United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
• 1 Oth edition summer
ej news 1
office update 5
upcoming events 8
contacts & web resources... ....8
environmental
A Newsletter from the EPA New England Environmental Justice Council
ei nevus
Lisa Jackson Visits
New Bedford
EPA Administrator Lisa P Jackson
has made it clear since the day she
stepped into her job that "environmen-
tal protection is about human protec-
tion." While she was in New Bedford
in April, she announced $25 to $35
million in new EPA funds for clean-
ing the New Bedford Harbor Super-
fund site. Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen.
Ted Kennedy and Rep. Barney Frank
were also at the event to announce the
funding.
This money, from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, will provide a tremendous boost to the
cleanup of New Bedford Harbor and is expected
to significantly speed progress towards remov-
ing PCB-contaminated sediment and returning
a clean harbor back to the community.
New Bedford, one of the poorest communities
in New England, is among dozens of urban
communities across the region receiving
support from the $460 million in Recovery Act
funds going to this region. President Obama
directed that the Recovery Act, signed Feb. 17,
be put in place with unprecedented transpar-
ency and accountability.
Congress appropriated $600 million in Recovery
Act funds to EPA's Superfund program to clean
some of the most contaminated waste sites in the
country. Many of these sites, like New Bedford,
Community representatives with Lisa Jackson
at EPA's cleanup facility in New Bedford.
are in the industrial areas hardest hit by the
recession. By starting or speeding up cleanup at
Superfund sites, the funding more quickly returns
sites to productive use. A redeveloped Superfund
site can offer economic benefits to communities,
including jobs.
Before the New Bedford announcement, Jackson
heard concerns of community members so she
could be sure they have a voice in the clean-
up. Jackson's meeting exemplified her strong
belief that EPA must offer a "listening ear" to
all communities-and especially disadvantaged
communities.
According to Jackson, environmental justice
"is not an issue we can afford to relegate to the
margins. It has to be part of our thinking in every
decision we make."
Mystic River Receives a "C-"
with Notable Improvement at
Report Card Event
The Mystic River Watershed received a grade of
"C-" from EPA New England for the calendar year
of 2008. This announcement, made at events in
Chelsea and Woburn, Mass, on May 2, repre-
sented the third time EPA has given the Mystic
River Watershed a grade.
The report card began in 2006 as a
collaborative effort to address water
quality issues in the Mystic River.
While each of the past two years EPA
has announced a grade of "D" for the
watershed, EPA announced the "C-"
for the watershed. The grade for the
Mystic River Watershed indicated
that over the past year, water quality
met swimming standards 59 percent
of the time and boating standards
90 percent of the time. The grade is
based on bacterial contamination.
EPA New England's Acting Deputy
Regional Administrator, Stephen
Perkins, joined community members
and environmental advocates at Mill
Creek in Chelsea and at Horn Pond
Conservation Area in Woburn to announce the
grade and celebrate the communities' annual
spring cleanup and Earth Day events. Commu-
nity members had gathered to help with river
cleanup projects.
"This year's Mystic River Report Card grade is
a testament to the success of the strong part-
nerships forged between local citizens all the
way up through federal government. A "C-"
is a substantial improvement from years past,
but there is still much work to be done," said
Perkins. "By pulling together, we hope to make
the Mystic River Watershed one of the most
beautiful, most usable and most valued water-
sheds in the country."
"The Mystic River Watershed encompasses more
than 76 square miles, 22 towns and cities and
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the lives and well being of more than 500,000
residents. Working with Chelsea Greenspace, the
Woburn Residential Environmental Network, the
professional staff at EPA New England and many,
many other environmental advocacy groups
we are determined to achieve a restoration of
environmental conditions in the Mystic River
Watershed to a healthy state," said EkOngKar
Singh Khalsa, executive director of the Mystic
River Watershed Association. "The results of this
year's EPA Report Card provide encouragement
that we are moving in the right direction."
The report card event was organized by the
Mystic River Steering Committee, which oper-
ates as a coordinating and information exchange
organization to help
establish priorities
and recommend key
actions needed to
improve conditions in
the Mystic River Water-
shed. The Steering
Committee integrates
environmental justice
principles by bring-
ing a diverse group to
the table composed of
nearly half commu-
nity groups and non-
profits. This diversity
ensures that disadvan-
taged groups have a
voice in the planning
process. Environmen-
tal justice is an impor-
Stephen Perkins, Acting Deputy
Regional Administrator, at a
Mystic River Report Card Event.
tant consideration in
EPA New England's
urban rivers strat-
egy and is a clear objective of the Mystic River
Watershed Steering Committee.
Environmental Justice Program Awards
Four Grants To New England Non-Profits
Four community organizations from New England
states were awarded $20,000 each as part of
EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants
Program, which supports community organiza-
tions that address environmental or public health
problems at a local level.
The four organizations that received grants
were: The Spanish American Union of Spring-
field, Mass; Rhode Island Legal Services; The
Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice
and United Somali Women of Maine.
The Spanish American Union of Springfield,
Mass., in collaboration with Groundwork Spring-
field, received a grant for its "What's Bugging
You?" project, which aims to work with partners
to raise awareness and reduce health hazards
from pesticides for families living in public hous-
ing developments in Springfield. The project will
target local youths as agents for providing educa-
tion and encouraging ways to improve the quality
of indoor environments in public housing. The
project aims to reduce exposure to pesticides,
encourage integrated pest management and
reduce asthma triggers for
families most at risk.
The Spanish Ameri-
can Union, a non-profit
organization, was one of
several organizations that
worked together to form
Groundwork Springfield,
a local initiative that
is part of a nationwide
program to help promote
environmental, econom-
ic, and social well-
being of communities.
"We are just small-town
people trying to help our
city come back to life
without duplicating efforts
and that is what Ground-
work Springfield is doing
through urban environ-
mental work funded by EPA's grant," said Patricia
Moss, project director of Groundwork Springfield.
Rhode Island Legal Services received the grant
for its work on the "Green Teenz Video Learning
Project," which will host a 10-week class for 15
youth from the Hartford Park Public Housing Proj-
ect in Providence. During the class, youth will
create two 30-second public service announce-
ment videos that will focus on the health risks
associated with common household cleaning
products (one in English and one in Spanish),
and another 5-minute video that will focus on the
correlation between solid waste and trash and
poor living and health conditions in low-income
neighborhoods.
Rhode Island Legal Services provides support
to low-income people with civil legal problems,
ranging from family matters, housing, employ-
ment, government benefits and consumer
disputes. Its major priorities are to ensure that
low-income people have food, shelter, income,
medical care and freedom from domestic
violence.
"We have been very lucky to receive EPA fund-
ing for our environmental justice work for many
years now, but this particular grant will enable us
to go in a completely different direction than we
usually do," said Steven Fischbach, the project's
team leader. "Our goal is to engage youth who
live in public housing and have very little oppor-
tunity to participate in afterschool programs
because of budget cuts in the school systems,
and to get them involved in environmental work
that will teach them the importance of participat-
ing in civic life."
The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental
Justice received the grant for its work on the
"Clean and Safe Connecticut Cities" project,
which will reduce health effects from air toxics
in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport through
education. The goals of the project are to reduce
exposure to toxic cleaning products and encour-
age the use of safer, less toxic alternatives to
reduce environmental and public health prob-
lems in indoor environments.
The coalition's primary mission is to protect
urban environments in Connecticut by educat-
ing communities, promoting changes in govern-
ment policies and promoting individual, corpo-
rate and governmental responsibility towards
environmental issues. Some of its goals are
to educate the public about the disparities in
environmental burdens borne by urban commu-
nities and the reasons why negative health
impacts are greater in those communities.
"EPA's grant has been very helpful in enabling
us to educate more people about the toxins that
ordinary, over-the-counter cleaning products
can contain and to suggest alternative products
that are safer, work just as well, and are often
cheaper than traditional products," said project
leader Mark Mitchell.
The United Somali Women of Maine received a
grant for its work on the "New Mainers Lead and
Pesticide Prevention Program." This program
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is set to develop and implement an outreach
campaign that will educate the refugee popu-
lation in the Lewiston/Auburn area of central
Maine on lead hazards and the risks involved in
pesticide application. The ultimate goals of the
project are to reduce lead and pesticide dangers
in homes and increase community capacity to
ensure environmental quality and safety for their
local residents' homes.
United Somali Women of Maine works to promote
self-sufficiency, increase access to health infor-
mation and health care, prevent violence and
promote a non-sexist, multicultural environment
for Somali women and girls. It serves as a bridge
between Somali and East African families in the
Lewiston, Auburn and Portland areas and local
service providers.
Since the Environmental Justice Small Grants
Program pilot was released in 1994, EPA has
supplied thousands of community-based orga-
nizations with more than $31 million.
EPA announces $24.4 Million
in Grants for Contaminated
Land Cleanup, Economic
Development in New England
Nearly $112 million in EPA grants is avail-
able to help communities clean up "brown-
fields," sites where expansion, redevelopment,
or reuse may be complicated by the pres-
ence or potential presence of contamination.
The grants, announced in May by EPA Adminis-
trator Lisa P Jackson, include nearly $7.4 million
from the Recovery Act and $17.1 mi Ilion from the
EPA brownfields general program funding for the
New England states. Thesefunds will help revital-
ize former industrial and commercial sites, turning
them from dangerous sites to productive places.
"Cleaning and reusing contaminated properties
provides the catalyst to improving the lives of
residents living in or near brownfields commu-
nities," said Jackson. "A revitalized brown-
fields site reduces threats to human health and
the environment, creates green jobs, promotes
community involvement, and attracts investment
in local neighborhoods."
"EPA's Brownfield's program has been an
incredibly powerful economic engine, help-
ing communities throughout New England to
assess, clean and reclaim abandoned parcels,
returning property to productive uses," said Ira
Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA's
New England office. "We are proud that with
additional funding for Brownfields work in New
England, the Recovery Act will be helping to jump
start local economies, putting people to work creat-
ing a cleaner and healthier environment."
Some of the applicants selected to receive
Recovery Act funds include:
• City of Holyoke, Mass. $200,000, cleanup
grant for Former Mountain Road Firing Range
• City of New Bedford, Mass. $200,000,
community-wide assessment grant
• City of Worcester, Mass. $200,000, commu-
nity-wide assessment grant
• Rhode Island Dept. of Environmental
Management, $1 million, community-wide
"coalition" grant
• City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, $200,000,
cleanup grant
• Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection,
$400,000, two community-wide assessment
grants
• Town of Sanford, Maine, $200,000, cleanup
grant for Sanford Mill Site
Some of the applicants selected to receive
brownfields general program funds include:
"Cleaning and reusing contaminated properties
provides the catalyst to improving the lives of resi-
dents living in or near brownfields communities,"
- Lisa P. Jackson
• City of Lowell, $400,000, two community-
wide assessment grants
• New Garden Park, Inc., $400,000, two
cleanup grants for former Worcester Voca-
tional High School
• New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental
Services, $1 million, community-wide coali-
tion grant
• Southern N.H. Planning Commission,
$400,000, two community-wide assessment
grants
• City of Burlington/CED Office, Vermont,
$200,000, community-wide assessment grant
• Bridgeport Housing Authority, Conn.,
$200,000, cleanup grant
• City of Bridgeport, Conn. $1 million,
community-wide Revolving Loan Fund grant
Grant recipients are selected through a
national competition. The Brownfields Program
encourages development of the nation's esti-
mated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated
waste sites.
Three New England Projects
Share $600k for Environmental
Job Training
Two communities in Connecticut and one in
Massachusetts will share $600,000 in EPA
brownfields job training grants geared toward
cleaning up contaminated properties and turning
them into productive community assets.
The three New England recipients that will each
be awarded $200,000 EPA brownfields job train-
ing grants are:
• The City of New Bedford, Mass.,
• Workplace Inc. of Southwest Connecticut (in
Bridgeport, Conn.), and,
• The Northwest Regional Workforce Investment
Board, in Waterbury, Conn.
The EPA grants will help teach people living in
near brownfields sites how to do environmental
assessments and clean up brownfields sites.
The Northwest Regional Workforce Investment
Board in Waterbury plans to train 60 students
and aims to place 50 graduates in environmen-
tal jobs. The training program will include envi-
ronmental, health, safety and industrial training;
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lead and asbestos abatement training; and reme-
diation technologies training. The Investment
Board will work with the Waterbury Development
Corporation, trade unions, environmental orga-
nizations and private sector remediation special-
ists to place graduates in environmental jobs.
The Workplace Inc., a nonprofit organization,
provides employment and training services for
a 20-town region in Fairfield County. Recent
assessments have identified 26 brownfield sites
within this area. The Workplace plans to train
60 students from five towns, including Norwalk,
Ansonia, Derby, Seymour and Shelton, with a
goal of placing 48 in environmental jobs. The
training program will include lead and asbestos
abatement, 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations
and Emergency Response Standard ((HAZWOP-
ER), and environmental technician. Trainees who
go beyond the basic course requirements may
become certified in other environmental areas
with a potential for earning up to 13 college
credits. The Workplace will create an environ-
mental jobs hotline and a job club, and work
with environmental professionals on the advisory
board to place graduates.
The City of New Bedford has clusters of under-
used or abandoned textile mills, electronic
manufacturing facilities and other industrial
sites, many of which sit next to densely popu-
lated, low-income neighborhoods. Brownfield
cleanups are underway or planned for several
mill, electronics and tool sites. Students will be
recruited from the city's unemployed and under-
employed residents in neighborhoods hurt by
brownfields. New Bedford plans to train a total
of 60 students in two tracks, and place at least
33 graduates in environmental jobs. The envi-
ronmental competency track includes 344 hours
of coursework and certifications in Hazardous
Waste Operations and Emergency Response
Standards; asbestos, lead, and mold abate-
ment; hazardous substance transportation; vapor
intrusion; and alternative technologies. The
higher-education track consists of 465 hours
of training in site evaluation and GIS, incident
management, hazardous waste management,
and general chemistry. Trainees who complete
this track will receive up to 25 college credits.
The primary trainer will be Bristol Community
College. New Bedford will work with the Greater
New Bedford Career Center to place graduates in
environmental jobs.
The three New England projects were among
only 13 projects in 12 states selected to share
$2.6 million in job training grants.
Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $25
million in brownfields job training funds, and
more than 4,000 people have completed train-
ing programs nationwide. More than 3,000 of
these graduates have gotten well-paying jobs
in the environmental field. These programs
are designed to ensure that economic benefits
derived from brownfields redevelopment remain
in the affected communities.
EPA's Brownfields Program encourages rede-
velopment of the country's estimated 450,000
abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since
the beginning of the program, EPA has awarded
more than 1,400 assessment grants totaling
approximately $337 million, 240 revolving loan
fund grants totaling more than $233 million, and
530 cleanup grants totaling about $99 million.
EPA's brownfields assistance has attracted more
than $12.7 billion in private investment and
helped create more than 53,000 jobs.
More information is available at:
January 2009 EPA Brownfields job training grant recipients
(epa.gov/brownfields/09jtgrants/index.htm)
EPA Brownfields program in New England (epa.gov/region1/brownfields)
WE-ACT: Advancing Climate
Justice Conference in NYC
Lisa P Jackson, EPA Administrator, made her
first public appearance at the Advancing Climate
Justice Conference in New York City on January
29-30. The conference, hosted by West Harlem
Environmental Action (WE-ACT), was attended
by more than 400 environmental justice advo-
cates, community leaders and others interested in
discussing issues surrounding climate change.
Speakers at this 2-day conference presented data
related to various climate change topics, focus-
ing on the environmental and socio-economic
impacts such changes have had on low income
and minority communities. The conference not
only served as an outlet to present facts, but
also as an open forum, where participants were
encouraged to share opinions and concerns with
the goal of developing policy recommendations
that would ensure environmental justice for
disadvantaged communities.
The conference consisted of several sessions
that concentrated on specific climate justice
areas of interests. For example, the first round-
table session, "Climate Justice Advocacy in
Light of the Climate Crisis," highlighted efforts
already underway to address climate change in
vulnerable communities. It also addressed the
need to incorporate climate justice into future
policy. Speakers at that session were Martha
Arguello from Physicians for Social Responsi-
bility and Bill Gallegos from Communities for a
Better Environment.
In addition to attending informational sessions,
participants heard from EPA Administrator, Lisa
P Jackson, Dr. Robert D. Bullard from the Envi-
ronmental Justice Resource Center at Clark-
Atlanta University, and Dr. Beverly Wright from
the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
at Dillard University, among others.
Jackson assured those present that President
Obama is fully aware of "urban issues and the
concerns of low income communities who
feel disproportionately affected by pollution
and other environmental problems." She also
pledged to lend "a listening ear and a heart" to
climate justice issues and to address climate
change initiatives through "sound science."
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When asked why she chose the WE-ACT
conference as her first public appearance as
EPA Administrator, Ms. Jackson said, "I want-
ed this to be my first appearance because I'm
an African-American woman and an environ-
mentalist, and we have similar backgrounds.
This was very meaningful to me."
Jackson also emphasized her commitment
to making EPA an ideal workplace for young
people looking to begin their careers in envi-
ronmental protection. Another of her goals as
Administrator is to diversify EPA from the top
down in the hopes of making EPA "look more
like the people it serves."
WE-ACT's Advancing Climate Justice confer-
ence unified hundreds of voices from across
Vernice Miller-Travis, Lisa Jackson,
Cecil Corbin-Mark, and Peggy Shepard
at WE-ACT Conference.
the country with the common goal of creat-
ing a just and responsible "climate-changed
future by advocating for policies and programs
that protect the most vulnerable communities
of our country."
Green Jobs Conference in
February in Washington, DC
More than 2,500 labor, environmental and
business advocates came together in Wash-
ington, D.C. in early February to create an
agenda for a new, green economy. The 2009
Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference
featured prominent speakers and workshops
sessions all aimed at exploring new ideas and
exchanging best practices.
The 3-day conference alternated between
plenary sessions and workshops. The plenary
sessions provided a stage for national envi-
ronmental experts to discuss recent initiatives
related to green jobs, while the workshops
allowed participants to explore new ideas
and exchange best practices. The conference
focused on how solutions to environmental
challenges can be used to drive economic
development and create successful busi-
nesses.
The conference worked to accomplish four
objectives:
•Focus the country on the specific combi-
nation of policy changes, public invest-
ments, and funding mechanisms that are
necessary to accelerate the growth of the
green economy;
•Quantify and illustrate the job growth
potential of global warming solutions and
green chemistry;
•Show the size of the coalition that supports
moving to a clean, renewable energy econ-
omy; and
•Highlight the potential of the green econ-
omy to forge a new social agenda that
reduces poverty, improves public health,
and strengthens our middle class.
A Green Jobs Expo featured companies,
academic institutions and organizations that
displayed green technology or products from
manufacturing. The expo served as a portal
for academic institutions, manufacturers,
non-profit agencies, corporations and govern-
mental agencies to showcase interactive
displays that demonstrated career options in
the emerging green economy.
The conference closed with remarks from EPA
Administrator Lisa P Jackson, who expressed
EPA's commitment to support the new green
economy and in turn, the creation of "good
jobs, green jobs." She also made it clear
that she is committed to the idea that you
don't have to choose between environmental
protection and the economy.
office update
Asthma and Actions in Urban Areas
The current adult asthma rate of 9.7% in New
England is significantly higher than in the rest
of the United States, which has a rate of 7.3%,
according to a recent study.1 The study analyzes
information from a 2006 call-back survey of
adult asthmatics, and also found that rates in
New England rose between of 2001 and 2006.
The States' health departments further analyses
showed localized areas of disproportionately
high rates. In Connecticut, one of the wealthi-
est states, five of its largest cities - Bridgeport,
Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Waterbury -
had high rates of poverty as well as higher rates
of asthma morbidity. Children, adult females,
Hispanics and blacks living in these cities expe-
rience higher rates of asthma impacts, such as
emergency room visits, hospitalizations and
deaths, all of which are preventable. Massachu-
setts also finds higher hospitalizations for asthma
in large cities, including Boston, Brockton, Fall
River, New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester.
The EPA's Regional Asthma Team, known as the
A-Team, working with the state asthma coordina-
tors and state and local asthma coalitions, have
focused attention on these urban hotspots.
The A-Team's work, amplifying the efforts of
the Springfield Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition
provides an example of this focused approach.
Pioneer Valley coalition, an active broad-based
coalition, and their local partners enhanced
work funded by EPA's Healthy Community
Grant Program. This work provided home visits
with families of pediatric asthma patients to
educate them about home environmental expo-
sures, methods of removing triggers, and tools
and services to remediate. The Springfield
coalition worked with the Boston Public Health
Commission to train more than 40 community
health workers and nurses on Healthy Homes
principles. Another partner, Asthma and Allergy
Foundation of New England, trained child care
facilities' staff in Springfield on asthma aware-
ness and on using a checklist to evaluate their
facility for environmental problems.
1 "Living with Asthma in New England", presentation in 2009
by the Asthma Regional Council (ARC)
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EPA helped facil-
ity managers in Spring-
field use the Tools for
Schools' program to
evaluate the health of
school buildings. The
city's facilities depart-
ment is setting up a
schedule to evalu-
ate and repair schools
based on asthma rates.
In addition, the Ameri-
can Lung Association
of Massachusetts is
helping with programs
to reduce smoking,
especially inside build-
ings. The Pioneer Valley
coalition is even developing a strategy to train
parent-coaches in asthma awareness. The coali-
tion will provide asthma awareness training and
environmental improvements nearly everywhere
children go in Springfield.
In Connecticut, the State, EPA and the Center
for Disease Control are working together to
help urban areas reduce asthma impacts. Hart-
ford, Bridgeport, Waterbury and Meriden are
among the communities who have adopted New
London's piloted "Putting on AIRS" (Asthma
Indoor Risk Strategies) program. Putting on AIRS
is a home education and remediation program
run by the local health department for asthmatic
patients referred by physicians and school nurs-
es. The program has reduced asthma-related
emergency room and physician visits by 75
percent and reduced school and work sick days
by 62 percent.
The Boston Public Health Commission has taken
the lead in working with Boston hospitals (Boston
Medical Center, Tufts, Children's Hospital and
Brigham & Women's Hospital), the Ecumenical
Social Action Committee, and EPA New England
to create a more coordinated asthma care system
in Boston. The initial focus is on home visits.
Boston also has led the way, through the efforts
of the Boston Housing Authority and its public
health commission, to help residents in public
housing find alternatives to typical pesticides.
Webinar training sessions conducted by the
Asthma Regional Council, the Boston Public
Health Commission and the housing authority,
were provided nationwide to over 80 asthma
Springfield School Superintendent speaking at Pioneer Valley
Asthma Coalition's Asthma Awareness Fair.
coalitions. The training focuses on how to use
the system of "integrated pest management."
The training showed why this system is safer and
more effective than traditional methods of pest
control and discussed the nuances of the program
in public housing. The training received funding
from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and EPA and
was distributed through EPA's Communities in
Action for Asthma Friendly Environments (see
http://www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org/).
ACE's Kalila Barnett is Build-
ing Sustainable Communities
Through Local Power
Kalila Barnett, executive director of Alternatives
for Community and Environment, or ACE, spoke
to EPA New England's Boston office in March
as part of the Environmental Justice Lunch
and Learn Series. Her presentation, "Build-
ing Sustainable Communities through Local
Power," discussed ACE's mission of achieving
environmental justice by building the power
of communities of color and lower-income
communities so that environmental racism and
classism can be eliminated.
Barnett highlighted three of ACE's main
programs: the T-Riders union, the Roxbury
Environmental Empowerment group and legal/
technical assistance. She said ACE is focused
on issues related to asbestos, asthma and
diesel.
ACE is moving towards a membership-based
structure, hoping to gain members in the low-
income and minority communities it serves,
Barnett said.
She identified "revitalization without displace-
ment" as one of ACE's biggest challenges. This
concept refers to the emerging problem faced
by residents of EJ communities, who must leave
their homes because they can no longer afford
to live there after clean-ups and other improve-
ments have led to price increases in housing.
ACE gives aid to residents struggling with rising
housing costs.
Barnett concluded by discussing the "green
economy" and "green jobs." As the clean ener-
gy industry grows in Boston, ACE is emphasiz-
ing the need to make an impact in the life of all
residents, not just those that can afford to live
a "green" lifestyle, such as those who can buy
hybrid cars and install solar panels on their
houses. ACE continues to promote this notion
of "green justice" by helping residents of EJ
communities save money by reducing heating
costs. ACE also is advocating an increase in the
number of "green collar" jobs accessible to resi-
dents of disadvantages communities. There is a
need for jobs with good wages and quality work
that will create a win-win situation, both for the
employee and for the environment.
On the Road with EPA's
EJ Program: Community
Engagement Meetings in
New England
EPA New England's Environmental Justice
program has hit the road to listen to communi-
ties with EJ concerns throughout New England.
Community engagement meetings were held in
Providence, Rl; Holyoke and Worcester, Mass.;
Manchester, NH, and Hartford and Bridgeport,
Conn. The purposes of the community engage-
ment meetings are to learn about and discuss
environmental and public health issues impor-
tant to the community and identify potential
EPA resources, for example grants and technical
assistance, to help address these concerns.
A recent community engagement meeting was
held in partnership with EPA's Urban Environ-
mental Program in February in Bridgeport. The
residents of Bridgeport are exposed to many
different sources of pollution. About 45 percent
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of the population lives in
low-income areas and the
community has 284 hazard-
ous waste sites regulated
by EPA. Some 63 percent
of the population is non-
white and the poverty rate
is 18.4 percent, more than
double the state level. The
area has an elevated asthma
risk, according to research
completed by the Asthma
Regional Council.
EPA's Urban Environmental
Program has been working
with community partners in
Bridgeport since 2004. In 2007, the Connecti-
cut Coalition for Environmental Justice was
awarded a grant from the Community Action
for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program
to create a partnership to help the community
understand existing and potential sources of risk
to their health and to set priorities for the reduc-
tion of specific pollutants and environmental
toxins. At this community engagement meeting,
participants heard about EPA New England's
EJ Program. Amy Braz, EPA New England's EJ
coordinator, explained that EPA New England's
EJ program works with communities by:
•serving as community point of contact and
information broker for EPA New England
services and resources, including technical
expertise and funding;
•receiving complaints and responding to
concerns;
• providing resources for community projects
that involve collaboration (e.g. Environmen-
tal Justice Small Grant Program); and
•identifying opportunities for training on key
issues and challenges.
The EJ program has supported the work of the
CARE project by providing GIS mapping to
visually overlay information on local environ-
ment and public health data including asthma
prevalence, location of brownfields sites, Toxic
Release Inventory data, and other information
including childhood lead poisoning levels. This
mapping has been valuable in locating the risks
and health problems in Bridgeport.
Several environmental and public health issues
The Bridgeport CARE program works with
the community to prioritize environmental
problems like the polluted Johnson Creek.
were raised at the meeting including: mixed
zoning, illegal dumping, exposure to dust and
air toxics from industrial sources, odor and water
contamination issues from a waste water treat-
ment facility, vacant and contaminated proper-
ties and mold and poor air quality in schools.
EPA New England's
EJ program will work
to find new ways to
help the Bridgeport
community restore
the environment and
improve public health.
If you are interested in
scheduling a commu-
nity engagement
meeting in your city
or town to discuss
environmental justice
issues and learn how
EPA New England's EJ
program can support
your community, "
please contact Amy
Braz, EJ coordinator, at (617) 918-1346 or via
email at braz.amy@epa.gov.
Partnering with New England
States to Improve the
Environment
EPA New England held a meeting on April 7,
2009 at its regional lab in Chelmsford, Mass.
to encourage the six New England states to
Participants at EPA New England
EJ All-States meeting.
work together to address environmental justice
concerns. The EJ-AII States meeting provided an
opportunity for states to learn from one another
and share best practices taking place throughout
New England.
Stephen Perkins, EPA New England's Acting
Deputy Administrator, emphasized that, in addi-
tion to the strong regional commitment to envi-
ronmental justice, EPA Administrator Lisa P Jack-
son has made it a top priority.
The session was organized as a way to consider
the possible connection between the stimulus
funding and EJ, including the potential benefits
and negative impacts to underserved communi-
ties. Attendees also discussed how the public
could participate in decisions on Recovery
Act funding given the accelerated time frames
required for distributing the funding.
The meeting concluded with a discussion about
green jobs and climate change. Given the Obama
administration's focus
on creating a green
economy and combat-
ing climate change,
EPA and the States
may have a chance
to promote programs
and policies related to
environmental justice
and leverage existing
prog rams that can bene-
fit communities with
environmental justice
concerns. Participants
discussed how a multi-
state climate change
platform like Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initia-
tive (RGGI) intersects with green economic
development and EJ. They also considered how
the new Pathways out of Poverty grants authorized
by Massachusetts Green Jobs Act are designed
to jumpstart training in clean energy careers for
low- and moderate-income residents.
Finally, participants looked at EPA's proposed
approach for advancing EJ and green jobs.
page | 7
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ii
ElViPOnmBlltll • 10th edition summer
ipcoiiig mints
The Capitol Hill Summit on
Sutainable Communities,
Environmental Justice, and
the New Economy
October 15-16, 2009
Washington, D.C.
www. sustainablecommunity
developmentgroup. org/
Bmwnfields 2009 Conference
November 16-18, 2009
New Orleans, Louisiana
The Bmwnfields 2009 Conference, being
held at the Ernest N. Mortal Conven-
tion Center in New Orleans, will bring
together representatives of the commu-
nity, planning, real estate, finance, and
policy interests to focus on brownfields
cleanup, redevelopment, and a broad
range of land revitalization solutions.
www.bro wnfields2009. org/
External links disclaimer
This newsletter provides links to non-EPA websites.
These links provide additional information that may be
useful or interesting and are being provided consistent
with the intended purpose of this newsletter. However,
EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of the information
provided by linked sites. Providing links to a non-EPA
website does not constitute an endorsement by EPA or
any of its employees of the sponsors of this site or the
information or products presented on the site.
i
PA New England ej cnntacts state cnntacts
Sharon Wells
Acting Director, Office of
Civil Rights & Urban Affairs
617-918-1007
wells.sharon@epa.gov
Amy Braz
Environmental Justice Coordinator
617-918-1346
braz.amy@epa.gov
Michael Castagna
Environmental Justice Specialist
617-918-1033
castagna.michael@epa.gov
web resources
EPA New England
Environmental Justice Program website
www.epa.gov/region1/ej
National Office of Environmental Justice
www.epa.gov/compliance/
environmentaljustice/index.html
National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council
www.epa.gov/compliance/
environmentaljustice/nejac/index.html
,
lational Office of Civil Rights
www.epa.gov/civilrights/aboutocr.htm
Connecticut - Edith Pestana
Environmental Justice Administrator
Environmental Equity Program
CT Department of Environmental Protection
860-424-3044
Maine - Malcolm Burson
Office of the Commissioner
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
207-287-7755
Massachusetts - David Cash
Assistant Secretary for Policy
MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
617-626-1164
Phil Weinberg
MA Department of Environmental Protection
617-292-5972
New Hampshire -Michael Walls
Assistant Commissioner
NH Department of Environmental Services
603-271-8806
Rhode Island DEM - Terry Gray
Assistant Director/Air, Waste & Compliance
Rl Department of Environmental Management
401-222-4700 ext. 2422
Vermont - Justin Johnson
Commissioner
VT Department of Environmental Conservation
802-241-3808
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