Environmental Terms Glossary
D
DAF
Dilution/Attenuation Factors
Dangerous Goods
In Canada, they are substances capable of creating harm to people, property, or the environment.
Dangerous When Wet
A label required for certain materials being shipped under US DOT, ICAO, and IMO regulations. Any of this labeled material that is in contact with water or moisture may produce flammable gases. In some cases, these gases are liable to spontaneously combust.
DCM
Dangerous Cargo Manifest
Decontamination
The process of removing or neutralizing hazardous substances on personnel and equipment.
DEFO
Director of Environmental Field Operations
DEIS
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Delegated State
A state with the authority to administer the NPDES program in its state. The state has primacy in administering the program, i.e., its authority supersedes that of EPA provided it exercises its authority so as to not lessen any federal regulatory requirement.
Denuded
Land stripped of vegetation such as grass, or land that has had vegetation worn down due to impacts from the elements or humans.
Dermal
Pertaining to skin.
Dermal Toxicity
Adverse effects resulting from skin exposure to a substance.
Desiccant
A substance such as silica gel that removes moisture from the air and is used to maintain a dry atmosphere in containers of food or chemical packageing.
DESR
Director of Environmental Site Remediation
Detention
The temporary holding of runoff in a basin.
Dike
An embankment to confine or control water, often built along the banks of a river to prevent overflow of lowlands; a levee.
Dioxin
The compound 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, a member of the family of chlorinated dioxins. It is a carcinogen, a teratogen, and a mutagen, and was present in the defoliant Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War.
Direct Reading Instruments
A portable device that measures and displays, in a short time period, the concentration of a contaminant in the environment.
Director
EPA regional administrator or an authorized representative, including the head of a state permitting agency which administers permitting programs on behalf of EPA.
Discharge
A release or flow of storm water or other substance from a conveyance or storage container.
Dispatch Center
A facility from which resources are directly assigned to an incident.
Disposal Drum
A non-professional reference to a drum used to overpack damaged or leaking containers of hazardous materials for shipment; the proper shipping name is Salvage Drum as cited in Title 49 CFR 173.3.
Distribution System
A complex of facilities, equipment, methods patterns, supply and procedures designed to receive, store, maintain, distribute, and control the flow of items from one point to another.
DMR
Discharge monitoring report
DO
Dissolved Oxygen
DOC
Department of Commerce
DOD
Department of Defence
DOE
Department of Energy
DOI
Department of Interior
DOJ
Department of Justice
DOL
Department of Labor
DOS
Department of State
Dose
The amount of energy or substance absorbed in a unit volume or an organ or individual.
DOT
Department of Transportation. Enforces regulations governing the transport of hazardous and non-hazardous materials.
dps
Disintegrations Per Second. A unit of measure relating to the breakdown of a radioactive material.
DRI
Direct-Reading Instruments
Drip Guard
A device used to prevent drips of fuel or corrosive or reactive chemicals from contacting other materials or areas.
Dust
Solid particles generated by handling, crushing, grinding, rapid impact, detonation, and decapitation of organic or inorganic materials, such as rock, ore, metal, coal wood, and grain. Dusts do not tend to flocculate except under electrostatic forces; they do not diffuse in air but settle under the influence of gravity.
DWA
Drinking Water Act
Dyspnea
Shortness of breath, difficult or labored breathing.
E
EA
Endangered Assessment
Ecology
A branch of science concerned with interrelationship of organisms and their environments.
Economic Poison
As defined in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi, or weeds, or any other forms of life declared to be pests...any substance intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.
EDF
Environmental Defense Fund
Effluent Guidelines (CWA)
Minimum, technology-based levels of pollution reduction that point sources must attain.
Effluent Limitations (CWA)
Specific control requirements directed at a specific discharge site.
EHS
Extremely Hazardous Substance
EIS
Environmental Impact Statement
Electromagnetic Radiation
Consists of X-rays and gamma rays and is the most dangerous type of radiation.
EMG
Environmental Management Group (Union Pacific Railroad)
EMSL
EPA Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory
EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Primary federal agency responsible for enforcement of federal laws protecting the environment.
EPCRA
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (1986)
ERC
Emission Reduction Credits
ERI
Environmental Risk Index. A dimensionless number that is indicative of the status of a facility; thus, the higher the number, the greater the environmental risk/exposure from ongoing operations. Determined by completing an objective work sheet that evaluates the status of critical elements and requirements of the individual environmental categories. Examples of typical facilities are yards, shops, MofW gangs, track segments, etc.
Erosion
The wearing away of land surface by wind or water. Erosion occurs naturally from weather or runoff but can be intensified by land-clearing practices related to farming, residential or industrial development, road building, or timber cutting.
ERT
Emergency Response Team
ESA
Endangered Species Act (1973)
ESLI
End of Service Life Indicator
ESP
Electrostatic Precipitation
Etiological Agent
A viable microorganism or its toxin, which causes or may cause human disease; limited to the agents identified in Title 42 CFR Part 72.
Evaporation Rate
The rate at which a particular material will vaporize when compared with the rate of vaporization of a known material.
Exclusion Zone (EZ)
The contaminated area of a site.
Exotoxin
A toxin produced and delivered by a microorganism into the surrounding medium.
Explosive
A chemical that is capable of burning or bursting suddenly or violently.
Explosive Limits
Some items have a minimum and maximum concentration in air which can be detonated by spark, shock, fire. The lowest concentration is known as the lower explosive limit (LEL). The highest concentration is known as the upper explosive limit (UEL).
Explosives
Materials which function by a rapid release of energy, these materials are designed to explode.
Extraction
The removal of soluble components from a solid or liquid mixture by means of an appropriate solvent.
Extremely Hazardous Substance
EPA uses the term extremely hazardous substance to the chemicals which must be reported to the appropriate authorities if released above the threshold reporting quantity. Each substance has a threshold reporting quantity.
EZ
Exclusion Zone
F
Facility
A work unit or work area whose activities either generate waste or requires handling sensitive materials that produce environmental risk/exposure. That work unit/area must be defined so that a manager having process accountability/responsibility is identified.
FBC
Fluidized Bed Combustion
FDA
Food and Drug Administration
FDCA
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938)
Feasibility Study
Identifies and evaluates ways of cleaning up contaminants or reducing significant health risks at a site. Various alternatives are analyzed based on a variety of criteria, including: short term and long term effectiveness; ability to reduce the toxicity; mobility, and volume of contaminants; cost; implementation; compliance with ARARs; overall protection of human health and the environment; community acceptance; and agency acceptance.
FEIS
Final Environmental Impact Statement
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FFDCA
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
FGD
Flue Gas Desulfurization
FHSLA
Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act
FIFRA
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Federal law mandating toxicity testing and registration of pesticides.
Filter Strip
Usually long, relatively narrow area of undisturbed or planted vegetation used to retard or collect sediment for the protection of watercourses, reservoirs, or adjacent properties.
First Responder
The first trained personnel to arrive on the scene of a HAZMAT incident. Usually officials from local emergency services, such as firefighters and police.
Flammable
Capable of being easily ignited and/or burning with extreme rapidity, and has a flashpoint under 100 degrees F.
Flammable Gas
Materials considered by the DOT as flammable: gases having a Lower Explosive Limit of less than 13% or gases having flammable range wider than 12 percentage points.
Flammable (Explosive) Limits
The concentration of a gas that will burn in air. Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) The lowest percentage of a gas that will burn in air. Upper Explosive Limit (UEL) The highest percentage of a gas that will burn in air.
Flash Point
The minimum temperature at which a liquid gives off enough vapors to form an ignitable mixture with the air near the surface of the liquid.
Flow-Weighted Composite Sample
Water sample consisting of a mixture of aliquots mixed in proportion to the rate of the discharge at the time of collection of the aliquot.
FL.P
Flash Point
FOIA
Freedom of Information Act
Force Majeure
An action beyond the control of a contractor which delays a project (e.g., bad weather)
FR
Federal Register
Friable
Any material that can be crumbled, pulverized, or deduced to powder by hand pressure.
FS
Feasibility Study
Fueling Facility
An area, location, and/or collection of devices used to dispense fuel to transportation or transportation related vehicles.
Fume
Gas-like emanation containing minute solid particles arising from the heating of a solid body such as lead. This physical change is often accompanied by a chemical reaction, such as oxidation. Fumes flocculate and sometimes coalesce. Odorous gases and vapors should not be called fumes.
FWPCA
Federal Water Pollution Control Act
G
Gamma Radiation
An electromagnetic wave with intensely high energy which originates in the atomic nucleus. These waves are extremely penetrating and are best absorbed by a very dense materials such as lead.
GAO
Government Accounting Office
Gas
A state of matter in which the material has very low density and viscosity; can expand and contract greatly in response to changes in temperature and pressure; easily diffuses into other gases; readily and uniformly distributes itself throughout any container. A gas can be changed to the liquid or solid state by the combined effect of increased pressure and/or decreased temperature.
GC/MS
Gas chromatography / mass spectrometry. Refers to both analytical method and apparatus used for organics analysis.
Generator
Owner or operator of an industrial or other facility producing regulated quantities of toxic or hazardous wastes. LARGE QUANTITY (LQ). More than 2200 lbs. of waste generated per month, tested determined to be a hazardous waste, and stored for disposal. No hazardous waste can be stored for more than 90 days at this type facility. SMALL QUANTITY (SQ). Fewer than 2200 lbs. of waste generated each month and more than 220 lbs., tested determined to be a hazardous waste, and stored for disposal. No more than 290 waste signal batteries ever accumulated/stored at one time. No waste battery can be stored for more than 180 days at this type facility.
Genetic effects
Mutations or other changes which are produced by irradiation of the germ plasm.
GEP
Good Engineering Practice
Groundwater
Water that is located beneath the surface of the earth. It can be collected with wells, tunnels, or drainage galleries; it also flows naturally to the earth's surface via seeps or springs.
GSA
General Services Administration
g/kg
Grams per kilogram. An expression of dose used in oral and dermal toxicity testing to indicate the grams of substance dosed per kilogram of animal body weight.
H
Half-life
A term used to describe a radioactive material which is the time required for a material to disintegrate to half its original mass. This time can range from seconds to hundreds of years.
Halogenated Hydrocarbon
A hydrocarbon such as methane, benzene, or ethylene in which one or more of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced with one of the halogen family elements (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine).
HAP
Hierarchical Analytical Protocol. A procedure identified by the EPA to demonstrate the presence or absence of RCRA (Title 40 CFR) classes or Appendix VIII compounds in groundwater.
Hazard Assessment Risk Analysis
A process used to qualitatively or quantitatively assess risk factors to determine mitigating actions.
Hazard Class
A category of hazard associated with an HM/HW that has been determined capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported.
Hazardous Air Pollutant
A pollutant to which no ambient quality standard is applicable and that may cause or contribute to an increase in mortality or in serious illness.
Hazardous Chemicals
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uses the term hazardous chemical to denote any chemical that would be a risk to employees if exposed in the work place. Hazardous chemicals cover a broader group of chemicals than the other chemical lists.
Hazardous Classes
A series of nine descriptive terms that have been established by the U.N. Committee of Experts to categorize the hazardous nature of chemical, physical, and biological materials. These categories are flammable liquids, explosives, gases, oxidizers, radioactive materials, corrosives, flammable solids, poisonous and infectious substances, and dangerous substances.
Hazardous Material Incident
A situation in which a hazardous material is or may be released into the environment.
Hazardous Materials
The United States Dept of Transportation uses the term hazardous materials, which covers eight hazard classes, some of which have subcategories called classifications, and a ninth class covering other regulated materials (ORM). The DOT includes in its regulations, hazardous substances and hazardous wastes as an ORM-E, both of which are regulated by the EPA, if their inherent properties would not otherwise be covered.
Hazardous Substance
Any material that poses a threat to public health and/or the environment. Typical hazardous substances are materials that are toxic, corrosive, ignitable, explosive, or chemically reactive. Any named substance required by EPA to be reported if a designated quantity of the substance is spilled in the waters of the United States or if otherwise emitted into the environment.
Hazardous Waste
Any material that is subject to the hazardous waste manifest requirements of the EPA specified in CFR, Title 40 Part 262 or would be subject to these requirements in the absence of an interim authorization to a State under CFR, Title 40, Part 123, Subpart F.
Hazardous Waste Leachate
The liquid that has percolated through or drained from hazardous waste emplaced in or on the ground.
Hazardous Waste Management
Systematic control of the collection, source separation storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery, and disposal of hazardous wastes.
Hazardous Waste Manifest Uniform (EPA Usage)
The shipping document, originated and signed by the waste generator or his authorized representative, that contains the information required by Title 40 CFR 262, Subpart B.
Hazardous Waste Number
The number assigned to each hazardous waste listed by EPA and to each hazardous waste characteristic.
HAZMAT
Hazardous Materials
HAZWOPER
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response
HC
Hydrocarbons
Herbicide
A chemical intended for killing plants or interrupting their normal growth.
HMCRI
Hazardous Materials Control Research Institute
HMTA
Halogenated Organic Compounds
HMTA
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (1974)
Hot Zone
Area of highest chemical concentration.
Hotline
The outer boundary of the EZ on site where highest concentration of chemicals is found.
HPLC
High performance liquid chromatography. Also called LC. Used in organic analysis.
HRS
Hazard Ranking System
HSO
Health and Safety Officer
HSWA
Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments
HVAC
Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning
HWERL
EPA Hazardous Waste Engineering Research Laboratory
HWTC
Hazardous Waste Treatment Council
Hygroscopic
Descriptive of a substance that has the property of adsorbing moisture from the air, such as: silica gel, calcium chloride or zinc chloride.
H+
Hydrogen Ion