A National Routine PBT Monitoring Strategy

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A National Routine PBT Monitoring Strategy

• Gary Foley
• Director, National Exposure Research Laboratory
• EPA / ORD

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The Challenge and the Opportunity

• Many programs for collecting monitoring
  information on toxic chemicals exist in various
  media.
• While cooperative partnerships among various
  organizations have been formed, opportunities
  exist for enhancing information sharing through
  cooperation and leveraging.
• EPA is committed to developing a long-term
  Routine Monitoring Persistant Bioaccumulative
  Toxics (PBT) Monitoring Strategy for guiding
  planning and coordination of multimedia
  monitoring programs.
• The Strategy will build on existing programs
  while calling for new partnerships that improve
  information sharing and communication among
  organizations.
• EPA cannot do it all alone and, thus, we ask you
  to join us in the Strategys development.

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Background

• Recent attention on the need for coordinated
  Federal monitoring efforts
• The Committee on Environmental and Natural
  Resources (CENR)
• U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO)
• There is also International recognition of this
  need for persistent pollutants
• The Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
• United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
• In 7/00, EPA assigned priority to development of
  a Routine Monitoring Strategy for PBTs to guide
  EPA's efforts to
• discern long-term trends in various media and
• assess effectiveness of risk management actions
• EPA expects this PBT Monitoring Strategy to be
  nested in the CECs North American Strategy
  development effort

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Background (cont)

• To develop the Strategy, a Steering Committee was
  established with representatives from numerous
  EPA Offices and Regions.
• Subcommittees Writing and Workshop Teams
• Mercury, dioxin and PCBs are highest priority,
  but strategy will also address other established
  PBTs and emerging PBTs.
• In 5/01, EPA conducted a workshop to gain support
  for the Strategy effort throughout EPA.
• Now with this workshop we are reaching out to
  organizations outside of EPA.

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PBT Monitoring Strategy Current Plans

• The Strategy will be a document that
• Provides a framework and rationale for
  considering multimedia monitoring in a holistic
  fashion
• Articulates specified national monitoring
  objectives
• Assesses how well current monitoring programs
  meet the objectives
• Presents options and recommendations for filling
  identified monitoring gaps
• Provides a schedule of EPA action steps to meet
  the specified objectives
• Commits to provide periodic assessments
• Schedule
• Initial Draft Strategy - September 2002
• Peer Review Draft Strategy - March 2003
• Implementation Plan - 2003

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A Successful PBT Monitoring Strategy Will . . .

• Build upon existing monitoring programs
• Facilitate partnerships and improve communication
• Leverage available resources
• Be developed in coordination with other
  monitoring strategies
• Serve as a tool for integrating currently
  independent monitoring programs

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Could a PBT Monitoring Strategy Benefit your
Organization?

• Potential Benefits include
• Provide trends data
• Evaluate the effectiveness of risk management
  actions
• Provide a focus and an integrating mechanism for
  currently disparate monitoring programs
• Provide mutually beneficial support and rationale
  for monitoring efforts in various media
• Efficiencies and cost savings
• Additional support and justification
• Data for modeling analyses and comparison studies
• Multimedia data and analyses

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The PBT Monitoring StrategyA Tool for
Integration
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Summary

• EPA is developing a PBT Monitoring Strategy which
  will
• Be multimedia in scope
• Build upon existing programs
• Focus on mercury, dioxin, and PCBs (initially)
• We are seeking broad participation in the
  Strategy development effort
• In this Workshop and BEYOND!!