| OTI Environmental News | ||||||||||||
| 23 JUNE 07, Issue 527 | CLOSE PAGE | |||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| SPILL
"Court Orders Hearing in Mass. Oil Spill." Associated Press, 22 June 07. In a case stemming from a devastating oil spill, a federal appeals court sided with environmentalists and ordered a new hearing on a state law aimed at preventing such disasters. The Legislature passed the Oil Spill Prevention Act in 2004 after a barge struck a rocky ledge in a bay off the southeastern Massachusetts Coast and spilled 98,000 gallons of oil. The spill polluted more than 90 miles of shoreline and closed nearly 100,000 acres of shellfish beds. Last year, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro threw out main provisions of the law, saying it was pre-empted by federal law. But on Thursday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tauro had acted prematurely and ordered the case sent back to the lower court to hear evidence. The law created rules and regulations governing vessels transporting oil in Massachusetts waters, including requiring tugboat escorts for vessels traveling in certain waters and enhancing the staffing requirements for tank barges and tow vessels. The federal government, along with barge operators, challenged the law, arguing federal law already mandated regulations for oil tankers. The appeals court said Tauro acted too quickly when he ruled in favor of the federal government without hearing evidence. The court also said the judge did not use the analysis required by the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve federal-state conflicts in such cases. It was not clear whether the state law could be enforced while the lower court judge reconsidered the case. Both sides claimed Thursday's ruling as a partial win. "We think this is a very important victory for preserving states' rights to protect their waters from environmental threats," said Sue Reid, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a news release that she was heartened by the ruling but acknowledged the matter was unresolved. The ruling is largely procedural, said Jonathan Benner, an attorney representing an industry coalition that includes American Waterways Operators and Intertanko, an international association of independent tanker owners who oppose the state regulations on constitutional grounds. Supporters of the law said the Coast Guard had failed to adopt adequate safeguards to protect state waterways. Chief Warrant Officer Scott Carr, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's Boston office, said the Coast Guard was reviewing the ruling."Fire, Explosions Hit Wis. Chemical Plant." Associated Press, 22 June 07. Explosions sent fireballs hundreds of feet into the air as flames gutted an industrial chemical recycling plant Friday morning. No injuries were reported and air monitoring had not picked up any hazardous chemicals about nine hours later, State Patrol spokesman Brent Pickard said. Firefighters had the blaze at Waste Research and Reclamation "pretty well contained" by 3 p.m., he said. A voluntary evacuation of everyone within three-quarters of a mile of the heavily damaged plant was canceled. The blaze broke out around 6 a.m. at the plant just south of Eau Claire, in western Wisconsin. Subsequent explosions sent balls of fire more than 300 feet in the air, prompting firefighters to retreat from the site for several hours, Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer said. The fire started in the plant's processing plant and triggered a boiler explosion, said Waste Research and Reclamation President Jim Hager. He said about 10 workers were just finishing the night shift and were unable to put out the flames with fire extinguishers. "Everything I've heard indicated it started with electrical," Hager said. He said the plant has chemicals that include flammable petroleum products and a variety of paint solvents. The air monitors were checking for 300 different chemicals, Pickard said. He said experts believe what mostly was burning was alcohol, though, which he said shouldn't cause significant environmental harm."Bakersfield Refinery Investigates Oil Leak." San Francisco Chronicle, 19 June 07. Big West Oil of California officials on Tuesday tried to identify the source of a leak that is seeping oil into an underground water table below the company's refinery here. The Bakersfield refinery has been partially shut down since late last week, when an employee reported the spill to the Gov.'s Office of Emergency Services. More than 1,000 barrels of oil are believed to have been released from an underground pipeline, but the leak is not considered a threat to the public water supply, Kern County environmental officials said. The refinery, owned by Flying J Inc., has had pollution problems in the past, and the groundwater into which the oil is leaking already was contaminated, said William L. Rukeyser, a spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board. Although the leak had not been fixed as of Tuesday, the refinery's pipes were depressurized to reduce the flow, Rukeyser said. Officials are not worried about water contamination because the site "is nowhere near a well being used for domestic or drinking purposes," he said. Regional water regulators have ordered the company to fix the leak and assess the affected area. They may also have to pay a penalty for the discharge, Rukeyser said. |
||||||||||||
| CLEAN AIR / OZONE
"EPA Chief Proposes Tougher Ground-Level Pollution Standards for Ozone." Washington Post, 22 June 07, A9. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said yesterday that current limits on ozone air pollution do not adequately protect public health as he released a proposed regulation to lower the limit by as much as 20 percent in coming decades. The proposal came under immediate attack by business and industry groups. "New scientific evidence indicates that the impact of ozone is more significant than we previously thought," Johnson said. "That's why we're proposing to strengthen the ozone standard." Johnson said, however, that the agency will accept public comments from groups that challenge the proposed change in the standard. Johnson said research has clearly shown that allowable levels of ozone can lead to disease but added: "I recognize that others don't agree with that, and I want to provide an opportunity for them to provide comments on which we can make an informed decision." Ground-level ozone smog is created by the reaction of fossil fuel vapors and products of combustion with nitrogen oxide released by industries and some vehicles. The gas is known to worsen, and perhaps cause, asthma attacks; elderly people, children, and those with already damaged lungs are particularly vulnerable to its effects. The current EPA standard allows up to 84 parts per billion of ozone; the new proposal would lower that to 70 to 75 parts per billion. That level is consistent with EPA scientists' findings but is higher than the standard an independent group of scientific advisers recommended last year. The president of the National Association of Manufacturers, John Engler, a Republican former governor of Michigan, said the additional costs associated with meeting the new standards would harm many companies and send jobs abroad. He also said his group will challenge the science used by the EPA, which he said overstates the harm from ozone. But the tougher standard's supporters point out that the advisory group -- which included industry scientists -- concluded unanimously that the current standard does not protect public health. |
||||||||||||
| LEAD
"Lead Exposure in Peru Raises Concern." Los Angeles Times, 18 June 07. Angel Jesus Pacotaype is a child of lead, one of hundreds of youngsters in this Andean town suffering from what a U.S. health study has labeled an "epidemic" of exposure to the toxic metal. The 3-year-old is lethargic and exhibits signs of sluggish development, classic symptoms of lead poisoning. "We are desperate," said Luisa Pacotaype, 39, a mother of five who lives with her family in an adobe house in the old part of town, La Oroya Antigua. "We don't know who to turn to." Looming just across the sullied Mantaro River is the poison's apparent source: La Oroya's 85-year-old smelter complex, its smokestack a dark sentinel in the mountain sky. The facility is at the center of a bitter environmental dispute that pits townsfolk against townsfolk and activists against the smelter's owner, Doe Run Peru, an affiliate of the St. Louis-based Doe Run Resources Corp. In the process, isolated La Oroya has become the unlikely setting for a fiercely polarizing struggle over U.S. corporate responsibility in the Third World. On the twisting streets of the Old Town, air laced with sulfur dioxide spewing from the smokestack irritates the eyes, befouls the mouth and stings the lungs. Fine dust coats furniture and clothes, residents say. In 2006, the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, named La Oroya among the world's 10 most-polluted places, a list that includes Chernobyl, Ukraine. This is a community where parents recite their children's blood-lead readings the way moms and dads elsewhere recall their kids' birthdays. "They said Angel's lead level was close to 50, but we fear it may be higher," said his father, Mariano Pacotaype. In children, a measurement one-fifth of Angel's, 10 micrograms a deciliter, is considered elevated by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials at Doe Run acknowledge that almost every child tested in the Old Town has a blood-lead reading at least double that level. Peruvian and U.S. activists allege that the smelter's daily release of lead, arsenic and other toxic substances has stunted childhood development and caused an array of illnesses, including cancer. A St. Louis University research team said La Oroya faces a "daily toxic cocktail" and labeled the situation "an environmental health crisis." However, epidemiological and statistical studies definitively linking the emissions to illness are lacking. "The scientific research needed to demonstrate beyond doubt that Doe Run's pollution is making people sick costs money, and people in La Oroya don't have that," said Hunter Farrell, a U.S. Presbyterian minister in Lima, the Peruvian capital, who has taken up the cause. Doe Run officials say emissions are down and have never been shown to have harmed anyone. "I am not aware of any case of serious illness that may be attributed to our La Oroya operations," said spokesman Victor Andres Belaunde. |
||||||||||||
| WORKPLACE SAFETY
"OSHA Accuses Meat Company of Violating Safety Standards," Associated Press, 19 June 07. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration accused Abbyland Pork Pack Inc. Tuesday of violating federal workplace safety and health standards. The agency proposed $194,600 in fines on citations alleging 13 violations by the butchering and meat processing business, which employs 225 people in this Curtiss about 55 miles northeast of Eau Claire. Some of the citations allege hazards that could cause a worker to fall, issues concerning the providing proper guards on machines and energy lockout and isolation issues. Energy lockout refers to preventing machinery from accidental operation while employees are making repairs. They also allege failure to evaluate the performance of industrial truck operators, failure to provide annual training on how to avoid contracting bloodborne diseases and hearing protection issues. Other citations accuse the firm of failing to conduct noise monitoring and not providing annual hearing tests. "Meat packing plants are potentially dangerous workplaces," said Mark Hysell, the director of OSHA's area office in Eau Claire. "Employers must remain committed to keeping the workplace safe and healthful or face close scrutiny by OSHA." Paul Hess, controller at Abbyland Pork Pack, declined to comment beyond saying the company was studying the citations to formulate a response. |
||||||||||||
| HOME | ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS | COURSES | SCHEDULE | return to the top ^^) | ||||||||||||