Environmental Monitoring Program |
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Background
The primary mission of the Environmental Compliance (EC) Team of the Emergency and Domestic Programs staff is to provide leadership and support to ensure that APHIS pest and disease control and eradication programs adhere to the Agency’s policy on environmental monitoring, APHIS Directive 5640.1, which can be viewed at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/directives/pdf/5640_1.pdf.
The Environmental Monitoring Directive is one avenue by which the Agency demonstrates its commitment to environmental stewardship, as stated in the mission statement and strategic plan. Although EC is located in PPQ, its mission is Agency-wide. The majority of EC Team efforts support PPQ operations, however, WS, IS and VS programs are also supported.
EC develops environmental monitoring plans (EMPs) which when implemented provide data useful for evaluating the validity of assumptions and conclusions from risk assessments prepared for the program in compliance with various environmental statutes. EC trains field staff in the intricacies of implementing the EMPs such that the data quality objectives can be met. Field staff is comprised of APHIS personnel as well as State, municipal or private cooperators. There is continuous dialog between the EC and field staff for the duration of program operations to address questions and situations that might arise requiring clarification or refinement of the EMP.
Another responsibility of the EC Team is to participate in meetings with local governments, non-governmental organizations and the public at which APHIS operational programs are described and discussed. EC Team members provide information on risks to the environment and public health possibly posed by program operations.
Often the EMP calls for environmental or quality control samples to be collected by the field staff for chemical analyses. These analyses are usually conducted by CPHST’s Analytical and Natural Products Chemistry Laboratory (ANPCL) in Gulfport, MS. The EC Team works very closely with ANPCL.
The EC Team compiles the chemical residue data provided by ANPCL with the environmental data provided by the field staff and conducts analyses to evaluate the potential for effects on the environment and human health. The EC Team prepares environmental monitoring reports that draw conclusions regarding (or which at least infer) the validity of earlier risk assessments. Recommendations are also made in the reports on how to improve or refine future monitoring, and whether any change in program operational procedures need to be considered.
The EC Team works very closely with the Environmental Services (ES) staff in Policy and Program Development (PPD). Among other things, ES is responsible for the preparation of risk assessments (mentioned above) and also acts as primary liaison with sister agencies charged with implementing environmental statutes. EC supports the latter function by being fully involved in liaison activities that require a technical component such as negotiating protection measures for endangered and threatened species, or negotiating what data are required to support the unregistered use of a pesticide.