"The truth is that environmental monitoring is difficult. Public Lab tries to offer cheap alternatives, but regulatory agencies like the EPA have very strict standards when it comes to equipment and how it's used. There's a lot of money at stake, so regulatory bodies need bulletproof data before they can issue fines or shut a facility down. Lippincott understands the need for rigorous scientific standards. An EPA field worker has been trained to follow strict guidelines when collecting data to avoid sample contamination, just as lab workers are trained to process samples cleanly. That's why he's working on creating a system of documenting monitoring operations for citizen scientists that mirror professional standards. "How do we set up systems where we have actual data verification?" he says. "A video record of someone calibrating a piece of equipment, photographic evidence of the field collection procedure." The EPA isn't ready to accept just anyone's spreadsheet of data but they are working with community groups, such as a pilot program in Newark, NJ, by providing volunteers with their own air monitors to measure nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter. Environmentalists all seem to see value in citizen science, but the framework for how that can one day work in concert with regulatory agencies is just now being sketched out."
