities and parish governments to gather more information regarding compliance issues. We were very pleased with the turnout and we are already working with partners to plan for next year’s conference.”
The two-day conference serves as a platform upon which various agencies and environmentally-conscious companies can present information in an open forum. Topics presented by DEQ included discussions on the status of ozone attainment in Louisiana, sewage sludge and biosolids, top ten violations from a surveillance and enforcement perspective, wastewater treatment, and a regulatory update presented by the DEQ Secretary.
Additional topics presented at the conference entailed bidding law, regulatory enforcement, funding assistance, stormwater management, permitting and Brownfields.
“I was very impressed with the number of people attending this year’s conference," said Peggy Hatch, DEQ Secretary. “Conferences like this give people who are involved in the environment, either as professionals, regulators or everyday citizens, a chance to network and discuss topics of environmental importance."
A great deal of work is going to take place to address wastewater issues, and projects have been approved to reduce diesel emissions and to address leaking underground storage tanks.
Attendees included representatives from several corporations and governmental agencies such as the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The primary focus of the conference was to disseminate information to facility and environmental representatives regarding ways in which to protect themselves and their government regulators from environmental liabilities. Next year’s conference will be held on January 26-27, 2011.