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EnviroBytes, a Summary of Issues and Events for Week Ending February 27, 2009

EPA AWARDS $2 MILLION GRANT TO SECURE PHILADELPHIA’S DRINKING WATER SUPPLY FROM TERRORISM

On Feb. 23, EPA presented a $2 million grant to Philadelphia to prepare for any deliberate attempt to contaminate the city’s drinking water supply. The total funding available for this project could be as high as $9.5 million, depending on EPA's budget over the next three years. The pilot project, called the Water Security Initiative early warning system will become a model for the nation's drinking water utilities, and involves developing programs for drinking water monitoring, public health surveillance, laboratory analysis, enhanced security monitoring and consumer complaint surveillance, in coordination with other agencies. For more information about the EPA's Water Security Initiative, visit: http://cfpub.epa.gov/safewater/watersecurity/index.cfm.

INTERACTIVE MAP FACILITATES SEARCH FOR CLEANUP STATUS OF CORRECTIVE ACTION FACILITIES

The EPA mid-Atlantic regional office has developed a user-friendly interactive map facilitating searches on the status of regional hazardous waste RCRA Corrective Action facilities. EPA requires that RCRA corrective action facilities clean up contaminants that are being released or that were released in the past and provide this information to the public. The map enables users to perform geographical searches of the cleanup status of individual facilities and other information based on city, state, county or street address. The map may be viewed from the main facilities page (https://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/ca_facilities.htm) or at https://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/ca_sites/r3ca_sites.html

EPA GRANT WILL HELP EMMITSBURG’S SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM RUN MORE EFFICIENTLY

Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Md. was awarded an EPA $143,400 Clean Water grant for a combined sewer line repair and replacement project. The upgrade will reduce inflow/infiltration to the municipal wastewater collection and treatment facilities, expand the capacity for sewage conveyance, and reduce wet weather untreated sewage overflows to the Flat Run stream (a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay watershed). The project will improve public health and help the town remain in compliance with their wastewater treatment plant discharge limits during wet weather flows. The EPA grant will pay for 55 percent of the $260,728 eligible project costs. The balance will be financed by state and local funding.

EPA GRANT WILL IMPROVE THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM FOR A VIRGINIA NON-PROFIT

The Phoebe Needles Center, of Franklin County, Va., (an Episcopalian social services community center), was awarded an EPA Clean Water $120,500 grant to replace its drain field wastewater treatment system with a more efficient (fixed film recirculation) wastewater treatment system. The new system will reduce potential discharge of high nitrogen-containing wastewater to the groundwater. The EPA grant will pay for 55 percent of the $219,000 eligible project costs. The balance of the project costs will be financed with local funding.

SPRING 2009 QUARTERLY LAND REVITALIZATION UPDATE E-NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE

Articles in this Spring edition of the Land Revitalization Update include: PA receives $100 million for brownfields redevelopment under new Stimulus Package; Federal Brownfields Tax Incentive Extended through 2009; Repowering the Nation's Contaminated Sites and Abandoned Mine Lands With Renewable Energy; Pennsylvania Mountainside Reclaimed as World Class Nature Park; A Watershed Approach to Reclaiming Appalachia’s Coal Mines, and much more. The Update is distributed via e-mail to stakeholders interested in the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties in the Mid-Atlantic Region. To view the Spring 2009 newsletter and previous editions, please visit https://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bf-lr/lr_newsletters.html.

EPA- SPONSORED CHILDREN’S K-8 POSTER CONTEST PROMOTES SUN SAFETY

EPA’s SunWise Program is sponsoring a K-8 children’s poster contest. SunWise is an environmental and health education program teaching children and adults how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun which can lead to skin cancer, immune system suppression, cataracts and other types of eye damage. Students can submit hand-drawn posters by April 13. Entries should be original, creative, show ways to prevent skin cancer and raise sun safety awareness. Winning posters will receive state and national prizes, and the top national winner will receive a family trip to Disney World and a WeatherBug tracking station for his/her school. For more information about SunWise, the 2009 poster contest, and an entry form, go to https://www.epa.gov/sunwise/ and http://www.shadefoundation.org/poster-contest.php

EPA REPORT CITES GROWING APPRECIATION FOR SMART GROWTH AND PROPERTY REDEVELOPMENT IN CONSTRUCTION TRENDS

EPA has released a new report, “Residential Construction Trends in America’s Metropolitan Regions,” which examines building trends in the 50 largest metropolitan areas from 1990 to 2007. The report shows that while a majority of new residential construction takes place on previously undeveloped land at the urban fringe, more than half of the larger metro regions have seen a sharp increase in residential building in urban core areas. This trend reflects growing appreciation for smart growth development that reuses already developed property and infrastructure in line with environmental principles that protect air and water quality, and preserves natural lands and critical environmental areas. For more information on the report, go to https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/construction_trends.htm

BAYER CROPSCIENCE TO PAY PENALTY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLATIONS

The EPA announced on Feb. 27 that Bayer CropScience will pay a $112,500 penalty and spend more than $900,000 for environmental projects to settle a wide range of environmental violations at its chemical plant in Institute, W.Va. The violations stem from a series of EPA inspections in 2001, when the facility was owned by Aventis CropScience. The agreement requires Bayer CropScience to upgrade its wastewater treatment facilities to improve monitoring and reduce pollution discharges. The environmental improvement projects under the settlement require Bayer CropScience to donate equipment and funding to the Kanawha Valley Emergency Preparedness Center and three local fire departments to support training and emergency response.

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