This page provides access to a listing of some of the recent additions and new materials made available on the EPA Web site within the past six weeks.

May 7, 2009

• Exposure Framework Document Provides Foundation for Addressing NERL's Research Mission and Advances Field of Exposure Science - A Conceptual Framework for the U.S. EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory provides a foundation for addressing NERL's research mission and its scientific leadership goals (National Exposure Research Laboratory).

• Notice of the release of the IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane - EPA's IRIS Program is announcing a public comment period to review the draft document titled, 'Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (External Review Draft)' (Integrated Risk Information System program).

• Publication: IRIS Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol (External Review Draft) - EPA announces the release of the draft document, Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol, for public review and comment (National Center for Environmental Assessment).

• Audio Version of "Watershed Central: A New Gateway to Watershed Information" Webcast is Now Available - EPA recently posted a new Web site called "Watershed Central, a "one-stop" tool, help watershed organizations and others find key resources to protect their local watershed. Watershed Central helps users find environmental data, watershed models, local organizations, and guidance documents -- and other information depending on the task at hand. It also contains links to watershed technical resources and funding, mapping applications to help find information specific to named watersheds, and includes a “Watershed Wiki” that watershed practitioners may use to collaborate (Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds).

May 6, 2009

• "Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In" Video Available with Spanish Sub-titles - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Botanic Garden produced this 9-minute on-line video, “Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In,” that highlights green techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs and rain barrels to help manage stormwater runoff (Nonpoint Source Control Branch).

• EPA announces proposed rule on expanded Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) - The revised statutory requirements establish new specific volume standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that must be used in transportation fuel each year.  The revised statutory requirements also include new definitions and criteria for both renewable fuels and the feedstocks used to produce them, including new greenhouse gas emission (GHG) thresholds for renewable fuels.  The regulatory requirements for RFS will apply to domestic and foreign producers and importers of renewable fuel (Office of Transportation and Air Quality).

• 2010 Integrated Report Guidance Available (PDF) - Information to assist in the preparation of the 2010 Integrated Water Quality Reports. An 11 pp, 122K Adobe Acrobat PDF document from the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds.

May 5, 2009

• Antimicrobial Products Registered for Use Against the H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and Other Influenza A Viruses on Hard Surfaces - The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are currently tracking an H1N1 flu outbreak that has caused infections in humans in the United States, Mexico, Canada and other countries. Information on this Web page will help you identify antimicrobial products that are registered by EPA to disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces that may be contaminated with the 2009-H1N1 flu (Office of Pesticide Programs).

• New from the Office of Inspector General:

  • EPA Does Not Provide Oversight of Radon Testing Accuracy and Reliability (PDF) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that about 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States are related to indoor exposure to radon. The only way to know whether indoor radon levels are elevated is to test the indoor air. The purpose of this evaluation was to determine how EPA ensures that radon testing devices and radon laboratories provide accurate and reliable data on indoor radon levels. A 20 pp, 238K Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

  • EPA’s Unliquidated Obligations for Grants (PDF) - Information regarding outstanding unliquidated obligations for EPA. An 11 pp, 522K Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

• Updated Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCP) literature references - A listing of literature references to Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the environment (National Exposure Research Laboratory).

April 30, 2009

• New from the Office of Inspector General:

  • Statement of Melissa Heist, Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure U.S. House of Representatives (PDF) - The statement discusses some of the challenges facing EPA in implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) and the OIG’s plans to oversee EPA Recovery Act activities. An 8 pp, 65K Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

  • Report: EPA Can Improve Its Process for Establishing Peer Review Panels (PDF) - The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review in response to a request from the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator. We evaluated whether (1) current laws, regulations, guidance, and other relevant requirements for EPA expert peer review panels are adequate to produce objective scientific reviews; and (2) the current system of populating and managing such panels could be improved. A 22 pp, 264K Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

April 22, 2009

• New Cap and Trade Web site - Cap and trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing sources flexibility in how they comply. Successful cap and trade programs reward innovation, efficiency, and early action and provide strict environmental accountability without inhibiting economic growth (Clean Air Markets Division).

• Notice: EPA's Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference (Apr 27-30) - EPA is hosting the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference in West Chester, OH, April 27 - 30, 2009 with the theme "Toxicology and Risk Assessment from the Trenches." Registration (for the conference and hotel), directions and a draft agenda are now available (National Center for Environmental Assessment).

• Wanted: Environmental Fugitive - EPA has added Albania Deleon, former president of Massachusetts’ largest asbestos removal training school, to its fugitives Web site (Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance).

• Pick 5 for the Environment - Do more to protect the environment by choosing at least five actions you'll commit to. Pick 5 also helps you identify more actions you can take in the future.

April 17, 2009

• Publication: Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone - An Interim Report of the U.S. EPA Global Change Research Program (Final Report) - EPA is announcing the release of the final report, Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone An Interim Report of the U.S. EPA Global Change Research Program, prepared by the NCEA Global Change Research Program Staff. This report is intended for managers and scientists working on air quality to provide them with information on the potential effects of climate change on regional air quality in the United States (National Center for Environmental Assessment).

• NCEA Database: Physiological Parameters Database for PBPK Modeling (External Review Draft) - EPA is announcing a 30 day public comment period for the review of an ACCESS database file containing physiological parameter data intended to be suitable for application with PBPK modeling. EPA requests that interested users comment on the functionality or usability of this resource and provide comments that may be considered for improving the final product (Office of Research and Development).

• Update to 1986 Recreational Water Quality Criteria - EPA is conducting critical science and research in order to publish new or revised recreational water quality criteria by October 2012 in accordance with a Consent Decree and Settlement Agreement between EPA, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LA County). In August 2008, EPA and the plaintiffs reached a settlement on a suit filed in Federal District Court for the Central District of California against EPA regarding the requirements to meet statutory deadlines in the Clean Water Act, as amended by the BEACH Act, to conduct studies on pathogens and pathogen indicators in coastal recreational waters and publish water quality criteria recommendations based on those studies.

  The new or revised criteria recommendations would replace the criteria recommendations issued in 1986 (PDF) (24 pp., 155 K, About PDF) and could be used by States, Tribes and Territories in their adoption of new water quality standards (WQS) to protect people from illness associated with fecal contamination in water (Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water).

April 14, 2009

• Open Audit Recommendations Affecting Recovery Act Activities (PDF) - We reviewed open recommendations from prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit reports that could impact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act activities. These recommendations involved grants, contracts, and interagency agreements. A 9 pp, 119K Adobe Acrobat PDF document from the Office of Inspector General.

• Publication: Estimation of Biota Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) from Paired Observations of Chemical Concentrations in Biota and Sediment (Final Report) - EPA's Ecological Risk Assessment Support Center (ERASC) has released the final report entitled, Estimation of Biota Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) from Paired Observations of Chemical Concentrations in Biota and Sediment. BSAF is a parameter describing bioaccumulation of sediment-associated organic compounds or metals into tissues of ecological receptors. The report provides information on methodologies to estimate BSAF for nonionic organic chemicals (National Center for Environmental Assessment).

April 9, 2009

• Webcasts on Financial Responsibility Instruments for Geologic Sequestration (GS) Wells announced - EPA will hold a series of webcasts to discuss potential financial responsibility mechanisms for GS wells. During the webinars EPA hopes to learn from States, Regions, and Stakeholders’ experience with these mechanisms.  Each session will present background on available instruments to assure that adequate resources are available for corrective action, plugging, post-injection site care and site closure, and emergency and remedial response at GS sites. The sessions will also include a discussion of special considerations for meeting the unique needs for GS wells (Office of Ground Water & Drinking Water).

• Visit EPA's new Healthy Watersheds Web area - This Web site provides information on Healthy Watersheds (Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds).

April 6, 2009

• An updated Summary for Nitrobenzene and accompanying Toxicological Review (PDF) (250 pp, 3.8 Mb, About PDF) have been added to the IRIS Web site (Integrated Risk Information System).

• Publication: Considerations for Developing a Dosimetry-Based Cumulative Risk Assessment Approach for Mixtures of Environmental Contaminants (Final Report) - EPA is annoucing the availability of the final report, Considerations for Developing a Dosimetry-Based Cumulative Risk Assessment Approach for Mixtures of Environmental Contaminants. This report describes a process that can be used to determine the potential value of developing physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to support a cumulative risk assessment (National Center for Environmental Assessment).

April 2, 2009

• Results of Hotline Complaint Review for California Superfund Site (PDF) - The Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a Hotline complaint that alleged mismanagement and abuse of authority regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9’s management of specific activities at the CTS Printex Superfund Site in Mountain View, California. A 25 pp, 284K Adobe Acrobat PDF document from the Office of Inspector General.

• The United States takes key step towards dramatically reducing air pollution from ships with Emission Control Area proposal - One component of EPA’s coordinated strategy for addressing emissions from oceangoing vessels is the designation of an Emission Control Area (ECA).  The United States submitted a joint proposal with Canada to the IMO on March 27, 2009, to designate specific areas of our coastal waters as an ECA.  By 2020, an ECA designation with tough geographic-based emissions standards that apply to large ships would prevent between 3,700 and 8,300 premature deaths annually, and avoid approximately 3.4 million instances of respiratory ailments, such as asthma (Office of Transportation and Air Quality).

March 26, 2009

• Lack of Project Plan Resulted in Transition and Contractor Performance Problems for the Institutional Controls Tracking System (PDF) - We performed this review in response to an anonymous hotline complaint alleging mismanagement of the Institutional Controls Tracking System (ICTS) project being developed by the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI). A 13 pp, 133K Adobe Acrobat PDF document from the Office of Inspector General.

• Environmental Justice Small Grants Awarded - On March 24, 2009, EPA announced $800,000 in grants across the country for improving the environment in communities facing environmental justice issues (Office of Environmental Justice).

 

Pesticide reregistration chemical Web page for Fluoroacetate (compound 1080) has been updated FeedEnd title -->