Environmental Protection Agency's Efforts Research Articles

Human Pancreas-Derived Organoids with Controlled Polarity: Detailed Protocols and Experimental Timeline.

Since their discovery, 3D cell cultures have emerged as powerful tools across various basic, translational research, and industrial discovery projects. One such application is in the physiological and pathophysiological modeling of pancreatic exocrine functions, which addresses critical clinical challenges, including acute and chronic pancreatitis. While several methods now exist for generating epithelial organoids (derived from induced pluripotent, embryonic, or adult stem cells), the advent of patient-derived organoids (PDOs) with controlled polarity has introduced a new frontier in pancreatic research. This advancement has significantly expanded the methodological arsenal available for studying human pancreatic epithelial secretion. In this article, we present basic protocols and a troubleshooting guide for an advanced culture method that results in an apical-to-basal polarity switch. Alongside the protocols, we emphasize a comprehensive cost breakdown, an aspect often challenging to estimate when implementing new techniques. By sharing the technical nuances and financial implications of these protocols, we aim to encourage researchers to transition from rodent models to primary human epithelial cells wherever feasible. This aligns with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to accelerate the translation of significant scientific findings to address major clinical needs. © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Establishment and maintenance of pancreatic PDOs Basic Protocol 2: Cryopreservation and thawing of pancreatic PDOs Basic Protocol 3: Inducing polarity switching in pancreatic PDOs.

Refinement of Sampling and Analysis Techniques for Asbestos in Soil

ABSTRACT Measuring the concentrations of asbestos in contaminated soils is challenging. Data are often highly variable. Variability in soil measurements has led to limitations in comparing results from sites nationally and difficulties in reproducing results, even from the same sites over time. The difficulties in collecting reproducible soil data limit the ability to extrapolate from concentrations in soil and compare to concentrations in air. This extrapolation is necessary if soil data are to be used in human health risk assessments. To address this substantial limitation of asbestos soil data, researchers from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions and the National Exposure Research Laboratory are conducting a series of efforts to advance the use of data that are collected, processed, and analyzed using the most reproducible methods. These soil data, collected from a variety of sites across the country, will be compared to air data from activity-based sampling in an attempt to establish a quantitative relationship between asbestos soil concentrations and airborne fiber concentrations. This research plan summary provides an update on the EPA efforts under way and the challenges that lie ahead.

Meaningful Transparency At EPA: A Framework for Rationalizing Approaches to Promote Open Science and Data Sharing for Evidence-Based Policymaking

In modern society, transparency about how government agencies operate facilitates accountability and oversight, thereby encouraging not just effective governance but also public trust in agency decisions. Within the scientific enterprise, transparency supports new knowledge creation as well as the use of scientific research in policy decisions. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken significant steps to operate transparently throughout its history, like most federal agencies, more work is needed for EPA to develop a holistic approach for applying transparency throughout agency activities. With the growing prevalence of the open-science and open-data movements, policymakers must give further attention to how EPA can and should advance as the agency plans for the future. Recognizing the array of laws, policies, and priorities implemented by EPA to take into consideration, this paper considers the extent to which EPA makes information accessible and useful. Whether scientific evidence for a scientific community or open data for the broad American public, EPA has an ever-evolving information-management role. This report presents a landscape summary of the various policies implemented by EPA, covering science-integrity, data-quality, and information-management policies as well as a discussion of EPA efforts to improve access to both EPA-funded research and non-EPA-funded research used in policy decisions. This report also applies government-wide initiatives and new mandates for evidence-based policymaking to EPA. This report offers a conceptual framework for applying EPA’s existing policies related to transparency to examine how policymakers might consider further modifications to the agency’s transparency approaches in the coming years. The framework describes how different types of transparency affect stages of evidence building and use at EPA.

The Emperor's Old Clothes: An Inconvenient Truth About Currently Accepted Vapor Intrusion Assessment Methods

The Emperor's Old Clothes: An Inconvenient Truth About Currently Accepted Vapor Intrusion Assessment Methods

Application of Airborne LiDAR Data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Develop a Distributed Generation System for the Town of Normal, IL

Distributed generation allows a variety of small, modular power-generating technologies to be combined with load management and energy storage systems to improve the quality and reliability of our electricity supply. As part of the US Environmental Protection Agency's effort to reduce CO 2 emissions from existing power plants by 30% by 2030, distributed generation through solar photovoltaic systems provides a viable option for mitigating the negative impacts of centralized fossil fuel plants. This study conducted a detailed analysis to identify the rooftops in a town in Central Illinois that are suitable for distributed generation solar photovoltaic systems with airborn LiDAR data and to quantify their energy generation potential with an energy performance model. By utilizing the available roof space of the 9,718 buildings in the case study area, a total of 39.27 MW solar photovoltaic systems can provide electrical generation of 53,061 MWh annually. The unique methodology utilized for this assessment of a town's solar potential provides an effective way to invest in a more sustainable energy future and ensure economic stability.

The Elusive Environmental Justice Area: Three Waves of Policy in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Despite almost two decades of effort, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues struggling to define “environmental justice areas” or “EJ communities” for the purpose of administering its programs and measuring its progress. One cause for the long delay is the lingering technical problem of determining disproportionate impact; another is the political and administrative challenge posed by changes in environmental justice policy. In this historical overview, I argue that the EPA's efforts to establish nationally standardized guidelines for identifying EJ areas have corresponded to three overlapping but distinct “waves” of environmental justice policy. Although the third wave of EJ policy has restored the program's original focus on low-income and minority populations, it will remain difficult to institute a consistent definition in the face of place-specific differences among communities experiencing environmental injustice.

The Future of Fracking: New Rules Target Air Emissions for Cleaner Natural Gas Production

Natural gas is lauded as a cleaner-burning fuel than either coal or oil, but getting the fuel out of the ground can be a dirty process, especially given the widespread adoption of the technology known as hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Concerns about toxic air emissions from previously unregulated fracking sites led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement on 18 April 2012 of new and updated air pollution regulations for these facilities and certain other elements of oil and natural gas production and transmission.1 Compliance with the new regulations is expected to result in major reductions in emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly from new fracked natural gas wells. The rules were a hot topic nationally, drawing more than 156,000 comments after the proposed version was released in mid-2011. Under the final rules, companies have until January 2015 to fully phase in the control measures needed; by comparison, the initial proposal called for a 60-day phase-in for many major requirements. The EPA says about half of all new wells already use the equipment needed to capture the targeted emissions.2 A hydraulic fracturing natural gas drilling rig on the eastern Colorado plains. In 2009 there were more than 38,000 natural gas wells in the state. Many environmental groups consider the new regulations an improvement over the existing situation, but they tend to be disappointed much more wasn’t done. “This is quite a milestone,” says Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program director for the advocacy group WildEarth Guardians, one of two groups that filed suit against the EPA in 2009 to force action on the issue. “But is the work done? No, of course not. It’s a floor to build on, providing a minimal level of protection.” The oil and natural gas industry has its own concerns about the new rules but has indicated it can work with them. In a press release issued the day the rules were announced, Howard Feldman, director of regulatory and scientific affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, said, “EPA has made some improvements in the rules that allow our companies to continue reducing emissions while producing the oil and natural gas our country needs.”3

A review of national municipal solid waste generation assessments in the USA

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated in very large quantities (probably between 200 and 400 million tonnes per year) in the USA. MSW is generated at millions of places and there is no one precise, general definition for MSW that is generally applied-despite US Environmental Protection Agency efforts. As an element of both commerce and politics, reporting may be framed towards particular ends. Therefore, the two best known assessments of the quantity of US MSW production differ by approximately 50%. The assessors understand some of the reasons for the differences, but our analysis suggests that there are profound factors, not openly discussed, that affect estimates of waste stream size. Many regulators propose that strict, universal formats be adopted so that there is consistency in waste reporting; we note that this will not change the materials requiring management, only what is counted. Therefore, the most accurate assessments may be those where controllable errors are minimized but which suffer from differing definitions of 'MSW'.

Using web logs transactions to assess a metadata registry system's use

PurposeThe Environmental Data Registry (EDR) is a cornerstone of the US Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to manage and integrate environmental information for the purposes of safeguarding human health and protecting the environment. This paper seeks to present findings on the use of the EDR/SoR metadata registry system based on data from web logs transactions. It aims to broaden our understanding of how metadata registries are used, particularly as indicated by their own users.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents an analysis of web log transactions of a six‐year period (1998‐2004). The focus of this paper is in three areas: use presented on a daily, monthly and yearly basis; trends in use (increasing/decreasing) over a period of more than six years; and users of the metadata registry system as shown through the domain and directory reports.FindingsThe paper presents the daily, monthly and yearly use of the EDR/SoR. It shows trends in its use for a period of over six years and identifies some of the metadata registry's users and the information they seek (as shown in the directory reports).Research limitations/implicationsTransactional web logs, in general, record the internet protocol address of the computer that accessed the web site/service. That is not necessarily linked to any one specific user. Therefore, results are presented as actual access numbers rather than human beings.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first of its kind to examine web log transactions in assessing metadata registry usage. This research is intended to enhance the understanding of the user and application of the EDR/SoR and therefore provide a baseline for metadata registry systems' evaluation in general.

Modernization Of EPA Data System Lags

The Environmental Protection Agency's effort to modernize its computer system for tracking companies' compliance with water pollution permits is falling behind while costs escalate, says the agency's inspector general. EPA and 18 states use the system to track water pollution permits and enforcement and inspection at some 64,000 facilities regulated under the Clean Water Act. The computer system, managed by EPA's Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance, is 21 years old and suffers data-quality problems. In addition, it does not capture data from hundreds of thousands of small dischargers—information EPA's Office of Water needs as it begins to regulate pollution on a watershed basis. In 1997, the enforcement I office launched an effort to s modernize the system. A report released by EPA's Office of the Inspector General in late May says the deadline for finishing the project has slipped significantly over the years and now ...

Environmental Federalism at Decade's End: New Approaches and Strategies

This article examines several recent trends in environmental policy that may have important effects over the next decade on federal-state relations and on the nation's environmental quality. It focuses on the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to reinvent environmental regulation and to encourage community-based environmental protection as a more effective and acceptable approach to environmental policy. We consider the extent to which these new directions are likely to improve relations between the federal government and states, localities, and the private sector, and to achieve desired levels of environmental protection in the United States. The new approaches are highly promising; yet they also face significant barriers to implementation. Congressional reform of the key statutes could lend muchneeded support to such efforts.

EPA in trouble over inventory expansion

The Environmental Protection Agency's effort to expand the reach of its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) has hit a serious snag. The Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which has to approve major ne...

Use of the reference dose in risk characterization of drinking water contaminants

Abstract Regulatory decisions should be made in the most expert and informed way since they are precipitated by real and perceived threats to public health, under the glare of public scrutiny. The development of environmental regulations require a three‐step paradigm, collectively called risk analysis. This paper will address the risk assessment practices required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1986 to determine a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG, nonenforceable health goal) which should result in no known or anticipated health effects, and allows adequate margin of safety. The end product of this risk assessment, risk characterization, and risk management encompassing control options and nonrisk analysis are combined to derive the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL, enforceable standard). Furthermore, this paper discusses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts in exploring new and improved noncancer risk assessment approaches providing the basis for MCLGs for the prote...

Industrial Water Pollution

Twenty years' experience with Environmental Protection Agency efforts to enforce the 1972 Clean Water Act's controls on water pollution have demonstrated the scientific, bureaucratic, political, and organizational complexities of regulating industrial organizations. Industrial representatives play much more active and influential roles in standard setting and rule enforcement than do environmental and other public interest groups. Political ideology and political influence play an important role in the process. Enforcement efforts have relied more on consensual and negotiative strategies than on deterrent and civil or criminal law enforcement strategies. This results from trade-offs between concerns for economic viability and public benefit, from the ability of large organizations to deploy human and financial capital, from insufficient funding of environmental regulatory agencies, and from scientific uncertainties about appropriate standards and feasible amelioration methods.

EPA water toxics control plan assailed

The Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to control hot spots—waters heavily polluted by point source discharges of any of 126 priority pollutants—were roundly criticized last month during hearings before House Subcommittee on Environment, Energy & Natural Resources, chaired by Rep. Mike Synar (D.-Okla.). Synar pointed out that sweeping amendments to Clean Water Act, enacted by Congress in 1987 over then-President Reagan's veto, included provisions to specifically address those waters that, despite use of best available treatment technologies, would remain impaired or threatened by toxic or conventional pollutants. EPA and states were directed to identify these hot spots and to develop control strategies by June 1992. But all has not gone according to plan, and, according to Synar, the hot spots program is all wet. That conclusion was backed up by testimony of Richard L. Hembra, director of environmental protection issues for General Accounting Office's division of ...

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANNUAL RUNOFF AND WATERSHED AREA FOR THE EASTERN UNITED STATES1

ABSTRACT: As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to determine the long‐term effects of acidic deposition on surface water chemistry, annual runoff was estimated for about 1000 ungaged sites in the eastern U.S. using runoff contour maps. One concern in using contour maps was that a bias may be introduced in the runoff estimates due to the size of the 1000 ungaged sites relative to the size of the watersheds used in developing the maps. To determine if a bias was present the relationship between the annual runoff (expressed as depth) and the watershed area for the Northeast (NE) and Southern Blue Ridge Province (SBRP) was tested using five regional data bases. One short‐term data base (1984 Water Year, n = 531) and two long‐term data bases (1940–57, n = 134 and 1951–80, n = 342) were used in the NE. In the SBRP one short‐term database (1984 Water Year, n = 531) and one long‐term data base (1951–80, n = 60) were used. For the NE and the SBRP, runoff was not directly correlated with watershed area using the five regional databases. Also, runoff normalized by precipitation was not related to watershed area.