Numerous activities conducted at JRTC & Fort Johnson release pollution into the atmosphere. Some activities are common to anyone’s everyday routine while others are unique to JRTC & Fort Johnson's role as a U.S. Army Base.
Some of the activities that generate air emissions would include the combustion of natural gas that provided the hot water for your morning shower. Another would be the fuel that is stored and dispensed into military vehicles. The environmental department tracks both of these activities. The amount of natural gas burned is recorded and the gaseous byproducts produced by the combustion are reported to various regulatory agencies.
The same holds true for the fuel dispensing locations, we tracked the amount dispensed and then determine the amount of fuel vapor that escaped during the transfer from the storage tank into the vehicle.
Some of the more unique emissions would be associated with our military training. All of the munitions used during training are recorded and this information is used to report our emissions associated with that training. The idea being: It isn’t against any environmental law that we use munitions; we just are obligated to report what was released into the environment as a result of the activity.
The accurate assessment and reporting of the impact our activities have on the environment drives most of our work. In order to determine what regulations apply to our activities, information about the activity is gathered and a determination is made. Once this is done, often the environmental department requires that the activity be tracked.
Two examples to illustrate the point, the amount of paint applied to our equipment is recorded, and the amount of natural gas burned in some energy plants is monitored and recorded daily.
For more information, visit Web sites at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LaDEQ)