From grassroots organizing with the Sierra Club in Florida to an international biology program on a remote Germanic island, Albion College junior Catherine Fontana has logged a few miles – not to mention hours – integrating her classroom learning with significant real-world experience.

This summer marking her fourth “on the road,” Fontana is one of only 26 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Network for Environmental Management Studies (NNEMS) fellows working around the United States on specific research projects for the agency.

“There’s more to being an environmentalist nowadays than simply hugging trees,” says Fontana, a double major in biology and English with concentrations in environmental studies and public policy.

EPA Region 10’s office building in downtown Seattle houses the Office of Environmental Cleanup as well as EPA attorneys, Office of Tribal Affairs, and Office of Environmental Education..  Catherine Fontana photo

Her fellowship with Region 10’s Emergency Response Unit is a case in point. Since the end of May, Fontana has brought her environmental experiences to bear in the EPA’s downtown Seattle high-rise, conducting extensive survey research in facility compliance with section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act. When she isn’t at the desk, she is working in the field with environmental responders “inspecting manufacturing and public health facilities to make sure chemicals are properly stored and used,” Fontana states.

In June, Fontana participated in EPA inspections throughout eastern Washington where she discovered that her Albion chemistry classes positively influenced her perception of the EPA’s activities. “Having worked at Albion with some of the chemicals we regulate, I have better understanding of what is at stake in case of an accidental release in the field,” Fontana states.

These field inspections are also what drive Fontana’s current research for the agency. Charged with an encompassing project to analyze “accident prone” facilities within the region, Fontana has spent several weeks reviewing state Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) accident reports and listings from the National Response Center (NRC) database.

“The more I research, the larger my concern grows for populations living where they could be immediately harmed by a spill from these facilities,” Fontana states. “To me, frequent releases indicate a lax attitude toward best business practices, being a responsible corporate citizen, and environmental stewardship. None of these should be compromised when an overwhelming majority of the releases I’ve researched were preventable.”

Influenced by precedents set by Rachel Carson and Erin Brockovich on these matters, Fontana comments that although she entered the fellowship as an “idealist environmentalist,” she has “concrete reasons to believe that human health and environmental stability are interdependent.”

“Due to crop sprayings and careless environmental practices, every mother passes PCBs through the uterine wall and DDT into her child through breast milk. Even before its first breath, her child is exposed to fatal chemicals – chemicals that infant daughters will someday pass onto their own children,” Fontana states. * “As a modern society, we have a moral responsibility to stop this relentless cycle of poisoning. I can think of no nobler cause.”

Catherine Fontana’s research on strategies to target accident prone facilities and the EPA’s role in preventing potential releases will be presented at the completion of her fellowship in mid-August, to the regional administrators of Region 10. Opportunities to hear about her experience and research will be made available this fall at Albion College, through the College’s Institute for Study of the Environment and Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Policy and Service.