Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

"What's the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" - Henry David Thoreau

People living in New England's urban areas often bear a disproportionate share of society's environmental hazards: high levels of lead paint in older housing; increased smog caused by traffic congestion; hazardous materials running through storm drains and streets; and illegal dumping of household and industrial waste in vacant lots. Combined with other socio-economic factors, the result is best described as environmental injustice. This past fall, recognizing that "citysheds" are as important as watersheds, EPA in New England officially launched its Urban Environmental Agenda to work with communities to address these pressing issues. EPA's goals are to develop environmental capacity at the community level, involve communities more substantially in the environmental decision-making process, and build the public-private partnerships necessary to address urban environmental issues. The principles of community-based environmental protection, environmental justice, pollution prevention and economic redevelopment are the cornerstones of this effort. The initiative involves the following components: EPA has targeted three pilot cities for this initiative. Three new EPA city project managers are now leading efforts in Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts, to join community organizations, city, state and federal officials, and the private sector in building the necessary environmental protection infrastructure at the local level. The Youth and the Environment and National Service Project joins EPA's New England office with City Year, for the fourth consecutive semester, and other youth organizations and community partners to reduce environmental hazards in urban neighborhoods. For example, City Year teams have transformed abandoned, trash-strewn lots into community gardens, developed afterschool environmental programs and worked with EPA and others to perform pilot environmental indoor air and energy efficiency audits in low-income Roxbury homes last year. This year, an additional indoor audit program will focus primarily on asthma prevention in low income neighborhoods. The Economic Redevelopment Program develops ways to make environmental protection economically beneficial to urban communities. A centerpiece of this effort is the Brownfields program, through which EPA provides grants to return abandoned and formerly contaminated commercial and industrial sites to productive use, and to ensure that future development is sustainable and environmentally sound. To date, EPA has awarded Brownfields grants totaling $1 million to five pilot cities in New England: Boston, Bridgeport, Lawrence, Worcester, and the Providence Metropolitan area. In addition, EPA is working with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement the Empowerment Zone/Enhancement Community program in eight New England cities and with HUD and the State of Connecticut to implement the Connecticut Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership. The Regional Lead Initiative aims to reduce the incidence of lead poisoning in young children through an education and outreach program concerning the hazards of lead in paint, soil and water. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in six children have levels of lead in their blood above the level believed to be safe. Children living in New England's cities, for a variety of reasons, are far more likely to suffer from lead poisoning than children living in suburban areas. To address this problem, EPA is developing and distributing an English as a Second Language curriculum; expanding Geographic Information System efforts to map lead sources, housing stock, highway infrastructure, city services and socio-economic factors within selected urban areas; and developing and marketing sustainable design guidelines for reducing exposures to environmental contaminants in urban areas. In addition, the EPA sponsors the New England Lead Coordinating Committee, a joint state-federal working group, supported through a Cooperative Agreement with Tufts University, that coordinates the states, EPA and other federal agencies on lead poisoning prevention technical and policy issues. Partly due to the efforts of this workgroup, New England has reaped the benefits of $58 million in federal lead abatement grants. Also, through this collaboration with Tufts University, more than $130,000 has been granted to grassroots community organizations working to prevent lead poisoning. The Strong, Targeted Enforcement Program (STEP-UP) Team identifies strategies and goals for environmental enforcement in urban areas. Over the past year, EPA increased by tenfold the number of inspections in New England's urban areas. Moreover, EPA has targeted New England's auto repair industry as businesses to which we will offer environmental assistance, like advice on how to prevent pollution before it becomes a problem. The program has performed more than 100 multi-media inspections (covering more than one "media" area -- which are usually broken down as air, water and waste) in Boston, Massachusetts; New Haven, Hartford, and Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Providence, Rhode Island, since September, 1994. As part of a $25 million settlement with the Massachusetts Highway Department, low income communities will receive emergency planning computer equipment and software. In the future, EPA's New England office will increase such efforts to levy smaller fines on polluters in exchange for projects that directly benefit urban communities. Education, Research and Technical Assistance helps communities secure the resources they need to understand and work on complex environmental issues and statutes. EPA is providing access to the research and technical assistance of universities and colleges and helping to develop environmental curricula for public schools, community colleges and vocational schools. With an emphasis on Environmental Justice and Pollution Prevention, EPA's New England office awarded nearly $2 million in grants last year to community and academic institutions, including Roxbury Community College to establish a Center for Environmental Education. This includes the training of minority contractors and community residents on lead abatement and the establishment of a two-year degree program in environmental management. EPA is building The New England Urban Environmental Infrastructure, including the establishment of a New England-wide forum for all public and private constituencies to address urban environmental policy issues. This network will offer accessible information to the public through an annual conference, periodic meetings and hopefully a consortium of academic institutions, including local community colleges. As a first step, EPA is holding a series of roundtable discussions throughout the spring and summer in eight cities throughout New England that will engage public and private constituencies in discussions of pressing environmental issues. A New England- wide conference in Hartford is being planned for late September 1996. Most people are aware that outdoor air pollution can damage their health. Many people, though, do not know that indoor air pollution can also cause significant health effects. EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times higher than outdoor levels. These levels of indoor air pollutants may be of particular concern because most people spend about 90% of their time indoors. During the winter, people spend on average 95% of their time indoors, and it is usually during the winter that indoor air quality in homes and schools is at its worst because of reduced air exchange rates, lower relative humidity, and the increased use of combustion appliances indoors. Indoor air pollution comes in a number of forms: combustion products which result from the burning of fuel such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter; biological contaminants, including dust mites, bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and inorganic pollutants such as radon, lead, and asbestos. Pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and environmental tobacco smoke are also sometimes found in poor indoor air quality and can pose a risk to people's health. Long term exposure to these additional three pollutants could lead to the development of cancer and other chronic diseases in humans. Certain volatile organic compounds such as benzene and formaldehyde are considered carcinogenic by EPA, and these two compounds can be found in common building materials and household products as well as in tobacco smoke. Children may be especially susceptible to air pollution. Exposure to the same concentration of pollutants can result in a higher intake of pollution in children than adults compared to the size of their bodies because children breathe a greater volume of air relative to their body weight. Children -- as well as the elderly -- are also generally more sensitive to air contaminants than healthy adults due to some critical physiological changes that occur in humans. Since the indoor environment where most kids spend much of their time other than their homes is in school, air quality in schools is of particular concern to EPA. In terms of indoor environments, schools differ from other types of building in a variety of ways. Unlike other buildings, managing schools involves balancing responsibility for public funds and child safety issues, which can cause strong reactions from concerned parents and the general community. In addition, children and teachers are very close together, with the typical school having approximately four times as many occupants as office buildings for the same amount of floor space. A recent US General Accounting Offices' report, School Facilities - the Condition of America's Schools, notes that "about 50 percent of the schools reported at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition; while 33 percent reported multiple unsatisfactory conditions." (Fig. 14). According to the GAO report, "the nation's schools need about $112 billion to repair or upgrade America's multibillion dollar investment in facilities to good overall condition." To address the issue of indoor air quality in schools, EPA has recently published Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit, a voluntary guide to help school officials improve the quality of air in their schools. The goal of this kit is to provide clear guidance that will help prevent indoor air quality problems and resolve such problems promptly if they do arise. It recommends practical action that can be carried out by the school staff without the need for extensive training, and is flexible enough to conform to the specific needs of any school. The kit can easily be used to form an indoor air quality management plan for the school. For more information on EPA's Indoor Air Quality Program workshops and training courses in New England or to order a Tools for Schools Action Kit, please call either Dr. Mary Beth Smuts at (617) 918-1528, Eugene Benoit at (617) 918-1639 or our national Indoor Air Quality Clearinghouse at 1-800-438-4318.