What Are Superfund Sites

With the rapid development of the petrochemical industry in the mid-20th century, and after more than two hundred years of mining activities, the United States have a troublesome legacy of closed and abandoned sites containing hazardous wastes. What happens to those sites, and who is responsible for them? It Starts with CERCLA In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter proposed legislature which eventually become known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Then Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Douglas M. Costle called for new hazardous waste regulations: A rash of recent incidents resulting from improper disposal of hazardous wastes has made it tragically clear that faulty hazardous waste management practices, both past and current, present a grave threat to public health and to the environment. CERCLA was passed in 1980 during the last days of the 96th Congress. Notably, the bill was introduced by Edmund Muskie, a Maine Senator and affirmed environmentalist who went on to become Secretary of State. Then, What Are Superfund Sites? If you have not heard the term CERCLA before, it is because it is more often referred to by its nickname, the Superfund Act. The EPA describes the Act as providing â€Å"a Federal Superfund to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment.† Specifically, CERCLA: Regulates closed and abandoned sites containing hazardous wastes.Establishes who is liable and should be responsible for the cleanup of those closed sites (generally, it is the owners, current or previous).Sometimes no person or corporation can be found liable for the cleanup of the site. In those situations, the EPA funds the operations. In order to conduct these costly cleaning jobs, CERCLA levies a tax on the petroleum and chemical industry and established a trust fund to draw from (a â€Å"Superfund†, hence the name). Failing infrastructure can be dismantled, leaking reservoirs drained, and hazardous waste can be removed and treated off site. Remedial plans can also be put in place to stabilize or treat the waste and contaminated soil or water right at the site. Where Are These Superfund Sites? As of May 2016, there were 1328 Superfund sites distributed all across the country, with an additional 55 proposed for inclusion. The distribution of sites is not even however, being mostly clustered in heavily industrialized regions. There are large concentrations of sites in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, the township of Franklin alone has 6 Superfund sites. Other hot spots are in the Midwest and in California. Many of the western Superfund sites are abandoned mining sites, rather than closed manufacturing plants. The EPA’s EnviroMapper allows you to explore all the EPA-permitted facilities near your home, including Superfund sites. Make sure to open the EnviroFacts drop-down menu, and click on Superfund sites. The EnviroMapper is a valuable tool when you are looking for your new home. Some common types of Superfund sites include old military installations, nuclear manufacturing sites, wood product mills, metal smelters, mine tailings containing heavy metals or acid mine drainage, landfills, and a variety of former manufacturing plants. Do They Actually Get Cleaned Up? In May 2016 the EPA stated that 391 sites were removed from their Superfund list after cleanup work was completed. In addition, workers had finished rehabilitating portions of 62 sites. Some Examples of Superfund Sites The Interstate Lead Company in Leeds, Alabama operated a lead smelter and lead battery recycling facility between 1970 and 1992. The plant’s activities contributed to contaminated groundwater, surface water, and soil. Since its inclusion on the Superfund Site list in 1986, over 230,000 tons of contaminated soil has been removed from the plant, and efforts to decontaminate the groundwater are under way.In Jacksonville, Florida, residential neighborhoods were contaminated by ash from a nearby municipal incinerator. The ash mixed in the yard soil, bringing with it lead, arsenic, PAHs, and dioxin. So far 1,500 properties have been cleaned up, in what must have been a rather disruptive process.The Celotex Corporation Site in Chicago is also located in a residential area, where 70 years of processing coal tar led to heavily contaminated yards. Here too dangerous PAHs are problematic, and have been found down to 18 feet below the surface. The main Celotex site has been cleaned up and turned into a community recreational park with among other things athletic fields, a skate park, and community gardens.The Savannah River Site is a Department of Energy nuclear research and production facility in coastal South Carolina. Past nuclear weapons production activities have led to soil and water contamination by radioactive materials and other harmful chemicals. A variety of cleanup measures have been taken, including the closure of nuclear reactors, capping of radioactive waste dumps, and soil removal. In some places, high pressure steam was directed underground to strip away pollutants. Today, significant biodiversity conservation research is carried out in the wetlands and forests within the Savannah River Site.The Anaconda Copper Mining Company processed copper in the Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, for almost a century. The result is 300 square miles of tailings containing arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead, and zinc, and the famous Berkeley Pit. The company was eventually s old and the new owner, Atlantic Richfield Company (now a subsidiary of BP), is now responsible for the massive cleanup operations.The largest residential lead contamination site in the country is the Omaha Lead Superfund Site in Nebraska. Lead-contaminated soil covers 27 square miles of urban area (for a total of 40,000 properties), the result of lead smelting operations along the Missouri River. The EPA was called for assistance in 1998 when it was discovered that children were frequently diagnosed with elevated blood lead levels. So far over 12,000 yards have been remediated, usually by excavating the contaminated soil and replacing it with clean fill.

Essay about Targets International Expansion to Panama

Target Corporation is among one of the largest retailers in US with its headquarter located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company is recognized within the top 500 most valuable brands as of 2012 as well as the top 25 retail brands in 2012 (Target Corporation SWOT Analysis, 2013). Target took birth on May1, 1962 as a â€Å"new idea in discount stores†. Gregg W. Steinhafel is the current chairman, president and CEO of Target (www.corporate.target.com). The company has a vast product offerings such as- household essentials, including pharmacy, beauty, personal care, baby care, cleaning, and paper products; hardlines comprising music, movies, books, computer software, sporting goods, and toys, as well as electronics that consist of video game†¦show more content†¦Maintaining the standards of the brands they carry is very important, along with the availability of fully functional cyber shopping incentives. Secondly, their success depends on the positive image they portra y. A hit to its reputation can cause legal issues, effect its developmental opportunities and possibly loss of sales. Proceeding, is a high interest in maintaining the reliable multichannel experience they offer to the their guest through its operations. In contrast to that it is essential to be responsive to changing consumer preferences or the profitability may suffer. Moving on is an issue they currently faced but exerts its attention on sustaining the growing workforce and affording the labor cost for successful operations. One of the vital approaches of growing is by expanding its locations in small areas with dense population. They have to face high competition to secure profitable locations and find third parties to obtain financing and acquire necessary zoning permits for expansion projects. Other imperatives involve maintaining the quality of the product and services they offer. Also stay in compliance with government rules and regulation of work ethics and tax rates (Annu al Report, 2012). Target’s internal elements are navigated by their ability of recognition, differentiation, innovation, strategic marketing and consumer loyalty. Legal issues still tend to affect the overall positionShow MoreRelatedIs Toronto The Most Youthful City Among 25 Cities?1775 Words   |  8 Pageseither by cost or by unique product in order to gain market share (Grant, 2013). Primark has based the strategy on low price in Europe and recently in the USA (Appendix II) due to economy of scale carried out in the supply chain. Moreover, the international marketing plan led us to the conclusion that the customer is price sensitive, therefore it is recommended for Primark to select a strategy of penetration pricing (Hollensen, 2014). A comparative study (Appendix IV) was carried out, about prices’Read MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 PagesMBA Program McGraw-Hill/Irwin abc McGraw−Hill Primis ISBN: 0−390−58539−4 Text: Effective Behavior in Organizations, Seventh Edition Cohen Harvard Business Review Finance Articles The Power of Management Capital Feigenbaum−Feigenbaum International Management, Sixth Edition Hodgetts−Luthans−Doh Contemporary Management, Fourth Edition Jones−George Driving Shareholder Value Morin−Jarrell Leadership, Fifth Edition Hughes−Ginnett−Curphy The Art of M A: Merger/Acquisitions/Buyout Guide, ThirdRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesx CONTENTS Values 144 The Importance of Values 144 †¢ Terminal versus Instrumental Values 144 †¢ Generational Values 145 Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace 148 Person–Job Fit 148 †¢ Person–Organization Fit 150 International Values 150 Summary and Implications for Managers 154 S A L Self-Assessment Library Am I a Narcissist? 132 Myth or Science? Personality Predicts the Performance of Entrepreneurs 142 glOBalization! The Right Personality for a Global Workplace

Nervous Conditions Essay Free Essays

Nervous Conditions The choice to resist or comply in situations greatly affects the success and personal relationships of Tambu and Nyasha throughout the Nervous Conditions. Tambu arrives at her uncle’s school initially embracing her education and passion for learning, while there she begins to notice the relationships that existed between the settlers and native, males and females in society. Nyasha understood how awful these relationships were as a young girl. We will write a custom essay sample on Nervous Conditions Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now She suffers from severe depression and an eating disorder while trying to cope with and understand these relationships. There are many different decisions made with a variety of strategies that either helps them advance or causes them to fall victim to the controls of colonial society. An educated woman was very uncommon in Zimbabwe during the 1980’s. Tambu decided to pursue her education against her mothers will. You notice the generation gap when her mother says ‘’Can you cook books and feed them to your husband? Stay at home with you mother. Learn to cook, clean and grow vegetables’’(Ma Shingayi, 15). She decided not to follow the traditional path of women and began selling corn at the market with her teacher to pay for her schooling. Tambu decided to resist fait at a very young age and continued not listening to her family throughout the novel. She felt weighed down by the burdens of womanhood and would not tolerate settling into that lifestyle. Nyasha’s resentment for her parents results in her lashing out and developing an eating disorder. When her mother takes the D. H Lawrence book form her without asking Nyasha begins an argument with her at dinner and storms off without eating. This is the first sign of her nervous condition and foreshadows the escalating problem of her eating disorder. The decision to become bulimic is an attempt to control her life. She feels that her parents are preventing her from becoming the person she wants to be. ‘’ They’ve done it to me’’ (Nyasha, 200) she says to Tambu. She feels that she can’t become the confident successful young women she knows is inside her until her parents stop treating her this way. Her parents chose to take away her books, force her to eat and beat her for punishment. This created very strong feelings of hostility towards toward them. These feelings of animosity only get worse throughout the novel as her father gets more controlling to in order to fix her problems. Nyasha’s hatred for her mother goes beyond the issue of them controlling her. This extra hatred for her mother comes from her decision to be her husbands ‘’underdog’’ (Nyasha, 119). She doesn’t believe in the idea of surrendering her dreams and lifestyle to the control of a man. She does not respect her mother for doing this and it only adds to the escalating family conflict. After the Christmas dance Nyasha decided to resist the rules set by her father to hang out with Andy. Babamukuru calls her a whore and beats her, threatening to kill her and hang himself. After all of this Nyasha says this to Tambu ‘’ you cant go on all the time being whatever’s necessary. You’ve got to have some conviction, and I’m convinced I don’t want to be anyone’s underdog. It’s not right for anyone to be that. But once you get use to it well, it just seems natural and you carry on. And that’s the end of you. You’re trapped. They control everything you do’’ (Nyasha, 119). This shows the resentment she has for her mother. She disobeys her father to show that she is not going to be controlled like that. In her eyes she is getting a head by doing this but it only makes her father more controlling. As the preparations began for her parents wedding Tambu became resentful towards Babamukru for ‘’having devised this plot which made such a joke of my parents my home and myself’’ (Tambu, 151) She becomes anxious and angry with her uncle for not understanding how torn she was with this situation. Tambu decides not to go to the wedding; this is the first time she has stood up for herself in Babamukru’s house. After the ceremony she has some regret for not going but the fact that she was able to make her own decision made it all worth it. ‘’guilt, so many razor sharp edges of it, slice away at me. My mother had been right; it was unnatural; I would not listen to my own parents, but I would listen to Babamukuru even when he told me to laugh at my parents. There was something unnatural about me. ’’(Tambu, 167) This wedding made her realize how much she had just been just doing everything he said even if it was wrong and this made her feel very week. Making the decision not to go gave her a ‘’newly acquired identity’’(Tambu, 171) and she gladly took the lashings and punishment for it. When the nuns from Sacred Heart came to the mission school to recruit they offer Tambu a scholarship and a position at the school. Maiguru stands up for Tambu when Babamukuru shuts down the idea. She accepts the offer to the Convent School and becomes so focused on her education she fails to see the effects of this situation on her personal relationships with Nyasha and her friends. Nyasha writes her letters revealing her struggles and how she is on a ‘’diet. ’’ Tambu is so caught up in her studies that she chooses not to write back and help her. When she returns to the mission her friends Maidei and Jocelyn will no longer talk to her. They are very resentful that she left them to go to the white catholic school. Tambu seems very caught up in the colonial society and is slowly loosing track of her roots and connection to the homestead. During her first trip home form Sacred Heart her mother warns her of Englishness and how it is the main cause of Nyasha’s Problems. She tries to remove that thought from her head but you notice it stayed with her when she says. ‘’ Quietly, obtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mine began to assert itself, to question things and refuse to be brain washed, bringing me to this time when I can set down this story it was a long and painful process for me that process of expansion. ’ (Tambu, 208) She starts questioning her decisions and what she has lost or given up as a result of them. Sacred Heart is no longer her main focus; this shows a significant change in how she views life. Through characters like Nyasha and Tambu one can directly see the struggle that colonialism created for women along with the apparent issues betwee n African men and women during this time period. The decisions that were made either got these girls to the next step in their lives or left them stuck in conflict and abuse. Both Tambu and Nyasha are very set on making there own decisions and finally stand up for them selves against Babamukuru. The beating they receive from making some decisions sets them back but they feel as if it rejuvenates them and gives them power over his control. Works Cited Tsitsi, Dangaremba. Nervious Conditions. London: The Women’s Press Ltd, 1988 How to cite Nervous Conditions Essay, Essays

Business Communication for Team Member and Leader- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Communication for Team Member and Business Leader. Answer: Introduction Social media is the most effective communication tool which can be used by the employees for the effective communication. Usage of the social media provides a platform for the employees that help them to communicate in real time through the devices that they are using to access the social media (Thomas Akdere, 2013). This study is based on the usage of the social media for the accelerating the communication in the workplace. Social media as a means of communication in the workplace There are several different ways through which the social media can be effectively integrated intoto the workplace. Irrespective of the HR professional, team member, business leader or manager, it is important to note that the bringing the social media into the workplace can effectively elevate the levels of communication and this effectively encourages the sharing, collaborating and putting inputs. The various uses of the social media at the workplace are: distribution and communication, hiring and recruitment, personal development and research, engagement and employee recognition, collaboration and social learning, employee branding, monitoring and listening (Dale, 2014). Social media improves the employee productivity and employee engagement Social media as a distribution and communication tool is vital for the team members that are working together but are either located remotely or on different sides of the office. Social media even is capable to connect employees that are located in different time zones, this helps the employees to keep their personal and work life balanced. The work is still done within the deadline and this is only possible through the effective usage of the social media in the workplace that helps in effective communication (Leftheriotis Giannakos, 2014). Social media helps the employees to communicate effectively and keeps them engaged during the work hours. Interacting, sharing and working along with the individuals that are part of n organizations keep the employee engaged and the organizations reap the benefits or meeting its goals. Gallup's report on the American Workplace has revealed that in comparison to the onsite workers the remote workers are more engaged. The office workers are 28 percent engaged in comparison to the remote colleagues that are 31 percent engaged. The remote workers also register more hours of work due to the communication is done via the social media, telephone, virtual meetings and email (Gallup, 2018). The effect of social media usage at work The present social media consists of various types of communication tools that facilitate the different types of communication channels for the effective knowledge transfer and information exchange. The definition of knowledge transfer may differ and it may be considered a process through which the division, department or a group gets affected by the experience of another group, department or division. Whereas knowledge transfer can be described as a process through which the knowledge from one employee is transferred to another employee and the knowledge is then learned and applied. The knowledge is incoherence to the task-oriented communication. The communication performance is enhanced when multiple or combination of media are used. Thus, social media perfectly fits the criteria and it is a combination of the different types of the media and it acts as an ideal media for the knowledge transfer. Individuals in organizations that have networked environments face challenges in differ ent modes of communication like the many to many, one to many and one to one. Different communication tools provide the social media, emails and instant messaging provides an easy and effective way to participate, communicate and collaborate in an unprecedented way. Social media offer both the asynchronous (online forums, blogs) and synchronous (microblogging) methods of communication (Cao et al., 2012). Usage of the social media in companies Reports reveal that the in the year 2010 the top 500 fortune companies adopted more than one social media platform into its organization. It was predicted that several organizations will have the Facebook like platform for the purpose of internal communication. The organizations adopted the social media platform to facilitate internal communication, the benefits are increasingly considered important. Thus different attempts have been made to tap the benefits of the social media platforms and its effects on the organizational communication. The manager and the executives have taken the interest in implementing the social media in the organization so the power and potential of the knowledge and information stay within their organization. It has been found that social media has the potential to transform the data sharing and communication in the enterprise. It has also been predicted that the usage of the social media will gain importance over the telephone and the email usage. A major part of the research conducted reveals that the internal social media focuses on the evaluation of its success and the effective implementation of the potential areas for the improvement. Research reveal that the usage of the social media for the purpose of internal communication has led to the enhancing the relationships between the employees, improving the knowledge base of the employees, promoted collaborations and supported communication (Haddud, Dugger Gill, 2016). Negative impacts of social media on the communication It is a fact that the incorporation of the social media in the workplace is to potentially increase the means of communication, however, it has certain negative sides. Harassment and bullying- some of the employees the usage of their social media account for the purpose of manifesting their work and also the work of the fellow workers. Employees cannot be banned from posting derogatory comments on the social media but organization can take steps to effectively identify the culprit and prevent such events from occurring again. Cyberbullying is one of the major issues which is being faced by the employees that work in an organization that has the internal social media for communication (Mainiero Jones, 2013). Social media provides a silent access into the lives of their friends and it is also not possible for the employees to completely switch off during the work hours. Employee communicating via the social media can spend more time doing chatting instead of giving the productive work. Monitoring the activities of the employees can be done but at first, the employees needs to be conveyed that they are being monitored (Sivertzen, Nilsen Olafsen, 2013). Certain social media are more focused on the work-life rather than the social life, such employees can be easily targeted by the market competitors. Prevention of such actions cannot be done physically and the employees that become rouge after they leave their job. This can tarnish the image of the organization and also hampers the morale of the employees (Majchrzak et al., 2013). Recommendation It is important to mention that the present working condition in the organizations demand a robust and dynamic means of communication. Social media is one of the best platform which can both promote and enhance the communication between the employees. The high efficiency with which the employee stays engaged and connected is the sole reason social media gets preference over the other traditional means of communication. Thus it is best to provide the employees with the proper training with respect to the usage of the social media. The organizations must also have the ethical code of conduct to enhance the and monitor the activities of the employees. Conclusion Thus it can be concluded from the above study, that communication in an organization is the most vital part. Communication is achieved only if the employees are engaged in a proper way, thus the integration of the social media into an organization for internal communication is the best approach. Social media for the purpose of communication effectively increases the knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer. The effects of social media in terms of communication is multipronged and it has helped the employee to stay productive and engaged in their work. Reference Cao, X., Vogel, D. R., Guo, X., Liu, H., Gu, J. (2012, January). Understanding the influence of social media in the workplace: An integration of media synchronicity and social capital theories. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 3938-3947). IEEE. Dale, S. (2014). Gamification: Making work fun, or making fun of work?. Business Information Review, 31(2), 82-90. Gallup, I. (2018). State of the American Workplace. Gallup.com. Retrieved 29 April 2018, from https://news.gallup.com/reports/199961/7.aspx?utm_source=SOAWutm_campaign=StateofAmericanWorkplaceutm_medium=2013SOAWreport Haddud, A., Dugger, J. C., Gill, P. (2016). Exploring the Impact of Internal Social Media Usage on Employee Engagement. Journal Social Media for Organizations, 3(1), 1. Leftheriotis, I., Giannakos, M. N. (2014). Using social media for work: Losing your time or improving your work?. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 134-142. Mainiero, L. A., Jones, K. J. (2013). Sexual harassment versus workplace romance: Social media spillover and textual harassment in the workplace. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(3), 187-203. Majchrzak, A., Faraj, S., Kane, G. C., Azad, B. (2013). The contradictory influence of social media affordances on online communal knowledge sharing. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 38-55. Sivertzen, A. M., Nilsen, E. R., Olafsen, A. H. (2013). Employer branding: employer attractiveness and the use of social media. Journal of Product Brand Management, 22(7), 473-483. Thomas, K. J., Akdere, M. (2013). Social media as collaborative media in workplace learning. Human Resource Development Review, 12(3), 329-344.