ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE)

APPLETREE grows its investments in programs that encourage careful, informed site selection for early care and education (ECE) sites.

In 2020, APPLETREE’s cooperative agreement program worked with state health departments to address environmental issues in communities nationwide, encourage thoughtful selection of sites for ECE facilities, and provide support for COVID-19 response activities.

For example, in October 2020, Wisconsin’s Choose Safe Places program identified a site with a leaking underground storage tank near a proposed childcare facility. APPLETREE staff conducted a thorough search for available information and resources to investigate the potential risk for petroleum volatile organic compound contamination affecting the proposed property. As a result of APPLETREE’s efforts, the state added this location to its list of priority sites for vapor intrusion investigation.

After a gasoline spill in Canyonville (Douglas County), Oregon, that affected several nearby residential and commercial properties, APPLETREE staff assisted the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Staff provided information about the health effects of gasoline and helped explain environmental data to a local business whose building had been affected by contamination from the spill.