EPA’s New England

Mar 1, 2016

Celebrate New England’s National Parks

In Your Backyard, Land, Local Community, national parks, outdoor activities, sustainability, urban escapes, water, What you can do 0 Comments

By Gina Snyder

This is a year of anniversaries for the Boston Harbor and Islands. Twenty-five years ago the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority announced that no more sludge would be dumped into the harbor. After over 100 years of discharges to the harbor, this was a real milestone and it opened the way for the Boston Harbor Islands to become a unit of the National Park System 20 years ago. And just a decade ago, Spectacle Island, reclaimed from a former landfill, was opened for visitors.

While the first National Park was created on March 1^st, 1872, it wasn’t until 100 years ago this year that we had a National Park Service. What better way to celebrate the first National Park and the 100^th anniversary of the Park Service than for New Englanders to visit the island jewels in Boston Harbor and celebrate the environmental milestones at the same time? Ferries run in summer to some of the 34 islands in the park, including Spectacle Island and George’s Island (www.nps.gov/boha).

Visiting our National Parks is a great way to enjoy nature. As of this year, Massachusetts has sixteen National Park locations (www.nps.gov/ma) among twenty-seven national parks plus several national historic sites and scenic trails in all of New England. Ranging from small historic sites to a 2,180-mile long public footpath known as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that runs from Maine to Georgia, these parks give you a variety of choices for celebrating the centennial.

If it’s a small historic site you want, why not head to JFK’s birthplace in Brookline or Washington’s headquarters at the Longfellow House in Cambridge. And if it’s a wilderness hike in nature, check out one or all 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail as it runs through the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains, through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont each have one National Park – Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont. Maine and Rhode Island each have two sites. In Maine – well-known Acadia National Park and Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, home of the earliest French presence in North America. And in Rhode Island, Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence and Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport.

Celebrating our national parks lets us get outside to enjoy the environment. Here in the Boston area, it’s an advantage that you can get to many of our nearby parks by public transit. The three right in Boston are easily accessible: Besides the Harbor Islands, Boston’s National Historic Park is at Faneuil Hall (www.nps.gov/bost) and the Boston African American National Historic Site and meeting house is centered on the north slope of Beacon Hill (www.nps.gov/boaf).

In this year of centennial celebration for the National Park Service you are invited to get out and find your park, ( www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/findyourpark.htm) but with the success of the Boston Harbor clean up, you can get out and find your island.

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About the author: Gina Snyder works in the Office of Environmental Stewardship, Compliance Assistance at EPA New England and serves on her town’s climate committee.

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Feb 18, 2016

I Walk the Beach in Winter

climate change, coastal ecosystems, In Your Backyard, Local Community, water 1 Comment

By Phil Colarusso

Empty, cold, windy, the beach in the winter. I walk down a deserted shore with the waves rumbling next to me. Little evidence of life except for a stray gull or a few eider ducks diving just beyond the surf zone. The wind whips sand particles stinging as they hit my face. Walking into the wind takes some effort.

Geographically, this is a beach I visit often, but it is a very different beach than the one I walked on in the late fall. Winter storms, wind and waves have continued with their eternal reshaping of the landscape. Large sections of sand dunes have eroded in one of the winter storms. The constant wind redistributes clouds of sand along exposed sections of beach. Sand grains collect in clam shells, behind clumps of dune grass or debris, any place that allows relief from the vigorous wind.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen nature’s reshuffling of this beach dozens and dozens of times. As I stroll along the shore, I contemplate the fate of a grain of sand. How many times does a single grain of sand get moved in its life span? How far does it travel in its lifetime? I envision the grain of sand being blown down the beach by the wind and moving in and out on a wave or with the tide. The one constant for a sand grain is motion. The one constant for most beaches is change. With climate change triggering sea level rise and more intense storms, this current rate of change will also change.

It’s time to turn back and as I retrace my steps from the way I came; the wind is now at my back. With the wind at my back, nature doesn’t seem quite as violent. The waves coming ashore don’t look as big. A gull floats effortlessly above me on the wind exerting no effort at all, appearing at peace. The deeper message seems pretty clear, we need to work with nature not against it. Are we as a society, sand grains being blown around haphazardly by the wind or are we the sea gull who can adapt and use that same wind to our advantage? In the distance, three wind turbines are visible on the horizon.

About the author: Phil Colarusso is a marine biologist in the Coastal and Ocean Protection Section of EPA’s New England office, and is an avid diver

Feb 9, 2016

When It Rains, It Molds

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By Marcia Anderson

When I went home recently to visit my family in Maine I noticed mold spots on the ceiling in multiple rooms. Roof and water damage from New England’s snowy winter caused the mold. So I called Mark Berry, EPA’s Region 6 Indoor Air Quality Coordinator in Dallas. He assured me mold in Maine is much like mold in Maryland or Midland, Texas. I learned a lot from Mark.

Mold is a moisture issue: People think mold is a hazardous material. Most people do not realize that mold and mold spores are all around us. Molds live in the soil, on plants, and on dead or decaying matter. Outdoors, molds play a key role in the breakdown of leaves and wood. Molds produce tiny spores to reproduce, just as some plants produce seeds. These mold spores can be found in both indoor and outdoor air, and settled on indoor and outdoor surfaces. Mold spores begin growing when they land on a damp spot, so it is important not to provide the moist environment mold needs to grow. To solve the problem, you have to find the source of the moisture first. If you removing the mold and the water remains, new mold will grow in the same area.
Use detergent and water to clean up mold: Using bleach or some other harsh chemical cleaners can create a breathing hazard. If you use disinfectants or biocides, follow the directions, ventilate the area and exhaust air to the outdoors. Never mix chlorine bleach solution with other cleaning solutions that contain ammonia because toxic fumes could be produced.
Don’t just paint over mold: Mold can grow between the paint and the wall. The paint merely acts as a temporary cover-up. The paint traps moisture, furthering the growth of mold.
EPA gets the most mold calls from landlords and tenants in dispute: EPA attempts to educate callers, and to make suggestions for removing the mold. Callers need to consider the problem as a water issue and address the cause of the mold infestation rather than the symptom.
There is more mold in the southern states, kind of: EPA gets more mold inquiries in humid areas because the mold continually gets fed more moisture which allows it to flourish. However, mold can grow everywhere and can exist in a broad range of temperatures and humidity levels. Although moisture is necessary for growth, there are molds that prefer drier environments and need much less water to survive. EPA does not clean the mold, but we do help people figure out how to solve the problem. We recognize the health danger to schools, homes and places of work.

“I’ve got mold problems can you do something to help me?” is the question Mark hears most. EPA Region 6’s Indoor Air Quality program is a program primarily responsible for educating the public about indoor environmental issues, including health risks and the means by which human exposures can be reduced. The program educates the public about indoor environmental pollutants and sources of pollution, including mold. However, EPA does not have any regulatory authority to control mold in private residences nor do we have the resources to inspect individual homes.

In most cases, if you can see mold, you don’t have to do any test. And remember that mold and mold spores are natural in the environment, so no matter where you live, sampling will result in finding mold.

My family ended up putting in a new section of metal roofing to address moisture entering the building. Some other damaged areas were replaced. The entire building is now sealed tightly creating a warm and dry environment, just in time for this season’s snow and ice.

For more information on controlling mold and moisture, visit www.epa.gov/mold

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Marcia Anderson, who has a doctorate in environmental management, works with EPA’s headquarters on issues related to pest management in schools. She formerly worked in pesticides for EPA Region 2 and has a home in Lyman, Maine.

Feb 2, 2016

New England Communities Addressing Climate Change

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By Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator

Over the past several years I have witnessed New England communities grapple with challenges that are likely indicators of our changing climate. The sea is creeping into parking lots at high tide in low-lying Rhode Island. The Cape Cod National Seashore rebuilds access to beaches as the sea eats away dunes that have loomed for centuries. After Tropical Storm Irene, we saw Vermont communities helping each other and their state recover from the damage.

As more and more communities deal with rising sea levels, increased coastal erosion, seasonal changes, more intense and frequent storms, flooding, heat waves, public health threats, and threats to native species, I am often asked “What advice does EPA have? Who has already begun addressing these problems?”

I’m proud that our office has just launched an online resource to further help New England communities navigate how to respond to climate change. This resource, called RAINE (it stands for “Resilience and Adaptation in New England,”) is full of links, documents and information on how more than 100 New England communities are taking action to adapt to climate change.

When a town in Southern New England faces flooding, it can check the database and find guidance from Vermont’s experience after Tropical Storm Irene. When a beach community wants to find out how it can provide economic incentives to homeowners to provide extra protection for flooding they can look to Hull, Massachusetts. Hull provides a rebate on building department fees for homeowners who increase their building height above the base flood elevation. Users can see how communities are working with local businesses to adapt, such as in Misquamicut Beach Rhode Island, where businesses that were swept away by Superstorm Sandy are now rebuilding so they can get out of the way if another storm surge threatens them.

Becoming more “resilient” takes effort and forethought. Our communities need leaders who guide us to make investments today that will help us be more resilient tomorrow. The bottom line is, resilience is about people taking action to prepare wisely for the future. The RAINE database helps communities share what they have learned about adjusting to our changing climate, so that other communities can gain from their experience.

On the heels of the Paris climate agreement, with more than 190 countries coming together to reduce emissions in order to lessen the impacts of climate change, our RAINE database is further evidence that what is global is also local. New England communities are leading the way, learning from each other, connecting, and working together to address the impacts we are facing. I may be biased, but it seems to me that New England communities are often leaders when it comes to protecting and living sustainably in our environment.

With RAINE, each community isn’t on their own to reinvent the wheel. We welcome New England’s community leaders to use the RAINE database to learn what others are doing, and we invite you to share your experiences with other local decision makers. We can learn from each other as we tackle the challenges of a changing climate.

RAINE website http://www.epa.gov/raine

About the author: Curt Spalding is the Regional Administrator of EPA’s New England office, located in Boston.

Dec 2, 2015

Lungs of the Sea

Around the Water Cooler, coastal ecosystems, environment, water, Water Quality 1 Comment

As a diver and marine biologist for EPA, I spend a fair amount of time underwater. My area of expertise is in the study and conservation of seagrass. These underwater meadows can cover vast swaths of the seafloor and they serve as important nurseries for many fish and shellfish species.

Recently, I had the great fortune of taking a family trip to France and spending some time along the southern coast. It was my first visit to the Mediterranean Sea and I was looking forward to exploring the underwater realm. We stopped in the small town of Cassis, which reminded us of Gloucester, Mass. Cassis has its own fisherman’s statue. It does not have a greasy pole to climb like Gloucester, but it does have its own unique tradition. Local fishermen mount planks on the back of two dories. Boys of about 10 years old are lifted up onto the planks wearing pads on their chests and are given lances. The boats then drive directly at each other and the boys joust until one or both fall into the water.

The local culture was interesting, but Cassis is also known for “les calanques.” Calanques are inlets surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs; they also are known as mini-fjords. Within these inlets, seagrass flourishes in the clean, calm protected waters. The French refer to seagrass as “les poumons de la mer,” which translates to the lungs of the sea. Like all plants, seagrasses produce oxygen through photosynthesis. On sunny days, it is common to see bubbles of oxygen being released from the leaves of seagrass into the water.

In Cassis, protecting seagrass is taken very seriously with a variety of rules. Boaters are not allowed to anchor or place a mooring in seagrass meadows. Boaters are required to stay in the marked navigation channels and when in shallow water reduce their speed so no wakes are produced. In our three days in Cassis, we watched many boats come and go, and not one of them broke the rules.

I approached one of the local fishermen and with my limited French asked him about the local seagrass meadows. He spoke little English. I spied a shoot of seagrass floating near his boat. He scooped it up and held it close to his heart and said “les poumons de la mer.”

We didn’t speak the same language, but our common love of the ocean easily transcended the language barrier.

More information on EPA Seagrass research: http://www2.epa.gov/sciencematters/epa-science-matters-newsletter-how-deep-are-seagrasses

Connect with EPA New England on Facebook: facebook.com/EPARegion1

Connect with EPA Divers on Facebook: facebook.com/EPADivers

About the author: Phil Colarusso is a marine biologist in the Coastal and Ocean Protection Section of EPA’s New England office, and is an avid diver.

Nov 19, 2015

Carpet Beetles in Kindergarten

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By Marcia Anderson

A few weeks after summer recess, some preschool and kindergarten students came into their school nurse’s office with red welts on their legs. The bites were large, itchy, and had a burning sensation. The problem escalated until a few students from different classrooms, had over 20 red welts on their legs. Some students seemed to be bitten daily, while others in the same classrooms had no bites at all. The students began to recover on long weekends, but got worse when they came back to school. This continued for two months.

Mosquitoes, lice, fleas, spiders, bed bugs? The usual culprits were eliminated one-by-one. The nurse reported the problem and a pest management professional (PMP) was deployed to investigate. The PMP suspected carpet beetles instead of bed bugs due to the fact that some children were being bitten while others were not. Some people are allergic to carpet beetles and some are not; however, almost everyone has some sensitivity to bedbugs. Upon inspection the PMP found carpet beetles but no bedbugs.

Carpet beetles are similar to bedbugs in that they are tiny, hard to find, and most active in the wee hours of the morning. The difference is that bedbugs bite, but carpet beetles do not. Carpet beetles eat natural fibers, like wool blankets and feathers, and naturally occur in most homes.

Through further investigation the nurse discovered that the reading areas in all six affected classrooms had their carpets replaced over the summer with new carpets made from mostly natural fibers.

When children walk or move around on the carpet, especially on dry days, there may be a build-up of static electricity that causes the fine hairs cast off the carpet beetle larvae to pass though all but the finest of weaves of clothes. In these classrooms, it appears that static caused the carpet beetle hairs to impale themselves in the surface of the children’s skin, thus creating small pin prick wounds that looked similar to insect bites. Carpet beetles cause a medical condition where the piercing of the skin causes a reaction, either as a result of the insertion of a foreign object (the hairs) into the skin or as a reaction to pollution that enters the open wound.

The most commonly found form of carpet beetle is the larvae, which are often termed wooly bears. They are small hairy caterpillars, the skins of which can often be found in dark places. Perhaps they originated from the enclosed, dark conditions in the warehouse where the carpets were stored.

The good news is that no chemical treatment was necessary as it was not the live insects causing the allergic reaction but their prickly little hairs. The solution was to make sure all the allergens (the hairs) were removed from the carpets. The school had the carpets vacuumed with a HEPA vacuum then steam cleaned. The problem was solved.

Read a 2012 story on carpet beetles.

Sep 24, 2015

Preventing Pollution Begins at Home

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By Roy Crystal
Pollution Prevention Coordinator
EPA New England

Do you remember this first picture of the whole Earth seen from space – a beautiful round ball covered with oceans and clouds? Our home. The image of this fragile blue ball inspires us to want to take better care of the planet that we live on.

I work in EPA New England’s Assistance and Pollution Prevention Office. I was recently named the region’s pollution prevention coordinator. I am enthusiastic and excited to take on this new challenge. This blog is the first of a series of communications I hope to write on what we are doing here at EPA to prevent pollution – and what you can do at home or at work.

Did you know that this week, September 21 to 25, is Pollution Prevention Week? This year we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the passage of the landmark Pollution Prevention Act which states “it to be the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible.” Under this law, EPA has awarded grants to many states, institutions, and businesses to carry out actions that prevent pollution. Our state partners have trained many businesses to change their practices to prevent pollution. For example, some auto body shops have switched from solvent-based to water-based paints, and some dry cleaners have eliminated the use of perchloroethylene and switched to wet cleaning. Many other businesses have reduced their use of water and toxic chemicals. Our office here in Boston administers these grants around New England; we also implement a wide range of other activities to prevent pollution, working closely with our states, interstate organizations such as the Northeast Waste Management Organization (NEWMOA), businesses, and communities. The opportunity to work collaboratively with all of these partners is what makes my new role so meaningful to me.

For more information on Pollution Prevention Week and what you can do, go to http://www2.epa.gov/p2week.

So – what can we do to protect the fragile blue marble we call home? Here are some ideas:

• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – find ways to use fewer toxic materials and conserve resources,
• Look for Safer Choice products in stores and through distributors,
• Look for products with the Energy Star,
• Use water efficiently – get helpful hints from our Water Sense program,
• Soak Up the Rain that falls on your yards to prevent pollution generated from dog waste and fertilizers from running into your local rivers and streams, and
• Take steps to sustainably manage your food.

If you have thoughts to share with me on how we can work together to prevent pollution, feel free to leave a comment.

Yours for a greener Earth –

Roy

Jul 20, 2015

Home Energy Audits are Easy and Worth Your Time

Air, Air Pollution, air quality, climate change, energy, energy star, Green Solutions, sustainability, sustainable living, What you can do 1 Comment

By Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator

I had a great visit recently with a couple of eager young energy consultants sent by my electric utility, and I’m feeling rather good about the results. I learned that all in all, my 2,500-square-foot colonial home is reasonably energy efficient. And I learned that I can invest just $1,000 to make improvements that will more than pay me back in three years.

Since EPA New England is encouraging residents across the region to take advantage of home energy audits, I asked my utility, National Grid, to audit my house. I wanted to find out first-hand what happens in these audits, which, by the way, are often offered for free.

Even though I am the regional administrator at EPA’s New England office, my experience was pretty much what any homeowner could expect – if you ignore the two suited, but very polite executives that trailed me and the consulting engineers eagerly checking on everything from my boiler, insulation and wiring to my refrigerators, stoves and windows.

The entire visit was actually quite fun, but then, I love this kind of stuff. And in just two to three hours I found out that the areas where I thought I was doing well with energy efficiency were not always that great. I learned that my 93-year-old four-bedroom colonial could use a bit more insulation, and that it hosts an attic fan that turns on when it shouldn’t. I was also surprised to hear that the high-priced, energy-efficient air conditioner I so proudly purchased was installed wrong. The installers hadn’t connected the duct work correctly, so I’ve been cooling a 100-degree attic, in addition to our living space.

If I correct these issues, about 60 percent of the $2,500 cost of improvements will be paid for by tax credits and government subsidies, leaving me with just a $1,000 bill. Oh and, they also gave us 10 free LED light bulbs to replace less efficient ones.

Subsidies and programs already in place in New England put us ahead of the curve of national policy. The US Clean Power Plan, which EPA expects to finalize this summer, will require all states to draft a plan to help cut carbon pollution from the power sector by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. EPA suggests states look at using less fossil fuel, using fossil fuel more efficiently, cutting back on demand and increasing the use of low emission, no–emission or renewable resources. Every state can tailor its own best plan based on their needs.

Each state has its own incentives, and many provide free audits. EPA also offers the ENERGY STAR Home Advisor, an online tool to help consumers save money and improve their homes’ energy efficiency through recommended home-improvement projects. Simple actions, like upgrading a bathroom showerhead, can save thousands of gallons of water a year, which translate to lower water and energy bills.

I asked for a utility audit because I wanted to take part in a program EPA encourages. I wanted to see what is was like to have a home energy audit. It was so satisfying I felt compelled to wander over to neighbors, utility folks trailing behind me, and share with them the lessons I had learned from my audit. I know the improvements I make may only be a tiny difference in the nation’s emissions, but if each of us makes a few recommended changes, it quickly adds up to a big deal.

Apr 7, 2014

A Different Way to Connect

environmental issues, New England Beacon, social media 0 Comments

By Curt Spalding

The calendar finally tells us that spring is coming and a long, cold winter is ending. With this welcome season of change and growth, we at EPA New England are excited to offer a new way for you to stay in touch with our office and get the latest updates on our work: our brand-new regional Facebook page.

We’re looking forward to finding new, creative, and interesting ways to broaden our environmental dialogue with our neighbors in New England, as well as with other citizens interested in how EPA works for a cleaner and healthier environment in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

While we’ve had a successful regional Twitter account for several years now, and we regularly discuss New England issues on the EPA blog, we’re only now joining “Facebook Nation” as a way to have a less formal discussion on New England environmental issues. Social media provides interesting and effective new ways for us to stay in touch with you, and vice-versa. We hope we can better explain EPA’s work to you: the citizens, who rely on our good work for clean water, good air quality, and healthful land. We’re interested in talking with you, not talking at you.

New England is home to intelligent people who care deeply about their environment. How could it not be so, when you consider our beautiful landscapes, ranging from the towering sand dunes on Cape Cod to the rocky coast of Maine, from the Berkshires to the Green and White Mountains, and everything from pastoral towns to major cities.

We hope you will check out both the EPA New England Facebook page and Twitter account. Let us know what you think, and please feel free to “Like” or “Follow” if you want to keep up to date on our work or view the latest terrific photo taken by one of our folks in the field.

About the author: Curt Spalding is the Regional Administrator of EPA’s New England office, located in Boston.

Feb 3, 2014

Don’t Trash Your Old Clothes

New England Beacon, recycling, Reduce Reuse Recycle, Region 1, Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association, SMART, textiles, waste 7 Comments

Each Monday we write about the New England environment and way of life seen through our local perspective. Previous posts

By Gina Snyder

The public schools in my town now host smart new boxes that collect unwanted clothing and textiles for recycling. Not only do these boxes look really sharp, they actually are “SMART” – they are from Baystate Textiles, a member of the “Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association.”

I’ve seen clothing collection boxes before, but this new program will accept almost any fabric (even things like handbags, shoes, and stuffed animals). Stained, torn or ragged, as long as a textile is clean and dry, they’ll take it.

With 25.5 billion pounds of useable textiles thrown away each year (70 pounds per American), there is a lot of waste that can be prevented. Contrary to popular belief, donations in any condition are welcomed by both for-profit and non-profit textile collectors.

You can even donate items with stains, rips, missing buttons or broken zippers because textiles are a valuable commodity. Items that don’t sell in a thrift store are baled and sold to brokers or graders who sell to other markets. This income helps thrift stores support their mission.

The boxes at my town’s schools provide work for local companies, which turn about 30% of the donated textiles into industrial wiping cloths. A Massachusetts company cuts used clothing and other textiles into rags and sells them to commercial garages and public works operations. The remaining 20 percent is sent to fiber converters -another local textile recycler – where textiles are broken down into their basic fiber components to be re-manufactured into insulation for autos and homes, carpet padding, or sound-proofing materials.

Reusing textiles uses less energy and less water than any competitive products made from newly produced paper or textiles, according to SMART. You may even have used wipes made from recycled fabric in your home or for your car (for example, soft lint-free wipes or super absorbent rags). By recycling my old or unwanted fabrics, I can help my town save trash disposal costs, help generate revenue for the schools and have a positive impact on the environment.

When cleaning out your closets, donate your textiles rather than throwing them away!

More EPA info on textile waste and recylcling

More EPA information on Trash and Recycling

About the author: Gina Snyder works in the Office of Environmental Stewardship, Compliance Assistance at EPA New England and serves on her town’s climate committee.

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