&EPA

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

11th edition spring

Letter from EPA New England
Regional Administrator

I am pleased to have an opportunity to introduce
myself as the new Regional Administrator for EPA
New England and to express my deep commit-
ment to environmental justice as a significant
priority for this region. In my new role, I hope
to expand the conversation on environmentalism
and continue to work for environmental justice. I
am joined in this commitment by Administrator
Lisa Jackson who has made it clear that environ-
mental justice is not an issue to be relegated to
the margins, rather it must be a significant part
of our thinking in every decision we make.

EPA New England will continue to commit
resources and advocate for the fair treatment
and meaningful involvement of all people, espe-
cially minority, low-income, and tribal commu-
nities, and will work to achieve environmental
and public health improvements for populations
disproportionately burdened by environmental
harms and risks. The Obama Administration's
support for environmental justice is evident
in the President's FY 2011 budget proposal
released earlier this month. It requests $8
million in environmental justice funding as well
as increases to Brownfields to target under-
served and economically disadvantaged
neighborhoods—places where environmental
cleanups and new jobs are most needed. The
President's proposal also asks for $9 million
for Community Water Priorities in the Healthy
Communities Initiative—money that will help
underserved communities restore urban water-
ways and address water quality challenges.

I believe the burden of pollution should never
fall disproportionally on any racial, ethnic or
socioeconomic group. To that end, I look forward
to working with you in the coming years and to
involving ali New England stakeholders fairly
and meaningfully in an effort to create healthy
and sustainable communities for all citizens.

Sincerely,

Curt Spalding

content

ej news 								....1

office update	...4

ej highlights	 	 	 						... 6

contacts & web resources	6

environmental

a news

A Newsletter from the EPA New England Environmental Justice Council

e) News

Boston bus company will pay $650,000 for 234 violations
of the Clean Air Act

Paul Revere Transportation, a bus compa-
ny based in Boston, has agreed to pay a
$650,000 penalty for idling their buses for
extended periods of time, the U.S. Justice
Department and U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency announced in August 2009.

After a six-day jury trial in U.S. District Court
in Boston, the company on June 8 was found
liable for 234 separate violations of the Clean
Air Act and a Massachusetts anti-idling
regulation. A hearing to determine a penalty
for those violations was canceled after the
company agreed to pay the civil penalty.

Paul Revere owns and operates a fleet of
buses and other vehicles, including about 60
running out of its bus yard in Roxbury. In 2006,
an EPA inspector saw buses idling at the yard
for extended periods. As a result, the United
States filed a complaint against the company
in federal court for violations of the state anti-

idling regulation, a requirement under the
Commonwealth's Clean Air Act State Imple-
mentation Plan.

The anti-idling state regulation prohibits the
unnecessary operation of the engine of a
motor vehicle while the vehicle is stopped
for a foreseeable period of time in excess of
five minutes. The complaint alleged that Paul
Revere idled its buses for as much as an hour
or more at times over the legal limit.

This penalty appropriately punishes past
violations of federal and state clean air laws
and will deter other transportation companies
from leaving their vehicles idling for extended
periods of time in the future," said John C.
Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for
the Justice Department's Environment and
Natural Resources Division.

"Roxbury is a densely-populated urban area,

cont. on page 3


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•	Research environmental and health risks
and the impacts in their communities to
decide on priorities;

•	Develop partnerships and coalitions to
build consensus within their communi-
ties on key environmental problems and
proposed solutions;

•	Motivate local partners and community
members to act, in order to reduce envi-
ronmental impacts and risks; and

•	Build local capacity by securing sustain-
able funding sources.

The workshops brought CARE grantees together
to network and learn from each other.
To learn more about CARE, please visit www.
epa.gov/care.

CARE for Environmental Justice in Providence, Rl

Tour of New York City during CARE workshop.

The Environmental Justice League of Rhode
Island (EJLRI), based in Providence, was award-
ed a Community for Action and Renewed Envi-
ronment (CARE) grant for $100,000 in 2008. The
projectfocuses on developing local partnerships,
identifying environmental hazards, and setting
environmental priorities in the community. This
group began as an all volunteer coalition in 2007
and hired its first full-time staff person with the
CARE grant in 2008. Its mission is to develop
leaders in the community to promote safe and
healthy environments in homes, schools, work-
places, and neighborhoods of communities most
affected by environmental burdens.

Through the CARE grant, the Environmen-
tal Justice League has organized community
stakeholders to build a partnership that meets
monthly to identify community health concerns
in Providence, prioritize issues to be addressed,
and ultimately to reduce toxics in their environ-
ment. As a result, the CARE Alliance includes
residents, non-profits, community groups, and
city, state, and federal government representa-
tives who are working together to create a health-
ier environment. Issues that have been raised
to -date include green jobs, access to healthy
food, healthy housing, and asthma/air pollution
among others.

Throughout the project, there has been an
emphasis on education, training, and finding
creative ways to deliver environmental informa-
tion, which has been extremely successful. Envi-
ronmental Justice Walking Tours, a Safe Home
Gardening Workshop, workshops on safer alter-
natives to conventional household cleaners and
pesticides, Energy Efficiency "Barn-Raisings"

and a Recycling Block Captain Program have all
successfully engaged community residents and
taught them ways to reduce toxic exposure and
deepen their understanding of environmental
issues, as well as identify individuals who may
become involved in the League's work.

The League partnered with Brown University to
develop the Community Environmental College,
an educational forum that teaches youth and
adults about environmental justice issues in the
community. As a pilot program, an EJ course was
offered last summer to 10 high school youths. Its
curriculum focused on issues such as toxics in
the community, air quality, food justice, and envi-
ronmental justice on a global scale.

The CARE grant is working to create local part-
nerships in Providence to reduce exposure to
toxic pollutants through local action based upon
community consensus.

Amelia Rose, Lead Organizer for the League said,
"The CARE program has allowed the EJ League,
in our first official year, to begin conversations
in Providence neighborhoods about the environ-
mental issues that affect residents' lives, conver-
sations that would largely never have happened
otherwise and that are leading to concrete actions
that reduce residents' exposure to toxics and other
environmental burdens. We've also been able to
build relationships with people in our state agen-
cies and on the city level, and bring them into the
community with residents for a shared conversa-
tion about ways to improve environmental quality
for our whole city."

For more information, please visit the EJLRI
website at http://ejlri.wordpress.com/

ffeliiviriimeitll • 11th edition spring

E|i!Si!»«Bii

CARE Conference

The 2009 Community Action for a Renewed
Environment (CARE) Workshop was held October
20 to 22 in New York City. CARE is a community-
based, community-driven, program designed to
help community partnerships understand and
reduce risks due to toxins and environmental
pollutants from all sources.

The workshop helped community groups who
received CARE funding to improve their commu-
nities' environment and health. Specifically, the
workshop's objective was to provide participants
with skills and tools to:

Graduates and facilitators of summer youth program, part of the Community Environmental College, in
collaboration with Brown University.

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0 environmental • 1Hh edition spring

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(cont.) Boston bus company

where people already suffer from extremely high
asthma rates. It is unacceptable that diesel buses
and other vehicles were left idling for more than
an hour at a time," said Ira W. Leighton, acting
as Regional Administrator of EPA's New England
office. "Diesel pollution is very harmful, espe-
cially for sensitive populations such as the young,
elderly, and people who suffer from asthma.
Following anti-idling laws helps protect the health
of people who live in the surrounding area."

EPA's New England office has previously brought
and resolved 10 separate enforcement actions for
penalties against nine different companies, includ-
ing Paul Revere, for violations of the idling law.

Idling diesel engines emit pollutants that can
cause or aggravate a variety of health problems,
including asthma and other respiratory diseases.

The fine particles in diesel exhaust are a likely
human carcinogen. Diesel exhaust not only
contributes to air quality problems, but more
direct exposure can cause lightheadedness,
nausea, sore throats, coughing and other
symptoms. Drivers, passengers, facility work-
ers, neighbors and bystanders are all vulner-
able. Diesel emissions also contribute to air
pollution that can lead to early deaths, asthma
attacks and other health problems.

Once the violations were discovered at the
Roxbury facility, inspections were done once a
week for seven weeks. During each inspection,
as many as 20 Paul Revere vehicles were seen
idling for periods of up to two hours. During
the seven separate inspections, inspectors
saw more than 100 hours of illegal idling.

Paul Revere's illegal idling was also document-
ed by a resident who lives next to Paul Revere's
Roxbury yard who testified at the trial that she
had seen numerous violations over the years.

EPA has worked aggressively with the six New
England states to put in place and enforce
anti-idling programs. EPA's inspections of
transportation facilities are part of a region-
wide effort, in partnership with the Massachu-
setts Department of Environmental Protection
and the city of Boston, to curb diesel air emis-
sions, particularly in inner city neighborhoods
such as Roxbury where diesel air pollution
and asthma rates are substantially higher than
in other parts of Massachusetts.

More information:

Diesel exhaust and anti-idling guidelines:
www.epa.gov/ne/eco/diesel

Connecticut Group Gathers Environmental Justice Advocates

Individuals and groups involved with environ-
mental justice were able to share their experi-
ences and talk about challenges and successes
at a conference held Oct. 17 by the Connecti-
cut Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ)
in Hartford, Conn., to promote environmental
justice.

The conference also allowed participants to
learn about environmental health issues and
local organizing. This gathering connected EJ
activists, government officials, academics, and
community members throughout Connecticut
and surrounding states to work towards environ-
mental justice.

Keynote speaker Elisabeth Yeampierre, acting
co-chair of the National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council, talked about the importance

of getting youth of color involved in environmen-
tal activism and the opportunities available for
addressing environmental justice in the changed
political climate. Yeampierre is also president of
the New York Environmental Justice Alliance and
executive director of UPROSE, an organization
addressing local and regional inequities through
education, organizing, and activism in the Bronx.

The other keynote speaker, Dr. Tyrone Hayes,
who does biological research for University of
California/Berkeley, presented his research on
the effects on frogs of exposure to chemicals that
focuses on examining how the pesticide Atra-
zine may change the sexual development and
behavior of male frogs. This pesticide is the
most commonly used pesticide in the U.S.,
yet has been banned in Europe, where it is
manufactured, because of its health effects.

In addition to the keynote speakers, the confer-
ence workshops focused on exposure to chemi-
cals and health effects, waste incinerator issues,
research of environmental toxins on the web,
reproductive toxins, ethics and the suppres-
sion of science, climate justice, green jobs, and
recycling and zero waste.

The conference was co-sponsored by the
National Library of Medicine and Hartford
Hospital. The Connecticut Coalition's mission
is to protect urban environments by educating
communities, working towards policy change
and ensuring sustainable practices by citi-
zens, private companies and the government.

For more information on CCEJ:
www.environmental-justice.org

"This was our most successful conference yet," said Dr. Mark Mitchell, president of
CCEJ. "Attendance was good, people were engaged, they learned a lot and are now even
more motivated for action."

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gjanewii

Office Update

How to Engage Communities in Construction Projects:
Lessons Learned from Two CARE Communities in Connecticut

A new document on how to get communities
involved in construction projects was developed
by groups and individuals involved in discus-
sions about construction projects in Bridgeport
and New Haven, Conn.

The lessons described in "How to Ensure Effec-
tive Community Engagement at Construction
Projects: Lessons Learned from Two CARE

Communities in Connecticut" are based on the
experience of community members, facility staff,
and city, state and EPA representatives who were
involved in construction activities.

This document is meant to guide others trying to
get community members engaged in fast-moving
projects, especially in neighborhoods where
there are economically or otherwise disadvan-

taged populations who historically believe their
needs have been ignored. These lessons should
be considered early on in any construction proj-
ect so the public can be meaningfully involved, to
ease the burden on affected communities and to
minimize construction-related conflicts.

To receive a copy of this document, please email
Amy Braz at braz.amy@epa.gov.

A Partnership for Sustainable

Three federal departments are working together to
create more livable communities in a fair manner.
The partnership, formed in June by the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
and the US Department of Transportation (DOT),
aims to increase sustainable growth, affordable
housing and transportation, and to protect human
health and the environment. Its principles are to:

•Provide more transportation choices. Develop
safe, reliable and economical transportation
options to lower household transportation
costs, reduce our nation's dependence on
foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce green-
house gas emissions and promote public
health.

•Promote equitable, affordable housing.
Expand location- and energy-efficient hous-
ing choices for people of all ages, incomes,
races, and ethnicities to increase mobility
and lower the combined cost of housing and
transportation.

•Enhance economic competitiveness. Help
make communities more competitive
economically by giving workers better access
to jobs, education, services and other basic
needs, as well as by giving businesses better
access to markets.

•Support existing communities. Target federal
funding for existing communities—through
strategies like transit-oriented, mixed-use
development and land recycling — to revital-
ize communities, make public works invest-

Communities

ments more efficient and safeguard rural
landscapes.

•Coordinate and leverage federal policies and
investment. Remove barriers to collabora-
tion, leverage funding, and increase the
accountability and effectiveness of all levels
of government to plan for future growth,
including making smart energy choices such
as locally generated renewable energy
•Value communities and neighborhoods.
Enhance the unique characteristics of all
communities by investing in walkable neigh-
borhoods.

I "It's important that separate agencies
i working to improve iivabiiity in our
I neighborhoods are all pointed in the
I same direction," said EPA Administrator
I Lisa Jackson. "We are leading the way
I towards communities that are cleaner,
I healthier, more affordable, and a great
I destinations for businesses and jobs. "

To promote this partnership, Administrator Jack-
son, Ray LaHood, U. S. Secretary of Transporta-
tion and Shaun Donovan, U. S. Secretary of Hous-
ing and Urban Development, have embarked on
a multi-city tour. The tour stops include Chicago,
Dubuque, Iowa, and Denver, Colo.

In Chicago, the group toured the Bethel Center in
West Garfield Park, a community being redevel-
oped using smart growth principles. In Dubuque,

the tour went through the Millwork District, which
demonstrates the planning involved in a sustain-
able neighborhood that has mixed income hous-
ing, more transportation, and reduced green-
house gas emission.

On the tour, Administrator Jackson announced
EPA's plans to develop an Urban Waters Initia-
tive to revitalize urban waterways. The initiative
will work closely with DOT and HUD. In New
England, the Mystic River Watershed will be
showcased in a webcast focused on the history
of the watershed, groups involved, successes
and challenges, and priorities. The webcast is
meant to let other groups use the Mystic experi-
ences when they are working in their own water-
shed. This webcast is the first in a series that
EPA is sponsoring focused on urban waters.

The three federal agencies hope to collaborate
more closely in the future, starting with the
Fairmount Line of the MBTA in Boston. This
commuter rail line runs through low-income
neighborhoods in Dorchester, Mattapan and
Hyde Park. The MBTA plans to add four new
stops on the line in communities with environ-
mental justice issues. Along with transit stops,
the community is being revitalized with brown-
fields development for affordable housing and
mixed use commercial redevelopments.

For more information on the EPA at

http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership/

index.html

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Clje i§>tanbartr Ctm e£

EPA's Commitments to the Keith Neighborhood

By Ira Leighton

Published in the New Bedford Standard Times
on Oct 22, 2009

Ira Leighton is Deputy Regional Administrator of
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New
England regional office.

Recently about 60 citizens and community activ-
ists spent several hours after work meeting with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and
the Massachusetts Department of Environmen-
tal Protection. The meeting was hosted by EPA
at the Keith Middle School so that New Bedford
residents could voice their concerns about the
former Parker Street waste site.

Our biggest goal for the meeting was to get
people's input, develop ideas and specify
concrete steps that we can take together to
make progress with the site, while attempting to
address concerns of those people most imme-
diately effected.

One of the principles I hope we can all agree
on is to focus on making the future better, and
not rehashing past grievances. None of us can
change the past. But we can commit to working
together and moving forward.

First, it is important to state that EPA believes that
New Bedford's city government is working hard
to fulfill its responsibilities to address contami-
nation in the neighborhood. Mayor Scott Lang
didn't choose to locate the Keith Middle School
at that site, but his administration has worked in
good faith with EPA and MassDEP to identify and
address contamination in the neighborhood.

There have been significant concerns raised by
members of the community and representa-
tives from the NAACP and CLEAN regarding the
Parker Street waste site. Many of the concerns
are understandable, and EPA plans to augment
work at the site to ensure that cleanup issues and

health concerns are appropriately addressed.

I can assure each New Bedford citizen that EPA's
technical decisions are based on expert knowl-
edge, sound science and the rule of law. Work-
ing within the confines of the regulations we are
required to abide by, protecting the health of citi-
zens is our top priority.

Here is what EPA committed to do as we move
forward:

Additional site characterization

We believe that the city has operated in good faith
to characterize and conduct assessments at the
Parker Street site, and now is the appropriate time
to evaluate the collected data.

Working with both the city and with MassDEP EPA
is committing resources to carefully review exist-
ing site characterization data, identify any data
gaps, establish comprehensive plans to spell out
what additional assessment work may be needed
and ways to implement this work, if needed.

Better communication and public
involvement

EPA will provide an independent third-party
facilitator to help develop a new framework for
communications and community involvement
after getting input from all interested parties: EPA,
the state, the city and the community.

We hope improved communication and continued
transparency regarding decisions at the site helps
everybody work together productively in a spirit of
mutual respect.

Independent technical support to the
community

EPA will make available a "Technical Assistance
Services for Communities" (TASC) contract.TASC
can help communities better understand hazard-
ous waste issues to more effectively participate in
the cleanup process.

Assessment of wetlands

While EPA has already been integrally involved in
wetlands issues at the Parker Street site, we will
refocus additional technical and legal experts
to assess the source of the PCBs and identify
whether additional actions are needed to remedi-
ate the wetlands, if necessary.

Environmental justice

EPA has committed to provide additional oppor-
tunities to engage the community regarding
environmental justice issues. We intend to host
a meeting in early November to identify actions
that will improve opportunities for meaningful
input and community involvement.1

Demolition of residential properties

At the meeting a group of citizens petitioned EPA
and MassDEP to reject the city's demolition plan
and to halt the work from going forward until
several conditions are met.2 EPA and MassDEP
are carefully considering this petition before
making any decision about the city's plan.

It is worth noting that the demolition decision is
entirely local. EPA's role is to determine whether
appropriate safeguards are in place before,
during and after the demolition to protect public
health if the city proceeds with demolition of the
three buildings on property where elevated levels
of PCBs have been detected.

Overall, the meeting was a very good step toward
what we hope will be a productive, collaborative
effort to address cleanup issues in the Parker
Street neighborhood. I also offer my thanks to the
community leaders who helped ensure that the
meeting stayed on track and offered everybody
in attendance the opportunity to speak.

We may not agree on every issue, but as we
continue this work over the coming weeks and
months, we hope that everybody involved does
their best to sustain our growing partnership,
with an understanding that the interests of the
community will be best served by all of us work-
ing together.

1Meetings on environmental justice are ongoing. This
article was originally published in October 22nd in the
New Bedford Standard-Times
2This sentence refers to the Keith Middle School
Meeting on October 22, 2009.

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flieiHironmentll - nth edition spring

HJ gj news

EJ Highlights

UPCOMING EVENTS

Strengthening Environmental Justice
Research and Decision Making: A
Symposium on the Science of Dispro-
portionate Environmental Health
I Impacts
I March 17-19, 2010
I Walter E. Washington Convention Center
I Washington, D.C.

The 4th Annual State of Environmental
Justice In America 2010 Conference

j May 12-14, 2010

EPA New Eiglaid
tj ciniacts

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.michaei@epa.gov

well resiurces

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

National Office of Civil Rights

www.epa.gov/civilrights/aboutocr.htm

state contacts

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

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 - Catherine Gjessing

General Counsel

Department of Environmental Conservation
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
802-241-3753

Phil Weinberg

MA Department of Environmental Protection
617-292-5972


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