Month: November 2023

Asbestos From Massive Hangar Fire at Tustin Air Base Closes Schools

CBS Los Angeles by Matthew Rodriguez

Los Angeles, CA – Tustin Unified School District closed all campuses on Thursday after air quality experts detected asbestos at the historic hangar that burned down yesterday. These closures will affect preschools and daycares. The South Coast Air Quality Management District collected the samples from the public land surrounding the hangar. Crews found that the Tustin Legacy area tested greater than 1% positive for asbestos, according to the district. As a result, the city declared a local state of emergency Thursday afternoon to coordinate the cleanup effort with outside agencies such as the United States Navy. For the full text, click here.

NYC Comptroller Urges OxyChem to Stop Importing Asbestos

Chief Investment Officer by Michael Katz

New York, NY – New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has called on Occidental Petroleum Corp.-owned chemicals company Occidental Chemical Corporation, commonly known as OxyChem, to commit to stop importing asbestos and to speed up its transition to a non-asbestos technology. As comptroller, Lander is a trustee of the New York City Fire Pension Fund and the New York City Police Pension Fund, which collectively own $61 million worth of Occidental Petroleum securities, as of September 1. In a letter to Occidental Petroleum Board Chair Jack Moore, Lander noted that the chlor-alkali production method that uses asbestos has largely been replaced worldwide by a method that does not use asbestos. For full text, click here. 

 

Are you Required to Report Asbestos Data to EPA? New Reporting Instructions Are Available!

EPA Washington, DC

On Monday, EPA announced the availability of reporting instructions for entities required to report on their use of asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In July 2023, EPA finalized a rule that requires comprehensive reporting on all six fiber types of asbestos as the agency continues its work to address exposure to this known carcinogen and strengthen the evidence that will be used to further protect people from this dangerous chemical. Reporters must use the asbestos section 8(a)(1) reporting tool on EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) to submit information. EPA will not accept paper submissions or electronic media. For the  For the full text, click here.

New Report Reveals Unexpected Source of Lead Contamination

TCD by Brittany Davies

National – Abandoned telephone cables are contaminating soil and waterways throughout the U.S. with toxic lead, according to an in-depth report from the Wall Street Journal. The investigation, which has since been partly disputed by the EPA in response to the WSJ report, found thousands of lead-covered cables left behind by major telecom companies have been polluting the environment for decades, posing a hidden threat to communities from coast to coast. The worst part is that these companies knew the dangers of these toxic cables, yet didn’t do anything about the potential health risk. For the full text, click here. 

EPA to Strengthen Lead Protections in Drinking Water After Multiple Crises, Including Flint

Associated Press Washington, DC

About four decades ago, when the Environmental Protection Agency was first trying to figure out what to do about lead in drinking water, Ronnie Levin quantified its damage: Roughly 40 million people drank water with dangerous levels of lead, degrading the intelligence of thousands of kids. But new regulations were going to be costly and complicated. So, “instead of trying to deal with it substantively, they just tabled it,” Levin, a former EPA researcher, said of some of her colleagues at the agency in the 1980s. Levin’s analysis then was leaked to the press, igniting a public outcry that pressured the EPA to act. And the rules it issued back then have stayed in place, with only modest changes, ever since. Now, the EPA is on the eve of strengthening them. For the full text, click here.

HUD’s National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2023

HUD National

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) joins its federal agency partners in highlighting National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW), October 22-28, 2023. HUD, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are working to raise awareness, provide resources, and encourage preventive actions to decrease childhood lead exposure during the week and beyond. The outreach materials the agencies have created are customizable, allowing partners to select and tailor information to best meet the needs of their local communities, and are centered around three key messages: Get the Facts, Get Your Child Tested, and Get Your Home Tested. For the full text, click here.

EPA Determines that Lead Emissions from Aircraft Engines Cause or Contribute to Air Pollution 

EPA Washington, DC

EPA announced its final determination that emissions of lead from aircraft that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act. “The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air. With today’s action, the Biden-Harris Administration can move forward in the process to propose new standards to protect all communities from the serious threat of lead pollution from aircraft.” For full text, click here.