News

A newsletter from the EPA
New England Environmental

Justice Council	Region t, New England]

SEPA

Quarterly, 3rd Edition

July 2002

V'

M

MeMJ KI lead/ Iomj p. 6



EPA issues violation notice to
MBTA for idling at bus yards

On July 2, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency issued a Notice of
Violation (NOV) to the Massachusetts
Bay Transportation Authority for
excessive bus idling discovered
during EPA inspections last February
at four MBTA bus yards.

The inspections - at bus yards in
Lynn, Medford, Roxbury and the
Boston Medical Center area - found
numerous instances where MBTA
buses were idling in violation of the
state's five-minute limit. Many of the
buses were found to be idling for
more than an hour and, in one
instance, at the Roxbury yard on
Bartlett Street, a bus was observed
idling for 2Vi hours.

"Given the high asthma rates in
Boston, it's unacceptable that diesel
buses are left idling for more than an
hour at a time, as we found in our
MBTA inspections," said Robert W.

Varney, regional administrator of
EPA's New England Office.

"Excessive idling of diesel bus
engines creates harmful pollution,
especially for sensitive populations
such as the young, elderly and
asthmatics. By cutting down on
idling, Boston-area residents,
passengers and drivers will be
breathing cleaner air."

MBTA is working cooperatively
with EPA to negotiate a resolution to
the idling violations. In this regard,
the MBTA in June sent out a Special
Order to MBTA employees reminding
them of anti-idling requirements. In
addition, signs will be posted at all
MBTA diesel bus facilities reminding
the employees to shut down engines
when they are not being used.

The inspections are part of a
region-wide effort by EPA, in
partnership with the Massachusetts

continued on page 15

continued on page 2

EPA settlement with Waste Management includes projects to
reduce air pollution in Boston and create a park in Chelsea

-------
Roxbury task force tackles
solid waste problems with best
practices strategy

Trash hauler
agrees to fund
environmental
projects in
Boston and
Chelsea

continued from page 1

in the probable release of chlorofluo-
rocarbons and

hydrochlorofluorocarbons, both
ozone-depleting gases. Waste
Management has since changed its
procedures by making separate trips
to gather the appliances and
disposing of them according to
proper guidelines.

As part of the proposed consent
decree, Waste Management has also
agreed to implement a $ 1.4 million
diesel pollution reduction project in
Boston's inner-city neighborhoods,
as well as pay a $775,000 civil penalty.

The diesel pollution reduction
project involves retrofitting 150
school buses with pollution control
devices as well as providing low-
sulfur diesel fuel at the Readville bus
depot. The buses will service the
inner-city communities of Roxbury,
Dorchester, and Mattapan where
asthma rates are as high as 178
percent above the state average.

Robert W. Varney, regional
administrator of EPA's New England
office, called the project "a
tremendous gain for thousands of
Boston schoolchildren. The
communities that benefit from this
project have some of the highest
asthma rates in the state." Since
diesel exhaust can trigger asthmatic
conditions, officials and locals are
hoping the 90 percent reduction in
harmful emissions will lower asthma
rates in these communities.

The Chelsea Creek community
has been advocating for the park
project since 1975. The opening of
the park in 2003 will provide the
first public access point to the
creek and much needed green
space for the city.

A slew of illegal dumpsters filled
with everything from municipal trash
to construction waste used to litter
the largely vacant land along Robey
Street in the Dudley neighborhood of
the Roxbury/North Dorchester area of
Boston. This site, along with several
other illegal trash transfer stations
and two legally operated trash
transfer stations-Jet-A-Way and
Allied Waste Systems, Inc., plagued
the neighborhood with their odor, the
vermin they attracted and the traffic
they created. In the late 1980s, the
Dudley Street Neighborhood
Initiative, a community-based
organization in Roxbury, Mass.,
worked with the city of Boston to
close the Robey Street site, which
culminated with the Mayor's office
padlocking the street entrance, and
the two other illegal trash transfer
stations. But community concern
about similar problems associated
with the two legal trash transfer
stations remained.

"In an ideal world we would not
have any trash transfer stations in the
area," said Trish Settles, the director
of community development for DSNI,
who is particularly concerned about
the location of the two stations on a
corridor with other industrial sites
that are adjacent to a school, a park
and many homes, including a public
housing development. "Instead we
wanted to come up with a document
to share with the operating trash
transfer stations to say 'these are our
concerns'."

DSNI worked with the Boston
Public Health Commission to map
areas and operations in the Dudley
neighborhood that area residents
identified as solid waste problems.
Among the complaints:

• Failure to secure permits for
outdoor storage of salvageable
materials including concrete fines and

recyclable wood and metals

•	Failure to secure permits for
storage of waste in roll-off containers
and trailers

•	Failure to secure parking
permits for company vehicles

•	Airborne dust from unpaved
and unswept roads

•	Mud tracked on nearby streets

•	Facility litter dispersed
throughout the neighborhood

•	Odor

•	Noise from haul trucks and
facility machinery

•	Traffic on local streets

Two years ago, DSNI convened
the Solid Waste Task Force with help
from Boston city councilor Chuck
Turner and the mayor, who
understood the need for improved
design and operation of the transfer
facilities. The task force has since
grown to include representatives
from DSNI, the two trash transfer
stations, a city councilor's office,
neighborhood business, the
Department of Public Health, the
Inspectional Services Department,
the Department of Public Works,

Code Enforcement, the Department of
Neighborhood Services and
individual residents. With funding
from the Boston Foundation, the task
force worked with New Ecology, Inc.
to conduct research on best practices
for trash transfer stations to address
community concerns.

"Trash transfer stations are
willing to do a lot more to make
improvements than other businesses
because of the nature of what they
do," said Settles, who indicated that
many of the innovative practices
presented in the strategic plan
released last May have already been
successful in addressing the
community's solid waste concerns
because of the collaboration among
the diverse group of stakeholders on
	continued on page 11

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Offvoe/V ote^

Yvette Mitchell

New interns help tackle EJ-related work

This summer, members of the E J Council and the Office of Civil Rights and
Urban Affairs (OCRUA) welcomed a diverse group of interns to their ranks, among
them:

Yvette Mitchell is co-op student working in
OCRUA who is currently pursuing two masters degrees
in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Urban
Environmental Policy & Planning at Tuft University
Yvette is working on a regional EJ activity inventory, EJ
educational guidance and£/iVTews\ Yvette has an
extensive background and interest in environmental
justice issues, and is also working on a thesis about the
use of Geographic Information Systems in the Western
Shoshone and Southern Pauite communities of Utah
and Nevada.

Nathan Brooks, who interned in OCRUA last year, has returned this summer to
work on a joint project with OCRUA and the Office of Environmental Stewardship
on the Hazards Analysis in Environmental Justice Communities project in Boston
and Cambridge. Specifically, Nathan is compiling geographic and hazardous
material use data from facilities that use or produce extremely hazardous sub-
stances. Nathan is a senior at Framingham State University where he studies
Geography with a concentration in Environmental Studies.

Julianne Pardi joined the OCRUA staff through an Environmental Careers
Organization internship, and she is presently familiarizing herself with environmen-
tal justice policy and assisting with the production of EJNews. Julie is also

planning on finishing her
Master's degree in Energy &
Environmental Analysis at

•	Boston University next

December.

Nick Benjamin is
I working at both OCRUA and
OES through an ECO
internship, where he is
assisting with the E J Small
Grants review process and the
E J training being rolled out in
the region. Nick just finished
his first semester at
Middlebury College in
Vermont where he is studying
Environmental Policy and
Spanish.

David Halbert and David McBride most recently joined us as ECO interns, and
they are both working on a joint project with OCRUA and the Urban Environmental
Program to help revamp the program's website and organize a Regional Listening
Session for multiple stakeholders including representatives from local, municipal
and state government, nonprofit groups, environmental groups, academia, local
businesses and other federal agencies. David Halbert is a senior at the Massachu-
setts College of Liberal Arts, where he studies English, Public Relations and
Broadcast Media. David McBride is sophomore at Morehouse College in Georgia,
where he studies Psychology and Political Science.

From left: Nate, Nick and Julie at an intern Brown Bag
Lunch Series event

New

publications
available

EJ Biennial Report

The "Environmental Justice 2000
Biennial Report: Continuing to Move
Towards Collaborative and
Constructive Problem-Solving" is
now available from EPA. The national
report was prepared by the Office of
Environmental Justice in Washington
D.C., and includes chapters on
Environmental Justice at the Federal
Level, Addressing Environmental
Justice Problems, Public Participation
and Training Initiatives, Outreach
Initiatives, Assessment Methodolo-
gies, Assessment Guidance and
Community Assessments, and
Targeting, Environmental Health and
Exposure Studies.

C opies of the report may be
obtained by writing to U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,
National Service Center for
Environmental Publications, P.O. Box
42419, Cincinnati, OH 45242 or calling
513-489-8190, and requesting Report
No. EPA/300-R-01 -005. You may
review it, along with the previously
published environmental justice
reports, on the website at
www.epa.gov/compliance/
environmentaliustice. The regional
office also has a limited number of
copies for distribution to EPA staff.

A Citizen's Guide

What is environmental justice?
Which agencies are responsible for
the key decisions that will affect the
environmental risks a community
faces? What funding resources are
available for community groups?
These questions and many more are
answered in A Citizen's Guide to
Using Federal Laws to Secure
Environmental Justice. The guide is a
research document produced by the
Environmental Law Institute and

continued on page 14

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EJ Awards honor local
community leaders

Risk communication research
funding available

The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development's
National Center for Environmental Assessment is
requesting applications for cooperative research on
environmental risk communication and community
involvement that will generate insights, methods, tools
and models to empower communities to participate more
effectively in environmental cleanups, especially dealing
with contaminated sediment sites. These cooperative
agreement awards will range from $100,000 to $500,000
over a period of one to three years, depending on
available funding.

Possible topics for research include tools to measure
community preferences and summarize complex data,
methods to extract and utilize community-based
knowledge, methods to assessing impacts on societal or
cultural practices, outreach tools for large geographic
sites and methods to evaluate the effectiveness of
community involvement programs.

Applications must be postmarked or marked received
by NCEA personnel by Sept. 19,2002. Solicitation
packages are on the NCEA website at www.epa.gov/ncea
and information about the full application process, as well
as application forms, are at www.epa.gov/ogd/AppKit.
Contact David Kelley at Kelley.David@epa.gov or at 202-
564-2268 for more information.

Opportunity for recognition

You can now nominate an organization or group of
organizations involved in collaborative multi-stakeholder
partnerships to address local environmental justice
concerns for designation as a Federal Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice Revitalization
Project. These projects support and encourage better
leveraging of existing federal resources to support local
efforts to address EJ concerns, support strong potential
partnerships and identify "best practices" for effective
collaboration among stakeholders working on solutions
to EJ concerns.

Selection brings the project national exposure and
recognition, provides greater access to resources from
various stakeholders and promotes the project as a model
for future collaborative partnerships.

Each project must serve a minority, low-income or
tribal community, address one or more EJ concerns and
include at least two federal agencies in the mix of
partnering stakeholders. Community-based and nonprofit
organizations, academic institutions, businesses, faith-
based groups and federal, state, local and tribal
government agencies are all eligible.

Applications must be postmarked or marked received
by EPA personnel by Aug. 16,2002. Detailed instructions
for preparing nominations are available from Delta Valente
of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice at 202-564-
2592 or valente.delta@epa.gov or from EPA regional EJ
coordinators. More information is on the OEJ website at
www.epa.gov/compliance/recent/ei.html.

Employee receives gold medal

Lois Adams, chief of Pesticides, T oxics and Urban Programs at EPA
New England's Office of Ecosystem Protection, has won a national EPA
Gold Medal, which is the highest award in the agency. Adams received the
award this spring at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., for her outstanding
leadership in innovative approaches to community-based environmental
protection and Environmental Justice. Adams is a visionary environmental
activist who creatively approaches partnerships with community and
government stakeholders to address critical environmental concerns in
urban areas. Adams developed EPA New England's Urban Environmental
Program and was a founding member of the E J Council at EPA New
England. We congratulate Adams on her inspiring work.

• • •

Whitman honored

The Children's Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory (AIR)
Foundation honored EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman with its
Gift of Breath Award for raising awareness of the environment as a
possible first line of defense against asthma, an illness which affects 15
million Americans and is the leading chronic illness among children.
The Children's AIR Foundation presented the annual award during its
World Asthma Day event in New York City.

Several EPA programs are directed at benefitting school children
and educating parents. The Agency's Tools for Schools program helps
schools improve indoor air quality. The Childhood Asthma Goldfish
Campaign aims to educate parents about ways they can help prevent
their children's asthma attacks. EPA also sponsors an initiative to
protect millions of children from the risks of secondhand smoke in
homes. Further information on these programs is available at
www.epa.gov/children.

• • •

Community group recognized with Merit Award

In May, the Hartford Environmental Justice Network received an
Environmental Merit Award from EPA New England for its outstanding
work to protect public health and the environment. The HEJN was one of
35 individuals, environmental, community, academia and nonprofit
organizations, local, state and federal government agencies, and business,
industry and professional organizations that received awards. At a Boston
ceremony the HEJN was specifically recognized for its dedication to
promoting E J and safeguarding public health, especially through their
efforts to combat asthma in Hartford.

HEJN is a chapter of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental
Justice, which includes 24 grassroots organizations and other individuals
concerned about environmental degradation in Connecticut. The coalition
works to ensure that polluters are held accountable and residents are
informed and able to participate in local decision-making.

After learning that 40 percent of the 7,000 Hartford area children
participating in an asthma study had the condition, the HEJN discussed
the ramifications with community members and lawmakers. As a result, the
Hartford City C ouncil declared an asthma emergency in the city that
formally recognized the epidemic.

HEJN has demonstrated the power of the community to be stewards
of the environment. The HEJN's leadership in bringing environmental
justice concerns to the consciousness of area residents and policymakers
is an inspiring model for other communities.

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On July 20, the Massachusetts Bay
Transit Authority opened the first
phase of the Silver line service, the most
advanced Bus Rapid Transit technol-
ogy in the nation. The Silver line is the
newest improvement to the MBTA's
service.

The 1720-passenger Silver line
buses represent over 20 years of
planning and community discussion.
The service developed from the need
for a more direct connection between
the heart of downtown and Boston's
southwest neighborhoods.

Developed in three stages, the
state-of-the-art transit system will link
Dudley Square with Logan Airport and
South Station. Phase I, which began
operating July 20, involved the
widening of Washington Street between
Dudley Square and the New England
Medical Center. The additional lane will
be designated for Silver line buses only,
providing quick transportation between
stops. Phase II, which is currently under
construction and slated to open in

December 2003, will connect South
Station to the South Boston Waterfront
via a mile-long tunnel. The Silver line
service will make stops at the U.S.
Courthouse and the World Trade Center
before heading to Logan Airport. Slated
for completion in mid 2010, Phase III will
connect the two previous phases at
South Station and Boylston Street area
via the preexisting Tremont tunnel.

All aspects of the new service are
designed to make commuting quick and
enjoyable. Stations are equipped with
an Intelligent Transportation System
that uses Global Positioning System
satellites to track buses en route. Smart
kiosks located on the platforms will
display up-to-the-minute schedule
information as well as provide a
countdown time for the next bus.
Stations are also equipped with a public
address system. The addition of these
60-foot articulated vehicles will not
increase noise or air pollution in the
service region because the buses will
ran on compressed natural gas.

The introduction of Boston's
fifth rapid transit line is also expected
to help revitalizate the Washington

So/lEtnn [

Downtown Crossing
I at Temple Place

Chinatown

NE medical
Herald St.
e. Berkeley St.
Union Part; St.
Nswtnn St.
Massachusetts Ave.
Lenox St.

Uclnea Cass Bind.
I Dudley Station

Street corridor. Already, according to
Joyce Stanley, Executive Director of
Dudley Square Main Streets, there
has been an estimated $400 million of
development in the neighborhood,
including tha renovation of 850
housing units.

Revised agreement finalized with MET A to retrofit 400 buses

On May 16, the Massachusetts
Executive Office of Environmental
Affairs amended a Consent Order
signed by the Executive Office of
Transportation and Construction in
September 2000, in which EOTC
committed to retrofitting all remaining
in-service diesel buses with emission
control equipment by Dec. 31,2000.
The original consent order was
amended because the provisions for
bus retrofitting did not include
equipment specifications or emission
standards. The amended order
requires EOTC, through the
Massachusetts Bay Transport
Authority, to:

•	Immediately begin fueling all
MBTA diesel buses with fuel with a
maximum sulfur content of 30 parts
per million.

•	Retrofit all 400 of the model
years 1994 and 1995 Nova buses with
Engelhard DPX Diesel Particulate
Filters, Johnson Matthey CRT
Continuous Regenerating Technol-
ogy or retrofit equipment demon-
strated to reduce particulate
emissions by as much or more than
those technologies, according to the
following schedule: Retrofit 70 buses
by Dec. 31, 2002,110 more by July 1,
2003 and 220 more by July 1,2004.

•	Accelerate the schedule for

upgrading the 1994 and 1995 Nova
buses with Detroit Diesel Reliabilt
Engines by July 1,2004.

•	Replace all 2000 model year 1989
buses in accordance with MBTA's
1998 Bus Fleet Management and
Development Plan by Dec. 31,2004.

•	Submit a maintenance plan for
emissions reduction equipment and
an emissions monitoring plan for its
diesel bus fleet by Oct. 31,2002.

The amended order also
authorizes the EOEA to assess
statutory penalties of up to $25,000
per day for violating the above
provisions.

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Jegislative updates

R.L to crackdown on lead in rental property with new legislation

On May 25, R.L Governor
Lincoln Almond signed the Lead
Hazard Mitigation Act of2002 into
law. The law requires landlords who
rent housing built before 1978 to meet
new maintenance standards to reduce
lead poisoning risks. The earlier
provisions of the state 1991 Lead
Poisoning Prevention Act only
became operative after there was a
lead poisoning.

Previously under the Lead
Poisoning Prevention Act, all
regulatory responsibilities were
vested with the R.I. Department of
Health (DOH), which concentrated on
actual cases of lead poisoning. Under
the new lead law, DOH will still
address incidences of lead poisoning,
but the R.I. Housing Resources
Commission (HRC) will be respon-
sible for lead poisoning prevention
by establishing maintenance
standards and ensuring compliance.
The basic standards established
under the act will be incorporated into
local minimum housing codes.

"Relatively few property owners
are negligent," said Roberta
Aaronson, executive director of the
Childhood Lead Action Project. "The
new law targets the worst landlords
and beefs up enforcement."

The law toughens the state's
authority in addressing blatant
negligence—for example, where
several children are poisoned by lead
at the same address. Under the new
lead law, there are standard
provisions for issuing second notices
of violation, for making information
public about high-risk rental housing
and for taking enforcement actions
through the Attorney General's
office. Disregarding the obligation to
correct lead hazards and allowing
children to repeatedly become lead

poisoned is a felony under the new
law.

The earlier standards used by
DOH required property owners where
children were lead poisoned to meet
stringent standards to make the unit
lead safe, typically at a cost of
between $7,500 and $15,000. One goal
of the new law is to enable property
owners to do maintenance work
themselves at a cost of about $1,000
to meet the HRC's standards, which
will be guided by federal standards
established by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development.
Because such renovations are risky,
they should be done when the
property is not occupied by children.

"One thing that makes this law
remarkable is that it is preventative
and proactive," Aaronson said.
"Rental properties will be checked
before turnover."

The law establishes inspection
requirements, including dust testing,
which will be required at the turnover

of the unit or once a year, whichever
is less frequent. If the unit remains
occupied by the same tenants for
more than a year, the property owner
will be required to do a visual
inspection at least once every two
years to determine if conditions have
deteriorated.

Property owners that comply
with the law will be covered for
damages caused by lead poisoning
under their liability insurance.
Property owners that do not comply
with the law but have no history of
lead poisoning will be able to get
insurance through an endorsement.
Insurance against accidental
poisoning will not be assured for
property owners who do not comply
with the law and have poisoned
children at their premises.

The provisions of the new lead
law will be phased in over two years
and new obligations will not be
effective until July 1,2004.

Camden case update

On June 24,2002, the United
States Supreme Court decided not
to hear South Camden Citizens in
Action v. N.J. Dept. of Environmen-
tal Protection, and instead let
stand the ruling made by the 3rd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The
decision stated that as there was a
lack of substantiating evidence that
the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP)
intentionally discriminated and
considered the neighborhood's
racial composition in siting a
cement plant, and the private group
did not have the right to enforce
EPA's discriminatory effects

regulations of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act. The citizen's group
claimed that the DEP was
discriminative in its decision to
place the St. Lawrence Cement
plant in a predominantly African-
American neighborhood where an
incinerator, a sewage treatment
plant and two Superfund sites are
located.

The South Camden citizens
group still has three claims,
including claims of intentional
discrimination, pending against the
cement company. A new trial
regarding these claims could begin
as soon as next summer.

6

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irH LU con,.

Land use bill

amended

On April 25, a bill introduced by U.S.
Senator Lincoln Chaffee in May of
last year called the Community
Character Act was amended by the
Senate Committee of Commerce,
Science and Transportation. The bill
would provide assistance for state
and tribal land use planning, to
promote improved quality of life,
regionalism and sustainable economic
development. The bill would direct
the Secretary of Commerce to
establish a program of grants for
states and tribal governments to
promote comprehensive land use
planning. For more information visit
www.planning.org/legislation/
ccafactsheet.htm

Minority health
and disparities
month proposed

A resolution expressing the sense of
the United States Congress that a
national minority health and health
disparities month should be
established was passed by the House
of Representatives on April 30 and
referred to the Senate. The resolution
is intended to promote educational
efforts on the health problems
currently facing minorities and other
populations experiencing disparate
health problems. The resolution
would encourage federal, state and
local government to emphasize the
recruitment and retention of qualified
individuals from racial, ethnic and
gender groups that are currently
under represented in health care
professions. Lastly the resolution
would encourage the president to
issue a proclamation recognizing the
immediate need to reduce health
disparities in the country.

Environmental and civil rights
leader passed away at 63

Herb Jackson, later known as
Kwaku Zulujackson, died on June
25 of complications from diabetes.
He was 63. Jackson was a leading
advocate and activist in Roxbury,
Mass., for civil and human rights,
economic empowerment and
environmental protection.
Jackson's involvement in the
environmental movement as it
evolved from being led by large
environmental organizations-to
now including and focusing on
grassroots organization and
environmental justice-debunks the
myth that people of color and low-
income citizens have little interest
in the issues
that may
negatively
impact their
environ-
ment, health
and quality
of life.

Jackson
had a strong
interest in
environmen-
tal and
quality of
life issues in
the Roxbury
community
that he lived
and worked
so tireless
in. Between
the late
1960s and
1975, he
began Urban
Environmen-
tal Management, one of the first
recycling companies in the
predominantly minority and low-
income community.

In 1975 Jackson again
demonstrated his commitment to
the environment and the people of
his community when he organized
the Roxbury Monitoring Board,

made up of local residents, and
worked with youth to clean the
major streets along the Blue Hill
Avenue corridor in Roxbury, block
by block. Through the Roxbury
Monitoring Board, Jackson
concurrently launched a public
education campaign to encourage
residents not to litter the streets of
Roxbury.

Jackson also worked at the
Roxbury Multi-Sen ice Center
which helped Roxbury youth secure
employment. While working at the
center, Jackson spent many years
pushing to revitalize the Blue Hill
Avenue corridor, and his efforts

finally came
] to fruition in
-r3C.$5"wujui recent years

when the

,SS R 1 city of

Boston made
considerable
investments
in this once
depressed
area.

Jackson's
achieve-
ments ensure
that future
generations
and residents
residing
along Blue
Hill Avenue
receive an
improved
environment
and quality
of life.

This piece was submitted by James
M. Younger, Director for Civil
Rights and Urban Affairs, and
James T. Owens, Acting Director of
the Office of Administration
Resources Management, for the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's New England office.

7

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^&A

8

Asthma disparities and
triggers explained

Jo emphasize National Asthma Month, Margaret Reid of die Boston

Public Health Commission answered asthma-related questions

As part of National Asthma and
Allergy Awareness Month, EPA New
England hosted two events in May
featuring internal and external experts
on indoor and outdoor air quality
issues.

One of these experts, Margaret
Reid of the Boston Public Health
Commission, addressed the findings
of "The Health of Boston 2001
Report." According to the report
asthma affects Americans of all ages,
races and ethnic groups; however,
low income and minority populations
experience substantially higher rates
of hospital admissions, emergency
room visits and fatalities due to
asthma or respiratory-related
diseases. Below Reid shares more
answers to questions about asthma
disparities and triggers:

Why do health disparities exist
for asthma?

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory
disease of the airways, which bring air
in and out of the lungs. Those airways
are hypersensitive to factors, includ-
ing the environment. Rising asthma
rates are based on an interaction be-
tween genetics and the environment.
Asthma disproportionately affects low
income people and minority popula-
tions. The report "Action Against
Asthma: A Strategic Plan for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Ser-
vices," describes the factors most prob-
ably related to this health disparity in-
cluding the role of indoor environments
and health care access issues. Follow-
up care, access to asthma management
information and access to the correct
medications are all critical components
of asthma care. Studies, including the
National Cooperative Inner-City
Asthma Study, have demonstrated that
low-income urban children are often
not receiving this optimal care. Poor
housing conditions, including pest in-
festation, mold and poor ventilation, are

all factors that exacerbate asthma.
These are certainly problems in low-
income housing.

A study published last winter in
the American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine demon-
strated the link between living near a
busy street and increased wheezing
among children ages four to sixteen.
Another recent study, published in the
British medical journal, Lancet, related
the development of asthma to partici-
pating in outdoor sports in heavily air-
polluted environments.

Why are children more
vulnerable to asthma triggers than
adults?

The most rapid increase in asthma
cases is among children under five
years old, with rates increasing over
160 percent between 1980 and 1994, ac-
cording to an asthma surveillance study
published in Mortality and Morbidity
Weekly Report in 1998. We should not
consider adults invulnerable to
asthma-because certainly there are

occupational exposures related to the
development of asthma among adults-
but children have different anatomy
and physiology and different habits
than adults that make them more vul-
nerable to environmental triggers. Chil-
dren exposed to environmental tobacco
smoke are at increased risk for respira-
tory infections, including pneumonia,
ear infections and asthma. Children
also spend much of their time indoors,
which means that the built environ-
ment, which for children is usually
home, daycare or school, is critical.

Why is mold a trigger for the de-
velopment or worsening of respiratory
infections, especially asthma?

Mold produces allergens and irri-
tants, two factors which contribute to
asthma episodes. Mold spores can be
inhaled into the airways. Exposure to
molds can cause people to become sen-
sitized or allergic and can trigger asthma
episodes. Exposure can even cause
problems for people who are not aller-
continued on page 9

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Q&

A

continued from page 8

gic. Mold can be a problem for people
who do not have asthma, as well,
through skin irritation and infection.

How and where does mold grow
in the home?

Mold needs moisture to grow and
a surface to grow on. Where there are
leaks, condensation, flooding or
chronic dampness or humidity, there
may be mold. Mold is common in base-
ments and bathrooms because they are
damp. Leaky pipes can lead to mold. A
flood which is not dried immediately can
lead to mold growth under carpeting,
where it is not visible. Some building
materials trap moisture, encouraging
mold growth. If a building is not prop-
erly insulated, condensation can de-
velop where cold outdoor air comes in
contact with warm indoor air. This can
lead to mold growth.

What steps can homeowners
take to safely remove mold in the
home?

Two critical tools for identifying
mold are the eyes and the nose. Mold
often creates a musty odor. Any
remediation plan should include elimi-
nating the source of the moisture as
part of the plan. If the mold is elimi-
nated, but the moisture source is not,
the mold will come back.

Ventilating bathrooms and kitch-
ens, repairing leaks and draining out-
door water away from buildings are
some steps to reduce moisture and hu-
midity problems in homes.

Touching mold, breathing it in or
getting spores in the eyes could be
problematic. There are guidelines for
mold remediation and I suggest a ho-
meowner or building manager review
them to decide how to proceed. The
EPA has two mold reports available: "A
Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your
Home" and "Mold Remediation in
Schools and Commercial Buildings."
Both reports include guidelines based

on the size of the mold problem and ex-
tent of the damage. The reports can be
accessed online at www.epa.gov/iaq/
molds/moldresources.html.

Besides mold, what other
triggers aggravate asthma?

In the built environment, humidity
is actually related to the presence of a
number of asthma triggers. Dust mites
are microscopic pests, which are aller-
genic and can make asthma worse. They
thrive in a warm humid environment,
often in fabrics. Pests like cockroaches
and rodents, again are allergenic and
often found in an urban environment.
Pets with fur or feathers can be related
to asthma.

Environmental tobacco smoke is
related to a number of health concerns
in children, including asthma. Smoking
outside and away from children and not
smoking in the car, can reduce children's
exposure. Also, many of our personal
care products, like hair sprays and per-
fumes and many cleaning products pro-
duce fumes that are respiratory irritants.
Using them in well ventilated areas, not
in the presence of a person with asthma,
can be helpful. Gas stoves and heating
systems should be well maintained and
well ventilated or they can produce by-
products which are respiratory irritants.

The good news is we know a lot
about asthma, what makes it worse and
what makes it better. If people can im-
pact their environments to make them
healthier for everyone and access high
quality health care, medications and
equipment, then people with and with-
out asthma ought to be able to live
healthier lives.

Other speakers included Harriet
Burge of Harvard School of Public
Health, Doug Brugge from Tufts
Medical School and Patricia Goldman
of the Asthma and Allergy
Foundation of America. EPA New
England presenters included deputy
regional administrator Ira Leighton,
Steve Rapp of the air permits program,
Michael Kenyon of the air programs
branch, Christine Sansevero of the air
quality planning program, Eugene
Benoit of the indoor air quality Tools
for Schools program and Stacey
Johnson of the urban environmental
program.

Blueprint to
end childhood
lead poisoning

Boston has taken another major
step toward becoming the first city in
the nation to eliminate childhood lead
poisoning. In May, the Lead Action
Collaborative released its report
"Blueprint to End Childhood Lead
Poisoning in Boston by 2005," a
byproduct of last November's Lead
Summit, which drew together local,
state and federal agencies, as well as
citizens and activists. The goals
outlined in the blueprint are to:

•	Develop a "Lead-Safe Home"
campaign to educate the public about
the dangers of lead poisoning. The
campaign will also develop a "Lead-
Safe Home"seal of approval to
identify houses that have been tested
to be lead-safe.

•	Design a database of
communities at high-risk for lead
exposure through cooperation with
local residents and community
groups.

•	Improve services through
collaboration with local health care
providers and state agencies for lead-
poisoned children and their families
by providing access to health care
and medical insurance for all children.

•	Provide outreach programs to
at-risk populations to increase
awareness and screening rates.

•	Advocate for affordable
housing construction and rehabilita-
tion to provide access to lead-safe
housing for at-risk populations.

More than 1,300 children in
Boston had elevated blood lead
levels in 2000, and the Lead Action
Collaborative
hopes that

achieving the	-'

blueprint goals
will prevent
future
generations
from the same
fate.

I ^ "v^\

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10

Site tour completes EJ training:

EPA employees get to know surrounding communities

"Growing up in Chelsea, I never
knew we were surrounded by water,"
said Gladys Vega, the assistant director
of the Chelsea Human Service
Collaborative (CHSC), as she began a
site tour of the industrial waterfront
area in Chelsea and East Boston,

Mass., during the most recent EPA
New England Fundamentals Training
course. Since EPA began offering the
training in March, 142 EPA employees
and representatives from eight state
agencies and community groups have
participated in the one-day E J
Awareness course or the longer and
more intense EJ Fundamentals course,
which includes the site tour.

While the sites of the tours vary,
most attendees agree that it is the
highlight of the training. Chelsea and
East Boston have about 37,000 and
40,000 residents, respectively, and both
communities are made up of low to
moderate-income and minority
residents, with large populations of
Latino, Chinese, Bosnian, Somalian
and Vietnamese residents, many of
whom are immigrants.

About 20 EPA New England
employees boarded a bus on June 12
and traveled just 10 minutes from their
downtown Boston office to explore
Chelsea and East Boston. Because of
its designation as an industrial port
area, a multitude of industries—from oil
farms to a 150-ton salt pile—line almost
every inch of the Chelsea waterfront.

The tour bus began traveling
down Broadway Street, just past
Bellingham Square, where the Chelsea
Sandwich LLC oil farm is located. Vega
and Roseanne Bongiovanni, the
executive director of CHSC, explained
that in 1997 the company wanted to
begin storing asphalt, a much more
toxic material, but the Chelsea
community succeeded in getting
former Governor Paul Cellucci to sign
an order prohibiting any further asphalt
development in Chelsea.

The bus then wound its way past
the Chelsea Yacht Club, the only
recreational area along Chelsea Creek,
which Vega and Bongiovanni noted
was restricted to club members.

Just past the yacht club is Mary
O'Malley Park along the Mystic River,
which is the only public waterfront
park in the community. Earlier Vega had
explained that in 1997 the city placed
hundreds of large boulders and
highway barricades throughout the
park in to keep people from playing
soccer in the park.

"They assumed that since we
have soccer players, we have
prostitution and drugs," said Vega.

CHSC worked with the city and
convinced them to remove the boulders.

The lack of open space in the
community became starkly apparent as
the bus wound its way down Marginal
Street past the 150-ton Eastern Mineral
Salt Company. According to
Bongiovanni, this salt pile supplies 70-
80 percent of New England with salt
for removing ice from roads. The salt
contains anti-caking agents with toxic
cyanide, and Bongiovanni mentioned
that this was the first time she had
seen the entire pile covered with a tarp
as required by law-when it is
uncovered the salt can blow into the
residents just across the street.

Just past the salt pile is an
asphalt storage facility predating
Cellucci's order, and across from it is
a tannery that made the Toxics
Action Center's Fifth Annual
Massachusetts Dirty Dozen Awards,
a list of polluted sites that pose the
most severe threats to human health
and environment which the polluters
or government agencies are unwilling
to clean up. Residents nominate
sites and a committee of environmen-
tal professionals, public health
experts, and worker health and safety
advocates select the award
recipients. Boston Hides and Furs
received the award for the problems
residents reported, including noxious
odors, stagnant water, rodents, fleas,
flies, and pelts and blood in the
streets. Residents also noted that
despite past agreements with the
tannery to clean its facilities and
move its operations on Marginal
Street, the company still continues to
pollute the neighborhood.

Many airport parking and rental
car lots also lined the road that leads
from Chelsea to East Boston. Stacey
Chacker, director of community
building and environment for the East
Boston organization Neighborhood of
Affordable Housing, said that there are
more airport parking lots in Chelsea
than East Boston because East Boston
residents successfully organized
against them. All of the jet fuel for the
Boston Logan airport is also stored
along the waterfront area between
Chelsea and East Boston.

Large pilings, scraps of foam, a life
jacket and other scraps litter parts of
Chelsea Creek that could be seen from
the road between the waterfront
facilities and buildings. Towards the
end of the tour, as the group headed
through East Boston, Chacker shared
some success stories. Channel Fish, a
large East Boston cat food processing
company which used to offend
residents with its noxious fumes and an
unbearable amount of traffic, has made
significant improvements to their
operations after listening to community
concerns. And a contaminated
waterfront plot formerly owned by
Boston Sand and Gravel that the city of
Boston bought in 1994 is going to be
cleaned up and turned into a park as
part of a recent settlement between
EPA and Waste Management, Inc., a
Boston trash hauler (see related story
on page 1).

"For everything we told you
about, there are another ten problems
we do not have time to tell you," said
Bongiovanni.

EPA New England would like to
thank Alternatives for Community and
Environment for hosting a site tour of
the Roxbury community during the
April Fundamentals training. Several
speakers were also kind enough to
share their experiences to secure
environmental justice in their
communities during the trainings,
including Rev. Curtis Dias, of the
Concerned Citizens of Freetown
group and the Calvary Pentecostal
Church and Tennis Lilly, of the
Lawrence Grassroots Initiative.

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Haven't signed up yet for an EJ
training course?

The EJ training, which all EPA
New England staff will be required to
attend over the next year, is a key
component of the region's EJ Action
Plan for Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002.
Managers have identified staff with a
primarily internal focus to receive EJ
Awareness training, while staff with a
primarily external focus to receive
longer, more intense EJ Fundamentals
training.

The EJ Awareness course
focuses on increasing staff
knowledge and understanding of
environmental justice and provides
staff with tools to identify EJ
communities and to enable them to
factor EJ into their everyday work.
The EJ Fundamentals course explores
the origins of the environmental
justice movement, perceptions and
definitions of environmental justice,
the laws pertaining to environmental
justice, and provides an overview of
Geographic Information Systems and
other analytic tools to understand the
issue. Skills and learning are
reinforced through case studies and
opportunities to meet with people
addressing environmental justice on
a day-to-day basis. The Fundamen-
tals course provides greater depth in
exploring issues of environmental
justice. Highlights of this workshop

EPA employees take part in mock public participation
workshop.

include a site visit and guest
speakers which afford participants
the opportunity to explore a real
community; case or project dealing
with environmental justice.

Most of the training sessions are
held at EPA New England, 1 Congress
Street, in Boston. Some sessions are
being held at the EPA's new regional
laboratory in Chelmsford, Mass. State
staff are in vited to participate in all of
the training sessions along with EPA
staff. EPA will try to honor each
reservation for training, but space is
limited for each session so reserva-
tions are not guaranteed. Watch the
EPA New England Center for Learning
and Development's Training Calendar
each month for detailed environmental
justice training schedules.

EJ trainer receives first-ever regional EJ award

On July 8, EPA New England regional administrator Robert W. Varney
announced that Veronica Harrington received the region's Environmental Justice
Award, the first award of this kind in the region. Harrington received the award for
the excellent leadership she displayed as the region's voluntary representative to
the Environmental Justice Training Collaborative, a network of representatives
from EPA regions, the national EPA Office of Environmental Justice, other federal
agencies, state agencies, tribal governments, community and faith-based
organizations and academia, dedicated to developing EJ education tools and
fostering constructive dialogue around this complex issue. By committing herself
to work on the collaborative, Harrington far exceeded her general responsibilities
as regional EJ grant program manager. Harrington's tremendous ongoing efforts in
the areas of EJ training have furthered the agency's commitment to promoting and
supporting environmental justice and the region's goal of institutionalizing EJ
activities throughout the office.

i *est practices
for Roxbury
solid waste
problems
outlined cont.

continued from page 2

operations and have voluntarily
implemented many of them to
minimize adverse impacts in the
neighborhood or to fulfill the
requirements of their operating
permits. Many of the best practices
require the trash transfer stations
to operate cleaner and faster to
minimize odor, air emissions, noise,
windblown litter, vermin, waste
fluids and vapors, polluted runoff,
mud and traffic.

"Many of the best practices are
resource efficient, and our incentive
is that there may be a way to be more
cost effective too," said Settles.

For example, DSNI has also
worked with Tufts University to
identify some "eco industrial"
principles for trash transfer stations
that stress recycling many
materials. Some of the best
practices are not cost effective for
the trash transfer station operators
at this time, but may still be put in
place if the some funding or low-
interest loans can be leveraged.

Other best practices identified in
the strategy, such as diesel fumes,
are difficult for trash transfer
station operators to manage
because they are generated by
delivery trucks that the companies
do not own.

Settles said that solid waste
problems cannot be solved by the
trash transfer station operators
alone, and presently DSNI and the
task force are looking at ways to
reduce waste originating in the
community and to stop illegal
dumping. Involving the community
in solid waste problem solving is an
important element of the compre-
hensive best practices strategy. 	

11

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Groundwork Providence produces
multilingual packets on EJ issues

Earlier this year the nonprofit
organization Groundwork Providence
was awarded $10,000 by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's
Environmental Justice Small Grants
Program to support a community-
wide program to educate West End
residents in Providence, RI, on the
myriad of environmental issues that
have plagued the community for
years. The purpose of the MSG
program is to provide financial
assistance to eligible community
groups, including community-based/
grassroots organizations, churches
and other nonprofit organizations
with a focus on community-based
issues, and federally recognized tribal
governments that are working on or
plan to carry out projects to address
environmental justice issues.

Groundwork Providence has
used the recent grant to focus on the
broad issue of environmental justice
and has detailed it by creating a
series of information packets
regarding the eight most prevalent
environmental issues, determined by
residents' response, that the
community is facing. The purpose of
these packets is both to educate
community members on issues that
they face on a daily basis and to
promote action against such issues.

T opping the list of environmental
problems was rat infestation, an issue
often seen in such low income and/or

racially diverse communities as the
West End. Other issues covered in
the packets were lead contamination
(20 percent of children in the West
End are exposed to lead), pocket
brownfields, converting open space
to gardening areas, nutrition, air
pollution and asthma, recycling, and
solid waste management.

The West End is both a racially
diverse and low-income community.
More than 50 percent of the
inhabitants are H ispanic, and nearly
20 percent are African-American. The
average household income in 1990
was more than 30 percent less than
the rest of the city ($19,758 compared
to $28,342).

The information packets on
these issues will be published in
three languages: English, Spanish
and Cambodian. The packets are
expected to be completed at the
end of July and will be distributed
throughout the community at
centers of community activity, such
as churches, community centers,
and at the offices of agencies, such
as the West Elmwood Housing
Development Corporation. To
request a copies of the packets,
contact Groundwork Providence by
writing to Owen Santos at
owen@;groundworkpro vidence.org
or 69 Washington Street, Provi-
dence, RI 02903, or by calling 401 -
351-6440.

Collaboration

and Community
Health Forum

T .~.C

Community Health Center in
Boston hosted the Lowell Institute
Asian American Forum 2002 on
"Collaboration and Community
Health." The purpose of the Asian
American Forum is to provide and
sponsor a series of public lectures
and workshops that are pertinent to
the local community. The goals of
the forum are to provide a setting
for community participation, to
provide information and outreach
to the community about issues and
opportunities, to establish a point
of contact for disparate community
organizations to collaborate toward
the improvement of the overall
welfare of the Asian community,
and to update and help guide
policy makers in designing
programs that respond to the needs
of the Asian American community.

This year's forum was
moderated by Albert Yee, M.D.,
M.P.H., regional health administra-
tor at the U.S. Dept. of Health and
Human Services, and focused on
collaboration and community
health. Whether a government
agency, public health office,
community organization, or a
grassroots coalition, collaboration
is a key tool for implementing
projects that focus on improving
the health of a community.

Penn Loh, executive director
of Boston's Alternatives for
Community and Environment,
spoke about the unique
challenges facing Chinatown, the
densest neighborhood in Boston.
The neighborhood faces
significant traffic congestion,
pedestrian safety, air quality
issues and continued commercial
growth. Collaboration among
many diverse community groups
helped to form the Chinatown/

12

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Grants target
urban air toxics

Health Forum
cant.	

continued from page 12

Central Artery Task Force which Penn
cited as a successful collaboration of
community activists, academics and
other local partners that helped the
neighborhood evaluate the long and
short-term impacts from the Big Dig.
Collaborating with academia provided
technical expertise for reviewing
traffic studies, air quality and health
impacts, and helped the community
convince the state to look at more
alternatives in the planning phase of
the project.

Loh's message was that collabora-
tion benefits communities by providing a
larger base of political power and greater
access to expertise and technical
resources. Other panelists discussed the
benefits of collaboration in the projects
and communities they represented,
including: Christine Lanoie, director of
the Osteoporosis Awareness Program at
the Massachusetts Department of

Central artery onramp in Chinatown

Public Health; Sidney Liang, program
director of the Lowell Community Health
Center; Jeremy Liu, direct or of community
projects at the Asian Community
Development Corporation; and Cindy
Rizzo, program officer of The Boston
Foundation.

For more information on issues
facing the Asian community in Boston,
contact David Hendrickson, coordinator
of the Tufts Chinatown Partnership, at
617-627-3656.

The combined $1.1 million from
the EPA's National Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards (OAQPS) and
the Office of Traffic and Air Quality
(OTAQ ) will fond 17 urban air toxics
assessment and reduction projects
nationally, including projects in New
Haven, Connecticut and the Merrimack
Valley in Massachusetts. The projects
are focused on hazardous air
pollutants- pollutants known or
suspected to cause cancer or other
serious health and environmental
problems. Of special concern is the
impact of toxic emissions on minority
and low-income communities, which
are often located close to industrial and
commercial urbanized areas. The
money for these urban air toxics/
environmental justice-oriented grants
was primarily made available by the
OAQPS as a part of the Integrated
Urban Air Toxics Program.

The OAQPS requested that each
EPA regional office submit proposals
for local air toxics assessment and/or
reduction projects that would be
awarded with 2002 fiscal year OAQPS
funding. The focus of these grants
parallels that of the Integrated Urban
Air Toxics Strategy, which presents a
broad framework for addressing the
disproportionate impact of air toxics
from stationary sources, as well as
mobile sources across urban areas,
especially in those areas known as
"hot spots," and minority and low-
income communities in urban areas.

Since the program began in 1999 it
has focused primarily on, and been
successful in, reducing toxic air
pollutant emissions from urban
industry and automobiles through
regulations, including stricter tailpipe

standards. However, as most of the
focus has been directed at large-scale
air toxics sources, less progress has
been made reducing emissions on the
local scale, such as from small
businesses. The purpose of the 2002
OAQPS grants is to address these local
pollution sources.

Twoofthe 17 grants awarded will
target local airtoxics issues in New
England. New Haven, CT will receive
$30,000, to identify' airtoxics risks using
the airtoxics inventory developed in
Phase I of the project (also funded by
an EPA grant), and begin reducing
emissions. Some proposed means of
emissions reductions include
promoting diesel fleet and bus
improvements and expanding Project
AIR (Asthma Improvement Resources).

The Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection, working with
existing state and local alliances in the
Merrimack Valley, will receive $70,000 to
"address the unusual burden of urban
air toxics that affect residents of five
demographically diverse communities,"
including Lawrence, Methuen,
Haverhill, Andover and North
Andover. The Merrimack Valley has
long been a steady source of
stationary air pollution from the proximity
of several regional incinerators and
paper, textile and shoe manufacturing
plants. The groups involved in the project
have proposed to further characterize
urban air, transportation and consumer
emissions that have been identified as
potentially significant and facilitate a
process to identify' and select one or two
of the most significant air toxics issues
that affect the Merrimack Valley
communities.

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14

Office highlight:

EPA Headquarters
requires regions to
develop EJ Action Plans

Citizen's guide
cont.	

continued from page 3

supported by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of
Environmental Justice.

The guide will be most useful for
community residents interested in
determining how environmental laws
can be used to promote environmen-
tal justice in their communities. This is
a particularly helpful handbook for
those that are not familiar with
environmental laws because it
explains complex legal verbiage in
plain language.

The book is broken down into
three chapters: Introduction to
Environmental Laws and Environmen-
tal Justice, Understanding the Players
and the Laws, and Finding and Using
the Right Tools in Environmental
Laws. A helpful glossary and index
also allows the reader to do keyword
searches.

The guide addresses how
environmental justice relates to the
major federal environmental pollution
laws regulated by the EPA, covering
media including air, water and soil.
Environmental laws regulated by
other federal, state and local agencies
that may be applied in situations of
environmental injustice are beyond
the scope of the guide.

The environmental statutes
addressed in the guide include the
National Environmental Policy Act,
the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, the
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and
Liability Act, the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the
Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic
Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the
Toxic Substances Control Act, the
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act and the Freedom
of Information Act.

An electronic copy of this guide
may be obtained free of charge from
the Environmental Law Institute's
website www.eli.org. The report is
also available in hard copy for $20 by
calling 202-939-3800.

The national EPA Office of
Environmental Justice (OEJ) is
requiring all regional offices to
develop EJ action plans for fiscal year
2002-2003. This decision was
announced at a national strategic
meeting on the EPA environmental
justice program that took place in
Washington, D.C. in April. EPA New
England's Environmental Justice
Action Plan for Fiscal Years 2001-
2002 served as a model and an
impetus for the national office's
requirement to prepare EJ action plans
across the country. According to OEJ,
the purpose of the EJ action plans is
to enable the regional and national
offices to develop and implement
strategies and activities to integrate
environmental justice activities into

The RI Department of
Environmental Management began
an EJ Brown Bag Lunch Series in
2002. This speaker series allows for
interaction and dialogue between
DEM staff, key activists and
government representatives in the
EJ field.

Speakers have included: Penn
Loh, Director of the Boston-based
Alternatives for Community and
Environment; Jane Sherman of the
Providence Plan; Damian DelGato,
executive director of the Provi-
dence Urban Land Trust; Veronica

existing programs.

"In essence, the environmental
justice action plan is intended to
operationalize the administrator's
environmental justice memorandum,
dated August 9,2001, where
Christie Whitman categorically stated
that' [EPA] has a firm commitment to
the issue of environmental justice
and its integration into all programs,
policies, and activities, consistent
with existing environmental laws and
their implementing regulations'," said
Barry Hill, director of OEJ.

The E J action plans are due from
each regional and national program
office to OEJ by Sept. 30,2002. For
more information, please contact
Kathy Castagna, EPA New England
EJ coordinator, at

Eady, director of Environmental
Justice and Brownfields Programs
at the Massachusetts Executive
Office of Environmental Affairs;
and Jacquelyn Parnell, case
investigator at the Connecticut
Department of Environmental
Protection's Environmental Equity
Program.

In addition to the EJ Brown
Bag Series, DEM is planning E J
tours for their staff. For more
information on this series contact
Michelle Musselman at 401-222-
3434 x7245.

RI DEM conducts EJ Brown Bag
Lunch series

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Regional administrator Robert W. Varney is sharing details of EPA's enforcement action with David
Noiles, youth supervisor at ACE, and Kristi Rea, team leader of the Urban Environmental Program

MBTA idling violation	continued from page 1

Department of Environmental	school bus operators.

Protection and the City of Boston, to
curb diesel air emissions, particularly
in inner city neighborhoods where
diesel air pollution and asthma rates
are substantially higher than in other
parts of Massachusetts.

The NOV announcement comes
2lA months after EPA settled an
enforcement case with Waste
Management of Massachusetts Inc.,
with the company agreeing to
provide ultra low sulfur diesel and
new air filter traps for diesel school
buses operated by the Boston public
schools. Under the school bus
project, beginning this fall, all 200
school buses at the city's Readville
bus depot will be fueled with ultra
low-sulfur diesel fuel and 150 of
these will be fitted with special
pollution control devices that reduce
diesel emissions by 90 percent. One
of the largest school bus retrofit
efforts in the nation, the project will
eliminate an estimated 33 tons of
diesel particulate matter, 140 tons of
smog-causing hydrocarbons and 907
tons of carbon monoxide air pollution
each year.

EPA is also working aggressively
with the six New England states to
implement anti-idling programs, with a
particular emphasis on school buses.
In May, EPA New England and the
New England Asthma Regional
Council issued idling guidelines for

Diesel exhaust contains fine
particles that can cause lung damage
and aggravate respiratory conditions,
such as asthma and bronchitis. In New
England, diesel engines are the third
largest human-made source of fine
particles, contributing more than 20
percent of fine particle emissions.
Children are more sensitive to air
pollution because they breathe 50
percent more air per pound of body
weight than adults. Recent studies
have found a strong correlation
between exposure to diesel exhaust
and impaired lung growth in children.

State and federal authorities are
stepping up their enforcement of the
Massachusetts idling regulation to
reduce pollution from diesel exhaust.
The Massachusetts anti-idling
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. There are three exceptions
to the five-minute limit that can apply
depending on the circumstances. The
regulation is found at 310 Code of
Massachusetts Regulations 7.11(1 )(b).
Penalties for violating this regulation
can be as high as $27,500 per day per
violation ($25,000 if the matter is being
enforced by state authorities).

For more information on diesel
exhaust and anti-idling guidelines, visit
www.epa.gov/ne/eco/diesel.

SEPTEMBER cont.

continued from page 16

8:30am - 5pm
617-969-7177

www, state.ma.us/dep/calendar.btm
September 26-27

Urban & Suburban Watershed Management

Workshop.

Burlington, VT

1-800-548-2723

www.asce.org

OCTOBER

October 13

Environmentalist!! & Social Injustice
Daniel Faber
5 pm

Location: Spontaneous Celebration Center,
45 Danforth Street Jamaica Plain, MA
http://boston.earthsave.org/events.htm

October 15-17
EJ Fundamentals Workshop
8:30am - 5pm

Location: EPA New England Office
1 Congress Street Boston, MA
EPA employees use START system; others
call 617-918-1703

October 21

Moderate Risk Deleading Training
Various times

Location: Boston Public Health Commis-
sion 1010 Massachusetts Ave. 2nd floor
Boston, MA

http: //www. state .ma .us/dp h/clppp/'
TRAINPRO.HTM

NOVEMBER

November 5 and 19
EJ Awareness Training
8:30am - 5pm

Location: EPA New England Office
1 Congress Street Boston, MA
EPA employees use START system; others
call 617-918-1703

November 22

Moderate Risk Deleading Training
Various times

Location: Boston Public Health Commis-
sion 1010 Massachusetts Ave. 2nd floor
Boston, MA

http ://www. state .ma .us/dph/clppp/
TRAINPRO.HTM

15

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Upcoming EJ events

/vr/rwre //jfw/njf/eA

JULY

July 19

Moderate Risk Deleading Training
Various times

Location: Boston Public Health Commission
1010 Massachusetts Ave. 2nd floor
Boston, MA

http: / / www.state.ma.us/dph/clppp/
TRAINPRO.HTM

The Food Project Summer Community Lunch
12:30 pm

Location: Baker Bridge Farm
Baker Bridge Street Lincoln, MA
781-259-8621 xl6

July 22. and 29

The Food Project Summer Community Lunch
12:30pm

Location: West Cottage Street Food Lot
Dorchester, MA
781-259-8621 xl6

July 23

EJ Awareness Training
8:30am - 5pm

Location: EPA New England Office	1

Congress Street Boston, MA
EPA employees use START system; others
call 617- 918-1703

July 26

7th Annual EJ Youth Summit
9:30am - 3:30pm
Location: Curry Student Center,
Northeastern University Boston, MA
www.ace-ei.org/news.html#N0602

July 31

Public Flearing: Metro Boston Smoke-Free
Worksite Regulations Initiative
4-6 pm

Cambridge City Council, City Flail
2nd floor, 795 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA
617-665-3812

AUGUST

August 2. 9 and 16

The Food Project Summer Community Lunch
12:30 pm

Location: Baker Bridge Farm
Baker Bridge Street Lincoln, MA
781-259-8621 xl6

August 5 and 12

The Food Project Summer Community Lunch
12:30pm

Location: West Cottage Street Food Lot
Dorchester, MA
781-259-8621 xl6

August 6-10

Boston Total Environmental Education Party
Conference

Location: Park Plaza Flotel Boston, MA
http://www.naaee.org/html/conferences.html

August 19

Interfaith Working Group on the Environ-
ment Meeting
5-7 pm
Location: TBA
judyl@jcrcboston.org
617-457-8670

SEPTEMBER

September 10 and 24
EJ Awareness Training
8:30am - 5pm

Location: EPA New England Office
1 Congress Street Boston, MA
EPA employees use START system;
others call (617) 918-1703

September 18

Moderate Risk Deleading Training
Various times

Location: Boston Public Flealth Commission
1010 Massachusetts Ave. 2nd floor
Boston, MA

http: / / www.state.ma.us/dph/clppp/
TRAINPRO.HTM

September 23

Regional Sustainable Development Forum: A
Closer Examination of Issues. Green Design,
Brownfields Redevelopment: Green Re-Use,
& Smart Growth.

8 am - 6 pm

Location: MIT, Bldg 10, Rm 250, 77
Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA
maddy@mit.edu
617-354-4099

September 25

Creating Healthy Schools in MA. Location:
Wyndham Hotel Westboro, MA

continued on page 15

EPA New England Contacts:

For more EJ information:

Kathleen Castagna
EJ Coordinator
617-918-1429

castagna.kathleen@epa.gov

To submit an article:

Davina Wysin
EJ News contact
617-918-1020
wvsin.davina@epa.gov

State Contacts:

New Hampshire

Philip O'Brien, NH DES
Director, Waste Management
603-271-2905

Rhode Island

Gerald McAvoy, RI DEM
401-222-6607 X2301

Vermont

Edward Leonard, Vt. DEC Policy and
Regulatory Manager
802-241-3811

Connecticut

Edith Pestana, Ct. DEP, Environmental

Equity Program

860-424-3044

Maine

Brook Barnes, Maine DEP,

Deputy Commissioner
207-287-7887

Massachusetts

Veronica Eady, EOEA, director of
EJ & Brownfields programs
617-626-1053

Web Resources:

EPA New England Environmental
Justice Program website

http ://w w w.epa. gov/re gion 1 / ste ward/ei p ro g/
index.html

National Office of Environmental
Justice

http://es.epa.gov/oeca/main/ei/index.html

National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council

http://es.epa.gov/oeca/main/ei/neiac/
index.html

National Office of Civil Rights

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

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