PBT Resources
This page is a clearinghouse of direct links to Web sites that contain useful resources on a variety of PBT topics.
- Related EPA Programs
- Partnership with Healthcare
- Meetings/Technical Symposia
- State Programs
- Articles
- PBT Contacts
Related EPA Programs
EPA's Mercury Site
This mercury site provides a broad range of information: actions by EPA and others, including international actions; effects on people and the environment; and how to protect you and your family.
Great Lakes National Program Office
US EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) brings together Federal,
state, tribal, local, and industry partners in an integrated, ecosystem
approach to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and
physical integrity of the Great Lakes.
The Virtual Elimination
Strategy
One of US EPA's approaches for addressing PBTs in the environment refers
to programs designed to "virtually eliminate" selected pollutants;
in other words, to prevent any new releases into the environment from
all pathways (land, air, and water) and to eliminate the use of these
target compounds wherever possible to minimize future release.
Great Lakes Binational Strategy
In keeping with the obligations of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement,
Canada and the United States on April 7, 1997, signed the "Great
Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy: Canada-United States Strategy for the
Virtual Elimination of Persistent Toxic Substances in the Great Lakes".
This Strategy seeks percentage reductions in targeted persistent toxic
substances so as to protect and ensure the health and integrity of the
Great Lakes ecosystem.
Binational
Toxics Strategy Mercury Workgroup
The Binational Toxics Strategy Mercury Workgroup web site contains information
about the workgroup (reports, meetings, partners, funding opportunities),
about the impact of mercury on human health and the environment,
the behavior of mercury in the environment, and, about reducing mercury,
whether through regulation or through sector-specific voluntary activites
Toxic Release Inventory
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), published by the US EPA, is a valuable
source of information about toxic chemicals that are being used, manufactured,
treated, transported, or released into the environment. Using this information,
citizens, businesses, and governments can work together to protect the
quality of their land, air, and water.
Waste Minimization
National Plan
To encourage waste minimization nationwide, the US EPA developed a Waste
Minimization National Plan. This initiative promotes a long-term national
effort to minimize the generation of hazardous chemicals in waste regulated
under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
National Listing of Fish Consumption
Advisories
In order to make the public aware of fish consumption advisories, the
US EPA has set up this site to act as a data base for advisories as well
as other resources including manuals on fish surveys and whether to eat
fish or not.
Partnerships/Commitments
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment is a private-public partnership sponsored by the American Hospital Association (AHA), American Nurses Association, Health Care Without Harm, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The goal of the program is to eliminate mercury from the health care waste stream by 2005 and reduce the total volume of all types of waste generated in hospitals and health systems by one third by 2005 and by half by 2010.
For more information on this program as well as other efforts to reduce the environmental impact of Hospitals.
Meetings/Technical Symposia
Conference explores opportunities
for "Breaking The Mercury Cycle"
A conference was jointly sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and
Development and the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association
(NEWMOA) on April 24-26, 2002 that explored the technical alternatives
for long-term mercury management and retirement. Papers and other documents
associated with that meeting may be accessed at www.newmoa.org/Newmoa/htdocs/prevention/mercury/breakingcycle/toc.cfm
PBT Monitoring Strategy Workshop
The PBT Program's Monitoring Workgroup is developing of a comprehensive
Strategy for Routine Monitoring of PBTs. On April 22-24, 2002 EPA and
several other organizations sponsored a very successful public Workshop
in Raleigh North Carolina. The purpose of the Workshop was to explore
with various governmental organizations and stakeholders how to build
upon existing monitoring capacity and infrastructure in order to support
mutual interests and needs for environmental data on PBTs. Presentations
in PowerPoint made at the Workshop are available for downloading. You
may also download a PowerPoint Viewer
if needed. Warning: Some of these are extremely large files.
Day One Presentations (PowerPoint files)
- Setting the Context (Murray) [5.9 MB]
- PBT Strategy (Foley) [53 KB]
- Individual Program Manager Perspective (Hulting) [144
KB]
- CEC Perspective (McKay) [182 KB]
- NOAA Presentation (Artz) [5.8 MB]
- NOAA (Hameedi) [1.5 MB]
- USGS Perspective (Gerould) [8.4 MB]
- CDC Presentation (Needham) [4.8 MB]
- Alaska Deposition (Chin) [510 KB]
Day Two Presentations (PowerPoint files)
- PBT MS Process (Watkins) [52 KB]
- Monitoring Program Inventory (Watkins) [198
KB]
- Draft Questions and Objectives (Hopkins-Ackerman) [114
KB]
- Hg Conceptual Model (Hulting) [443 KB]
- Dioxin Conceptual Model (Winters) [5.1
MB]
- PCB Conceptual Model (Hulting) [637 KB]
- PBT Analyses (Watkins) [48 KB]
- Monitoring and Modeling Analysis (Bortnick) [3.4
MB]
- PBT Monitoring Strategy Outline (Hulting) [50
KB]
- BFR Presentation (Devito) [608 KB]
- Role of Modeling (Cohen) [16 MB]
- GIS Mapping (Hearn) [27 MB]
State Programs
Mercury in Schools
The University of Wisconsin's Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center
(SHWEC), with a grant from the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office,
is implementing a Mercury in Schools Project to provide
school and agency staff with the information and tools needed to reduce
or eliminate mercury in schools.
Washington
State's Department of Ecology's Initiative on Bioaccumulative Chemicals
of Concern
The Washington State's Department of Ecology has a very well rounded web
site dealing with PBTs, including frequently asked questions, documents
and other PBT links in the Washington State's Department of Ecology. They
have also released for public comment their own PBT strategy which can
be viewed at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0003002.pdf.
Articles
- The Second Annual PBT Accomplishments Report
November 2001
The second Annual Edition of the EPA's Agency-wide Multimedia Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals program, 2000 Accomplishments Report is available online as a PDF document (1,700 KB)
The 2000 accomplishments report is organized around 4 primary goals:- preventing the introduction of new PBTs into the marketplace
- reducing risk to human health and the environment from exposure to priority PBTs already in the environment
- halting the transfer of PBTs among air, water and land
- assessing PBTs long-term effect on the environment.
- "New Pollution Reporting Rules Set," by Michael A. Fletcher,
Washington Post. A18. October 31, 1999.
- "PCBs Make Popular Orcas Prey to Menacing Diseases," by
M.L. Lyke, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter. October 25, 1999.
- "Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Substances: Tackling
the Problem," by Daniel J. Brown, Nexsen Pruet, Jacobs & Pollard,
LLP. Published in Environmental
Excellence in South Carolina [PDF] ,
a publication of the University of South Carolinas Institute of
Public Affairs. Summer 1999.
- "The PBT Story," by Ted Radzinski and Noah Borenstein, EPA
Region III. Published in Virginia DEQs Pollution Prevention Virginia.
Summer 1999.
- The Second Annual PBT Accomplishments Report
November 2001
The second Annual Edition of the EPA's Agency-wide Multimedia Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals program, 2000 Accomplishments Report is available online as a PDF document (1,700 KB)
The 2000 accomplishments report is organized around 4 primary goals:- preventing the introduction of new PBTs into the marketplace
- reducing risk to human health and the environment from exposure to priority PBTs already in the environment
- halting the transfer of PBTs among air, water and land
- assessing PBTs long-term effect on the environment.
- "New Pollution Reporting Rules Set," by Michael A. Fletcher,
Washington Post. A18. October 31, 1999.
- "PCBs Make Popular Orcas Prey to Menacing Diseases," by
M.L. Lyke, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter. October 25, 1999.
- "Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Substances: Tackling
the Problem," by Daniel J. Brown, Nexsen Pruet, Jacobs & Pollard,
LLP. Published in Environmental
Excellence in South Carolina [PDF] ,
a publication of the University of South Carolinas Institute of
Public Affairs. Summer 1999.
- "The PBT Story," by Ted Radzinski and Noah Borenstein, EPA
Region III. Published in Virginia DEQs Pollution Prevention Virginia.
Summer 1999.
PBT Contacts
If you have questions, comments, or ideas, please feel free to contact any of these people.
Tom Murray (202) 564-8829 murray.tom-hq@epa.gov |
Sam Sasnett (202) 564-8858 sasnett.sam@epa.gov |
Kathy Davey (202) 564-8832 davey.kathy@epa.gov |
In EPA Regions
Region |
States |
Regional contact |
---|---|---|
I | CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT |
Jeri Weiss (Mercury Issues) |
II | NJ, NY, PR, VI | Derval Thomas thomas.derval@epa.gov (212) 637-4028 |
III | DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV | Marie Holman holman.marie@epa.gov (215) 814-5463 |
IV | AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN | Dan Ahern ahern.dan@epa.gov (404) 562-9028 |
V | IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI | Dan Hopkins hopkins.dan@epa.gov (312) 886-5994 |
VI | AR, LA, NM, OK, TX | Ruben Casso casso.ruben@epa.gov (214)-665-6763 |
VII | IA, KS, MO, NE | John Helvig helvig.john@epa.gov (913) 551-7018 Gary Bertram |
VIII | CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY | Matt Langenfield langenfield.matt@epa.gov (303) 312-6284 |
IX | AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU | John Katz katz.john@epa.gov (415) 972-3283 |
X | AK, ID, OR, WA | Pat Springer springer.pat@epa.gov (206) 553-2858 |