The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a user-friendly document to help risk assessors understand how children are exposed to pollution. The document, titled “Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook,” serves as a quick-reference guide to the more comprehensive “Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook,” published by EPA in 2008. It will serve as an additional resource for those who work on children’s health issues, which the agency has been highlighting during Children’s Health Month.
EPA developed the reference guide to provide important information necessary for answering questions about exposure through drinking water, breathing, and eating foods, such as:
· How much exposure to environmental pollutants might children get if they live or play near contaminated sites?
· How much dirt from a child’s hands might s/he inadvertently eat?
· How much of a child’s exposure to various pollutants might come from skin contact?
· Which age groups (childhood life stages) may inhale or ingest the most and thus may be at higher risks?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
For the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership announced the 20 primary and secondary schools nationwide using the most power from renewable energy sources. The top Green Power Partner schools are buying nearly 113 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) that would be produced from the electricity use of 11,000 American homes for one year.
The five schools using the greenest power are:
1. Austin Independent School District (Austin, Texas)
2. Round Rock Independent School District (Round Rock, Texas)
3. Rochester City School District (Rochester, N.Y.)
4. Bullis School (Potomac, Md.)
5. The Dalton School (New York, N.Y.)
Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydropower. Green power electricity generates less pollution than conventional power and produces no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,100 organizations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. Overall, EPA Green Power Partners are buying more than 17 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the CO2 emissions from electricity use of nearly 1.7 million American homes annually.
More information on the entire top 20 list of k-12 schools
Information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee starts the debate over climate legislation this week with three hearings on legislation that would curb U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions:
10/27/09 Full Committee hearing entitled, “Legislative Hearing on S. 1733, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
10/28/09 Full Committee hearing entitled, “Legislative Hearing on S. 1733, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act
10/29/09 Full Committee hearing entitled, “Legislative Hearing on S. 1733, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The proposal would limit air emissions from ships in the United States' exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from its coasts. This includes the 133 American and Canadian "Lakers" that spend their whole lives in the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence Seaway and the smaller "Salties" that go between foreign and Great Lakes ports.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing regulation to force vessels to burn cleaner fuel and upgrade their engines. Emissions from these ships are the only mode of transportation not under new federal air pollution regulations. These emission have been linked to increased levels of heart and lung disease, particularly in Great Lakes states. EPA estimates the proposal will produce more health benefits than those it has applied to off-road vehicles, diesel trucks and other sources. Without further regulation by 2030, the agency projects that smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions f