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Healthy Communities & Ecosystems
Table of Contents | Download Document [PDF 2 MB, 28 pp]
Ensuring the protection of people’s health and the environment is
the mission of EPA. Managing environmental risks is the key component
of this goal and the means through which
EPA can undertake its mission.
Working with partner institutions, community leaders and individuals, we direct our energies to those most vulnerable – our children and elderly. And, in doing so, we bring to bear all of our scientific capabilities to better understanding the threats to their health and in finding safe ways in which to eliminate them.
Rochester Initiative
The Rochester Community Environmental Project, conducted in Rochester, New York, is an initiative that incorporates a mix of regulatory and voluntary programs to improve public health and the environment. In a sense, it is a citywide approach to bringing institutions and facilities into compliance, educating professionals and the public as to good environmental practice and establishing the foundation of a sustainable environment.
In rapid fire fashion, EPA conducted more than 200 inspections at 166 regulated facilities; crafted a healthcare workshop to assist hospital officials in identifying and managing hazardous waste; persuaded 14 area hospitals to voluntarily identify, self-disclose and correct violations at their facilities; partnered with 12 facilities to eliminate or reduce industrial waste; formed a collaborative partnership with community groups, academe, businesses, governments, health and environmental groups and school districts to identify and prioritize environmental issues; sampled and analyzed drinking water taps at all 42 elementary schools in the Rochester City School District resulting in closing and remediating 80 taps; and removed “legacy” chemicals from school laboratories and storage facilities.
What were the immediate results of that action? Over 700 gallons of chemicals were removed from the schools and disposed of at a hazardous waste facility; 53 facilities in violation have been brought into compliance; one company is partnering with EPA to significantly reduce its lead emissions; and, non-compliant facilities are being brought into compliance providing greater health and environmental protection.
Illegal Pesticide Sweeps
In 2004, EPA used its enforcement authority to protect the people of Puerto Rico from illegal pesticides. The Agency inspected more than 90 large and mid-sized stores, farmer’s markets and flea markets throughout the island for illegal pesticides. The sweep produced more than 650 packets of the illegal pesticide “Tres Pasitos,” or “three small steps” – the distance a pest can walk before succumbing to the deadly poison. More than 3,000 boxes of “Chinese Chalk,” another unlicensed pesticide were confiscated as well. This poison is so-named because it resembles play chalk that a child would use on the sidewalk or chalkboard.
Similar sweeps were conducted in New York City. EPA inspected 48 large and mid-sized stores throughout the city and found 44 different types of illegal pesticides at 27 locations. Inspectors also located three distribution centers with large quantities of illegal products in Queens. EPA teamed up with Chinese-American neighborhood groups in an awareness campaign that reached out to the Chinese-American press to inform this segment of the population about the dangers of illegal pesticides.
Healthy Communities & Ecosystems Highlight
In early 2004, Region 2 reached an administrative settlement agreement with the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE), which imposed a $5.6 million penalty against the PRDOE for violations of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). The settlement required PRDOE to invest the penalty amount in a three-year program to remediate asbestos hazards in its 1,500 schools.
The PRDOE case underscores the Region 2 commitment to children’s health. EPA has uncovered a number of widespread AHERA violations in several school districts on the mainland including Newark, New Jersey and Yonkers, New York, through its “smart inspection” approach. Using this approach, a sampling of schools within the larger Local Educational Agencies, private schools and charter schools are inspected and settlements are pursued to ensure that all schools within the respective systems are brought into compliance.
