| Every year in May, EPA marks Asthma Awareness Month to raise national awareness of asthma and to highlight leading programs across the |
|
| This email was sent to iswanto.denny.awil@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: EPA Indoor Environments Division ·1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW · Washington, DC 20460 |  |
Issued: May 1, 2024 (11:15am EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so here: https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20300&unsub=1&hide_page_content=1
WASHINGTON – Today, May 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced two communities will receive technical assistance through the Energy Communities Technical Assistance Pilot program. EPA and recipient communities will work together to develop implementable action plans that promote environmental and economic revitalization as part of their energy sector transformation.
"The Inflation Reduction Act provides historic incentives to increase the supply of low-carbon and renewable energy generation for the national electric grid, and many energy communities can benefit from this complementary support to plan for and develop diversified economies," said Vicki Arroyo, EPA Associate Administrator for Policy. "Our Energy Communities pilot is delivering assistance to communities to help make their vision a reality."
Since 2021, EPA's Office of Policy has played a leading role in the implementation of work conducted by the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization in coal-impacted communities, supporting Rapid Response Teams in six regions of the country.
The technical assistance will enhance community planning capacity to respond to urgent needs related to the energy transition, including leveraging private sector and philanthropic funding assistance, cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned power plant and mining areas, expanding community economic revitalization opportunities, together with workforce transition, and improving overall quality of life. The project will help communities develop the necessary planning to:
As part of the technical assistance, EPA staff will support projects in two communities, including convening federal, state, regional and local partners, and provide contractor support, for two-day in-person workshops. After holding two workshops and having conversations with all the Rapid Response Teams, EPA will develop a playbook for use by any energy community during transition planning and implementation. The playbook will identify initial steps that communities can take to plan their energy sector transition and economic diversification to create a more resilient and robust local economy.
Recipients of the Energy Communities Technical Assistance Pilot
Webster County, KY will use the Energy Communities Pilot to empower its community to identify and leverage resources and partnerships to encourage new and diverse economic opportunities. Webster County is still experiencing the economic effects of its last mine closure in 2019 and is home to extensive abandoned mine land which the community would like to see rehabilitated and put to alternative uses.
"Our community has taken several strides toward revitalization and through the Energy Communities Pilot, we're hoping to take steps toward giving current residents and future generations reason to stay in Webster County and have choices for a thriving economic future," said Steve Henry, Webster County Judge Executive.
The Hopi Tribe had an economy centered around coal-related operations but the closure of the Navajo Generating Station in 2019 led to significant job and revenue loss. The Hopi Utilities Corporation was chartered by the Hopi Tribal Council in 2017 to address energy and water issues on the Reservation. The community intends to use the Energy Communities Pilot process to focus on key projects in alignment with its goals of enhancing energy sovereignty and improving energy access and reliability.
"We are rewriting Hopi Tribe's energy story," said Timothy Nuvangyaoma, Hopi Tribal Chairman. "The technical assistance resources provided by the program will help the Hopi Utilities Corporation engage our community and partners in workshops to make progress on leveraging the Tribe's strengthened internal capacity, workforce and modern infrastructure to spark economic development and environmental and energy security."
To unsubscribe or change your settings click here:
https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=subscribe&code=3pHK2bGF-3m8d5YBg_b_gsy5XabG8Q39JA
Issued: May 1, 2024 (9:05am EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so here: https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20300&unsub=1&hide_page_content=1
WASHINGTON – Every year in May, EPA marks Asthma Awareness Month to raise national awareness of asthma and to highlight leading programs across the nation that serve as models for delivering outstanding improvements in asthma care and quality of life for people with asthma.
"Growing up with respiratory challenges in North Carolina, I know all too well the struggle that millions of Americans suffer daily. Asthma is a public health issue, an economic issue, and an environmental issue that impacts the entire country, especially low-income and minority communities," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. "That's why EPA is taking action to slash harmful pollution and raise awareness of the tools available for communities to manage asthma, control symptoms, and improve health."
Asthma is a major public health issue that affects more than 25 million Americans, including four million children, and disproportionately affects certain racial and ethnic groups. The estimated economic impact of asthma is more than $80 billion per year from direct and indirect costs, such as missed school and workdays.
Fortunately, there are steps people can take as part of a comprehensive approach to manage their asthma, control symptoms, and improve health. These include following a personalized action plan to help manage asthma and avoiding triggers that can exacerbate symptoms.
EPA is taking action to reduce the pollution that causes asthma attacks while more communities, with EPA support, deploy approaches to improve the lives of people with asthma, especially in minority and low-income communities.
People can control asthma symptoms and improve health with three straightforward strategies:
During Asthma Awareness Month, EPA recognizes leading asthma management programs for their in-home interventions through the National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management. The 2024 winner is the Maine Asthma Prevention and Control Program.
Maine's program provides leadership and coordination for asthma care and service delivery statewide. One of MAPC's initiatives is the In-Home Asthma Education Program, an innovative, home-based asthma program for adults, children and caregivers who, despite adequate medical management, have asthma that was not well controlled. The program connects those most in need with environmental asthma remediation tools and community resources through health educators who are highly attuned to the disparities that exist in asthma management.
EPA works year-round to promote understanding of asthma triggers, as a part of comprehensive asthma management, through research, education and outreach. With support from EPA, more communities are deploying approaches to improve the lives of people with asthma, especially in minority and low-income communities. A focus of EPA's work to reduce the scope of asthma is addressing the Indoor Environmental Determinants of Health. IEDOH are modifiable environmental factors indoors — such as household air pollution, the presence of pests, mold and moisture, chemicals and irritants — that influence risk and experience of chronic diseases, like asthma.
In addition to EPA's work in raising asthma awareness, EPA is taking action to reduce the pollution that causes asthma attacks. In recent months, EPA has finalized strengthened pollution standards for cars, trucks, and power plants — as well as stronger air quality standards for particulate matter — that once fully implemented, are anticipated to prevent tens of thousands of cases of asthma each year and avoid millions of lost days of school and work due to asthma symptoms.
With funding from President Biden's Investing in America Agenda, EPA is also working to improve the lives of millions of Americans by reducing pollution in neighborhoods where people live, work, play, and go to school. EPA is providing billions of dollars through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to help schools and communities purchase clean school buses and clean heavy-duty vehicles that will reduce the air pollution from older diesel engines that is linked to asthma. Phasing out these older diesel engines, which disproportionally affect communities of color and Tribal communities, will ensure cleaner air for students and communities near these transportation routes. In addition, projects developed under the Inflation Reduction Act's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program are expected to fund projects that will provide even more clean-air benefits.
Throughout May, EPA will release content on social media and its asthma website to provide additional tips and guidance to improve well-being.
To unsubscribe or change your settings click here:
https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=subscribe&code=DE6JGjH7LnmUd0gBjGQ0E-h_btOPcuRCyA
Issued: Apr 30, 2024 (3:15pm EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so here: https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20300&unsub=1&hide_page_content=1
WASHINGTON – Today, April 30, 2024, the White House issued a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) to secure and enhance the resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure. The NSM will replace a decade-old presidential policy document on critical infrastructure protection and launch a comprehensive effort to protect U.S. infrastructure against all threats and hazards, current and future.
"Cybersecurity and climate change threats pose serious risks to the drinking water and wastewater services that people in this country rely on every day, and recent cyber attacks on water systems underscore the urgency of increased and coordinated action to protect public health and the environment," said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. "The Biden-Harris Administration is leading a comprehensive effort to secure our nation's critical infrastructure against all threats, and the efforts outlined in the new National Security Memorandum are vital to ensuring that EPA and other federal entities are taking the necessary steps to safeguard public health and our economy."
The NSM will help ensure U.S. critical infrastructure can provide the nation a strong and innovative economy, protect American families, and enhance our collective resilience to disasters before they happen – strengthening the nation for generations to come. This NSM specifically clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the lead federal agencies identified to improve the resilience of our critical infrastructure sectors against all hazards. EPA is the official sector risk management agency with respect to the water sector. The NSM also implements a coordinated national approach to assess and manage sector-specific risks.
Thanks to the President's Investing in America agenda, as well as the emergence of new technologies, America has a historic opportunity to build for the future. Good investments require taking steps to manage risk, and for our water infrastructure, that means building in resilience to all hazards upfront and by-design. Through the President's Investing in America agenda, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced nearly $50 billion to modernize the nation's water infrastructure. These resources, including more than $23 billion in drinking water and clean water State Revolving Funds, can be used to support a broad range of approaches to build resilience to all hazards, including climate resilience and cybersecurity threats.
The nation faces an era of strategic competition where state actors will continue to target American critical infrastructure – and tolerate or enable malicious activity conducted by non-state actors. In the event of crisis or conflict, America's adversaries may attempt to compromise our critical infrastructure to undermine the will of the American public and impede the projection of U.S. military power abroad. Resilience, particularly for our most sensitive assets and systems, is the cornerstone of homeland defense and security.
Further, the growing impact of climate change, including changes to the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, as well as supply chain shocks and the potential for instability, conflict, or mass displacement, places strain on the infrastructure that Americans depend upon to live and do business.
2023 National Intelligence Strategy
EPA Cybersecurity for the Water Sector
To unsubscribe or change your settings click here:
https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=subscribe&code=e8hrZ6zh4nmSd9wBiHAuFNVhtyopGY0jGw
Issued: Apr 30, 2024 (9:00am EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so here: https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20300&unsub=1&hide_page_content=1
WASHINGTON – Today, April 30, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a ban on most uses of methylene chloride, a dangerous chemical known to cause liver cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer, cancer of the blood, and cancer of the central nervous system, as well as neurotoxicity, liver harm and even death. Ending most uses of methylene chloride will save lives and complements President Biden's Cancer Moonshot, a whole-of-government initiative to end cancer as we know it.
EPA's final action, also known as a risk management rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), will protect people from health risks while allowing key uses to continue safely with a robust new worker protection program. This is the second risk management rule to be finalized using the process created by the 2016 TSCA amendments.
"Exposure to methylene chloride has devastated families across this country for too long, including some who saw loved ones go to work and never come home," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. "EPA's final action brings an end to unsafe methylene chloride practices and implements the strongest worker protections possible for the few remaining industrial uses, ensuring no one in this country is put in harm's way by this dangerous chemical."
"The USW applauds EPA's final rule banning certain uses of methylene chloride and lowering allowable workplace exposure levels. More than 100,000 workers die from occupational disease each year, including those sickened by harmful chemical exposures. Our union fought for the updated Toxic Substances Control Act so that we could ensure that worker exposures to harmful substances like methylene chloride are appropriately assessed and regulated at harmful levels. Now, thanks to the current administration, workers are safer and better protected," said David McCall, International President, United Steelworkers.
"Today's announcement to ban most commercial uses of the toxic chemical methylene chloride in paint strippers is a significant step to protect more workers from this deadly chemical," said Sarah Vogel, Senior Vice President for Healthy Communities at Environmental Defense Fund. "We are honored to stand beside the Hartley family, who has bravely shared their story to encourage this long overdue action that will save lives."
Methylene chloride is used by consumers for aerosol degreasing and paint and coating brush cleaners, in commercial applications such as adhesives and sealants, and in industrial settings for making other chemicals. For example, methylene chloride is used in the production of more climate-friendly refrigerant chemicals.
"My son, Kevin, died in 2017 from methylene chloride exposure from refinishing a bathtub at work. I am pleased that the EPA is finally taking action and banning methylene chloride as a commercial bathtub stripper. This is a huge step that will protect vulnerable workers," said Wendy Hartley, mother of Kevin Hartley, who died from methylene chloride poisoning.
Since 1980, at least 88 people have died from acute exposure to methylene chloride, largely workers engaged in bathtub refinishing or other paint stripping, even, in some cases, while fully trained and equipped with personal protective equipment. While EPA banned one consumer use of methylene chloride in 2019, use of the chemical has remained widespread and continues to pose significant and sometimes fatal danger to workers. EPA's final risk management rule requires companies to rapidly phase down manufacturing, processing and distribution of methylene chloride for all consumer uses and most industrial and commercial uses, including its use in home renovations. Consumer use will be phased out within a year, and most industrial and commercial uses will be prohibited within two years.
EPA's methylene chloride rulemaking also establishes landmark worker protections under the nation's premier chemical safety law. For a handful of highly industrialized uses, EPA has created a Workplace Chemical Protection Program. This workplace chemical protection program has strict exposure limits, monitoring requirements, and worker training and notification requirements that will protect workers from cancer and other adverse health effects caused by methylene chloride exposure.
Uses that will continue under the Workplace Chemical Protection Program are highly industrialized and important to national security and the economy. These are uses for which EPA received data and other information that shows workplace safety measures to fully address the unreasonable risk could be achieved. These uses include:
Additionally, specific uses of methylene chloride required by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Federal Aviation Administration will also continue with strict workplace controls because sufficient reductions in exposure are possible in these highly sophisticated environments, minimizing risks to workers.
For uses of methylene chloride continuing under the Workplace Chemical Protection Program, most workplaces will have 18 months after the finalization of the risk management rule to comply with the program and would be required to periodically monitor their workplace to ensure that workers are not being exposed to levels of methylene chloride that would lead to an unreasonable risk. In consideration of public comments on the proposal, EPA extended the compliance timeframe to give workplaces ample time to put worker protections in place. EPA also revised several other aspects from the proposal including ensuring the Workplace Chemical Protection Program applies to the same uses whether they are federal or commercial uses, establishing a de minimis concentration, and provisions to strengthen and clarify aspects of the Workplace Chemical Protection Program such as monitoring requirements.
EPA will also host a public webinar to explain what is in the final rule and how it will be implemented. The agency will announce the date and time in the coming weeks.
For more information, please read the Risk Management for Methylene Chloride page.
To unsubscribe or change your settings click here:
https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=subscribe&code=23v7GquptnmTd0cBi_vxF27hD3ZzYyWgDg
| Read the full announcement online. |
|
| This email was sent to iswanto.denny.awil@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: EPA Indoor Environments Division ·1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW · Washington, DC 20460 | |
Issued: Apr 26, 2024 (11:05am EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so here: https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20300&unsub=1&hide_page_content=1
WASHINGTON – Today, April 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is wrapping up Earth Week by highlighting the work the agency is doing to prevent plastic pollution.
"Plastic waste is growing and so is the impact it has on public health and the environment," said Cliff Villa, EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. "This Earth Week, I challenge everyone to do their part to reduce plastic waste to protect our health and ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy a safe and healthy planet."
Together, everyone can prevent plastic waste from entering the environment by reducing the waste they generate, reusing or recycling plastic products, and picking up littered materials. EPA strongly supports an innovative, equitable and circular approach to preventing plastic pollution from harming human health and the environment, particularly in already overburdened communities.
The agency's Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, together with the National Recycling Strategy, identifies actions that governments, businesses, industry, and nonprofits in the U.S. can take to:
Recently, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided the largest EPA investment in recycling in 30 years, supporting improvements to waste management systems and programs. Just this past year in September, EPA selected 25 communities to receive grants totaling more than $73 million under the newly created Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling funding opportunity. In addition, EPA made available about $32 million for states and territories to improve solid waste management planning, data collection and implementation of plans.
In November, the agency announced 59 selectees to receive over $60 million in SWIFR grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia and 25 selectees to receive over $33 million in Recycling Education and Outreach grants. These grants will expand recycling infrastructure and education for waste management systems across the country. EPA also created a Model Recycling Program Toolkit to help communities increase participation in recycling programs and reduce contamination in the recycling stream.
Everyday ways to combat plastic pollution
Additional Information on Plastic Waste
Plastic is one of the most prevalent materials in daily life—most people don't go a single day without encountering plastic. And while it's a valuable resource that can be put to so many uses (and reuses), it's also a key contributor to pollution. EPA's estimates show that plastic waste generation in the United States increased from 0.4% of total municipal solid waste generated in 1960 to 12.2% in 2018. Plastic waste that does not make it into the U.S. waste management system often ends up in the environment as plastic pollution.
Plastic pollution is particularly concerning because plastic materials do not fully biodegrade in the environment. Land-based sources account for up to 80% of plastic waste that pollutes waterways and oceans. Plastic pollution has been found in a wide range of organisms and habitats, including coral reefs, estuaries, beaches, and the deep sea. Since plastic material does not decompose, it accumulates in landfills and in the environment. Plastic products also contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions throughout their life cycles, with most of these emissions coming from the production and conversion of fossil fuels into new plastic products. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that in 2019, plastic products were responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions throughout their life cycles, with 90% of these emissions coming from the production and conversion of fossil fuels into new plastic products.
To unsubscribe or change your settings click here:
https://epa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=subscribe&code=DdMGg4e3qnkmd6oB2JHoITOPg7ZVfNkeBQ
Copyright © 2010 BLOGNYA INYONG | BERITA HARIAN | TIPS KEREN | GADGET REVIEWS
Theme Código Geek 2.0, Designed by Bahia Studio
Blogger Templates by Blog and Web
