EPA Announces Funding for Research to Improve Air Quality, Protect Health

Press release:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2012

EPA Announces Funding for Research to Improve Air Quality, Protect Health

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded five grants totaling almost $2 million to academic institutions for research on innovative processes to further improve air quality in the U.S. and help track the effectiveness of pollution control measures. Pollutants such as ozone and fine particles are linked to a variety of serious health effects, including aggravation of asthma and other lung diseases, heart attacks, increased hospital admissions and medication use, and premature death.

The grants announced today are focused on generating better data and tools to enable regulatory authorities to more effectively ensure that the air we breathe is healthy.  The information gathered through this new research will help inform policy decisions that affect air quality, including the way states and cities address short-term air quality challenges.

"These grants will encourage innovative solutions for incorporating new information, technology advances, and current scientific understanding into air quality management,” says Bob Kavlock, deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “This research will help improve our efforts to respond quickly to short-term air pollution issues such as heat waves or seasonal impacts on air quality."    

The funding covers projects that will examine links between short-term air pollution drivers and existing management strategies, development of decision-making models, and air quality forecasting techniques. The five grantees include:

•    University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, N.Y., will help incorporate short-term forecasts of emissions from electricity generation and traffic into modeling and air quality forecasts.

•    University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, will include the design and testing of innovative methods to link electricity generation and emissions pricing for the prevention of air pollution episodes.

•    Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga., will develop a system for estimating and minimizing the impacts of prescribed burning on air quality, particularly in Georgia.

•    Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas, will address the issues of multi-pollutant air quality management and develop integrated decision-making models for air quality policy making.

•    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., will develop new tools for linking air quality modeling and forecasting with forecasts of electricity demand.

These grants are part of EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, which supports human health, ecology, economics, and engineering sciences through grants, centers, and fellowships. EPA provides air quality and environmental information to the public through websites including AIRNow, Window to My Environment, and Envirofacts. These tools help educate the public and increase their participation in decisions that affect air quality. 

More information on the grantees: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/dynair 

More information on the EPA’s STAR program: http://www.epa.gov/ncer 

More information on AIRNow: http://www.airnow.gov 

More information on Window to My Environment: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/wme/ 

More information on Envirofacts: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/

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EPA, states sue U.S. Steel for air violations : Stltoday

EPA, states sue U.S. Steel for air violations : Stltoday

Enviros want Obama to block airline emissions trading protest - The Hill's Transportation Report

A coalition of environmental groups is calling on President Obama to stop Congress from protesting a requirement that U.S. airlines trade carbon emissions on flights to and from European countries. 

Congress is considering legislation to block the European emissions trading requirement from being applied to U.S. airlines. 

But a group of 11 environmental groups said Friday that Obama should prevent that from happening. 


For more, click the link below:

Enviros want Obama to block airline emissions trading protest - The Hill's Transportation Report

Group calls hydropower proposal an 'extreme' bill - The Hill's E2-Wire

An environmental advocacy group says a bill introduced Thursday in the House will harm rivers by cutting funding for restoration programs, according to UPI.

House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) says his bill would officially recognize hydropower as renewable energy. It also blocks federal funding for hydropower dam removal.

“This bill would officially recognize hydropower as renewable energy and help eliminate government roadblocks and frivolous litigation that stifle development,” Hastings said in a statement Thursday.

For more, click the link below:

Group calls hydropower proposal an 'extreme' bill - The Hill's E2-Wire

GOP Rep. Mica to Senate: Pass airline emissions trading ban before 'recess' - The Hill's Transportation Report

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said Friday that the Senate should pass a bill banning European countries from requiring U.S. airlines to trade carbon emissions.

Despite protests from both Congress and the U.S. airline industry, the requirement took effect on Jan. 1. Airlines say they will have to begin making payments to countries within the European Union for over-emissions on international flights in April 2013. 

A bill to block that from happening, however, was approved this week by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Mica said Friday that the legislation, S. 1956, should be taken up by the entire Senate before lawmakers leave Washington for almost a full month.

For more, click the link below:

GOP Rep. Mica to Senate: Pass airline emissions trading ban before 'recess' - The Hill's Transportation Report

EPA Awards $150,000 to Environmental Education Association of New Mexico to Improve Collaboration

Press release:

EPA Awards $150,000 to Environmental Education Association of New Mexico to Improve Collaboration

(DALLAS – August 3, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $150,000 to the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico (EEANM), which will use the funds to promote environmental education and implement a small grants program.

EEANM plans to lead a collaboration with the state environmental education associations from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, as well as the Albert I. Pierce Foundation. The associations will work together to fund a competitive small grants program for projects that meet EPA environmental education priorities while allowing applicants to respond to local needs. Through this broad collaboration, the state associations hope to build organizational capacity while expanding the involvement of local, state, and regional educational partners.

EEANM will issue at least 19 grants of $5,000 or less to environmental education organizations within EPA Region 6.

Additional Information on EPA grants is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

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Supervisor of Michigan Town Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Press release:

MEDIA CONTACT: Stacy Kika, 202-564-0906, kika.stacy@epa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                
No. 12-OPA060

Supervisor of Michigan Town Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

WASHINGTON (August 3, 2012) - William Morgan, the former supervisor of Royal Oak Township, a suburb of Detroit, was sentenced in federal court to three years in prison. Mr. Morgan had previously entered a guilty plea to charges that he conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), violate the Clean Air Act’s asbestos requirements, and commit bribery. Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used commonly in a variety of building construction materials. When asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause serious health problems.

"It is reprehensible that a public official made asbestos abatement decisions based on a bribe, not on what was needed to protect the health of the community,” said Randall Ashe, special agent in charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Michigan. “The sentence shows that government officials who attempt to line their pockets rather than carry out their responsibilities honestly will be prosecuted to the full extent to the law.”

“Any public official, in city or suburb, who works to enrich himself at the expense of the public will be detected and prosecuted,” U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said.  “It is particularly disturbing when an official not only takes bribes but also endangers community health and the environment by allowing the bribes to influence abatement decisions.”

Morgan’s criminal conduct involved the awarding of a contract and distribution of federal funds that were intended to be used by communities for the improvement of blighted areas by removing dilapidated buildings. The funding was received through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Morgan, in addition to being Township supervisor, was also Royal Oak’s coordinator for NSP.

Prior to the awarding of the contract, Morgan had received a $10,000 bribe from Sureguard/PBM, one of the companies that submitted a bid for the demolition and asbestos removal of an abandoned theater on Eight Mile road. In return for the bribe, Morgan attempted to steer the contract to Sureguard/PBM. Despite Morgan’s efforts, Royal Oak’s Board of Supervisors awarded the contract to another company, which had submitted a lower bid.

During the demolition process, Morgan asked for and received cash payments of $500 and $1,000 from the owner of the company that had won the contract. Morgan received these payments under the belief that they were in return for his approval of a change order covering the asbestos abatement that fraudulently inflated the cost of the work.

One of Morgan’s co-conspirators, Terrance Parker, received a sentence of 21 months. Two other co-conspirators, Kendrick Covington and Marcus Brown have yet to be sentenced.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), HUD’s Office of the Inspector General and EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division.

More information about EPA’s criminal enforcement program: http://www.epa.gov/oecaerth/criminal/index.html.