Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘fugitive dust’ Category

The fugitive dust that is around us is not on the run from the law, but in some cases should be. It is true that this type of dust has been around since the dawn of time caused by wind sweeping across the barren landscape.

This type of dust is scientifically described as particular matter. This is airborne debris that can adversely affect the health of people and the environment. The most common particulate matter is smaller than 10 micron in diameter and is called PM10. The second most common is PM2.5. This is debris that is smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter.

As man has evolved, so has his impact on the surrounding environment. The process of the fine particles that are being introduced into the atmosphere is becoming more numerous as time goes on. This was first noticed in the days of the wagon trains when it was beneficial to be up front due to the dust cloud that was created.

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The recent Desert Sun editorial addressing problems of the Salton Sea was very important. We must be informed because it could affect us all.

Remember, if no plan gets approved, the biggest problem is doing nothing. Although the sea lies 10 to 20 miles away from our cities, it is ultra serious. It could affect our health, our livability and our tourist industry, which has economic disaster proportions.

Much of the support to date has been on environmental grounds as an important bird wetlands. Absolutely true. But overlooked is the potential multifaceted damage in the cities of the Coachella Valley, almost a half-million residents.

When I produced “Community Dialogue” on local television, I did research for eight Salton Sea programs and a glaring point was the devastation if we let it dry up.

I interviewed three executive directors of the Salton Sea Authority plus the late Roy Wilson, then Riverside County supervisor, and Andy Horne, Imperial County supervisor. Tom Kirk, executive director of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, and Rick Daniels, city manager of Desert Hot Springs, had good ideas when each of them was directing the Salton Sea Authority.
State takes over, drops the ball

Then the state came in and took it out of local hands and did nothing. Now it’s now playing second fiddle to the Sacramento Delta, nearer and dearer to Northern California voters.

We all need a heads-up on this because eventually some entities may have to pay far more than they can handle out of emergency necessity.

Look at this: According to Ted Schade, air pollution control officer at Owens Valley, the Salton Sea problem resembles Owens Valley when its water supply was diverted by the Los Angeles water system. It became a dust bowl with the dangerous particle, PM10, reaching many miles. The Coachella Valley already has a PM10 problem that affects asthmatics. With our swirling winds, the Salton Sea potentially has a larger area of exposure than Owens Valley.

Los Angeles Water & Power spent $400 million constructing dust-control measures at Owens Lake. It costs $40 million per year to sustain it. That’s heavy.

Odor could chase away tourists

There’s more! Drying up could take years but look what can happen in the process. The terrible odor we get occasionally in summer could become much more frequent as more fish keep dying with less water to sustain them. That’s unthinkable. Not only would it make our lives horrendous but we could say farewell to tourists and hello to red ink, especially Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Palm Springs, where the tourist occupancy tax and sales tax revenue are major income sources.

Drying up is not as rapid as it could be due to agricultural runoff. But, San Diego is trying to cure its water problems by buying water rights of large growers in the Imperial Valley. Danger. Less agriculture lowers the runoff substantially and speeds up the dust bowl process.

The water districts and the supervisors have been fighting the fight. They should enlist the cities to join in because only intense pressure on the Legislature can make things happen. Our legislators need all the help they can get. The more voices the better.

The counties and the cities would certainly not be able to pay the bill if this calamity occurs. It’s time to get involved.

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.

The dust from a mine is significantly different from the dust you find in your home. Dust in your home primarily consists of dead skin while mine dust is almost exclusively a mineral in a fine powder form.

Most written definitions of mine dust include the following: dust from drilling, blasting, smashing or handling of rock. The majority of the dust created by one of these activities are too large to stay in the air for an extended period of time and account for about 40 percent of all dust created at a mine site. The remainder is less than 10 micrometers in size. The majority of these particles is less than 2.5 micrometers and come from the exhaust of equipment used on the mining site.

The smallest size particle is what is most hazardous to the population’s health. The larger dust particles are an eye sore and are cost a lot to clean up, but are less hazardous to one’s health.

The smaller particles do make certain health hazards that include respiratory problems due to the fact that they are in the air that is breathed in to the lungs. This can be minimized if mining personnel were to wear masks designed to filter out the dust.

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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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An environmental advocacy group known as Environment Virginia released a report this week that identifies Alexandria’s Mirant coal-fired power plant as the second dirtiest in Virginia. The report, titled "America’s Biggest Polluters," used carbon dioxide emissions data from 2007 to conduct an analysis of the plants and create a ranking system. The finding comes at a time when city officials are coordinating with Mirant to erect a 30-foot windscreen in an effort to control fugitive dust from the plant.

"It’s very disappointing, but I must say it’s not surprising," said Councilwoman Del Pepper. "I’m hopeful that with the $ 34 million we got to improve the plant will address some of the problems."

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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.

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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Federal officials unveiled a three-pronged strategy to combat black lung disease during a meeting Thursday at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver.

Mining officials and medical experts say education, stricter enforcement and new regulations can curb the disease, which has been on the rise in the region and has killed some 10,000 miners in the last decade.

Thursday’s meeting was the first of four informational sessions planned by Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“There is a collective agreement that we have to fix this problem,” MSHA Director Joseph Main told a packed room that included representatives from mining companies, the United Mine Workers of America and former miners suffering from the ailment.

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