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First and foremost, in an office environment, personal space heaters are safety hazards. Since the company does not provide a space heater, staff will typically bring them from home. The company is liable for this equipment and its operation. Space heaters consume a large amount of energy for only 1 or 2 people, and they are expensive to operate. For comparison purposes, consider that 20 fluorescent light fixtures with 2 lamps in each fixture cost about the same to operate per month as one space heater.

Electric heat is the most efficient heat available. However, typical personal space heaters use a fan to push cooler air across an electrically heated element, considerably reducing the efficiency. Space heaters have become very common in the workplace, in the warehouse as well as the office areas. But every building has a heating system. Why isn’t it doing the job it is supposed to do, keep everyone warm?

If a buildings’ heating system is working properly and balanced, as designed, there should be no requirement for personal space heaters. As usual, you can’t please everyone all of the time. Common sense would suggest that those who are temperature intolerant should dress more appropriately to suit their personal temperature preference (or at least have a sweater on hand). Would it be a good idea that the majority wear Hawaiian shirts because one or two are uncomfortable in an acceptable room temperature?

Read the complete article at Environmental Leader

Last Friday, conservatives in the U.S. House demonstrated their solid opposition to EPA’s rulemaking powers by passing the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011 (TRAIN Act, HR 2401) by a vote of 249 to 169. The TRAIN Act would not explicitly reduce EPA’s authority to issue major rules covering air, water, waste, and climate change. However, it would require the president to establish a committee comprising 11 federal agencies that would assess the cumulative and incremental impacts of rules on a wide range of national and state economic issues, including fuel and energy prices, employment, facility closures, and the reliability of bulk power supply in the United States.

Read the complete article at Enviro.BLR.com

Mapping feature supports the White House Regulatory Compliance Transparency Initiative and improves public access to information

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the release of a new mapping feature in EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database. As part of EPA’s ongoing effort to improve transparency, the EPA and State Enforcement Actions Map will allow the public to access federal and state enforcement information in an interactive format and to compare enforcement action information by state. The map will be refreshed monthly to include up to date information about the enforcement actions taken to address violations of air, water, and waste laws.

“EPA is committed to providing the public with easy to use tools that display facility compliance information and the actions EPA and the states are taking to address pollution problems in communities across the nation,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA is proud to announce our latest effort under the President’s White House Regulatory Compliance Transparency Initiative and we will continue to take steps to make meaningful enforcement and compliance data available as part of an open, transparent government.”

Map users can choose the year, the media (air, water, waste, multiple), and whether they would like to display enforcement information for actions taken at the federal level, state level, or both. Users can then click on a state to view facility locations and click on a facility to list its name, the environmental statute the facility has an enforcement action under, and a link to a detailed facility compliance report.

ECHO provides integrated searches of EPA and state data about inspections, violations and enforcement actions for more than 800,000 regulated facilities. Now in its ninth year, ECHO recently received its 10 millionth data query and has completed a record year of more than 2 million queries. President Obama recognized ECHO in his January 2011 Presidential Memorandum on regulatory compliance, as a model for transparency for other federal agencies to follow.

Enforcement and Compliance History Online: http://www.epa-echo.gov

Presidential Memorandum – Regulatory Compliance: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/18/presidential-memoranda-regulatory-compliance

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released the final health assessment for trichloroethylene (TCE) to the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates the latest science on chemicals in our environment. The final assessment characterizes the chemical as carcinogenic to humans and as a human noncancer health hazard. This assessment will also allow for a better understanding of the risks posed to communities from exposure to TCE in soil, water and air. It will provide federal, state, local and other policy makers with the latest scientific information to make decisions about cleanup and other actions to protect people’s health.

“This assessment is an important first step, providing valuable information to the state, local and federal agencies responsible for protecting the health of the American people,” said Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “It underscores the importance of EPA’s science and, in particular, the critical value of the IRIS database for ensuring that government officials and the American people have the information they need to protect their health and the health of their children.”

TCE is one of the most common man-made chemicals found in the environment. It is a volatile chemical and a widely used chlorinated solvent. Frequently found at Superfund sites across the country, TCE’s movement from contaminated ground water and soil, into the indoor air of overlying buildings, is of serious concern. EPA already has drinking water standards for TCE and standards for cleaning up TCE at Superfund sites throughout the country.

TCE toxicity values as reported in the assessment will be considered in:

• Establishing cleanup methods at the 761 Superfund sites where TCE has been identified as a contaminant;
• Understanding the risk from vapor intrusion as TCE vapors move from contaminated groundwater and soil into the indoor air of overlying buildings;
• Revising EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level for TCE as part of the carcinogenic volatile organic compounds group in drinking water, as described in the agency’s drinking water strategy ;
• Developing appropriate regulatory standards limiting the atmospheric emissions of TCE – a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act .

This assessment has undergone several levels of peer review including, agency review, interagency review, public comment, external peer review by EPA’s Science Advisory Board in January 2011, and a scientific consultation review in 2006 by the National Academy of Sciences. Comments from all reviewers are addressed in the final assessment.

EPA continues to strengthen IRIS as part of an ongoing effort to ensure concrete research and science are used to protect human health and the environment. In May 2009, EPA restructured the IRIS program to reinforce independent review and ensure the timely publication of assessments. In July 2011, EPA announced further changes to strengthen the IRIS program in response to recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences. EPA’s peer review process is designed to elicit the strongest possible critique to ensure that each final IRIS assessment reflects sound, rigorous science. http://www.epa.gov/IRIS/

Sustainability and the U.S. EPA–Video
To promote the release of the NRC’s  Sustainability and the U.S. EPA report, a video has been produced summarizing the report and describing the sustainability framework the report recommends. It can be found on the STS website.

It’s a broadly accepted fact that engaged employees are a major benefit to businesses of all types. The Gallup organization dubbed employee engagement “a leading indicator of financial performance” and backed it up with research showing that “engaged organizations have 3.9 times the earnings per share (EPS) growth rate compared to organizations with lower engagement in the same industry.”

Great statistics, but what does this have to do with sustainability?

According to a 2010 study by Hewitt and Associates, it turns out that there is a strong correlation between engagement and socially and environmentally responsible organizations. It dawned on me that perhaps these employees are more engaged because they see their job as their cause. When your job is your cause, you are naturally motivated to work hard and innovate. Since sustainability is an important cause for a lot of employees (especially younger workers), it makes sense that the companies with world-class sustainability programs also have higher engagement scores.

So, if employee engagement is a top business priority and sustainability programs are a way to drive better engagement, there is a clear imperative to make sustainability a part of the work experience. The question is: How?

Read the complete article at GreenBiz.com