EPA Press Office:

EPA Seeks Input on National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for Perchlorate

WASHINGTON (October 3, 2024) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profit entities to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SERs) providing advice and recommendations to a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel. This SBAR Panel will focus on the agency’s development of a rule that will regulate perchlorate in drinking water to protect public health. 

EPA is developing a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for the chemical contaminant perchlorate (ClO₄^–) under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and as required by court orders. EPA has committed to issuing a proposed NPDWR for perchlorate by November 2025 and a final regulation by May 2027.  

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to establish an SBAR Panel for rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The SBAR Panel will include federal representatives from the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the EPA. The Panel members ask a selected group of SERs to provide advice and recommendations on behalf of their company, government, or organization to inform the Panel members about potential impacts of the proposed rule on small entities.  

The EPA seeks self-nominations directly from the small public water systems (serving 10,000 or fewer people) that may be subject to the rule requirements. Other representatives, such as trade associations that exclusively or at least primarily represent potentially regulated small public water systems, may also serve as SERs.  

Self-nominations may be submitted through the link below and must be received by October 7, 2024.  

Nominate yourself as a SER. 

Visit the EPA’s perchlorate in drinking water webpage for more details.

For further information: Contact: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Honors Home Builders and Raters for Providing Healthier Indoor Air

WASHINGTON – Today, Oct. 3, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes nine home builders and three home raters with the 2024 Indoor AirPlus Leader Awards. These annual awards celebrate market-leading organizations that champion safer, healthier and more comfortable indoor environments through participation in and promotion of the Indoor AirPlus program, which offers enhanced indoor air quality protections to new home buyers.

 

In addition, EPA has selected two Indoor AirPlus partners to receive the Leader of the Year Award for their outstanding commitment and program performance. The 2024 Leaders of the Year are Providence Homes in the builder category and Integral Building + Design in the rater category.

 

“EPA congratulates this year’s 12 Indoor AirPlus Leader Award winners and our newest builder and rater Leaders of the Year,” said David Rowson, Director of EPA’s Indoor Environments Division. “Their commitment to healthier communities and indoor environments is a model of excellence in the high-performance home industry. The partnership between EPA and these Indoor AirPlus Leader Award winners is critical to our shared goal to protect public health and increase access to improved indoor air quality in American homes.”

 

The 2024 Indoor AirPlus Leader of the Year Award winners are:

 

Builder: Providence Homes won their third consecutive IAP Leader Award and first Indoor AirPlus Leader of the Year Award. They continue to innovate and promote IAP with homeowner education videos, advertising across various media featuring Indoor AirPlus, and outreach to the real estate community.

 

Rater: Integral Building + Design verified 82 affordable housing units that earned Indoor AirPlus certification and showcased indoor air monitoring research that compared CO₂ levels with energy recover ventilation systems usage.

 

The 2024 Indoor AirPlus Leader Award winners are: 

 

Builders

   Corporate Builder Winners

• Beazer Homes USA, Inc., National
• Meritage Homes, National

 

   Regional/Divisional Builder Winners

• C&B Custom Homes Inc., Cottonwood, Arizona
• Charis Homes, North Canton, Ohio
• Fulton Homes, Tempe, Arizona
• Mandalay Homes, Prescott Valley, Arizona
• Providence Homes, Jacksonville, Florida
• Thrive Home Builders, Denver, Colorado
• Tri Pointe Homes Arizona, Paradise Valley, Arizona

 

Raters

• EnergyLogic Inc., Berthoud, Colorado
• Integral Building + Design Inc., New Paltz, New York
• Steven Winter Associates, Norwalk, Connecticut

 

Indoor AirPlus is a voluntary partnership and certification program designed to improve indoor air quality in homes and multifamily buildings. Builders and developers that participate in the program use construction practices intended to minimize exposure to indoor pollutants and contaminants. Indoor AirPlus homes are healthier by design and are inspected during construction by third-party Indoor AirPlus Verifiers. Risk reduction strategies include mold and moisture control; radon resistance; pest management; improved heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems; combustion venting; healthier building materials; and homeowner education. Indoor AirPlus certified homes and apartments can help reduce the likelihood of common and serious health problems like infectious disease, heart disease, cancer, asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, headaches and more. 

 

Find more information on:

• Indoor AirPlus
• Indoor AirPlus Leader Awards
• Finding an Indoor AirPlus builder or rater in your area
• Joining the Indoor AirPlus program

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Region 7 Invites Public to Attend Virtual Environmental Justice Community Stakeholder Meeting

Oct. 17 outreach event will provide opportunity for attendees to learn more about Region 7’s environmental justice efforts

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 - 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

 

EPA Region 7 Invites Public to Attend Virtual Environmental Justice Community Stakeholder Meeting

 

Oct. 17 outreach event will provide opportunity for attendees to learn more about Region 7’s environmental justice efforts
 

Contact Information: Jonathan Klusmeyer, klusmeyer.jonathan@epa.gov, 913-343-2991

LENEXA, KAN. (OCT. 3, 2024) – EPA Region 7’s Environmental Justice (EJ) program invites the public to join its quarterly Community Stakeholder Meeting that is open to all community members in Region 7, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations.

EPA will hold the virtual meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

“Environmental justice” means the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, tribal affiliation, or disability, in Agency decision-making and other federal activities that affect human health and the environment, so that people:

• Are fully protected from disproportionate and adverse human health and environmental effects, risks, and hazards, including those related to climate change, the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens, and the legacy of racism or other structural or systemic barriers.
• Have equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment in which to live, play, work, learn, grow, worship, and engage in cultural and subsistence practices.

During this meeting, participants will have the opportunity to learn about:

• Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program
• EPA’s Meaningful Engagement Policy
• EJScreen updates and changes
• EJ Grantee Spotlight – Iowa Environmental Council
• Networking opportunities

This meeting will also provide an opportunity for attendees to speak with EJ program staff and ask questions, highlight concerns, and learn more about EJ updates. Hearing from community members will help EPA better understand and more effectively serve local communities. This meeting will also provide an opportunity to network with other community members and organizations engaged in similar work.

EPA staff may not be able to answer all questions during the virtual meeting, but we will track questions and refer them to the most appropriate subject matter expert within EPA Region 7. Spanish-language interpretation and other interpretive services may be provided, if requested during the registration process through the link below.

Register here to attend the meeting.

Individuals are encouraged to submit suggested topics of discussion or questions, at any time, to R7-EJ-Stakeholders@epa.gov.

For any other questions related to the meeting, please call EPA Region 7’s customer service line at 1-800-223-0425 and ask for Monica Espinosa.

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 EPA Press Office:

EPA Proposes to Expand Public Access to Information on More Than One Hundred PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Support Needed Pollution Prevention Efforts

WASHINGTON – Today, Oct. 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add 16 individual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). It would also designate them as chemicals of special concern so they must meet more robust reporting requirements, including reporting even for small concentrations. This proposed expansion of TRI would advance the commitments of the Biden-Harris Administration and EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap to address the health and environmental impacts of PFAS by promoting pollution prevention, and informing the public about environmental releases of these so called “forever chemicals.” This proposal also advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to environmental justice as well as the Administration’s commitment to ending cancer as we know it as part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot by helping to connect the public and regulatory agencies with data to help inform decision-making with regard to chemicals with toxicity, including cancer, concerns because people can use TRI data to identify sources of pollution in their communities and ways that facilities can eliminate or reduce such pollution.

“With this rule, EPA would be able to collect data on how more than a hundred PFAS are released into the environment through Toxics Release Inventory reporting requirements,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “This information will help EPA and communities better understand how PFAS are being used and managed across the country.”

TRI was created to help track the waste management of toxic chemicals and support actions to prevent pollution and safeguard public health. TRI requires regulated facilities to report annually to EPA the amount of these toxic chemicals released into the environment and managed through recycling, energy recovery and treatment. Facilities must also report on practices used to prevent or reduce the generation of these chemicals as waste. EPA makes the data publicly available to inform decision-making and support pollution prevention efforts.

These PFAS are being proposed for addition to the TRI based on their toxicity to human health, the environment, or both. Data shows that the PFAS being proposed are linked to health outcomes such as cancer; damage to the liver and kidneys; and damage to reproductive and developmental systems.

EPA is proposing to set a reporting threshold of 100 pounds for manufacture, processing and other uses. This is consistent with reporting requirements for other PFAS on the TRI list added pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). If finalized as proposed, all of the PFAS in a given category would count towards the 100-pound reporting threshold for that category. This change would improve reporting on PFAS by ensuring that facilities would not be able to avoid reporting on PFAS that are similar to one another if each PFAS does not meet the reporting threshold individually. For the same reason, EPA is also proposing to reclassify some PFAS that were previously added to the TRI individually as part of one of the 15 PFAS categories.

Finally, with this rule, EPA is also proposing to clarify how PFAS are automatically added to the TRI under the NDAA. The NDAA provides the framework for the automatic addition of PFAS to the TRI each year in response to specified EPA activities, including whenever the agency “finalizes a toxicity value.” To assist stakeholders in understanding this automatic addition provision within the NDAA, EPA is proposing a list of different types of EPA toxicity values which automatically initiate the process of adding any PFAS associated with the toxicity value to the TRI list.

EPA will accept public comments on the proposed rule for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register via docket EPA-HQ-TRI-2023-0538 at the Regulations.gov page.

Learn more about the proposed rule.

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Finalizes Rule to Protect Farmworkers, Families and Communities from Pesticide Exposures

WASHINGTON – Today, Oct. 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing a final rule to restore the pesticide Application Exclusion Zone (AEZ) requirements under the 2015 Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS). The AEZ is an area surrounding outdoor pesticide application equipment where people are prohibited while pesticides are applied. This rule finalizes the agency’s 2023 proposed rule without change and advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to environmental justice, protecting farmworkers, pesticide handlers, their families and agricultural communities. It reinstates AEZ protections, extends protections for neighboring communities, makes requirements easier to understand, and provides flexibilities for family farms without compromising protections.

“Farmworkers help to provide the food we feed our families every day and it’s EPA’s job to keep them safe from pesticides,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “No one should be at risk from pesticide related illness because of their job or where they live. Today’s rule is another significant step by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect public health and deliver on environmental justice.”

Application Exclusion Zone

The WPS regulation protects over two million agricultural workers (and their families) and pesticide handlers who work on over 600,000 agricultural establishments. In 2015, EPA made significant changes to the regulation to reduce incidents of pesticide exposure among farmworkers and their family members. Less pesticide exposure means a healthier workforce and fewer lost wages, medical bills, and absences from work and school.

These changes include creating the “Application Exclusion Zone” (AEZ), an area with additional requirements to protect workers and bystanders. This area immediately surrounds the pesticide application equipment during an outdoor pesticide application. The AEZ only exists during the application, moves with the equipment during application, and can extend outside of an agricultural establishment (e.g., school grounds, residential neighborhoods). The 2015 regulation required that pesticide applicators suspend their applications if anyone is in the AEZ. It also required employers to ensure that the AEZ requirements are understood and followed and prohibited employers from directing or allowing any of their workers to enter an AEZ. By requiring additional precautions in an AEZ, the 2015 regulation aimed to prevent pesticides from contacting farmworkers and bystanders.

In 2020, the previous administration published a rule limiting AEZ protections to agricultural establishments and shrinking the size of the AEZ from 100 feet to 25 feet for some ground-based spray applications. These changes would have meant that applicators no longer had to suspend applications if people in the AEZ were outside of an agricultural establishment, such as a neighboring property or in an easement. Additionally, some AEZs would have been sized smaller (e.g., 25 feet instead of 100 feet) even for some fine sprays, which tend to drift farther. Prior to the effective date of the 2020 AEZ Rule, petitions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the 2020 Rule. The SDNY issued an order granting the petitioners’ request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining the effective date of the rule. As a result, the 2020 AEZ Rule never went into effect.

In 2021, EPA began reviewing the 2020 AEZ Rule in accordance with Executive Order 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis. The agency determined that the provisions in the 2020 AEZ Rule that weakened protections for farmworkers and nearby communities from pesticide exposure should be rescinded. The proposed rule to reinstate several provisions of the 2015 rule was published in March of 2023.

Final Rule Provisions

With today’s action, EPA is finalizing its 2023 proposed rule without change. The final rule reinstates several 2015 WPS provisions protecting farmworkers and bystanders, including:

1. The AEZ suspension requirement will apply beyond the boundaries of the agricultural establishment.
2. The AEZ suspension requirement will apply in easements on the establishment (for example, easements for utility workers to access telephone lines).
3. The AEZ distance for ground-based applications will be:
   • 25 feet for applications with medium or larger droplets when sprayed from a height greater than 12 inches from the soil surface or planting medium.
   • 100 feet for applications with fine droplets.

Additionally, the final rule includes two revisions that the agency believes provide clarity and flexibility for growers and farming families without increasing risk to farmworkers and bystanders:

1. An “immediate family exemption” that allows farm owners and their immediate family to remain inside enclosed structures or homes during pesticide application. This exemption, which is limited to farming families, provides them the flexibility to decide whether to stay on-site during pesticide applications, rather than compelling them to leave even when they feel safe remaining in their own homes.
2. A clarification that suspended pesticide applications can resume only after people leave the AEZ.

These changes are a critical part of EPA’s efforts to protect the health of farmworkers and support the agency’s priority to advance equity and justice for all communities. Learn more about EPA’s extensive efforts to train, support and enhance safe working conditions for agricultural workers at local, state and national levels on EPA’s website.

EPA will release interim guidance by the end of October to support the regulated community in complying with the new rule and will accept feedback on how to improve the guidance after its release.

The new rule will be effective 60 days after publication of the federal register notice and will be available in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0133 at the Regulations.gov page.

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Recognizes Children’s Health Month

WASHINGTON – Today, October 1, 2024, EPA is recognizing October as Children’s Health Month. Every year, EPA begins the fall season by raising awareness about the crucial role our environment plays in the ability for our nation’s children to grow up healthy and happy.

“Every child deserves to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in healthy, thriving neighborhoods,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, “At EPA we are committed to making this a reality by advancing policies that reduce health disparities, and ensure that communities have the tools to safeguard their children’s future and lifelong health.”

Children, especially in vulnerable communities, are susceptible to the damages of pollution and climate change. Their developing bodies are sensitive to toxins, where they live can increase their exposure to pollutants and poverty can impact their recovery from environmental exposures. Early exposure to pollutants can last a lifetime. Most recently, EPA took these actions to advance children’s health protection:

• Launching the Kids and Climate Health Zone, a collection of stories and information about how climate stressors are impacting children’s health at various life stages across different regions of the U.S.
• Reducing diesel emissions and creating cleaner air for children and communities by awarding nearly $900 million through the EPA Clean School Bus Program Awards to approximately 53 school districts to support the purchase of over 3,400 zero-emission and clean school buses, part of an overall $5 billion investment.
• Reducing exposure to lead in drinking water for countless families through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), which announced $3 billion to help identify and replace lead service lines, part of a $9 billion total investment to replace an estimated 1.7 million lead service lines nationwide and $50 million in funding to reduce lead exposure in schools.
• Preventing exposure to “forever chemicals” by investing $10 billion to tackle PFAS in water, establishing the first-ever national drinking water standard for PFAS to protect over 100 million people, and initiating cleanup efforts at Superfund sites to protect children and public health.
• Finalizing a suite of standards to reduce air pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants and investment in the transition to a clean energy economy.
• Strengthening safeguards to protect families and children from lead in contaminated soil at residential sites; and more.

Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act are changing the world where our children live, learn and play.

Join us in celebrating Children’s Health Month. Get involved this October and learn more about children’s environmental health.

For further information: Contact: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Announces Funding Opportunities to Support Farmworker Communities

WASHINGTON – Today, Oct. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing three new funding opportunities to support pesticide safety education for farmworkers, training for health care providers to better address pesticide-related illness, and technical assistance to support managing these grants. A total of almost $10 million will be awarded to at least four grantees to carry out this work over five years.

Over two million farmworkers help grow and harvest the food that feeds our nation. Farmworkers and their families are at high risk for pesticide exposure due to their work in and around areas where pesticides are used. Additionally, pesticide-related illness is widely misdiagnosed and underreported, in part because health care providers receive only limited training on occupational and environmental health. This population is largely comprised of people of color and immigrants with limited English proficiency, low incomes, and limited access to health care, making the health and safety of farmworker communities an issue of environmental justice.

“These programs are a critical step in EPA’s commitment to environmental justice,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “Farmworkers are at greater risk of developing pesticide-related illnesses, which is often misdiagnosed and mistreated. It’s vital that we invest in improving pesticide safety education and health care for farmworker communities.”

More information about each funding opportunity can be found below.

Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety

EPA is soliciting applications from community-based farmworker nonprofit organizations with experience in training agricultural workers or pesticide handlers or developing educational materials for them to support training, materials development and outreach to farmworker communities on pesticide safety, as well as to help them understand their rights under the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) – a regulation that seeks to limit occupational pesticide exposure. The new program builds on decades of efforts by previous grantees while also including new measures to ensure projects are tailored to the need and culture of farmworker communities and in farmworkers’ native languages. EPA anticipates awarding two cooperative agreements to community-based farmworker organizations. A total of up to $6.3 million will be awarded to these five-year agreements beginning in 2025.

Please see EPA’s Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety website for more information on this agreement, eligibility and how to apply.

Pesticides Health Care Initiative

EPA is soliciting applications from nonprofit organizations with experience training health care providers who serve farmworker populations for a five-year cooperative agreement of up to $2.1 million to improve health care providers’ ability to prevent, recognize, treat, manage and report pesticide-related illness. This will be accomplished in part by strengthening health care providers’ consideration of nonmedical factors influencing the health of patients at high risk of pesticide illness – the conditions in which they are born, grow, work, live and age. 

Please see EPA’s Pesticides Health Care Initiative website for more information on this agreement, eligibility and how to apply.

Pesticide Safety Grants Technical Assistance

EPA is soliciting applications for a cooperative agreement of up to $1.47 million to provide technical assistance with grants administration and compliance for grantees of the Farmworker Training and Education Program for Pesticide Safety and Pesticides Health Care Initiative agreements described above.  This Grants Technical Assistance agreement will ensure that grantees have the support and resources necessary to manage EPA cooperative agreements. The grantee will also create resources to help organizations with the application process and preparing applications for pesticide worker safety cooperative agreements in the future. The technical assistance agreement will also be five years to align with the project periods for the agreements it will support.

Please see EPA’s Pesticides Grant Technical Assistance Program website for more information on this agreement, eligibility and how to apply.

For further information: Contact: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)