EPA National News: Press Advisory: (1) EPA Grant will Advance Home Energy Efficiency; (2) EPA Recognizes Municipalities and Industries for Achievements in Wastewater Treatment and Pollution Reduction; (3) EPA Conditionally Registers New Bt Cotton Product; (4) New Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Announced by Climate Leader Partners; (5) Pennsylvania Company and Its President Charged in Clean Water Act Case
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Press Advisory: (1) EPA Grant will Advance Home Energy Efficiency; (2) EPA Recognizes Municipalities and Industries for Achievements in Wastewater Treatment and Pollution Reduction; (3) EPA Conditionally Registers New Bt Cotton Product; (4) New Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Announced by Climate Leader Partners; (5) Pennsylvania Company and Its President Charged in Clean Water Act Case

Following are some Agency developments which may interest you. If you need more information on any of these subjects, call the appropriate contact.


(1) EPA Grant will Advance Home Energy Efficiency

Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / millett.john@epa.gov

Today, as part of a joint federal initiative to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes, EPA awarded a one million dollar grant to the Building Performance Institute (BPI) Inc. This grant is part of the President's National Energy Policy.

With funding also provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), this grant will advance the development of a national infrastructure of certified technicians and accredited contractors to deliver whole house energy efficiency improvements. As a result, homeowners will have greater access to professionals who can improve home comfort and energy performance. This grant assists in the implementation of the Partnership for the Advancement of Technology in Housing's Road Map for improving the energy efficiency of existing homes.

BPI Inc., located in Malta, N.Y., has several years of experience with technician certification and contractor accreditation in the state of New York. BPI also has a long standing relationship with the low income Weatherization Assistance Program in several states to certify qualified technicians.
This grant to BPI will expand its efforts of technician testing, set additional standards for whole-house diagnostics for heating and cooling systems and the building envelope, and will enhance its quality assurance requirements. BPI Inc. will review its current standards with a nationally recognized group of building science experts and increase capacity by developing its affiliate network.

BPI technician certification and contractor accreditation can complement the nationwide expansion of Home Performance with ENERGY STAR. Launched in 2001, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR is an effort to use the ENERGY STAR brand to help encourage and facilitate whole-house energy improvements. Home Performance with ENERGY STAR is linked to the building performance contracting service that emphasizes consumer education, value and "one-stop" problem solving. BPI certified technicians are performing whole-house energy efficiency improvements in New York and Kansas City for programs that use Home Performance with ENERGY STAR as a marketing platform.

The residential sector in the United States is responsible for about 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions released in our air each year from power production. If just one household in 10 were to improve their energy efficiency by 30 percent, each year, homeowners would save $4 billion dollars and keep 69 billion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air.

EPA is working closely with HUD and DOE to improve the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock to save energy, reduce pollution and improve affordability.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced ENERGY STAR in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce air pollution by giving consumers simple energy-efficient choices. Today, with DOE and EPA working together, the ENERGY STAR is featured on more than 40 types of products as well as on new homes and buildings. More than 9,000 organizations have become ENERGY STAR partners and are committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes and businesses. For more information, see: http://www.energystar.gov .

(2) EPA Recognizes Municipalities and Industries for Achievements in Wastewater
Treatment and Pollution Reduction

Contact: Cathy Milbourn 202-564-7824 / milbourn.cathy@epa.gov

On Monday, Oct. 4, EPA announced the 29 first and second place winners of the 2004 National Clean Water Act Recognition Awards during the Water Environment Federation's Technical Exposition and Conference in New Orleans, La. This is the 19th year EPA recognized municipalities and industries for demonstrating outstanding water quality achievements for projects and programs in five award categories: operations and maintenance, biosolids management, pretreatment, storm water management and combined sewer overflow control programs. The presentation of these awards help to raise public awareness of the pollution reduction efforts that wastewater treatment plants make to improve the nation's waters. The awards program provides national recognition and encourages public support of programs that protect the public's health and safety and the nation's water quality. State water pollution control agencies and EPA regional offices make recommendations to headquarters for the national awards. A listing of the 2004 National awards winners is available at: http://www.epa.gov/water/.

(3) EPA Conditionally Registers New Bt Cotton Product

Contact: Enesta P. Jones 202-564-7873 / jones.enesta@epa.gov

EPA has conditionally approved a new Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) plant-incorporated protectant in cotton (Wide strike®) for use until Sept. 30, 2009. Wide strike® cotton is expected to have environmental and public health benefits by reducing the use of conventional chemical insecticides that may be applied to cotton several times per season. Wide strike® also has the potential to extend the useful life of existing plant-incorporated protectants and provide additional benefits for insect resistance management. EPA granted this conditional registration and approved a tolerance exemption after reviewing the results of experimental trials, analyzing numerous scientific studies looking at both human health and environmental impacts, consulting with the Scientific Advisory Panel and reviewing public comments. Following this thorough registration review process, EPA determined that granting a conditional registration for this use would not pose unreasonable risks to human health, nontarget organisms, or the environment. WideStrike® cotton contains a Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac protein and a Cry1F protein, both previously approved by the Agency. These proteins are intended to control tobacco budworm, pink bollworm, cotton bollworm, cabbage looper, saltmarsh caterpillar, cotton leaf perforator, soybean looper, beet armyworm, fall armyworm, yellowstriped armyworm and European corn borer. WideStrike® cotton is a Dow AgroSciences product.

(4) New Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Announced by Climate Leader Partners

Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / millett.john@epa.gov

Today, six partners in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program announced their greenhouse gas reduction targets. Climate Leaders is a voluntary program that works with companies to measure greenhouse gas emissions and set aggressive, long-term emissions reduction goals. Since its inception in 2002, Climate Leaders has grown to include 58 corporations whose revenues add up to more than six percent of the United States' gross domestic product.

With today's announcements, 27 of the 58 Climate Leaders Partners have set emissions reduction goals, which EPA estimates will prevent a total of 7.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent per year. These reductions are equal to the greenhouse gas emissions of five million cars per year.

The partners announcing targets are: Ball Corp. of Broomfield, Colo.; the Collins Companies of Portland, Ore.; First Environment Inc. of Riverdale, N.J.; GE Transportation of Cincinnati, Ohio; Hasbro Inc. of Pawtucket, R.I.; and Roche Group US Affiliates of Basel, Switzerland.

Organizations that partner with EPA in Climate Leaders agree to report emissions of the six major greenhouse gases from all on-site emissions of greenhouse gases and emissions related to the electricity they purchase. Companies may also report emissions and reductions from a number of other activities including investments in offset projects.

More information on EPA's Climate Leaders program is available at: http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/ .

Enforcement Wrap-up

Contact: John Millett 202-564-7842 / millett.john@epa.gov

(5) Pennsylvania Company and Its President Charged in Clean Water Act Case

BEF Corp. of Allentown, Pa., and Elward Brewer of Englewood, Fla., BEF's founder and president, were each charged on Sept. 22, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia with allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by discharging silver-laden and acidic waste water into sewers operated by the City of Bethlehem, Pa., and the City of Allentown, Pa. BEF buys used one-hour photo-processing machines, refurbishes them and then resells them throughout the world. During the refurbishment process, BEF generates silver-laden and acidic wastewater. In addition BEF was also charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and with 12 counts of making false statements to the government. These charges stem from BEF's exportation of goods to Iran, and from BEF's alleged practice of discounting the fair market value of its photo labs on Shippers' Export Declarations to help its international customers avoid paying import duties. Unlawfully disposing of metal laden and acidic waste water into sewers can damage sewage treatment equipment and can interfere with the proper treatment of sewage by sewage treatment facilities. The case was investigated by the Philadelphia office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Export Enforcement and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Investigative assistance was provided by the waste water treatment departments of the Borough of Catasauqua, the City of Bethelem, South Whitehall Township and the City of Allentown. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.


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Release date:10/07/2004 Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email

 

 
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