Archive: August 25, 2021

For Immediate Release: August 25, 2021

Media Contact: Julia Giarmoleo, [email protected], 213-326-2033

EPA Levies Penalty Against SoCal Company for Illegal Antimicrobial Products

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined Seychelle Environmental Technologies, Inc. of Aliso Viejo $150,000 for selling unregistered antimicrobial products and manufacturing the product in an unregistered establishment. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring antimicrobial products are properly produced, labeled, and distributed protects workers, the public, and the environment. The company has since corrected these violations of the federal pesticide law known as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

“Purported antimicrobials that are unregistered and produced in unregistered facilities may not actually be effective in countering threats to health, and thus may pose a significant risk to consumers,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Director Amy Miller. “Antimicrobial product manufacturers that do not comply with federal law will face significant penalties.”

In 2017 and 2018, Seychelle sold a collection of related water filtration products known as the “Seychelle Standard Filter” and the “Seychelle Advanced Filter.” Products that claim to kill or repel bacteria or germs are considered pesticides, and thus under federal law must be registered with the EPA prior to distribution or sale. Although these Seychelle Filter products bore numerous antimicrobial claims, they were not registered with the EPA. Before EPA can register a pesticide, the agency must determine that no unreasonable adverse effects on human health and the environment will occur when the product is used according to its label. Additionally, the law requires that each pesticide manufacturer register its facility with EPA and annually report its pesticide production. In this matter, the Seychelle Filter products were produced in an establishment that was not registered with the EPA.

For more information on EPA and pesticides, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides.

For more information on the FIFRA law and its enforcement, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-federal-insecticide-fungicide-and-rodenticide-act.

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For Immediate Release: August 25, 2021
Media Contact: Soledad Calvino, 415-972-3512, [email protected]

Tohono O’odham Nation Awarded $200,000 for Environmental Justice Projects under the American Rescue Plan

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $200,000 grant to the Tohono O’odham Nation to address air quality issues on their lands in southern Arizona. The funds come from the American Rescue Plan and are being awarded as a grant under EPA’s State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement (SEJCA) program. Awards made through this program are the first competitive grants from the EPA focusing directly on the unequal impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on communities of color, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations. 

“The EPA continues to prioritize delivering support to our most vulnerable communities in a way that respects dignity, sovereignty, and community identity,” said Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Jordan. “Tohono O’odham Nation’s unique project will integrate culture and environmental protection – a winning combination to achieve community health protection for the O’odham people.”

The Tohono O’odham Nation will use this American Rescue Plan funding to develop an air quality plan for the Nation. Due to existing elevated asthma and other respiratory issues within the Nation’s population, a major component of the plan will reduce dust impacts by prioritizing upgrades on 15 miles of tribally controlled dirt roads. In addition, funds will be used to develop educational resources and conduct outreach for planting native vegetation along roadsides to mitigate air pollution.

Funds will also be used to host informational and educational meetings in the Nation’s 11 districts and their communities. Each district will develop local, culturally-relevant education plans to address air quality issues. Elders will lead sessions that combine related air quality topics with traditional ecological knowledge while Tohono O’odham youth will be recruited to monitor, assess and work within their communities and families to further develop local aspects of the air quality plan.

Nationwide, projects supported by this funding include training, development of citizen-science tools, pollution monitoring, and educational campaigns to enable environmental justice advocates, scientists, and decision-makers to address pollution and create thriving communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law on March 11, 2021. It provides funds to address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID–19 pandemic. To learn more about the American Rescue Plan, visit: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text 

Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.  

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 – 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

EPA Announces $25 Million in Grants to Improve Drinking Water Quality for Underserved, Small, and Disadvantaged Communities

Contact Information: U.S. EPA Press Office ([email protected])

(Lenexa, Kan., August 25, 2021) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of $25 million in Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act grants to help improve drinking water. EPA is committed to ensuring that all Americans, especially those living in small towns and underserved communities, have safe water to drink and clean water to support recreation and economic development.

“Safe drinking water is fundamental to building thriving communities and we are excited by the drinking water improvements that these funds will support across the country. When we invest in water resources, we create good-paying jobs and build a better, safer future for all,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “We are also excited by future program improvements envisioned by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, including increased funding and the removal of barriers to better support low-income communities.”

For the current funding cycle, states, Tribes, and territories are eligible to receive funding under EPA’s Small Underserved and Disadvantaged Communities (SUDC) Grant Program. Through the program, EPA will award grants to support compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and provide access to drinking water services. Funding can also be used for conducting household water quality testing, including testing for unregulated contaminants. State and territorial grant allotments for the grant program are available on EPA’s website. States can submit applications for funding at www.grants.gov until June 30, 2022.

EPA intends to release another memo in the fall to provide allotments to support activities in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.

Today’s announcement also illustrates the benefits of investing in water—protecting public health and the environment, addressing key challenges facing communities, and creating jobs.  The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal would build on successful programs like the WIIN Act’s Small Underserved and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program to bring more benefits to communities across the country.

For more information, visit:  https://www.epa.gov/safewater/grants.

Background
The 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN Act) addresses, supports, and improves America’s drinking water infrastructure.  Included in the WIIN Act are three new drinking water grants that promote public health and the protection of the environment. Section 2104 of the WIIN Act establishes the “Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Communities” grant to “establish a program under which grants are provided to eligible entities for use in carrying out projects and activities the primary purposes of which are to assist public water systems in meeting the requirements of this title.”

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For Immediate Release: August 25, 2021
Media Contact: Alejandro Diaz, 808-541-2711, [email protected]

EPA Awards UC Berkeley, the Oakland Public Health Institute, and Stanford nearly $3 Million for Research to Reduce Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced over $7 million in funding to ten research projects nationwide that will address interventions and communication strategies to reduce exposure and the associated health risks from wildland fire smoke. In the Bay Area, $2,982,993 was awarded between three research institutions: the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and the Oakland Public Health Institute.

“As wildfires become more frequent and severe, we are working to effectively communicate the risks of smoke exposure to impacted communities,” said Wayne Cascio, acting principal deputy assistant administrator for science in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “We are seeing an increase in prescribed fires to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires; however, these are also a source of smoke exposure. The research we are funding will help develop strategies to prevent and reduce the health impacts of smoke from wildfires and prescribed fires.”

Wildland fire (wildfire and prescribed fires) smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and fine particles produced when wood and other organic materials burn. The biggest health threat from smoke is from fine particles. Outside or indoors, exposure to these microscopic particles can cause burning eyes, runny nose, and illnesses such as bronchitis. Additionally, fine particles can aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases, and they are linked to premature deaths in people with these conditions. Smoke also contains air toxics that can cause cancer or other serious health effects.

The institutions receiving these grants will conduct research to understand what actions might be effective for reducing ambient and indoor exposures to wildland fire smoke, and how best to communicate these actions to various groups. This research will integrate multiple disciplines including social and behavioral sciences, air quality science, and engineering.

The following Bay Area institutions are receiving research grants:

• Public Health Institute, Oakland, Calif., ($994,407) is conducting research to reduce wildfire smoke exposures and health risks among agricultural workers and other low-income families by designing and field testing an affordable and effective filtration system for rooftop evaporative coolers, which are often used to cool homes without air conditioning.
• Stanford University, Santa Clara County, Calif., ($999,846) is using a smartphone app built from EPA’s Smoke Sense platform to identify affordable and actionable intervention steps to reduce health impacts from smoke exposure for low-income, non-English speaking individuals and communities in northern California.
• University of California, Berkeley, Calif., ($988,740) is conducting research to create a more precise model of wildfire smoke risk data for California, and to develop risk communication and dissemination strategies for hard-to-reach populations that can be used by communities and healthcare providers to protect people from the health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure.

Background on EPA’s STAR Program

These grants fall under EPA’s STAR program, which aims to stimulate and support scientific and engineering research that advances EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. It is a competitive, peer reviewed, extramural research program that provides access to the nation’s best scientists and engineers in academic and other nonprofit research institutions. STAR funds research on the environmental and public health effects of air quality, climate change, environmental justice, water quality and quantity, hazardous waste, toxic substances, and pesticides.

For more information about these grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/interventions-and-communication-strategies-reduce-health-risks-wildland-fire-0.

For more information about EPA research grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/research-grants.

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