Presentation for 2015 Massachusetts Sustainable Communities and Campuses Conference

1. Environmental Health
Improvements in
Communities
Making
a
Visible
Difference
in
Communi5es
MA
Sustainable
Communi1es
and
Campuses
Conference:
The
Pursuit
of
Sustainable
Living
April
16,2015

2. EPA’s Themes-Meeting the Challenge
Ahead
• Making
a
Visible
Difference
in
Communi5es
across
the
Country
• Addressing
Climate
Change
and
Improving
Air
Quality
• Taking
Ac1on
on
Toxics
and
Chemical
Safety
• Protec1ng
Water
• Launching
a
New
Era
of
State,
Tribal
and
Local
Partnerships
• EPA
as
a
High
Performance
Organiza1on
• Working
Towards
a
Sustainable
Future
Administrator
Gina
McCarthy

3. Making a Visible Difference in
Communities across the Country
• EPA
must
work
each
and
every
day-­‐hand-­‐in-­‐hand
with
other
federal
agencies,
states,
tribes
and
local
communi5es
–to
improve
the
health
of
American
families
and
protect
the
environment
one
community
at
a
5me,
all
across
the
country.
We
must
expand
the
work
we
do
to
enhance
the
livability
and
economic
vitality
of
neighborhoods
in
and
around
brownfields
sites;
strengthen
our
rela1onship
with
America’s
agricultural
community;
support
green
infrastructure
to
manage
urban
waters;
reduce
air
pollu1on
along
roadways,
railways
and
at
ports;
and
take
into
considera5on
the
impacts
of
our
decisions
on
environmental
jus5ce
communi5es
through
increased
analysis,
beUer
science,
and
enhanced
community
engagement
to
ensure
the
protec1on
of
basic
fundamental
rights.

4. Place Matters in Environmental Health
EPA Wants to make a Visible Difference
• Rank
34th
in
world
for
Life
Expectancy:
USA-­‐79
yrs
vs
Japan-­‐84
yrs
• Disparity
within
USA
:
zipcode
predicts
life
expectancy
• Using
DC
subway
line-­‐
9
yr
difference
in
life
expectancy:
Downtown
DC-­‐
72yr.
out
to
Chevy
Chase-­‐
81.3yrs.
12
miles
and
9+
yrs
difference
Causes
of
mortality
vary
as
well
• No
community
wants
to
be
known
for
being
unhealthy
hotspot:
Asthma,
respiratory
diseases,
birth
defects
and
mortality,
cardiac
diseases,
cancers,
autoimmune
diseases

5. What
Works:
Community-­‐based,
Community-­‐
driven
Programs
created
to
build
local
partnerships
to
help
communi5es
understand
and
reduce
risks
from
all
sources
of
toxics.
Collabora1on
Bring
together
local
businesses,
residents
and
local
governments
in
a
collabora1ve
process
to
address
local
environmental
risks.
• Ranking
Helps
communi1es
gain
an
understanding
of
all
poten1al
sources
of
exposure
to
toxic
pollutants
in
order
to
address
environmental
problems
at
the
local
level.
• Assistance
Provides
communi1es
with
funding,
tools,
and
technical
assistance
for
implemen1ng
local
solu1ons
that
reduce
environmental
exposures

6. How
to
Work
with
Communi5es-­‐
Strategies
That
Work!
•
Support
and
educate
communi5es
•
Build
effec5ve
collabora5ons
•
Mobilize
local
resources
and
use
voluntary
programs
•
Build
long
term
community
capacity
Industrial
Economics
Inc.
“Community
KPI
2012”
survey

7. 7
How
EPA
Community
Ac5ons
for
a
Renewed
Environment
(CARE)
Worked
CARE
helps
communi1es
access
technical
support
and
build
capaci)ty)y
to
reduce
toxics
through
collabora1ve
ac1on
at
the
local
level.
CARE
helps
communi1es:
(1)
Join
together
in
partnerships
with
local
business,
government,
and
organiza1ons.
(2)
Develop
a
comprehensive
understanding
of
the
sources
of
environmental
pollutants
and
set
local
environmental
priori1es;
(3)
Carry
out
projects
to
reduce
risks
through
collabora1ve
ac1on
at
the
local
level,
and
(4)
Ensure
self-­‐sustaining
partnerships
and
capabili1es
so
that
it
leaves
behind
organized
stakeholder
groups
and
a
structure
to
con1nue
to
improve
human
health
and
the
local
environment.

8. County
Health
Rankings
&
Roadmaps
www.countyhealthrankings.or
g
A
Robert
Wood
Johnson
Founda1on
Program

9. § Free
services
(DfE
workplace
safety
training,
on-­‐
site
health
visits,
business
development
training)
in
exchange
for
par1cipa1on
in
program.
§ Prac1ce
changes:
switching
to
aqueous
brake
cleaner,
reducing
perchloroethylene-­‐containing
aerosols,
using
hydrophic
mop
technology,
oil
and
solvent
recycling,
waterborne
coa1ngs
to
eliminate
VOCs.
§ Reduced
outdoor
and
indoor
air
pollutants,
hazardous
waste,
improper
disposal;
90-­‐100%
proper
use
of
best
work
prac1ces
in
175
shops
fully
inspected
and
trained
§ 702
workers
trained,
428
shops
inspected
§ Na5onal
Implica5ons:
Model
project
for
EPA
Na5onal
Collision
Repair
Campaign
to
meet
CAA
rules
faster;
grantee
helped
design
EPA
campaign.
Boston,
MA
-­‐-­‐Releases
and
Waste
from
Auto
Body
Shops
Reduced
• Con1nued
work
with
small
business:
nail
and
hair
salons
• Brandeis
Uiversity
students
sampled
in
over
20
salons:
formaldehyde
over
OSHA
limits
• Nail
salon
educa1on
and
regula1ons
Commission
will
con1nue
program,
use
model
for
other
sectors,
is
now
sharing
“Safe
Shops
Tool
Kit”
na1onally.

10. 10
What
Local
Businesses
Gain
From
CARE
• CARE
helps
businesses
build
new
posi5ve
rela5onships
in
the
community
and
develop
new
rela5onships
with
EPA,
state
and
local
governments
§ Addi5onal
informa5on
and
support
to
take
advantage
of
EPA’s
programs
regarding
emissions
reduc5ons

11. Rank Issue Rank Issue
1 ETS 15 CO
(indoors)
2 PM
2.5 16 Asbestos
3 Diesel
Exhaust 17 NO2
4 Industrial
Air
Pollu1on 18 Microbial
Contamina1on
5 Vehicle
Exhaust 19 VOCs
6 Ozone 20 Disinfec1on
By-­‐Products
7 Chemicals/Pes1cides
(soil) 21 Illegal
Dumping
8 Chemical/Pes1cides
(indoors) 22 Trash/Debris
9 Mold
(indoors) 23 Pollen
and
Mold
(outdoors)
10 Lead
Paint 24 Heavy
Metals
(water)
11 Pests
(indoors) 25 PM10
12 Radon 26 CO
(outdoors)
13 Brownfields 27 Prescrip1on
Drugs
(water)
14 SO2
28 Fish
Consump1on
Table 9. The Ranking of All Individual Pollutants Based on the Risk Ranking Matrix*
*The ranks presented in this table do not include community concern.
Springfield
(CARE)
Ranking
of
Environmental
Problems

12. Springfield
Community
Mobiliza5on
Project
Partners
for
a
Healthier
Community
• Over
18
community
mee1ngs
to
educate
and
empower
residents
• Solu1a
Ini1a1ve-­‐
mee1ng
with
ARISE
and
Solu1a
agreed
to
stop
burning
coal
and
formed
community
advisory
commiUee
• Climate
jus1ce
leadership
skills
training
for
50
residents
and
worked
to
create
climate
change
plan
for
city
• Air
quality
assessment
by
residents
and
youth
for
school
idling
and
monitoring:
parents
mainly
problem
–school
system
adopted
different
traffic
flow
and
an1-­‐idling
signs
• Working
with
city
on
improving
schools’
indoor
air
quality
• Focus
on
developing
Healthy
Housing
and
Energy
Coali1on
to
reduce
asthma
triggers
in
homes

13. 13
What
Communi5es
Gain
from
CARE
or
Any
Broad
Based
Environmental
Program
• Risk
reduc5on
-­‐
unadainable
through
na5onal
regula5ons
• An
improved
understanding
of
risk
• Collabora5ve
solu5ons
to
environmental
problems
• Increased
capacity
for
environmental
stewardship
• A
network
of
communi5es
to
learn
from
and
share
experiences
with

14. 14
One-­‐Stop
Shop
To
Community
Tools:hdp://www.epa.gov/
care/
• The
Roadmap:
A
10-­‐step
method
for
communi1es
to
assess
and
priori1ze
local
risks
• Community
Guide
to
EPA’s
Partnership
Programs:
A
guide
of
EPA
voluntary
programs
of
greatest
benefit
to
communi1es
• Grants
Guide:
A
compila1on
of
funding
sources
for
community
environmental
and
public
health
ac1vi1es
• Promising
Prac5ces
to
Improve
Community
Performance
and
Sustainability:
Successful
prac1ces
used
by
14
CARE
communi1es
that
improved
performance
and
sustainability.
• Measurement
Tips
&
Resources
for
Community
Projects:
How
to
measure
progress
made
by
community
projects
working
to
improve
environmental
health
• Sustainability
Checklist:
Ways
to
ensure
the
project
con1nues
to
improve
the
environment
arer
the
EPA
CARE
funding
ends.
CARE
Partnerships
and
EPA
staff
collaborated
on
these
tools
to
help
community-­‐based
groups:

15. RWJF Culture of Health Prize
‣ Annual
prize
‣ Honoring
outstanding
community
efforts
and
partnerships
‣ Winning
communi1es
receive
a
$25,000
cash
prize
‣ 2014
winners
to
be
announced
Summer
of
2014
www.countyhealthrankings.org/roadmaps/prize

16. Summary
• Where
we
live
maUers
to
our
health.
• There
are
great
dispari1es
in
health
based
on
where
we
live.
• Health
is
more
than
health
care.
Many
factors
contribute
to
health
such
as
environmental
health.
• We’re
all
in
this
together.
It
takes
all
of
us
working
together
to
improve
the
health
of
a
community.

17. Environmental Health Improvements
in Communities: Make a Visible
Difference
MaryBeth
Smuts,
Ph.D.
Regional
Toxicologist
Air
Permits,
Toxics
and
Indoor
Programs
Unit
US
EPA:
Region
1
New
England
5
Post
Office
Square,
OEP05-­‐2
Boston,
MA
02109
617/9181512
Smuts.marybeth@epa.gov