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Sector-specific Publications
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
- Agribusiness: Meat Processing
- Cement: Beneficial Reuse of Fuels and Materials
- Chemical Manufacturing: Utilizing Voluntary Programs
- Construction and Climate
- Construction and Diesel Emission Reductions
- Metal Casting: Foundry Sand Recycling Program
- Oil and Gas: Rocky Mountain Region Oil & Gas Case Study
- Ports: Strategy for Sustainable Ports
- Ports: Planning for Climate Change Impacts at U.S. Ports
- Ports: Preparing Ports Emission Inventories
- Shipbuilding and Ship Repair: Inventorying Shipyard Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Shipbuilding and Ship Repair: Lean Production and Environmental Management Systems
Agribusiness: Meat Processing
The Western Iowa Livestock External Stewardship Pilot Project (PDF) (56 pp, 2.9MB, About PDF) was a product of a working relationship with the meat-processing segment of the agribusiness sector. As part of the program, stakeholders outlined a project to test whether the livestock industry—working together with state and federal agencies and producers—could design, implement and measure voluntary environmental stewardship towards nutrient management. Published in October 2004, the document highlights this initiative that emphasizes consultation, cooperation, and communication among meat processors, livestock producers, and government officials. Farmland Foods, Prestage-Stoecker Farms, and independent livestock producers led the project with support from Iowa NRCS, Iowa DNR and Iowa State University. Significant contributions from all involved contributed to the success of this collaboration.
Cement: Beneficial Reuse of Fuels and Materials
Cement Sector: Trends in Beneficial Use of Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials (PDF) (116 pp, 2.7MB, About PDF) analyzes recent trends in beneficial use of alternative fuels and raw materials (AFR) in cement production. The overall objective of the study, revised in October 2008, is to promote increased utilization of beneficial-use materials in cement kilns, where it is safe to do so, by identifying trends as well as cost, technical, supply/logistics, and barriers to increased utilization of these materials. Alternative fuels considered in this study include petroleum refinery spent catalyst and clarified slurry oil sediments (CSOS), scrap paper/wood, construction and demolition (C&D) debris, scrap tires, wastewater treatment sludge (biosolids), plastics, and emerging materials, including scrap carpet and automobile shredder residue (ASR). The report is intended to provide information to state and federal regulators, trade associations, and other stakeholders to support and promote beneficial material reuse.
Chemical Manufacturing: Utilizing Voluntary Programs
Voluntary programs are an important component of the Sector Strategies Program’s ongoing efforts to work with industry sectors to address environmental challenges. The Voluntary Programs Guide: Specialty-Batch Chemical Sector (2004) was conceived to address industry partners’ assertion that targeted tools were needed to help facilities and companies choose the right voluntary program for themselves. The guide is divided into two sections. The first section contains one-page summaries of programs designed for individual companies or facilities from twelve voluntary programs across EPA offices, and are organized by topic area. The second section summarizes four additional voluntary programs that may be of broader interest to the specialty-batch chemical sector as a whole. An appendix to this document presents more detailed information on all 16 programs.
Construction and Climate
No single construction company is a significant greenhouse gas contributor, but the carbon footprint of the entire sector is substantial because the industry is so large. The Sector Strategies report, Potential for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Construction Sector (PDF) (49 pp, 803K, About PDF), documents the industry's emissions and examines ways to reduce them. Published in February 2009, the report presents one scenario for cutting emissions by millions of tons per year.
Construction and Diesel Emission Reductions
Cleaner Diesels: Low Cost Ways to Reduce Emissions from Construction Equipment (PDF) (38 pp, 433K, About PDF) documents a Sector Strategies research project designed to study and identify low-cost ways to reduce emissions from off-road construction equipment. Published in March 2007, the report details the costs and benefits of a number of these strategies/actions that may be taken by small companies (and medium or larger ones as well) in the Construction sector to reduce their emissions. Air pollution from diesel emissions is a public health concern that reaches every part of the country. The two main pollutants of concern in diesel exhaust that affect human health are nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). The Construction sector is a significant contributor to these emissions, creating 32% of all mobile-source NOx emissions and 37% of PM emissions.
Metal Casting: Foundry Sand Recycling Program
To foster the reuse of foundry sand, in September 2006 Sector Strategies released the State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand. The guide is designed to help states initiate or revise their reuse programs in a way that increases safe beneficial reuse of foundry sand. The Toolkit provides program options and concrete examples of a variety of approaches used in states to efficiently conduct beneficial reuse determinations.
Oil and Gas: Rocky Mountain Region Oil & Gas Case Study
An Assessment of the Environmental Implications of Oil and Gas Production: A Regional Case Study is a working draft that provides an overview of emerging oil and gas exploration and production issues in the Mountain West. Released in 2008, this report is a resource for agency and industry decision makers charged with assessing, responding to, and preventing oil and gas sector impacts. In addition, the report addresses several state, regional, and national initiatives to advance responsible oil and gas production.
Ports: Strategy for Sustainable Ports
Working with a cross-media ports team, Sector Strategies and other EPA programs have developed a vision and mission to articulate the goal of working collaboratively with ports stakeholders to make U.S. ports more sustainable. EPA has also developed a Strategy for Sustainable Ports (PDF) (5 pp, 43K, About PDF) to help guide the agency as it continues to engage public port authorities and other stakeholders in voluntary efforts to reduce the environmental impacts associated with moving goods through the marine transportation system. The 2007 Strategy for Sustainable Ports has six themes and a number of related action items: Clean Air and Affordable Energy, Clean and Safe Water, Healthy Communities and Eco-systems, The Global Environment, Ports Communications, and Enforcement.
Ports: Planning for Climate Change Impacts at U.S. Ports
Over the upcoming decades, climate change is likely to cause sea levels to rise, lake levels to drop, more frequent and severe storms, and increases in extreme high temperatures. A white paper, Planning for Climate Change Impacts at U.S. Ports (PDF) (16 pp, 237K, , About PDF June 2008) was written to help raise awareness of the effects of climate change so that ports can work with government, industry and communities to make more informed adaptation decisions. Included are short summaries of what six ports are doing to assess the risks to their facilities and develop local and regional strategies to mitigate those risks.
Ports: Preparing Ports Emission Inventories
Current Methodologies in Preparing Mobile Source Port-Related Emission Inventories, April 2009 (PDF) (116 pp, 3Mb, About PDF) describes what has been learned about development of port-related emission inventories to date and is a tool that can be used to inform the development of such inventories. This final report represents the completion of a June 23, 2005 draft report entitled, “Best Practices in Preparing Port Emission Inventories.”
Shipbuilding and Ship Repair: Inventorying Shipyard Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Shipyard Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory Tool (XLS, 532K) is designed to estimate GHG emissions from sources in shipyards. The purpose of the GHG Inventory Tool is to give each shipyard a customized, credible tool to measure its GHG emissions. The tool is based on the GHG emissions protocols of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Shipbuilding and Ship Repair: Lean Production and Environmental Management Systems
The purpose of Findings and Recommendations on Lean Production and Environmental Management Systems in the Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Sector (PDF) (15 pp, 163K, About PDF) is to summarize research and findings on the relationship between lean production and environmental management systems in the shipbuilding and ship repair sector. Recognizing that lean production—a leading business model being applied in many sectors of the U.S. economy—and EMS both affect environmental performance, EPA initiated research to better understand the relationship between the lean model and EMS. The 2004 report, which is based on interviews with managers at five shipyards, concludes that the lean model and environmental management systems are compatible and synergistic approaches. The report also describes strategies that organizations have used and/or could use to improve their environmental performance and reduce costs by combining lean and environmental management practices.