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 12^th 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.

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

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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U.S. EPA Publishes 2019 Annual Toxics Release Inventory Report

 From U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

U.S. EPA Publishes 2019 Annual Toxics Release Inventory Report

Pacific Southwest data show 3 percent increase in chemical releases

SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 2019 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which shows that EPA and companies that manage chemicals continue to make progress in preventing pollution. The report shows that between 2018 and 2019 total releases of TRI chemicals decreased by 9 percent.

In the Pacific Southwest, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawai’i and the outer Pacific Island territories, the metal mining sector accounted for 78 percent of the TRI-reported chemical releases for 2019. After metal mining, the primary metals (including smelting), hazardous waste management, and petroleum sectors reported the highest releases. The total quantity of TRI chemicals managed as waste by facilities in Region 9 during 2019 increased by 3 percent from 2018, driven by increased production-related waste managed in the electrical equipment and metal mining sectors. For 2019, 6 percent of facilities in the Pacific Southwest Region reported implementing new source reduction activities. Source reduction reporting rates were among the highest in the electrical equipment sector, in which 22 percent of facilities reported at least one source reduction activity.                                                                                               

“The Toxic Release Inventory provides people throughout the Pacific Southwest with information about potential hazards in their communities,” said John Busterud, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “The inventory also provides valuable data on chemical releases from specific facilities and communities over time.”

EPA provides additional information on the TRI website to help explain the data reported by the metal mining sector. Along with informational tools and resources, the website features an interactive graphic—which was developed with input from stakeholders—explaining how metal mines operate, and generally how and where releases of TRI-listed chemicals happen. For the State of Nevada, 95% of all TRI releases in the state are due to the metal mining industry.

“The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection implements state laws and regulations that subject all operating Nevada mines to rigorous permitting, monitoring, and inspection to protect water quality and public health,” said Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Administrator Greg Lovato. “It is well understood that the TRI data alone do not indicate whether the environment or the public is actually exposed to any of the listed chemicals. Safe management practices are required and enforced for the engineering design, permitting and construction of ore and waste rock facilities to ensure strong protection of Nevada’s air, water and land.”

Nationwide, for the first time in five years industrial and federal facilities reported an increase in new source reduction activities that aim to reduce or eliminate chemical-containing waste. During 2019, facilities across the U.S. also avoided releasing into the environment 89 percent of the chemical-containing waste they created and managed by using preferred practices such as recycling, treatment, and energy recovery.

The 2019 TRI National Analysis released reflects TRI chemical waste management activities, including releases, that occurred during calendar year 2019. The report therefore does not indicate any potential impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency that began in the United States in early 2020. Due to the significant analysis of reported information, this summary and interpretation of the most recent TRI data is released approximately six months after the reporting deadline.

Background

Thanks to the passage of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 which helped create EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory program, Americans now have greater awareness of how chemicals are being managed in their communities. Today, nearly 22,000 facilities report annually on the use and quantities of more than 760 chemicals they release to the environment or otherwise manage as waste to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. EPA, states, and tribes receive TRI data from facilities in industry sectors such as manufacturing, mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste management. The Pollution Prevention Act also requires facilities to submit information on pollution prevention and other waste management activities of TRI chemicals.

To access the 2019 TRI National Analysis, including local data and analyses, visit www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis.

Information on facility efforts to reduce TRI chemical releases is available at www.epa.gov/tri/p2.

Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

New York's City Harvest Wins U.S. Food Waste Challenge Competition

From USDA:

Posted by Elise Golan, USDA Director for Sustainable Development, on January 7, 2015 at 9:00 AM

City Harvest rescues excess food using a fleet of 19 refrigerated trucks, three cargo bikes, over 150 full-time employees, and more than 8,000 volunteers. In fiscal year 2015, they will collect 50 million pounds of food, greater than the total amount of food collected in its first 14 years combined. Seventy-five percent of this total will be comprised of nutrient dense foods, including fresh produce, meat and dairy. Photo courtesy of City Harvest.

Beginning in August, food banks across the country competed to see who could sign up the most food donors to the U.S. Food Waste Challenge.  From among the 200 food banks in the Feeding America network, the champion is City Harvest in New York City, which won by signing up 114 donors to the Challenge.  City Harvest will have a private meeting with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and will be awarded six suite tickets to attend either an NBA or NHL game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.  The tickets were donated by Monumental Sports and Entertainment (MSE), owner of the Washington Capitals, Mystics, Wizards, and Verizon Center.  Since 2011, MSE has recovered and donated 7,377 pounds of wholesome unsold food from its events to D.C. Central Kitchen, which translates to approximately 5,600 meals.

“We appreciate City Harvest’s longstanding commitment to food rescue and congratulate them for signing up the most food donors to the U.S. Food Waste Challenge,” said Secretary Vilsack.  “The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste. Organizations like City Harvest get this food to people who need it while reducing the amount of food that ends up in our country’s landfills.”

Thanks to food banks and food rescue organizations and their donors, Feeding America estimates that 2.2 billion pounds of food or 1.9 billion meals were recovered from businesses throughout the food supply chain from farms to grocery stores in 2013-2014.  The donors that helped City Harvest win the competition by signing up for the U.S. Food Waste Challenge included a local bakery, a supermarket, a catering service and a restaurant chain.  City Harvest’s diverse food donors show that many businesses and organizations can have a role in reducing food waste and hunger by recovering and donating unsold, wholesome food from their operations.  Other donors to food banks also include farms, food manufacturers, food distributors, cafeterias, sports stadiums, hotels and schools, so the competing food banks had a lot of potential supporters in this friendly competition.

The U.S. Food Waste Challenge was launched in June 2013 by the USDA and the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) to inspire schools, businesses, non-profits, and local governments to join efforts to reduce, recover, and recycle food waste.  Together, the participants of the challenge are raising awareness and building momentum for a food waste reduction movement in the U.S.  Much like food bank donors, participants to the U.S. Food Waste Challenge come from all over and include elementary schools to baseball teams to movie production companies to grocery stores.

To join the U.S. Food Waste Challenge and be part of the movement, please visit: www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/join.htm.  It takes less than 5 minutes to join and share your story.

Feeding America is able to recover a substantial amount of wholesome food from farm to retailer, but they estimate that there are still 22 billion more pounds that could be recovered from the retail level.