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In looking at Carol Browner's leadership at the Environmental Protection Agency, this article draws on insights from the literature on women and executive politics, women and the environment, and environmental policy and decision-making, bridging these fields of study to explore the height of US executive environmental politics through a gendered lens. It examines whether Browner articulated a feminist analysis of environmental issues and whether her life experiences differed from those of the men who previously dominated environmental politics, and if those translated into distinctive concerns and policies. Focusing on a selection of Browner's key environmental priorities and initiatives, this article ultimately assesses the impact she had on the development of environmental policy in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) has contributed to the institutionalization of environmentalism. Putting environmental INGOs in comparative perspective, it is argued that differences in authority among INGOs are an important determinant of the strategies that INGOs adopt and the ultimate influence they are able to achieve. This claim is illustrated through an examination of the changing political opportunities for INGOs and a case of a recent private governance initiative, The Sustainability Consortium. The status maintenance concerns of leading INGOs encourage them to adopt incrementalist and pro-market policies that help launch weak governance schemes and frustrate many other environmental INGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on environmental nongovermental organizations (ENGOs). It refers to the support of activities of less-institutionalized, more radical activists by ENGOs in various ways. It describes the symbiotic relationship between ENGOs and radical environmental activists. It explains the role of ENGOs in some sociologists of social movements. It highlights the external institutionalization of ENGOs which did not eclipse less institutionalized forms of direct action and should not be exaggerated.

In 2001, the DuPont Company and various Virginia regulatory agencies (Virginia) established the South River Science Team (SRST) as a multi-stakeholder and collaborative program to address legacy Hg contamination of the South River, Virginia. Specifically, the SRST began to apply a watershed-level risk-based assessment process to evaluate the potential impact of a former DuPont facility adjacent to the South River. Mercury had been found in facility soils in 1976 spawning numerous chemical and biological studies. However, prior to 1999, with the exception of a structured, long-term fish monitoring plan developed by Virginia, these studies were conducted by diverse, independent organizations resulting in limited scientific oversight and implementation, or interaction with the public. This article focuses on some key findings (e.g., defining/refining the issues, setting up the team, the role of the different stakeholders in making the process work) from the problem formulation and planning phase of this multi-stakeholder effort. The SRST effort draws heavily on the concepts of problem formulation (PF) and planning (as described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) to guide the overall risk-based approach. PF is one of the most important steps in the process and, if done correctly can lead to a well-conceived and implemented assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA), is required to promulgate National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) for criteria air pollutants, including ozone. Each NAAQS includes a primary health-based standard and a secondary or welfare-based standard. This paper considers only the science used for revision of the primary standard for ozone in 2008. This paper summarizes deliberations of a small group of scientists who met in June 2007 to review the scientific information informing the EPA Administrator’s proposed revision of the 1997 standard. The Panel recognized that there is no scientific methodology that, in the absence of judgment, can define the precise numerical level, related averaging time, and statistical form of the NAAQS. The selection of these elements of the NAAQS involves policy judgments that should be informed by scientific information and analyses. Thus, the Panel members did not feel it appropriate to offer either their individual or collective judgment on the specific numerical level of the NAAQS for ozone. The Panel deliberations focused on the scientific data available on the health effects of exposure to ambient concentrations of ozone, controlled ozone exposure studies with human volunteers, long-term epidemiological studies, time- series epidemiological studies, human panel studies, and toxicological investigations. The deliberations also dealt with the issue of background levels of ozone of nonanthropogenic origin and issues involved with conducting formal risk assessments of the health impacts of current and prospective levels of ambient ozone. The scientific issues that were central to the EPA Administrator’s 2008 revision of the NAAQS for ozone will undoubtedly also be critical to the next review of the ozone standard. That review should begin very soon if it is to be completed within the 5-year cycle specified in the CAA. It is hoped that this Report will stimulate discussion of these scientific issues, conduct of additional research, and conduct of new analyses that will provide an improved scientific basis for the policy judgment that will have to be made by a future EPA Administrator in considering potential revision of the ozone standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. Clean Air Act's (CAA) New Source Review's (NSR) constituent regulatory scheme, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD), which applies in geographic regions with relatively clean air. The U.S. Congress enacted the CAA in 1970 between a powerful national environmental movement. An audit by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exposed a lack of PSD and other NSR permits issued. Under the CAA, the U.S. government has a commitment to prevent the degradation of air quality in clean-air regions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been engaged in a process of organizational learning to build civic capacity for nearly 4 decades, in effect discovering its civic mission. This article examines how EPA has increasingly become a more effective enabler of democratic network governance in the watershed arena and has developed ambitious cross-media initiatives to help transform the culture of the agency. Its very progress, however, highlights significant challenges that the agency must address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present findings from a multiyear expert judgment study that comprehensively characterizes uncertainty in estimates of mortality reductions associated with decreases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the U.S. Appropriate characterization of uncertainty is critical because mortality- related benefits represent up to 90% of the monetized benefits reported in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) analyses of proposed air regulations. Numerous epidemiological and toxicological studies have evaluated the PM2.5—mortality association and investigated issues that may contribute to uncertainty in the concentration—response (C—R) function, such as exposure misclassification and potential confounding from other pollutant exposures. EPA's current uncertainty analysis methods rely largely on standard errors in published studies. However, no one study can capture the full suite of issues that arise in quantifying the C—R relationship. Therefore, EPA has applied state-of-the-art expert judgment elicitation techniques to develop probabilistic uncertainty distributions that reflect the broader array of uncertainties in the C—R relationship. These distributions, elicited from 12 of the world's leading experts on this issue, suggest both potentially larger central estimates of mortality reductions for decreases in long-term PM2.5 exposure in the U.S. and a wider distribution of uncertainty than currently employed in EPA analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s, American Indian Nations assumed regulatory primacy over certain portions of federal environmental laws in the United States. For tribes that have not developed their own standards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued policy statements aimed at incorporating tribal health and natural resources. While many communities of color have to fight to get heard in state and federal permitting processes, the U.S. EPA has made it an explicit mission to always include Indian Nations. Thus, "getting to the decision-making table" - a key goal of environmental justice groups - is presumably serving the interests of tribes seeking environmental justice. However, being involved in regulatory processes, as tribes are, may not be enough for Indian Nations or other communities of color. It is to this end that I write this article - should "getting to the table" be the ultimate goal for environmental justice groups, and how should this table be structured? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of Oklahoma has designated several areas as freshwater mussel sanctuaries in an attempt to provide freshwater mussel species a degree of protection and to facilitate their reproduction. We evaluated the protection afforded freshwater mussels by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) hardness-based 1996 ambient copper water quality criteria, the 2007 U.S. EPA water quality criteria based on the biotic ligand model and the 2005 state of Oklahoma copper water quality standards. Both the criterion maximum concentration and criterion continuous concentration were evaluated. Published acute and chronic copper toxicity data that met American Society for Testing and Materials guidance for test acceptability were obtained for exposures conducted with glochidia or juvenile freshwater mussels. We tabulated toxicity data for glochidia and juveniles to calculate 20 species mean acute values for freshwater mussels. Generally, freshwater mussel species mean acute values were similar to those of the more sensitive species included in the U.S. EPA water quality derivation database. When added to the database of genus mean acute values used in deriving 1996 copper water quality criteria, 14 freshwater mussel genus mean acute values included 10 of the lowest 15 genus mean acute values, with three mussel species having the lowest values. Chronic exposure and sublethal effects freshwater mussel data available for four species and acute to chronic ratios were used to evaluate the criterion continuous concentration. On the basis of the freshwater mussel toxicity data used in this assessment, the hardness-based 1996 U.S. EPA water quality criteria, the 2005 Oklahoma water quality standards, and the 2007 U.S. EPA water quality criteria based on the biotic ligand model might need to be revised to afford protection to freshwater mussels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to determine acute toxicity of copper, ammonia, or chlorine to larval (glochidia) and juvenile mussels using the recently published American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard guide for conducting laboratory toxicity tests with freshwater mussels. Toxicity tests were conducted with glochidia (24- to 48-h exposures) and juveniles (96-h exposures) of up to 11 mussel species in reconstituted ASTM hard water using copper, ammonia, or chlorine as a toxicant. Copper and ammonia tests also were conducted with five commonly tested species, including cladocerans (Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia; 48-h exposures), amphipod (Hyalella azteca; 48-h exposures), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss; 96-h exposures), and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas; 96-h exposures). Median effective concentrations (EC50s) for commonly tested species were >58 μg Cu/L (except 15 μg Cu/L for C. dubia) and >13 mg total ammonia N/L, whereas the EC50s for mussels in most cases were <45 μg Cu/L or <12 mg N/L and were often at or below the final acute values (FAVs) used to derive the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1996 acute water quality criterion (WQC) for copper and 1999 acute WQC for ammonia. However, the chlorine EC50s for mussels generally were >40 μg/L and above the FAV in the WQC for chlorine. The results indicate that the early life stages of mussels generally were more sensitive to copper and ammonia than other organisms and that, including mussel toxicity data in a revision to the WQC, would lower the WQC for copper or ammonia. Furthermore, including additional mussel data in 2007 WQC for copper based on biotic ligand model would further lower the WQC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the present study were to develop methods for conducting chronic toxicity tests with juvenile mussels under flow-through conditions and to determine the chronic toxicity of copper and ammonia to juvenile mussels using these methods. In two feeding tests, two-month-old fatmucket (Lampsilis siliquoidea) and rainbow mussel (Villosa iris) were fed various live algae or nonviable algal mixture for 28 d. The algal mixture was the best food resulting in high survival (≥90%) and growth. Multiple copper and ammonia toxicity tests were conducted for 28 d starting with two-month-old mussels. Six toxicity tests using the algal mixture were successfully completed with a control survival of 88 to 100%. Among copper tests with rainbow mussel, fatmucket, and oyster mussel (Epioblasma capsaeformis), chronic value ([ChV], geometric mean of the no-observed-effect concentration and the lowest-observed-effect concentration) ranged from 8.5 to 9.8 μg Cu/L for survival and from 4.6 to 8.5 μg Cu/L for growth. Among ammonia tests with rainbow mussel, fatmucket, and wavy-rayed lampmussel (L. fasciola), the ChV ranged from 0.37 to 1.2 mg total ammonia N/L for survival and from 0.37 to 0.67 mg N/L for growth. These ChVs were below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1996 chronic water quality criterion (WQC) for copper (15 μg/L; hardness 170 mg/L) and 1999 WQC for total ammonia (1.26 mg N/L; pH 8.2 and 20°C). Results indicate that toxicity tests with two-month-old mussels can be conducted for 28 d with >80% control survival; growth was frequently a more sensitive endpoint compared to survival; and the 1996 chronic WQC for copper and the 1999 chronic WQC for total ammonia might not be adequately protective of the mussel species tested. However, a recently revised 2007 chronic WQC for copper based on the biotic ligand model may be more protective in the water tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of environmental medicine as a timely health-care initiative in the context of its alternative and complementary aspects. Poor environmental quality has been attributed to a quarter of preventable illnesses around the world, with 50,000 premature deaths per year in the U.S. alone. As environmental factors are important contributors to autoimmune diseases, the Environmental Protection Agency takes action to monitor chemical substances released into the air.

The article reports on the continuous inventory collection of radioactive waste products in nuclear power industry involving its radiation risk to future generations in the U.S. The administration of the permanent respiratory for radioactive waste products has been encountering delayed in technical difficulties and political controversy. The federal Environmental Protection Agency announces the revision of proposed standards including the ten years radioactive waste storage and the period of ten thousand years into the future. The storage facility includes overlying vegetation as its physical characteristics and integrity.

This article discusses environmentalism in the U.S. including the views expressed by leaders, experts and thinkers on the subject. The environmental movement came into reckoning, at a time when government was still considered a positive force in public life. It was the time when the media were more dispersed and more inclined to investigate. It was the time when the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the major statutes protecting air, water, species, and wilderness were created. That consensus has come undone in a quarter century of increasingly bitter cultural warfare. The author is of the view that an effective environmental movement in the future will, first, have to learn how to operate in the political arena at all levels. Many people underestimated the challenges involved in going "from conqueror of the land community to plain member and citizen of it." One has to develop policies to do those logical things to improve the energy efficiency and re- duce the environmental impacts for the future community.

Reports on renewed efforts by U.S. congressional leaders and environmental groups to reauthorize the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, know as Superfund. How Superfund was passed in 1980 to help solve the hazardous waste site problems in the U.S.; Controversy over the size of the fund, responsibility of the cleanup programs, remedies for victims of exposure, and the state share of cleanup costs; Estimated cost to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Why did the EPA dismiss a highly respected neurotoxicologist as chair of its external review panel on the fire retardant deca? Pioneering lead researcher Herbert Needleman, MD, argues that the answer has little to do with science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to establish environmental protection policy and standards. On November 2005, the EPA published its final rule pertaining to the Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiry. Shortly thereafter, the ASTM issued its updated E1527-05 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. This standard contains new requirements and latest landowner liability protections that evolved as a result of Congress' actions and the new rule of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Offers news briefs related to the environment. Formation of the National Institute for the Environment; Handling of criminal environmental cases by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice; Recycling program instituted by Goodwiill; Others.

The article reports on the performance of the environmental program called Performance Track established in 2000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Performance Track is composed of companies with exemplary environmental performance working voluntarily to improve habitat protection, water and energy use, and waste reduction in areas over which EPA has a regulatory authority. With its establishment in 2000, the program has been running off the rails and acted in favor of polluters. This is due to its call to abolish the report that may help improve pollution technologies along with changes that may permit companies to break environmental protection promises. The program has gone far beyond public recognition of the most responsible companies and raises several concerns.

This article informs that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is initiating the Drinking Water Lead Reduction Plan to strengthen, update, and clarify existing requirements for water utilities and slates to test for and reduce lead in drinking water. In 1991, to reduce lead in drinking water, U.S. EPA issued the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The LCR requires water utilities to reduce lead contamination by controlling the corrosiveness of water, and, as needed, replace lead service lines used to carry water from the street to the home.

This article reports on environmentalism in the U.S. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed such a cap-and-trade system last year, it argued that it was the most effective way to cut back the 48 tons of mercury, a known neurotoxin, emitted nationwide each year. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for about 40% of all mercury emissions in the U.S., making them the largest single source. No federal rules on mercury from power plants are in place yet, although EPA determined in 2000 that regulation was appropriate and necessary.

The article focuses on the report entitled "2008 Report on the Environment" (EPA 2008 ROE) released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The report presents information that helps the public better understand trends in the condition of land, water, air and related changes in human health and the environment in the United States. Scientifically sound indicators were used, which are suggested for review before using to ensure the details would be useful and supported by technically sound data. According to the EPA, its purpose is to create a reliable set of information useful for year-to-year comparisons and for planning as well.

The article features the developments of environmental activities of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ) in Queensland. The organization released various reports pertaining to environmental protection including the Proposed Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Plan for Gladstone, the discussion paper Clean and Healthy Air for Gladstone Proposed Key Pollutant Inventory and Proposed Suite of Health Outcomes. Such papers were released by the Environmental Protection Agency and are also available via the institution's website. It states that the South East Queensland Regional Air Quality Strategy is being reviewed and comments from its members will be considered for the CASANZ submission that will be addressed to the branch's president.

This article reports that activists are criticizing a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speed up its regular review of air-quality standards. By law, EPA must revisit its National Ambient Air Quality Standards every 5 years. Staff scientists evaluate the latest research and propose ranges for new standards, which are then reviewed by the agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Because EPA regularly misses its deadline and gets sued, an internal EPA committee proposed several suggestions in for speeding up the process. EPA chief scientist George Gray said that the idea behind this proposal is not to have the policy drive the science.

The article focuses on the record growth of the environmental compliance cost in various organizations in the U.S. Organizations are spending 10 billion dollars to comply with the natural environment laws. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contended that its enforcement actions have seen companies, governments, and other institutions agreed to reduce pollutants by half a million tonnes. Granta Nakayama of the EPA enforcement division contended that the statistics show significant progress in criminal enforcement and securing environmental compliance. A significant number of entities have voluntarily disclosed violations to EPA.

The article focuses on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is planning to loosen reporting rules for chemicals on its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) list. Under EPA regulations, companies must tell the agency every year how much of 666 chemicals on the TRI they release to the environment. Under a revised rule, EPA will increase the reporting thresholds and only require reports every 2 years. Those changes will make it harder for the public to track dangerous chemicals, argues the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in Washington, D.C., including five chemicals EWG says, by EPA's own rules, should be subject to even stricter reporting thresholds.

The article informs that critics of revision to air pollution standards, proposed last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), say the new daily threshold will only marginally improve public health. In fact, an outside panel that made such a recommendation is not happy with EPA's decision. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson did not answer that question during a 20 December teleconference announcing the standards but said he had thought long and hard about the data. Studies have shown that inhaling the small particles that make up soot, a widespread byproduct of combustion, harms health, although the mechanisms are not all clear. In 1997, the EPA first regulated fine particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less. As part of a settlement in a suit brought by the American Lung Association, EPA was required to propose revised PM 2.5 rules by the end of 2005. Such a reduction could make a big difference in public health, scientists have found. The EPA models for nine major U.S. cities predict that the tightest daily and annual standards recommended by CASAC would cut the roughly 4700 deaths due each year to PM 2.5 in those cities by 48%.

This article presents news related to environmental health. The National Environmental Services Center provides information about drinking water, wastewater, environmental training, and solid waste management in communities serving fewer than 10,000 individuals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticides Program works on a wide range of pesticide issues and topics, evaluating potential new pesticides and uses, providing for special local needs and emergency situations, reviewing the safety of older pesticides, registering pesticide-producing establishments, and enforcing pesticide requirements. Its Web site features information on mosquito control and West Nile virus, human health and environmental assessments, the control of pests, regulating pesticides, compliance and enforcement, grants and partnerships, and science and policy. The second site listed above is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program, a national pesticide residue database program.

This article reports on the enhanced incentive program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for petroleum refiners. Under the program, refiners have an added incentive to produce and distribute ultra-low sulfur highway diesel fuel earlier than required. Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel is necessary to reduce harmful diesel emissions because it allows a new generation of engines to run more than 90-percent cleaner than today's diesels.

Provides Internet resources on the topic of environmental justice. Definition of environmental justice according to the Web site of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Consideration of Web sites for several governmental and nongovernmental organizations that advocate for environmental justice at national and local levels.

The article reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to extend until June 12, 2006, the regulatory deadline that would require stormwater permit coverage for oil and gas construction activities that disturb between one and five acres of land. The agency reportedly needs additional time to consider comments raised by stakeholders and to consider the economic, legal and procedural implications related to controlling stormwater discharges from these sites. Over the next 15 months, the agency will complete an economic impact analysis; evaluate several regulatory options for addressing stormwater discharges; and evaluate practices and methods used to control stormwater discharges.

This article focuses on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency accepts data from controversial studies that deliberately dose human volunteers with pesticides. EPA stopped considering such data in December 2001, after the advocacy organization Environmental Working Group challenged them as unethical. A review by the National Academy of Sciences recommended that EPA accept the results of certain human tests if they met strict scientific and ethical criteria. Meanwhile, CropLife America, a Washington D.C.-based industry trade group, had sued EPA arguing that the moratorium was illegal, and in 2003 a judge agreed.

This article focuses on the revocation of the U.S. safety rules on rat poison formulation. Activist groups have filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging that the agency's revocation of safety rules on the formulation of rat poison has put children at risk. The plaintiffs are calling for the reinstatement of federal controls that required rat poisons to contain an ingredient that makes the poison taste bitter and a dye to make it obvious when a child has ingested the poison. The controls were abandoned by the EPA in 2001 after consultations with the manufacturers led to a mutual agreement to rescind the requirements.

This article reports that EnviroMapper for Water is a Web-based geographic information system application and mapping interface to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency geospatial data. It dynamically displays information about bodies of water in the United States. More specifically, EnviroMapper for Water allows users to view different sets of map feature layers at national, regional, state, and local levels. It enables user control of the map including the display of multiple feature layers; identification and labeling of features; zooming; panning; and display of descriptive information for a specific location.

U.S. President George W. Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2005 budget, released in February 2004 requests $7.76 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a $130 million increase over the administration's FY 2004 proposal but as much as 7% less than the $8.4 billion Congress appropriated. The overall science and technology budget takes a bigger hit in the proposed budget, dropping some $93 million, or 12%, from congressional funding for FY 2004. In announcing the budget, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt focused on the program funds that would increase when they are compared to Bush's request for last year, rather than comparing the figures to what the Congress provided. Leavitt touted the requested $33 million for the agency's operating programs, a 1% increase over Bush's request last year that would be the highest funding level in history. These funds support the agency's core regulatory research, enforcement, and state grant programs.