Tag: pollutants

City’s Growth Tied to Superfund Site

  • This beach and its surrounding area is one of 409 contaminated sites on the EPA's National Priorities List in the eight Great Lakes states. The sign tells people to wash their skin immediately if they come into contact with the tars and oils washing up on shore. (Photo by Stephanie Hemphill)

Ashland, Wisconsin is a small city along the coast of western Lake Superior. It was once a town that thrived on an industrial economy. Today the town is living with a legacy of pollution, and people are fighting over how to clean it up. Ashland’s mayor says he’s not giving up on the city’s future. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill has more:

Transcript

Ashland, Wisconsin is a small city along the coast of western Lake Superior. It was once a town
that thrived on an industrial economy. Today the town is living with a legacy of pollution, and
people are fighting over how to clean it up. Ashland’s mayor says he’s not giving up on the city’s
future. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill has more:


Ashland, Wisconsin, sits on Chequamegon Bay. It’s a wide curve of gently sloping land on the
south shore of Lake Superior. There used to be a busy port here. Ships moved in and out, loaded
with iron ore, lumber, and coal.


But those ships are gone. Ashland’s industry is gone, and the town is trying to create an economy
based on tourism.


But the bay is polluted. The waves lapping gently on the shore carry a thin film of oily scum.
Bright yellow signs warn people not to wade in the water or run their boats in the bay. A year ago,
the EPA named this part of the bay a Superfund site.


It’s not the kind of place that’s likely to attract tourists. But that’s exactly what Ashland’s mayor
wants to do.


“This lakefront is really underdeveloped. And in a service-based economy like we’re at, we could
really be turning some money for our community here.”


Fred Schnook wants to double the size of the city marina. He wants to turn the old sewage
treatment plant into a museum.


“There could be retail shops, there could be a marine repair shop, to have all these boats that we
have here fixed.”


Ashland is within a short day’s drive of Chicago, Milwaukee, and other major Midwestern cities.
The tourism potential is huge.


But a gas plant polluted the bay years ago, and there’s no money to clean it up.


For seventy years, a company made gas to heat and light Ashland’s homes. Most cities had gas
plants like this. The raw material was coal or petroleum. By-products were tars and oils in
various thicknesses. Some of the waste was as solid as roofing tar, some was as runny as used
engine oil. The gas company sold some of the by-products to other industries. It dumped the rest
into Chequamegon Bay. The plant closed years ago.


“So we have the legacy of history.”


Jerry Winslow is an engineer with Xcel Energy, formerly called NSP. NSP bought the
manufactured gas plant in 1976. Now it’s used as a place to repair equipment.


Winslow says other industries along the bay, including a city landfill, added their own pollution
over the years.


“Manufactured gas plant being one issue. Wood treating being another issue with the same kind of
coal tar products. Landfill, which gets a little bit of everything.”


Because it owns the manufactured gas plant, Xcel will probably have to pay a big chunk of the
eventual clean-up cost. But Xcel says if the old city dump is part of the problem, Ashland itself
should bear some of the cost.


Eight years ago the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources began studying the pollution
problems here. The tars and oils can cause cancer. And animal studies suggest they might cause
infertility.


Xcel and the DNR worked together to cover places on land where the pollutants were bubbling to
the surface. And Xcel is slowly pumping the tars out of the deep aquifer that runs under the old
coal plant and into the bay.


The problem right now is the bay itself. The pollutants have settled on the bottom, and whenever
there’s a northeast wind, they get churned up and rise to the surface.


Since the bay is listed as a Superfund site, the EPA is in charge. The federal agency says Xcel will
have to pay for most of the cleanup. So the EPA wants Xcel to figure out how the pollution should
be cleaned up.


Ashland’s mayor, Fred Schnook, doesn’t like that idea. He says Xcel is looking for the cheapest
way to clean up the site.


“Xcel’s fighting any kind of dredging that has to take place. Some of the options include capping
and other remediation that would be a heck of a lot cheaper than dredging. And again, it’s
understandable what Xcel is doing, they have a profit motive at stake here.”


Schnook says he’s looking out for Ashland. He says Xcel doesn’t have the same motivation to
move quickly and do a thorough cleanup.


But pollution cleanups only get more expensive as time goes by. Jerry Winslow has worked on
several other manufactured gas sites. He says they weren’t so complicated to clean up, because
they weren’t sitting next to a lake.


“You don’t have to worry about the fish, the terns, the birds, the whole ecosystem, the worms, etc.
etc. Here we need to worry about that.”


Winslow says Xcel won’t have plans for a clean-up for at least two more years.


But Ashland mayor Fred Schnook says he’ll push the company to move faster. And he’ll be
keeping a close eye on its work. He says Ashland’s future depends on a clean Chequamegon Bay.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill.

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Epa Asks Shoppers to Look for Energy Star Label

The Environmental Protection Agency wants holiday shoppers buying electronic gear to look for the Energy Star label. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency wants holiday shoppers buying electronic gear to look for
the Energy Star label. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


The U.S. EPA predicts that if all home electronics sold in the U.S. this year were ENERGY
STAR qualified, the air pollution rate would be reduced by 27 billion pounds of pollutants over
the life of the products. The EPA’s ENERGY STAR program was started in 1992 as a voluntary
program. Manufacturers can get an ENERGY STAR label for their consumer electronics by
meeting certain energy efficiency goals. The EPA indicates that 75-percent of all energy used to
power home electronics is used when the products are turned off or in a stand-by mode. When
turned off, ENERGY STAR qualified equipment uses up to 50-percent less energy than
conventional equipment. The EPA says last year that six of the top seven most popular home
electronics products sold during the holidays were available in ENERGY STAR qualified
models.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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Report: Aging Sewer Systems Plague Ontario

A new report finds outdated sewage systems are polluting waters throughout Ontario. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

A new report finds outdated sewage systems are polluting waters throughout Ontario. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:


The report says aging treatment plants are dumping improperly treated sewage into Ontario
waterways, especially when rain or snow overload the system.


It’s a problem that’s found all over North America.


The latest report comes from the Ontario Environmental Commissioner. It says 38 percent of the
province’s sewage is released into Lake Ontario. Commissioner Gord Miller says that waste
threatens the ecosystem.


“You can actually get the risk of fish kills, of fish avoidance, loss of fish habitat, and then you can
get discharges of actual toxic materials, like ammonia.”


Miller says the sewage is not threatening people’s drinking water. But it’s harming fish and
wildlife, and leading to the closure of beaches.


He wants to see Ontario study and address the problem.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I”m Karen Kelly.

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Trashing Cell Phones After New Fcc Rules

Starting today, new Federal Communications Commission rules go into effect. Millions of cell phone users can keep their phone numbers if they switch companies. That means millions of old cell phones could be left behind. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:

Transcript

Starting today (Monday, November 24th), new Federal Communications
Commission rules go into effect. Millions of cell phone users can keep
their phone numbers if they switch companies. That means millions of old
cell phones could be left behind. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Rebecca Williams has more:


Researchers who study cell phone use expect the rules to encourage people to
get new phones. When they do, most of those old phones will
end up in landfills and incinerators. It’s a problem because cell phones
contain toxins and heavy metals that can be released into the environment.


The wireless industry and others have started cell phone collection programs
in response. Eric Most is with Inform, Incorporated, an independent research group.
He studied the collection programs.


“These programs are definitely one potential solution to addressing wireless
waste, but one of the issues is that the small fraction of discarded phones
that these programs are recovering are merely being shifted from the U.S. to
countries that are even less equipped to handle them responsibly in end of
life.”


Most says ideally, the industry should be responsible for the entire life
cycle of the phones. But he says right now, it’s still better to donate old
phones to a collection program than toss them in the trash.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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Environmental Zinc to Reduce Lead Absorption?

Lead is a toxic metal that has been linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological impairment, even at low exposures. But a new study suggests that when high levels of another metal are present in the environment, it might reduce the amount of lead absorbed into the bloodstream. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erika Johnson has more:

Transcript

Lead is a toxic metal that has been linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and
neurological impairment, even at low exposures. But a new study suggests that when
high levels of another metal is present in the environment, it might reduce the amount of
lead absorbed into the bloodstream. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erika Johnson
has more:


The study published in the journal Nature compared lead levels for children living near
industrial and non-industrial sites. Researchers found that children exposed to high levels
of environmental zinc from a nearby smelter absorbed less lead.


Curtis Noonan is an epidemiologist with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry. He co-authored the study.


“But I think it’s important to note also that in our study, high levels of environmental
zinc, while they may have altered the strength of the association between environmental
lead and blood lead, environmental zinc did not ultimately protect children from lead
exposure.”


Noonan says that because children are more susceptible to lead poisoning than adults,
parents should be aware of the risks of lead in the home, even when environmental zinc is
high.


Noonan says that future research should also take into account dietary exposures to zinc,
as well as a person’s overall nutritional status.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erika Johnson.

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Company Stops Pbde Production

Chemicals known as PBDE’s are used as flame-retardants in many products. But PBDE’s have been showing up in people and in wildlife. Now, one of the biggest manufacturers of PBDE’s has announced that it will be phasing out the chemical. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

Chemicals known as PBDE’s are used as flame-retardants in many products.
But PBDE’s have been showing up in people and in wildlife. Now, one of the
biggest manufacturers of PBDE’s has announced that it will be phasing out
the chemical. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:


Some animal tests have shown that PBDE’s can be toxic – but the EPA says
it’s “not yet concluded that the chemicals are an unreasonable risk to human
health.”


However, the Great Lakes Chemical Corporation has announced that it will
voluntarily stop producing a widely used PBDE, known as Penta, by the end of
2004. This chemical is used mostly to prevent fires in furniture cushions.


Anne Noonan is with Great Lakes Chemical. She says the company started
developing an alternative in the mid 1990’s when research began to show that
PBDE’s gets into the environment and eventually the food chain:


“We understood that it did bioaccumulate and there was growing public
concern that this would start building up in the environment. So with that
in mind, we started developing this product.”


The new product is called FireMaster 550, and according to the EPA, initial
tests have shown that this chemical should be safe.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.

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State to Test Breast Milk for Toxins?

California could be on the forefront of a new scientific approach that tests people for pollution. A measure in the state legislature would require the state to monitor mothers’ breast milk for dangerous toxins, such as pesticides or PCBs. Supporters of the legislation are hoping “biomonitoring” will catch on in other states too. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

California could be on the forefront of a new scientific
approach that tests people for pollution. A measure in the state
Legislature would require the state to monitor mothers’ breast
milk for dangerous toxins, such as pesticides or PCBs.
Supporters of the legislation are hoping “biomonitoring” will
catch on in other states too. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:


Biomonitoring is based on the suspicion that environmental
pollutants play a part in many cancers and other diseases. The
California program would focus on women’s breast milk, since
many chemicals can be found in fat cells located in the breasts.
The Breast Cancer Fund is a major backer of the California
biomonitoring effort.


Jeanne Rizzo is the group’s executive director.


“We’ve spent 30 billion dollars to look at treatment and
to look at a cure for breast cancer. We have spent very
little, a very small amount of money to look at what could
be contributing to the causes. Biomonitoring will give us
an opportunity to measure the synthetic chemicals, the
pollution in people, in the target organ for breast cancer.”


Some critics of biomonitoring fear it could cause women to
stop breast feeding. Or that insurance companies or employers
might use the information against people.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consoritum, I’m Erin Toner.

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Study Ranks Pesticide Residues on Produce

A report from an environmental group says peaches, strawberries, nectarines, and apples are more likely to be contaminated by pesticides than other produce. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the non-profit group says washing produce doesn’t eliminate pesticide residues:

Transcript

A report from an environmental group says peaches, strawberries, nectarines, and apples are more
likely to be contaminated by pesticides than other produce. As the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the non-profit group says washing produce doesn’ t
eliminate pesticide residues:


The Environmental Working Group tracked results from pesticide tests done by the U.S.
Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration between 1997 and 2001. Those
tests track almost 200 pesticides on fruits and vegetables.


The EWG has issued a shopping guide with a list of the twelve most contaminated foods,
including bell peppers, celery, and potatoes. Also listed are the twelve safest foods, including
asparagus, avocados, and mangoes.


EWG President Ken Cook says he doesn’t want to discourage people from eating fresh produce.


“There is a way to look at the pesticide residues on these crops and make a decision about how
often you eat them or, when you have a chance, whether you can shop instead for organic choices
or select fruits and vegetables that have lower residue levels.”


The FDA says the consumption of pesticide residues is not dangerous, but Cook points out that
the government is constantly updating food regulations.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Celeste Headlee.

Researchers Help Develop Co2 Trading Market

One of the gases that figures prominently in the global climate debate is carbon dioxide. Scientists believe CO2 emissions can be reduced if carbon in the atmosphere is “stored.” Economists want to incorporate carbon storage into a market-driven solution to regulate emissions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ann Murray has this story about climate change, forests, and the emergence of a carbon trading market:

Transcript

One of the gases that figures prominently in the global climate debate is carbon
dioxide.
Scientists believe CO2 emissions can be reduced if carbon in the atmosphere is
“stored.”
Economists want to incorporate carbon storage into a market driven solution to
regulate
emissions. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Ann Murray has this story about climate change, forests, and the
emergence of a
carbon trading market:


Climate experts say the earth’s temperature started to change about 150 years ago.
That’s when
people began to burn coal and gas and oil to run factories and generate electricity.
These fossil
fuels release carbon dioxide into the air. CO2, a “greenhouse gas,” traps the
sun’s heat.
Climatologists warn that unless carbon dioxide emissions are curbed, the planet will
continue to
heat up. Scientists are now looking to nature to counteract this human influx of
carbon.


Coeli Hoover with the U.S. Forest Service is among these scientists.


“There’s a plot over there.”


For the past three summers, Hoover and technicians from the Forestry Sciences Lab in
Warren
County, Pennsylvania have traveled to hardwood forests in the northeastern United
States.


“What we’re doing is trying to get a basic handle on how much carbon is stored in
these different
forests and how management might change that.”


Today, Hoover is in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. She and her
team gather
their equipment from their van. As they head to a stand of cherry, maple and beech
trees, Hoover
explains some basic biology about carbon storage and trees.


“They pull carbon dioxide out of the air to make sugars, carbohydrates for trees to
live on. And in
the process that carbon gets stored as wood. And carbon also get stored in the soil.”


Hoover’s study is the first to examine carbon stored in forest floors and soils.
The regional study
looks at uncut forests and those that have been thinned. Hoover wants to see if
different forest
management practices affect the amount and type of stored carbon.


(knife cutting around forest floor)


This morning, Hoover and a technician use a knife and template to cut small sections
of the forest
floor, the layer of organic material above the soil. After the forest floor samples
are labeled and
bagged, the crew takes samples of the soil.


(sound of slide hammer core)


They dig 12 holes per plot with a slide hammer core. That’s a metal cylinder with a
cutting tip on
the edge and brass core sleeves inside.


“This method allows us to get these really nice depths without having any doubt of
what we’re
getting.”


Hoover says the whole point of her study is to eliminate the carbon guessing game.
Because
there’s little information about belowground carbon, it’s been hard to establish
how much carbon
is stored in forests. Scientists call this a “carbon budget.” The big picture,
says Hoover, is
important because of the emergence of a domestic carbon trading market. A market
where
foresters can grow trees, store carbon and make money.


“Right now carbon dioxide isn’t regulated as a pollutant. There are people who
think that it
probably will be. There’s voluntary reporting where companies can report their C02
emissions
and their uptake for different projects. So there’s a lot of experimental work
going on.”


An experimental program in Chicago is working to give industry a reason to reduce
carbon
dioxide output. The Chicago Climate Exchange will begin trading carbon credits. If
a company
reduces its CO2 output by installing new technologies, that difference can be sold
on the
exchange. Companies will buy credits that represent storage of carbon in either
trees or soil. Dr.
Richard Sandor is the founder of the Climate Exchange.


“We are going to have projects which would have to be monitored and verified and
approved by
our offset and forestry committees where people would agree to reforest. If a
particular project
that absorbs 100,000 tons of carbon in the aboveground biomass can be measured, then
people
sell those on the exchange.


Sandor says this isn’t the first time that pollution credits have been traded in the
United States.
He points to the success of the sulfur dioxide market. Sulfur dioxide is the main
component in
acid rain. The U.S. EPA estimates that this market driven program has cut sulfur
dioxide output in
half and saved $50 billion a year in health and environmental costs.


Not everyone sees such a sunny future for carbon trading. Some critics believe that
CO2
emissions must be regulated by the government or through the international
greenhouse gas
agreement called the Kyoto Protocol.


Others worry that foresters or landowners will resort to single age, single species
tree plantations
to quickly fulfill contracts.


(forest sounds)


Back in the Monongahela National
Forest, Coeli
Hoover says biodiversity need not suffer.


“I don’t think that you have to manage for carbon or sustainable timber production.
I think you
can do both and manage for wildlife. I don’t think there are a lot of tradeoffs
there.”


We probably won’t know the success of carbon trading in the United States for
another five or ten
years. The Bush administration has refused federal regulation of carbon dioxide and
for now, has
left the solution to the markets.


For The Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Ann Murray.

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Soot Now Part of Epa Air Quality Alerts

The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding its air quality forecasts for more than 100 cities. That means you’ll be getting air quality alerts during the winter, too. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding its air quality forecasts for more than 100
cities. That means you’ll be getting air quality alerts during the winter, too. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:


The Air Quality Index has five color codes. They range from green for days when the air is good,
to purple when the air is hazardous. In the summer, the index forecasts ozone pollution. Now,
the EPA will use the index to forecast particle pollution year-round.


Particle pollution is the soot that comes mainly from coal-burning industries and diesel engines.
Jeff Holmstead is the assistant administrator of the EPA’s Air Office.


“These tiny particles are almost microscopic, and they can actually bypass some of the body’s
normal protective functions and embed deep in the lungs and cause problems.”


Holmstead says particle pollution can be especially harmful for adults with heart or lung
problems, and kids with asthma. But he says even healthy people should take the warnings
seriously.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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