United States
Environmental Protection
Agency New England
June 2005
Environmental News in New England
Dear Municipal
Leader:
Municipal officials are on
the front line when it comes
to public health and environ-
mental protections. To aid you
in your efforts, we are pleased
to introduce the first edition of
our local newsletter to provide
you with timely and topical
information on important en-
vironmental and public health
issues. It includes program
opportunities, funding sources
and success stories at the local
level. We hope that you find
this information useful.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Varney
EPA Regional Administrator
INSIDE
• Brownfields Success Story
• Brownfields Redevelopment
• Clean Buses
• Local Leaders
• Your DPW
• School Concerns
• Clean Beaches
• EPAs LGAC
Save Money and Energy: Energy Star
Program for Local Governments
As a municipal official, you probably
know that energy is one of your larg-
est costs-typically second after person-
nel-and prices are rising. Schools alone
spend more than $6 billion per year on
energy—more than on computers and
textbooks combined.
What you may not realize is how
much you can save by managing your
energy use. Inefficient schools use more
than three times the energy of efficient
ones. On average, 30 percent of energy
used in government buildings is wasted.
Surprisingly, numerous studies indicate
that good management—not expensive
technology—is the most important fac-
tor in top energy performance.
ENERGY STAR® offers free tools, in-
formation, and resources to help munic-
ipal and school officials become better
energy managers. Measuring your en-
ergy performance, changing manage-
ment practices, implementing cost-ef-
fective upgrades, and tracking results
will save your community money while
helping the environment.
So what are you waiting for?
Everything you need to get started is at:
www.energystar.gov
Tips for Properly Disposing
of Fluorescent Lamps
Using fluorescent lamps makes busi-
ness and environmental sense because
they consume one quarter as much
electricity as incandescent lighting. At
the same time, spent and broken fluo-
rescent lamps and high intensity dis-
charge (HID) lights need to be handled
very carefully because they contain
mercury. Most cannot be discarded in
the trash in any of the New England
states. When lamps and other products
containing mercury are placed in the
trash, the mercury finds its way into our
air, water and soil.
Mercury is a potent neurotox-
in; it can impact cognitive thinking,
continued on back cover
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From Brownfield to Brightfield:
A Brockton, Massachusetts Success Story
The City of Brockton, Massachu-
setts is pursuing an intriguing project
to transform an abandoned parcel in
the city into a money-generating so-
lar facility. The facility will be the
largest of its kind in New England.
Although construction is still at least
a year away, the city's plan is to cover
10 acres of city land with solar panels
that could power about 300 homes.
EPA provided Brockton with
a $10,000 grant which will be used
to help the city develop a marketing
strategy for selling the green tags—
Renewable Energy Certificates—so
that necessary construction fi-
nancing can be secured. The one-
megawatt project also received a
$79,500 grant from the Massachu-
setts Renewable Energy Trust to
complete marketing, financing and
other predevelopment activities for
the project. A previous planning
grant of $30,000 was provided by
US Department of Energy. Find
more at:www.epa.gov/NE/ra/gb/
archives/2003/20030716.html
Revitalizing Your Community Through Brownfields
Redevelopment
BROWNFIELDS
Contaminated lands can rob a com-
munity of its economic potential.
Thousands of New England proper-
ties are abandoned because owners
or developers fear environmental
contamination and the associated li-
ability. Called Brownfields, these
properties are often unused while de-
velopment consumes valuable open
space. Smart investments lead to smart
growth decisions. New partnerships are
emerging among government agencies
and private investors to restore and re-
use these parcels.
EPA provides funding and techni-
cal assistance to local, tribal and state
governments, to assess, safely clean,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Ad-
ditionally, EPA provides funding for
communities to develop job training
programs and train local residents in
hazardous waste site cleanup Programs
address the environmental, health, and
economical concerns associated with
brownfields.
Since 1994, the New England
region has received $91 million for
work in dozens of communities in the
six New England states: Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Over
$420 million in private investments has
been leveraged. Almost 550 students
have graduated from the nine Brown-
fields Job Training Programs, with
many finding successful jobs in the en-
vironmental technology fields or going
on to continuing educations.
Visit www.epa.gov/ne/brown-
fields for additional stories and in-
formation on how EPA's Brownfields
Program is rebuilding New England,
community-by-community, or contact:
Carol Tucker, Chief of the Brownfields
Section (617)918-1221
Clean School Buses: The City of
Boston is a National Leader
With funds from supplemental envi-
ronmental projects resulting from two
separate enforcement actions, Boston
school buses are being retrofitted with
advanced pollution controls and be-
ing fueled ultra low-polluting diesel
fuel. The project will benefit more than
28,000 school children who ride the
buses every day and help improve air
quality in the surrounding community.
Upon being completed in 2005, Boston
will be the first major city in the coun-
try to have retrofitted its entire school
bus fleet.
For more information visit: www.epa.gov/
NE/eco/diesel/school buses.html
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EPA Recognizes Local Environmental Leaders
Each year EPA s England Office recog-
nizes governmental entities, individu-
als, non profits groups, and businesses
for outstanding contributions on behalf
of New England's environment. Join us
in applauding the work of two recent
municipal award winners.
Managing Health,
Environmental and Safety
Issues: A South Portland
School Success Story
Like many schools in New England,
Memorial Middle School faces a wide
range of environmental, health and
safety issues. The South Portland expe-
rience began with a vision of bringing
together educators, health professionals
and environmental regulators to pilot a
comprehensive approach to managing
environmental, health and safety issues
by creating an Environmental Manage-
ment System (EMS). South Portland's
EMS team helped the school develop
a basic framework, and, in partnership
with National Institution for Occupa-
tional Safety and Health, applied it to
an indoor air quality problem at the
school. School personnel identified the
source of a mold problem, which was
the cause of staff complaints, and devel-
oped a process to resolve the problem.
Memorial Middle School has shared its
experiences internally through training
meetings and newsletters to parents,
and externally, through participation in
the American Lung Association's Safe
and Healthy Schools network, at a re-
gional symposium, and on the schools'
web site. In the end, the team found
that the documentation created through
developing an EMS is not as important
as the journey that was taken to change
the way the school manages environ-
mental concerns. Today, there is inter-
est in expanding this approach to the
entire school system.
Robert Beaudoin
Lexington, Mass. ,
Superintendent of Environmental Services
Robert Beaudoin, Superintendent of
Environmental Services for Lexington,
oversees curbside waste and recycling
in the town. Although Robert was hired
to run the Pay as You Throw program,
this program was tossed out by a court
that decided Lexington had violated a
town bylaw. Despite this challenge,
Robert had to continue to reduce trash
while increasing recycling rates. Rob-
ert managed to do this through a num-
ber of methods, including: public re-
cycling receptacles; recycling flyers
and hazardous waste postcards sent to
homes; free recycling boxes to civic
organizations; complementary kitchen
scrap composting buckets; and a public
fluorescent bulb recovery program. His
most daunting challenge was develop-
ing a composting program that maxi-
mized the breakdown of yard waste and
made the program self sufficient. He
negotiated with another town to deliver
yard waste to this facility, then market-
ed compost products to local landscape
companies. In the past year, Robert has
improved the environmental health of
the town, earning him additional rec-
ognition from the town DPW and the
local Chamber of Commerce.
For more information on EPA's Envi-
ronmental merit Awards Program, visit:
www.epa.gov/regionl/ra/ema/index.
html
School personnel identified the source of a
mold problem, which was the cause of staff
complaints, and developed a process
to resolve the problem.
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Making Environmental Issues a Priority at your DPW
In 2001, EPA partnered with the New
England Chapter of the American Pub-
lic Works Association to communicate
our shared belief that environmental is-
sues should be a priority at municipal
Departments of Public Works (DPW).
To that end, EPA New England
sent letters to more than 1000 munici-
palities in New England advising them
that public agencies are responsible for
complying with the same environmen-
tal standards as private companies, and
offering assistance in complying with
those standards. Municipalities were
invited to use EPA's Audit Policy to
identify environmental violations, dis-
close those violations to EPA and vol-
untarily correct them. If specific con-
ditions were met, the policy allowed
for reductions of up to 100% for pen-
alties that might otherwise be assessed
through an EPA enforcement action.
Facilities joining the DPW Audit Ini-
tiative became a low inspection priority
for a year, meaning they were unlikely
to be inspected unless EPA received a
complaint or became aware of a condi-
tion that potentially threatened human
health or the environment.
Three hundred and twenty-two
(322) DPW's participated in the Audit
Initiative, audited their facilities and
discovered and disclosed thousands
Municipalities were
invited to use EPA's
Audit Policy to
identify environmental
violations, disclose
those violations to
EPA and voluntarily
correct them.
of violations covering a wide range of
environmental requirements. The most
frequently disclosed violations involved
hazardous waste regulations, includ-
ing: failure to make waste determina-
tions; unlabeled or open containers of
hazardous waste; improper storage and
disposal of hazardous wastes; failure to
provide training to personnel who han-
dle hazardous wastes; and, inadequate
contingency/emergency plans.
EPA's Audit Policy is available at:
www.epa.gov/compliance/incentives/
auditing/aii ditpolicy.htm
EPA New England's audit initiative is helping municipalities comply with their
environmenta responsibilities.
Managing Environmental Concerns in Your School
If you're lucky, none of the schools in
your city or town have been in the news
for chemical management problems,
drinking water contamination, poor in-
door air quality, pesticide issues, mis-
management of asbestos, or other en-
vironmental problems. Mismanaging
school environments can lead to health
problems, legal liabilities, injuries, en-
vironmental contamination, and embar-
rassing press for a community.
EPA New England wants to help
schools address their environmental re-
sponsibilities. This means developing
a plan to evaluate conditions, set pri-
orities, and identify resources to cor-
rect what's wrong. In Massachusetts
and Maine we've pilot tested the use of
Environmental Management Systems
in schools. For information about these
projects, visit: www.epa.gov/ne/assis-
tance/ems/proj ects.html
EPA provides internet support to
schools at: www.epa.gov/schools. A
new draft tool, "the Healthy School
Environments Assessment Tool," may
be accessed at this website. Massachu-
setts and Maine have generated com-
prehensive environmental checklists
for schools that can be found at: www.
mass.gov/dph/beha/iaq/schools/
schools.htm and www.maine.gov/
education/const/FMThomepage.htm
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Clean New England Beaches: 'It's A Shore Thing!
Thanks to the Federal Beach Act, EPA
has funded nearly $5 million to help
build state beach programs and fund
water quality testing at coastal beaches.
In 2002, EPA launched its Clean New
England Beach Initiative, which focus-
es on improving public health, educa-
tion and water quality at New England
beaches.
As part of this initiative, Flagship
beaches have been designated in each
state to highlight federal, state, and
local efforts to reduce beach closures
and track progress. Earlier this year,
EPA and NEIWPCC hosted two tre-
mendously popular workshops entitled
"How to reduce and prevent beach
closures": Strategies for detection,
correction and financing. Presentation
information and success stories from
these workshops are available at: www.
neiwpcc.org/beachworkshop
Visit www.epa.gov/ne/eco/beaches
for more info on our beach initiative.
This year EPA NE will be awarding
$1.1 million to five coastal states—and
as in years past we encourage munici-
palities to work with us to enhance their
coastal beaches.
IT'!
SHOftE THING
Clean New England Beaches
EPA's Local Government Advisory Committee
By Bruce Tobey, Former Mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts
EPA's Local Government Advisory Committee is an advisory panel chartered under the Federal Advi-
sory Committee Act. Its goal is to provide the citizens of the Nation with more efficient and effective
environmental protection by strengthening the partnership between local government and EPA.
Representing a broad array of perspectives, LGAC's membership comes from every EPA re-
gion. Some are present and past elected and appointed local officials, while others come from
state and county government, labor and business, and environmental groups. Together with
Whitney Hatch, Regional Director for the Trust for Public Land, I represent our region on LGAC.
Our focus in the past year has been to provide practical advice to EPA when its work and the inter-
ests of local government intersect, including:
• The Indicators Initiative, which will redefine how environmental compliance is measured
by looking to pragmatic outcomes relevant to the environment and human health;
• The Small Local Governments Compliance Assistance Policy, which aims to promote en-
vironmental compliance through collaborative outreach when local resources are scarce.
• Water Quality Standards and Financing, with a special focus on CSO issues and the
infrastructure financing gap; and
• Homeland Security Strategic Planning, as the agency works to blend the need to en-
hance the nation's safety with its charge to protect our environment.
Bruce Tobey, the Director of Business Development for Aquarian Services Company and the
former Mayor of Gloucester, MA, may be reached at btobey@aquarion.com and Whitney Hatch may
be reached atwhitney.hatch@tpl.org
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Fluorescent Lamps cont.
memory, attention, language, and
fine motor and visual spatial skills.
Mercury contamination is so wide-
spread that more than 40 states have
issued advisories warning pregnant
women and young children not to
eat certain fish, including all the
states in the Northeast.
All mercury-containing lamps,
regardless of the amount of mercury,
should be handled as a hazardous ("uni-
versal") waste and stored carefully to
avoid breakage. To get more informa-
tion about specific state regulations
and more information on mercury-
containing lamps visit: www.newmoa.
org/Newmoa/htdocs/prevention/
mercury/lamprecycle/#stateregs
For more information about mercury
www.epa.gov/mercury
EPA-901-N-05-002
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency New England
1 Congress Street
Suite 1100
Boston, MA 02114
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
An Equal Opportunity Employer
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