Provides guidance on controlling asbestos-containing materials (ACM) found in buildings. Provides a current summary of data on exposure to airborne asbestos; gives survey procedures for determining if ACM is present in buildings; explains how to establish a special operations and maintenance program in a building found to contain asbestos; reviews technical issues confronted when assessing the potential for exposure to airborne asbestos, in particular indoor settings; suggests a structured process for selecting a particular course of action, and much more. Commonly referred to as the Blue Book.
Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.
A renowned Supreme Court advocate tells the inside story of Massachusetts v. EPA, the landmark case that made it possible for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gasses--from the Bush administration's fierce opposition, to the internecine conflicts among the petitioners, to the razor-thin 5-4 victory.
This book offers the first comprehensive history of a difficult and often neglected part of EPA's responsibilities - the enforcement of federal environmental standards. Drawing on extensive interviews with the political appointees, administrators, and staff who have provided the agency's direction, as well as his own professional experience with EPA, Joel A. Mintz explores the historical evolution of the agency's enforcement program, its institutional setting within the larger political arena, and its current strengths and shortcomings. This history will be important reading for students of political science, public policy, environmental law, administrative law, anthropology, sociology, and related fields. It should also be read by attorneys who represent parties in enforcement cases initiated by EPA, by the agency's own managers and professional staff, and by public citizens concerned with environmental issues.
An insider's account of how political pressure and corporate arm-twisting undermined the Environmental Protection Agency, with devastating effects on public safety and the environment.
