EPA grant supports MU pollution programs
The EPA projected the programs ultimately saving $1 million.
Published Dec. 1, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency granted MU's Environmental Assistance Center $112,500 last week to support pollution prevention programs.
"We were selected through a competitive grant process that was announced last spring," EAC Director Marie Steinwachs said. "We developed a proposal for what we thought would reduce pollution at the source, and we were selected by EPA to fund."
According to a news release from the EPA, the endowment was established to bolster the Pollution Prevention Act passed in 1990, which details nationally diminishing pollutants by protecting natural resources and creating efficient ways to utilize raw materials, resources and energy.
The act also targets ways to combat pollution caused by driving and consumer and industrial consumption.
"The grant will fund the work of the EAC, which provides technical assistance, education and the pollution prevention intern program," Steinwachs said. "All our programs are targeted at reducing waste before it is generated (through) activities that benefit the environment and also the bottom line."
MU will match the grant and provide $112,770 for pollution prevention programs and curriculum to total $225,270. The allowance will build a certificate program or course that could result in a minor offered in the engineering department. The course — Pollution, Prevention, Good Industry Practices and Applied Engineering — is being converted into an online class, available for students to take during any given semester.
Steinwachs said EAC is hoping to have 18 students enrolled in 2010.
"It is designed for upper level engineering students and will engage students in applying engineering knowledge to problems presented in the areas of energy, water use and wastewater, stormwater, solid waste, hazardous waste, materials use and air emissions," Steinwachs said. "It may later become part of a certificate program but that is a parallel track that Engineering is pursuing."
EAC is opening 10 engineering internships to qualified engineering students after completion of the course. The process to be selected as an intern is competitive, Steinwachs said. The interns will spend the duration of their summer working full time to eliminate and prevent pollution and wastes by outside companies.
"In addition to manufacturing plants, we hope to place our interns in some school districts, water treatment plants and municipal or state office buildings to identify energy and environmental efficiencies," Steinwachs said.
The EAC's programs are projected to result in a reduction of 4,500 metric tons of greenhouse gases and 200,000 pounds of hazardous wastes, the EPA news release said. An anticipated $1 million and gallons of water will be saved over the project's duration.
