Homework 1 on EA

Fall 2016

1. List five Federal Environmental Legislations and two (2) provisions of each.
2. Define the following terms:
a. NEPA
b. CEQ
c. SEPA
d. FONSI
e. SCOPING
f. NOI
g. Environment
h. Distinguish natural and built environment
i. How does interdisciplinary differ from multidisciplinary?
j. Identify a state environmental regulation which is more stringent than the
federal regulation (Be State Specific)
3. How are members of the CEQ selected?
a. Who are the current members?
b. Who is the chairman?
c. What are their qualifications to serve?
4. An oil-storage area was abandoned 18 years ago. Oil spilled on the ground had
saturated the soil at a concentration of 400mg/Kg of soil. A fast food chain now
wants to build a restaurant at the site, and samples the soil for contaminant, only
to discover that the soil still contains oil residue at a concentration of 20mg/kg.
You are consulted as the expert environmental engineer on biodegradation of oil
spill to give advice. Having identified the microorganism involved the
biodegradation and discovered that its mode of action is zero-order reaction with a
reaction rate of 20 mg/kg-year, you concluded that in one more year the site will
be free of all contamination.
a) Is this a good conclusion? Show how you reached your decision.
b) How long will it take for the soil concentration to be below the acceptable EPA
Maximum Contamination Level (MCL) of oil is 1 mg/kg of soil?

4. A 1.5 million gallon water reservoir in Avila Beach in California was contaminated by
oxygenated gasoline containing 0.5% by weight of MBTE when the pipeline busted. If
the estimated volume of gasoline released into the reservoir was 5000 gallons and the
specific gravity of gasoline is 0.870. Density of water is 1000kg/m3. Calculate in ppb the
concentrations of
i. Gasoline in the reservoir
ii. MBTE in the reservoir

5. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released crude oil into gulf of Mexico
.
a. What volume of oil was released before the gushing wellhead was
capped?
b. Seventy five percent of this oil was removed by a combination of methods
including burning, biological degradation, and evaporation, recovery at
well, chemical dispersion and skimming at the surface. Assuming that the
density of crude oil is 850kg/m3, what is the concentration of crude oil in
the gulf area in ppm? (Hint: You need to find out the area affected by the
spill. Assume that the depth is 16,000feet). Give references to all data
used.
c. Irene just dumped a substantial amount of rain in the gulf and at the same
time spread the residual oil over a much greater area. Assume that depth of
water increased by 5% and the area of distribution of the residual oil is
25% increase over the original area. What is the concentration of residual
oil in the gulf as a result of the spill assuming there is negligible
degradation of oil since the spill.