News Advisory: TODAY: EPA Administrator, Senator Booker and Mayor Baraka to Visit Newark’s New Community Air Pollution Project

CONTACTS:Mary Mears, (212-637-3673), mears.mary@epa.gov Elias Rodriguez, (212-637-3664), rodriguez.elias@epa.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 13, 2015 TODAY: EPA Administrator, Senator Booker and Mayor Baraka to Visit Newark’s New Community Air Pollution Project WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy will join community members at Newark, N.J.’s Ironbound neighborhood Family Success Center to launch a new community air monitor, a first of its kind citizen science project. Administrator McCarthy will discuss the agency’s work on air quality and how citizen science plays an important role in scientific analysis. Twenty-five percent of Newark children suffer from asthma, three times the state average, and asthma accounts for the leading cause of absenteeism for Newark’s school age children. Accurate and timely information on air pollution is critical to protecting public health. With data in hand, people can take action to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy. WHO:            EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy                     Senator Cory Booker                     Mayor Ras J. Baraka                     Isella Ramirez, Ironbound Community Corporation WHEN:          Friday, March 13, 10:15 a.m. EDT WHERE:         Newark’s Ironbound Community Corporation Family Success Center- East                     29 Cortland Street                     Newark, NJ 07105   RSVP:             Media interested in attending the event should RSVP to rodriguez.elias@epa.gov. R057