EPA awards $150K to DEQ for environmental info systems

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded a $150,000 grant to the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands Division of Environmental Quality to develop environmental information and data sharing systems for a national environmental network.

The “National Environmental Information Exchange Network” enables states, territories, tribes and other partners to share environmental data over the Internet. When completed, the network will integrate state and federal environmental information at all levels of government and with the public.

“One of the biggest obstacles to reporting data to the EPA is incompatible systems,” said John McCarroll, manager of the EPA Pacific Southwest Region’s Pacific Islands Office. “The grant will work to upgrade their computer systems and make CNMI’s environmental data more accessible to the EPA and the public.”

The CNMI DEQ will pursue the following activities as it builds connections to and participates in the “National Environmental Information Exchange Network”:

* Prepare a blueprint to improve its information technology, which includes evaluating existing systems and developing specific recommendations to advance DEQ’s participation in the Exchange Network;

* Acquire the technical infrastructure for Internet node operation. Install a local area network, develop database systems, implement in –house Web and email servers, and install appropriate security features including certificates and firewalls; and

* Enhance and expand DEQ’s Geographic Information System to improve capacity at the program level.

Meanwhile, the EPA’s Pacific Rim Resource Center spent two days training a group of Philippines government environmental officials on how Hawai’i’s chemical emergency response system operates, Oct. 25-26, in Honolulu.

“The training sessions included many topics on emergency response that are of critical interest to the Philippines environmental officials,” said Robert Caplan, the new director of the Honolulu-based EPA Pacific Rim Environmental Resource Center.

Speakers from various federal, state and local agencies discussed Hawai’i’s emergency preparedness and response operations. Industry and health care representatives will discuss the role of hospitals and emergency medical services and also how private business and contractors play a role in emergency response situations.

The training will featured tours of both the Oahu civil defense and state civil defense facilities, the Queen’s Medical Center Decontamination Center, the Hawai’i Oil Spill Response Center, the Honolulu Fire Department’s Hazmat Unit 2, and Campbell Industrial Park. The training sessions were limited to the Philippine officials and were closed to the general public.

The Pacific Rim Resource Center was established in January 2003 by the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training. Its primary mission is providing guidance, expertise, specialized training and capacity-building resources to support the development of civil and criminal environmental enforcement programs in Hawai’i, the U.S Pacific territories and Pacific Rim nations.

For more information on the center or possible training, contact the center at (808)541-2726, or email at caplan.robert@epa.gov.