Science and

Research at the

U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency

EPA Progress Report, 2012

Office of Research and Development

Innovation Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

A message from Lek Kadeli

Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development 

This report highlights just a small sample of the 

research results that the scientists and engineers 

at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 

Office of Research and Development delivered 

in support of the American people in 2012. 

While just a snapshot, it reflects the enormous 

positive impact of what a group of dedicated, 

highly-skilled, and passionate researchers can 

accomplish when they work together to cultivate 

an atmosphere of innovation and common 

purpose in providing solutions to environmental 

health issues. 

No other environmental research organization in 

the world offers the collective depth and breadth 

of expertise represented by EPA’s research staff. 

From assessing the promise and potential risks of 

emerging technologies using tiny nanoparticles 

thousands of times smaller than the width of a 

human hair, to exploring the dynamics and farreaching challenges of global climate change, 

EPA brings together experts from a diversity of 

environmental and human health fields. 

Collectively, this body of experts, together with 

partners throughout the scientific community, 

provide the firm, scientific foundation the 

Agency needs to fulfill its mission on behalf of the 

American people: to safeguard human health 

and protect the environment. 

EPA researchers are at the forefront of a 

movement to advance environmental and 

human health science into the next generation. 

Their goal is not only to support efforts to 

reduce pollution and lower the risks posed by 

environmental exposure and contamination, but 

to advance the science needed to achieve a 

more sustainable and prosperous future. 

In doing so, they are helping to fundamentally 

change the business of protecting human 

health and the environment from one focused 

on what should not be done, to one based on 

growth and opportunity. Together with their 

partners, EPA researchers are part of a growing 

community of scientists and engineers embracing 

an entrepreneurial spirit aimed at delivering the 

knowledge, tools, and solutions needed to meet 

today’s most pressing environmental challenges in 

ways that simultaneously spark economic growth 

and lay the groundwork for the a new wave of 

American jobs. 

This spirit of innovation is exemplified throughout 

this report, which highlights some of the research 

results and impacts achieved by EPA scientists 

and engineers and their partners during 2012. A 

few examples follow. 

• Developing remote, mobile air monitoring 

sensors and technologies that will improve 

local air quality monitoring and are 

expected to help oil refineries and other 

industries save some $500 million over 

the next ten years. (See New Technology 

to Improve Local Air Quality Monitoring, 

Reduce Costs.)

• Working with partners from the Department 

of Health and Human Services to launch 

the “My Air, My Health” initiative. My 

Air, My Health provided the incentive to 

inventors, software and app developers, 

and engineers to develop personal, portable 

sensors for air quality and human health. 

(See Sparking Innovation for Clean Air). 

• Testing a novel, proof-of-concept coastal 

water quality monitoring system that taps 

data gathered from the International Space 

Station’s Hyperspectral Imager for Coastal 

Ocean (HICO) through an EPA Pathfinder 

Innovation Project. (See Supporting 

Innovation.) 

• Advancing the science and engineering 
Innovation Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow, continued

of “green infrastructure” techniques such 

as rain gardens, rain barrels, and green 

roofs that mimic natural conditions to help 

urban water systems develop new ways 

to reduce stormwater and remove excess 

nutrients from runoff. This work will help 

communities improve local waterways while 

avoiding costly upgrades and replacements 

to sewer systems and other “gray” 

stormwater infrastructure. (See Tapping 

Green Infrastructure and A Tool for Urban 

Stormwater Management.)

• Working with collaborators from Rutgers 

University and a New Jersey Department 

of Environmental Protection team to 

use a remote-controlled, submarine-like 

“autonomous underwater vehicle” to 

monitor water quality off the coast of New 

Jersey, helping collect important data 

while reducing costly helicopter flights. (See 

Gliding beneath the Surface.) 

• Developing new tools to help communities 

protect the health of their residents while 

advancing a more sustainable future, such 

as a sophisticated geographic informationbased mapping tool called the EnviroAtlas 

(see Developing the EnviroAtlas to Support 

Community Decisions), and an on-line 

tool that helps illustrate the connections 

between natural ecosystems and human 

health. (See The Eco-Health Relationship 

Browser.)

• Combining advances in exposure science, 

biology, mathematical and computer 

modeling, and computer technology 

to advance the EPA’s Computational 

Toxicology research and advance new, 

efficient, and fast high-throughput screening 

efforts. (See EPA’s Computational Toxicology 

Research; Chemical Evaluation Dashboards 

for Decision Makers, and ToxCast Partnership

to Advance Chemical Testing, Reduce 

Animal Testing).

• Growing EPA’s widely-used Integrated Risk 

Information System (“IRIS”) Program with 

a progress report to the U.S. Congress, 

highlighting continued improvements such 

as proactive stakeholder engagement 

and increased transparency, and 

the completion of several critical IRIS 

assessments, including dioxin (noncancer) 

and tetrachloroethylene (perc). (See 

Growing IRIS: Advancing EPA’s Integrated 

Risk Information System.)

• Enhancing the nation’s ability to detect, 

respond to, and recover from a deliberate 

or accidental release of chemical, 

biological, or radiological agents through 

updates and improvements to tools such 

as I-WASTE and the Wide Area Recovery 

and Resiliency Program (see Supporting 

Emergency Response and Recovery), 

and the Selected Analytical Methods for 

Environmental Remediation and Recovery. 

(See Read to Respond: Improving the 

Nation’s Emergency Preparedness).

EPA’s overall research strategy unites six 

complementary, highly-coordinated and 

Transdisciplinary research programs: Air, 

Climate, and Energy; Sustainable and Healthy 

Communities; Safe and Sustainable Water 

Resources; Chemical Safety for Sustainability; 

Human Health Risk Assessment; and Homeland 

Security Research. 

This report highlights some of the many 

accomplishments EPA researchers and their 

partners have achieved working together across 

these programs throughout 2012. This report is 

dedicated to their service and exemplifies the 

innovative work they do everyday to support the 

American people and advance a healthy and 

sustainable future for the nation. 
Page 5

Table of Contents

Air, Climate, and Energy Research............................................................................................... 6

Safe and Sustainable Water Resources Research.................................................................... 17

Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research..................................................................... 33

Chemical Safety for Sustainability Research ............................................................................. 49

Human Health Risk Assessment Research.................................................................................. 63

Collaborating with Partners ......................................................................................................... 72

Homeland Security Research...................................................................................................... 93
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Air, Climate, and Energy

American communities face health and 

environmental challenges from air pollution and 

the growing effects of climate change, both of 

which are intricately linked to the choices we 

make about energy production and use. 

Improving air quality, reducing greenhouse gas 

emissions, and developing strategies to help 

communities and individuals address climate 

change are central to EPA’s mission to protect 

human health and the environment. 

EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy research program 

examines the interplay among air pollution, 

climate change, and energy use and production 

to develop innovative and sustainable solutions for 

improving air quality and addressing global climate 

change. EPA research efforts in that regard support 

policies with far-reaching health benefits across the 

nation. 

This section highlights a few of the research results 

EPA researchers and their partners have achieved 

in 2012 in the areas of air, climate, and energy.

Learn More!

For more information and to learn more about the scope and impact of EPA Air, Climate, and Energy 

research, please visit: www.epa.gov/research/airscience/. 

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EPA research provides new insights into how pollution affects cardiovascular health.

Protecting Cardiovascular Health from Air Pollution

EPA scientists and grantees are making important 

new discoveries about the links between air 

pollution and cardiovascular health, part of the 

Agency’s commitment to protecting human 

health. The research is giving medical experts 

new insights into how pollution affects the human 

cardiovascular system, including the finding that 

a combination of pollutants can cause much 

greater health problems that just a single agent 

alone.

In 2012, EPA and EPA-funded studies 

revealed important insights into the link 

between particulate matter air pollution and 

cardiovascular health, including the following.

• A team of EPA-supported epidemiologists 

from Harvard and Brown Universities 

examined the medical records of 1,700 

stroke patients in the Boston area over a 10-

year period, and compared them to hourly 

measurements of fine particle air pollution. 

They found a link between the pollution and 

an increased risk of ischemic strokes (the 

kind that occur when blood vessels to the 

brain are blocked).

 •EPA scientists collaborated with researchers 

from Duke University to find that people 

exposed to a combination of particulate 

matter and nitrogen dioxide may suffer 

worse health effects than just particulate 

matter alone.

• In a study by EPA scientists, researchers 

found the potential for omega-3 fatty 

acids to protect the cardiovascular system 

from the harmful effects of fine particulate 

matter.

EPA scientists also advanced the understanding 

of the link between cardiovascular health 

and another air pollutant: ground level ozone. 

The scientists discovered links between ozone 

exposure and key indicators of cardiovascular 

health, including changes in heart rhythm, 

increased levels of an inflammation marker, 

and decreases in compounds that help dissolve 

artery-clogging blood clots. While previous 

studies had shown statistical associations 

between ozone exposure and such health 

problems, the EPA research identified a 

biologically-based explanation for these effects.

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EPA modified this electric-powered car with state-of-the-art technology to measure levels of different air pollutants along major 

roadways and other pollution source locations.

New Technology to Improve Local

Air Quality Monitoring, Reduce Costs

In 2012, EPA scientists and engineers continued to 

advance the use and development of innovative 

technologies for researching, monitoring, and 

managing air pollution. The research is providing 

new, low-cost capabilities to measure emissions 

near industry, roadways and other areas 

where air pollution may be a concern but has 

traditionally been difficult to study. 

For example, in Wyoming, EPA researchers 

mounted air sensors on a vehicle to create a 

mobile monitoring platform for use along oil and 

gas pipelines. The device relays real-time data 

to occupants in the vehicle that they can use 

to identify spikes in emissions that could identify 

leaks.

In a similar project, EPA researchers used an 

electric-powered, modified vehicle or “air sniffing 

car” equipped with air monitoring technology to 

quantify emissions profiles along major roadways 

and study the potential health impact that traffic 

poses to those living, working, or going to school 

near major highways. 

In addition to mobile air monitors, EPA 

researchers introduced novel monitoring 

approaches utilizing advanced stationary sensor 

technology. For example, a new approach was 

developed for monitoring air quality at petroleum 

refineries to more rapidly detect and identify 

leaks so that small problems can be found and 

fixed. Referred to as fence line monitoring, the 

system uses a series of sensors mounted along a 

facility’s perimeter to capture emissions from all 

processes occurring within the facility rather than 

deploying more expensive monitoring devices 

targeted at individual processes within the 

facility. 

The innovative, low-cost fenceline sampling 

approach has support from EPA’s Office of Air 

and Radiation and partners in the industrial 

sector because it offers a highly cost effective 

Page 8 Page 8
This mobile air monitoring device relays real-time data to occupants in the vehicle they can use to identify spikes in emissions that 

could indicate leaks along oil and gas pipelines.

approach to support a new refinery sector 

proposal under the Clean Air Act. The sensors 

are expected to result in significant savings at 

refineries and provide a more flexible compliance 

framework. The Agency estimates that industry will 

realize savings of some $500 million over 10 years 

in reduced compliance costs.

The new technologies EPA is advancing show 

the promise of establishing low cost, round-theclock monitoring capabilities that would serve 

as both an early warning system for industry to 

stop potentially costly leaks and better protect 

neighboring communities from air pollution. Improvements in stationary air sensor technology allow 

remote sensors to scan for “chemical footprints” of emission 

characteristics.

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Sparking Innovation for Clean Air

The My Air My Health competition challenged Americans to develop

personal, portable sensors that measure air pollution and a person’s 

physiological response to pollution.

In addition to advancing its own innovative use 

of air monitoring technologies, EPA is mining 

the collective efforts of inventors, software and 

application (“app”) developers, independent 

engineers, and other innovators to spark the 

development of the next generation of air 

pollution monitoring devices and technologies.

The goal is to inspire the development of 

revolutionary, low-cost, accurate, and easyto-use air monitors that will provide individual 

citizens and health protection professionals alike 

better pictures of local air quality, and support 

actions and decisions to protect public health.

In June, 2012, EPA and the Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS) launched the “My 

Air, My Health Challenge,” a call to innovators 

to create personal, portable, near-real-time, 

location-specific systems to simultaneously 

monitor and report air pollutants and potentially 

related health parameters such as heart rate and 

breathing.

On November 15, 2012 four finalists were selected 

from 39 proposals. The four projects and their 

teams were:

• Ultra-fine particle sensing 

devices that also measure 

respiratory function and vital 

signs.

• Mobile application and website 

to link exposures to carbon 

monoxide and fine particulate 

matter with heart rates and 

blood oxygen levels.

• “Smart” athletic clothing that 

measures airborne pollutants 

and relevant health metrics.

• Integrated modular air quality 

sensors, breathing games, 

and a software package that 

promote public sharing of 

health information.

Each received $15,000 to move their ideas from 

the design phase to working prototype, one of 

which will be selected as the overall winner and 

receive a cash award of $100,000 in June 2013.

Agency researchers are also providing technical 

support and evaluation to nine teams from 

across the United States and Europe who have 

developed portable sensors for continuous or 

near-continuous nitrogen dioxide and ozone 

monitoring.

This collaboration stemmed from the 2012 Apps 

and Sensors for Air Pollution Monitoring Workshop, 

which brought outside developers together with 

EPA researchers. The EPA evaluation team will 

issue a final report in summer 2013.

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Leading the Way to Cleaner Cookstoves

EPA research on indoor cookstoves could benefit millions. 

For roughly half the world’s population, the 

source for both cooking and keeping warm is a 

simple fire pit surrounded by three large stones 

arranged to keep a pot, grill, or cooking surface 

above the flames. For the people who rely on 

them, these simple and inexpensive “solid fuel” 

cookstoves do the job.

They are also among the world’s leading 

source of environmental death due to indoor 

air pollution. In its report, Global Health Risks: 

Mortality and burden of disease attributable to 

selected major risks (World Health Organization, 

2009, accessed December 2012 at http://bit.ly/

UjXv8p) the World Health Organization estimates 

that indoor air pollution from typical household 

fires for heating and cooking contributes to 

nearly two million premature deaths annually.

“Indoor smoke from solid fuel causes about 21% 

of lower respiratory infection deaths worldwide, 

35% of chronic obstructive pulmonary deaths 

and about 3% of lung cancer deaths,” the report 

states. And because women and children 

typically spend more time in countries where 

such cookstoves are used, they are the most 

affected.

EPA engineers and scientists are helping to 

lead an international effort to develop a inside 

the home new generation of clean burning 

cookstoves that will bring relief to those exposed 

to cookstove emissions in the developing world.

In 2012, EPA research engineers and their 

colleagues published results from the most 

extensive independent study done to date 

to analyze emissions and energy efficiency of 

cookstoves. The researchers tested 22 different 

cookstove designs, measuring emissions of air 

pollutants that cause harmful health effects and 

contribute to climate change, including carbon 

monoxide, particulates, hydrocarbons, carbon 

dioxide, methane, and black carbon.

Results of the worldwide study revealed 

considerable differences in the amount of air 

pollutants emitted and in energy efficiency. 

Among the key findings, researchers found 

that emissions from some advanced cookstove 

technologies are significantly lower than the most 

widely used “three-stone” open fire.
Page 12 Page 12

A 2009 report by The World Health Organization estimates that the indoor air pollution from typical household cooking fires

contributes to nearly 2 million premature deaths annually.

In addition to supporting the potential health 

benefits from developing new cookstove 

technologies, the ongoing research is providing 

important scientific insights into global climate 

change. Because traditional cookstoves account 

for approximately 20 percent of worldwide 

emissions of black carbon—a contributor to 

global climate change—they represent an 

important potential opportunity for taking action 

to address climate change. 

 

A third study currently underway will provide 

additional information on cookstoves, including 

solar cookers. The work is supported by the 

EPA-led Partnership for Clean Indoor Air, now 

integrated with the Global Alliance for Clean 

Cookstoves, a United Nations Foundation 

initiative. 
Biodiesel is fuel derived from plants, animals, or other living organisms.

Health Effects of Biodiesel

The potential benefits of biodiesel—fuels derived 

from plants, animals, or other living organisms—

as a substitute for conventional fossil fuels are 

numerous: they can be produced domestically, 

are generally safe to handle, and are naturally 

biodegradable. The use of biodiesel fuels 

can both lower the nation’s dependence on 

imported fossil fuels and convert waste streams, 

such as used cooking grease, into a marketable 

commodity sold to power vehicles or heat homes 

and businesses.

But while the allure of biodiesel is powerful, 

important questions about the long-term impacts 

associated with its use are largely unanswered. 

EPA researchers are working to solve that 

important knowledge gap, conducting studies to 

better understand the health effects of biodiesel, 

from producing the fuel, to burning it. 

In 2012, EPA researchers continued to advance 

work examining how biodiesel fuels burn, working 

to identify the amount and types of pollutants 

in biodiesel exhaust, and how the pollutants in 

those emissions might affect human health.

Specifically, the researchers are looking to see 

if components of biodiesel emissions are likely 

to have properties that trigger adverse health 

effects, including changes in gene structures, 

lung and cardiac reactions such as altered 

electrocardiograms (known commonly as EKG), 

heart rate variability, blood pressure, and lung 

function in both healthy, normal individuals and 

those susceptible to health problems.

Another area of interest EPA researchers are 

advancing is the potential health effects 

of biodiesel blends, fuels that combine a 

percentage of bio-based fuels with more 

traditional petroleum diesel. Biodiesel fuel 

sources and the amounts used to create 

blends are a constantly moving target because 

innovative technologies and market forces can 

dramatically change the fuel type or blend. 

That work is developing the science needed to 

quickly test and evaluate the potential health 

and environmental impacts of emerging fuel 

sources.

What EPA researchers are learning will provide 

decision makers with critical information and 

guide further research in the quest to develop 

alternative fuel sources that do not have the 

unintended consequences of harmful emissions.

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Research results provided key information used in the development of emission standards for industrial boilers, allowing for less 

costly, more efficient ways for boiler owners and operators to reach safer emissions targets.

Reducing Hazardous Air Pollutants

from Industrial Boilers 

New studies conducted by EPA researchers in 

2012 are playing a critical role in Agency efforts 

to reduce hazardous air pollution while also 

making it easier and less costly for industries and 

boiler operators to comply with new National 

Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants 

(NESHAP) rules under the Clean Air Act.

Research results provided key information used 

in the development of emission standards for 

industrial boilers that EPA estimates will have a 

significant impact on protecting public health: 

preventing 6,500 premature deaths and 4,000 

heart attacks a year starting in 2014. The rules are 

also expected to cut mercury emissions to the 

environment by as much as 90 percent.

The research was conducted at the 1.2 

megawatt Multipollutant Control Research 

Facility at EPA’s Research Triangle Park campus 

in North Carolina where engineers can burn 

coal, oil and gas under different operating 

conditions to test a variety of different pollutant 

control technologies. There, researchers tested 

air pollution control technologies for particulate 

matter (PM) to determine if the technologies 

might also be effective in reducing additional 

pollutants regulated under the new boiler 

NESHAP rules. The research produced quality 

data that supports the use of PM as a surrogate 

for regulating hazardous air pollutants.

Researchers also extensively tested another 

control technology called Dry Sorbent Injection 

(DSI) and showed its effectiveness in removing 

hazardous air pollutants. 

 

EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation incorporated 

the research findings into the development of the 

NESHAP rules, allowing less costly, more efficient 

ways for boiler owners and operators to reach 

safer emissions targets.

EPA engineers at the 1.2 

megawatt Multipollutant 

Control Research Facility 

in North Carolina can 

burn coal, oil and gas 

under different operating 

conditions to test a variety 

of different pollutant 

control technologies.

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EPA scientists are building and advancing computer models that calculate scenarios of the potential impacts of climate change. 

Exploring Climate Change and Air Quality Scenarios

Predicting the likely impact that future climate 

change will have on air quality, the environment, 

and ecosystems is critical so that potentially 

damaging effects can be reduced. 

EPA scientists are building and advancing 

computer models that calculate scenarios of the 

potential impacts of climate change, helping 

the public, policymakers, and community and 

business leaders incorporate sound science into 

their decisions. 

Examples of work advanced during 2012 include:

Climate change and land use: How will the 

complex interrelationships between land-use, 

such as housing density and development, 

and climate change drive environmental 

impacts in air and water quality, human 

health, ecosystems, and other environmental 

parameters? Increased knowledge of the 

dynamic connections between climate 

change and land use will help local 

communities better prepare and make 

important decisions today.

EPA’s Integrated Climate and Land Use 

Scenarios (ICLUS) project is providing just that 

kind of information. ICLUS is an online tool and 

model that enables researchers to tap existing 

climate change science to run models that 

calculate potential environmental scenarios 

related to the connections between climate 

change and U.S. land use patterns. 

In January of 2012, ICLUS researchers released 

data for each region in the contiguous 

United States to support the National Climate 

Assessment, a periodic report produced by 

the U.S. Global Change Research Program 

and delivered to the President and U.S. 

Congress. 

Reducing pollution from the cement industry 

sector: EPA modelers are developing the 

Industrial Sector Integrated Solutions (ISIS) 

model to help industries better evaluate 

pollution reduction strategies. The model 

provides sophisticated calculations to 

illustrate the trade off and benefits of how 

various options and changes in operations will 

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Older adults may be among the 

least able to cope with impacts of 

climate change.

affect multiple pollutants simultaneously, and 

how changes in emissions policy could affect 

production. The goal with ISIS is to present the 

optimal cost-effective controls needed to 

meet emissions reduction requirements.

EPA researchers completed the first ISIS model 

for the cement industry sector. It allowed 

the agency to better evaluate impacts on 

domestic and international competitiveness 

as well as plant-by-plant projections of likely 

control technology installations.

Exploring scenarios for complex environmental 

decisions: An EPA team combined 

components of several existing models to 

develop Geos-CHEM LIDORT Integrated 

with MARKAL for the Purpose of Scenario 

Exploration (GLIMPSE). This sophisticated 

decision-support tool examines the impacts 

of complex environmental decisions involving 

air quality, climate change, ecosystems, and 

energy production. For example, GLIMPSE 

can be used to determine the best strategy to 

simultaneously address black carbon emissions 

to reduce health effects while mitigating 

climate change impacts.

The model is designed to be fast and 

comprehensive allowing decision makers to 

explore a range of options to assess multiple 

environmental goals such as improved air 

quality, climate change mitigation and 

ecosystem conservation.

Climate Change and

Human Health 

In addition to advancing climate models, EPA 

researchers are exploring the impact that 

an increase in events such as heat waves, 

flooding, and poor air quality will have on the 

public, particularly vulnerable populations such 

as older adults. 

EPA research is providing crucial information 

that can be used to better prepare and 

protect the public from a changing climate. 

Important published studies in 2012 include:

• EPA scientists conducted a review of the 

latest published research demographics, 

relevant climate stressors, and factors 

contributing to the vulnerability of older 

adults to those stressors. The study 

confirmed previous findings that older 

Americans are likely to be especially 

vulnerable to stressors associated with climate change. 

• EPA scientists provided a better 

understanding of the potential range of 

estimated ozone-related human health 

impacts brought on by climate change. 

Through the use of multiple models, 

epidemiological studies, and population 

projections, the study was among the 

first to explicitly explore the uncertainty 

surrounding assessment of these impacts.

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Safe and Sustainable Water Resources 

Across the nation, people are placing increased 

demands on the finite water resources that supply 

precious drinking water, support healthy aquatic 

ecosystems, and fill important societal and 

economic needs, including energy, agriculture, 

and industrial production. 

EPA’s Safe and Sustainable Water Resources 

research program provides the science and 

innovative technologies that the Agency—and the 

nation—need to maintain drinking water sources 

and systems, as well as to protect the chemical, 

physical, and biological integrity of our waters. 

EPA scientists and engineers, together with their 

research partners, are addressing 21st century 

challenges to water supplies and infrastructures by 

integrating research across social, environmental, 

and economic disciplines. Together they are 

working to provide lasting, sustainable solutions to 

those challenges. 

This section highlights a few of the research results 

EPA researchers and their partners achieved 

in 2012 to support safe and sustainable water 

resources. 

Learn More!

For more information and to learn more about the scope and impact of EPA water research, please 

visit: www.epa.gov/research/waterscience/.

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A focused scientific study will determine the potential impacts, 

if any, of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

Hydraulic Fracturing

Study: Progress and Outreach

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to 

release natural gas and oil from underground 

reservoirs. EPA is conducting a focused scientific 

study to determine potential impacts, if any, of 

hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. 

The study is looking at the full cycle of water as it 

is used in hydraulic fracturing.

In December, 2012, EPA released its first hydraulic 

fracturing progress report, Study of the Potential 

Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water 

Resources. The report describes 18 research 

projects undertaken as part of the study and 

summarizes the current status of each project. 

While the progress report outlines work currently 

underway, it does not draw conclusions about 

the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing 

on drinking water resources. A draft report, 

expected in late 2014, will synthesize results and 

address the study’s research questions. The 

report has been designated a Highly Influential 

Scientific Assessment, meaning it will receive the 

highest level of peer review in accordance with 

EPA’s Peer Review Handbook.

In 2012, EPA also announced an enhanced 

technical engagement and stakeholder 

outreach effort regarding the hydraulic 

fracturing study. EPA is taking several steps to 

meet its stakeholder engagement goals:

1. Increase technical engagement with the 

stakeholder community to ensure that EPA 

has ongoing access to a broad range of 

expertise and data outside the Agency. Five 

technical roundtables, held in November, 

2012, focused on each stage of the water 

cycle as pertains to hydraulic fracturing. 

EPA will host in-depth technical workshops 

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Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals 

Included in EPA’s hydraulic fracturing 

progress report is a list of over 1000 

chemicals associated with hydraulic 

fracturing processes. EPA researchers 

curated and reconciled multiple EPA, 

industry, and public chemical lists to 

produce this consolidated inventory of 

unique substances associated with 

hydraulic fracturing.

to address specific issues raised during these 

roundtables in greater detail.

2. Obtain feedback on projects undertaken 

as part of the study and ensure that EPA is 

up-to-date on changes in industry practices 

and technologies. The Agency is soliciting 

public involvement in identifying relevant 

data and scientific literature specific to 

inform the hydraulic fracturing study. In 

November, 2012, EPA published a Request 

for Information in the Federal Register. 

3. Improve public understanding of the goals 

and design of the study. In addition to the 

organized technical meetings, EPA will seek 

opportunities (such as association or state 

organization meetings) to provide informal 

briefings and updates on the study to a 

diverse range of stakeholders, including 

states, non-governmental organizations 

(NGOs), academia, and industry. EPA 

will also increase the frequency of public 

webinars, hosting them after each technical 

meeting.

The five stages of the water cycle as pertains to the hydraulic fracturing process.

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Bristol Bay, Alaska:

Assessing Potential

Mining Impacts on

Salmon Ecosystems

Approximately 50% of the world’s production of sockeye salmon 

comes from the Bristol Bay Watershed.

Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska 

supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in 

the world, is home to 25 federally recognized 

tribal governments, and contains large mineral 

resources. The potential for large-scale mining 

activities in the watershed has raised concerns 

about the impact of mining on the sustainability 

of Bristol Bay’s world-class fisheries, and the 

future of some of the Alaska Native tribes in the 

watershed who have maintained a salmonbased culture and subsistence-based lifestyle for 

at least 4,000 years. 

This pristine and unique watershed supports all 

five species of Pacific salmon and half of the 

world’s sockeye salmon population. The fishery 

(commercial, recreational, subsistence) is 

valued at more than $365 million per year, with 

hunting and sight-seeing bringing the total value 

to almost $500 million per year. The Bristol Bay 

watershed also holds large deposits of valuable 

minerals. One deposit—the Pebble Deposit—if 

fully developed, has the potential of becoming 

one of the largest mines of its type in the world.

EPA received petitions from nine federally 

recognized tribes and other stakeholders 

expressing concern that the salmon fishery would 

be at risk from large-scale mining and asking that 

EPA take action to protect salmon populations 

affected by the Bay’s Watershed. Other tribes 

and stakeholders who support development in 

the Bristol Bay watershed requested EPA take no 

action until a permitting process begins.

In response to the petitions, EPA is conducting an 

assessment of the Bristol Bay Watershed to better 

understand how future large-scale mining may 

affect the salmon fishery. EPA will use the results 

of the assessment to evaluate options for assuring 

that the resources of Bristol Bay, are effectively 

protected.

EPA’s draft report, An Assessment of Potential 

Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol 

Bay, Alaska, was released in May 2012; it then 

underwent a 60-day public comment period 

and external peer review panel. The final report 

is expected to be completed and publicly 

available in 2013.

Bristol Bay is located at the northeastern end of the 

Alaskan peninsula.

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Water pumped in and out of ship hulls to provide stability can introduce of non-native invasive species.

Stemming the Tide of Invasive Marine Species

In 2012, EPA scientists finalized an Atlas of nonnative marine and estuarine species for the 

North Pacific Ocean. The Atlas provides a 

comprehensive reference to help biologists, 

marine and estuarine managers, and others 

identify species that were likely introduced by 

the release of ballast water—the water that ships 

pump in and out of their hulls to maintain stability. 

The Atlas provides key information for assessing 

which areas are prone to risk from invasive 

marine species, and identifies traits that make 

certain groups of species potentially disruptive 

when released outside their natural range. 

In addition to the Atlas, EPA researchers 

partnered with colleagues from the U.S. Coast 

Guard to develop new performance verification 

protocols to ensure that disinfection technologies 

and devices used by ships for destroying 

organisms in ballast water are effective. The 

test protocols were subsequently validated by 

independent tests conducted by engineers and 

scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) 

in Key West, Florida.

This research is expected to help stem the tide of 

economic and environmental impacts caused 

by the release of invasive species in ballast water.

The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is native to Eastern 

Europe, but was discovered in the Great Lakes nearly 25 years 

ago.

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Rainwater runs off of roads into the sewer system.

A Tool for Urban

Storm Water Management

Stormwater overflow presents a big problem in 

many urban areas. Heavy rains send torrents of 

water running over pavement, rooftops, and all 

the other impervious surfaces that cover most 

city grounds. Not only does this excess water 

cause superficial flooding of roads and buildings, 

but it also floods city sewer systems. Combined 

sewer systems that collect municipal sewage and 

stormwater in a single pipe system can overflow 

during heavy rain resulting in ‘combined sewer 

overflows’ where sewage and other pollutants 

overflow into nearby waterways. EPA researchers 

are developing tools and strategies to help 

city planners, managers, and others address 

stormwater problems. 

EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)

is used widely for planning, analysis and design 

related to stormwater runoff, combined sewers, 

sanitary sewers, and other drainage systems in 

urban areas. SWMM is a rainfall-runoff simulation 

model that gives users important information 

about local water patterns. This helps inform 

the design and implementation of natural and 

“green” (such as rain gardens and green roofs) 

as well as traditional “gray” (pipes) stormwater 

management alternatives. This publicly available 

model averages 2,000 downloads every month 

and is often used as a core modeling engine by 

municipalities.

EPA recently expanded SWMM (version 5) to 

explicitly model the performance of specific 

types of low impact development controls, 

such as porous pavement, bio-retention areas 

(e.g., rain gardens, and green roofs), infiltration 

trenches, vegetative swales, and other forms 

of green infrastructure (see “Tapping Green 

Infrastructure” on adjacent page). The updated 

model allows engineers and planners to 

accurately represent any combination of low 

impact controls within a study area to determine 

their effectiveness in managing stormwater and 

combined sewer overflows.

The development of predictive modeling 

tools like SWMM for the design of integrated 

green and gray infrastructure for use in urban 

watersheds is intended to improve resource 

management, criteria development, and 

regulatory decisions.

A screenshot from the Storm Water Management

Model tool.

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Rain garden pilot project with monitoring equipment at the St. Francis Court Apartments in Cincinnati.

Tapping Green Infrastructure 

EPA researchers are studying green infrastructure, 

water management techniques that tap or 

mimic natural conditions to achieve efficient, 

sustainable stormwater management systems. 

Examples of green infrastructure include: rain 

gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, cisterns, 

daylighted streams, and retention ponds. The 

environmentally-friendly techniques of green 

infrastructure present sustainable options for 

reducing urban water problems and health risks.

The work will provide cities and local communities 

with tools and guidance they can use to combat 

water-quality issues such as flooding, combined 

sewer overflows, and nutrient impairment.

With research ranging from soil analysis to best 

placement modeling, EPA researchers are 

working to inform city managers and decisionmakers about green infrastructure practices. 

Research data are also used to inform the 

development and evaluation of stormwater 

modeling tools such as the Storm Water 

Management Model.

• Urban Soil Assessment: Researchers assessed 

characteristics of urban soils in various 

locations to inform the development of 

an Urban Soil Assessment Protocol. By 

accounting for how excess stormwater will (or 

will not) move through surface and deeper 

soils, this protocol helps direct communities 

when and how to use green infrastructure in 

an economically feasible way.

• Guiding Green Infrastructure in Omaha: In 

collaboration with the City of Omaha and 

the Nebraska Department of Environmental 

Quality, EPA scientists analyzed soils and 

prepared monitoring equipment for the 

introduction of green infrastructure to 

selected sites througout the city. EPA is 

Soil core samples were taken at various urban soil 

testing sites.

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providing guidance on how the city and state 

can incorporate green infrastructure into their 

combined sewer overflow control plan. EPA will 

also work with the local U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) to establish monitoring sites around the 

green infrastructure installations to determine 

how well they perform with respect to water 

capture and infiltration.

• Daylighting Streams to Improve Water 

Quality: Researchers recently compared 

the effectiveness of buried streams (streams 

routed into underground pipes) versus openair streams for removing harmful nitrogen from 

water systems. Early research results suggest 

that buried streams are less effective at 

removing nitrogen than daylighted streams—

streams above ground and open to the air. 

These findings suggest that daylighting streams 

could prove a sustainable method for nitrogen 

removal and improved water quality. The 

outcomes of this study and further research 

will be used to inform a new modeling tool 

for urban managers. This tool will help identify 

places within a city where daylighting streams 

would be most effective.

• Monitoring Green Infrastructure: Green 

infrastructure pilot projects are underway 

in Cincinnati, Ohio, and EPA scientists are 

monitoring the hydrology (water flow patterns) 

and water quality at select rain garden and 

permeable pavement sites. The Metropolitan 

Sewer District of Louisville, Kentucky is working 

with EPA scientists to develop a monitoring 

plan to demonstrate the performance of 

individual green infrastructure controls and the 

aggregated effectiveness of these measures 

on combined sewer flow. Additionally, EPA is 

monitoring the long-term performance of green 

infrastructure best management practices at 

the EPA facility in Edison, New Jersey.

• Cleveland’s Vacant Lots: Based on technical 

guidance from EPA experts, Cleveland, Ohio 

has incorporated a green infrastructure pilot 

program into its combined sewer overflow 

consent decree. This program takes advantage 

of the city’s vacant land, turning that land 

into green spaces that not only absorb excess 

stormwater, but also improve the social and 

economic fabric of neighborhoods historically 

lacking green space.

Researchers sample an open-air 

stream (top) and a buried stream pipe 

(bottom).

Researchers dig up and examine a soil core for analysis at a potential 

green infrastructure site in Omaha.
This autonomous underwater vehicle can safely and efficiently collect water quality data.

Gliding Beneath the Surface

Low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) in ocean 

environments have the potential to harm sea life 

and degrade the health of aquatic ecosystems. 

New Jersey’s coastal waters have long suffered 

from low oxygen conditions, putting the state in 

violation of water quality standards.

In order to improve understanding of the 

highly variable ocean processes that influence 

oxygen levels in New Jersey’s coastal zone, a 

collaborative team of researchers from New 

Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection 

and Rutgers University developed a robotic 

vehicle to investigate beneath the ocean 

surface. Supported by EPA’s regional science 

programs, the team operated this autonomous 

underwater vehicle (AUV), named the “Slocum 

Glider” and evaluated its ability to capture data 

about coastal water quality efficiently.

Dissolved oxygen levels have historically been 

measured based on infrequent sampling, 

providing imprecise results. In contrast, the AUV 

takes rapid-fire readings of dissolved oxygen, 

salinity, and temperature at various depths, 

resulting in a much more comprehensive 

database for dissolved oxygen. The AUV also 

goes where ships and scientists cannot safely go, 

including sampling beneath Hurricane Irene, one 

of the few times an AUV captured data during 

such a powerful storm.

The Slocum Glider was relaunched on July 10, 

2012 to collect water quality readings along 

more than 185 miles of the NJ coastline. This 

experiment monitored coastal conditions 

during the peak of summer, when a transitional, 

mixed layer of water separates warmer surface 

waters from colder layers below. Under certain 

conditions, this layering of the water column can 

lead to poor water quality and be harmful to 

humans and aquatic life.

Information gathered by the Slocum Glider is 

informing New Jersey’s upcoming re-evaluation 

of impaired coastal waters. Use of this glider 

technology has already allowed EPA’s regional 

office (Region 2) in New York to divest from its 

previous practice of monitoring dissolved oxygen 

by helicopter, which was a costly approach with 

limited results.

Page 25
The principal cause for beach closings and 

advisories is water pollution caused by elevated 

levels of bacteria, primarily E. coli, which 

indicates human or animal waste contamination. 

However, by conventional methods, 

measurements of E. coli levels can take up to 24 

hours. By the time results are compiled, waterquality conditions may have already changed.

To improve beach water monitoring, EPA 

scientists developed Virtual Beach modeling 

software. This tool, updated in March 2012, is 

designed to predict pathogen indicator levels 

at recreational beaches, giving water-quality 

information in real-time or even before the 

contamination occurs.

Using the Virtual Beach software, managers 

can easily map their beach using an intuitive 

graphical interface. By looking at data on the 

local watershed, Virtual Beach’s models can 

find correlations between certain weather and 

water conditions and bacterial outbreaks, giving 

beach managers advanced warning of the 

kinds of contamination events that lead to swim 

advisories and beach closures.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

(WDNR) partnered with EPA and the U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS) to tap EPA’s Virtual 

Beach software for real-time water monitoring 

at Wisconsin beaches. The impact of that effort 

was the creation of the Nowcast Program, 

Real-time Beach Monitoring

EPA’s Virtual Beach software allows for real-time water quality monitoring at Wisconsin beaches.

Bacteria indicative of human or animal waste is the principal 

cause for beach closings.
Page 27

Arial map of the Great Lakes showing beaches currently under Nowcast or other water quality monitoring programs.

which works with local public health departments 

along Wisconsin’s Great Lakes coast to improve 

the timeliness, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness 

of water-quality monitoring at high-priority 

recreational beaches. The program creates 

and implements early-warning models that can 

predict the level of E. coli bacteria and the 

probability of exceeding water-quality guidelines 

in real-time.

In 2011, two beaches piloting Nowcast models 

reduced the number of missed advisories by 20 

percent and reduced the number of incorrectlyposted advisories by 50 percent. As of June 2012, 

Nowcasts were being used to make management 

decisions at seven high-priority beaches on 

Lake Michigan. Models have been developed 

for an additional 21 beaches on Lake Michigan 

and Lake Superior by Wisconsin and the U.S. 

Geological Survey.

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Legacy sediment layers are visible in this Big Spring Run stream bank (Photo credit: Dr. Dorothy Merritts)

Sediment Removal to Improve Water Quality

Excess sediments and nutrients, especially 

nitrogen and phosphorous, are a leading cause 

of water quality impairment in streams and 

wetlands throughout the nation, particularly in 

the mid-Atlantic region. Legacy sediments are 

the deposits of sediment and nutrients that built 

up as a result of historic mill dam construction. 

EPA scientists are researching the removal 

of legacy sediments as a cost-effective and 

sustainable means of reducing sediment and 

nutrient pollution in watersheds.

Historic damming of streams and rivers led to a 

huge backup of sediment and the destruction 

of natural water and soil systems. Most of the 

dams are now abandoned, but as the natural 

water systems return, they threaten to release 

massive amounts of sediment and nutrients to 

downstream waters. EPA, in collaboration with 

federal, state, and academic partners, focused 

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research efforts on Big Spring Run (BSR), a rural 

stream in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that is 

impacted by legacy sediments.

Beginning in 2009, legacy sediments were 

removed from Big Spring Run and buried

wetlands were exposed and reconnected to 

the floodplain water system. Water quality and 

geologic assessments of the area showed that 

stream bank erosion was more extreme than 

expected and nutrient levels were high in ground 

and surface waters. Restoration is expected to 

greatly reduce sediment transport and nutrient 

contamination, especially because healthy 

wetlands will naturally filter and convert harmful 

excess nutrients out of the water system.

Restoration of Big Spring Run was completed in 

September 2012. Researchers found that since 

September, the plant community composition 

at BSR has changed significantly, showing signs 

of healthy wetlands. These early results point to 

a promising method for protecting downstream 

waters from further sediment and nutrient 

pollution by the removal of legacy sediments 

and the associated wetland restoration.

Page 29
One of two waste water treatment facilities at Ft. Riley, KS.

Partnering to Achieve “Net Zero”

EPA supports a United States Army sustainability 

initiative—called Net Zero—to reduce energy, 

water and waste from Army facilities. This crossagency collaboration is a test case for new 

technologies to improve efficiency and to 

minimize waste of resources. Technologies that 

prove successful through this partnership will 

serve as examples of tools that can benefit other 

communities across the United States and worldwide.

 

The Net Zero-EPA collaboration began for 

EPA with the signing of a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) between EPA and 

the Army. Two Army bases chosen to pilot 

this research collaboration are Fort Riley, 

Kansas and Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), 

Washington. The initial focus is on water issues 

such as stormwater management, water reuse, 

monitoring aging water infrastructure for leaks, 

and ways to improve efficiency.

 

In July, 2012, EPA scientists met with Army staff 

at Fort Riley to discuss water infrastructure 

challenges and specific technology needs of the 

base. The site visit allowed an integrated project 

team to prioritize needs and identify potential 

EPA collaboration with the United States Army will reduce 

waste and increase efficiency of Army facilities.

Page 30
Planned projects include introducing small-scale 

water reuse systems to conserve potable water.

Page 31

projects. Project plans were drafted in the fall 

and finalized in December, 2012.

 

Projects that were drafted include:

1. Perform assessment and introduce 

rehabilitation technologies that address the 

maintenance and upgrading of aging water 

infrastructure in a cost-effective manner

2. Implement small-scale water reuse systems 

to significantly reduce the need for potable 

water use

3. Facilitate a study to investigate education/

outreach approaches focused on behavior 

and culture changes needed to reduce 

water consumption 

Similar project planning is underway for Joint 

Base Lewis-McChord, exploring stormwater 

management that incorporates green 

infrastructure approaches into current 

stormwater systems and decontamination 

techniques to improve understanding of handling 

and treatment of waste water.

 

An additional MOU, signed with the U.S. 

Department of Defense in February, 2012, 

complements the Army MOU, and expands EPA’s 

opportunities to promote and transfer technology 

successes broadly to other communities and 

additional military installations.

Learn More about EPA Safe and Sustainable Water Research

• Visit: www.epa.gov/research/waterscience/. 

• See the 2012 Water Research issue of EPA’s Science Matters newsletter: http://1.usa.gov/WgsrVb

• Download a copy of EPA’s Safe and Sustainable Water Resources Strategic Research Action Plan, 

2012-2016: www.epa.gov/research/docs/sswr-strap.pdf.
The single largest Chesapeake Bay pollutant is excess nutrients, which come from wastewater treatment plants and stormwater 

runoff, among other sources.

Community-Based Chesapeake Bay

Stormwater Management

Presidential Executive Order 13508 directs the 

federal government to lead efforts to restore 

and protect Chesapeake Bay, a body of 

water plagued by pollutants and poor water 

quality. The largest group of Bay pollutants is 

excess nutrients, which come from wastewater 

treatment plants and runoff from cropland, 

urban and suburban areas, and other sources. 

To address the problem of nutrient pollution from 

urban stormwater runoff in the Bay area, EPA’s 

Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant program 

sought applications for applied research aimed 

at identifying pathways for effective and durable 

community-based stormwater management. 

In September, 2012, STAR announced a $700,000 

award to the University of Maryland to work with 

local communities to improve urban stormwater 

management in the Chesapeake Bay area.

The awarded project, Sustainable Community 

Oriented Stormwater Management: A Sensible 

Strategy for the Chesapeake Bay, will use 

innovative community involvement methods. 

Maryland researchers will use information from 

community member submissions and interviews 

to create a model of troublesome stormwater 

areas within the community. Using this model, 

scientists and the community will collaborate to 

develop improved and sustainable stormwater 

management practices to reduce stormwater 

pollution from hot spots, maintain long-term 

water quality in Chesapeake Bay, and protect 

the health of the community.

In 2011, EPA awarded almost $2.5 million 

dollars to Penn State University to open an 

interdisciplinary research center that is studying 

green infrastructure to improve water quality 

in Chesapeake Bay. The team that runs this 

center works to combine decision making 

and green infrastructure issues to improve 

stormwater management. The Penn State and 

Maryland teams plan to work together and 

share information as they both strive to improve 

Chesapeake Bay.

Page 32
Sustainable and Healthy Communities

EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities 

research program works to help communities 

meet their current needs in ways that protect the 

environment and enhance human health over the 

long term, so that future generations can meet 

their needs, too. 

Working closely with community stakeholders 

and other decision makers to identify the 

information, science, and technologies they 

require, EPA scientists use a holistic approach to 

advance research that reflects the three pillars 

of sustainability: economy, society, and the 

environment. The work provides decision-support 

tools and information that communities need 

to develop proactive, strategic solutions for a 

prosperous and environmentally sustainable future. 

This section highlights a few of the research results 

EPA researchers and their partners have achieved 

in 2012 to support sustainable and healthy 

communities.

Learn More!

For more information about the scope and impact of EPA research to support sustainable and healthy 

communities, please visit: 

• EPA Sustainability: www.epa.gov/sustainability/

• EPA Ecosystems Research: www.epa.gov/research/ecoscience/

• Download a copy of Sustainable and Healthy Communities Strategic Research Action Plan, 

2012-2016: www.epa.gov/research/docs/shc-strap.pdf.
Page 34 Page 34

More than 73,000 wildfires broke out in the United 

States in 2011, and that figure is expected to rise 

with climate change. Results from a new EPA 

study will help state agencies and the EPA Office 

of Air and Radiation identify and assist vulnerable 

communities and individuals who are highly 

susceptible to air pollutants—especially those 

released by wildfires.

Researchers compared different health factors 

in counties in eastern North Carolina that were 

exposed to smoke from a 2008 peat wildfire in 

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. The peerreviewed study shows that poorer residents had 

a much higher chance of getting sick from air 

pollutants caused by the wildfire.

During the fire, burning deposits of partially 

decayed vegetation released smoke and haze 

for several weeks. One particularly bad episode 

left dense ground-level smoke covering most 

of the eastern and central parts of the state for 

approximately three days. Researchers found 

that during this time, significantly more people 

than usual visited hospital emergency rooms for 

heart and lung complications linked to wildfire 

smoke inhalation. 

Using data collected from 98 percent of all 

emergency departments in North Carolina, 

researchers examined health behaviors such as 

excessive alcohol consumption, access to clinical 

care, socio-economic status and unemployment 

rates, among other factors. By analyzing 

these factors for patients who visited hospitals 

following the 2008 fire, researchers found that a 

community’s low socio-economic status was the 

best indicator of risk for worsening asthma and 

heart failure after smoke exposure.

Results from this study, titled Cardio-respiratory 

Outcomes Associated with Exposure to Wildfire 

Smoke are Modified by Measures of Community 

Health, were published in the September 

2012 online edition of the scientific journal 

Environmental Health.

Studying the Connections between Wildfire 

Smoke and Community Health

Satellite imaging shows a smoke plume from the 2008 North Carolina peat fire.
Page 35

Protecting People from Arsenic and Lead in Soil

EPA research results in an effective way of protecting human 

health while guiding clean-up activities at Superfund and other 

contaminated sites.

Toxics and human digestion may sound like a 

daunting pair, but EPA researchers have found 

a way to create a computer model of the 

digestive system and the way it absorbs arsenic 

to create a powerful science tool. This device is 

one of several innovative tools EPA researchers 

are developing to better estimate human 

exposure to arsenic and lead in soil.

Currently, mitigating the dangers of locations 

with contaminated soils means using heavy 

equipment to remove the entire top layer 

and hauling the soil to a landfill designed for 

hazardous material. Then the soil is treated and 

all the toxins are removed. This method, although 

effective, is expensive and inefficient because 

not all forms of soil contaminants are harmful to 

animals and humans, or “bioavailable” (can be 

absorbed into the bloodstream). Arsenic and 

lead are toxic only in this bioavailable form.

A team of EPA scientists looked at the way the 

digestive system takes in arsenic after exposure 

to develop an innovative and efficient way to 

determine the bioavailablility of arsenic and lead 

in soils. They used that model to make a tool that 

shows how much bioavailable arsenic is in soil. 

The tool can detect how much arsenic is actually 

toxic. The result is an effective way of protecting 

human health while guiding cleanup activities at 

superfund and other contaminated sites.

Use of the tool, still in its testing stage, has led to 

significant cost savings at a number of regional 

Superfund site offices and could ultimately help 

EPA assess human exposure to soil contaminants in 

a much more cost effective way.

Page 35
The EnviroAtlas maps ecosystem services such as air filtration provided by these urban trees.

Developing the “EnviroAtlas” to Support 

Community Decisions 

EPA researchers are developing the EnviroAtlas, 

a Web-based mapping tool that will provide 

users with an easy-to-use, visual way to explore 

and better understand the benefits of natural 

ecosystems and how they can be conserved 

and enhanced for a sustainable future.

The tool provides information community 

decision makers need to make strategic choices 

about development and environmental policy, 

based on a more comprehensive understanding 

of the interactions between human activities and 

the many goods and amenities (often referred to 

as “ecosystem services”) that people derive from 

nature. 

The EnviroAtlas is a Web-based mapping 

application that allows users to view and analyze 

multiple ecosystem services in a specific region 

such as drinking water supplies or recreational 

and cultural amenities. Decision-makers can use 

the Atlas to forecast what will happen to these 

natural resources under future population growth 

and climate change.

EPA researchers are working with partner 

agencies to develop this online, interactive 

decision-support tool. The EnviroAtlas 

collaborators currently include the Natural 

Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Forest 

Service (both part of the U. S. Department 

of Agriculture), the U.S. Geological Survey 

(Department of the Interior), the National 

Geographic Society, the nonprofit organization 

NatureServe, and the City College of New York. 

Other organizations working with EPA researchers 

to take advantage of the information provided in 

the EnviroAtlas include:

• The Strategic Highway Research Program 

2 of the National Academy of Sciences 

which is exploring the use of the Atlas for 

sustainable highway planning.

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• LandScope America, an online resource 

for the land-protection community, now 

includes multiple data layers from the 

EnviroAtlas.

Also, the EnviroAtlas will most likely be a major 

resource for the forthcoming EcoINFORMA, 

an online digital information system on 

ecosystem services and biodiversity currently in 

development. The development of EcoINFORMA 

was recommended in a report by the President’s 

Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The EnviroAtlas will also feature detailed data 

on 50 to 250 cities and towns across the country. 

The community component of EnviroAtlas, will 

provide fine-scale information linking human 

health and well-being to environmental 

conditions such as urban heat islands, near-road 

pollution, and other quality of life indicators.

Ongoing development of the EnviroAtlas in 2012 

focused heavily on this community component. 

The EnviroAtlas development team worked with 

all 10 EPA regional offices to identify communities 

for the next phase of high-resolution analyses, 

and current plans include six tribal communities. 

The first community pilot project is for Durham, 

North Carolina (see “The Durham Pilot” on this 

page).

In 2012, the EnviroAtlas became available to 

EPA’s partners (other federal agencies and 

several universities). Public access to the tool is 

planned for 2013.

This aerial map of downtown Portland, ME, from the 

EnviroAtlas, is classified into open spaces (greens), impervious 

surfaces (pinks), and water (blue).

In September, EPA scientists ran a field monitoring project 

with Durham high school students in environmental science 

advanced placement classes. The goal was to engage students 

in participatory research and improve understanding about the 

extent to which tree cover reduces the urban heat island effect. 

Pictured here, students learned to use temperature sensors at 

EPA’s research campus in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The Durham Pilot

In 2012, EPA completed the EnviroAtlas 

community component for the city of Durham, 

North Carolina. Working with the Durham 

community, researchers created map layers 

for supply and demand of ecosystem services, 

and societal implications for the city’s natural 

resources.

Local partners in Durham will use EPA research 

products like the EnviroAtlas to diagnose 

environmental problems, analyze alternatives, 

and track the performance of implemented 

management approaches. Tools and approaches 

developed in Durham will be transferable to other 

communities around the country.

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Shade trees in urban areas contribute to multiple ecosystem services such as heat mitigation and air filtration while also encouraging 

engagement with nature and other benefits as suggested by the Eco-Health Relationship Browser.

The Eco-Health Relationship Browser

Ecosystem services are the goods and services 

people derive from the natural environment, 

such as clean water, fertile soil for crop 

production, pollination, and flood control and 

water filtration from wetlands. While many 

of these services and their benefits are easily 

recognizable, many, such as air filtration, are not, 

and as a result are easy to under value. 

To help communities and others better account 

for and protect the benefits they derive from the 

environment, in 2012 EPA researchers developed 

an Eco-Health Relationship Browser. The browser 

is designed to increase our understanding of the 

nation’s ecosystems, the services they provide, 

and how those services benefit public health and 

well being.

The publicly-available, Web-based browser uses 

a series of interactive “info-bubbles” to help users 

easily identify linkages between human health 

and ecosystem services. For example, forests 

are ecosystems that contribute to cleaner air 

through natural air filtration, and air pollution has 

been shown to be connected to the incidence 

of migraine headaches. Through this association, 

changes in forest ecosystems could be linked to 

frequency of migraines.

The info-bubbles also contain sidebar 

descriptions that briefly explain the selected 

topic and pop-up boxes that illuminate 

associated ecosystem service linkages, complete 

with citations of relevant scientific studies about 

the connections. A complete bibliography is also 

available from the browser webpage.

The Eco-Health Relationship Browser is one new 

tool in the Agency’s efforts to better understand 

and quantify connections between ecosystems, 

ecosystem services, and human health. This 

information is critical for decision makers as they 

work to preserve and protect valuable and 

interconnected assets and strive to ensure 

sustainable and healthy communities.

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 A two-year EPA study investigated toxic vapors and radon concentrations in indoor air and underground soils near residences.

EPA Science Supports Vapor Intrusion Guidance 

Most threats to people in buildings, such as fire, 

flood, hazardous spills, or structural damage, 

are dramatic and easy to identify. But while 

it may not be something worthy of coverage 

on the evening news, vapor intrusion—the 

contamination of indoor air by harmful gases, 

both naturally occurring (such as radon) or 

or resulting from chemical spills), that migrate 

upward from the ground or ground water—also 

poses serious health risks. 

EPA scientists have provided measurements and 

analysis methods for a new guidance document 

to better evaluate the problems associated with 

toxic chemicals that seep into people’s homes 

through vapor intrusion. 

During a two-year study, EPA scientists 

investigated spatial and seasonal changes in 

the concentrations of vapors, including volatile 

organic compounds (VOS) and radon in indoor 

air.

The outcomes were published in October 2012 in 

a report titled, Fluctuation of Indoor Radon and 

VOC Concentrations Due to Seasonal Variations. 

Results from the study, along with several 

other documents and tools were compiled as 

part of the Agency’s Final Subsurface Vapor 

Intrusion Guidance, made publicly available on 

November 30, 2012.

This guidance document provides reliable ways 

to measure vapor intrusion and answers questions 

first posed in the 2002 EPA document on the 

same topic. The results of the research and 

guidance provide environmental managers and 

others from EPA Regional Offices and states with 

easy-to-understand ways to evaluate sites for 

VOC vapor intrusion.

Additional ongoing EPA research on vapor 

intrusion includes developing approaches for 

measuring vapor impacts, evaluating sampling 

tools to assess impacts at petroleum sites, and 

modeling studies to better understand the 

screening of certain vapor intrusion chemicals. 

The suite of research supports efforts to develop 

assessment approaches for contaminated sites 

and buildings, and to inform multiple regulatory 

efforts related to vapor intrusion issues.

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Two 55 gallon drums (in series) for sand filtration are always in service while the third is undergoing backwash. Daniel Concepcion, 

a University of Puerto Rico student, completed his Masters Degree based on these drum sand filter studies.

Water Systems in Puerto Rico

EPA researchers are customizing innovative water 

treatment systems to help better protect people 

living in small communities in Puerto Rico that 

currently rely on untreated sources of drinking 

water, making them susceptible to periodic 

outbreaks of waterborne diseases. 

To offer sustainable solutions to the water 

quality challenge, EPA scientists aimed to 

design treatment systems that could serve local 

populations. For example, they sought systems 

that would be inexpensive, fabricated from local 

parts and supplies, and easy to build, operate, 

and maintain—such as systems that could be 

operated via gravity or solar power. 

The researchers delivered. The result of their work 

was the creation of two “slow” sand filtration 

systems constructed in a remote location in Rio 

Piedras. The systems not only provide a locally 

sustainable, clean drinking water supply, they 

also serve as demonstration and training centers 

for surrounding communities and water system 

operators. 

Researchers plan to further customize their 

designs to address filtration needs of specific 

contaminants in certain rural communities, such 

as naturally occurring arsenic. The long-term 

objective is to create versatile systems that can 

be used by small communities anywhere in need 

of reliable, low-cost, and low-maintenance water 

purification systems. 

Currently, the researchers have focused on 

nearly 250 local Puerto Rico water systems that 

are not under the regulation of the Puerto Rico 

Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). A third 

of these non-PRASA systems either offer no 

treatment or have treatment systems that are out 

of order or not in use. Economical and technical 

challenges, including a lack of electricity, make 

it impossible to integrate traditional treatment 

systems into these communities; this makes 

the impact of EPA’s research results critically 

important.

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Sustainability Science: Understanding 

Ecosystem Services in Wetlands

The multitudes of benefits people derive from 

the environment are so abundant and free 

flowing that they are easy to overlook. Because 

these benefits are difficult to quantify, they are 

often left out or undervalued in risk assessments 

and other analyses that decision makers use to 

set environmental policies and protect human 

health.

EPA scientists have embarked on a research 

effort to help change this oversight. Research 

in Tampa Bay, Florida is advancing the science 

of sustainability by focusing on aspects of the 

natural environment that form the foundation of 

ecology, economy, and overall well-being. These 

beneficial aspects of nature are what scientists 

refer to as “ecosystem services,” and include 

such things as flood control, fertile soils, biological 

diversity, and the natural cycles that cleanse air 

and water. 

In 2012, EPA scientists completed a two-year 

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study in nine mangrove wetlands and 18 

freshwater riparian and marsh sites with varying 

levels of human disturbance in the Tampa Bay 

drainage basin. Analysis of the study results will 

become part of a dynamic model that allows 

users to understand how human disturbance 

affects the ecosystem services of wetlands, 

particularly regarding the removal of nutrient 

pollution and improved water quality. This project 

is part of an effort to illustrate the trade-offs in 

ecosystem services associated with alternative 

management decision scenarios. Research 

results are available through a new, user-friendly 

website for Tampa Bay.

Additionally, scientists are partnering with local 

governments, other research entities, planning 

organizations, and citizen and business groups 

to identify and assess the values a productive 

ecosystem provides to the community. All 

these experts will help paint a more complete 

picture of Tampa Bay that decision makers 

can use when establishing development and 

environmental plans.

A U.S. Human Well-being Index 

A defining component of sustainability, as 

highlighted in the National Environmental 

Policy Act of 1969, is “to create and 

maintain conditions under which humans 

and nature can exist in productive 

harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, 

economic, and other requirements of 

present and future generations.” 

EPA’s Human Well-being Index (HWBI), 

released as a draft in 2012, is being 

designed to help communities live more 

sustainably. When final, the HWBI will 

provide a Web-based predictive model to 

help communities better quantify the flow 

of ecosystem services, and make decisions 

that prioritize human well-being.

Page 42

The results of two-year study on wetlands and marshes near Tampa Bay, FL will become part of a dynamic model to understand how 

human disturbance affects the ecosystem services of wetlands.
Page 43

EPA’s lakes web tool helps users understand the linkages between changing nutrient cycles and the delivery of important ecosystem 

services to residents and visitors of the Northeast.

Nutrient Tool for Lakes

EPA researchers in Narragansett, Rhode Island, 

recently updated an important online resource

that contains information on more than 28,000 

lakes in the northeastern United States. Scientists 

developed this Web tool to guide management 

decisions, particularly those that affect the flow 

of nutrients into the nation’s lakes.

Lakes provide valuable benefits—called 

ecosystem services—to residents and visitors 

and are increasingly important for maintaining 

recreational opportunities and amenities. 

However, northeastern population growth 

threatens regional lakes by, for instance, 

increasing levels of nutrients entering lake waters. 

EPA’s updated Web tool helps users understand 

the linkages between changing nutrient cycles 

and the delivery of important ecosystem services 

to residents and visitors of the northeast.

The online lakes tool includes a Lakes Ecosystem 

Services Database, which combines information 

from a variety of sources such as EPA’s National 

Lakes Assessment and the U.S. Geological 

Survey’s SPARROW Model for water quality, 

among other datasets. The tool also includes 

a Geographic Information System (GIS) that 

provides geospatial visualization, search, and 

analysis options.

Users can go online and query, sort, and 

download data on lake location, depth, volume, 

land cover, and surrounding human population. 

They can also study the flow of nitrogen and 

phosphorus into certain lakes, as well as explore 

associations between those nutrients and the 

benefits that people obtain from lakes. The tool is 

intended to aid lake managers in the northeast 

and nationwide to foster a better understanding 

of the links between management decisions, 

nutrients, and lake ecosystem services.

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 The Tribal-Focused Environmental Risk and Sustainability 

Tool is designed to provide tribes with the best available human 

health and ecological scientific information.

Supporting Sustainable and 

Healthy Tribal and Native 

Alaskan Communities

The 565 federally recognized Tribal nations 

across the United States manage more than 

95 million acres of land. EPA’s American Indian 

Environmental Office works with those Tribes to 

protect human health and the environment 

by supporting and implementing federal 

environmental and related human health 

protection laws (as consistent with the Tribes’ 

sovereign rights, federal responsibilities, and 

EPA’s official Indian Policy).

That effort is supported by research exploring 

ways to advance sustainable and healthy Tribal 

communities. EPA scientists and the National 

EPA-Tribal Science Council work collaboratively 

to better understand environmental and human 

health issues important to Native American and 

Eskimo communities. (The EPA-Tribal Science 

Council is composed of a tribal representative 

from each of the nine Agency regions across the 

country.)

In 2012, EPA scientists and their partners 

from tribes across the country continued to 

develop and pilot a Web-based environmental 

decision-support tool called the Tribal-Focused 

Environmental Risk and Sustainability Tool (TribalFERST). The tool is designed to provide tribes with 

the best available human health and ecological 

scientific information. 

Using stakeholder feedback from the National 

Tribal Caucus, numerous tribes, the consortium 

of United South and Eastern Tribes (USET), Tribal 

Colleges and Universities, and other stakeholders, 

EPA researchers incorporated a host of new 

enhancements into the beta version of TribalPage 44
Page 45

EPA scientists and the National EPA-Tribal Science Council work 

collaboratively to better understand environmental and human health 

issues important to Native American and Eskimo communities.

FERST. These included additional tribal 

information resources, enhanced maps 

in a Geographic Information System 

database with the ability to overlay 

local data. 

EPA researchers also collaborated with 

the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy 

Tribe of eastern Maine to pilot TribalFERST and address priority issues facing 

the tribe, such as the need to consider 

adaptive coastal management 

strategies in the face of potential 

sea level rise. The tribe also piloted 

Tribal-FERST as a decision support 

tool for comparing different waste 

management options and outcomes, 

including the production of power, 

revenue, and jobs under various 

scenarios. 

Also in 2012, the EPA Tribal-FERST 

team joined with the USET consortium 

to develop a tribal environmental 

assessment roadmap and link TribalFERST with the USET Tribal Water Quality 

database and exchange node. 

These ongoing partnerships, as well 

as outreach at key tribal meetings 

across the country, serve to enhance 

Tribal-FERST and continue to connect 

EPA science with tribal environmental 

needs.

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Page 46 Page 46

For more than 14 years, EPA has partnered with 

the National Institute of Environmental Health 

Sciences (NIEHS) to expand knowledge about 

children’s environmental health through the 

EPA/NIEHS Children’s Environmental Health and 

Disease Prevention Research Program. Together, 

they have invested more than $150 million to 

support a network of multidisciplinary Children’s 

Environmental Health and Disease Prevention 

Research Centers (Children’s Centers).

Through the collaborative network, scientists, 

statisticians, pediatricians, epidemiologists, local 

community representatives, and other experts 

engage in cross-cutting research to understand 

and reduce children’s health risks and promote 

health and well-being in the communities where 

they live, learn, and play. 

Children’s Center researchers are investigating 

environmental, genetic, and epigenetic changes 

in gene expression based on nutrition and other 

factors) components of disease and disease 

prevention, as well as how social and cultural 

factors may be linked to many of today’s most 

pressing children’s health challenges, including 

asthma, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity 

disorder (ADHD), neurodevelopmental deficits, 

childhood leukemia, diabetes, and obesity.

By design, a major emphasis of the Chidren 

Center’s program is to effectively share research 

results with health care professionals, educators, 

community groups, and parents in accessible, 

practical ways that will have real-world impacts 

in preventing disease and improving the health 

and development of children. 

A sample of the many recent Children’s Center 

research findings over the past year include:

• A study by researchers at the Center for 

Environmental Research and Children’s 

Health at the University of California, Berkeley 

found an association between levels of the 

chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) and lower levels 

of thyroid hormones in pregnant women 

and newborn boys. Thyroid hormone during 

pregnancy and the neonatal period is critical 

to proper development.

• Researchers from the Dartmouth Children’s 

Center suggest that rice and food containing 

organic brown rice syrup can expose children 

to arsenic, a known carcinogen that can 

also adversely affect neurologic, respiratory, 

hematologic, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, 

and other systems. 

Protecting Children’s 

Health for a Lifetime
Page 47

EPA is part of a collaborative network of experts who engage 

in cross-cutting research to understand and reduce children’s 

health risks and promote health and well-being in the 

communities where they live, learn, and play.

• Researchers at Columbia University’s 

Center for Children’s Environmental Health 

(CCCEH) found that children with exposures 

to phthalates (chemicals found in personal 

care and plastic products) have elevated 

risk of asthma-related airway inflammation. 

• CCCEH researchers were the first to find 

a difference between how boys and 

girls respond to prenatal exposure to the 

insecticide chlorpyrifos. They found that boys 

appear to be more vulnerable and lower 

IQs have been seen in boys exposed in the 

womb to this chemical.

• A brain imaging study by CCCEH researchers 

found that even low to moderate levels 

of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos 

during pregnancy may lead to long-term, 

potentially irreversible changes in the brain 

structure consistent with IQ deficits at age 

seven.

To learn more about EPA’s Children’s 

Environmental Health and Disease Prevention 

Research Centers, including how to sign up for 

monthly EPA-sponsored webinars presenting the 

latest research findings, please visit: www.epa.

gov/ncer/childrenscenters/.

Page 47
Visitor to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo learns about EPA research and the importance of biodiversity. 

EPA, Smithsonian Biodiversity and Human 

Health Exhibit Opens

EPA science has taken its place as a featured 

exhibit alongside giant pandas, bald eagles, and 

tigers at the Smithsonian Institution’s National 

Zoological Park in Washington, DC. 

Working under a long-standing Memorandum 

of Understanding between EPA and the 

Smithsonian to support partnerships between the 

two organizations, zoo exhibit developers and 

EPA scientists joined forces to produce a new, 

permanent interpretive exhibit highlighting the 

Agency’s leadership role supporting biodiversity 

and human health research, and the importance 

of healthy ecosystems for the well being of 

humans. 

Opened in late 2012, the exhibit is housed in 

the zoo’s Amazonia Science Gallery. It features 

a host of interpretive elements, including a 

computer-based “tick counting game” that 

invites children and other visitors to explore the 

forest as environmental scientists do, a suite of 

videos featuring EPA and partner field biologists, 

and a host of education materials such as 

posters, publications, and artifacts.

Page 48
Chemical Safety for Sustainability

Chemical safety is a major priority for EPA. 

Achieving a safer and more sustainable future 

requires developing new, innovative methods to 

design, manufacture, use, and dispose of existing 

and new chemicals in cleaner, less toxic ways. 

With tens of thousands of chemicals currently in use 

and hundreds more introduced every year, it also 

demands faster, more efficient chemical testing 

and screening methods.

EPA chemical research is focused on advancing 

a better understanding of chemicals to maximize 

safety and sustainability. Researchers are 

developing fast, efficient, and less-costly ways to 

collect and analyze data, better predict chemical 

risk, and help reduce the current backlog of 

chemicals not fully assessed for potential human 

health and environmental effects.

The data and studies EPA researchers generate are 

publicly available through transparent, accessible, 

online tools, providing the latest science-based 

safety data to support better, more informed 

decisions protecting human health and the 

environment. 

This section highlights some of the top 

research results in computational toxicology, 

nanotechnology, sustainable chemical design, 

pesticides, industrial chemicals, endocrine 

disrupting chemicals, and human health risk EPA 

researchers and their partners achieved in 2012.

Learn More!

For more information about the scope and impact of EPA research to support Chemical Safety for

Sustainability, please visit: www.epa.gov/research/chemicalscience/.

Page 49
EPA researchers are leading the development of innovative, new tools and toxicology screening and testing methods that are faster 

and less costly than traditional practices.

EPA’s Computational Toxicology Research

There are currently more than 80,000 chemicals 

listed or registered for use under EPA authorities, 

many of which have not been thoroughly 

assessed for the health and environmental 

risks. With hundreds more introduced into the 

marketplace every year, it’s easy to see the 

enormous challenge facing EPA officials and 

others tasked with ensuring the sustainable 

production, use, and disposal of chemicals. 

To meet that challenge, EPA researchers are 

leading the development of innovative new 

tools and technologies to evaluate the safety of 

chemicals, products, and emerging materials. 

EPA computational toxicology researchers are 

using advances in exposure science, molecular 

and systems biology, chemistry, mathematical 

and computer modeling, and computer 

technology to predict chemical hazards and 

risk. In the process, they are ushering in a new 

generation of predictive tools to evaluate 

potential chemical risk to human health and the 

environment. 

EPA’s computational toxicology research 

continued to make important strides in 2012. 

Page 50
Tox21

EPA researchers and their partners conduct 

high-throughput chemical screening using 

robotics and a variety of other technologies 

available from a research partnership called 

Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century (“Tox21”). 

Tox21 is a collaborative federal research 

partnership uniting EPA, the National Institutes 

of Health, and the U.S. Food and Drug 

Administration to screen tens of thousands of 

chemicals. 

The automated systems move small, specialized 

test plates, each with 1,536 tiny wells of liquid 

test solutions and containing human cells or 

proteins, through a series of computerized 

screening and analysis activities, in effect 

simultaneously running thousands of separate 

experiments at a time.

Page 51

Researchers analyzed automated, highthroughput screening data and developed 

high-throughput exposure predictions for 

over 1,000 chemicals of interest. “Highthroughput” refers to the speed of chemical 

tests (assays) or predictions, defined as 

being capable of generating test results 

or predictions for hundreds to thousands 

of chemicals in just days or weeks. The 

researchers also analyzed chemical 

structures to identify which chemical 

properties are more likely to influence toxicity 

and exposure potential. 

These accomplishments promise to deliver 

advanced methods that are not only higher 

performing and faster, but also far less costly 

to use.
EPA researchers are working to provide web-based tools that supply summary information based on extensive chemical exposure and 

hazard data, decision-rules, and predictive models.

Increasing Transparency and Accessibility of 

Chemical Safety Information

EPA’s computational toxicology research 

is building accessible, online databases on 

thousands of chemicals that can be shared 

with the public and those making policy 

and regulatory decisions about the safety of 

chemicals. 

As these extensive, Web-accessible databases 

are being developed, EPA is collaborating with 

academia and industry partners to gather the 

“critical mass” of chemical hazard and exposure 

data needed to advance innovation, and 

to launch the next generation of sustainable 

chemical design. By using the data to identify 

the features of chemicals that contribute to their 

hazardous properties, chemical engineers and 

others will have the information they need to 

design new functional, yet safer, chemicals.

The public release of computational toxicology 

data provides opportunities to engage 

stakeholders and to promote transparency 

on how the data are used to inform EPA 

decisions. It is also expected that by actively 

engaging stakeholders and making research 

results widely accessible, EPA will promote the 

commercialization and use of the data and its 

research, facilitating chemical safety assessments 

Page 52
Chemical Evaluation Dashboards for 

Decision Makers

For those protecting human health and the 

environment by making decisions regarding 

chemical risks and health effects, the extensive 

databases and proliferation of additional 

scientific information being generated by EPA’s 

CompTox and other research efforts can be 

daunting.

To overcome this obstacle, EPA computational 

toxicology researchers are developing 

customizable and user-friendly Web-based 

applications—called “Dashboards”—that 

provide accessible, useful summary information 

on chemical exposure and hazard data, 

decision-tools, and predictive models. The 

Dashboards compile information useful for 

predicting risk and prioritizing chemicals for 

further testing. 

Prototype Dashboards were developed in 

2012 for EPA’s Endocrine Disruption Screening 

program, to support chemical prioritization 

for the Toxic Substances Control Act, and for 

chemicals of concern for the Safe Water Drinking 

Act’s Candidate Contaminant List.

Page 53

and the design of benign or less hazardous 

materials by industry and others. 

An additional result of this investment in 

innovative science will be a reduction in the 

number of animals needed for evaluating 

chemical hazard and risk.
ToxCast Partnership to Advance Chemical

Testing, Reduce Animal Testing

A major component of EPA’s computational 

toxicology research (see previous stories) is EPA’s 

toxicity forecaster, or “ToxCast.” Researchers are 

using ToxCast as part of work to systematically 

screen chemicals to better understand the 

potential impact exposures have on processes 

in the human body that lead to adverse health 

effects. 

Using ToxCast, EPA screened more than 1,000 

chemicals in some 700 fast, automated tests 

called high throughput assays. Research results, 

presented in a host of published scientific papers 

in peer-reviewed journals, show ToxCast can be 

used to predict a chemical’s potential for liver 

toxicity, developmental toxicity, reproductive 

toxicity, and cancer.

Based largely on the promising results of ToxCast 

for advancing computational toxicology 

methods and for ushering in a new generation 

of chemical screening methods that will be 

faster, less costly, and greatly reduce the use 

of laboratory animals, in March 2012, EPA and 

the cosmetics company L’Oréal announced 

a collaboration to expand the work to include 

substances from the cosmetic sector.

As part of the partnership, L’Oréal is providing 

EPA with $1.2 million in collaborative research 

funding plus robust safety data from a set of 

representative cosmetic substances. Substances 

from L’Oréal are being assessed by ToxCast 

and results will be compared to the safety data 

L’Oréal provided. 

For more than 30 years, L’Oréal has invested 

in animal-free toxicology tests and the EPA 

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Using ToxCast, EPA researchers and their partners are screening more than 1,000 chemicals in some 700 fast, automated tests , 

including robot-assisted ones (pictured) to better understand their potential impact on processes in the human body that lead to 

adverse health effects. 

collaboration will help the company to make 

predictions on the safety of substances earlier 

in the development process. It also expands 

the types of chemical use groups that EPA 

researchers are now assessing in ToxCast. 

The L’Oréal research partnership is just one 

of many that EPA researchers have fostered 

to increase the scope and impact of 

computational toxicology research efforts. 

One of the largest is the Toxicity Testing in the 

21st Century (Tox21) collaboration with the 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the 

National Institutes of Health, which pools federal 

resources and expertise to screen more than 

10,000 chemicals for potential toxicity (see EPA’s 

Computational Toxicology Research). 

EPA now has partners from more than 100 

different organizations ranging from industry, 

academia, trade associations, other federal 

agencies, state governments, and nongovernmental organizations. Partners provide 

a wide variety of support, including chemicals, 

software, chemical toxicity study data and 

results, different kinds of high-throughput 

screening, and much more.

Partnerships are finalized through numerous types 

of agreements. Individuals and organizations with 

an interest in promoting the use of computational 

toxicology and exposure science are invited to 

participate in EPA’s Computational Toxicology 

Communities of Practice; for more information, 

visit: http://1.usa.gov/fevgcF.

Page 55
Page 56

Nanomaterials are materials between one and 

100 nanometers in size (a nanometer is one 

billionth of a meter). These tiny materials often 

exhibit unique properties that are different from 

those of the same substances in a larger size, and 

have been tapped for manufacturing processes 

and for applications in paint, cosmetics, treated 

wood, electronics, and other products. While 

nanomaterials offer important benefits, they may 

also present some risks. 

EPA is leading scientific efforts to understand the 

potential risks to humans and the environment 

from nanomaterials. This work includes:

• Collaborating on Nano-copper: As part 

of the U.S. National Nanotechnology 

Initiative, EPA and the U.S. Consumer 

Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are 

collaborating in a worldwide effort to assess 

the effects of nanomaterials. Joint research 

includes exploring the potential human 

and environmental effects from exposure 

to copper nanomaterials used in wood 

treatment products for decks and fences. 

• Children’s Exposure: Another part of the EPACPSC collaboration focuses on the potential 

exposure of children to nanoparticles. Of 

particular interest is nanosilver, which can 

prevent the growth of some bacteria or fungi 

and is sometimes used in the manufacturing 

of children’s toys. Researchers are developing 

the tools, approaches, and protocols 

needed to determine if nanosilver is released 

from children’s products under real-world 

Ensuring Safe Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials
Page 57 Page 57

conditions. Preliminary study results on 13 

products indicate that the silver levels to 

which children may potentially be exposed 

during normal product use is low.

• Nanosilver: To investigate potential health 

risks of nanosilver in everyday products 

such as body soap, laundry detergent, and 

toothpaste, scientists from EPA and the 

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, researched 

the changes that occur when nanosilver 

interacts with the acidic environment of a 

synthetic human stomach. 

Results showed that nanomaterials could 

alter the amount of silver that is absorbed 

by the body. Researchers further developed 

methods and standard test procedures for 

characterizing the physical and chemical 

properties that influence the health risks 

associated with nanosilver.

EPA researchers also released the document: 

Nanomaterial Case Study: Nanoscale Silver in 

Disinfectant Spray (see next column).

EPA Case Study: Nanosilver in 

Disinfectant Spray

In 2012, EPA released Nanomaterial Case 

Study: Nanoscale Silver in Disinfectant 

Spray. 

The case study was conducted to support 

research planning efforts for nanomaterials 

such as the studies mentioned previously. 

Researchers considered nanosilver in 

disinfectant sprays across the entire 

lifecycle of products, including how they 

are produced, shipped, stored, used, and 

disposed of or recycled. The report presents 

information about how nanosilver materials 

and waste by-products might move and 

change before coming into contact with 

people and other organisms, and the 

potential impacts of exposures in these 

populations. 

For more information, and to download a 

copy of the report, see: http://1.usa.gov/

W0o7v0. 
Normal growth and development, from 

conception, through pregnancy and to 

childhood and adolescence, depends on the 

intricate timing and release of hormones by 

the body’s endocrine system, which regulates 

growth, maturation, and reproduction in people 

and animals. 

Scientists have discovered that exposures 

to excess hormones or to certain chemicals, 

known collectively as “endocrine disrupting 

chemicals,” can disrupt the functioning of the 

endocrine system, which can lead to a series 

of development problems and other adverse 

effects, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, 

infertility, and childhood disorders. 

As part of the effort to better protect human 

health and the environment, learning more 

about endocrine disrupting chemicals and how 

to screen and identify them from the thousands 

of chemicals in use has been a high priority for 

EPA researchers since the early 1990s.

In 2012, EPA scientists used innovative 

approaches to assess thousands of chemicals 

for potential endocrine disruption, and worked 

with outside research partners to investigate the 

effects of hormones in waste from concentrated 

animal feeding operations. 

Innovative approaches included an EPAdeveloped Quantitative Structure Activity 

Relationship (QSAR)-based estrogen expert 

system, and the ToxCast approach (see previous 

stories), to screen thousands of chemicals and 

provide new information to EPA’s Endocrine 

Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). The expert 

Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Research

EPA research advancements in 2012 included narrowing down the field of already confirmed endocrine disrupting chemicals to 

support targeted studies to identify specific mechanisms likely to cause harmful effects.

Page 58
system predicts the potential for chemicals 

to bind to estrogen hormone receptors and 

activate genes that cause health effects. 

EPA researchers worked closely with the EDSP 

to define the potential “chemical universe” of 

endocrine disrupting chemicals that require 

screening. In 2012, they identified more than 

10,000 chemicals that make up this “chemical 

universe,” by identifying properties that could 

cause them to interfere with natural hormones 

and disrupt the endocrine system. 

Advancements in 2012 included narrowing 

down the field of already confirmed 

endocrine disrupting chemicals to support 

targeted studies and the identification of 

specific chemical interactions with important 

biological processes that are likely to cause 

toxicological effects. The scientific information 

is being used to help prioritize which 

chemicals should be tested first by EPA, and 

what additional tests are needed to assess the 

chemicals.

Reducing Endocrine Disrupting 

Chemicals in Chesapeake Bay

EPA scientists worked with the University of 

Maryland Wye Research Center to determine 

how to reduce the amounts of endocrine 

disrupting hormones associated with 

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations 

from reaching nearby waterways. Hormonecontaining wastes from these operations can 

get into soil and water, leading to adverse 

effects such as intersex conditions in fish. 

Research results from the collaboration 

showed that tilling poultry fecal waste into 

the soil and injecting the waste underground 

reduced endocrine disrupting hormones 

concentrations, as compared to not tilling the 

waste into the ground. 

The findings will inform actions to reduce the 

amount of poultry steroid hormones in storm 

runoff coming from areas along Chesapeake 

Bay. 

Page 59
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A series of EPA studies are providing key information to minimize exposure to PCBs in schools.

PCB Research Supports Safer Schools

In 2012, EPA researchers completed the first three 

of five studies they are conducting to answer 

questions about polychlorinated biphenyls, 

(PCBs) in schools. What they are learning is 

providing key information to minimize exposures 

and better protect students, teachers, and 

others. 

PCBs are a structurally similar group of manmade 

chemicals useful for a variety of applications. 

Some PCBs, for example, are slippery, making 

them valuable as industrial lubricants. Heat and 

flame resistant, they were also used as insulators 

in transformers, electrical appliances, and 

fluorescent light fixtures. PCBs were also used as 

stabilizers in paints, adhesives, and caulking. 

PCBs were widely used from 1950 until the 

late 1970s. Congress banned their use and 

manufacture in 1976 in the face of growing 

evidence linking their exposure with adverse 

human health effects, including cancer, 

reproductive problems, and neurological 

development. 

While PCB exposures have been greatly reduced, 

the combination of their previous widespread 

use and persistence has meant they are still 

present in the environment. Buildings, including 

schools, built or renovated between 1950 and 

1970 may contain PCBs, particularly in caulking or 

fluorescent lighting fixtures. 

In response to concerns raised by parents, EPA 

scientists are identifying and evaluating potential 

PCB sources in schools and advancing a better 

understanding of how people might be exposed. 

The researchers are also investigating methods to 

minimize or eliminate PCB emissions in schools. 

Page 60
In 2012, EPA researchers released the results 

of three studies. The first two studies focused 

on primary sources (such as caulk and lighting 

fixtures) and secondary sources (paint, masonry 

walls, and dust that can absorb PCBs from 

primary sources) of PCBs in schools. The third 

study investigated a containment method known 

as “encapsulation” where PCB sources are 

covered with a coating material to reduce air 

and surface concentrations of PCBs. 

Results of the studies include: 

• Caulk put in place between 1950 and 1979 

may contain as much as 30% PCBs and can 

emit PCBs into the surrounding air. PCBs 

from caulk may also contaminate adjacent 

materials such as masonry or wood.

• Fluorescent lighting fixtures that still contain 

their original PCB-containing light ballasts 

have exceeded their designed lifespan, and 

the chance for rupture and emitting PCBs is 

significant. Sudden rupture of PCB-containing 

light ballasts may result in exposure to the 

occupants and may also result in the addition 

of significant clean-up costs.

• Some building materials (e.g., paint and 

masonry walls) and indoor dust can absorb 

PCB emissions and become potential 

secondary sources. When the primary PCBemitting sources are removed, the secondary 

sources often emit PCBs. 

• Encapsulation is only effective at reducing 

air concentrations to desirable levels when 

PCB content in the source is low. Selecting 

high-performance coating materials is key 

to effective encapsulation. Multiple layers of 

coatings enhance the performance of the 

encapsulation.

As EPA researchers gain new information they will 

make further recommendations on how to best 

prevent harmful PCB exposure in schools.

Learn More about

EPA Chemical Safety 

for Sustainability

For more information about 

the scope and impact of 

EPA Chemical Safety for 

Sustainability research, visit:

• EPA Chemical Safety for 

Sustainability: www.epa.gov/

research/chemicalscience/.

• EPA Computational 

Toxicology Research: www.

epa.gov/comptox/

• Download a copy of 

EPA’s Chemical Safety 

for Sustainability Strategic 

Research Action Plan, 

2012-2016: http://epa.gov/

research/docs/css-strap.pdf

Page 61
EPA and research partners are exploring how to incorporate 

the concepts of sustainability to advance the design of new, 

innovative, “green” products made of safe substances and 

manufactured with efficient, clean processes.

Promoting Chemical

Sustainability

There is no doubt that chemicals can make our 

lives easier. They are ubiquitous in our medicines, 

the cleaning and disinfection products we use 

to clean our homes and workplaces, and used 

throughout industry to make the many products 

we use and enjoy everyday. What would be 

even better would be to continue to enjoy these 

multiple benefits with minimal or no negative 

impacts to human health and the environment.

Together with partners, EPA is exploring how 

to incorporate the concepts of sustainability 

to advance the design of new, innovative, 

“green” products made of safer substances 

and manufactured with more efficient, clean 

processes. 

In September 2012, EPA signed a Memorandum 

of Understanding with the National Science 

Foundation (NSF) to collaborate to help steer 

more chemical research toward advancing 

sustainability. In December, EPA and the National 

Science Foundation released two requests 

for applications (RFAs) to support innovative 

research projects investigating ways to use 

benign, more natural materials in developing 

chemicals for use in everyday products. 

The RFAs seek to fund innovative chemical 

safety research focused on two distinct areas: 

(1) sustainable, safe alternatives to existing 

chemicals, and (2) assessments looking at the 

entire life cycle of chemicals, from production to 

disposal. 

In addition to the partnership with NSF, EPA’s 

own scientists continued to advance chemical 

sustainability throughout 2012. One example 

is Greenscope, a six-year-effort that has 

identified and ranked 139 separate indicators 

of the chemical manufacturing processes on 

a “sustainability scale” from 0 to 100 percent 

sustainable. 

In order to test Greenscope, researchers devised 

a computer model of a hypothetical biodiesel 

facility that included all the manufacturing 

processes and sustainability indicators. A 

published case study on the model illustrated 

how they were able to assess the sustainability 

of the plant. Also, in February 2012, EPA signed 

an MOU with the company Procter and Gamble 

to develop sustainability measures for its supply 

chain management system, and possibly deploy 

Greenscope at P&G facilities in the future. 

Page 62
Human Health Risk Assessment

EPA’s Human Health Risk Assessment research 

program provides state-of-the-science products in 

support of risk assessment, such as independently 

peer-reviewed human health assessments for 

individual chemicals and chemical mixtures; 

integrated science assessments and technical 

support to meet partner and stakeholder needs; 

and tools to modernize human health risk 

assessment. 

The research results and products of the 

program are used by local, state, national, and 

international authorities to guide waste site 

cleanups, protect the air, set exposure limits for 

chemicals in drinking water, and determine the 

potential risk to public health from exposures to 

multiple environmental contaminants. 

EPA researchers are helping to advance the 

science of risk assessment through original 

research, consultation with experts, and by 

accepting new challenges. These include 

developing community risk assessment tools and 

tailoring risk assessments to inform key decisions. 

This section highlights a few of the many 

achievements from EPA’s Human Health Risk 

Assessment program from 2012. For more 

information on the scope and impact of EPA 

research on human health risk assessment, please 

visit: http://www.epa.gov/ncea/.

Learn More!

For more information about the scope and impact of EPA research to support Human Health Risk 

Assessment, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/nceawww1/hhra/index.htm 

Page 63
Page 64

EPA researchers provide leadership to assess the 

potential health effects posed by exposures to 

chemicals in the environment. A critical part 

of that effort is the Agency’s Integrated Risk 

Information System, or “IRIS.”

IRIS is a human health assessment program 

through which Agency scientists evaluate and 

present comprehensive information on the 

health effects that may result from exposures to 

contaminants in land, water, and air. 

IRIS health assessments provide information on 

the hazards a chemical may pose as well as 

information on “dose-response” (the relationships 

between amounts of exposure and expected 

effects), resulting in reference doses, reference 

concentrations, cancer slope factors, and 

inhalation unit risks. When combined with 

information about people’s environmental 

exposure to a chemical, IRIS assessments can be 

used to characterize health risks. 

IRIS assessments are not full risk assessments or 

regulations, but they provide part of the scientific 

foundation that supports Agency decisions and 

actions for the nation’s environmental laws, and 

are widely used throughout the country on the 

federal, state, and local levels to guide cleanup 

and other actions to protect human health.

Currently, IRIS contains information on more than 

560 chemicals.

Over the past few years, EPA has taken steps 

to significantly improve the IRIS program. Those 

efforts continued throughout 2012. 

On June 5, 2012, EPA publicly released an IRIS 

progress report to the U.S. Congress (EPA’s 

Integrated Risk Information System Program, 

Progress Report and Report to Congress, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency). The report 

provided Congress, stakeholders, and the public 

with an update on the program, and on EPA’s 

progress toward implementing recommendations 

to improve the program made by the National 

Research Council (NRC) in 2011.

Improvements were illustrated further with 

the release of the 2012 draft assessments for 

ammonia (IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia, 

External Review Draft, U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency) and several isomers of 

trimethylbenzene (IRIS Toxicological Review of 

Trimethylbenzenes, External Review Draft,. U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency). 

The assessments present a new, highly 

improved document structure which includes 

a template for describing the literature search 

approach used in the assessments. In addition, 

the documents clearly identify the strengths 

and weaknesses of the analyzed studies and 

explicitly describe how EPA guidance, methods, 

and criteria were applied in developing the 

assessments.

Growing IRIS: Advancing EPA’s Integrated Risk 

Information System

IRIS is a human health risk assessment program through which Agency scientists 

evaluate and present comprehensive risk information on the health effects that may 

result from exposures to contaminants in land, water, and air.
Continuing the Agency’s commitment to 

improving the IRIS program, on May 16, 2012, 

EPA announced that the NRC would conduct 

a comprehensive review of the IRIS program’s 

assessment development processes, review 

current methods for integrating data, and 

recommend approaches for weighing 

scientific evidence for chemical hazard 

identification.

For more information on the IRIS program, 

including opportunities to engage with EPA, 

please visit the IRIS website (www.epa.gov/

IRIS/).

Strengthening IRIS

Because of the critical importance of IRIS in 

supporting EPA and beyond, a strong, vital 

and scientifically sound program is key to 

providing needed health risk information. 

Over the past two years, EPA has worked to 

strengthen and streamline the IRIS program, 

improving transparency and increasing 

the number of final assessments added to 

the IRIS database. Continually improving 

IRIS is a priority for the Agency, and efforts 

are underway to further strengthen and 

streamline this important program.
In February 2012, EPA released the final health 

assessment for the chemical tetrachloroethylene, 

also known as perchloroethylene, or more 

commonly as “perc.” 

Perc is a chemical solvent widely used in the 

dry cleaning industry and to manufacture some 

consumer products and other chemicals; it is also 

a common environmental contaminant. 

Confirming longstanding scientific understanding 

and research, the final assessment characterizes 

perc as a “likely human carcinogen.” The 

assessment, which underwent rigorous, 

independent peer review, includes toxicity 

values for both cancer and non-cancer effects 

associated with exposure to perc over a lifetime. 

EPA has already taken several significant actions 

to reduce exposure to perc. For example, the 

Agency established clean air standards for dry 

cleaners that use perc, including requirements 

that dry cleaners operating in residential buildings 

phase out its use by late 2020. EPA also set limits 

for the amount of perc allowed in drinking water. 

The toxicity values reported in the perc IRIS 

assessment will be considered in future actions to 

protect public health, such as:

• Informing new Superfund clean up sites 

where vapor intrusion leads to indoor air 

contamination from perc,

• Revising EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level 

for perc as part of the carcinogenic volatile 

organic compounds group in drinking water, 

as described in the Agency’s drinking water 

strategy, and 

• Evaluating the need for additional limits on 

the perc emissions into the atmosphere; (perc 

is listed as a hazardous air pollutant under the 

Clean Air Act).

EPA’s IRIS Program Releases Final Health

Assessment for “Perc”

Confirming longstanding scientific understanding and research, the final assessment characterizes perc as a “likely 

human carcinogen.”

Page 66
On February 17, 2012, EPA reached a major 

milestone by completing its non-cancer health 

assessment for dioxin. Dioxins are toxic chemicals 

that exist naturally and can be released to the 

environment through forest fires, backyard burning 

of trash, certain industrial activities, and residue 

from past commercial burning of waste. 

Over the past two decades EPA has worked to 

significantly reduce emissions from all of the major 

industrial sources of dioxins. Today, the largest 

remaining source of dioxin emissions is backyard 

burning of household trash.

EPA’s final report, Reanalysis of Key Issues Related 

to Dioxin Toxicity and Response to NAS Comments, 

Volume 1 (Dioxin Reanalysis), describes the health 

effects (other than cancer) that may result from 

exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin 

(TCDD), the most toxic of the many different forms 

of dioxin (also known as congeners). 

The assessment also establishes, for the first time, 

a non-cancer oral reference dose (RfD) that 

represents the amount of dioxin a person can 

Final Non-Cancer Science 

Assessment for Dioxins

Released

As a result of efforts by EPA, state governments and industry, 

known and measurable air emissions of dioxins in the United 

States have been reduced by 90 percent since 1987.

Page 67

be exposed to every day over a lifetime that 

is not likely to cause harmful effects. Scientists 

can use this RfD to calculate the toxicity of the 

many other dioxin congeners relative to TCDD. 

This provides a way to add up the toxicity of all 

dioxin congeners that appear together in an 

environmental mixture.

Most Americans have low-level exposure to 

dioxins. The health effects associated with 

dioxins depend on several factors, including: 

how much dioxin a person is exposed to, when 

someone was exposed, and for how long and 

how often someone is exposed. Based on data 

from animal and human epidemiology studies, 

there is concern that exposure to low levels 

of dioxins over long periods (or exposures at 

sensitive times during the lifespan) might result 

in reproductive or developmental effects and 

other health effects.

The non-cancer health assessment for dioxin 

is a significant achievement for EPA and 

will contribute to the Agency’s mission of 

protecting public health. The information in the 

assessment will be considered in a variety of 

Agency activities, such as establishing cleanup 

levels at Superfund sites, reviewing the drinking 

water standard for dioxin, and evaluating 

whether additional Clean Air Act limits on dioxin 

emissions are warranted.
Page 68

Integrated Science Assessments: Gathering the Best Air 

Science to Protect Human Health and the Environment

EPA sets National Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS) for six “criteria” air pollutants—ozone, 

particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur 

dioxides, nitrogen oxides, and lead—considered 

harmful to human health and the environment.

Interdisciplinary teams of EPA scientists prepare 

the Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) 

that review, synthesize, and evaluate the most 

policy-relevant science to serve as a scientific 

foundation for the review of NAAQS. The ISAs 

synthesize relevant information from a large body 

of literature, generally encompassing thousands 

of studies, from across scientific disciplines 

Page 68
including atmospheric chemistry, exposure 

science, epidemiology, animal and human 

toxicology, and terrestrial and aquatic ecology. 

All ISAs are vetted through a rigorous scientific 

peer review process, which includes two reviews 

by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Council, 

and are made available for public review and 

comment. 

During 2012, EPA scientists continued to make 

significant progress in developing ISAs. In 

February, the Agency released the second 

external review draft of the ISA for lead for 

public review and comment, and in November 

released the third draft of the lead ISA. In June, 

EPA released the third external review draft of 

the ISA for ozone and related photochemical 

oxidants for public review and comment. 

EPA also held a “kickoff” workshop to initiate 

the next review of the health-based NAAQS 

for nitrogen oxides, in keeping with the Clean 

Air Act requirement for periodic reviews of the 

standards.

In addition, EPA scientists are laying the 

groundwork for incorporating multipollutant 

analyses into their assessments. The Agency 

is currently developing multipollutant science 

documents to help evaluate the impacts of 

ambient air pollution mixtures on health and 

climate. The multipollutant assessments are 

expected to help EPA scientists and managers 

better understand uncertainties about the effects 

of pollutants within the air pollution mixture. The 

multipollutant assessment work will also stimulate 

additional research and data gathering activities 

to benefit future assessments.

Integrated Science Assessments Released in 

2012: 

Lead

• November 2012: EPA released the third 

external review draft of the ISA for Lead for 

public review and comment. [Federal Register 

Nov 27, 2012]

• February 2012: EPA released the second 

external review draft of the ISA for Lead for 

public review and comment. [Federal Register 

Feb 2, 2012]

Ozone

• June 2012: EPA released the third external 

review draft of the Integrated Science 

Assessment of Ozone and related 

Photochemical Oxidants (EPA/600/R-10/076C) 

for public review and comment. [Federal 

Register Jun 19, 2012] 
EPA’s draft assessment concludes that current ambient air concentrations of asbestos in the Libby, Montana mine area did not appear 

to cause levels of risk above EPA Superfund targets.

Asbestos Toxicity Estimates to Help Protect

Health in Libby, Montana

In 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson 

declared a public health emergency in Libby, 

Montana. This unprecedented action by an EPA 

Administrator recognized serious health risks, 

including lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis, 

and decreased lung function, posed from 

exposure to Libby Amphibole asbestos present in 

the community from past mining and vermiculate 

processing. 

EPA started cleanup activities for the 

contaminated former Libby mine in 1999, and 

the area was listed as a Superfund site in 2002. 

Throughout that time, Agency researchers have 

worked closely with partners from EPA’s Region 

8 Office (serving Montana, Colorado, North 

Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming) and 

the local community to support those efforts and 

better protect public health. 

Page 70
In 2011, EPA released the IRIS Toxicological 

Review of Libby Amphibole (External Review 

Draft). This health assessment, when final, will 

support cleanup and related risk management 

initiatives at the Libby Superfund site. 

The draft assessment presents conclusions 

about potential human health hazards for 

cancer and non-cancer health effects, and it 

provides toxicity values that will be used to help 

characterize risk in areas where people may be 

exposed to Libby Amphibole asbestos. 

The draft assessment has undergone rigorous 

peer review and incorporates a transparent 

process including ample opportunity for 

community and stakeholder involvement and 

public comment. An explicit part of the process 

was to engage the affected community in the 

review process. Those efforts continued well into 

2012.

In February of 2012, EPA’s Scientific Advisory 

Board (SAB) held a public peer review meeting 

on the draft Libby Amphibole asbestos 

assessment and held two public teleconferences 

of the SAB Libby Amphibole Asbestos Panel in 

May to discuss the Panel’s report on its review of 

the draft assessment. 

EPA scientists will consider public and peer review 

comments as they finalize the assessment. The 

final assessment will help the Agency secure 

the best path forward for cleaning up Libby 

Amphibole asbestos and for protecting public 

health at the Libby Superfund site.

Learn More about EPA’s Human Health Risk Assessment Research 

For more information about the scope and impact of EPA Human Health Risk Assessment

research, visit:

• EPA Human Health Risk Assessment Research: www.epa.gov/nceawww1/hhra/index.htm.

• EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS): http://www.epa.gov/iris/

• Download a copy of EPA’s Human Health Risk Assessment Strategic Research Action Plan, 

2012-2016: http://epa.gov/research/docs/hhra-strap.pdf
Page 72

EPA supports the nation’s leading scientists 

and engineers to facilitate the pursuit and 

dissemination of high-quality research to build 

a strong foundation for Agency actions and 

decisions. Additionally, EPA researchers cultivate 

and maintain partnerships with research 

colleagues at colleges and universities around 

the world, at partner federal and state human 

health and environmental agencies, and other 

entities throughout the scientific community. 

The Agency’s extramural research program funds 

research grants, graduate and undergraduate 

fellowships, and large research centers through 

a competitive solicitation processes and 

independent peer review. These programs 

engage the nation’s best scientists and engineers 

in targeted research that complements EPA’s 

own research.

EPA is also one of 11 federal agencies that 

participate in the Small Business Innovation 

Research (SBIR) program, established in 1982 to 

strengthen the role of small business in federal 

research and development, to create jobs, 

and to promote technical innovation. EPA’s 

SBIR program awards funds to innovative small 

businesses that have novel concepts for products 

and technologies that will help spur economic 

growth while advancing a more sustainable 

future. 

Supporting and Building Partnerships

Learn More!

For more information on EPA research grants, fellowships, and awards, 

please visit: www.epa.gov/ncer/.
EPA funds research grants and graduate 

fellowships in numerous environmental science 

and engineering disciplines through its Science 

to Achieve Results (STAR) program. The 

program engages the nation’s best scientists 

and engineers in targeted research that 

complements EPA’s own intramural research 

program and supports partners in other federal 

agencies.

The Agency awarded 126 Fellowships (87 

graduate and 39 undergraduate), 114 grants 

(this includes funds awarded in Fiscal Year 2012, 

which includes late 2011), and 32 Small Business 

Innovation Research (SBIR) awards to support 

environmental research conducted in 2012.

Grants are given through competitive solicitation 

processes followed by independent peer review. 

In addition, through this same competitive 

process, EPA periodically establishes large 

research centers in specific areas of national 

concern. Currently, centers focus on children’s 

environmental health, nanotechnology, clean 

air, computational toxicology, health effects 

of pollutants, and green infrastructure and 

stormwater management for Chesapeake Bay.

EPA Research Grants and Fellowships for 2012

Page 73
Page 74

STAR Graduate Fellowships

The STAR Graduate Fellowship Program supports 

masters and doctoral candidates working 

towards advanced degrees and careers 

in environmental science and engineering. 

Students can pursue degrees in traditionally 

recognized environmental disciplines as well as 

other fields such as environmental anthropology, 

urban and regional planning, and decision 

sciences. 

STAR fellowships are intended to help defray the 

ever-increasing costs associated with studies 

leading to advanced degrees in environmental 

sciences. Eighty-seven STAR Graduate Fellowships 

were awarded to support graduate work in 

human health and environmental research in 

2012. 

Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) 

Fellowships

The Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) 

fellowships support undergraduate students in 

environmental fields of study. The goals of the 

program are to bolster the next generation of 

environmental leaders, inspire and train diverse 

communities, and boost excellent research and 

development.

Eligible students receive support for their junior 

and senior years of undergraduate study and for 

an internship at an EPA facility during the summer 

between their junior and senior years. The 

fellowship provides up to $20,700 for academic 

support and up to $8,600 of support for a threemonth summer internship. The Agency awards 

approximately 40 new fellowships each year.
Page 75

EPA awarded four grants totaling approximately 

$1.25 million to develop and demonstrate new 

air quality measurement technology.

The supported research will allow measurements 

of pollutants and the creation of smaller 

measurement devices for addressing emerging 

air pollution issues and improving air pollution 

measurement and data collection. 

Additionally, five projects were supported with 

$2 million to create the scientific foundation for 

improving the air quality management system. 

These projects will increase the rate at which 

new information is incorporated into regional 

and local air quality management and develop 

techniques for improved air quality. 

Recipients Research Project Amount Awarded

Washington University Development of Cost-effective, Compact Electrical 

Ultrafine Particle (eUFP) Sizers and Wireless eUSF 

Sensor Network

$499,000

University of 

California-San Diego

A compact, low-cost, network accessible, optical 

particle counter for the real time measurement of 

submicron aerosol particle size distributions

$250,000

Princeton University Compact Multi-Pollutant Mid-Infrared Laser 

Spectroscopic Trace-Gas Sensor

$250,000

University of 

Wisconsin-Madison

Assessing the Synergistic Impact of Anthropogenic 

and Biogenic Emissions on Air Pollution Using Novel 

High-Sensitivity, Real-Time Monitors for Fundamental 

Carbonyls

$250,00000

Total: $1.25M

STAR Grants to Support Air Quality Measurement 

Technology and Management

 Summary of Air Quality Measurement Technology Grants
Page 76

Recipients Research Project Amount Awarded

University of Texas-Austin; 

Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology

Analysis of Dynamic, Flexible NOx and SO2 

Abatement from Power Plants in the Eastern 

U.S. and Texas

$500,000

University of North CarolinaChapel Hill; Pennsylvania State 

University-Main Campus

Dynamic Electricity Generation for 

Addressing Daily Air Quality Exceedances in 

the US

$250,000

Georgia Institute of Technology, 

Georgia Environmental 

Protection Division, Georgia 

Forestry Commission

Dynamic Management of Prescribed 

Burning for Better Air Quality

$500,000

Texas A&M University-Kingsville Optimization of Multipollutant Air Quality 

Management Strategies

$249,115

SUNY-Albany, SUNY College 

of Environmental Science and 

Forestry

Creating Building Blocks for a More Dynamic 

Air Quality Management Framework

$499,945

Total: $2.0M

Summary of Air Quality Management Grants
Page 77

EPA awarded 14 grants, totaling more than $8 

million, to support research exploring ways to 

provide the information and tools needed for 

effective air and water quality management 

during anticipated increases in extreme events 

such as large storms and severe droughts. 

The Agency-supported research focuses 

on understanding the hazards of extreme 

events, and to establish ways for experts and 

stakeholders, such as climate scientists, impact 

assessment modelers, and air and water quality 

managers, to address water and air quality 

challenges and increase community resiliency in 

the face of extreme weather events and natural 

disasters.

STAR Grants to Support Research on the Impacts of 

Global Climate Change

The frequency of extreme events such as large storms and severe droughts, is expected to increase with continued climate change.
Page 78

Recipients Research Project Award Amount 

Oregon State University Prediction and quantification of Combined 

Sewer Outflows under extreme storm events: 

Flow dynamics and Reduction of Combined 

Sewer Outflows

$265,528

Georgia Institute of Technology - 

Main Campus 

Air Quality Impacts of Extreme Weather 

Events: Historical Analysis and Future 

Projection 

$749,859

Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology, Colorado State 

University, North Carolina State 

University 

Using Advanced Statistical Techniques 

to Identify the Drivers and Occurrence of 

Historical and Future Extreme Air Quality 

Events in the United States from Observations 

and Models 

$749,931

University of South Florida Early Career: The hazards of Extreme 

Climatic Events: Predicting Impacts 

$374,936

Michigan Technological 

University, University of Louisville 

Impacts of Climate-induced Changes in 

Extreme Events on Ozone and Particulate 

Matter Air Quality 

$374,960

University of Texas at Austin Response of Regional Air Quality to Severe 

Drought 

$750,000

Mississippi State University Role of land use and BMPs in reducing the 

effect of extreme magnitude events on 

sediment and pollutant transport in the SE US 

Coastal Plain and Mississippi Alluvial Valley

$363,258

Public Policy Institute of 

California, Climate Central 

Integrating Information from Climate 

Scientists and Resource Managers: Informing 

Preparedness and Adaptation to Extreme 

Event Impacts on Air and Water Quality in 

California 

$710,529

Cornell University, National 

Center for Atmospheric Research 

Extreme Air Quality Events Using a Hierarchy 

of Models: Present and Future

$746,825

Ohio State University - Main 

Campus 

Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in Lake Erie: 

Quantifying Extreme Weather Impacts on 

Cyanobacteria and Disinfection Byproducts 

(DPBs) 

University of South Florida Ecological Assessment of Generalized Littoral 

Environments Decision-Support System 

(EAGLE/OS) 

$734,122

Summary of STAR Grants for Extreme Event Impacts on Air Quality

and Water Quality with a Changing Global Climate
Page 79

Summary of STAR Grants for Extreme Event Impacts on Air Quality

and Water Quality with a Changing Global Climate, continued

Recipients Research Project Award Amount 

University of Washington Prediction of Effects of Changing 

Precipitation Extremes on Urban Water 

Quality

$699,905

Michigan State University Forecasting and Evaluating Vulnerability of 

Watersheds to Climate Change, Extreme 

Events, and Algal Blooms

$750,000

Columbia University in the City of 

New York 

Combining Empirical Orthogonal Function 

and Extreme Value Theory Methods to 

Characterize Observed and Future Changes 

in Extreme U.S. Air Pollution Events 

$749,951

Total: $8,019,534
Page 80

EPA awarded the University of Maryland a grant 

totaling $691,674 for supporting a research 

center to identify new, collaborative approaches 

to reduce urban stormwater from reaching 

Chesapeake Bay.

The center’s research includes: applying existing 

stormwater-reduction techniques in new ways; 

developing new techniques and technologies; 

identifying why existing Chesapeake Bay 

restoration or protection strategies have 

succeeded or failed; developing methods 

and metrics to document water-quality 

improvements in Chesapeake Bay tributaries; 

and developing strategies for specific sectors 

(residential, industrial, commercial developments, 

transportation infrastructure) in the Chesapeake 

Bay watershed to contribute to a cleaner Bay.

The University of Maryland research will 

complement similar EPA-supported work 

conducted by Pennsylvania State University 

researchers to understand how decisions are 

made at multiple levels to improve the planning, 

design, adoption, and successful implementation 

of innovative, sustainable stormwater 

management systems to protect and restore 

Chesapeake Bay. EPA awarded Pennsylvania 

State University a grant of $2,173,026 in 2011 to 

support that research. (Also see CommunityBased Chesapeake Bay Stormwater 

Management on page 30.)

STAR Grants to Support Chesapeake Bay

Summary of Grants to Support Water and Watersheds, Pollution Prevention, and 

Sustainable Development for Chesapeake Bay

Recipients Research Project Amount 

Awarded

University of Maryland - College 

Park

Sustainable Community Oriented 

Stormwater Management: A Sensible 

Strategy for the Chesapeake Bay 

$691,674

Pennsylvania State University Center for Green Infrastructure and 

Stormwater Management (awarded in mid 

2011)

$2,173,026 

Total: $2,864,700
Page 81

EPA awarded four grants totaling $1.9 million to 

explore the development of innovative oil spill 

mitigation technologies and to provide needed 

technical assistance to Gulf Coast communities 

impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

The funding will enable Gulf Coast communities 

affected by the oil spill to effectively participate 

in research projects so that they can benefit 

from, and use, the results in restoration 

and cleanup activities. The EPA-supported 

research will develop cost-effective, innovative 

technologies with low environmental impact that 

can be used for mitigating the impacts of oil spills, 

including: oil dispersants, surface washing agents, 

and bioremediation agents; also supported are 

projects investigating the environmental effects 

of oil spills and the application of dispersants and 

other clean up measures.

STAR Grants to Support the Environmental Impact and 

Mitigation of Oil Spills

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill coats the water’s surface, June 2010.

Summary of Grants for studying the Environmental Impact and Mitigation of Oil Spills

Recipients Research Project Amount 

Awarded 

Michigan State University, 

Louisiana State University-Baton 

Rouge

Environmental Impact and Mitigation of Oil 

Spills

$500,000

Clemson University, University of 

South Alabama

Dendritic Polymers as Biocompatible 

Dispersants for Oil Spill Remediation

$500,000

Iowa State University, Columbia 

University in the City of New York, 

Louisiana State University-Baton 

Rouge

Producing and Characterizing Bacillus 

Subtilis Biosurfactants with Potentially 

Lower Environmental Impact for Salt Water 

Applications

$500,000

Skidaway Institute of 

Oceanography, University of 

Maryland, University of Southern 

Mississippi

Uptake and Effects of Dispersed Oil Droplets 

and Emulsified Oil by Estuarine Crustaceans 

in the Gulf of Mexico

$476,553

Total: $ 1,976,553
Page 82

EPA awarded 11 grants totaling $5.5 million 

to support research on and demonstration 

of new and existing drinking water treatment 

technologies in small, public water systems to 

reduce or eliminate chemical contamination. 

The research aims to provide small systems with 

reliable and more cost-effective treatment 

technologies to better manage co-occurring 

chemicals or groups of chemical contaminants 

in their water systems, resulting in cleaner water 

and a reduction in waterborne illnesses.

STAR Grants to Support 

Treatment Technologies 

for Small Drinking Water 

Summary of EPA Grants Research and Demonstration of Innovative Drinking Water 

Treatment Technologies in Small Systems

Recipients Research Project Award Amount 

University of Massachusetts, 

Amherst 

Use of Ferrate in Small Drinking Water 

Treatment Systems

$497,078

Lincoln University-MO, University of 

Missouri - Columbia

Improving Drinking Water Quality for Small 

Rural Communities in Missouri 

$499,996

University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign

Sustainable Catalytic Treatment of Waste 

Ion Exchange Brines for Reuse During 

Oxyanion Treatment in Drinking Water 

$500,000

University of Texas - Austin Fluoride, DBP Precursors, and Particles: 

Simultaneous Removal with Aluminum Salts 

A Solution for Small Drinking Water Systems

$499,357

University of Nevada - Reno Contaminant Removal Using Membrane 

Distillation for Sustainable Drinking Water 

Treatment 

$499,743

Arizona State University, Main 

Campus; University of Alaska, 

Anchorage

Sustainable Sorbents and Monitoring 

Technologies for Small Groundwater Systems 

$500,000

The City College of New York Municipal Sewage Sludge Based Composite 

Adsorbents For Removal Of Contaminants 

from Drinking Water Sources 

$499,746
Page 83

Recipients Research Project Award Amount 

University of Texas at EI Paso, New 

Mexico State University - Main 

Campus 

Point Of Use (POU) Water Treatment 

Systems For Improving Sustainability And 

Environmental Justice in Colonias of the 

Paso del Norte Region 

$498,906

Clarkson University, Southern 

Nevada Water Authority 

Integration of Filtration and Advanced 

Oxidation: Development of a Membrane 

Liquid-Phase Plasma Reactor

$499,779

University of Florida, University of 

South Florida 

Small, Safe, Sustainable (S3) Public Water 

Systems through Innovative Ion Exchange

$499,361

University of Iowa, Johns Hopkins 

University, University of California - 

Riverside, 

Research and Demonstration of Electrospun 

Nanofiber Filters: Multifunctional, Chemically 

Active Filtration Technologies for Small-Scale 

Water Treatment Systems

$499,466

Total: $5,493,432

Summary of EPA Grants Research and Demonstration of Innovative Drinking Water 

Treatment Technologies in Small Systems, continued

Page 83
EPA awarded eight grants totaling nearly $8.6 

million to support research to develop new, 

innovative ways to test and screen chemicals 

and chemical mixtures. 

In support of EPA’s commitment for safe and 

sustainable chemicals, the Agency is supporting 

the development of computational toxicology 

methods (high-throughput assays; see more in 

the “Chemical Safety for Sustainability” section of 

this document). The supported work is advancing 

insight into the causal relationship between 

chemical exposures and adverse developmental 

and reproduction health effects.

STAR Grants to Support Computational Toxicology

Summary of Grants for Developing High-Throughput Assays for Predictive Modeling of 

Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity Modulated Through the Endocrine System 

or Pertinent Pathways in Humans and Species Relevant to Ecological Risk Assessment

Page 84

Recipients Research Project Award Amount 

University of Texas-Austin High Information Content Toxicity Screening 

Using Mouse and Human Stem Cell Models 

of Endocrine Development and Function

$1,200,000

Batelle Memorial Institute, Pacific 

Northwest Division

High-Throughput Cellular Assays for 

Modeling Toxicity in the Fish Reproductive 

System

$1,199,908

University of California-Davis In Vitro to In Vivo Screening of Thyroid 

Hormone Receptor Disrupting Chemicals

$649,345

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Cell-Free Neurochemical Screening Assays 

to Predict Adverse Effects in Mammals, Fish, 

and Birds

$1,199,222

North Carolina State University Multi-Sensor Reporter Cell Technology to 

Assess Hazard Involving Endocrine Signaling 

Pathways

$950,507

University of North CarolinaChapel HillCarolina Center for Computational 

Toxicology: Assays, models and tools for 

NextGen safety assessments

$1,200,000

Oregon State University Toxicity Screening with Zebra fish Assay $1,199,999

University of South Carolina at 

Columbia

Imaging Assessment of G-protein-coupled 

Estrogen Receptor Activation

$1,063,460

Total: $8,662,441
EPA is a partner in the Federal Collaboration 

on Health Disparities Research, a coordinated, 

federal effort to target health improvement 

in populations disproportionately affected by 

disease, injury, and/or disability. The collaboration 

pools scientific expertise and resources to 

advance the research needed to accelerate 

the elimination of health disparities in vulnerable 

populations.

Additionally, EPA is partnering with the National 

Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 

(NIMHD), a division of the National Institutes 

of Health. This partnership supports health 

disparities research that takes into account the 

complex interaction of biological, social, and 

environmental factors that influence the health 

of certain populations. EPA and NIMHD recently 

funded 10 grant awards to support research 

initiatives and activities within NIMHD Centers of 

Excellence program.

Collaborating on Health Disparities Research

Page 85

Institution Project Titles Award Amount

University of New Mexico Health 

Sciences Center

New Mexico Center for Advancement 

of Research, Engagement, & Science 

on Health Disparities (NM CARES HD) - 

Environmental Health Core

$792,750

Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell 

University

Environmental Health Disparities Research 

Core

$860,901

Georgia State University Center of Excellence: Environmental 

Health Disparities Core

$724,523

University of Kansas Medical Center Central Plains Center for American Indian 

Health Disparities (CPC-AIHD) Revision

$791,461

Columbia University Medical Center Environmental Health Disparities Research 

in NOCEMHD

$850,638

The University of Texas at El Paso, The 

University of Texas Health Science 

Center Houston

Revision Application to Support 

Environmental Health Disparities Research

$752,795

University of Illinois at Chicago Improving Environmental Health 

Disparities: A Fundamental Cause 

Approach

$817,064

Meharry Medical College, Charles 

Drew University of Medicine & 

Science, National Space Science 

and Technology Center, Tulane 

University of Louisiana, University of 

Maryland - Baltimore, University of 

Tennessee - Knoxville

Environmental Context of Health 

Disparities

$684,465

University of South Carolina at 

Columbia, University of Maryland

Analysis and Action on the Environmental 

Determinants of Health and Health 

Disparities

$669,258

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, 

Drexel University, Jackson State 

University

Center for Integrative Approaches 

to Health Disparities – Environment 

Assessment Core

$556,144

Total: $7,499,999
Page 86

There are approximately 25 million small 

businesses in the United States today. As the 

leading source of employment growth, these 

firms have generated 60 to 80 percent of new 

jobs over the past decade, and are responsible 

for developing most of the country’s new 

technologies.

EPA is helping to stoke the economic engine 

and tap the entrepreneurial energy of small 

businesses to meet today’s environmental 

challenges while also growing a green and 

sustainable economy.

EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 

program was established to ensure that new 

technologies are developed to solve priority 

environmental problems. In 2012 EPA awarded 

nearly $4.1 million to 32 small companies to 

support the development of new technologies 

for protecting the environment and public 

health.

Twenty-five small businesses received “proof 

of concept” awards up to $80, 000 (phase I 

recipients). In addition, seven companies that 

received similar awards in 2011 were awarded 

additional 2012 funding, up to $300,000, to move 

their technologies towards commercialization 

and implementation (phase II recipients).

Stoking the Economic Engine: EPA’s Small Business 

Innovation Research Awards
Page 87

Summary of EPA Phase I SBIR Awardees

Small Business Project Titles Award Amount

Aerodyne 

Research Inc. 

Size-Selection Aerosol Characterization Instrument $80,000

Luna Innovations 

Inc. 

Non-Formaldehyde Bio-based Phenolic Resins $80,000

OnTo Technology 

LLC 

Recycling Rare Earth Metals from Nickel Metal Hydride 

Batteries

$80,000

Fungi Perfecti LLC Comprehensive Assessment of Mycofiltration Biotechnology to 

Remove Pathogens from Urban Storm Water 

$80,000

Orono Spectral 

Solutions Inc 

Preconcentration Technology for Infrared Analysis of 

Organophosphates in Water

$80,000

GVD Corporation Environmentally-Benign Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTEE) Coating 

for Mold Release

$80,000

ThornProducts 

LLC 

New Technology for Electricity Monitoring & Reporting Built 

into Electrical Receptacles and Switches

$80,000

UES Inc. Real-Time, In-Line Sensor for Wastewater Monitoring $80,000

SolarBee Inc. Improving TTHM Reduction Processing and Operational 

Efficiencies in Potable Water Distributions Systems Using SolarPowered Circulation with Diffused, Near-Surface Aeration 

$80,000

Fluidic 

microControls, Inc 

A 10 Kilowatt, Rankine Cycle Agricultural Waste to Energy 

Conversion Module Utilizing Ultra Micro Turbo-Alternators 

$80,000

Faraday 

Technology Inc. 

Microelectrode Array to Enable Robust Water Monitoring for 

Multiple Contaminants at Sub-Nanomolar Concentrations 

$80,000

Sunocs LLC A Non-Toxic Composite Flame Retardant $80,000

Los Gatos 

Research Inc. 

Ultra-Sensitive Detection of Air Toxics Using Incoherent Cavity 

Ringdown Spectroscopy 

$80,000

NEI Corporation Siloxane Removal from Biogass Using a Novel Drop-In 

Technology 

$80,000

Compact 

Membrane 

Systems Inc. 

Enhanced Drying of Pipeline Ethanol $80,000

Intelligent Optical 

Systems Inc. 

Fiber Optic Distributed Chemical Sensors for Environmental 

Impact Monitoring in Carbon Sequestration 

$80,000

T3 Scientific LLC Forward Osmosis Water Purification Membranes for Small 

Operations 

$80,000

Altex 

Technologies 

Corporation 

Highly Efficient Water Management System for Lignocellulosic 

Biomass 

$80,000

NanoSonic Inc. VOC-free, Highly Flame Resistant HybridSilTM Insulation 

Coatings for Next Generation Thermal Insulation and Energy 

Efficiency 

$80,000

Okeanos 

Technologies LLC 

Cost Effective Seawater Desalination with ICP Element Arrays $80,000
Page 88

Small Business Project Titles Award Amount

Synanomet LLC Novel Lignin-Based Magnetite Nanocomposites for Removal 

of Phosphate from Contaminated Waters 

$80,000

Adherent 

Technologies Inc. 

Emission Control System for Small Boilers $80,000

The Laser Sensing 

Company 

InFRNO2: INfrared Faraday Rotation of NO2 for Portable SubPart-Per-Billion Sensors $80,000

Electron Energy 

Corporation 

Cost-Effective Rare Earth Element Recycling Process from 

Industrial Scrap and Discarded Electronic Products to 

Valuable Magnetic Alloys and Permanent Magnets 

$80,000

Membrane 

Technology and 

Research Inc. 

Membrane Process for Solvent Reclamation and Reuse $80,000

Summary of EPA Phase I SBIR Awardees, continued

Summary of EPA Phase II SBIR Awardees

Small Business Project Title Amount 

Awarded 

OPTRA Inc. Fourier Transform Infrared Phase Shift Cavity Ring Down 

Spectrometer

$299,956

FBS Inc. Defect Detection in Water Pipelines Using Ultrasonic Guided 

Waves

$299,960

Adherent 

Technologies Inc. 

Catalytic Emissions Reduction System for Outdoor Wood Boilers $300,000

Advanced 

Diamond 

Technologies Inc. 

Development of a Scalable, Low-cost, Ultrananocrystalline 

Diamond Electrochemical Process for the Destruction of 

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs)

$299,686

Faraday 

Technology, Inc. 

Functional Chrome Coatings on Hard to Access, Internal 

Surfaces of Industrial Parts from an Environmentally Benign 

Trivalent Chromium Bath

$299,981

TDA Research 

Inc. 

Pipeline-Quality Methane from Anaerobic Digestion Streams $300,000

Lynntech Inc. Microelectrochmical Capillary System for Environmental 

Analytical Lab on a Chip

$299,999

Total: 

$2,146,352
Page 89

On April 25, 2012 EPA announced the winners 

of its annual P3 Awards Competition for 

Sustainability. More than $1 million was awarded 

to university and college teams from across 

the country who participated in the 8th Annual 

National Sustainable Design Expo on the National 

Mall in Washington, D.C. 

The three “Ps” of P3 are People, Prosperity and 

the Planet. Established in 2004, the competition 

is focused on supporting innovative designs that 

benefit people, promote prosperity, and protect 

the planet while advancing sustainability around 

the world.

The competition has two phases. In the Phase I, 

student teams and their faculty advisors submit 

research proposals for a chance to win up to 

$15,000 in seed money to research and develop 

designs for sustainable solutions to current 

environmental and human health challenges.

Phase I grantees are invited to Washington, 

DC each spring to display their research at 

the National Design Expo. At the Expo, a 

panel of experts convened by the American 

Association for the Advancement of Sciences 

evaluates the projects and passes along their 

recommendations to EPA officials for selecting 

the winners. 

In addition to the coveted P3 Award, winning 

teams received additional funding of up to 

$90,000 for moving their projects into Phase 

II, when they start developing marketable 

prototypes of their sustainable designs.

Previous P3 award winners have started 

successful businesses and are marketing the 

technologies in the United States and around the 

world.

Winners of the 2012 awards include:

• Appalachian State University for developing 

an artificial wetland suitable for recycling 

of grey water from small businesses for 

immediate reuse.

• Butte College for developing structural 

insulated panels for building construction using 

rice hulls, an abundant agricultural waste, as 

the primary raw material.

P3—Winning the Sustainable Future 
Page 90

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for 

designing a foldable solar power water 

purification system that can fit into a 

backpack for easy transport for use after a 

disaster affecting drinking water supplies.

• Gonzaga University for developing a simple 

ventilation system for kitchens in rural dwellings 

using electrical power generated from 

thermoelectric cells driven by waste heat from 

cooking fires.

• Oregon State University for raising awareness 

of pollution associated with the production 

and use of plastic mulch by farmers and 

testing alternative biodegradable mulch 

material.

• Princeton University for developing, testing 

and deploying an electricity generation 

system that can be transported in a standard 

shipping container and rapidly set up in rural 

communities and post disaster areas.

• Santa Clara University for developing a fuel 

cell capable of continuous sustainable energy 

supply to meet energy demands in rural 

communities in developing nations lacking 

reliable energy grids.

• Southern Illinois University - Carbondale for 

developing methods to extract (recycle) 

metals from coal combustion byproducts 

to reduce mining waste and to produce 

a concrete with reduced carbon dioxide 

emissions.

• SUNY College of Environmental Science 

and Engineering for studying ways to 

recover struvite, a slow release fertilizer, from 

digested animal manures and assessing its 

marketability.

• Texas State University - San Marcos for 

converting rice husks, a byproducts of 

agriculture, into a starter material called 

lignocellulose for producing fabrics, biofuel 

and silica nanoparticles.

• University of California - Riverside for designing 

a solar collector to heat ambient air for use 

in home appliances, such as clothes dryers 

and space heaters, to reduce home energy 

consumption.

• University of Cincinnati for developing a 

pilot scale system to convert grease from 

restaurants, a waste sent to landfills, to 

renewable biodiesel.

• University of Connecticut for investigating 

ways to use local industrial byproducts such as 

steal slag and lime kiln dust to control erosion 

and to stabilize roads in Nicaragua. 

• University of Oklahoma - Norman for 

designing, field-testing, constructing, 

analyzing, and documenting a habitat for 

humanity house built of compressed earth 

blocks.

• Vanderbilt University for developing a 

biohyrid solar panel that substitutes a protein 

from spinach for rare metals (mined) and is 

capable of producing electricity.

2012 Honorable Mention winners include:

• Christian Brothers University for developing 

technologies to improve energy efficiency 

in the building envelope of residences in 

Memphis, Tennessee, that focus on the 

thermal properties of materials, fire safety, 

material stability and cost.

• Clarkson University for studying the feasibility 

of using waste heat and leachate from a 

solid waste management facility for energy to 

produce biodiesel from algae.
Page 91

• Drexel University for designing a pilot-scale 

reactor for a local landfill that uses algae to 

produce biofuels from landfill leachate and 

gas.

• Missouri University of Science and Technology

for designing a novel way to reduce the 

energy lost when power coming into a house 

is converted to the current needed by many 

household electronics to run.

• Purdue University for designing, building and 

installing affordable “ram” pumps in Haiti to 

improve the availability of water for its citizens.

• Rochester Institute of Technology for designing 

a hydrofoil system that harvests energy from a 

river while minimizing the harmful effects that 

dams create for river flow and sediments.

• Santa Clara University for developing a high 

efficiency solar absorber/exchanger that can 

bring low cost energy to urbanites who have 

limited space for solar collectors.

• Southern Illinois University -Edwardsville for 

evaluating the use of selenium-polluted 

plant waste materials harvested from 

phytoremediation sites to produce seleniumenriched edible mushrooms.

• University of California - Davis for designing 

and monitoring an affordable green roof 

technology that uses the shading from plants 

to cool roof surfaces and reduce peak 

electricity demand by up to 75 percent.

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

for creating and implementing a point-ofuse disinfectant for drinking water that is 

cheap, non-toxic and effective in reducing 

waterborne illness in developing nations. 

• University of Texas at Austin for designing, 

constructing and testing vermicomposting 

(composting with worms) bins to improve 

public health in the Dominican Republic by 

reducing water contamination from organic 

waste.
Innovative organizations recognize the 

importance of tapping the collective expertise 

of their staff and encouraging everyone to 

contribute ideas and submit possible solutions 

that support the organizational mission. EPA’s 

Office of Research and Development has 

embraced this concept to harness the talent and 

energy of its scientists and engineers. 

The Agency’s Pathfinder Innovation Projects 

(PIPs) encourage staff researchers to try bold 

ideas that could produce transformational 

advancements in environmental and human 

health protection. PIPs reward the ingenuity 

and entrepreneurial spirit of Agency scientists 

and provide seed funding for proof-of-concept 

research. 

Like EPA’s extramural granting programs (see 

previous stories on the STAR grants and EPA’s P3 

student competition for sustainability), the PIP 

program employs a competitive review process 

to identify and support the best, most innovative 

proposals. 

External panels evaluate proposals on several 

criteria, including the potential to dramatically 

transform how EPA solves environmental 

problems and the potential for significant 

progress toward sustainability.

Teams selected for their PIP proposals receive 

funding and time to work on the research. 

Although the awards are for internal EPA studies, 

some scientists do work across disciplines 

and garner external support. For instance, an 

Agency research team collaborated with the 

Naval Research Laboratory and NASA on the 

International Space Station to test a novel proofof-concept satellite system that can monitor 

coastal water quality.

In 2012, ten new PIPs—on topics that range 

from building a toxicity screening system that 

more closely mimics air pollution exposure in 

human lung cells, to making risk assessments of 

waterborne viruses more reliable—joined the 

growing list of projects that cultivate innovative 

solutions to support EPA’s mission to protect 

human health and the environment.

Supporting Innovation 

Page 92

Learn More about EPA research grants, 

fellowships, and awards 

• EPA Extramural Research Funding and Award 

opportunities: www.epa.gov/ncer/

• EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research 

Program: www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir/

• EPA Research Fellowships: www.epa.gov/

ncer/fellow/

Image of Chesapeake Bay taken from the International Space Station. 
EPA’s Homeland Security research supports the 

Agency’s role as the lead federal agency for 

protecting water systems and decontamination 

efforts following incidents involving chemical, 

biological, or radiological contamination. 

The research strengthens the resiliency of 

communities to prepare for and respond to 

contamination incidents. The research enables 

water utility managers, laboratory technicians, 

on-scene coordinators, risk assessors, risk 

communicators, and emergency responders to 

detect, prepare for, respond to, and recover 

from terrorist attacks and other disasters.

This section highlights some of the results EPA 

researchers and their partners have achieved in 

2012 advancing Homeland Security. 

Homeland Security

Page 93

Learn More!

For more information abut the impact and scope of about EPA Homeland Security Research, please 

visit: www.epa.gov/nhsrc/.
The vast majority of Americans need look no 

further than their kitchen faucet to find clean, 

safe, and abundant drinking water. The nation’s 

water distribution system is a model of success 

for delivering this vital resource in ways that 

also protect public health. That success is 

underscored by the need for constant vigilance 

to protect water sources and distribution systems 

from deliberate or accidental contamination. 

This was a fact that became clear in the wake 

of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent 

mailing of anthrax-tainted letters to U.S. Senators 

and media outlets.

EPA is the primary federal agency responsible 

for treating drinking water and decontaminating 

drinking water infrastructure in the event of 

a terrorist attack or other incident involving 

chemical, radiological, or biological agents 

introduced into the water supply. These 

responsibilities are supported by scientific and 

engineering research conducted in EPA’s 

Homeland Security Research program.

EPA researchers are developing the scientific and 

technical solutions needed to secure and sustain 

the nation’s water systems. A primary goal of 

that work is to prevent or minimize the impact 

Protecting Drinking Water Supplies

Page 94

EPA researchers develop monitoring and early warning technologies as well as help utilities and communities prepare response for 

potential contamination events.
Page 95

of any attempted or actual contamination 

event. This is done through the development 

of monitoring and early warning technologies 

and software to provide system-wide, real time 

surveillance.

In 2012, EPA researchers continued to advance 

the Agency’s award-winning CANARY Event 

Detection software, a technology that serves 

as an early warning system for water utilities. 

CANARY is used to quickly distinguish between 

day-to-day variations in water chemistry and 

those variations from a contamination event. 

Researchers are pursuing ways to tap information 

collected simultaneously from multiple locations 

(rather than each location separately). In 

addition, researchers released a Quick Start 

Guide to make the software more accessible 

and user-friendly by providing step-by-step, 

downloadable instructions. 

Along with threat detection and monitoring 

tools, EPA scientists and engineers are also 

working to help water utilities, communities, and 

the public be better prepared to respond and 

recover (decontaminate and clean up) once 

contamination occurs. To learn how to better 

respond to biothreat agents in drinking water, 

they studied the effectiveness of chlorination and 

chloramination for destroying anthrax.

They also developed a standard protocol—the 

Standardized Persistence and Decontamination 

Experimental Design Protocol—that research 

laboratories across the country can follow when 

investigating the decontamination of water 

pipes. The use of such a protocol will facilitate 

comparability of research findings across studies 

and advance consistency and confidence in 

decontaminating water infrastructure.

Need to Know: Helping

Water Utilities Prepare

As the lead federal agency for water 

security, EPA researchers play a critical role 

in helping their partners at water utilities and 

in the response community better prepare 

for emergencies. In 2012, EPA’s National 

Homeland Security Research Center and 

the Water Information Sharing and Analysis 

Center (WaterISAC) teamed up to deliver 

the webcast “Anticipating the Public’s 

Questions during a Water Emergency.” The 

webcast provided practical information that 

drinking water utilities can use in formulating 

effective communication plans. These 

plans can then be employed during a water 

contamination event.

EPA also released a companion publication, 

Need to Know: Water Emergency Questions, 

presenting practical information that crisis 

communicators can directly apply to 

planning and response. The publication 

is the result of a series of interviews and 

webinars EPA conducted to identify the 

anticipated information needs of water 

utilities and the public following events that 

threaten the safety of drinking water. The 

report is available for downloading at: 1.usa.

gov/QoyLtF.
In 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 

a series of anthrax-tainted letters were mailed to 

broadcast news outlets and two U.S. Senators. 

While those letters and their lethal contents never 

reached the specific network personalities or 

Senators they targeted, 27 people who came 

into contact with them became infected 

with anthrax. Five of those individuals died. 

At least 17 buildings were contaminated with 

anthrax spores, requiring extensive building 

decontamination. 

In the past ten years, EPA scientists and engineers 

have been at the forefront of research to ensure 

that the nation is ready to respond to any event 

involving the deliberate or accidental release 

of anthrax. These researchers, in collaboration 

with other federal agencies with homeland 

security responsibilities, are finding new ways to 

limit human exposure, treat water supplies, and 

decontaminate buildings and other structures to 

neutralize anthrax spores. 

That work continued in 2012 with the Scientific 

Program on Reaerosolization and Exposure 

(SPORE), a set of coordinated studies 

conducted by EPA researchers in partnership 

with the Department of Homeland Security, the 

EPA Anthrax Research Aims to Eliminate Threat

Though microscopic, anthrax was the weapon involved in the worst act of bioterrorism in the country’s history.

Page 96
Page 97

Department of Health and Human Services, the 

Department of Defense, and others. 

Collectively they are working to find ways to 

inform the design of emergency response and 

decontamination procedures to eliminate 

the hazards posed by anthrax spores after 

an initial release. A focus of the program is to 

explore how anthrax spores might renter the 

air, (“reaerosolization”) from surfaces where 

they settled after first being released. SPORE 

researchers conducted wind tunnel tests 

using anthrax surrogates and have found that 

reaerosolization of anthrax spores can occur 

even after the spores have settled, a key fact to 

consider for cleanup and disposal operations. 

Another effort is underway in collaboration with 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC) to understand how best to eliminate 

the threat of an anthrax release in water. 

Researchers conducted seven laboratorybased studies in water using anthrax surrogates 

along with other microbes identified as potential 

bioterrorism agents. 

Researchers from the EPA/CDC partnership 

found that the effectiveness of chlorine and 

other disinfectants in killing the various biological 

contaminants depended on how many microbes 

are present, the pH and temperature of the 

water, the type and quantity of organic and 

inorganic particles in the water and the kind of 

material used in construction of the pipes. The 

studies are providing important information to 

EPA’s Office of Water and water utility managers 

who may have to deal with such biological 

contaminants.

The results of EPA’s homeland security research 

will better inform and prepare the Agency and its 

stakeholders in responding to a terrorist threat or 

attack. These tools and techniques will result in 

quicker and more cost-effective response to and 

recovery from not just terrorist attacks, but other 

disasters, both natural and accidental.

Researchers conducted tests using this wind tunnel to determine 

that anthrax spores can reaerosolize, even after settling to the 

ground.
Tragic events from the terrorist attacks of 2001 

to the recent destruction left in the wake 

of Superstorm Sandy have made images of 

emergency response all too familiar: emergency 

crews rush in, search and rescue operations 

commence, and those affected are tended to 

and moved to more secure areas. Research 

products addressing terrorism response and 

recovery can also be employed in other 

situations.

For the past ten years, EPA’s homeland security 

researchers have been conducting research that 

supports federal, state, and local decision makers 

working to prepare emergency responders and 

local communities with the information they 

need.

In 2012, EPA researchers continued to work with 

partners from the Department of Homeland 

Security on the Wide Area Recovery and 

Resiliency Program (WARRP). The program is a 

collaborative effort to develop and demonstrate 

actions to reduce the time and resources 

needed to recover from a large-scale chemical, 

biological, or radiological event, such as one 

affecting military installations, urban areas, or 

critical infrastructure.

Supporting Emergency Response and Recovery

I-WASTE is a web-based tool that provides a suite of waste management information for cleaning up after natural disasters, terrorist 

attacks, and widespread outbreaks of animal disease.

Page 98
Page 99

Working with EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and 

Emergency Response, public health officials, and 

waste management experts, EPA researchers 

have developed plans and tools to provide 

real-time information on waste disposal. EPA 

researchers updated the Agency’s Incident 

Waste Assessment System and Triage Estimator 

(I-WASTE), a web-based, easily accessible tool 

that provides a suite of waste management 

information for cleaning up after natural disasters, 

terrorist attacks, and widespread outbreaks of 

animal disease.

I-WASTE 2012, available at http://bit.ly/12fs1EK, 

offers emergency response planners information 

on waste characterization, treatment, and 

disposal options, and how to incorporate safe, 

efficient waste management operations into 

emergency response plans.

To support emergency response operations 

involving hazardous biologicals and chemicals, 

in 2012 EPA researchers released SERRA 4.0 

database (SERRA is an acronym for “Support for 

Environmental Risk Assessment). The “knowledge 

base” provides an extensive compilation 

of scientific information to assist scientists, 

emergency personnel, and decision makers 

responsible for planning and managing cleanup 

operations, including mitigating hazards, in the 

aftermath of a terrorist event.
Page 100

In the event of an environmental disaster 

involving potential contamination from radiation, 

biological, or chemical agents, the need for 

fast, accurate laboratory analysis is essential for 

supporting emergency response, recovery, and 

remediation operations. In the ten years since 

EPA’s Homeland Security Research program was 

established, Agency researchers have helped 

the nation become significantly better prepared 

for just such response activities. 

Agency scientists increased the nation’s ability 

to analyze large quantities of environmental 

samples following the intentional or unintentional 

release of hazardous chemical, biological, or 

radiological (CBR) substances. To accomplish 

that, they have established the Environmental 

Response Laboratory Network (ERLN), a 

nationwide network of analytical labs that can 

quickly support large-scale responses.

In support of the Network, EPA researchers 

have prepared Selected Analytical Methods for 

Environmental Remediation and Recovery (SAM) 

– 2012, the latest update of a compendium 

of methods for use in analyzing samples for 

chemical, biological, radiological, and biotoxin 

contamination. 

The standardized analytical methods 

presented in SAM allow labs to share samples, 

increasing the speed of analysis, improving 

data comparability, and simplifying the task of 

recruiting and using commercial labs for rapid 

analytical support in the event of an emergency. 

Ready to Respond: Improving the Nation’s

Emergency Preparedness 

Methods presented in SAM will allow for quicker and more efficient and effective lab analysis, communication, and support in the 

event of an emergency.
Page 101

Researchers have prepared the latest update of a compendium of methods for use in analyzing samples for chemical, biological, 

radiological, and biotoxin contamination.

EPA researchers worked in collaboration with the 

Agency’s Office of Emergency Management, 

the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, 

the Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, and EPA 

Region 10 (serving the Pacific Northwest) to 

update and improve SAM 2012. 

The latest version of SAM 2012 incorporates 

revisions to the list of target sample types and 

provides the latest analytical methods and 

procedures. Method updates included are 

based on the availability of new methods or 

data, and now present more than 200 method 

summaries for biological, chemical, and 

radiochemical agents. 

EPA has developed companion documents to 

provide information regarding field screening 

equipment, sample collection, rapid screening 

and preliminary analysis equipment, and sample 

disposal information to supplement the analytical 

methods included in SAM 2012. 

In addition to providing access to the latest 

document, EPA’s SAM-2012 website (www.epa.

gov/sam) hosts a Methods Query, sample matrix 

type, and specific capabilities of a laboratory. 

The site also has full documentation of publicly 

available laboratory methods, companion 

documents, sample collection procedures, and 

links to technical contacts and key collaborators.

Learn More about EPA Homeland Security Research

• EPA Homeland Security Research: www.epa.gov/nhsrc/

• Read the Homeland Security issue of EPA’s Science Matters Newsletter: http://epa.gov/research/

sciencematters/september2011/index.htm

• Download EPA’s Homeland Security Strategic Research Action Plan, 2012-2016: http://epa.gov/

research/sciencematters/september2011/index.htm.

US EPA Research

@EPAresearch

Office of Research & Development is the scientific 

research arm of the US EPA.

11 states + DC · http://www.epa.gov/research

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Meet ecologist Jana Compton! She researches the sources and 

effects of nitrogen pollution: http://1.usa.gov/YnHSPk #WHM 

#iamascientist

Mimi A G Wetherington Joy@SentryAir Norm Robert Rossachacj Lisa Klimek Mills

U.S. EPA Water U.S. EPA Water ‏@EPAwater 2h

Chat w/@EPAwater chief Nancy Stoner here next Thurs at 2 pm 

ET on the importance of streams & wetlands. Submit questions 

now with #waterchat

RT @epalive: @MaryLuevanoGG says the importance of green 

schools is about protecting the health of our children. #shegoesgreen @whitehouse

Creative #kids shine in SunWise-SHADE Poster #Contest 

http://1.usa.gov/aZMetW #teachers #parents #health #education

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Get your child tested for lead. There are no 

visible symptoms of lead poisoning: http://go.usa.gov/2kAV 

Watch Women and the Environment today at 8:55 AM EDT. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live Join the conversation with #shegoesgreen and @EPAlive.

#PoisonPrevent Tip: 10,000 children are accidentally exposed 

to mouse & rat poison annually. Help prevent exposure: http://1.

usa.gov/V4JTwg 

Spring is here! Cleaning out your fridge? Remember to shop 

your fridge first before buying food! http://go.usa.gov/gQbz 

Last year, we removed 6,200 pounds of chemicals from schools 

in the southeast. Read more about our work last year: http://

go.usa.gov/2ycJ 

Last year, we removed 6,200 pounds of chemicals from schools 

in the southeast. Read more about our work last year: http://

go.usa.gov/23SB 

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Keep all household products in their original 

container: http://1.usa.gov/xW4KSV 

Welcome to the first day of spring, Capitol grounds will be in 

bloom soon. http://instagr.am/p/XFKEWOmN9w/ 

Learn about new training on reducing #agricultural #pesticides 

within the home at Project LEAF: http://go.usa.gov/2XQ9 

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Use safer mouse and rat control products to 

prevent accidental child exposure: http://1.usa.gov/V4JTwg 

How do we clean up contaminated sites? Scientist Kira Lynch 

shares the details: http://1.usa.gov/XIMpgy #WHM #iamascientist

Nominate your projects – buildings, parks, plazas, policies – for 

the our Smart Growth Awards! April 12 deadline. http://go.usa.

gov/2bZF 

A trip to Laos | Today’s #StateoftheEnvironment #Photo http://

blog.epa.gov/epplocations/2013/03/todays-photo-a-scene-fromlaos/#.UUidz0Ul3eI.twitter ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/94051914@N03/8556889477/in/pool-1667216@N23/ ...

#Spring into sun safety and prevent #skincancer http://1.usa.gov/

aZMetW #teachers #parents #kids #health #education

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Poisonings are preventable! Read the label 

before using pesticides and household products: http://1.usa.gov/

ygC9UF 

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Protect children and pets from mouse and 

rat #poisons by using a tamper-resistant bait station: http://1.usa.

gov/y6VjAr 

RT @epawatersense: Check water meter before & after 2hrs of 

no use. If meter doesn’t read exactly the same, you probably 

have a leak....

Meet scientist Betsy Smith! Her work helps communities make 

sustainable and healthy decisions: http://go.usa.gov/2Nxd 

#WHM #iamascientist

The #TRIUniversity Challenge application period is open! 

Students/Profs can send project ideas to EPA through 5/13 http://

ow.ly/j9WKa 

RT @epawatersense: We have #fixaleak information en Espanol 

too! http://go.usa.gov/296k 

P2 webinar this week: Exploring TRI’s Pollution Prevention Info 

on 3/20 @ 2:00 ET – details & register @ http://tinyurl.com/

cbaakvt 

Here’s our full list of tips to fix leaks http://go.usa.gov/Unw 

#fixaleak

It’s also easy to find and repair leaks yourself. It’s as easy as 

Check. Twist. Replace. #fixaleak

We have folks from across the country! Awesome! Great to see 

you all here! Lets get this party started. #fixaleak

Hey #Wyoming ~ match your past w/ #DOCUMERICA #stripmining, #cattle, #billboards http://blog.epa.gov/epplocations/#.

UUc7kbid3mY.twitter ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/7065910079/ ...

Every Monday – Take a blog road trip for a #NewEngland perspective on environmental issues: http://ow.ly/inCE3 

Who’s ready for #fixaleak week!?! Kick things off w/ @EPAwatersense at our Twitter party Monday 3/18 1-2pm ET. See you 

then!

#PoisonPrevent Tip: Store pesticides and household cleaning 

products out of children’s reach: http://1.usa.gov/xW4KSV 

Learn about new training on reducing #agricultural #pesticides 

within the home at Project LEAF: http://go.usa.gov/2XQ9 

#AFOB

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Don’t just wear green, BE green. Climb 

the Food Recovery Hierarchy and save green too! http://go.usa.

gov/gQbG

Stay connected to EPA science throughout the year!

• Follow us on Twitter: @EPAresearch

• Subscribe to the EPA Science Matters newsletter: 

www.epa.gov/sciencematters

• Join the “Greenversation” on our It All Starts with

Science blog: blog.epa.gov/science/
EPA/601/K-13/001 | March 2013 | www.epa.gov/research

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