Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘Dust’ Category

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.

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With the collections of taxes so low due to the “slump in the economy”., many municipalities are having to either do away with services or raise more taxes.. 

[Hoping,Eager,Hopeful] to [avoid,keep away from,stay away from,steer clear of,evade,circumvent,get around,get out of,dodge,duck] asking [property,land,estate,acreage] owners for [road,street,highway] millage, Hamilton Township [Supervisor,Manager,Administrator,Superintendent,Controller,Overseer,Director,Boss,Superior] Carl Druskovich will be heading to the Van Buren [Road,Street,Highway] [Commission,Committee,Authority,Agency,Board] to try to work out a [deal,contract,agreement,arrangement,treaty].

The township, facing [dwindling,declining,decreasing,diminishing,deteriorating,falling] road [funding,backing,support,subsidy,money], has held four [public,community,municipal] meetings on what to do [about,concerning,regarding,on the subject of,with reference to] roads, prompting [discussion,debate] about [options,choices,alternatives] such as [reducing,dropping] dust control applications and extending the [amount,total] of time between seal-coating of roads. “Nobody was in support of any of those ideas,” Druskovich said.

The township gets about $40,000 [annually,each year] from the road [commission,authority,committee,administration], but has to [match,equal,counterpart] every $1 from the [county,region,district] with $3 in [local,community,district,regional,area] [funding,backing], the [supervisor,manager,administrator] said. “We need to have a lower match from us,” Druskovich said.

The township board hopes to get the road commission to agree to a 50-50 split on funding projects.

The board also [discussed,talked about] the [option,alternative,choice] of [seeking,looking for] voter [approval,endorsement,support,authorization] of a millage to [fund,finance,subsidize] road work. A levy of 1 mill, or $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s [taxable,assessable] value, [would,could] [generate,TAKE] up to $65,000, according to the township.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean condemned the killing of an activist opposed to a Canadian mine during the last day of a state visit to Mexico while protesters chanted "Canada, get out."

About 50 supporters of Mariano Abarca Roblero were kept about 200 metres from a Mayan women’s collective where Jean visited the colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas, about five hours from the mine’s location.

"We find it deplorable, inexcusable," Jean said in a statement Wednesday.

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Releasing the National Compliance Enforcement Report in Pretoria, she pointed out that this decrease in convictions is a cause for concern, particularly in light of the increase in the total number of criminal dockets registered during the year under review.

But she pointed out that many cases have experienced substantial delays within the prosecution system, confirming the urgent need for dedicated courts to deal with these types of cases.

Nevertheless the report cheered her up by saying that the number of acquittals dropped from 441 in the previous year to 18.

A total of 4,661 environmental cases were reported nationally for the year to the end of March 2009. During this period the total number of criminal dockets registered was 2,412 compared with 1,762 in the previous reporting period.

The total amount of money raised by admission of guilt fines nearly doubled from 2007/08 from 744,706 rand to approximately 1.4 million rand in 2008/09.

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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.

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Emissions reductions equivalent to removing 153,000 cars from California highways

Results are in from the first year of a new air quality program for farmers: 2,523 applications were submitted for the program to clear Central Valley skies by offering incentives to retire old inefficient engines and adopt cultural practices to improve air quality. The $22.6 million made available this year through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in California was able to fund 586 applications. Preliminary calculations suggest that the effect these farmers will make will be an emissions reduction equivalent to removing 153,000 vehicles from California highways.

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FANQUIP’S Mining Division provides mines and quarries with total conceptual planning and custom design, heavy duty products, installation of ventilation and air control systems.

Company specialists can advise on strategic air control at the development stage or integrate into plants which have been in operation for some length of time. Fanquip’s Mining Division focuses on temperature control, ventilation, management of confined space environments, dust control  both in suppression and collection, and management of toxic gases and emissions.

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.

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Haul Road Dust Control  is a fundamental element to the efficient venture of a mining company. Not only with regards to security but as well to the employees wellbeing.  Surface mining operations use huge off-road haul trucks extensively to move material at mining properties. Historical research, using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) emissions factors for unpaved haul roads, has revealed that haul trucks produce the bulk of dust emissions from surface mining sites, accounting for approximately 78%-97% of total dust emissions. This is even greater with a low value haul road dust control  program.

Observations of dust emissions from haul trucks prove that if the dust emissions are unrestrained, they can be a safety danger by means of impairing the operator’s visibility. This increases the likelihood for haul truck accidents. Yet, the greatest long-term health risk of dust generated from hauling operations is due to breathing of the respirable dust [median diameter <4 micrometers (μm)] and thoracic dust, which is equivalent to the EPA’s definition of PM10 [particulate matter with a median diameter <10 μm]. Exposure to respirable dust has always been considered a health hazard on surface mining operations, particularly if silica dust is there.

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Whether you’re a professional or a do it yourself home remodeler, dust is a problem that occurs on most jobs. Professional remodelers know that clean up takes time, but not cleaning the area after you’re finished ruins relationships and loses clients. Do-it-yourselfers can see the face of their spouse when they mention another project. Clean up is more than just cleaning the area; it means removing dust that flies all over the house. 

There are steps to reduce the amount of dust and therefore the time it takes to clean up the area. One of these is plastic, tape, staples and 2 by 4′s. Normally putting up this type of barrier is not a one-man job, if you do it alone it takes time, lots and lots of wasted time. The professional knows how important dust free construction is to the homeowner, so they take the time for two or more men to install the barrier. Most home do-it-yourselfers don’t bother, so normally projects create weeks of clean up as the dust settles throughout the house.

Now, there’s a product, which installs easily at the jobsite and blocks the dust from leaving the area. Zipwall dust control  systems include telescoping poles, plastic gripping heads with pads to protect the sealing, skid free discs for under the poles, locks to seal the side and best of all, zippers. That’s right, zippers. Getting in and out of a work area that’s taped up normally means you have to overlap some of the plastic and form a loose seal at the doors, which allows the dust to escape to other parts of the house. The Zipwall system allows you to keep the seal tight, even suck the dust out as you work by putting the hose of an operating vacuum under the plastic and not have one bit of dust go to another area of the house. The professional looking enclosed area and the dust free job site is enough to get the highest praise from even your meticulous client.

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