Environmental

nawc

news

A Newsletter from the EPA New England Environmental Justice Council

SEPA

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency New England

6th edition • December 2004

Science of Environmental Justice Working Conference
Guides EPA Research Agenda

On May 24-26, EPA New England,
EPA's Office of Research and
Development (ORD) and Boston
University's School of Public Health
(BliSPH) co-sponsored the Science
of Environmental Justice (SEJ)
Working Conference. The theme of
the conference was: Science to
Action: Community-based Part-
icipatory Research and Cumu-
lative Risk Analysis as Tools to
Advance Environmental Justice in
Urban, Suburban and Rural
Communities. Key topics included
community-based participatory
research, cumulative risk analysis,
air toxics, asthma, children's

EPA and East End Community Council Host
Environmental Justice Tour and Forum in Bridgeport

On Aug. 24, nearly 100 individuals
participated in a bus tour and
discussion forum hosted by the East
End Community Council (EE CO) in
Bridgeport, Conn., in partnership with
the EPA New England's Urban
Environmental Program, the

EJ News	 1

Office Notes	3

Office Highlights ............ 5

Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection and the
American Cancer Society, about
environmental justice concerns in the
East End neighborhood of the city.
Bridgeport is the most densely
populated city in Connecticut, with 94

INSIDEQ

Q & A	6

Grants						 7

percent minority residents and 45
percent of families living below the
poverty line. In the East End
neighborhood, there are more than 80
vacant lots, several inventoried
Brownfields sites and illegal dumping
of trash is a significant problem.

continued on page 2

EJ Profile 		9

Publication Updates	 II

Contacts	 14

environmental health,
land-based risks and water
quality.

The SEJ Conference was
a first-of-its-kind effort to
focus on environmental
justice science and
research. It provided a
forum in which 275
individuals, including
scientists, technical experts,
community leaders, non-
profit groups, academia and
government representatives, could ^ Conference participants discuss
work together to provide input on the	children's environmental health.

future of the agency's research efforts.

continued on page 2

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.EJ News

EJ Working Conference

Participants came from 25 states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands.

"We all want to make a difference
and support healthy, sustainable
communities," said Robert W. Varney,
regional administrator of EPA's New
England office. "This working
conference has started to move
science to action to address
environmental justice concerns
across the nation."

The three-day conference was
designed to provide an interactive,
educational forum joining together
stakeholders from across the country
to discuss current efforts in
community-based participatory
research and cumulative risk analysis
that are helping to assess, address
and resolve environmental and public

health risks in urban, suburban and
rural areas.

During the first day of the
conference, participants attended a
bus tour of Chelsea and East Boston,
Mass., which illustrated some of the
communities' most pressing environ-
mental concerns. Representatives from
two local community-based organ-
izations, the Chelsea Human Services
Collaborative and the Neighborhood
of Affordable Housing, led the
participants through the
neighborhoods and highlighted
environmental concerns, including
lack of open and green space, limited
waterfront access, numerous state-
designated hazardous waste sites,
heavy concentration of industries in
a designated port area, traffic and
air pollution. The tour provided

Bridgeport EJ Tour cont

Before the tour, Mayor John
Fabrizi, State Senator Ernest Newton
and EECC Chairman Ted Meekins
provided opening remarks. Two city
buses carried participants on the IV2-
hour tour. Participants included East
End residents, clergymen, local
business owners, city contractors and
representatives from community
organizations, city departments,
Governor M. Jodi Rell's Office,
Congressman Christopher Shay's
Office and the state's Departments
of Environmental Protection and
Housing and Urban Development.

Tour guides Meekins and EECC
member Richard Womic pointed out
the numerous abandoned cars, trash-
strewn vacant lots, abandoned
dilapidated houses and heavy
industries located in close proximity
to homes and play areas in the
residential neighborhood. The buses
stopped at one point and tour
participants walked down Trowel
Street past two Brownfields sites

adjacent and across from several
homes to a littered area of land next
to Johnson's Creek that community
members want revitalized into a
community park. At the end of the
bus tour, participants were dropped
off at the Ralphola Taylor Center
for community presentations and
group discussion.

During the forum, EECC members
and other residents discussed priority
environmental, public health and
quality of life issues, including the
number of vacant lots and illegal
dumping, high rates of lead poisoning,
asthma and cancer, lack of affordable
housing and the need for a local
pharmacy and grocery stores.

At the forum—key
politicians and city hall
employees said they would
make the East End
a priority.

participants with a first-hand view of
the disproportionate burdens that
many low-income and minority
communities face. It also served as
preparation for the formal
presentations and working sessions
that followed.

The second day of the conference
began with a morning plenary session
focused on a discussion of cumulative
risk assessment in environmental justice
communities. An afternoon panel
presentation on community-based
participatory research complemented
the morning discussion, and prepared
the participants for further dialogue
surrounding the direction of research
within the agency.

The third and final day of the
conference consisted of a morning
continued on page 4

At the forum key politicians and
city hall employees said they would
make the East End a priority and
committed to making the East End a
healthier and cleaner place with more
housing. James M. Younger, EPA New
England Director of Civil Rights and
Urban Affairs, explained how these
environmental and public health
concerns raised by the community
were an issue of quality of life and
urged everyone to continue to be
involved in the public participation
process in Bridgeport.

A moderated question and answer
session at the end of the forum helped
community members come up with
some next steps to address their
concerns. The EECC plans to meet
with the city's health, zoning and
housing departments, as well as the
city's illegal dumping coordinator, to
begin a collaborative effort towards
more comprehensively addressing the
environmental injustices in the East
End of Bridgeport. 36

2

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Office Notes

Staff Changes in the Office of Civil Rights and Urban Affairs

Recent Departures:

Kathleen Castagna, the region's
former Environmental Justice
Coordinator, joined the Office of Site
Remediation and Restoration in August
for a one year detail in the Brownfields
Program.

"By working in the Brownfields
program, I will have the opportunity to see
EJ in action," said Castagna. "Many of
the Brownfields projects direcdy benefit
minority and low-income communities by
empowering local redevelopment efforts
in housing, open space, commercial
development and other beneficial reuses
of contaminated properties."

During her three-year tenure as
Environmental Justice Coordinator in
the Office of Civil Rights and Urban
Affairs (OCRUA),

Castagna made many
significant contri-
butions to both the
regional and national
Environmental Justice
Programs. Castagna's
noteworthy accomp-
lishments include the
development and
implementation of
the regional EJ Action
Plan, providing EJ
Awareness Training to
all EPA New England staff, managing the
EJ Small Grants Program and serving
as Lead Region Coordinator for environ-
mental justice.

Julianne Pardi, formerly of OCRUA,
left EPA in August for a new job in the
private sector.

Recent arrivals:

Also in August, Lois Adams, former
Rhode Island State Director in the
Office of Ecosystem Protection, began
a one year detail as Special Assistant to
the Director of OCRUA. In this role
Adams, with her extensive experience,
knowledge and background in
environmental justice as well as
diversity issues, will assist in
determining the strategic direction of
the region's Environmental Justice and
Civil Rights Programs.

Sires Rivers, formerly of the Office
of Site Remediation and Restoration and
a student at Bunker Hill Community
College, joined OCRUA in September
as a student aid.

Halida Ha tic, a graduate student at
Tufts University's Department of Urban
Environmental Policy and Planning, and
Anastasia Cunningham, an under-
graduate political science student at
Wellesley College, joined OCRUA in
October through the Federal Career
Experience Student Intern Program.

Regional Indian Program Manager
Jim Sappier Retires

On July 31, Jim Sappier retired his
post as Regional Indian Program
Manager after nearly a
decade of service.
Sappier has worked
diligently since he
came to the EPA New
England to ad-vocate
for a "Federal
Government-to-T ribal
Govern-ment" working
relationship. Sappier's
experiences and ac-
complishments are
countless. To list a few,
he grew up on the
Penobscot Indian Reservation in Indian
Island, located next to state of Maine.
He is an elder member of the Penobscot
Nation and has served on a number of
Tribal Committees, held various Tribal
positions including Director and Tribal
Administrator, and was elected as
Penobscot Representative to the state
of Maine Legislature, Lt. Governor and
Tribal Governor. He was also the
Executive Director of the United South
and Eastern Tribes, an organization
made up of all the Tribal Governments
from Maine, to Florida, to Texas.
Throughout his work and life, Sappier
has demonstrated a long-standing
dedication to the tribal program and
his contributions have not gone
unnoticed.

Jim Sappier grew

up on the
Penobscot Indian
Reservation in
Indian Island,
located next to
state of Maine.

o
¦

(From left) ECO interns Kristin
Callahan from Bridgewater State
College, Halida Hatic from Tufts
University and Sarah Hoen from
Cornell University met to discuss
their projects this summer at EPA.

EPA Funds Summer
Internships Focused on EJ

The EPA's Office of Environmental
Justice and the Environmental Careers
Organization, Inc., continue their
partnership to fund student internships
at both local community organizations,
through the Community Intern
Program and regional EPA offices
across the United States.

Through these programs, three
students worked on environmental
justice-related projects in New
England this summer. Kristin
Callahan, from Bridgewater State
College worked at EPA New
England to develop an environ-
mental justice site tour with a
partnering community group in
Bridgeport, Conn.; Halida Hatic,
from Tufts University worked at EPA
New England to promote
environmental justice training
efforts among New England states;
and Molly Tsongas from Brown
University worked with Project
Basic, Inc., to research school siting
rules and set up a stakeholder group
to promote healthy schools in
Providence, R.I.

More Office Notes on page 13

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	EJ New

EJ Working Conference

(From left) Keynote speaker H. Patricia Hynes, professor of environmental
health BUSPH, and Stacey Johnson, of EPA New England's Urban Environ-
mental Program, sort through the conference recommendations on asthma
research needs.

session of concurrent panel pre-
sentations on the following key topics:
Air Toxics, Asthma, Children's En-
vironmental Health, Land-based Risks
and Water Quality. Participants were
actively involved in discussion
sessions following individual panel
presentations to identify key
research needs and priorities for
future action. Reports were presented
from each of the concurrent
morning workshops which identified
key themes that emerged.

"The SEJ Conference was a

pioneering effort to bring community
activists and environmental scientists
together, in a dialogue about the
content, methods and ethical
principles of science done to support
environmental justice," said keynote
speaker H. Patricia Hynes, professor
of envin>ri-mental health at BUSPH.
"The powerful participation of
community activists in both plenary
and work groups sessions and the
sustained ideals of the EPA conference
organizers are two of the most
memorable pieces of the conference."

Dr. Mildred McClain, Executive
Director of Citizens for
Environmental Justice in Savannah,
GA, in her closing remarks, both
encouraged and challenged all
members of the audience to
remember their active roles in
continuing to move the environmental
justice research agenda forward. Dr.
McClain's passionate and eloquent
final thoughts served as a call to
action for all government agencies,
academic institutions and local
community-based organizations alike.

"The next step is to be found
within each of us, the change and the
next step begins with you," said
McClain. "It will be you to reflect on
what you heard, who you interacted
with, what stuck with you and how
you can use that to change what's
going on where you are."

This conference successfully
achieved an increased awareness of
environmental justice for
participants, recommendations to
EPA for new research priorities to
promote environmental justice and
strategies to translate currently
available and future research into
action and policies that better address
environmental justice concerns. The
conference planning committee is
currently reviewing the proceedings
and preparing to make recom-
mendations to ORD. Information and
details regarding the conference
proceedings and final outcomes can
be found as they are made available
on the web. 8§

httpwww. e pa. gov/ ord
For additional information on the SEJ
Conference please contact: James M.
Younger, EPA New England Director
of the Office of Civil Rights & Urban
Affairs at:

younger.james®>epa. gov or
617-918-1061.

"This working conference has started to move
science to action to address environmental
justice concerns across the nation."

—Robert W. Varney, EPA New England Regional Administrator

4

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Office

Highlights

Completion of EJ Training and Availability
of EJ Functional Guidance Compendium

Since EPA Mew England launched
its environmental justice training
program in March 2002, 98 percent
of the workforce has taken the
training. The 11> day EJ Awareness
Training course consisted of several
modules ranging from defining
environmental justice to role
playing in a public involvement
workshop. Modules also highlighted
regional and national en-
vironmental justice cases and
achievements. One of the best
received portions of the training was
the community site tour in which
participants had a chance to see
and discuss environmental justice
issues with an active local
community-based organization in a
nearby area of potential EJ concern.

A make-up session is being
scheduled for the employees that
have not yet taken the training and
the region's EJ Council plans to
offer environmental justice-related

lunch and learn sessions to
encourage further discussion of the
issues.

To complement this training, a
new guidance document was
published earlier this year which
provides function-specific direction
on how to integrate environmental
justice principles, including fair
treatment, meaningful involvement
and public health protection, into the
day-to-day activities of the region.

The EJ Compendium includes
several tools designed to help staff
identify when their work may have E J
implications and how to advance EJ
principles through the agency's work.

The EPA New England EJ
Compendium is accessible on the
intranet.to all employees. Training on
the EJ Compendium is ongoing. EPA
Mew England staff can contact their
deputy office directors to learn about
upcoming training opportunities on
the EJ Compendium.

Public Participation
Training Offered in
New England

In May, the EPA Office of Civil Rights
in Washington, D.C., sponsored a free
three-day training course on public
participation in Boston. There were 24
participants in the course, which
provided EPA, states, industry and
public stakeholders an opportunity to
learn together about best practices for
public participation. Similar training
courses were offered throughout the
country by EPA's Office of Civil Rights.

The course was designed and
approved by the International
Association of Public Participation
(IAP2), an independent non-profit
organization dedicated to promoting
meaningful participation. The course
was designed to provide participants
with a thorough understanding of the
principles of public participation,
including good planning and
communication. Student experiences
helped to shape the class and the course
included a great deal of student
participation in case studies and
simulations.

Bridgeport Training for
Property Owners on
Lead Disclosure Law
and Pre-Renovation Rule

In May, 30 members of the Greater
Bridgeport Property Owners Association
participated in a training workshop
provided by EPA Mew England and the
Connecticut Department of Health on
compliance with lead-based paint
disclosure laws. More information on
lead poisoning prevention and both
federal and Connecticut lead disclosure
laws can be found at:
http: //www. epa. gov/ ne/topics/
pollutants/lead .html

http: //www. dph. state .ct. us/BRS/

Lead/Prevention/

lead_prevntion.htm

EPA New England employees gather outside the office of Alternatives for
Community and Environment in Roxbury, Mass., to begin a walking tour
of the neighborhood as part of one of the last Environmental Justice
Awareness courses this past winter.

5

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Diesel Exhaust and
Your Health

Q. What is diesel exhaust?

A. Diesel exhaust contains significant
levels of small particles known as
particulate matter (PM). It is composed
of either gas or particle phases, both are
commonly found throughout the
environment and considered air toxics
because of the human health risks they
pose. The size of diesel particulates that
are of die greatest health concern are
those that are in the categories of fine
and ultra fine particles.

Q. How does diesel exhaust
affect me and my family?

A. The fine and ultra fine particles in
diesel exhaust can pass through the nose
and throat and lodge themselves in the
lungs. This oftentimes leads to irritation
and injury, posing a serious health
problem. In addition to aggravating
respiratory conditions such as asthma
and bronchitis, these fine and ultra fine
particles can cause lung damage and,
in some instances, can lead to
premature death. According to an
EPA assessment, long term inhalation
exposure is likely to pose a lung
cancer hazard to humans and short
term exposures can cause irritation
and inflammatory symptoms of a
transient nature.

Q. Who is most affected by
diesel exhaust?

A.Children, the elderly and individuals
with existing heart or lung disease,
asdima or other respiratory problems
are most sensitive to air pollution from
diesel exhaust. In New England alone

more than 1.7 million children ride a
bus to and from school every day. While
school buses are one of the safest, most
effective ways to transport children to
and from school, like all diesel vehicles,
they emit pollution. Children are more
susceptible to air pollution than healthy
adults because their respiratory systems
are still developing and they have a
faster breadiing rate.

Q. How does diesel exhaust
get into and effect the
environment?

A. Diesel engines are the third largest
human-made source of fine particles,
contributing more than 20 percent of
directly emitted fine particles in New
England. People are exposed to diesel
PM from bodi on-road and off-road (i.e.,
construction vehicles, farm equipment,
boats and trains) exhaust that is directly
emitted from diesel engines.

Q. Why is diesel exhaust
considered an E.J issue?

A. Pollution from diesel exhaust and
the inhalation of diesel PM is of
particular concern in urban com-
munities. Low-income residents, and
often people of color, are more likely to
live near freeways, truck distribution
centers and other areas with heavy
diesel truck traffic.

Q. What is being done about
diesel exhaust?

A. EPA New England is working with
the New England states and with others
to reduce diesel emissions through
grants, anti-idling programs, voluntary
diesel retrofits, diesel testing, general
outreach and enforcement. Through
EPA's Clean School Bus USA program,
EPA has awarded communities in New
England funds to upgrade school buses
with advanced pollution control
equipment. School bus retrofit projects
are underway or planned in Medford,
Mass., Stamford, Conn., Warwick, R.I.,
Manchester and Nashua, N.H., and
several communities in Maine. These
retrofit projects will substantially reduce
soot and other pollutant emissions from

school buses in these communities.
More information on EPA's Clean
School Bus USA program is available
online at: http://www.epa.gov/
cleanschoolbus/ Toyota Motor
Corporation is making $20 million of
new funding available this fall to
school districts interested in
retrofitting school buses and
purchasing ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.
The funds are being provided through
an enforcement case settlement EPA
negotiated last year with Toyota. For
more information, visit Toyota's Clean
Buses for Kids website at: hup:
www.cleanbusesforkids.com

Q. What can you do to
reduce diesel emissions?

A. Fortunately there are many things
that people can do to reduce harmful
diesel exhaust emissions. EPA and the
New England states have prepared
educational materials about diesel
exhaust and strategies to reduce these
emissions. Using these materials, you
can work widi local officials, including
school districts, to establish anti-idling
programs. In addition, you can
encourage your school district and
others to retrofit school buses with
advanced pollution control equipment.
For more information, including anti-
idling tips and strategies, visit: hup: .
www.epa.gov/ ne/eco/diesel



Diesel emissions come from both on-
road and off-road sources.

6

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GRANT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at Harvard
Receives Largest Environmental Research Grant Ever Awarded by EPA in New England

In July, the EPA and the National
Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences (NIEHS) announced funding
for the Center for Children's
Environmental Health and Disease
Prevention Research at the Harvard
University School of Public Health.
The Children's Center will receive
$7.8 million, or about $1.5 million
a year, for the next five years. The
Children's Center is being funded
as part of a long-term effort to
promote and develop targeted
scientific research on key issues
pertaining to health effects for
children resulting from exposure to
environmental contaminants.

The Children's Center will focus
its initial research on how exposure
to heavy metals at the Tar Creek
Superfund site in Oklahoma may
affect the health of children living
there. Unlike many studies that

Aremediated playground at the Tar
Creek Superfund site in Oklahoma.
The Children's Center will focus its
initial research on children's health
in the area.

investigate the health effects of a
single chemical, the new center will
study how exposure to mixtures of
chemicals affect health.

By partnering with NIEHS on the
research grants, EPA is seeking to
capitalize on broad-based institutional

expertise. NIEHS is part of the
federal National Institutes of Health
and the Department of Health and
Human Services. Together with
EPA, the two agencies funded eight
children's environmental health
research centers in 1998 and
another four in 2001.

This new center will build on the
legacy established by these earlier
centers. The Center for Children's
Environmental Health and Disease
Prevention Research at the Harvard
School of Public Health will focus
on addressing whether a mixture
of toxic metals is having an adverse
effect on childhood development
in a real world setting. The
investigators will evaluate the factors
that can modify the amount of toxins
that enter the body and how they
may harm pregnant women and
young children.

EPA Grants Support Environmental Justice in New England

Over the summer and early fall, EPA
announced seven new grants awarded
to New England organizations and a
university working toward environ-
mental justice,

Two community-based organi-
zations received $100,000 through
the Environmental Justice Collab-
orative Problem-Solving Cooperative
Agreement Program for the following
projects:

•Environmental Justice Collabo-
rative Problem Solving Model

The Coalition for A Better Acre,
Lowell, Mass.

•Vietnamese Nail Salon Health
Project

The Pioneer Valley Project Inc.,
Springfield, Mass.

In addition, five grants were awarded
through the Environmental Justice
Small Grants Program:

•	Business and Community Environ-
mental Justice Roundtable on
Chelsea Creek ($15,000)
Neighborhood of Affordable Housing,
East Boston, Mass.

•	Springfield Housing Organi-zation
and Health Action Project ($15,000)
The Pioneer Valley Project Inc.,
Springfield, Mass.

•	Building Awareness and Providing
Alternatives to Household Toxics in
Worcester's Low-income and
Minority Neighborhoods ($15,000)

Regional Environmental Council,
Worcester, Mass.

continued on page 8

(From left) Deputy Regional Administrator
Ira Leighton imth the recipients of an EJ
Collaborative Problem Solving
Cooperative Agreement: Dorcas Qrigg-
Saito, Exective Director of the Lowell
Community Health Center; Laura
Buxbaum, Interim Executive Director of
the Coalition for a Better Acre; and Linda
Silka, Co-Director of the Center for Family,
Work and Community at the University
of Massachusetts-Lowell.

7

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GRANTS cont.

Office Notes cont.

EJ Awards

The 2004 Environmental
Merit Awards were pre-
sented on Earth Day in
April to individuals,
governmental affiliates and
community, academic and
non-profit organizations
that demonstrated out-
standing efforts in pre-
serving New England's
environment. This year,
three environmental organizations were recognized by EPA New
England for their superior efforts to promote environmental
justice: Healthy Public Housing Initiative in Boston, Mass.,
Connecticut Parents United for a Lead Safe Environment in
Hartford, Conn., and Lead Safe Homes.info in Boston, Mass.

The 2003 Regional Honor Awards held in June recognized the
following EPA New England teams and individuals for their
outstanding efforts in environmental justice related projects:
Healthy Communities Grant Program Team, Bronze Medal
Award; Office of Environmental Stewardship Lead Team, Bronze
Medal Award; Regional Environmental Justice Training Team,
Bronze Medal Award; Rhona Julien, Bronze Medal Award, Sharon
Molden, Bronze Medal Award; Molly Magoon, Environmental
Justice Award; and Davina Wysin, Environmental Justice Award.

—

	\



ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE



(From left) Regional Administrator Robert W. Varney, Amir Ingram,
Molly Magoon, Christine Tilly and Deputy Regional Administrator
Ira Leighton.

• Community Based Research in
Quinsigamond Village ($25,000)

Regional Environmental Council,
Worcester, Mass.

•Testing,Transfer and Transfor-
mation of Brownfields in Mass.
along Chelsea Creek ($25,000)
Neighborhood of Affordable Housing,
East Boston, Mass. 16
Please refer to EPA New England's
Environmental Justice Program
website for additional information on
current and past environmental
justice grants: http://www.epa.gov/
ne/ej/index.html

Brownfields Grants
Announced

In March, EPA awarded over $547,000
in Brownfields Job Training Grants
to three organizations; the City of
Lewiston, Maine, Groundwork
Providence in Rhode Island and the
Merrimack Valley Workforce Invest-
ment Board in Lawrence, Mass.
These Hew England organizations
were among 16 nationally selected
recipients that will train 1000 indiv-
iduals living in low-income neigh-
borhoods near Brownfields sites in
a variety of Brownfields-related areas
including hazardous waste and
safety, lead and asbestos abatement
and environmental sampling.
Following completion of the training
course, participants will receive job
place-ment assistance from the
grantees and their partners.

In addition, EPA recently awarded
$8.6 million in Brownfields grants
to New England municipalities and
organizations. A total of 39 grants
were awarded in six states including
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and
Vermont.

For additional information and further
details regarding individual awards
please visit the Brownfields website:
http://www.epa.gov/ne/brownfields/
index.html

8

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EJ Pl&fih

Massachusetts Environmental Justice Conference
Promoted Glean Manufacturing

On Sept. 18, the Massachusetts Office
of Technical Assistance and Executive
Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEAj
hosted a conference on how cleaner
manufacturing can be used to improve
the local economy and minimize the
health impacts on the community and
environment.

As an important and necessary part
of its Environmental Justice Program,
EOEA recognizes that it must be
committed to the task of minimizing
environmental impacts that are
associated with job growth and at the
same time promote economic
opportunity. The conference was a
collaborative effort to advance and
promote cleaner manufacturing.
Cleaner manufacturing is based on
preventing or decreasing the amount
of pollution made from manufacturing
processes by using little or no toxic
chemicals. It strives to incorporate the
following components: waste
reduction, non-polluting production,
energy efficiency, safe and healthy
work environments and environ-
mentally sound products and
packaging.

The one-day conference held at
Holy Cross College in Worcester,
Mass., entitled, Promoting Clean Jobs
& Neighborhood Change: Building
Economic and Environmental Justice,
featured speaker presentations, exhibits
and workshops that provided
participants with tools to understand
green technology, develop
partnerships with business and attract
green business using funding from
local, state and federal sources.

The conference provided
information to community groups and
other interested parties about the
options and benefits of clean and green

manufacturing. In addition, the conference
successfully offered strategies and tools to
be used to attract cleaner manufacturing,
clean-up existing facilities and understand
the relationship between cleaner
manufacturing approaches and healthier,
more liveable and sustainable
neighborhoods.

Over seventy individuals from Lawrence,
Holyoke, New Bedford and Boston, Mass.,

Cleaner manufacturing
can be used to improve
the local economy and minimize
the health impacts on the
community and environment.

J

including members of the community,
students and researchers, participated
in the one-day conference. Two
graduate students, David Schmidt of
Clark University and Yve Torrie of Tufts
University, are researching the
outcomes of the breakout sessions as
part of their thesis projects. Their
research will be used to prepare a white
paper of recommendations to promote
cleaner manufacturing.

For additional information on the
conference or to find out more about
the Massachusetts regional EJ
teams please contact Kwabena
Kyei-Aboagye at:

kwabena.kyei-aboagye@state.ma.us
or Sue Lanza at:

susan.lanza@state.ma.us

(From left) John Warner; Director of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell's Green
Chemistry Program, and Ken Geiser, Co-Director of the Lowell Center for Sustainable
Production, discuss why the audience should care about green chemistry.

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EJ New

EPA/DO J Enforcement Gases Bring Glean Air Benefits to Boston

The EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice
and the U.S. Attorney's Office
announced $7.4 in enforcement
settlements this year that will result in
significant air and water quality
improvements in the greater Boston
area. In January, a $6 million
enforcement settlement was reached
with a local power plant that will reduce
pollution from school buses and
commuter trains, restore a salt marsh
and construct a commuter bike path. In
March, a $1.4 million enforcement
settlement was reached with the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority (MBTA) that will reduce idling
of MBTA buses, reduce pollution from
the commuter rail trains and provide
land for a bike path.

In a settlement stemming from air
quality violations over a five-year period
at the Mystic Station power plant in
Everett, plant owner Exelon Mystic LLC
agreed to pay a $1 million civil penalty
and fund more than $5 million of
environmental projects in the Boston
area, including providing:

•$3.25 million to retrofit 500 Boston
school buses with pollution control
equipment and supply them with ultra-
low polluting diesel fuel. The project will
benefit more than 28,000 school
children who ride the buses every day
by reducing tailpipe emissions from the
buses by more than 90 percent, or more
than 30 tons a year. Upon completion
in 2005, Boston will be the first major
city in the country to have retrofitted
its entire school bus fleet.

•$1.25 million for pollution control
improvements to virtually all of the

commuter trains operating out of
Boston North Station rail terminal.

•$250,000 to build a commuter bike
path over the Amelia Earhart Dam on
the Mystic River. The new bike path
over the dam will connect existing bike
paths in Everett and Somerville, Mass.

•$250,000 to restore one acre of an
urban salt marsh on along Mill Greek
in Chelsea, Mass.

•$118,600 to conduct an environ-
mental feasibility study to identify
possible restoration activities along the
Maiden River.

In another settlement stemming from
numerous air and water vio-lations,
including excessive idling of dozens of
diesel buses in 2002, unpermitted
discharges into the Mystic and other
Boston-area rivers and failure to develop
oil spill control plans at multiple Boston-
area facil ities, the MBTA agreed to pay
a fine of $328,274 and undertake the
following two projects:

•	A project valued at $ 1 million to operate
33 commuter trains at Boston South
Station on lower-polluting low sulfur
diesel fuel for at least three years. The
cleaner fuel will eliminate about 32
tons of particulate pollution and 429
tons of sulfur dioxide from the Boston
area over 3 years.

•	Donating an easement on one acre
strip of land so an existing Mystic River
bike path can be extended to reach the
Sullivan Square subway station from
Draw 7 Park in Sommerville, Mass.

Regional Administrator Robert
W. Varney announces the
enforcement settlem en t reached
in March with the MBTA.

In addition, the settlement requires
MBTA to prevent future environmental
violations by implementing an formal
Environmental Management System for
all of its operations and meet the five-
minute idling limit for all of its 995
buses immediately except on very cold
days. By December 2006, MBTA will
meet the limit on very cold days as well.
Excessive idling is a major health
concern because diesel exhaust is a
probable carcinogen that can trigger
asthma and respiratory illness.

Several MBTA bus yards are concentrated in neighborhoods of Boston
with significant asthma problems, including Roxbury, which has an asthma
hospitalization rate 178 percent above the state average.

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Publication Updates

EPA Reports

Pollution Prevention Practices for
Nail Salons: A Guide to Protect the
Health of Nail Salon Workers and
their Working Environment (May
2004), is a guidance document that
provides information on chemicals that
are typically found in nail salon products
and their potential health effects. It also
recommends many best shop practices
that a salon should consider adopting
to reduce or minimize potential health
and environmental effects inside the
shop. Available in English and
Vietnamese, and forthcoming in Korean,
at: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/die/
pubs/index.htm#salons

EPA Needs to Consistently
Implement the Intent of the
Executive Order on Environmental
Justice (March 2004), an evaluation
report issued by EPA's Office of
Inspector General (OIG), which finds
that EPA has not fully implemented
Executive Order 12898 nor consistently
integrated environmental justice into its
day-to-day operations. Available at:
http://www.epa.gov/ oig/ reports/2004/
20040301-2004-P-00007.pdf

Response to the Recommendations
Provided in the OIG Evaluation
Report (June 2004), a report issued by
the EPA's Acting Deputy Administrator
in response to the aforementioned OIG
report. The response includes an
attached Environmental Justice
Program Comprehensive Management
Study and asserts that EPA has
demonstrated its commitment to ensure
that minority and/or low-income
communities do not bear a
disproportionate burden of
environmental harms and risks.
Available at: http://www.epa.gov/oeca/
resources / publications / e j /
oig-report-ejoover-memo-response-6-8-04.pdf

2001-2002 Environmental Justice
Biennial Report: Constructive
Engagement and Collaborative
Problem-Solving (April 2003), is the
third biennial report issued by the EPA's

Office of Environmental Justice and
offers a retrospective look at EPA's many
project and activities related to
environmental justice across the
country. Available at:
http: / / www.epa.gov / oeca/
resources / publications / e j /
ej-biennial-report-2002.pdf

Other Reports

REACH 2010 Surveillance for Health
Status in Minority Communities-
United States, 2001-2002 (August
2004), this surveillance provides
information regarding the Racial and
Ethnic Approaches to Community
Health (REACH) 2010 Risk Factor
Survey, which is conducted annually in
minority communities across the United
States. The survey focuses on four
minority populations: blacks, Hispanics,
Asians/Pacific Islanders and American
Indians. Available at: http://
www.cdc.gov / mmwr/ preview/
mmwrhtml/ss5306al.htm

African Americans and Climate
Change: An Unequal Burden (July
2004), a report published by the
Congressional Black Caucus
Foundation which finds that African
Americans	are	already

disproportionately burdened by health
effects of climate change even though
they are less responsible than other
citizens because they emit less
greenhouse gas. Available at: http://
www.redefiningprogress.org/
n e wpubs/2004/CBCF_REPORT_F.pdf

Asthma in New England, Part II:
Children (January 2004), an asthma
surveillance study prepared by the New
England Asthma Regional Council
which finds that one in every nine
children in New England, and nearly
one in every five households with
children, has been affected by asthma.
Childhood asthma rates in New
England were found to be higher among
families with lower household incomes
and among households with a black or

Hispanic adult respondent. Available at:
http://www.asthmaregionalcouncil.org/

Environmental Justice for All: A 50-
State Survey of Legislation, Policies
and Initiatives (January 2004), a
survey produced by the Public Law
Research Institute at the University of
California Hastings College of Law and
the American Bar Association, lists each
state's environmental justice efforts.
Available at: http://www.abanet.org/irr/
committees/environmental

Book

Measuring Racial Discrimination
(2004), is a book published by the
National Research Council which
evaluates the current research
methodologies for a wide range of
circumstances in which racial
discrimination may occur and makes
recommendations to better assess the
presence and effects of discrimination.

Multi-media

Communities and Environmental
Law DVD, a 20-minute DVD in both
English and Spanish that depicts how
citizens can learn about environmental
laws and use them as tools to benefit
their communities. The DVD was
produced in by the Environmental Law
Institute, United Church of Christ and
the Southwest Network for Economic and
Environmental Justice with funding
from the EPA. Available at: http://
www.epa.gov/ ncepi/ordering.htm

A Breath of Air: What Pollution is
Doing to Our Children , a 30-minute
documentary in Spanish and English
that describes the results of a
children's health study being
conducted in California. The video
is funded by the California Air
Resources Board with additional
support from National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences and
EPA. Order VHS and DVD copies at:
http://www-apps.niehs.nih.gov/ coeprc/
Matl_PDF551_600/AN000588.pdf

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.ELJ New

EPA's New England Office Announces Strong Enforcement Results for 2003

The EPA's New England office
announced strong enforcement
results last year, including a record
amount of money spent by violators
on innovative environmental projects
as part of their settlements.

For the second consecutive year,
the amount paid by violators to settle
enforcement cases was near an all-
time high. In fact, fiscal years 2002
and 2003 are the two highest totals
in the past 10 years. Violators paid
more than $12.24 million in the most
recent fiscal year, including a record
$8.7 million spent on so-called
Supplemental Environmental Projects
(SEPs) that focused on such problems
as skyrocketing asthma rates, diesel
air pollution and loss of wetlands.

Among the projects funded:
building a new garbage transfer station
with stringent air quality controls in

Boston's Roxbury neighborhood;
providing hazardous materials
training to fire departments in
Connecticut; installing diesel
particulate filters on all Rhode Island's
public transit buses; and restoring 54
acres of freshwater wetlands in
southern Maine. The remaining $3.55
million of settlement money was paid
in civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury.

The agency's regional office also
carried out 700 inspections last year,
a 33 percent increase from the
previous year. One of the areas with
an increased emphasis was
compliance with federal lead pain
disclosure laws. EPA staff carried out
more than 100 inspections affecting
more than 40,000 housing units to
ensure that property owners and
property managers were notifying
tenants and prospective buyers of

potential lead paint threats. Many of
the inspections were done at the
request of state environmental and
public health agencies. Several
significant enforcement actions were
taken as a result of those inspections.

"Tough environmental enforce-ment
is alive and well in New England." said
Robert W. Varney, regional
administrator of EPA New England's
office. "The EPA, together with the
states, has shown that it will not hesitate
to take aggressive action against
companies, facilities and property
owners that pollute the environment
and jeopardize public health."

EPA and state environmental
agencies are jointly responsible for
the enforcement of environmental
laws, and work closely together to
ensure an effective enforcement
presence in New England.

Latest Toxic Release Data Show Drop in Pollution Discharges, Multi-Year Trend
Continues in All New England States Under Community Right-To-Know

The most recent data show that
releases of toxic chemicals by
industrial sources in all six New
England states continue to decline.
The latest report of the Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI), released in June by
EPA, confirms that for Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamp-
shire, Rhode Island and Vermont there
has been approximately a 90 percent
decline in releases of more than 650
tracked chemicals since 1988. Nation-
ally, chemical releases have declined
by approximately 57 percent.

These data, made available each
year to the public and communities
throughout the United States, covers
pollution releases to air, water and
land by power plants, manufacturers
and other facilities which employ 10
or more workers and exceed thres-

holds for TRI chemicals. During
2002, just under 24.9 million pounds
of chemicals were released in the six
New England states.

"Each of the New England states
continue to see declining levels of
emissions, even as the number of
facilities reporting has increased," said
Robert W. Varney, regional admin-
istrator for EPA's New England Office.
"It is extremely important for the
public to know what chemicals are
being released in or near their
communities. Careful analysis of this
data confirms that over time, the
amount of toxic substances released
to the air, land and water continue
to decline in our states."

The current data, for the year
2002, represent the third year that
reporting has been required for a

group of persistent and bio-
accumulative toxins (PBTs) that
includes mercury, dioxins, PCBs and
polycyclic aromatic compounds. This
is the second year that reporting has
been required for lead and lead
compounds. Persistent and bioaccu-
continued on page 13

If you want information about
toxic chemical releases in your
neighborhood, use the TRI
Explorer.

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EJ News

Toxic Release Data cont.

mulative chemicals do not readily
break down in the environment and
can build up in living organisms, espe-
cially higher in the food chain in fish,
wildlife and other animals and humans.

The current data includes
information on releases and other
wastes for more than 650 chemicals
and chemical categories that
companies are required to report
under EPA's TRI Program. The data
includes toxics released at the
company's facility and those
transported to disposal facilities off
site. All manufacturing companies, as
well as coal and oil fired power plants,
that produce or use above the
threshold limit for any chemical are
required to participate. Thresholds
range from thousands of pounds to
100 or 10 pounds for PBTs, down to
0.1 grams for dioxin-like compounds.

The reporting of data to the TRI
is required under the federal
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act, passed in 1986.
The TRI provides the amount,
location and type of release to the
environment-whether a pollutant is
emitted in to the air, discharged in
to the water or released onto land. It
also includes information on waste
shipped off-site for disposal or further
treatment. The TRI has been credited
with arming communities with
valuable knowledge and encouraging
facilities to reduce their releases of
toxic chemicals into the environment
through source reduction and
pollution prevention measures.

TRI data is accessible online with
the TRI Explorer. Using this, inter-
ested parties can search TRI data and
generate four types of reports: state
fact sheets, release reports, waste
transfer reports and waste quantity
reports. Information can be accessed
for specific states, chemicals, years,
media or industrial sectors. 36

Office Notes cont

EPA and National Urban League Sign
Memorandum of Understanding

On Sept. 29, the EPA and the
National Urban League signed a
memorandum of understanding to
work together on protecting children
in socioeconomically disad-
vantaged communities from
environmental health risks. The
EPA and the National Urban League
will be working collaboratively to
protect the environment and raise
awareness of health issues that
impact children.

EJ Online

Both EPA New England and EPA's
Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assistance (OECA)
maintain E-Mail Notification
Systems on environmental justice-
related news, funding opportunities
and events. Subscribing to these
free notification systems is easy:

•	For EPA New England's EJ News
notification service, send an e-
mail indicating that you would
like to receive EJ News to:
Wysin.Davina@epa.gov

•	For OECA's e-mail notification
services, visit:

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/
resources/listserv.html

The Environmental Justice
Geographic Assessment Tool is
now available online. This new tool
replaces the EnviroJustice Mapper
with new features and technology.
The tool provides access to a wealth
of environmental information
directly on your desktop. Use it to
map various types of environmental

information, including air
releases, drinking water, toxic
releases, hazardous wastes, water
discharge permits and Superfund
sites. Simply use the tool to select
a geographic area and you will
be able to view the different
facilities that are present within
that area. Try the tool at: http://
www.epa.gov/ enviro/ej

EPA's nine program offices and 10
regional offices have developed
Environmental Justice Action
PI ans. These action plans
represent the commitments of
each office over the next 1-5
years. The key elements of the
action plans are: management
accountability, internal/external
stakeholder involvement, data
collection/management, training,
environ-mental justice assess-
ment and evaluation. It is
available at: http://www.epa.gov/
oeca/resources/reports/
actionplans/ej/index.html

13

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EPA New England EJ Contacts

Lois Adams

Special Assistant to the Director,
Office of Civil Rights & Urban Affairs
617-918-1591
adams.lois®>epa.gov

Davina Wysin
EJ News Editor
617-918-1020
wysin. davina ®>epa. gov

Web Resources

EPA New England Environmental Justice Program website
http://www.epa.gov/ne/steward/ejprog/index.html

National Office of Environmental Justice

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/index.html
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/nejac/index.html

National Office of Civil Rights

http: //www. epa. gov/civilrights/aboutocr.htm

External links disclaimer

This newsletter provides links to non-EPA websites. These links provide addi-
tional 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.

State Contacts

New Hampshire

Pam Monroe

NH DES, Compliance Bureau Administrator
603-271-0882

Rhode Island

Gerald McAvoy
RI DEM, Legal Services
401-222-6607 Xt.2301

Vermont

Jeffrey Wennburg, Comissioner
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
Dept. of Environmental Conservation
802-241-3808

Connecticut
Edith Pestana

CT DEP, Environmental Equity Program
860424-3044

Maine

David P. Littell

ME DEP, Deputy Commissioner
207-287-2811

Massachusetts

Kwabena Kyei-Aboagye, Tony Chaves, MA
EOEA, EJ Coordinators
617-626-1165, 617-626-1009

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