Green Building Evaluation, UN Headquarters in New York City

Marc Karell managed the project including providing a peer review and recommendations for enhancement of the green building and energy efficiency proposals incorporated into the intended billion dollar Capital Master Plan (CMP) renovation of the United Nation’s headquarters campus in New York City. An assessment of building performance against the LEED rating system was undertaken. The project team recommended about 20 design and operational changes to enhance building performance. The UN CMP incorporated nearly all of them into the final design to become a high performing campus complex.

Jacksonville Airport Authority, Jacksonville, FL
Baseline GHG emissions inventory and strategic program approach
Keywords: GHG emissions inventory, strategies to reduce GHGs

Marc Karell managed the technical team that performed a baseline GHG emissions inventory for the one major and three regional airports that JAA operates. He managed the effort to gather appropriate data, organize the program, calculate baseline GHG emissions, and recommend a variety of strategies to cost-effectively reduce GHGs.

Cytec Industries, Inc., West Paterson, NJ
Strategic program approach, audit for 40 CFR Part 98 readiness
Keywords:  GHG emissions reporting, data collection

Marc Karell and CCES performed an audit of the initial steps taken by Cytec to prepare for the federal Mandatory GHG Reporting Rule (40 CFR Part 98). Cytec’s self-evaluation was that only two operating plants were impacted by the rule. CCES reviewed Cytec’s initial baseline GHG emissions inventory prepared for USEPA Climate Leaders, and focusing only on the part of the inventory relevant to Part 98 concurred that the two plants were Part 98 applicable, and that a third plant was right below the threshold and that Cytec should prepare for its eventual entry into the program. CCES also reviewed the two facilities’ program for collecting relevant data to meet Part 98 GHG emission calculation and reporting requirements.  CCES made several recommendations to upgrade their internal collection methodology to both improve the quality of the data collected (necessary to meet rule requirements) and to save resources, as well. CCES developed a Monitoring Plan and methodology for Cytec’s largest manufacturing plant to effectively collect data, calculate GHG emissions meeting requirements of two different subparts of the rule, and develop annual reports. Finally, CCES prepared a comprehensive executive-level report summarizing the rule and needed steps and methodology to comply and detailing other potential GHG rules that may impact the company, such as the USEPA’s “Endangerment Finding” and “Tailoring Rule” and the Western Climate Initiative.

St. Lawrence Cement, Greenport, NY. Environmental Permitting.

Marc Karell was part of technical team that led efforts to obtain Permits to Construct for a very large, new, controversial cement manufacturing facility in an environmentally-sensitive portion of New York. Marc conducted reviews of regulatory limits and emissions at other cement facilities to develop lowest emission goals; consulted on air permitting and air control strategies; developed LAER, BACT, and other emission rates; wrote support documents reviewed by regulatory agencies; and supported the company’s litigation and public relations efforts. The USEPA and NYSDEC approved the proposed controls and emission rates as meeting all current air quality regulations.

US Power Generating, New York, NY    
Initial Climate Change Strategization

Keywords:  Climate Change, diagnostic, program organization
Marc Karell led a team to provide US Power Generating Company (USPG) strategic advice on how to address Climate Change issues and develop an internal Climate Change organization, and basic strategy. A meeting was organized with various senior leaders of the firm’s Executive Committee, including not only EH&S, but also senior officers from Legal, Finance, Engineering, and Communications to discuss the background about Climate Change and the various potential exposures affecting the firm’s core business (i.e., regulatory, fuel use, financial, etc.). A Climate Change diagnostic was presented enabling USPG to understand and rate themselves in different elements of a Climate Change program, for where they stand now and where they reasonably see themselves in the future. USPG can use the results to assess the areas they need to focus on the most and to prioritize action items. The discussions, differing points of view, and diagnostic results about Climate Change as a core business issue enabled them to think freshly about the issue.

Marc Karell developed a data collection tool to enable USPG power plants to collect necessary plant data to develop its greenhouse gas emissions inventory.

Joint Meeting of Essex & Union Counties, Elizabeth, NJ
Emissions inventory of a wastewater treatment plant, air permitting of sources
Keywords: wastewater treatment plant, emissions inventory, air permits
Marc Karell managed and performed a project for the Joint Meeting of Essex & Union Counties, a major wastewater treatment plant in Elizabeth, NJ. Marc reviewed and listed all equipment potentially emitting regulated pollutants and used plant-developed data and recognized techniques to estimate worst-case short-term and annual emissions from each source. Certain equipment (enginators) required stack tests to calculate emissions. Marc managed the effort performed by an experienced testing firm. Once the emissions inventory was finalized, Marc developed New Jersey Subchapter 8 air permit applications for each source that needed one, and followed through with the NJDEP until the permits were issued.