Let's get organized!
The idea for the CORE Association has been discussed with several professionals for about three or four months. Getting organized is half the battle to improving the situation for environmental professionals. The USTCF is experiencing less funding than in previous years, and many projects in the C-class are being defunded. One objective of CORE is to promote a dialogue between oversight regulatory agencies, property owners and consultants for development of unified cost-effective approaches to site cleanups.
An additional objective of CORE is to be a resource to the USTCF for technical issues regarding cost-saving ideas. Such ideas include reducing the frequency of quarterly well sampling (where appropriate) which can result in savings of millions of dollars annually for the USTCF if done throughout California. The local regulatory agencies and the water boards would need to be on board with these cost-saving ideas in order for them to be successful.
Additional cost-saving approaches to site Management include low flow sampling, which can provide cost savings in the purge water handling and disposal area. Low flow sampling sometimes takes more time in the field and the equipment may be slightly more expensive than conventional pumps.CORE Addresses Needs
The Consultant-Owner-Regulator Environmental (CORE) Association was founded to meet the needs of the environmental industry, owners of environmentally impacted properties and regulators.
One of the important areas where CORE can help is with our technical expertise. We propose to meet with the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (USTCF) regularly(every 4-6 months) with a conference call or a meeting in Sacramento to improve the entire reimbursement paperwork and communication process.
One of our goals is to make the entire USTCF reimbursement process more efficient and to cleanup and close California sites. In addition, long-term, CORE will want to work with agencies trying to evaluate dry cleaner cost reimbursement. http://www.drycleancoalition.org/