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Water Online's EPA Update: March 8, 2010
March 8, 2010
Welcome to Water Online's review of the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, resources, and activities related to the water, wastewater, and stormwater industries. EPA offices and programs covered in this installment are listed below. Click on an office or program name to go directly to that section of the article. Office of Water (OW) WaterSense: Fix A Leak Week, Showerhead Specification, Facebook EPA Requests Public Comments On Vessel Water Discharges Report EPA Releases Handbook For Clean Water Act Section 319 Tribal Program Revised Guidance For The Public Notification (PN) Rule The documents have been updated to provide support and direction to the regulated community and to the public regarding EPA's interpretation of the PN Rule since the addition of the Ground Water Rule, the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, the Lead and Copper Rule - Short Term Revisions, and the Stage 2 Disinfection Byproducts Rule. These documents can be accessed on EPA's Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/publicnotification/compliancehelp.html
Stage 2 Disinfectants And Disinfection Byproducts Rule Consecutive Systems Guidance Manual Administrator Jackson Unveils Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan 
Fix a Leak Week: Water utilities, manufacturers, retailers, communities, plumbers, and other professionals are working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) WaterSense program to promote Fix a Leak Week, March 15 to 21, 2010. The city of Dallas, for example, is kicking off the Great Dallas Fix a Leak Week Roundup on March 15 as part of a five-day event to repair leaks and replace plumbing fixtures in local homes with WaterSense labeled models. EPA is promoting ways to identify and repair dripping faucets, running toilets, and leaky showerheads. To learn more, visit:
www.epa.gov/watersense/fixaleak.
Showerhead Specification: EPA has expanded its portfolio of products to include showerheads. Showerheads meeting the final EPA specification will use no more than 2.0 gallons per minute (gpm) and will meet additional criteria to ensure performance and user satisfaction. Manufacturers can now submit their products for testing and labeling. Look for more information from EPA, as WaterSense labeled showerheads are expected to be in the marketplace in late April.
Facebook: In February, WaterSense launched its own Facebook page. WaterSense will use Facebook to post program content and facts, and to promote its outreach campaigns, including Fix a Leak Week, week of March 15th. For the latest developments on the WaterSense program, and to learn and comment, visit the WaterSense Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/EPAWatersense.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking public comments on a draft report that, when made final, will provide Congress with information it may use for the regulation of incidental discharges from certain vessels. Vessels of study include fishing vessels, tugboats, water taxis, tour boats, towing and salvage vessels, small research vessels, a fire boat and a supply boat.
The draft report summarizes the primary pollutant concentrations in the discharges sampled and evaluates the potential environmental impact of these discharges on large water bodies. Public comments on the draft report, "Study of Discharges Incidental to Normal Operation of Commercial Fishing Vessels and Other Non-Recreational Vessels Less than 79 Feet," will be accepted for 30 days following publication in the Federal Register. EPA will then consider the comments and finalize the report for submission to Congress.
More information on the draft report to Congress on vessel discharges: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/vessels/reportcongress.cfm
EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds recently released the Handbook for Developing and Managing Tribal Nonpoint Source Pollution Programs Under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act. EPA developed the Handbook to support the continued growth and sophistication of Tribal participation in the Clean Water Act Section 319 program.
In the Handbook, all aspects of the grants funding process are clearly explained, demonstrating how Tribes can use Section 319 program funds to implement programs and projects to reduce pollution and restore water quality. It also provides a great deal of technical information regarding nonpoint source pollution; how to develop and assess available data to develop a plan of action; and how to implement activities to solve the problem.
The Handbook is posted on the Tribal Nonpoint Source Web site at: www.epa.gov/nps/tribal/
EPA has revised and released three guidance documents for the Public Notification (PN) Rule: The Revised State Implementation Guidance for the Public Notification (PN) Rule, the Revised Public Notification Handbook, and the Revised Public Notification Handbook for Transient Noncommunity Systems. These documents provide implementation guidance to assist EPA Regions and states exercising primary enforcement responsibility (primacy) under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) as well as guidance to aid public drinking water systems in complying with the Public Notification (PN) Rule.
EPA has released the Consecutive Systems Guidance Manual to assist consecutive systems (public drinking water systems that receive part or all of their finished water from other public water systems) in complying with the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (Stage 2 DBPR). The guidance manual provides an explanation of specific requirements in the Stage 2 DBPR as they apply to consecutive systems. In addition, the manual addresses flexibilities in the rule and explains the various compliance technologies and other compliance approaches available to consecutive systems. The manual also provides information on how to coordinate with wholesale systems to achieve consistent, cost-effective compliance.
The Stage 2 DBPR provides for increased public health protection against the potential risks for cancer and reproductive and developmental health effects associated with exposure to disinfection byproducts.
To access the guidance manual, visit EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/disinfection/stage2/compliance.html.
Interested parties may also contact the Water Resource Center at 202-566-1729 or the National Service Center for Environmental Publication at 1-800-490-9198 and request document number 815-R-09-017.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has released an action plan to guide the Obama Administration's historic efforts to restore the Great Lakes. The action plan lays out the most urgent threats facing the Great Lakes and sets out goals, objectives and key actions over the next five years to help restore the lakes.
Some 30 million Americans get their drinking water from the Great Lakes, and the lakes also support a multi-billion dollar economy based on fishing, boating and recreational activities. The lakes face significant challenges, including pollution and the threat of harmful species that threaten their health.
In February 2009, President Obama proposed $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the most significant investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. The action plan, which covers FY 2010 through 2014 and was developed by 16 federal agencies as part of the federal inter-agency task force chaired by Administrator Jackson, will help guide the administration's efforts to implement this historic initiative to restore and protect this natural and economic treasure.
The action plan directs aggressive action under five priority "focus areas" the task force has identified as vital for restoring the Great Lakes. They are:
More information on the full plan: http://www.greatlakesrestoration.us
For the complete news release: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e77fdd4f5afd88a3852576b3005a604f/8f1d360db17327c1852576d20053ca01!OpenDocument
EPA Awards $17 Million To Support Research On The Impacts Of Climate Change
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding nearly $17 million in Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants to universities across the country to study the consequences of climate change on the air we breathe and the water we drink.
The agency solicited grants in four areas: Climate Change and Allergies, Climate Change and Air Quality, Climate Change and Water Resources, Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration
EPA brings leading-edge science to assess the consequences of climate change on human health, ecosystems, and social well being. One of the agency's goals is to develop information and tools to make assessments on the overall impact of climate change.
More information about the grants and the grant awardees: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/climate
For the complete news release: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e77fdd4f5afd88a3852576b3005a604f/806e135c0522699b852576cd006b4813!OpenDocument
EPA Announces New Support For Sustainable Communities And Releases Municipal Tool For Improving Water Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced three steps to support communities' efforts to provide their citizens with economic opportunity while reducing impacts on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.
The steps EPA announced are:
- The creation of a new Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
- A new pilot grant program designed to help three states – New York, Maryland and California – use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable.
- A pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities' efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing.
The brownfields pilot program announced represents a key step in that partnership. Together, EPA, HUD, and DOT have selected five pilot sites across the country where there is a convergence of public transit and the need for affordable housing. Cleaning and reusing this land and providing new housing choices will create jobs and new economic opportunities. The five sites selected for the Sustainable Communities Partnership Pilots are the Fairmount Line in Boston; the Smart Growth Redevelopment District in Indianapolis; the La Alma/South Lincoln Park neighborhood in Denver; the Riverfront Crossings District in Iowa City, Iowa; and the Westside Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development in National City, California.
The Office of Sustainable Communities that EPA announced will help create neighborhoods that offer good jobs, educational opportunities, safe and affordable homes and transportation options while minimizing their impact on the environment. The Pilot Technical Assistance Program for Sustainable Communities will further that goal by encouraging states to use their Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program to better support communities that adopt sustainable strategies, like transit-oriented, mixed-use development.
More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities:
http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership
In addition, EPA is releasing a first-of-its-kind water quality scorecard that will help communities in rural, suburban and urban settings incorporate green infrastructure practices to protect local water quality and improve both the built and natural environment. The Water Quality Scorecard was developed to help local governments identify opportunities to remove barriers and revise and create codes, ordinances, and incentives to better protect water quality. The scorecard guides municipal staff, stormwater managers, planners, and other stakeholders through a review of relevant local codes and ordinances to ensure that these codes work together to support a green infrastructure approach. The scorecard also provides policy options, resources, and case studies. More information is available at www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/water_scorecard.htm.
More information on EPA's Smart Growth program: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
Improvements To Regulations.gov Make For Easier Access To Federal Regulations
As part of President Obama's commitment to more effective and open government, the public can more quickly access federal regulations at Regulations.gov, thanks to comments received during the Regulations.gov Exchange online forum held last year. Regulations.gov provides one-stop public access to information related to current and forthcoming regulations issued by the federal government.
The eRulemaking Program made the following specific-site improvements to
Regulations.gov:
- A new rotating panel of images and video clips offering a preview to the latest Web site changes
- A dashboard of regulatory documents housed on Regulations.gov
- A new A-Z index of rules and proposed rules categorized by topic
- Instructional video-clips highlighting site functions
- Improvements to the site's homepage and search wizard
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the managing partner of the inter-agency eRulemaking Program, which operates Regulations.gov.
EPA's Budget Proposal Seeks Efficiencies, Increased Environmental Protection: Budget
Proposal Aligned With Administrator Jackson's Key Priorities
The Obama Administration today proposed a budget of $10 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This budget heeds the president's call to streamline and find efficiencies in the agency's operations while supporting the seven priority areas EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson outlined to guide EPA's work.
Budget Highlights:
Cleaning up communities: This budget includes $1.3 billion to address Superfund sites that may be releasing harmful or toxic substances into the surrounding community. Cleaning up these sites improves communities' health and allows for these properties to be used for economic development.
In addition, $215 million is provided to clean up abandoned or underused industrial and commercial sites that are available for alternative uses but where redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of environmental contaminants. Revitalizing these once productive properties, known as brownfields, helps communities by removing blight, satisfying the growing demand for land, and enabling economic development. EPA will focus its efforts on area-wide planning and cleanups, especially in under-served and economically disadvantaged communities.
This budget also offers $27 million for EPA's new Healthy Communities Initiative. This initiative will address community water priorities; promote clean, green, and healthy schools; improve air toxics monitoring in at-risk communities; and encourage sustainability by helping to ensure that policies and spending at the national level do not adversely affect the environment and public health or disproportionally harm disadvantaged communities.
Improving Air Quality: In addition to the funding provided through the Healthy Communities Initiative, this budget includes $60 million to support state efforts to implement updated National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA proposed stricter air quality standards for smog and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and will work with states to help them meet those standards in the years ahead.
Building Strong State and Tribal Partnerships: This budget includes $1.3 billion for state and tribal grants. State and local governments are working diligently to implement new and expanded requirements under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. New and expanded requirements include implementation of updated NAAQS and addressing emerging water quality issues such as nutrient pollution. In addition to the $25 million for greenhouse gas permitting and $60 million to support state efforts to implement updated NAAQS, the $1.3 billion for state and tribal grants includes $45 million for states to enhance their water enforcement and permitting programs. In order to help tribes move forward with implementation of environmental programs, $30 million is budgeted for a new competitive Tribal Multi-media Implementation grant program. To further enhance tribal environmental management capabilities, this budget also includes an additional $9 million for Tribal General Assistance Program grants.
Taking Action on Climate Change: This budget contains more than $43 million for additional efforts to address climate change and work toward a clean energy future. EPA will implement the greenhouse gas reporting rule; provide technical assistance to ensure that any permitting under the Clean Air Act will be manageable; perform regulatory work for the largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions; develop standards for mobile sources such as cars and trucks; and continue research of carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
Protecting America's Waters: This budget broadens efforts to clean up America's great waterbodies. It provides $63 million for efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and $17 million for the Mississippi River Basin to respond to non-point source control recommendations of the Nutrients Innovation Task Group and implement recommendations outlined in the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Action Plan.
This budget also invests $3.3 billion to maintain and improve outdated water infrastructure and keep our wastewater and drinking water clean and safe. This is in addition to $6 billion in funding provided to states through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Assuring the Safety of Chemicals: This budget calls for $56 million for chemical assessment and risk review to ensure that no unreasonable risks are posed by new or existing chemicals. This budget also invests $29 million (including $15 million in grants funding) in the continuing effort to eliminate childhood lead poisoning, and $6 million to support national efforts to mitigate exposure to high-risk legacy chemicals, such as mercury and asbestos.
Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism and Working for Environmental Justice: This budget contains $8 million for environmental justice programs. It targets increased brownfields investments to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and proposes $9 million for community water priorities in the Healthy Communities Initiative, funds that will help under-served communities restore urban waterways and address water quality challenges. EPA is committed to identifying and addressing the health and environmental burdens faced by communities disproportionately impacted by pollution. This commitment is fulfilled through the agency's efforts to give people a voice in decisions that impact their lives and to integrate environmental justice in EPA programs, policies and activities.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/budget
Small Drinking Water System Case Studies On System Partnerships For Achieving Sustainability
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a compilation of case studies, Gaining Operational and Managerial Efficiencies Through Water System Partnerships, to highlight various approaches small drinking water systems have taken to improve their technical and financial capacity by partnering with other water systems. Many small public water systems are challenged with limited resources, lack of trained operators, and complex regulations.
As part of EPA's effort to promote sustainability of water systems, this report presents examples of different partnership options ranging from informal arrangements, such as sharing equipment, to transferring ownership of a system through consolidation. The potential benefits of partnerships are numerous and significant, including increased economies of scale, increased capital needed to replace and improve aging water delivery infrastructure, and enhanced environmental protection, resource conservation, and contingency planning for conditions of water scarcity. States can also realize the important benefits of such activities because water system partnerships can be an effective means of helping small water systems achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial (TMF) capacity, reducing the oversight and resources that the state will need to devote to these systems.
The document can be found on EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsystems/financialhelp.html. You can also contact the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at 1-800-490-9198 or nscep@bps-lmit.com to order hard copies of the document.
For more information on the EPA Office of Water, visit www.epa.gov/ow.
National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL)
Concrete Sewer Pipe Vulnerable To Corrosion
Under certain conditions, the microorganisms that are naturally present in urban wastewater systems can convert hydrogen sulfide in the water to sulfuric acid. When this happens, even durable concrete pipes are vulnerable to corrosion. EPA water researchers in the National Risk Management Research Laboratory are studying concrete sewer pipe damage by analyzing the DNA of microorganisms that trigger chemical attacks on pipe walls. Data from this research will help to develop more sustainable wastewater systems.
Background
The potential health risks of aging water infrastructures in American cities are generating concern among professionals in drinking water utilities, municipal sewer districts and government agencies. The scientific understanding of precisely how water distribution systems age and why they eventually fail is basic to EPA's clean water mission and to its Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) research program. NRMRL water researchers have expanded on existing EPA studies of microbial corrosion in drinking water systems by turning their attention to microbial corrosion in concrete sewer systems.
Understanding "Sewer Bugs"
One approach to a better understanding of microbial communities ("sewer bugs") responsible for the production of sulfuric acid is through the analysis of their DNA. Sequence analysis of 16S rDNA and functional gene clone libraries (collections of genetic signatures) can be used to describe the phylogenic affiliation (specific bacterial species) and function potential (what they can do) of microbial communities associated with microbial-induced concrete corrosion (MICC).
Since August 2008, EPA researchers have been using this approach to develop data for bioassays that can specifically determine the abundance of concrete biofilm bacteria (bugs attached to concrete surfaces) and MICC-related processes. In cooperation with the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District, EPA researchers are studying real-world examples of corroded sewer pipe and locations within the district where a variety of pipe samples can be taken.
Pipe samples are taken to the lab where DNA is extracted and used to develop clone libraries. These clone libraries are then examined using gene sequence analysis and, via the use of bioinformatics, the identity of the bugs associated with the biofilms are revealed. Thus far, more than 2,000 clones have been analyzed and the data suggest that the concrete biofilms hold a diverse bacterial community. Among the bugs identified are bacterial groups previously isolated from biofilms implicated in concrete corrosion. This data will be used to study particular functional groups to better understand the dynamics of concrete corrosion.
The development of comprehensive databases for bacterial communities in sewer systems within a wide range of corrosion conditions is crucial in identifying bacterial groups that could form the basis for bioassays used to develop innovative condition assessment tools for monitoring MICC. The expected outcomes of this research are lowered costs of operation, maintenance and replacement of aging water infrastructures and reduced life-cycle costs of wastewater conveyance systems.
Preliminary results of this research will be presented in May at the American Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting to be held in San Diego.
Sustainability Metrics -- A Test
EPA researchers have developed a multidisciplinary method for measuring movement toward--or away from--sustainability across a region for a 26-year period. Sustainability specialists in the National Risk Management Research Laboratory, in collaboration with staff from National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and EPA Region 8, have assembled a data set for a region in south-central Colorado that includes economic, social, and environmental variables. The challenge: to apply scientifically defensible metrics of sustainability to on-the-ground problems. The goal: to develop common sense, robust and affordable methodologies for evaluating and managing environmental issues, while preserving regional economic and social well being over the long term so regions can become more sustainable.
Some Preliminary Results
As predicted, this methodology appears to capture trends in a regional system. Its application to the San Luis Basin Project (which concludes this year) shows that the region is slowly moving away from sustainability over the time surveyed. The project report, which is now in external peer review, will be available on the
Sustainable Environments Branch web site. The methodology implemented for the San Luis Basin Project is applicable to other regions and systems. A second project, using Puerto Rico as a test site, is planned for the coming year.
Watershed Central: A New Interactive Management Tool
EPA recently launched a new web site called "Watershed Central" to help watershed organizations and other stakeholders find key information they need to implement watershed management decisions. The
Watershed Central site includes guidance, tools, case studies, and data resources that integrate EPA programs to help users share information, analyze data, and initiate, or strengthen their own watershed efforts.
Watershed Central was developed to bridge the gap between user needs and the variety of resources offered by EPA and other groups. The result is an interactive web-based resource that helps users locate the information they need, including environmental data, watershed models, guidance documents, nearby local organizations, technical resources, and funding. A unique feature of Watershed Central is the "Watershed Central
Wiki" — similar to Wikipedia — which allows registered users to submit case studies, tools, local approaches to watershed management, lessons learned, and success stories. To ensure that user needs are met and information is up-to-date, three teams were
established — a Content Team, a User Team and an Information Technology (IT) Team. Team members and participants are solicited from within and outside EPA. In addition, as a feedback mechanism, EPA has sponsored regional workshops where participants are introduced to Watershed Central and encouraged to collaborate on improving the information it contains. The Watershed Central teams and other participants utilize the
wiki site as a forum for discussing and vetting information for inclusion on the Watershed Central public web site.
Watershed Central is a cooperative development effort among EPA's Office of Research and Development (National Risk Management Research Laboratory), Office of Water (Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds), and Office of Environmental Information. This growing and changing program is part of EPA's ongoing commitment to the protection of human health and the environment.
Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program
ETV Verified Technologies
The ETV Program has verified the performance of 421 innovative environmental technologies that can be used to monitor, prevent, control, and clean up pollution. For a full list of ETV verifications, visit
http://www.epa.gov/etv/verifiedtechnologies.html.
Vendor Solicitations
ETV centers issue periodic solicitations for vendors and collaborators interested in verification. For a list of active ETV vendor
solicitations, please visit www.epa.gov/etv/vendorswanted.html,
or contact the appropriate ETV center (see www.epa.gov/etv/contacts.html).
Upcoming Conferences and Meetings
- March 15-18, 2010 – The 20th Annual Association of Environmental Health and Sciences (AEHS) Meeting and International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water, and Energy will be held in San Diego, CA. This conference provides a forum for the environmental science community to exchange information on technological advances, new scientific achievements, and the effectiveness of standing environmental regulation programs. Heather Rectanus, Battelle, will represent the ETV Materials Management and Remediation Center and will present, "Technology Performance Verification Testing through the U.S. EPA Environmental Technology Verification Program." For more information, visit http://www.aehs.com/conferences/westcoast/index.htm.
- March 21-25, 2010 – The 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Spring Meeting and 6th Global Congress on Process Safety will be held in San Antonio, TX. The meeting will focus on energy and resource efficiency and will include topical conferences on Advanced Fossil Fuel Energy Utilization, Clean Energy, Distillation, Greenhouse Gas Management, Sustainability, and more. ETV will exhibit with the EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory. For more information, visit http://www.aiche.org/Conferences/SpringMeeting/index.aspx.
- March 24-26, 2010 – GLOBE 2010 will be held in Vancouver, Canada. The conference will focus on the following topics: corporate sustainability, climate change, carbon management, clean energy, sustainable finance, and greener cities. Special sub-themes will include: clean technology, water, sustainable retail, and the future of the automobile industry. ETV will exhibit with the EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory. For more information, visit http://www.globe2010.com/.
- April 11-14, 2010 – The 53rd Annual Kentucky Water and Wastewater Operators' Association (KWWOA) Conference will be held in Louisville, KY. This event will feature technical sessions and exhibitors with up-to-date information for the operation of drinking water treatment, distribution, wastewater collection, and treatment systems. ETV will exhibit with the EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory. For more information, visit http://www.kwwoa.org/.
For more information on the ETV, visit www.epa.gov/etv.
Other EPA News
EPA Announces Environmental Justice Video Contest: Faces Of The Grassroots
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sponsoring an environmental justice video contest that challenges professional or aspiring filmmakers to create videos that capture the faces of the environmental justice movement. The Faces of the Grassroots contest is an opportunity to publicly exhibit creativity with environmental justice stories, and connect with others working to raise awareness of the movement.
"Faces of the Grassroots will help EPA expand the conversation on environmentalism and work for environmental justice," said Charles Lee, director of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice. "Participants can make a difference for the historically underrepresented in their community by using motion pictures to show the struggles and triumphs they have endured to advance environmental justice."
Videos can focus on any environmental justice activity, issue, or topic. Examples would be a music video about climate change, or a video recording a successful environmental justice project that has made a community a healthier and happier place to live.
Awards will be given to the winning submissions in each category. The videos will also be featured on EPA's Web site and may be used as public service announcements. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 8, 2010. EPA will announce winners in honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
Below are the categories and prize money:
Public Service Announcements (30 or 60 seconds)
1st Place - $2,500
2nd Place - $1,500
3rd Place - $1,000
Student Winner - $500 (13-18 years old)
Informational Video (3-5 minutes)
1st Place - $2,500
2nd Place - $1,500
3rd Place - $1,000
Student Winner - $500 (13-18 years old)
More information: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/events/video-contest.html
Informational video on the contest:
http://www.epa.gov/multimedia/playercontents/video/EJVideoContest/index.html
EPA Announces Superfund Cleanup Progress For FY 2009
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the annual summary of the Superfund program's fiscal year (FY) 2009 progress. The report shows that the program continues to make significant progress in achieving its mission of cleaning up the country's most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites and protecting the health of nearby communities and ecosystems from harmful contaminants.
In FY 2009, which ended on Sept. 30, EPA completed all of its construction projects at 20 sites, for a cumulative total of 1,080 sites with construction completed – 67 percent of the top priority sites ranked on the National Priorities List (NPL). Superfund has continued to protect communities and the environment by listing 20 new sites and proposing that 23 sites be added to the NPL in FY 2009.
"Protecting human health and the environment, and restoring contaminated properties to environmental and economic vitality are EPA priorities," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "EPA gives top priority to cleaning up sites that pose the greatest risk to human health and to the environment while engaging communities throughout the site decision-making process."
With $582 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, EPA began new construction at 26 Superfund sites and provided additional support to ongoing construction activities at 25 other sites. The recovery act funding is supporting local economies by creating and maintaining jobs, and is increasing the speed in which Superfund sites are cleaned up and returned to productive use. When a Superfund site is cleaned up and redeveloped, it can offer significant economic benefits to local communities, including future job creation.
EPA conducted or oversaw more than 368 emergency response and removal actions to address immediate threats to communities, such as cleaning up spills and accidental releases of hazardous material in FY 2009.
Underscoring EPA's commitment to the "polluter pays" principle, the agency secured commitments from potentially responsible parties to conduct more than $1.99 billion in future response work, and to reimburse EPA for $371 million in past costs.
In 2010, EPA launched the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, which represents a commitment to improve program performance and provide communities with accountability and transparency. As a first step, EPA has developed a new publicly reported performance measure, an increase in the completion of Superfund remedial action projects. The new measure will provide more information regarding the actions necessary to bring site cleanups to completion and reuse.
More on the Superfund National Accomplishments Summary: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/accomp/numbers09.html
EPA Increases Transparency Of Proposed Regulations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new Web site giving the public additional opportunity to participate in the agency's rulemaking process, demonstrating President Obama's commitment to more transparent and open government. The online Rulemaking Gateway serves as a portal to EPA's priority rules, providing citizens with earlier and more concise information about agency regulations. It also allows users to search for EPA rules that relate to specific interests, including impacts on small business; children's health; environmental justice; and state, local and tribal government.
Rulemaking Gateway provides information as soon as work begins and provides updates on a monthly basis as new information becomes available. Time-sensitive information, such as notice of public meetings, is updated on a daily basis.
Rulemaking Gateway complements Regulations.gov, the federal government's main portal for tracking rules from all federal agencies, by providing brief overviews of specific EPA rules and additional ways to search rules based on the phases they are in (e.g., pre-proposal, proposal), the topics they relate to (e.g., air, water), and the impacts they might have (e.g., impacts on small businesses or environmental justice). The new Web site offers a distilled "snapshot" of a rule, with just enough information for a citizen to determine his or her interest in the rule. The individual then can use Rulemaking Gateway links to Regulations.gov and to other EPA sources where comprehensive information is available.
In addition, EPA has established a Rulemaking Gateway discussion forum to allow the public to suggest enhancements to the site. The forum will be open through July 16, 2010, after which EPA plans to make enhancements based on ideas received.
More information on Rulemaking Gateway and the discussion forum: http://www.epa.gov/rulemaking/
More information on Regulations.gov Web site: http://www.regulations.gov
EPA Announces New Support For Sustainable Communities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced three steps to support communities' efforts to provide their citizens' with economic opportunity while reducing impacts on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.
The steps EPA announced are:
- The creation of a new Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
- A new pilot grant program designed to help three states – New York, Maryland and California – use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable.
- A pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities' efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing.
The brownfields pilot program announced today represents a key step in that partnership. Together, EPA, HUD, and DOT have selected five pilot sites across the country where there is a convergence of public transit and the need for affordable housing. Cleaning and reusing this land and providing new housing choices will create jobs and new economic opportunities. The five sites selected for the Sustainable Communities Partnership Pilots are the Fairmount Line in Boston; the Smart Growth Redevelopment District in Indianapolis; the La Alma/South Lincoln Park neighborhood in Denver; the Riverfront Crossings District in Iowa City, Iowa; and the Westside Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development in National City, Calif.
The Office of Sustainable Communities that EPA announced today will help create neighborhoods that offer good jobs, educational opportunities, safe and affordable homes and transportation options while minimizing their impact on the environment. The Pilot Technical Assistance Program for Sustainable Communities will further that goal by encouraging states to use their Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program to better support communities that adopt sustainable strategies, like transit-oriented, mixed-use development.
More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities:
http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership
More information on EPA's Smart Growth program: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
SOURCE: EPA
