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(Boston, Mass. – Feb. 27, 2013) – A Newport R.I. yacht repair facility will take steps to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from paints and thinners used at its facility, under the terms of a Clean Air Act settlement with EPA.
American Shipyard Co. LLC, doing business as Newport Shipyard, which repairs and paints vessels, will pay a $31,000 penalty and obtain a Clean Air Act permit from the State of Rhode Island that caps the facility’s emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and requires use of paints and other coatings that meet low-VOC standards. Newport Shipyard will also comply with applicable recordkeeping and certification requirements.
Newport Shipyard provides marine services including painting and other repair operations. Paint used by Newport Shipyard emitted excess levels of VOCs. These pollutants can cause human health problems and also contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a primary constituent of smog.
Newport is in an area that has failed to meet federal air quality standards for ozone. Under its permit, the company will use low-VOC solvents and paints that comply with regulatory limits for VOCs. In addition, the company will use paint spray guns with high transfer efficiencies, implement best work practices to minimize VOC emissions from painting and cleanup, and implement required recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
More information: Environmental issues with Marinas in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/marinas/index.html)
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Learn More about the Latest EPA News & Events in New England (http://www.epa.gov/region1/newsevents/index.html)
Follow EPA New England on Twitter (http://twitter.com/epanewengland)

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(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing nearly $1.4 million to Fort Edward, Glens Falls, Ithaca, Rensselaer, and Rochester, New York to help those communities clean up abandoned and contaminated sites. The funding was awarded through EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, clean up, redevelop, and reuse contaminated properties. Brownfields are properties where moderate contamination threatens environmental quality and public health and can interfere with productive re-use of the sites.

“Cleaning up brownfields sites protects people’s health and the environment, revitalizes neighborhoods and create jobs,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Brownfields cleanups and the reuse of formerly contaminated properties improve the lives of those who live and work in these communities.”

"Brownfields redevelopment is an important program for New York State environmental and economic goals," NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said. "We welcome the federal participation in this program, in partnership with State and local governments and private developers."

The EPA’s Brownfields funding will be awarded communities in Upstate New York as follows:

Town of Fort Edward – $200,000
· Clean up the former Grand Union site at 354 Broadway. The site, a former grocery store, was also once used as a gravel pit and capacitor recycling facility. Soils at the site are contaminated with PCBs. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach.

Glens Falls, NY – $600,000
$450,275 to assess sites that may be contaminated with hazardous substances
$149,725 to assess sites that may be contaminated with petroleum
· Fifty initial and eight follow-up environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community involvement activities and cleanup planning for 12 sites. The project targets properties located along a 60-mile stretch of the upper Hudson River. Coalition partners are the Towns of Chester, Corinth, and Hadley, and the Villages of Hudson Falls, South Glens Falls, and Whitehall. Grant funds will also be used to support community outreach.

Ithaca, NY – $200,000
· Clean up the Ithaca Falls Overlook site located at 125 Lake Street. The 0.95-acre site is part of a former industrial property where firearms and munitions were manufactured from 1885 to 1986. The site is contaminated with metals. Grant funds will also be used to support community outreach.

Rensselaer, NY – $200,000
· Clean up the Hollow site, located on Third Street. The site is an undeveloped and under-used parcel that was used as a firing range from 1894 to 1938. It is contaminated with metals. Grant funds will also be used to support community outreach.

Rochester, NY – $200,000
· Clean up 937-941 Genesee Street in the Brooks Landing Redevelopment Project area. The site was used as an auto repair facility and a dry cleaning operation. Soil and ground water at the site are contaminated with petroleum products. Grant funds will also be used to conduct community outreach.

The EPA has announced a total of more than $62.5 million in new investments across the country that will redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and help create jobs while protecting public health.

Since its inception, EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $19 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and have created approximately 87,000 jobs. The 240 grantees receiving grants through the Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grants programs include tribes and communities in 45 states across the country.

Information on grant recipients can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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What they found trapped in those filters was enough to make swimmers think twice before logging their laps. More than half of the samples were contaminated with E. coli, which the investigators say comes from one primary source — swimmers pooping in the pool.

The study, published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, specifically looked at pools in Atlanta, but the researchers say such contamination is likely a widespread problem in U.S. pools, thanks to swimmers not washing themselves off before taking a dip.

According to the scientists, each of us carries about 0.14 grams of fecal material into the pool — and that doesn’t include accidents or cases of diarrhea.

Among municipal pools, the genetic testing for pathogens detected E. coli in 70% of the filters, while 66% of the water parks contained the bacteria and 49% of pools in private clubs showed evidence of the contamination.

“These findings indicate the need for swimmers to help prevent introduction of pathogens, e.g., taking a pre-swim shower and not swimming when ill with diarrhea, (for) aquatics staff to maintain disinfectant level and pH according to public health standards to inactivate pathogens, and state and local environmental health specialists to enforce such standards,” the authors write in their report.

When a pool is properly chlorinated, however, bacteria like E. coli should be killed off, since proper pH levels typically take care of the issue. According to the CDC, it takes less than a minute for E. coli to be inactivated if chlorine levels are adequate, about 16 minutes to control Hepatitis A virus, about 45 minutes to kill off the Giardia parasite and over 10 days for a Crypto parasite.

But just one diarrhea accident can cause an infection for anyone who gets a mouth full of pool water. Fortunately, the testing did not reveal strains of E. coli 0157, a particularly virulent form of the bacteria that was responsible for several outbreaks, and deaths, from serious foodborne illnesses.

According to NPR, because the researchers only analyzed the samples for genetic signatures of different pathogens, they couldn’t determine whether the bugs were alive, and potentially reproducing in the water, but there were no pool-related diseases reported in Atlanta during the summer the samples were gathered.

Thomas Lachocki, the CEO of the National Swimming Pool Foundation, says that in order to be properly chlorinated, pools should contain 1-4 parts per million of chlorine and pH levels should be within 7.2–7.8.

“You can go to any mass market store and go into the pool chemical aisle and buy test stripes. All of these have chlorine and pH tests. In five seconds, you can do a quick analysis yourself and have an idea of what the various levels are,” he says.

But if you don’t have the time to do your own testing, look for clear water. “You should always be able to see the bottom of the pool clearly. Usually if the water is cloudy, something with the filter or chemicals isn’t right,” says Lachocki. “Clear water doesn’t mean everything is alright, but cloudy water is an absolute positive sign that something is not right.”

Here are some additional recommendations from the CDC for ensuring a bug-free dip:

– Don’t swim when you have diarrhea.

– Shower with soap before you start swimming.

– Take a shower to rinse off before you get back into the water.

– Take bathroom breaks every 60 minutes.

– Wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers.

– Try not to swallow the pool water.

If you have young children:

– Take children on bathroom breaks every half-hour to hour or check diapers frequently.

– Change diapers in the bathroom or diaper-changing area and not at poolside where pathogens can rinse into the water.

There may be no way to completely sanitize a pool, but the latest analysis of what could be lurking in the water should motivate lifeguards and pool managers to be more vigilant about testing those waters more frequently. People should outnumber the pathogens in any pool.

This article was initially published on TIME.com.

Don’t drink the pool water! It contains a surprising amount of human waste

&copy 2012 TIME, Inc. TIME is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Used with permission.

Mount Kimbie’s new album, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, comes out May 28.

Daft Punk caused a stir earlier this year when its members announced that they’d recorded their new album, Random Access Memories, without drum machines or computer programs. Thomas Bangalter recently told All Things Considered‘s Audie Cornish that he’d wanted to glorify the “magic of human performances and possibly do a little bit of dance music at the same time.”

The British beat-making duo Mount Kimbie takes a similar, if less publicized, approach on its second album, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth (out May 28). Dominic Maker and Kai Campos fell in love with performing live during the past two years and wanted to record an album that would transfer to the stage more easily than their critically acclaimed Crooks & Lovers. (Though those songs did work pretty well at the Tiny Desk.)

The first thing that stands about Cold Spring Fault Less Youth is the traditional drum kit. Sticks, snares and cymbals pop up in several of these tracks, usually in a low-key fashion that recalls Four Tet’s early post-rock act Fridge. The addition of languid vocals, including two appearances by young British crooner King Krule, is even more jarring yet works nicely, particularly in the album’s first single, “Made to Stray.” Of course, given Mount Kimbie’s objective — a sound that translates live — the full effect of all these traditional instruments won’t be felt in these parts until the band embarks on its upcoming North American tour.

Parents can minimize the negative impact of their arguments on their children using a few simple techniques to calm down.

All parents are bound to disagree, argue or even raise their voices with each other.

But psychologists say parents can minimize the negative impact of their arguments on their children. It’s just a matter of using a few simple techniques to turn down the heat and repair the damage after it’s over.

Psychologist Suzanne Phillips at Long Island University says one of the most important things for parents to remember when they’re on the verge of a big argument is not to involve the child.

“Remember, the child in some ways identifies with both of those parents,” Phillips says. “So if the mother is really asking the child to be her sounding board, advocate or collaborator against the other parent, the child loses the opportunity to feel good about the other parent and is put in a very conflicted situation.”

Even little swipes and criticisms can be harmful. Because kids identify with their parents, they interpret negative characterizations as also aimed at them. Phillips says this is why we often see “shame and low self-esteem in children who are caught in these battles.”

“Remember who it is you’re arguing with before you open your mouth,” says clinical psychologist Alan E. Fruzzetti at the University of Nevada, Reno. “When we get negatively charged, our cognitive performance goes down, and we often miss the larger context and start arguing as though our loved one is our enemy.”

Even in the heat of discourse, it’s important for parents to remember why they’re there in the first place. “You have to remember, ‘This is someone I love,’ ” he says.

For parents who feel they just can’t stop arguing when they get angry, University of Washington psychologist Laura Kastner has written extensively about what she calls “getting to calm.”

“The default position should be to say nothing,” she says. “A good mantra is: ‘Don’t just do something, stand there.’ “

While standing there, you can begin to regroup, she says. Breathing exercises can help parents “get to calm.”

This is how it works: Breathe in deeply over five seconds, exhale over five seconds, and repeat this focused breathing for about three minutes. Move away from the area of conflict to do this. Get up from the dinner table and go to a corner of the room.

If you’re in the car, Kastner says, “stop talking, grip the steering wheel, and engage in the breathing exercises” before returning to the conflict.

This should bring down your heart rate, reduce the release of adrenalin and stress hormones, and put you back in a “zone for rational and even optimal thinking,” she says. The best part, says Kastner, is the more you do it, the more automatic “getting to calm” becomes.

For parents who have the time, Kastner suggests a course in mindfulness. “It’s the gold standard,” she says. “It trains your brain for full relaxation with the capacity to focus your attention on the present moment without judgment.” It takes a lot of practice, but the benefits are big.

What happens if you still fail to slow down the dispute? Do damage control when it’s over, Phillips says.

There are things parents can say to repair the sad or hurt feelings children might have. “It’s really important for them to know that ‘Daddy and I are going to be OK,’ ” Phillips says. “[Tell them,] ‘Daddy and I love each other, but sometimes we don’t agree and we have to figure out how to disagree without yelling so much.’ “

It’s even a good idea to apologize to children for fighting in front of them. That helps kids regain a sense of security. “Nonverbal cues — holding the child, putting an arm around Daddy again — these things help re-establish a child’s major place of safety, which is the parent and the parents’ connection,” Phillips says.

And, ultimately, there is the so-called “halo effect.” In a family where things are mostly positive, even a bad argument can be well-tolerated. Phillips says that means affirming all the good things in life, such as “the cake you baked, Daddy’s raise, getting on the soccer team or doing homework in a timely manner.”

And remember, not all arguments are equal. A good, constructive argument where a decision is reached or a problem is solved can actually teach children how to handle their own disagreements.

“When children learn emotional regulation and coping skills from the parents,” Kastner says, “it builds resiliency and a sense of mastery that they can handle their own feelings in a competent way.”