Presentation given at SME MineXchange 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona on February 24, 2020, by Kerry Weichsel, P.E. This presentation discussed where environmental data goes and how to incorporate principles of the GHG Protocol to all environmental reporting programs - relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy.

1. Kerry A. Weichsel, P.E.
SME MineXchange 2020
Phoenix, AZ • February 24, 2020
Managing Data for
Efficient, Accurate Reporting

2. • Environmental Data Reports
• GHG Protocol and Corporate Standard
• Accounting and Reporting Principles
• Relevance
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Transparency
• Accuracy
• Raw Data Selection
Agenda

3. • SARA Title III, EPCRA
• Tier II
• Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
• USEPA Mandatory Reporting Rule for
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Annual Emission Inventories and other state-
specific or local reports
• Benchmarking, sustainability, and other
voluntary reports
• Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
• Corporate Responsibility or Sustainability Reports
Environmental Reporting

4. • Regulators and private organizations
• Often tied to annual fees
• May include confidential business information
• Benchmarking studies often blind data for analysis or
publication
• Nearly all reported data becomes public
information for those willing to look
• Peers
• NGOs
• Media
• Stockholders
• FOIA Requests
Where does it go?

5. Where does it go?

6. • Differences in scope, definitions, units,
requirements, etc.
• Calculation methodologies
• Reporting exclusions
• Different people, departments, or companies
involved
• Reporting program selection
• Data gathering and calculation
The Challenge

7. • Greenhouse Gas Protocol
• World Resources Institute (WRI) &
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD) partnership
• First published in 2001
• Provides global standardized frameworks to
measure and manage GHG emissions
• In 2016, 92% of Fortune 500 companies
responding to the CDP used GHG Protocol
directly or indirectly through a program based
on GHG Protocol
The Protocol

8. • Designed to streamline and
standardize corporate-level
GHG inventories
• Full standard available
online
• Includes five GHG
accounting and reporting
principles
• Relevance
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Transparency
• Accuracy
• Accounting and reporting
principles easily translate to
any reporting program
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

9. • Useful
• Meets regulatory and decision-making needs
• Define reporting boundaries
• Operational control, ownership, regulatory
requirements
• Choose broadest definition, but collect information
needed to narrow the scope to meet specific
reporting requirements
Relevance

10. • Comprehensive & meaningful
• All relevant emissions/sources should be accounted
for
• “de minimis” activities need to be identified, well-
defined, and documented
• If you are calculating thresholds, you have already
done most of the work and should include those
emissions/sources in your inventory
Completeness

11. • Essential for aggregation, comparison, and
quality assurance
• Be as consistent as possible year-to-year, facility-
to-facility, and report-to-report
• Biggest challenge when working with a variety
of reports
• Use the strictest requirement for the best chance of
meeting all needs with a single data point
• Base all reporting variations of the same value on
the same raw data when possible.
Consistency

12. • Document everything and update often!
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Monitoring Plans
• Promotes consistency, completeness, and
understanding
• Essential for internal and external quality
assurance (i.e. audits)
• Ensures consistency, especially when
personnel or facilities change
Transparency

13. • “Sufficiently precise” or “best available”
• Raw data, calculation methods, and missing
data procedures may be prescribed by
reporting program
• Again, use strictest requirement for the best chance
of meeting all needs with a single data point
• There are often many ways to get to a single
data point – some are much better than others
Accuracy

14. • Be consistent, accurate, and document
choices!
• Choose data that meets the needs of all
reporting programs
• Conversions are more transparent than non-
equivalent values
• Choose the most accurate data available
Raw Data Selection

15. Data Accuracy Hierarchy
• Previously reported data
• Calibrated or certified data
• Invoice or sales data
• Meters, lab analysis
• Site-specific values
• Industry-specific assumptions or emission factors
• Generic assumptions or emission factors

16. 1. Identify applicable environmental reporting:
• MSHA Quarterly Methane Emission Reports
• EPA Subpart FF Annual GHG Reporting
• State or Local Reporting Programs
2. Determine overlaps in programs
• MSHA: agency samples at facility
• EPA: allows facility quarterly grab samples, MSHA
sample results, or CEMS.
3. Decide and document data to be used in each
program
• Use MSHA data for consistency, although facility
sample data may be more transparent.
Raw Data Selection Example
Mine Ventilation

17. • Environmental data is reported in many ways
to many agencies and entities.
• The principles outlined in the GHG Protocol
Corporate Standard can help streamline and
standardize all reporting
• Relevance, completeness, consistency,
transparency, and accuracy are key when
developing reporting programs and planning
• Use these principles to select raw data for end
results you can be confident in and stop
duplicating efforts
Summary

18. Contact Information
T: (412) 249-3139
C: (440) 749-4724
Email: kweichsel@cecinc.com
Kerry A. Weichsel, P.E.

19. CONNECT WITH US!
www.cecinc.com
Questions?