GASPalerts: November 13, 2008
Take Action
Tell the PA DEP we need enforceable regulations - NOT technical guidance - for the placement of Coal Combustion Wastes (CCW), commonly known as fly ash at mine sites.
Technical guidelines will not protect humans or our watersheds
Enforceable regulations are essential and needed now
And these enforceable regulations should include:
o Characterization of all CCW
o Isolation of ash from all water sources
o Long-term, comprehensive monitoring of all ash sites
o Clear standards for corrective actions written into all permits
o Bonds for monitoring and clean up
o True public involvement in all CCW permitting decisions
If the PA DEP issues Technical Guidance without enforceable regulations citizens and communities will have no way of protecting their rights to clean water. Only Enforceable Regulations provide important checks and balances that will legally hold all parties accountable.
Comments needed by Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
Comments can be submitted to the PA DEP: Keith Brady at kbrady@state.pa.us and Secretary, John Hanger at jhanger@state.pa.us
Background on CCW and dangerous leaching:
Millions of tons of toxic coal combustion wastes (CCW) are dumped directly on to lands and near waters throughout our Commonwealth. Years of citizen research in the PA DEP’s own public file rooms show contamination to ground and surface waters increasing as a result of massive dumping of CCW.
PA DEP ‘s inadequate Technical Guidance could become a national template for other mine sites throughout the United States.
There are no “benefits” to our health, our land or our water.
We need Enforceable Regulations
PA Minefill Report, You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8MiKSaTm-U – this is the best tutorial on the subject and only 8 minutes.
Events
16th Annual Pennsylvania Community Forestry Council Conference: Healthy Trees - Healthy Communities
November 13 -14
Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA
Fee: $100 for both days or $75 for one day.
Register online at http://www.pittsburghforest.org/communityforestryconference
Contact: Danielle Crumrine, Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest at 412-362-6360 or danielle@pittsburghforest.org or Mark Remcheck, Extension Educator, Urban Forestry Allegheny County Cooperative Extension at 412-473-2540 or mar15@psu.edumar15@psu.edu
View the Conference Brochure
Tree commission members, arborists, architects and landscape architects, municipal DPW staff, students, educators, elected officials, and anyone who cares about creating healthy & sustainable communities should attend this conference. Featured keynote speakers include: Thomas Hylton, President, Save our Land, Save our Towns, Inc. (Day 1) and Ray Tretheway, Executive Director, The Sacramento Tree Foundation (Day 2).
Rachel Carson Homestead Association’s 33rd Annual Meeting
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
5:30-8:00pm
PNC Firstside, Firstside Café
More information
Hear remarks by Devra L. Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director, Center for Environmental Oncology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Members of the ground-breaking Clean Air Partnership, Carlisle Regional Medical Center, The Sentinel, and the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania invite you to the public unveiling of the Met One BAM-1020 EPA certified air quality monitor.
Date: Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
Time: 4:00 to 6:00PM with ceremony at 5:00PM
Where: The Sentinel
457 E. North Street
Carlisle, PA, 17013.
Light refreshments will be served.
The Clean Air Partnership was formed to protect the health of residents living, working, studying and playing in Cumberland County by providing them with information that will allow them to make informed decisions. You will be able to view the BAM-1020 monitor and hear a presentation of how it measures the toxic particles called PM2.5 which are so small, several thousand could fit on the period at the end of this sentence.
The monitor, through the generosity of the Carlisle Regional Medical Center and The Sentinel, will transmit both the daily readings in The Sentinel newspaper and the hourly updated readings on their website (www.cumberlink.com). The information transmitted from the main office of The Sentinel will give residents actionable data to help them plan outdoor activities.
Please join us to celebrate the Clean Air Partnership and our efforts to attain clean air.
Contacts:
CRMC: Cindy Small at Cindy.Small@hma.com
The Sentinel Mark Blum at MBlum@cumberlink.com
CAB Jennifer McKenna at Jennifer7813@aol.com
Air Resources
1. The GASPer Air Monitor is available for use by teachers and students during the 2008-09 school year. The monitor measures ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and several other components in the air. Included, is the use of our hand-held particulate monitor as well. Make air tangible! For more information or to sign up for the program contact Lee Szymkiewicz at lee@gasp-pgh.org or 412-325-7382.
2. Join the network of women who, like you, want to change the way we influence our environment. Women for a Healthy Environment educates and empowers women about environmental risks so that they can make healthy choices for themselves and their families…Check out their website and join.
Air Quality News
Diesel exhaust at risky levels Downtown, study finds — http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08311/925796-113.stm
“Large amounts of diesel exhaust from the buses and trucks Downtown carry a significant cancer risk, according to a yearlong Carnegie Mellon University air toxics study….”
Health Department can’t use surplus for raises — http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_597056.html
“Although the Allegheny County Health Department is on track to finish the year with a $734,000 budget surplus, the money can’t be used to help fix salary and staffing problems, officials said at Wednesday’s Board of Health meeting…”
Employee search stymies county — http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_596840.html
“Allegheny County health officials want some help to fill positions created by the expansion of the Air Quality Program…”