The White House’s FY 2023 budget announcement allocated $1.4 billion to advancing environmental justice (EJ), greatly enhancing the agency’s ability to award new competitive grants to reduce the health impacts of pollution in communities with EJ concerns. Companies are already experiencing increased community engagement in several locations throughout the United States, and although awareness of EJ
On January 27, 2021, the Biden Administration put forth Executive Order 14008, creating the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council. Environmental Justice (EJ), as defined by the EPA, is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law on November 15, 2021, includes a significantly higher amount of new funding available for US brownfields infrastructure. The IIJA invests more than $1.5 billion through USEPA’s Brownfields Program and funds over 350 programs to support the planning, construction, and operation of a variety of public infrastructure
On August 26, 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposal to designate two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and their salts and structural isomers, as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. This proposal follows
Background The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) revised its Standard for Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) to new Standard E1527-21 in November 2021. One of the significant revisions in ASTM E1527-21 is the inclusion of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS] and other emerging contaminants in the Standard for the first time. As described in
The fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) was published by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) December 27, 2021. The Rule requires public drinking water systems to test for all 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for which analytical methods exist, where those systems supply 3,300 or more customers; systems serving less than 3,300
Three members of the EHS Support Sediment and Risk-Assessment Group will be presenting virtually at the SETAC North America 42nd Annual Meeting this November 14-18. On Monday, November 15, Chrissy Peterson, Sediment & Risk Assessment Group team manager and Toxicology & Human Health Risk Assessment team leader, will be co-chairing the session “Background: Soil, Sediment,
