EPA Fails EEF on Its Performance under Contract

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EPA Fails EEF on Its Performance under Contract

http://www.ieconnections.com/archive/jan_06/jan_06.htm#article2

Agency Rebukes Environmental Education Foundation over Marketing

Statements It Considered `Misleading'

By Steve Sauer

Work done in 2004 and 2005 by the Environmental Education Foundation

to fulfill the terms of its contract with the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency was officially rated as " unsatisfactory, " the EPA

Indoor Environments Division staff member who was responsible for

awarding the contract told IE Connections last month in an exclusive

interview.

The EPA's Mudarri, Ph.D., said the agency had awarded a one-

year contract to the Arizona-based nonprofit on March 29, 2004, and

granted the organization's request to extend the completion date.

Even given five additional months, EEF's work for the contract ended

up being rated as " unsatisfactory, " prompting the agency to make

only partial payment to EEF.

For the duration of the contract, EEF authored numerous press

releases and marketing materials pumping up the organization's

contract with the EPA. Mentions of an advisory group that was

convened under the contract appeared to be EEF's primary marketing

tool within the indoor air quality arena during this time.

" They seemed to be using the contract with EPA as a means to enhance

their status rather than implement and deliver the training and

other activities called for under the contract, " said Mudarri.

" EPA considered many of their statements misleading. "

Having a contract with the EPA gave EEF instant credibility unlike

it ever had before, and establishing a multidisciplinary advisory

board gave EEF a vehicle for promotion. This fanfare surrounding the

advisory group outlasted the EPA contract, which officially ended

Aug. 31, 2005. The advisory group added the American Industrial

Hygiene Association to its ranks three months later, perhaps the

most prestigious grab in terms of industry recognition. AIHA

announced on Nov. 29 that it would " participate as a member of the

advisory group convened by EEF to continue work started under a

contract from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)

headquarters. "

EEF's continued marketing of the EPA contract in the months after it

had ended is a cause of concern for the agency, Mudarri said. The

organization in August was promoting an upcoming training " class

under this contract " to take place in September, a circumstance

Mudarri said " does not accurately reflect the contract requirements. "

" EPA has asked EEF to remove all references to the contract in their

public solicitations, and not imply EPA endorsement of their program

in any way, " said Mudarri.

Mudarri also indicated that EEF had from time to time characterized

its work under the EPA contract incorrectly in its solicitations to

the public.

" This was a continuing problem throughout this contract, " said

Mudarri. " EPA repeatedly admonished EEF for going beyond the

statement of work in their outreach activities. "

This was not the first time an EPA official concluded that EEF, led

by Executive Director Troy E. , misrepresented the work it

had been contracted to do. " We've had some difficulty with this

fellow [Troy ] before … about saying he's going beyond what

we've actually agreed that he would be doing, " said Girman,

director of the Center for Analysis and Studies within the EPA's

Indoor Environments Division, in a recorded message left for an IE

Connections reporter on Aug. 30, 2004.

Mudarri also told IE Connections in May 2005 that he would " endeavor

to [ensure] that the communications they have with the public about

this contract are accurate. "

Clay, who represented the National Indoor Air Quality

Institute in work for the contract's advisory group, told IE

Connections last month that he was aware " some portions of that

contract did go unfulfilled. " He said he believed the unsatisfactory

performance rating was attributable to the size of EEF's staff

coordinating aspects of the contract. Speaking about the advisory

group, Clay said, " It was an undertaking that probably should have

been handled by four or five people, but I don't think they really

had the staff to support it. "

IE Connections reached last month by phone, but he refused

to answer questions and deferred them to his attorney, Terry J. Fong

of -Goodman & Fong, P.C. Calls placed to the attorney's office

and an e-mail seeking comment on various aspects of this article

were not returned by deadline.

The Mirage of EEF

Aside from Mudarri's new disclosures concerning EEF's failure " to

satisfactorily meet the performance requirements of the contract, "

other questionable circumstances have surfaced regarding the

organization. EEF is believed to have no elected board of directors,

which is unusual for an organization with a non-profit 501©(3)

status. Repeated requests from this newspaper and a participant in

the IE Quality Group for EEF to provide copies of its bylaws

and financial statements including tax returns have been refused.

Based on a satellite image of the organization's mailing address,

EEF appears to operate out of a home in a residential area in

Gilbert, Ariz.

EEF has long touted its own array of " professional registrations, "

something anyone who has visited EEF's Web site or received one of

its promotional e-mails might have noticed. E-mail recipients in

2005 were coaxed to benefit from limited-time offers such as reduced

membership dues and waived exam fees for eight

different " professional designations " including RIAQM (Registered

Indoor Air Quality Manager), RCMM (Registered Contractor Mold

Manager), RMI (Registered Mold Inspector), and five other

designations.

EEF's Web site details the set prices for each. " One registration is

included with your $195.00 donation; each additional registration

requires an additional $45.00 processing fee, " it says.

Two separate sources have reported to IE Connections that EEF

conferred the RIAQM designation on them without requesting the

designation or paying for it.

Rick Regan, a consultant and inspector based out of upstate New

York, said he received a solicitation from EEF that offered him what

he described as " a courtesy certification based upon who you are and

what we know you've accomplished. " However, the organization

soliciting him was EEF, and Regan had never had any contact with

that group.

All he had to do, Regan said he was told, was attend the Surgeon

General's Workshop on Healthy Indoor Environment, held Jan. 12–13,

2005, in Bethesda, Md., and represent EEF while he was there. In

return, he said the organization not only reimbursed him for his

travel expenses but also submitted his name to the workshop planners

with the RIAQM designation after it.

Regan accepted the offer. Days later, he attended the workshop,

driving himself through snow and ice from upstate New York and

spending two nights at a hotel in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

There was no registration fee to attend the two-day workshop.

Since then, Regan said he has " tried to call them [EEF] many, many,

many times and never received anything other than an answering

machine. "

The other source, Dobranic of EMSL Analytical Inc., said he

also agreed to attend the workshop on behalf of EEF but was dismayed

to find out when he got there that after his name, in addition to

his Ph.D., were the initials " R.I.A.Q.M. "

A list of participants that appeared in printed materials

distributed at that workshop shows 16 people, including Regan and

Dobranic, were registered to attend under EEF's name. Fifteen of

them, also including Regan and Dobranic, were listed with EEF's

mailing address, e-mail address and phone number supplied in lieu of

each attendee's own personal contact information.

" That was frustrating for me, " Dobranic told IE Connections last

month. " I didn't do anything to earn that designation, and they

didn't even submit any information as to how other folks at the

workshop could reach me. "

Of the 16 people registered for EEF, 14 names bear RIAQM

credentials. Another bears EEF's credential, Registered

Environmental Expert Witness, or REEW. The other name bears " Esq., "

the mark of an attorney.

IE Connections could not reach the 14 other individuals who appear

to have attended last January's Surgeon General's Workshop on behalf

of EEF.

EEF as `Umbrella Organization'

EEF has strived to paint its image as an organization representing

6,500 members and tackling environmental issues other than just

indoor air quality. But the association is represented publicly by

only a handful of people, chief among them being . Requests

by IE Connections for lists of EEF board members were refused. EEF

does not publish its member list. The 6,500 members EEF says it has

includes member rosters from groups like the Texas Association for

Indoor Air Quality and the International Association of Mold

Remediation Specialists that had essentially been dissolved prior to

their so-called mergers with EEF. The true number of EEF members is

unknown.

At the beginning of December, the Environmental Education Foundation

issued a press release casting itself as " the umbrella organization

in which all other organizations will merge. "

The press release, issued Dec. 4, announced that the organization

had just merged with two others: the National Indoor Air Quality

Institute and the International Association of Mold Management. It

also included references to the Texas Association for Indoor Air

Quality and the International Association of Mold Remediation

Specialists, organizations with which EEF had previously announced

it was merging; the TAIAQ merger was first announced in April 2005,

and the IAMRS merger was first reported in February 2004.

In the release, EEF invoked the terms " consolidation "

and " unification, " a thinly veiled effort to mimic to the

undertakings that resulted in the Indoor Air Quality Association's

combined membership of more than 5,500 members as of this month,

when its own consolidation and unification with two other industry

groups officially takes effect.

The second sentence of EEF's press release said, " The move is a

milestone for the industry because it will result in the creation of

the largest, oldest and most powerful, membership organization of

its type, with more than 6,500 constituents, representing the entire

IAQ and environmental field. "

This declaration closely echoed a statement by IAQA President Bob

Baker in a membership newsletter last year, when referring to IAQA's

unification and consolidation with the American Indoor Air Quality

Council and Indoor Environmental Standards Organization:

" The move is a milestone for the industry because it will result in

the creation of a powerful membership organization with more than

5,500 constituents, an independent certification board for IAQ

professionals and tradespersons, and a separate standard-setting

organization to create long-needed standards for indoor

environments. "

Asked to comment on the similarities last month, Baker said, " I was

speechless when I saw the EEF `announcement' – or, more likely,

fantasy. I guess I could quote the old saying, `Imitation is the

sincerest form of flattery.' However, there are limits as to where

we want to see flattery originate from. "

Expansion Widens EEF's Circle of Dubious Credibility

The International Association of Mold Management, one of the two

groups with which EEF reportedly merged according to its December

announcement, is tied to a site advocating the " deactivation " of

mold. A company owned by IAMM's executive director flaws traditional

remediation as both " outdated " and " expensive " – preferring instead

a process that " inactivates mold spores. "

The National Indoor Air Quality Institute promotes and sells,

through an array of Web sites including the dubiously named

www.toxic-mold.com, a line of " indoor oxygen therapy systems, " each

of which ranges from $595 to $1,895. Nearly as expensive as these

technologies are the certification programs NIAQI also offers online

for purchase. These professional credentials range from $495 to

$1,195.

Analysis of the International Association of Mold Management's Web

site in December revealed that the organization's membership appears

to be strongest in California, where the only known IAMM membership

meetings in the organization's existence allegedly took place in

2002. The three initial membership meetings listed on IAMM's Web

site as having taken place at the facility office in Oceanside,

Calif., were scheduled for July 10, Sept. 11 and Nov. 13 of that

year.

The only event of 2003 listed on the site's " Calendar of Events " was

a presentation called " The Use of Heat Treating in the Remediation

of Mold. " Its setting, the calendar states, was to be a restaurant

in Irvine, Calif., on March 12, 2003.

The breadth of IAMM's events calendar extended into 2004 only for a

half-dozen one-day mold certification seminars held in six Florida

cities in July and August of that year. No IAMM events were listed

during 2005, and none have been listed for 2006.

In addition, the organization's membership, if it is indeed larger

than it would seem, is not well represented on IAMM's Web site. A

consumer-oriented feature on the site that allows users to search

for professionals resulted in zero hits for four of nine states

tested last month by IE Connections. The states in which no results

were returned were Mississippi, Louisiana, New Jersey and

Washington. Modest search results – six or less for each state –

were obtained for New York, Ohio and Texas.

The other two states tested, California and Florida, provided the

most results: 164 in California and 61 in Florida.

In California, 61 professionals were listed under the search

category " surveying. " Sixty more were found under " Sampling, " one

under " Remediation, " and 30 under " Consulting. " One search

category, " Medical Professional, " resulted in one hit, although that

lone result was for a company with " Real Estate Inspection Services "

in its name, not for a medical professional.

A. Gilbert, who served as executive director for IAMM and

was " outgoing " according to EEF's press release, is the owner of

Orange Coast Inspection, a southern California company listed on its

Web site as providing " property inspections and toxic mold

investigations. "

The company's Web site lists Gilbert as holding certifications

in " Remediation Oversight Specialist, " " Microbial Remediation

Specialist, " " Microbial Remediation Technician " and " Microbial

Surveyor/Sampling Technician. " Gilbert does not, however, bear the

Council-certified Microbial Remediation Specialist designation

available from the American Indoor Air Quality Council or the

Approved Mold Remediation Technician designation available from the

Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, the

organizations' records showed last month.

Quoted in the Dec. 2 press release on the mergers with IAMM and the

three other organizations, Gilbert reflected on EEF's " global

recognition as the leader in Indoor Air Quality and Mold related

fields. "

Calls placed to Gilbert last month by IE Connections last month at

the phone numbers for Orange Coast Inspection and the office of IAMM

were not returned by deadline.

Clay, who is the founder and CEO of the National Indoor Air

Quality Institute, and five of the people listed as its advisers

also make up the " Executive Team " behind the Healthy Building

Institute of America. Each organization, based out of the same

address in Ohio, offers three different yet strikingly similar

certification programs that can be purchased online.

Priced at $495, NIAQI's cheapest is the Certified IAQ Inspectors

Program, which corresponds with the Certified IAQ Inspectors

Training Program offered by HBIA, also for $495. The $895 Certified

IAQ Specialists Program from NIAQI corresponds with HBIA's Certified

IAQ Specialists Training Program, which also costs $895. The last,

NIAQI's Certified IAQ Coordinators Program, corresponds with HBIA's

Healthy Building Management Program, both priced at $1,195.

Like NIAQI, the Healthy Building Institute of America exists online

with at least four different Web addresses, each of which

prominently mentions EEF on its front page. HBIA can be found online

at www.healthygreenbuilders.com, www.sick-home.net, www.flood-

damage.net, www.property-damage.net and at least four others. NIAQI

can be found online at www.niaqi.org, www.niaqi.com, www.toxic-

mold.com and www.texas-mold-training.com. Another NIAQI Web address,

www.moldrepair.net, is no longer active.

When reached for comment last month, Clay said the two bodies

are " very related. " He said, " We were working on the merger [with

EEF] for a couple of years before it came together, and one of the

things we wanted to do was concentrate on providing prevention and

solutions for mold. So, we started putting together whole-house and

whole-building strategy solutions. That's why we formed the Healthy

Building Institute [of America]; we have some very interesting

technologies that we use that are different than anybody else

offering. "

NIAQI's Web site heralds that its training programs are approved by

EEF. However, it appeared last month that there were no course dates

scheduled after August 2005. In December, the only dates

for " upcoming " courses listed on NIAQI's Web site ranged from June

6, 2005, to Aug. 19, 2005.

NIAQI, which has an office Houston as well as one in Venice, Fla.,

is approved by the state of Texas to teach mold courses for the

state licensing program. When contacted to provide dates for its

upcoming courses in the last few months, the NIAQI contacts in

Houston were unable to provide any.

Clay, whose involvement in indoor air quality dates back to 1998

when he began to research why he was becoming sick at home,

ultimately discovered a range of pollutants in his home over the

course of three years. Armed with information he had learned in

those three years of research, Clay started NIAQI in November 2001.

When reached by IE Connections last month, Clay said the indoor

oxygen therapy systems NIAQI sells release certain molecular

structures of oxygen – O5, O6 and O7, for instance – are used " to

kill the mold and bacteria before somebody goes in and does a

remediation job. " He warned, however, that they are not to be used

when human occupants are present due to the reputation of the oxygen

release as a possible health hazard.

However, Clay did point out that his research with government

agencies has never turned up a single death attributable to ozone,

which is another form of oxygen. He also said he was not aware of

any occupational injuries reportedly resulting from ozone.