Friday, October 15, 2021
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
EPA Awards Pando Alliance of Ellicott City, Maryland, 2021 Indoor airPLUS Leader Award
U.S. EPA News Release:
PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 12, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is honoring 15 residential construction industry leaders with the 12th annual Indoor airPLUS Leader Awards. This annual award recognizes market-leading organizations that offer enhanced indoor air quality protections by participating in EPA’s Indoor airPLUS program.
Pando Alliance of Ellicott City, Maryland, a provider of energy efficiency, green consulting, and verification services for multifamily housing, both in new construction and renovation, was a winner in the Rater category as a market leading verifier.
“EPA congratulates Pando Alliance and all the 2021 Indoor airPLUS Leaders and Leaders of the Year for their commitment to building and promoting healthier indoor environments,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Acting Regional Administrator Diana Esher. “A healthy home has never been more important, and with the help and hard work of market-leading homebuilders and verifiers, people can look for Indoor airPLUS certified homes to find improved indoor air quality, energy efficiency, comfort, durability, and peace of mind.”
Pando Alliance Projects in Baltimore, Maryland, include:
- New Shiloh Family Apartments
- City Arts 2
- Restoration Gardens 2
New Shiloh Family Apartments – Since 2018, New Shiloh Village Apartments offers a modern and affordable building for individuals, families, and people with disabilities. There are 73 spacious apartments including one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The community design is part of a master planned community on the campus of the New Shiloh Baptist Church. The facility is LEED (Leader in Energy and Environmental Design) certified and features a living roof that is covered with vegetation, which reduces storm water run-off, and Energy Star appliances.
City Arts 2 – This Energy Star and LEED certified apartment building features modern floor plans and many have a utility sink for artistic use. The building also has a large dance studio with a sprung floor, a fitness center, screening room and co-working artist space as well as a coffee shop. A new park in the community is also being built nearby. City Arts 2 is a part of the vision to rebuild east Baltimore, including the renovation of dozens of once-abandoned neighborhood buildings.
Restoration Gardens 2 – The Energy Star and LEED Silver certified housing community for homeless youth located in the Pen Lucy neighborhood of east Baltimore. Together with the Restoration Gardens 1 complex in west Baltimore, which opened in 2010, the facilities provide the only permanent housing for vulnerable youth between the ages of 18-24 in the state of Maryland. Restoration Gardens 2 opened in the fall of 2018 and provides private studio accommodations as well as spaces for workforce training, education, counseling, and other services to help residents become more stable and self-sufficient.
Restoration Gardens 2 is a recipient of the 2019 Housing Achievement Award for Best Small Affordable Housing Project, presented by Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND).
Pando Alliance takes a proactive approach to encourage projects to seek the Indoor airPLUS certification, recognizing the benefits of the program in conjunction with ENERGY STAR certification. They provided modeling scenarios and compliance pathways to project teams during schematic design, ensuring indoor air quality was a focus from the beginning. This was Pando Alliance’s first Indoor airPLUS Leader Award. In addition, Pando Alliance was also a 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Maryland.
Indoor airPLUS homes are healthier by design, improving indoor air quality (IAQ) and comfort, while also offering cost savings through energy efficiency improvements. Featuring comprehensive IAQ measures and practices, Indoor airPLUS labeled homes can help reduce the likelihood of common and serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, headaches and more. These design approaches include mold and moisture control; radon resistance; pest management; improved heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems; proper combustion venting; healthier building materials; and homeowner education.
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Sunday, October 10, 2021
Saturday, October 9, 2021
EPA Finalizes Plan to Clean Up Tutu Wellfield Superfund Site on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
U.S. EPA News Release:
EPA Finalizes Plan to Clean Up Tutu Wellfield Superfund Site on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Contact: John Senn, (212)-637-3662, senn.john@epa.gov
NEW YORK (October 8, 2021) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it has finalized its decision to expand on the original cleanup plan to improve groundwater treatment at the Tutu Wellfield Superfund site on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The final decision, in the form of a Record of Decision (ROD), includes modifications to the groundwater treatment system that is currently operating at the site and updates estimated costs associated with that expanded cleanup. Earlier industrial and commercial activities at the site resulted in contamination of the soil and groundwater with chlorinated volatile organic compounds, which can potentially harm human health. The Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Planning and Natural Resources concurs with the selected remedy.
“The groundwater cleanup we had required at Tutu was working, but this modified cleanup plan will require an enhanced system, which we determined was needed based on residential and site-wide well samples,” said acting Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan. “The new system will better protect people’s health and ensure that groundwater contamination is more effectively addressed.”
The 1.5 square-mile site is in the Anna’s Retreat section of St. Thomas. In response to past releases of hazardous substances from area businesses, EPA required parties that are liable for the cleanup to address contaminated soil on and groundwater flowing under their respective properties. EPA also took action to remove contaminated soil from and constructed a system to pump and treat groundwater at the Virgin Islands Department of Education Curriculum Center, which began operation in 2004. The U.S. Virgin Islands government is currently operating this system.
Today’s decision by EPA will add additional wells to extract more groundwater from other areas that have been determined to be sources of contamination and make the system more effective. The plan also includes reinjection of treated, clean groundwater to create an underground barrier that will reduce the spread of contaminated groundwater. In addition, the plan calls for long-term monitoring of the groundwater and restrictions on its use in the vicinity of the site.
On July 14, 2021, EPA re-released for public comment its proposed plan that laid out the enhancements to the groundwater treatment system that is currently operating at the site. EPA shared a presentation to inform the public of the agency’s preferred plan and to solicit public comments. This presentation was in addition to the August 2018 public meeting that EPA hosted regarding the first release of the proposed plan on August 8, 2018. The Record of Decision, released today, formalizes EPA’s selected remedy.
EPA’s Record of Decision will be available at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/tutu-wellfield
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2
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Sunday, October 3, 2021
Saturday, October 2, 2021
On Being Apolitical
"Some have said that it is not the business of private men to meddle with government--a bold and dishonest saying, which is fit to come from no mouth but that of a tyrant or a slave. To say that private men have nothing to do with government is to say that private men have nothing to do with their own happiness or misery; that people ought not to concern themselves whether they be naked or clothed, fed or starved, deceived or instructed, protected or destroyed."
~ Cato the Younger