The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

The effects of noise on man

Environmental impacts of solar photovoltaic systems: A critical review of recent progress and future outlook

Energy harvesting from pavements and roadways: A comprehensive review of technologies, materials, and challenges

https://escholarship.org/content/qt82h1c24z/qt82h1c24z.pdf?t=qt91dk

Simulation-aided occupant-centric building design: a critical review of tools, methods, and applications

The Congress included among the requirements of the Noise Control Act of 1972 a directive that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency "...develop and publish criteria with respect to noise..." and then "publish information on the levels of environmental noise the attainment and maintenance of which in defined areas under various conditions are requisite to protect the public health and welfare with an adequate margin of safety."

Noise Levels Research Synthesis: Review and Updates to Findings in Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32521/dot_32521_DS1.pdf

Highway renewable energy : photovoltaic noise barriers

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34607/dot_34607_DS1.pdf

Sustainable Rest Area Design and Operations

The need for a relatively quick solution to the problem of providing highways with roadside service facilities necessitates the development of a series of appropriate standard projects. To increase the efficiency of these series, it is advisable to carry out the interconnection of space-planning solutions based on a particular module. Taking into account the variety of planning and landscape characteristics of the sites for the placement of objects of the mainline service, it seems advisable to choose as a module not a square or rectangular, but a triangular configuration, which allows in most cases to harmoniously block the modules. The proposed roof module in the form of a "regular" triangle facing the tetrahedron has a structural basis in the form of a single-tier rod spatial plate. The principal space-planning solutions of all four dozen objects from the approved nomenclature of the mainline service performed in the process of analyzing the possibilities show the real possibility of solving the development tasks on the basis of this system. The use of the proposed modular system makes it possible to successfully solve a number of tasks to reduce the harmful impact on the environment and effectively use renewable energy sources.

Amy Plovnick

Papers

Noise Levels Research Synthesis: Review and Updates to Findings in Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety

Highway renewable energy : photovoltaic noise barriers

Sustainable Rest Area Design and Operations

Prospects of Triangular Modular Structures for Roadside Service Buildings