EPA is hosting a webinar for interested parties to explain the process for gathering use and exposure information on five persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This webinar will take place on Thursday, September 7, 2017 at 1:00 PM. It will provide background on new requirements for regulating certain PBT chemicals and explain how interested parties can provide use information to EPA on these five chemicals:

– Decabromodiphenyl ethers (DecaBDE), used as a flame retardant in textiles, plastics, wiring insulation, and building and construction materials;
– Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), used as a solvent in the manufacture of rubber compounds and as hydraulic, heat transfer or transformer fluid;
– Pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP), used as a mercaptan (sulfur) cross-linking agent to make rubber more pliable in industrial uses;
– Phenol, isopropylated, phosphate (3:1), used as a flame retardant in consumer products and as lubricant, hydraulic fluid, and other industrial uses; and
– 2,4,6-Tris(tert-butyl) phenol, an antioxidant that can be used as a fuel, oil, gasoline or lubricant additive.

Under TSCA section 6(h), EPA is required to take expedited regulatory action to address risks and exposures from certain PBT chemicals. By June 22, 2019, EPA must propose rules for the above five PBT chemicals that have been identified under TSCA section 6(h)(1). EPA is currently identifying where these chemicals are used and how people are exposed to them.

Following EPA’s presentation, participants will have an opportunity to provide their comments on uses of these five chemicals.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

The Marine Technology for Teachers and Students (MaTTS) Project invites you to participate in its upcoming webinar series. This series of three webinars (see below) will focus on how to incorporate marine technology builds, ocean exploration expeditions, and live content into your classroom curriculum.

During each webinar, Inner Space Center (ISC) staff and MaTTS Project Teacher Leaders will present an overview of the MaTTS Project, ocean exploration activities, and various marine technology builds.  Learn how to incorporate these topics into your classroom curriculum.

Webinar Series Schedule

Monday, December 18, 2017, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: Connecting Your Classroom to Live Expeditions
Technology Build: Basic Observation Systems

Monday, February 5, 2018, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: Recent Technological Advancements
Technology Build: Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)

Thursday, April 12, 2018, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: 2018 Expeditions
Technology Build: Hydrophones/Oceanographic Sensors

Please use this link to register for one or more of the webinars in this series. Once registered, information on how to connect will be sent, via email, within a week of the scheduled webinar.

Identifying the source of soil contaminants is vital to decision-making during an environmental cleanup. EPA researchers are collecting data that can be used to inform decision-making in urban settings in the Southeastern United States and establish methods that can be used elsewhere.

This webinar will present the methodology developed for collecting a city-wide or urban area background data set and general results of southeastern cities data collected to date, and it also will highlight a case study that used the sampling methodology and data to inform decision making.

Who should attend?

Representatives of state environment and health agencies, tribes, local governments, communities, and others interested in learning about EPA tools and resources available to help inform decision-making.

Register here!

The event will be webcasted live from the Fowler Museum at UCLA. You will receive an email with details on accessing the webcast upon registration.

The fossil fuel industry is responsible for decades of climate science disinformation and attempts to obstruct climate action. A recent scientific paper in Climatic Change for the first time quantifies the outsized role that carbon pollution traced to these companies has played in exacerbating climate impacts. In the face of the current climate change policy void at the federal level, legal experts are seriously exploring whether and how fossil fuel companies can be held liable.

A handful of recent lawsuits filed by cities and counties in California have put this issue front and center, and New York City also filed suit for climate damages on January 10. But the fossil fuel industry is fighting back—ExxonMobil is now threatening to countersue in California and has begun legal maneuvers that may be time-consuming and costly for the cities and counties.

Featuring scientific and legal experts, as well as perspectives from affected communities, the panel will address how companies involved in the extraction, production, and marketing of fossil fuels can be held to account for the ever-mounting costs of climate harms and preparation.

For more information, visit ucsusa.org.

Register Today!

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship.

At the January web meeting, we welcome Jaime Gonzalez, Community Conservation Director, Katy Prairie Conservancy, who will address Caring for the Plants that Care for Us. 

He will discuss the importance of native plants for biodiversity, water absorption, carbon sequestration, the economy, and creating a sense of place.  He will link the well-being of ecosystems to human well-being. Jaime will also discuss the work of Katy Prairie Conservancy to restore native prairie, “re-wild” Houston with pocket prairies, offer citizen conservation opportunities and a new initiative to encourage residents to plant the “nine natives” in their yards. Jaime will give details on using these native plantings on your property, will provide resources and outlets for getting native plants, and will even delve into the ethics of saving wildlife by providing native plant habitat. After his talk, there will be time for Q&A to answer your native plant questions. 

A generous donor has pledged a donation to the Katy Prairie Conservancy if at least 10 people sign up for and attend Jaime’s talk.  Please register for this talk, and you will receive an invitation to the web meeting.  Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.

Stormwater discharges continue to cause impairment of our Nation’s waterbodies. Conventional stormwater infrastructure, or gray infrastructure, is largely designed to move stormwater away from urban areas through pipes and conduit. Runoff from these surfaces can overwhelm sewer systems and end up contaminating local waterways. When stormwater runs off impervious streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and rooftops, it can carry pollutants to streams, rivers, and lakes. Runoff flows can also cause erosion and flooding that can damage property, infrastructure, and wildlife habitat. In addition to runoff problems, impervious surfaces also prevent water from penetrating the soil and recharging groundwater supplies.

Green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, and porous pavement, is becoming an increasingly attractive way to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that flows into wastewater treatment plants or into waterbodies untreated, and to recharge aquifers. It provides many environmental, social, and economic benefits that promote urban livability, such as improved surface water quality, water conservation, and improved aesthetic and property value. EPA researchers have been studying green infrastructure practices and developing models and tools to help communities manage their stormwater runoff and address nutrient impairment.

EPA’s National Stormwater Calculator is a software application that estimates the annual amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff from a specific site. This webinar will introduce the newest features of the Calculator, which is now available as a mobile web application and can be used on smartphones and tablets.

EPA has also added a cost estimation module that allows planners and managers to evaluate green infrastructure practices based on comparison of regional and national project planning level cost estimates and predicted performance.

Register Here!

The Marine Technology for Teachers and Students (MaTTS) Project invites you to participate in its upcoming webinar series. This series of three webinars (see below) will focus on how to incorporate marine technology builds, ocean exploration expeditions, and live content into your classroom curriculum.

During each webinar, Inner Space Center (ISC) staff and MaTTS Project Teacher Leaders will present an overview of the MaTTS Project, ocean exploration activities, and various marine technology builds.  Learn how to incorporate these topics into your classroom curriculum.

Webinar Series Schedule

Monday, December 18, 2017, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: Connecting Your Classroom to Live Expeditions
Technology Build: Basic Observation Systems

Monday, February 5, 2018, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: Recent Technological Advancements
Technology Build: Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)

Thursday, April 12, 2018, 3-4pm Eastern

Ocean Exploration Topic: 2018 Expeditions
Technology Build: Hydrophones/Oceanographic Sensors

Please use this link to register for one or more of the webinars in this series. Once registered, information on how to connect will be sent, via email, within a week of the scheduled webinar.

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship.

At the February web meeting, we welcome Bruce Bodson, President/Executive Director of Lower Brazos Riverwatch, who will address Stewardship of Water.  Water is a uniquely versatile medium, functioning as a vital resource, a habitat, a recreation venue, and a waste conveyance.  As we have often seen in Houston, it is also a destructive force of nature.  Stewardship of water entails balancing these functions and our management of the hazard in a manner that allows for protection of the resource, for all the human benefits to be obtained, and still leave a reasonably unimpaired habitat for other species.  Here in Houston, the Bayou City, we are blessed with an abundance of waters, but we struggle with maintaining the balance of uses that allows us to enjoy this abundance without causing irreparable harm to the resource.  This presentation will examine the resources we have, and consider the effects of the ever growing demand placed on them.  It will also look at some examples of local programs that strive to bring balance to our consumption and regulation of the resource. After Bruce’s talk, there will be time for Q&A. 

Please register for this talk, and you will receive an invitation to the web meeting.

Contact Lisa Brenskelle at gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.