EPA grant to enable Newport to assess risks and find solutions

[Guest guest]

EPA grant to enable Newport to assess risks and find solutions

By Flynn/Daily News staff

Thursday, October 25, 2007

http://www.newportdailynews.com/articles/2007/10/25/news/news1.txt

NEWPORT - The federal Environmental Protection Agency has selected Newport as

one of 10 sites nationwide to receive funding to assess environmental health

risks in the community and determine which risks are the most significant.

C. Sattel, director of the Newport Community Health Project, said the

$100,000 grant will allow the city to look at a range of issues, including

stormwater discharges at Easton's Beach, sewage disposals into the harbor,

drinking water quality, trash disposal and air quality in the city's aging

elementary schools.

The Newport Community Health Project is co-sponsored by Newport Hospital and

Brown University's Area Health Education Center. The funding is through a

Community Action for a Renewed Environment, or CARE, grant.

An upcoming survey will ask people in the community about many other concerns,

including traffic congestion, naturally occurring arsenic in the soil,

availability of recreational facilities, radon and handling hazardous materials.

There are more than two dozen possible environmental health problems listed on

the draft survey.

Once the community determines where the problems are, survey participants will

be asked to identify what they " consider to be the five greatest environmental

health risks. "

Sattel, who addressed the City Council on Wednesday night, said this grant is a

" Level 1 " grant, meaning it will support the identification of the problems and

development of an action plan. The two-year grant extends from Oct. 1, 2007, to

Sept. 30, 2009. He said a " Level 2 " grant of up to $375,000 is likely to follow

to begin implementing solutions.

Sattel said he and other community leaders are forming a group of about 35

people - the Coalition to Build a Healthy Newport Environment - to conduct the

assessment and respond to the survey. Twenty-four members already have been

identified, but Sattel would like to expand the coalition to include

representatives of businesses, neighborhood groups, members of environmental

advocacy groups and other community stakeholders to join the coalition.

The nine-member leadership team for this coalition includes Sattel, Paige Bronk,

the city's director of planning, zoning and development, School Superintendent

H. Ambrogi, Marilyn Moy, executive director of Brown's health education

center, and Sheila Dormody, director of Rhode Island Clean Water Action.

" This could lead to at least one more grant and possibly more grants to follow, "

Bronk said. " This initial grant allows people to determine environmental risks

and problems in the community, so future federal funding can be targeted to

these problems. I think the community will benefit from any grants that lead to

environmental improvements. "

In an interview, Sattel said he believes Newport was selected because there was

evidence of wide support for the assessment in the community, because a " strong

proposal " was submitted, and because of the way the community handled a previous

EPA grant. He said the Newport Community Health Project received a total of

$120,000 in grants from the EPA and the federal Centers for Disease Control,

beginning in 2005, for an initiative called, " Healthy Homes, Healthy Residents. "

Working with the Housing Authority of Newport, Sattel and environmental

consultants identified problems in public housing complexes such as mold, mildew

and secondhand smoke, which could be causing health problems, especially asthma

among children.

" There were some easy fixes in the apartments, " Sattel said. " For example, some

smokers in apartments with asthmatic children now go outside to smoke. "

He said some residents did not have health insurance, so staff helped residents

fill out the necessary forms to obtain insurance. The residents also were

directed to primary-care health providers so they could receive preventive

health care.

" We do follow-ups every six months, " Sattel said.

The initiative resulted in measurable improvements, Sattel said. The number of

school days missed by children living in the complexes has gone down, as has the

number of emergency-room visits.

After coalition members complete the new environmental risk assessment survey

and the risks are ranked, subcommittees will be formed to address the various

risks and develop action plans, Sattel said. The subcommittees will hold

workshops and decide how to obtain additional input from the community.

Currently, no community-wide survey is planned, but a subcommittee could decide

to do additional survey work, he said.

There were no questions from the City Council and no discussion of the grant

award. Mayor C. Waluk thanked Sattel for his presentation.

MEETING MINUTES

NEWPORT CITY COUNCIL

When: Wednesday night.

Where: City Hall, 43 Broadway.

Present: All.

Action: The council approved a $268,000 appropriation for a consultant, Camp

Dresser & McKee of Cambridge, Mass., to study how to eliminate hazardous

trihalomethanes in the city's drinking water, while maintaining compliance with

lead and copper standards. The city currently uses chlorine as a water

disinfectant. However, chlorine chemically combines with organic matter, such as

decaying plant and animal materials, during the water-treatment process to form

trihalomethanes. The city is considering switching to chloramines as a water

disinfectant, but that could cause lead levels in the water to rise. CDM will

explore various options on how to best keep the city in compliance with all the

requirements of the U.S. Clean Water Act.

* Approved a resolution sponsored by council members E. Leonard and

S. McLaughlin to establish a task force to explore options for putting

utility wires underground. The task force will study various options, the

associated costs and methods of funding. 'Future generations should see the sky,

and not utility and cable wires,' Leonard said.

* Approved a resolution sponsored by Councilwoman Jeanne-Marie Napolitano asking

the council to support a resolution calling on the General Assembly to override

Gov. L. Carcieri's veto of a bill that would change the way

municipalities tax time-share units.

* Approved the formation of a council Strategic Planning Subcommittee that

includes McLaughlin, Napolitano and C. Connolly. The subcommittee will work

with department heads in drafting a capital budget for the coming fiscal year.

Of note: The council appropriated $17,900 to continue a pilot study of treating

stormwater in the moat around Easton's Pond with ultraviolet rays. The council

planned a four-week study, but there was little rain from mid-September to

mid-October. The funding continues the study for an additional four weeks. The

moat discharges contaminated stormwater between Easton's and Atlantic beaches

after it rains, sometimes forcing swimming bans. The ultraviolet rays would

disinfect the water. A full ultraviolet disinfection system would be expensive

for the city, an estimated $3.8 million, according to a study completed Fuss &

O'Neill, an engineering firm with offices in Providence.

Next meeting: A workshop on proposed changes to Historic District ordinances,

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 6 p.m.

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