Fw: GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 020219

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: 020219

: GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS

:

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:

: INDOOR POLLUTION CAN AFFECT HEALTH

:

: Date: 020219

: From: http://enn.com/news/

:

: By and Carey, Associated Press, February 19, 2002

:

: Many people are unaware that indoor air pollution can be just as bad

: as - or even worse than - outdoor air pollution to an individual's

: health.

:

: EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor

: air levels of many pollutants may be two to five times - and

: occasionally, more than 100 times - higher than outdoor levels. It's

: estimated that most people spend as much as 90 percent of their time

: indoors, making the home, school, and workplace potentially hazardous

: to one's health. Health risks probably are higher for infants, the

: elderly, and people with chronic diseases.

:

: Further, laws designed to improve energy efficiency by cutting down

: on drafts don't improve indoor air quality. Tightly sealed homes

: constructed in the last couple of decades might have diminished the

: use of fossil fuels but have wreaked havoc on Americans' respiratory

: systems. Homes that can't " breathe " can't dilute pollutants contained

: in building and decorating products.

:

: Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air

: are the primary cause of indoor air-quality problems. Inadequate

: ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in

: enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not

: carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. This allows

: concentrations to build up. High temperature and humidity levels also

: can increase concentrations of some pollutants.

:

: All these pollutants have one thing in common; they contain chemicals

: that are part of a larger class of chemicals known as volatile organic

: compounds (VOCs). VOCs are organic (carbon-based) chemicals that

: evaporate readily at room temperature. VOCs typically are found in

: high indoor concentrations in dry-cleaned clothing. They include

: chloroform from chlorinated water; benzene from tobacco smoke (one of

: the leading indoor air pollutants); formaldehyde from fabrics, pressed

: wood products and insulation; styrene found in adhesives, foam,

: lubricants, plastics carpets and insulation; methylene chloride from

: paint strippers; and carbon tetrachloride from paint removers.

:

: Other potential sources of indoor air pollution are central heating,

: cooling, and dehumidification systems; household cleaning and

: maintenance products; outdoor sources such as pesticides; and

: biological contaminants such as animal dander, mold, and cockroaches.

:

: While indoor air pollution affects people differently, in general,

: short-term exposure might cause immediate effects such as headaches,

: dizziness, and allergies. Long-term exposures can result in

: respiratory disease, heart disease, and cancer, all of which can be

: severely debilitating, even fatal.

:

: Building-related illness is an identifiable disease or illness that

: can be traced to a specific pollutant or source within a building. In

: contrast, the term " sick building (sick home) syndrome " is used to

: describe situations in which building occupants experience acute

: health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a

: building but where no specific illness or cause can be identified.

: Both syndromes are associated with acute or immediate health problems.

:

: While this is not particularly good news, awareness is the first step

: in creating a more healthful indoor environment and improving your

: health. Your best defense against indoor air pollution is a strong

: offense. First, identify and control sources of pollution to reduce

: and prevent indoor air contamination. This can range from changing

: housecleaning products to airing out freshly dry- cleaned clothing to

: tossing out formaldehyde-containing furniture. Equally important is

: improving ventilation. Proper ventilation, the mixing of indoor air

: with outdoor air, can revitalize the air in your home and protect your

: health.

:

: Since cigarette smoke is one of the single greatest contributors to

: indoor air pollution, smoking indoors is a no-no. Similarly,

: fireplaces and other fuel-burning appliances (water heaters, furnaces,

: stoves, etc.) should be properly adjusted and vented to the exterior.

: Doing so will both prevent carbon monoxide poisoning and improve the

: efficiency of the appliance.

:

: Adequately sized exhaust fans should be used wherever moisture and

: combustion are present in the bathroom, laundry, and kitchen. A bath

: fan, for example, will help to dissipate chloroform gas, which is a

: byproduct of chlorinated water. It also will remove excessive moisture

: that can lead to mold, which can produce yet more health hazards.

:

: There are other indoor air pollutants that deserve your attention,

: such as asbestos, lead, and radon. The first two were used pervasively

: in building products before being outlawed by the EPA in the late

: 1970s. The rule of thumb with asbestos and lead is that it is best

: left alone if it's in good shape and not peeling or crumbling.

: Asbestos or lead should not be scraped or sanded and should be removed

: only by a professional abatement contractor with the proper equipment.

: Moreover, testing should be performed after the abatement process to

: ensure the air quality is safe.

:

: Radon, on the other hand, is a naturally occurring gas that is

: derived from uranium in the ground. Radon can make its way into a home

: through cracks in foundation or basement walls. Small amounts of radon

: can be controlled by sealing cracks with a caulking or patching

: compound. Higher levels might require the installation of an exhaust

: system to disperse concentrated amounts into outdoor air.

:

: Do-it-yourself test kits are available for many indoor air pollutants

: such as lead or radon. Other indoor pollutants such as asbestos

: require professional testing.

:

: * * *

:

: Copyright 2002, Associated Press

: Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc.

:

: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:

: WHITMAN REJECTS PLAN POLLUTION CLAIM

:

: Date: 020219

: From: http://www.newsday.com/

:

: By H. f Hebert, Associated Press Writer, February 19, 2002

:

: Washington - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on

: Tuesday rejected environmentalists' complaints that an administration

: proposal to cut power plant pollution is a setback for cleaner air.

:

: EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said that President Bush's

: proposal is " the most aggressive initiative to cut air pollution in a

: generation " and will lower costs to industry while eliminating tons of

: chemicals that cause smog and acid rain and contaminate waterways with

: mercury.

:

: It will " achieve real air quality improvements, " she told a seminar

: sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings

: Institution.

:

: Since the plan was announced by the White House last week, it has

: been sharply attacked by environmentalists as a rollback of the

: progress already being made under a series of regulations that are on

: the books under the Clean Air Act.

:

: Environmentalists argue that some of the EPA's own projections of

: anticipated pollution reductions under its current rules would cut

: millions of additional tons of pollution than projected under the Bush

: proposal.

:

: Senior EPA officials strongly disagreed and said the numbers being

: cited by the environmental groups - from an EPA briefing to industry

: last September - were not intended to be accurate projections.

:

: " They do not reflect realistic projections, " said EPA spokesman Joe

: Martyak.

:

: The Bush proposal, which will require congressional action, would

: replace many of the EPA's clean air rules with a broad market-based

: system of pollution caps and the authority to trade pollution credits

: as a way to achieve emission reductions, especially from older, coal-

: burning power plants.

:

: " We get dramatically greater reductions under the president's

: proposal than we could possibly get under the Clean Air Act, "

: Holmstead, the head of the EPA's air office, told reporters Tuesday.

:

: Environmental groups said that some of the EPA's own internal

: analysis suggests that the Bush plan will allow 36 percent to 50

: percent more pollution than would be allowed under current acid rain

: and smog-reducing regulations if they were fully implemented.

:

: At a briefing for the Edison Electric Institute last September, the

: EPA suggested that nitrogen oxide, the precursor to smog, could be cut

: by 75 percent to 1.25 million tons over the next decade under existing

: Clean Air Act rules, according to EPA documents obtained by

: environmental groups.

:

: Bush's market-based approach would cap nitrogen oxide at 2.1 million

: tons by 2008 and 1.7 million tons by 2018.

:

: The EPA presentation also envisioned sulfur dioxide, which causes

: acid rain, being reduced to 2 million tons under an EPA rule that will

: require reductions of soot and other microscopic particles. By

: comparison, the president's plan calls for a sulfur cap of 4.5 million

: tons by 2008 and 3 million tons by 2018.

:

: The Bush plan also envisions a push to regulate mercury from power

: plants, reducing these emissions from 48 tons today to 15 tons by

: 2018.

:

: The EPA is still developing a federal regulation to control mercury

: from power plants. According to EPA documents obtained by the National

: Environmental Trust, a leading environmental advocacy group, the EPA

: as recently as December estimated that mercury could be cut by as much

: as 90 percent, to 5.5 tons, if the best available technology were used

: under the planned regulations.

:

: " The president's plan is a Trojan horse for a rollback, " argued

: Stansfield of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an

: environmental group.

:

: Holmstead said the numbers from the September briefing were " never

: intended to be a projection of where we would be under the current

: Clean Air Act, " although the presentation was labeled a summary of a

: " business as usual " scenario.

:

: Last Friday, a day after the president announced the new power plant

: initiative, Holmstead presented another set of projections to

: congressional staffers that showed the president's plan in a much

: better light.

:

: The projections presented Friday estimated that over the next decade,

: under current regulations, nitrogen oxide would be cut to 4 million

: tons, sulfur dioxide to 9.1 million tons, and mercury to 43 tons. All

: these reductions fall well short of what Holmstead said the

: president's plan would achieve.

:

: " It's an attempt by EPA to rewrite history, " said Stanton of the

: National Environmental Trust, citing the disparity between the EPA

: number last September and those last week.

:

: - - -

:

: On the Net:

: Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/

:

: * * *

:

: Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press

:

: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:

: EPA AND ENERGY DEPARTMENT WAR OVER CLEAN AIR RULES

:

: Date: 020219

: From: http://www.nytimes.com/

:

: By Katharine Q. Seelye, NY Times, February 19, 2002

:

: Washington - The Environmental Protection Agency has strenuously

: objected to the Energy Department's recommendations to the White House

: to revise air pollution regulations, saying the proposals would

: " vitiate " the nation's clean air policy.

:

: The dispute, detailed in recent internal E.P.A. documents, is

: indicative of a fierce battle between the two agencies as the Bush

: administration prepares to announce final plans for revisions to a

: program that requires factories to modernize their pollution controls

: when they upgrade their plants.

:

: On one side are the E.P.A. and its administrator, Christie Whitman,

: who, as governor of New Jersey, supported strict enforcement of the

: so- called new source review program to make plants restrict

: emissions.

:

: On the other are Spencer Abraham, the secretary of energy, and

: several high-powered energy lobbyists, including Marc Racicot,

: chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Haley Barbour,

: former chairman of the Committee, who are close to the Bush

: administration. Mr. Racicot has said he will no longer be an energy

: industry lobbyist, but he has acknowledged meeting with Vice President

: Dick Cheney on energy policy.

:

: The energy industry argues that the new source review program imposes

: billions of dollars in extra costs that unfairly block utilities from

: modernizing their plants to make them use energy more efficiently. The

: rules cover more than 17,000 power plants, refineries, pulp and paper

: mills, smelters and steel mills.

:

: Spokesmen for both the environmental agency and the Energy Department

: acknowledged today that the discussions between the agencies had been

: intense and cautioned that no final decisions had been reached.

:

: The most recent thinking of Mrs. Whitman, who has been at odds with

: some of the more pro- industry voices in the administration, is not

: clear.

:

: But internal documents from the environmental agency outline the

: anguish of career staff members as recently as January over what they

: see as efforts by the Energy Department to weaken the new source

: review program.

:

: The officials criticized the department for recommending changes in

: how regulators decide what level of emissions from plants or factories

: would trigger controls and for allowing plants to avoid stricter

: controls for 15 years under some circumstances.

:

: " The current draft report is highly biased and loaded with

: emotionally charged code words, " the environmental agency says of the

: department's recommendations. The environmental agency again and again

: questions the legality of many department proposals, saying they lack

: " a solid legal rationale " and " are hard to justify from a legal

: perspective. "

:

: Referring to the proposals on the new source review program, the

: environmental agency said they amount to " a prelude to recommendations

: to vitiate the N.S.R. program. "

:

: If the White House adopts these rules, environmental agency officials

: warn, it will have to write them in " fuzzy rather than clear language "

: to cover up the change of policy.

:

: The documents were provided to The New York Times by an environmental

: organization that has opposed a weakening of the clean air rules.

:

: The group asked not to be identified to protect the people who

: provided the internal documents.

:

: The review of the existing rules was ordered in May 2001 by Vice

: President Dick Cheney's energy task force. It was to be completed in

: August, but the fierce internal disputes have delayed the final

: report.

:

: Typically, the environmental agency, as the lead agency on air

: pollution matters and the agency that would sign the rules, would

: conduct the review.

:

: But the White House ordered the environmental agency to conduct the

: review " in consultation with " the Energy Department, whose mission

: includes fostering the industries that produce coal and electricity.

: When the White House makes its final decisions, all signs point to the

: department's views prevailing.

:

: One proposal that is not in current law, for example, would allow a

: " clean unit exemption, " exempting plants from new pollution controls

: for 15 years if they had installed controls in the past. It would be

: retroactive.

:

: The E.P.A.'s documents said, " There was concern over using a 15-year

: time frame as a reasonable period to recoup capital investment, given

: the I.R.S. only allows 8 years. "

:

: The environmental agency's internal documents reflected a concern

: that the industry's positions dominated the Energy Department's draft

: report.

:

: The report " contains only comments by industry and ignores the

: comments of all other stakeholders, " the E.P.A. papers said. They

: added, " Significant work needs to be done to achieve a reasonable

: balance. "

:

: Jeanne Lopatto, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said she had

: no comment on the substance of the agency's complaints.

:

: " There's been a lot of negotiation, " Ms. Lopatto said. " We've been

: working very closely with E.P.A. over the last several months on this

: issue, and we continue to do so. "

:

: Joe Martyak, a spokesman for the environmental agency, said some

: issues were closer to becoming final than others.

:

: " We are close to conclusion on this, " Mr. Martyak said. " The

: administrator really is interested in doing what is fair. She doesn't

: want to gut the Clean Air Act, and she wants to draw the line between

: those issues that are logical outgrowths of topics that are already

: out there and the other issues that have a lot of controversy around

: them that will have to go through a whole process for further public

: comment. "

:

: An example of a matter that has been under discussion since 1996 is

: that of setting a baseline level for acceptable emissions, Mr. Martyak

: said. Even if rules were promulgated on this issue, he said, they

: would not become effective for several months.

:

: At the same time, Mr. Martyak said, the agency was likely to put out

: newer concepts for public comment, and thus there would be no action

: on them for a couple of years. This would include matters like

: defining the term " routine maintenance " to make clear when new

: pollution control rules would kick in.

:

: The staff members at the environmental agency were not the only ones

: concerned about the recommendations, whenever they may occur.

:

: Trade groups representing state and local air program administrators,

: who have supported some changes in the new source review program,

: wrote in a recent letter to Mrs. Whitman that they had serious

: reservations regarding both issues.

:

: * * *

:

: Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

:

: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:

<snip>

:

: SUBJECT: HOW CLEAN IS YOUR ESTUARY

:

: Date: 17 Feb 2002

: From: chive_mind_2002@... (Chive Mynde)

:

: HOW CLEAN IS YOUR ESTUARY? SCIENTISTS HAVE NEW MEASUREMENT TOOL

:

: Honolulu, Hawaii, Febrary 15, 2002 (ENS) - Many of the world's major

: estuaries are polluted, but until now there has not been a study that

: uniformly compares levels of nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus in two

: separate bodies of water. The presence of these chemicals in estuaries

: is a result of runoff from industry and agriculture.

:

: Environmental biologists have now made it possible to directly

: compare, for instance, the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Gdansk in

: Poland. The methodology they have developed to measure the carbon,

: nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the world's waters were presented

: Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union Ocean Sciences meeting, at

: the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.

:

: " There have been many studies around the globe of the world's

: estuaries and coastal water systems. But to date there has not been a

: uniform approach to measure the effects of loads of nitrogen and

: phosphorus in those waters, " says Dennis Swaney, an environmental

: biologist at the Boyce Institute (BTI) for Plant Research

: Inc., located on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

:

: Swaney conducts watershed modeling with the environmental biology

: group at the institute. He and colleagues and Vilma

: Dupra, both of the University of Hawaii, presented their system - the

: Land Ocean Interactions in Coastal Zones (LOICZ).

:

: As water flows through any estuary system and mixes with adjacent

: systems, such as oceans or seas, the flows of water are described by

: scientists in terms of " water budgets " and the nutrients carried by

: these flows are described by " nutrient budgets. "

:

: By examining differences in nutrient budgets, scientists draw

: conclusions about biological productivity and other processes in

: estuaries around the globe.

:

: The data show that the state of the Chesapeake Bay may not be a

: reason to rejoice, but it is in better shape than many estuaries such

: as the Gulf of Gdansk. Comparing the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of

: Gdansk could offer clues to how Europe is handling phosphorus and

: nitrogen runoff.

:

: This data, obtained through the collaboration of hundreds of

: scientists, has been used to establish at least crude nutrient and

: water budgets for many sites around the globe. From that, the

: scientists can determine the relative health of these bodies of water.

: " In smaller water systems, you're going to have higher impacts, and

: this is an enormous load, " says Swaney.

:

: The estuary project, which started in 1993 and is funded by the

: United Nations, is located at the Netherlands Institute for Sea

: Research. Part of the goal of the project is to gather and disseminate

: information, and as of January, data from 195 coastal systems globally

: had been compiled.

:

: Swaney says the next challenge is to extrapolate these site specific

: results into more detailed, environmental information. " We can't

: simply come up with a global average. We are trying to find patterns

: of estuarine productivity - how it varies with system area, region,

: and human and environmental factors. "

:

: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:

: DUPONT TREATING CHEMICAL WEAPON

:

: Date: 020219

: From: http://www.nj.com

:

: By Meg , Staff Writer, Gloucester County Times News, 2/19/02

:

: The neutralized byproduct of the U.S. military's stockpile of mustard

: agent may soon be trucked into Salem County for processing.

:

: DuPont Chemical Solutions is negotiating a deal with a land-based

: contractor to treat the neutralized byproduct of mustard agent in its

: wastewater treatment plant at the Chambers Works plant in Deepwater.

:

: If the contract is finalized, DuPont would truck 5 million pounds of

: the byproduct, hydrolysate, about 60 miles - from the Aberdeen Proving

: Ground in land to Chambers Works.

:

: Mustard agent has been used in biological warfare.

:

: Contractor Bechtel Aberdeen is handling the neutralization of the

: chemical weapons at Aberdeen. The company is currently building a

: facility to neutralize the agent and had planned to build a water

: treatment plant to process the byproduct. Officials said the treatment

: of the more than 1,600 tons of mustard agent was originally scheduled

: for 2004.

:

: However, when the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. occurred, the U.S.

: Army asked Bechtel to try to speed up the process of destroying the

: mustard agent, said Monteverde, public outreach manager for

: Bechtel Aberdeen.

:

: " One of the ways we knew we could do that was instead of building our

: own treatment facility was to take it somewhere that already has a

: biotreatment facility, " he said Monday.

:

: " Although we were well along in our plans to dispose of the mustard

: agent, the Army realized the stockpile sitting out in an open storage

: yard really represented a threat to the community, " Monteverde said.

:

: Bechtel Aberdeen will neutralize the mustard agent at the Aberdeen

: Proving Ground by mixing it with very hot water and shaking it.

:

: Thiodiglycol is a common chemical that is used in cosmetics and the

: material that makes ink flow smoothly from ballpoint pens, said

: Monteverde.

:

: But, because there are trace amounts of volatile organic compounds in

: the byproduct, trucks that ship the material to Salem County would

: have to bear " hazardous " materials placards, officials said.

:

: " There are so many other commercial chemicals that go up and down our

: commercial roads and railroad that pose a greater threat, " Monteverde

: said.

:

: If the contract is agreed upon, Farina, DuPont spokesperson,

: said DuPont will use an average of five 5,000 gallon trucks to

: transport the material to Chambers Works for six to eight months.

:

: The wastewater treatment plant at Chambers Works is capable of

: handling 40 million gallons of wastewater a day. DuPont also disposes

: other hazardous waste from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, including

: polluted ground water and acids used in tank cleaning and other work.

:

: Monteverde said the mustard agent has been stored at Aberdeen for

: more than 60 years. Mustard agent was a yellow liquid used as a

: chemical weapon during World War I by the Germans. The U.S. military

: manufactured a stockpile of the chemical weapons for World War II in

: case the Germans reintroduced mustard agent in that conflict. The

: Germans did not, and the U.S. stockpile of the weapon remained intact

: at several locations throughout the country, including Aberdeen.

:

: Mustard agent causes burns and blisters and severe damage to the

: eyes, respiratory system and internal organs to its victims.

:

: Mack Lake, Carneys Point Township mayor, and director of the Salem

: County Department of Emergency Services, said he is not worried about

: the byproduct being transported into or processed in Salem County.

:

: " The product falls well within the permissible allowable products

: that DuPont can treat, " he said. " It doesn't require any special

: permitting. "

:

: " There is really nothing out there at this point that creates

: anything of special concern, " Lake said. " DuPont has an excellent

: track record of running that facility and we would anticipate that we

: would continue to do so. "

:

: Lake said the county emergency services department has a plan in

: place for hazardous waste spills.

:

: Monteverde said Bechtel Aberdeen hopes to finish negotiations with

: DuPont within the next month. The company anticipates finishing the

: neutralization facility in June and hopes to begin work in July.

: Shipping the material should begin shortly thereafter.

:

: Bechtel Aberdeen is a company formed by Bechtel National to handle

: the disposal of the mustard agent.

:

: Bechtel National is a 102-year-old company based in San Francisco,

: Calif. Recent Bechtel efforts include the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in

: the United Kingdom, managing the Idaho National Engineering and

: Environmental Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, and

: ExxonMobil's Singapore Chemical Complex in Singapore.

:

: * * *

:

: © 2002 New Jersey Online. .

: . . .

:

: YALE STUDY CALLS FOR SCHOOL BUS CONTROLS

:

: Steps should be taken to decrease the health risk to children from

: riding in diesel-fueled school buses, according to a new study by

: researchers from Yale and the University of Connecticut.

:

: more at http://www.tstc.org/bulletin/20020218/mtr35310.htm

:

: USE GARDEN STATE ENVIRONET AS YOUR EARTH DAY SOURCE

:

: Date: 19 Feb 2002

: From: " Tina Bologna " {bologna@...}

:

: People all over the world are making plans for celebrating Earth Day

: 2002! From clean-ups and hikes to school programs and fairs - the

: possibilities are endless for using Earth Day to do great things.

:

: The Garden State EnviroNet is developing a directory of Earth Day

: events for New Jersey. With more than 1,000 daily readers of the

: EnviroNews and over 16,000 monthly users on the website, let us send a

: loud and clear message that this turf is precious, perishable, and

: belongs to all of us.

:

: Email your Earth Day events to mailbox@....

:

: * * *

:

: Tina Bologna, Executive Director

: Garden State EnviroNet, Inc.

: 19 Boonton Ave

: Boonton NJ 07005

: Tel: 973-394-1313

: Fax: 973-394-9513

: Email: bologna@...

: Web: http://www.gsenet.org.

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