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Greenbytes: April 15, 2005 Edition
In this Issue
Greetings from EPA New England. We hope you find this edition of Greenbytes useful and we encourage you to give us feedback. For information on subscribing or unsubscribing see the section at the end of this message.
Feature:
Is Your City or Town Focusing on Ways to Improve the Quality
of Your Child's Indoor School Environment?
Summer break for schools is rapidly approaching and school systems across New England are planning their activities and budgets for summer maintenance and repairs. This is a good time for city and town administrators to look carefully and holistically at environmental issues in their school buildings - including those related to the quality of the indoor air our children are breathing during the more than 180 days each year that they attend school.
While acknowledging that each school's primary focus is to provide the highest quality education possible, a school's mission is thwarted when children and teachers are absent due to illnesses caused by poor indoor environments. It is well known that some New England school buildings can suffer from a variety of environmental problems, including poor maintenance and inappropriate products, that can affect the health of children and teachers.
Indoors, factors such as mold, mildew, dust, animal dander, radon, asbestos and formaldehyde can impact indoor air quality and trigger various allergies and asthma. Asthma alone accounts for 14 million missed school days each year. The rate of asthma in young children has risen by 160 percent in the last 15 years, and today one out of every 13 school-age children has asthma.
Towns and cities are encouraged to focus on this important topic and tap into the resources and programs offered by federal, state and local environmental agencies that can help you improve the learning environment for our children. For example, EPA's Tools for Schools program helps educators identify ways to improve indoor air quality. Since the creation of the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools program, more than 25,000 schools across the country have voluntarily become involved - and in New England more than 1,000 school districts have utilized the program. Put simply, the program teaches schools how to identify, resolve and prevent indoor air quality (IAQ) problems through low- and no-cost measures.
The program explains IAQ management, facility planning and maintenance, financing, communications, and emergency response. Participating schools are given an IAQ Tools for Schools Kit, that includes easy-to-use checklists for all school personnel, sample management plans and a unique indoor air problem solving wheel. EPA and State personnel are trained and ready to help your school system get started.
Though its primary focus is on indoor air quality, this Tools for Schools initiative is also intended to encourage school districts to embrace the concept of designing an integrated, "whole building" approach to addressing a myriad of important - and sometimes competing - priorities, such as energy efficiency, indoor air quality, day-lighting, materials efficiency and safety. The program strives to do so in the context of tight budgets and limited staff.
It is important to note that many school systems face the same regulatory requirements as industry and also face the same environmental vulnerabilities. In fact, this past year several New England public schools were fined by EPA for discharging oil from their heating tanks into nearby waters. These incidents could have been easily avoided if the schools had proper oil storage prevention operations in place. The schools not only faced penalties, but were required to pay millions of dollars in avoidable clean-up costs.
State agencies have inspected New England schools finding deficiencies in: development of chemical hygiene plans, hazardous waste management, asbestos management, and diesel bus emissions from schools buses, among other areas. The time is ripe to encourage school administrators and town leaders to focus on these important issues. It not only makes sense for our children's health but for town coffers as well.
More information about healthy school environments for is available on EPA New England's website at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/assistance/schools/index.html or on EPA's national website at: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/tools4s2.html.
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Press Releases
Hartford, CT - St. Francis Hospital to voluntarily environmental self-audit
Best Workplaces for Commuters 2005 campaign launched
CT tribe wins Clean Air Excellence award
Baldwinville, MA - Active construction season expected at cleanup sites
Baldwinville, MA - Public meeting scheduled on April 25
Woburn, MA - Apr. 28 Meeting Will Discuss Clean-up at Industri-Plex Superfund Site
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Meetings & Conferences
NETC
(Newport) Restoration Advisory Board
Wed. Apr. 20, 7:00 p.m.
Baldwinville,
MA cleanup status public meeting
Mon. Apr. 25, 7 p.m.
Mass. Military Range (MMR) Impact Area Review Team
Tues. Apr. 26, 6 p.m.
New Bedford Harbor Superfund Meeting - Business Abutters
Thurs. Apr. 28, 11:00 a.m.
New Bedford Harbor Superfund Meeting - Community Forum
Thurs. Apr. 28, 11:00 a.m.
Industri-Plex cleanup status public meeting (Woburn, MA)
Thurs. Apr. 28, 7 p.m.
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Regional
Updated EPA New England "en espanol" page
Charles River
Drinking Water Quality Assurance Project Plans - new examples posted
Healthy Communities Grants - application guidance
Broad Brook Mill Superfund site - modified consent order
S. Weymouth, MA - record of decision
Industri-Plex cleanup site - new fact sheet
GE - Housatonic site - updated information
Burgess Brothers Landfill cleanup site - 5 year report
Callahan Mining Corp. cleanup site - community update
Linemaster Switch Corp. cleanup site - preliminary closeout report
Durham Meadows cleanup site - fact sheet
Baird & McGuire cleanup site - explanation of significant differences document
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"In The News" is a free daily service that provides links to today's top newspaper stories about the New England environment and links to related EPA New England information.
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