Region 2

May 29, 2014

EPA Working to Help Children in Puerto Rico Breathe Free

Administrator, Air, asthma, Asthma Awareness Month, Puerto Rico, Region 2 2 Comments

May is Asthma Awareness Month and I took the opportunity to spend part of the month traveling to several cities where asthma is a problem to raise awareness about this serious childhood illness and the importance of asthma intervention and education.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, I visited the St. Jorge Children’s Hospital and met asthmatic children, their parents and doctors and health professionals who are working to better understand the illness and ways to reduce its incidence. They spoke from experience about the often devastating effects of the illness on people’s lives – family concern and disruption, increased medical expenses and lost days of school and work. More

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Apr 9, 2014

Lights, Cameras, Action on Climate

earth day, Region 2 0 Comments

With the release of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the evidence continues to mount that the planet is getting warmer and the time to act is now. Everywhere people are asking what they can do to fight climate change. April 22 is Earth Day and it’s the perfect time for all of us to act on climate.

There are a lot of things that people can do in their daily lives to fight climate change. We can promote clean energy, take public transportation, drive fuel efficient cars and reduce our use of energy. But one of the most simple and effective things we can do is to recycle. More

Jan 31, 2014

The Greenest Super Bowl Ever?

broncos, giants, Judith Enck, metlife stadium, New York, NFL, Region 2, seahawks, super bowl 1 Comment

Everything about the Super Bowl is big – the athletes, the media coverage, the prices for hotels. It’s also a big opportunity to help the environment by using as little energy as possible. The NFL and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey have seized the opportunity by making this the greenest Super Bowl ever.

MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Jets and the New York Giants – and host to this year’s Super Bowl – is a model of green design. It is the most energy-efficient football stadium in the US, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

And EPA has been involved from the very beginning. While the stadium was being built, EPA signed a memorandum of understanding with the stadium’s owner outlining a plan to build and operate the new stadium as a green building.

The Super Bowl wouldn’t be the Super Bowl without food, and the NFL and MetLife Stadium are making sure that leftover food doesn’t go to waste. The NFL plans to donate unused food to local soup kitchens, shelters and churches, which will feed the hungry while keeping food waste from being shipped to landfills and incinerators.

Oct 29, 2013

A Look Back at EPA’s work in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

Administrator, Climate Action Plan, Gina McCarthy, hurricane sandy, hurricane sandy rebuilding taskforce, New Jersey, President Obama, Region 2, Sayreville, Wastewater 1 Comment

Among the communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy exactly a year ago today was Sayreville, New Jersey and its wastewater pumping station. As the super storm pounded the East Coast, untreated sewage from a pump station for the Sayreville station began flowing into the Raritan River and Bay system – a source of drinking water for many in the area.

In order to stop the toxic flow, two highly-trained EPA contractors were called in to install a six thousand pound gate under water. They performed extremely dangerous dives into 25 feet of raw sewage in a confined space with no visibility and hazardous debris.

They succeeded in installing the gate, which accelerated the restart of the Sayreville Pump station and prevented the discharge of hundreds of millions of gallons of more raw sewage into local waters. This critical work is just one example of countless EPA efforts rising to the occasion during one of nation’s most destructive natural disasters.

Aug 9, 2013

Small Business Innovation is Mushrooming

Ecovative, Judith Enck, mycelium, New York, Pacific Garbage Patch, polystyrene foam, Region 2, Small Business Innovation Research, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, styrene, waste 1 Comment

Sometimes I worry that one of the enduring manmade wonders of our time will be the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. You know the Garbage Patch – the huge concentration of marine debris (mostly plastics) floating in the Pacific Ocean. It may still be there centuries from now. I wonder if a thousand years from now, tourists will visit the Garbage Patch the way we do the Roman Coliseum or the Pyramids. They’ll take pictures and stand there with their mouths agape wondering “how could they let this happen?”

Personally, I’m hopeful we can reduce the “greatness” of the garbage patch – and solve many of our other waste disposal problems – by reducing packaging or at least making it more sustainable.

Wine packaging made from mushroom mycelium by Ecovative Design