EPA Cincinnati EMS
EPA defined the scope for Cincinnati’s Environmental Management System (EMS) following careful consideration of the range of activities undertaken by the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and the Office of Site Management and Operations (OSMO) staff. As articulated in its environmental policy, it is a core value of EPA Cincinnati to serve as a model in providing a safe and healthy working environment. EPA Cincinnati is committed to reducing the environmental impacts of our operations and limiting our natural resource consumption. Our EMS is a tool to achieve these principles for all EPA Cincinnati facilities, personnel, and resources.
One of the critical steps in designing Cincinnati’s EMS was to identify those aspects of the organization’s activities, products, and services that have or could have a significant impact on the environment. The EMS Team has identified the following aspects that meet the criteria for being significant.
- Energy Consumption (e.g., electricity, natural gas, fuel, oil)
- Chemical Resources
- Water Consumption
- Air Emissions (e.g., vehicle use, facility equipment use, chemical use)
- Waste Generation (e.g., hazard and non-hazard waste, electronics, facility construction, and projects)
The EMS Team has developed environmental management programs with specific objectives and targets designed to lessen the environmental impacts caused by these significant aspects. These Programs are applied to the EPA Cincinnati facilities’ SHEMS Scope. The U.S. EPA maintains and operates nine facilities in the Cincinnati area, five of which are laboratory-based, one which is administrative, and three facilities that provide operations support. The nine facilities are listed below:
- The Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center (AWBERC) which consists of laboratories and offices.
- The Full Containment Facility (FCF) which consists of laboratories and offices and is adjacent to AWBERC.
- The Testing and Evaluation (T&E) Facility, which is adjacent to the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District's Mill Creek treatment plant, and consists of laboratories, offices, and a bay for large-scale research and development projects.
- The Experimental Stream Facility (ESF), located in Milford, Ohio, on the East Fork Watershed. This facility is leased from Clermont County Sewer District (Water Quality Testing Laboratory) and consists of laboratories and associated offices.
- The Center Hill Research Facility (CHRF) is located in western Cincinnati on Center Hill Avenue and consists of laboratories, offices, and a bay for large scale research and development projects.
- The Warehouse facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, supports the publications division and other facility storage.
- The childcare center residing on the EPA AWBERC campus. The EPA-owned facility is operated per agreement by a non-profit corporation. The center provides on-site childcare for employees of the EPA, other federal entities, EPA contractors, and the community.
- The Boat Warehouse facility is leased by the EPA and used for storage and maintenance of research Class A boats and associated research-sampling equipment.
- The Erlanger, Kentucky facility is home to the Cincinnati Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM).
If you would like to learn more about the EMS established for EPA's facilities located at 26 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Cincinnati, OH, please send a message to the EMS Coordinators listed below.
Jennifer Tant
EMS Coordinator
Office of Research and Development
Tanner Reliford
EMS Coordinator
Office of Site Management and Operations