Environmental Protection Agency

Under pressure from the Ameriean public, in 1970 the U.S. Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Together, these agencies are responsible for dramatic improvements in air and water quality and increases safety in woikplaces throughout the United States. 

EPA s mission is to enforce federal laws to control and abate pollution of air and water, solid waste, noise, radiation, and toxic substances. It is also to administer the Superfund for eleaning up abandoned waste sites, and award grants for local sewage treatment plants.  

After its creation, EPA quickly took the following actions  

In 1971, established National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which specified maximum permissible levels for major pollutants. 

Required each state to develop plans to meet air quality standards. 

The ERA was created in 1970 to protect the environment and exercise control over release of harmful substances that could threaten public health. Many ERA rules define which substances can be hazardous to human health and/or pose a threat to the environment. The ERA or state-approved 

The current policy remains that outlined in the Coordinated Framework published in 1986. In that document the EPA explicitly outlined the policies for review of microbial pesticides, and the data requirements. Unit 

D of that publication (51 FR, page 23320ff, June 26, 1986) provides detailed instructions. 

Small-scale field testing. The EPA requires notification prior to the use of microbial pesticides for small-scale testing for those organisms which are defined as nonindigenous or genetically altered. The purpose is to screen for possible risk to human health or the environment, and to determine if an EUP is required. Small-scale tests are defined as terrestrial field studies that involve 10 acres or less of land, or 1 surface acre or less of water. 

Identity of the micro-organism, including its characteristics and the means and limits of detection. 

Description of the natural habitat of the organism or its parental strains, including information about natural control mechanisms in the ecosystem. 

The solid waste program, under RCRA Subtitle D, encouraged states to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste, sets criteria for municipal solid waste landfills and other solid waste disposal facilities, and prohibits the open dumping of solid waste. The hazardous waste program, under RCRA Subtitle C, establishes a system for controlling hazardous waste from the time it is generated until its ultimate disposal. 

The CERCLA provided the government authority to remedy the past mistakes in hazardous waste management. RCRA strives to help avoid those types of mistakes through proper management of waste activities. CERCLA, as originally enacted in 1980, authorized a 5-year program by the federal government to perform cleanup activities of contaminated sites where release of hazardous substances pose a serious threat to human health, welfare, or the environment. CERCLA held the parties responsible for the releases to fund the cleanup actions. 

The Clean Air Act (CAA) limits the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere and protects human health and the environment from the effects of airborne pollution. The EPA established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for several substances. The NAAQS provide the public some protection from toxic air pollutants. Primary responsibility for meeting the requirements of the CAA rests with each state. States must submit plans for achieving NAAQS compliance. Under section 112 of the CAA, the EPA has the authority to designate hazardous air pollutants and set national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants. Common air pollutants include the following (1) ozone, (2) nitrogen dioxide, (3) carbon monoxide, (4) particulate matter, and (5) sulfur dioxide. 

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) enacted in 1976 helps control the risk of substances not regulated as drugs, food additives, cosmetics, or pesticides. Under this law, the EPA regulates the manufacture, use, and distribution of chemical substances. The TSCA mandates EPA notification before the manufacture of any new chemical substance. The EPA ensures that all chemicals undergo testing to determine risks to humans. The TSCA also allows the EPA to regulate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) under 40 CFR 761. 

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CHEMblST " The CHEMLlS l Pile contains chemical substances on national inventories, registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), TTie dala in GPdHMLIS l arc from 1979 to the present, there arc more than 228 380 records (September, 2002). CHHMLlS l is updated weekly with more than 50 addilions to eUsling records or new subslances. 

Dating approximately from the creation of the U S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970... 

Since 1979 the use of 24 5 T has been regu lated in the United States It is likely that the United States Environmental Protection Agency will classify some dioxins as known and others as probable human carcinogens and recommend further controls be placed on processes that produce them It appears from decreasing dioxin levels in some soils that exist mg regulations are having some effect ... 

Chart showing hierarchical relationship among a technique, methods using that technique, and procedures and protocols for one method. (Abbreviations APHA = American Public Health Association, ASTM = American Society for Testing Materials, EPA = Environmental Protection Agency)... 

The Analysis of Trihalomethanes in Drinking Water by Liquid Extraction US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, 9 Sept. 1977. 

A good example of a prescriptive approach to quality assessment is the protocol outlined in Figure 15.2, published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for laboratories involved in monitoring studies of water and wastewater. Independent samples A and B are collected simultaneously at the sample site. Sample A is split into two equal-volume samples, and labeled Ai and A2. Sample B is also split into two equal-volume samples, one of which, Bsf, is spiked with a known amount of analyte. A field blank. Dp, also is spiked with the same amount of analyte. All five samples (Ai, A2, B, Bsf, and Dp) are preserved if necessary and transported to the laboratory for analysis. 

Example of a prescriptive approach to quality assurance. Adapted from Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Handbook for Analytical Quality Control in Water and Wastewater Laboratories," March 1979. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes sets of Series Methods that describe procedures for detecting and estimating the quantity of environmentally hazardous substances. There are strict requirements for accuracy, reproducibility, and for calibration of mass spectrometers. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorizes control over hazardous and potentially hazardous substances and validates appropriate methods of analysis, many of which require GC/MS. 

The Environmental Protection Agency lays down strict guidelines for the analysis of a range of environmentally hazardous substances. Many of the analyses utilize GC/MS. 

EPA. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. agency responsible for many methods of analysis used by mass spectrometrists)... 

This article has been reviewed by the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and approved for publication. Approval does not... 

Procedures for Emission Inventory Preparation, Vol. 1 -4, Pub. No. EPA 450-4-81-026A-E, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park,N.C, 1981. 

Compilation of yiirPollution Emission Factors, Pub. No. AP-42, 5th ed., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C., 1989. Compilation of A.ir Pollution Emission Factors, Vol 2. Mobile Sources, Pub. No. AP-42, 5th ed., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C., 1989. 

All blends of these oxygenated compounds are subject to ASTM D 439 volatility liinits except ethanol. Contact the EPA for current waivers and detailed requirements, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Eield Operations and Support Division (EN-397E), 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. 

Office of Mobile Sources, Analysis of the Economic and Environmental Effects of Methanol as an Automotive Euel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 1989. 

J. W. Patterson and R. A. Minear, State of the Art for the Inorganic Chemicals Industy Commercial Explosives, 600/2-74-009b, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 1975. 

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