Taxonomy - Search Results

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Descriptive Information
Long Name
Web Taxonomy-Emergencies & Cleanup Topics
Short Name
WBT - Emrgcy & Cleanup Topics
Display Name
Web Taxonomy-Emergencies & Cleanup Topics
Description
Extensible list of topics related to environmental emergencies and cleanup referred to or associated with content.
Topics
Emergencies, Information Management/Systems
Publishing Organization
Office of Environmental Information, Office of Information Analysis and Access
Last Update
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Terms
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Expand Cleanup - Actions taken to deal with a release or threat of release of a hazardous substance that could affect humans and/or the environment. The term "cleanup" is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms remedial action, removal action, response action, or corrective action. [Terms of Env] 
Bullet Cleanup Processes - Actions taken to deal with a release or threat of release of a hazardous substance that could affect humans and/or the environment. The term "cleanup" is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms remedial action, removal action, response action, or corrective action. [Terms of Env] 
Expand Cleanup Sites - Sites where oil or hazardous chemicals have been released into the environment or when there is a threat of such releases of these substances. Cleanup activities also may take place at active and abandoned waste sites, federal facilities and properties, and where above and underground storage tanks have leaked. May also refer to the reuse and redevelopment of sites. [Basic Information about Cleanups, EPA.gov] 
Bullet Abandoned Mines  
Bullet Brownfields - Abandoned, idled, or under used industrial and commercial facilities/sites where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. They can be in urban, suburban, or rural areas. EPA's Brownfields initiative helps communities mitigate potential health risks and restore the economic viability of such areas or properties. [Terms of Env] 
Bullet RCRA Corrective Action - EPA can require treatment, storage and disposal (TSDF) facilities handling hazardous waste to undertake corrective actions to clean up spills resulting from failure to follow hazardous waste management procedures or other mistakes. The process includes cleanup procedures designed to guide TSDFs toward in spills. [Terms of Env] 
Bullet Radioactive Contamination - Contamination of a substance, living organism or site caused by radioactive material. (Source: FLGISA) [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Superfund - The program operated under the legislative authority of CERCLA and SARA that funds and carries out EPA solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities. These activities include establishing the National Priorities List, investigating sites for inclusion on the list, determining their priority, and conduct and/or supervising cleanup and other remedial actions. [Terms of Env] 
Expand Emergencies - The term implies an event or incident, which produces severe and widespread damages of such a magnitude as to result in the requirement for significant resources from outside the affected area to provide the necessary response. It results in large numbers of deaths and injuries; causes extensive damage or destruction of facilities that provide and sustain human needs; produces an overwhelming demand on state and local response resources and mechanisms; causes a severe long-term effect on general economic activity; and severely affects state, local, and private sector capabilities to begin and sustain response activities. [Glossary and Acronyms of Emergency Management Terms] 
Expand Accidents - An unexpected occurrence, failure or loss with the potential for harming human life, property or the environment. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Leaks & Spills - Accidental releases of hazardous substances. 
Bullet Poisoning - The morbid condition produced by a poison which may be swallowed, inhaled, injected, or absorbed through the skin. [GEMET-US] 
Expand Emergency Management - The organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all aspects of emergencies, in particularly preparedness, response and rehabilitation. [International Strategy for Disaster Reduction] 
Bullet Emergency Preparedness - Those activities, programs, and systems that exist before an emergency and that are used to support and enhance response to an emergency or disaster. [FEMA] 
Bullet Emergency Prevention - Actions to avoid an incident or to intervene to stop an incident from occurring. Prevention involves actions to protect lives and property. It involves applying intelligence and other information to a range of activities that may include such countermeasures as deterrence operations; heightened inspections; improved surveillance and security operations; investigations to determine the full nature and source of the threat; public health and agricultural surveillance and testing processes; immunizations, isolation, or quarantine; and, as appropriate, specific law enforcement operations aimed at deterring, preempting, interdicting, or disrupting illegal activity and apprehending potential perpetrators and bringing them to justice. [FEMA] 
Expand Emergency Response - Activities that address the short-term, direct effects of an incident. Response includes immediate actions to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs. Response also includes the execution of emergency operations plans and of mitigation activities designed to limit the loss of life, personal injury, property damage, and other unfavorable outcomes. As indicated by the situation, response activities include applying intelligence and other information to lessen the effects or consequences of an incident; increased security operations; continuing investigations into nature and source of the threat; ongoing public health and agricultural surveillance and testing processes; immunizations, isolation, or quarantine; and specific law enforcement operations aimed at preempting, interdicting, or disrupting illegal activity, and apprehending actual perpetrators and bringing them to justice. [FEMA] 
Bullet On Scene Coordinators - The federal official responsible for the coordination of a hazardous materials response action, as specified in individual Regional Contingency Plans. OSCs are predesignated by EPA for inland areas and by the U.S. Coast Guard for coastal areas. The OSC coordinates all federal containment, removal, and disposal efforts and resources during a pollution incident. The OSC is the point of contact for the coordination of federal efforts with those of the local response community. The OSC has access to extensive federal resources, including the National Strike Force, the Environmental Response Team, and Scientific Support Coordinators. The OSC can be a source of valuable support and information to the community. [Environmental Issues Glossary] 
Bullet National Security Disasters - Bombings, hijackings, cyber attacks and other acts of terrorism made against the United States including the use of biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons. [FEMA] 
Expand Natural Disasters - This term is broadly defined to include disasters and emergencies that may be caused by any natural event. A large emergency event is that one beyond a community's ability to address within its own and mutual aid resources. 
Bullet Droughts - A period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water causes a serious hydrologic imbalance (such as crop damage, water supply shortage) in the affected area.[GEMET-US] 
Bullet Earthquakes - The violent shaking of the ground produced by deep seismic waves, beneath the epicentre, generated by a sudden decrease or release in a volume of rock of elastic strain accumulated over a long time in regions of seismic activity (tectonic earthquake). The magnitude of an earthquake is represented by the Richter scale; the intensity by the Mercalli scale. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Floods - flood: An unusual accumulation of water above the ground caused by high tide, heavy rain, melting snow or rapid runoff from paved areas. (Source: ALL) flooding: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland and/or tidal waters, and/or the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source. A great flow along a watercourse or a flow causing inundation of lands not normally covered by water. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Hurricanes - A tropical cyclone of great intensity; any wind reaching a speed of more than 73 miles per hour (117 kilometers per hour) is said to have hurricane force. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Tornadoes - A rapidly rotating column of air developed around a very intense low-pressure centre. It is associated with a dark funnel-shaped cloud and with extremely violent winds (>300km/h) blowing in a counterclockwise spiral, but accompanied by violent downdraughts. The precise mechanisms are not fully understood but the following atmospheric conditions appear to be necessary for tornado development: a layer of warm moist air at low altitude; a layer of dry air at higher altitude with an inversion of temperature at about 1.000 m; a triggering mechanism, usually in the form of an active, intense cold front or solar heating of the ground which will create a vortex. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Volcanoes - A vent in the surface of the Earth through which magma and associated gases and ash erupt; also, the form or structure, usually conical, that is produced by the ejected material. [GEMET-US] 
Bullet Wildfires - Wildfires are a growing natural hazard in most regions of the United States, posing a threat to life and property, particularly where native ecosystems meet developed areas. However, because fire is a natural (and often beneficial) process, fire suppression can lead to more severe fires due to the buildup of vegetation, which creates more fuel. In addition, the secondary effects of wildfires, including erosion, landslides, introduction of invasive species, and changes in water quality, are often more disastrous than the fire itself. [USGS] 
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