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Public Meetings on Reassessment of PCB Use Authorizations
EPA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to potential reassessment of PCB use authorization under the Toxic Substance Control Act. Public comments are due on July 6; EPA will also be holding public meetings. Learn more here…
EPA Proposes Adding 16 Chemicals to the TRI Chemical List
On April 6, 2010, EPA took another important step toward providing communities with additional information about toxic chemicals being released to the environment.
EPA is Providing Communities with Additional Information about the Release of Hydrogen Sulfide into the Environment
The Agency is announcing that it is considering lifting the 1994 Administrative Stay of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements for hydrogen sulfide. EPA is now presenting its rationale for why the Stay should be lifted, based on an updated evaluation that includes new information on human health and environmental effects of hydrogen sulfide. Learn more here...
There are currently two venues (TRI Explorer & Envirofacts) that allow communities to access pollutant info. Now, another is being introduced (TRI.net). My suggestion is to streamline these query sources into one. Why the need for three?...this seems to be excessive and could be confusing to the general public. Remember the K.I.S.S. principle...there are two universal community needs: polluter identity and the amount of toxics released.
The Obama administration's "push" to get things done is admirable; however, we must not lose sight of the fact that good scientific practices and acceptable applied scientific knowledge must not be forgotten in the process. For example, is 60 days and 10 samples (in response to the USAToday study) enough information to draw logical conclusions over the ambient air concentrations community schools are experiencing? What kind of defensible health values and conclusions can be drawn from such a limited database? Expeditious methods (i.e., "quick-fix") appease the public and look good in the eyes of the press, but sound scientific approaches "carry the day".
Sorry...wrong day...see day 2
Sorry...wrong day...see day 2
The 2009 TRI National Conference was a success.Thank you to ECOS & EPA for planning a great conference.This was my third year in attendance and each year gets better.Without the scholarships many states would not have been able to attend.
All sessions were informative and generated lively discussions, and beneficial to all who attended.
As a follow up to Day 4 STATE/EPA discussion - meeting every other year for the National Conference may be a good idea in order to reduce cost and to allow other critical items to be addressed. In the off year each region could meet with their states to address issues and promote discussion, and consider possible topics for future conferences. These meeting could also be set up in a web cast format.
It would be great if EPA could use the website to help network researchers. Many of us are in contact, but not all. A central location hosted by EPA might help.
Also, keep inviting researchers to this training event -- we have things to learn and things to teach too.
Excellent conference. I really liked that most of the sessions were plenary--nice balance of gov't and NGO presenters. The food and location was great.
Just FYI. Maybe put it in the "Other Resources" category?
Make sure to reserve similar domain names like chemicalrighttoknow in .org, .com, and .net flavors.
Moving beyond just collecting and distributing the data, EPA needs to begin selecting goals for improvement. These should bold, difficult goals that are worth pusuing even thought they will be challenging. The enourmous benefits that await us at the achievement will be a strong motivating factor to spur involvement by all stakeholders.
The process of setting goals should be done as collaboratively as possible involving states, community groups, environmentalists, industry and others. Honest discussion of drivers and barriers is an important component to ensuring that while the goals we set may be bold they are still achievable.
This is a really great analysis, We should update it and do more.
good job!