Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘dust abatement’ Category

Mesa County and the city of Grand Junction are collaborating with state health officials to monitor and control dust that can whip up blinding storms in the spring and pose an unhealthy nuisance for residents.

County commissioners adopted an agreement Monday with the city and the state’s Air Quality Control Division that officials say should help protect the public and reduce the chances that the Grand Valley violates federal air-quality standards when it comes to dust pollution.

Local and state officials are trying to address elevated air dust levels in the valley that exceed the federal particulate matter standard known as PM10, as well as determine whether increased levels are created here or outside the area.

The federal government allows Mesa County to exceed the PM10 standard three times in a three-year period. If the standard is exceeded a fourth time, the state and local governments have to develop a plan to bring the valley’s air quality back into compliance.

Mike Brygger, county air quality specialist, said the county exceeded the PM10 standard three times in 2005 but not once since.

“We haven’t exceeded that standard in the last couple of years, but there’s always the potential to have a bad year,” he said.

Local officials aren’t just watching for elevated levels of dust. They’re also looking to see where the dust comes from.

That’s important because if air monitors register particulate sizes that violate federal standards, but those particulates came from a dust storm that blew in from outside the valley, local officials can claim the elevated levels were beyond their control. They can then petition the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the incident from a federal database and not have it count as a strike against the county.

For example, Brygger said, two of the PM10 standard violations in 2005 were the result of regional, not local, dust.

The agreement between the state, county and city reinforces dust-control measures already in place.

For the first time, it also brings in another agency to notify the public when high levels of dust are in the air.

Beginning this spring, the National Weather Service will issue blowing dust and public health advisories as necessary, advising elderly and citizens with breathing problems to stay indoors and people in general not to exercise outside.

The agreement also requires the city and county to review the effectiveness of their dust-control measures and implement any necessary modifications every two years.

If they can define it, they can measure it, and then they will Tax it.

Several studies considered the relation between long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) and total mortality, as well as mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Our aim was to provide a comprehensive review of European epidemiological studies on the issue.

Methods: We searched the Medline database for epidemiological studies on air pollution and health outcomes published between January 2002 and December 2007.
We also examined the reference lists of individual papers and reviews. Two independent reviewers classified the studies according to type of air pollutant, duration of exposure and health outcome considered.

Among European investigations that examined long-term PM exposure we found 4 cohort studies (considering total and cardiopulmonary mortality), 1 case-control study (considering mortality from myocardial infarction), and 4 ecologic studies (2 studies considering total and cardiopulmonary mortality and 2 studies focused on cardiovascular mortality).

Results: Measurement indicators of PM exposure used in European studies, including PM10, PM2.5, total suspended particulate and black smoke, were heterogeneous. This notwithstanding, in all analytic studies total mortality was directly associated with long-term exposure to PM.

The excesses in mortality were mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory causes. Three out of 4 ecologic studies found significant direct associations between PM indexes and mortality.

Conclusions: European studies on long-term exposure to PM indicate a direct association with mortality, particularly from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Author: Claudio PelucchiEva NegriSilvano GallusPaolo BoffettaIrene TramacereCarlo La Vecchia
Credits/Source: BMC Public Health 2009, 9:453

Neighbors of a [local,neighboring,neighborhood,community,district,regional,area] [quarry,pit,mine,excavation] and [wildlife,nature,animals] [refuge,safe haven,sanctuary,shelter,harbor] [could,might,may well,may perhaps,may possibly] get [some,a little] [relief,reprieve,liberation] [soon,quickly,shortly] from dust [and,in addition to,as well as,along with] flooding issues.

The [County,Region,District] Board [recently,of late,a short time ago] [approved,accepted] amendments to a [special,extraordinary,unusual]-use [permit,license,certificate,authorization] for the [partnership,company,business,firm,corporation,enterprise,organization,joint venture] of the McGraw Wildlife Foundation and Beverly Materials’ 350-acre gravel [quarry,pit,mine,excavation] east of Route 25 and south of Route 72. [Included,Incorporated,Integrated] in the amendments are [stipulations,conditions,terms,provisos,provisions] that [would,could] [require,necessitate,entail,call for] the [creation,formation,making,construction,establishment] of berms to help [mitigate,alleviate,lessen,ease] flooding, and [implementation,execution] of a dust control [plan,arrangement,strategy,proposal].

Board [member,associate,associate,affiliate] John Fahy, R-West Dundee, [said,alleged,held,believed] [residents,people] in his [district,area,locality,region] are [pleased,satisfied,happy,content,contented] with the [changes,transformations]. A [public,community,civic,municipal] [hearing,trial,inquiry,investigation] was held [recently,of late,a short time ago] in Carpentersville on the [matter,subject,topic,theme,issue].

"While the [residents,people,inhabitants] [might,may] not be [happy,pleased,glad,joyful,cheerful] that there is a mining [operation,business,company,company,venture,undertaking,outfit], they are in [favor,support] of seeing it get [done,completed,finished]," Fahy [said,alleged]. He [said,thought,alleged,believed] the mining [operation,business,venture,outfit] has slowed to a 30-year [process,development,progression].

A [temporary,transitory,interim] berm on the east and south sides of the [nearby,close by,close to] Fox River Bluffs [subdivision,division,sector,section] [would,could] be constructed by [quarry,pit,mine] [operator,operative] Beverly [Materials,Resources,Supplies] or [someone,somebody] hired by the [company,business] [within,inside] six months of the [approval,endorsement,agreement,authorization], according to [county,region,district] [records,minutes,report]. This [would,could] help [relieve,alleviate,reduce,lessen,help,take the edge off] existing drainage [problems,troubles] in the [subdivision,section,division,sector] by redirecting stormwater [runoff,overflow,surplus,overspill] from [about,approximately,roughly,around] 34 acres [around,about,surrounding,covering] the southeast [corner,curve,bend]. [Additional,Extra,Added] drainage work on lots in the Fox River Bluffs [subdivision,division,sector] [would,could] be [done,complete,completed,finished] by Beverly [Materials,Resources,Supplies] or McGraw [Foundation,Charity,Organization].

One [person,individual,character] who spoke on behalf of the mining [company,corporation,business,group] [said,held,alleged] a dust control [plan,strategy,idea,proposal,plot,design] had been submitted [and,furthermore,moreover] that the [conditions,circumstances,situation,state of affairs] were [acceptable,satisfactory,suitable,good enough,adequate,tolerable,tolerable,all right].

A new settlement that includes an estimated $11.2 million in cleanup work will ensure continued cleanup of the West Site/Hows Corner Superfund Site in Plymouth, Maine. The agreement is between the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection ( MEDEP ), the Maine Attorney General, and potentially responsible parties at the Site.

The settlement will ensure that work proceeds at the Site as detailed in the 2002 and 2006 “Records of Decision.” This work includes: construction and operation of a groundwater hydraulic containment system, a technical impracticability waiver for the Source Area Groundwater, monitored natural attenuation of the Non-Source Area Groundwater, institutional controls, and further investigation and mitigation, if necessary, of the potential vapor intrusion pathway.

Read the rest of this entry »

ENVIRONMENTAL inspections at industrial sites continue to find “a wide range of contraventions”, Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said in Pretoria yesterday.

“Inspections continue to detect non-compliance related to exceedances (sic) in emissions, illegal waste sites and contraventions of conditions across the range of authorisations,” Sonjica said, releasing the 2009 National Compliance and Enforcement Report, according to a statement from her office.

“While commitment to address these issues has been received in response to the inspection findings, with fairly drastic measures in some cases, enforcement action needs to be stepped up.”

Sonjica said a blitz on the cement sector identified lack of dust control – dust pollution as the major problem.

Read the rest of this entry »

RAIPUR: India’s largest private sector steel maker, Tata Steel, will invest Rs.2,000 crore on environment conservation at its Rs.19,500-crore plant coming up in Chhattisgarh’s militancy-hit Bastar district.

"Tata Steel officials made a presentation at a public hearing on Monday for environmental clearance and committed to invest Rs.2,000 crore on environment conservation," Bastar district collector M.S. Paraste, who presided over the meeting, told IANS.

Describing the hearing as "quite successful", Paraste said 2,044 hectares of land would be handed over to Tata Steel, probably by December.

District authorities have so far acquired about 80 percent of land across 10 villages in Lohandiguda block, some 340 km south of state capital Raipur, for the integrated plant that will produce 5.5 million tonnes of steel annually.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the problem. When you use a dust suppression product like Top-Seal Dust Control, You cause the soil to become less permeable. Thus Causing the water in the lake to stay in the lake. Eventually you will Flood your Solar Farm and then it will just be a nice place to dive.

In Los Angeles, California, the city’s Department of Water and Power (DWP) is eyeing flat, dusty, arid Owens Lake as the potential site for a future mega-solar farm, but the initiative is focused less on clean, renewable solar energy than on preventing the interminable dust storms generated by the dry lake bed.

Owens Lake started to run dry when, in 1913, the city began diverting water from the Owens River. By 1926, the former lake was a shallow hardpan. Today, it ranks as the largest single source of PM10 dust (windborn dust particles smaller than 10 microns) in the United States. In fact, one estimate suggests the lake produces up to 8 million metric tons per year.

The DWP thinks that covering 616 acres of the lake bed with solar panels could cut down on dust storms, which threaten the health of nearby Keeler and Ridgecrest residents by delivering up to 23 times the amount of airborne particulate matter federal levels suggest as safe.

Read the rest of this entry »

New rules to reduce miners’ exposure to coal dust will be proposed within a couple of weeks, according to the nation’s top mine supervisory body.

Joseph Main, the new head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Organization, said he has long thought there is “a need to lower the intensity of unhealthy dust in mines,” and he indicated that a new, wearable dust control monitor that can continuously measure miners’ contact to coal dust may be part of the new rules.

“A mechanism has been built, it has been tested, I’ve worn it myself. It works,” Main told the media in a meeting call Friday. “It’s a tool we can now utilize to help fix this dilemma of unhealthy coal mine dust that has plagued miners.”

That dust can cause deadly black lung, which has killed more than 21,000 miners from Kentucky and other coal-producing states since the mid-1980s.

Read the rest of this entry »

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan’s new report “South African Air Pollution Control Market” to their offering.

Research Overview

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled South African Air Pollution Control Market provides a strategic overview of the total air pollution control market. In this research, Frost & Sullivan’s expert analysts thoroughly examine the current trends in air pollution control and how market participants can take advantage of opportunities that are expected to arise. The following market sectors are covered in this research: energy and power, chemicals and petrochemicals, steel and metals, pulp and paper and cement and brick manufacturing. Fabric filters, electrostatic precipitators, scrubbing equipment, flue gas desulphurization and dust suppression are some of the technologies examined in the research. Read the rest of this entry »

Reeve Derrick Annable wondered Oct. 21 whether a more affordable product could be applied on Vulcan County gravel roads to allow more ratepayers to pay for dust abatement.

The County did dust abatement on gravel roads this year five to 10 times.

But 245 people in the County of Lethbridge paid for dust abatement this year.

“I think there’s a lot of people who would use (dust abatement) if it was more cost effective,” said Annable at a public works committee meeting last week. He added that few Vulcan County residents could afford the $3,000 to $4,000 price tag.

Coun. Rod Ruark questioned whether the County could afford to subsidize the dust abatement program.

Read the rest of this entry »