Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘PM10’ 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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Asarco is promising to modify its tailings-dam construction practices to reduce the odds that dust will blow off its Mission Mine property into neighboring homes in Sahuarita.

The Tucson-based multinational company also is disputing most of Pima County’s allegations of violations stemming from two major dust storms late last year in which mine tailings landed in Sahuarita homes and gardens. The dust storms stirred neighbors’ concerns that the tailings damaged their homes and threatened their health.

Those violations, alleged by the county in December, could prompt hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the maximum allowable under state law, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has said. Now the county Department of Environmental Quality will review Asarco’s statement – submitted Wednesday to meet a county deadline – to determine if fines are warranted and, if so, how large they should be.

While Asarco has acknowledged that the tailings dust blocked visibility by more than county standards allow, it said that contrary to the county’s allegations, it did take reasonable precautions to prevent the dust from leaving its property. The county’s allegations failed to account for the high winds blowing on Nov. 12 and Dec. 22 when the violations occurred, the company said.

Late Wednesday, Ursula Kramer, the county DEQ director, said her staff still believes the violations cited in the notices to Asarco were valid.

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With the assistance of its attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Chicago, Martin Engineering has again prevailed in a suit for patent infringement initially filed against it by Air Control Science Inc.

Air Control Science Inc., Boulder, CO, was owned by John Fischer, a former Martin Engineering distributor, and is now part of CCC Group, of San Antonio. In the original action, Air Control Science sued Martin Engineering for patent infringement. Martin Engineering countersued, and following trial in March 2008, was awarded costs as the prevailing party.

In a follow-up ruling issued January 19, 2010, U.S. senior district court Judge Richard P. Matsch ruled all three patents asserted were unenforceable for inequitable conduct, found the case “exceptional”, and awarded Martin its attorney fees. Prior to the March 2008 trial, the court had reserved for later determination Martin Engineering’s defense and counterclaim of unenforceability of the patents due to inequitable conduct. Trial to the court of the inequitable conduct counterclaim commenced September 1, 2009 and concluded September 8, 2009.

In January 2005, Air Control Science Inc. sued Martin Engineering in Denver, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,000,533, 6,176,368 and 6,135,171, all relating to dust control systems used in the transfer of bulk material. Martin Engineering denied infringement and asserted defenses of invalidity and unenforceability due to inequitable conduct in procuring and enforcing the patents. In February 2007, Air Control Science, along with the patents in suit was acquired by CCC Group Inc., a San Antonio corporation, which was then substituted as Plaintiff. A three-week trial was conducted in U.S. District Court in Denver in March 2008. On September 17, 2008, Senior Judge Matsch ruled that the ‘533 and ‘368 patents were invalid and that Martin did not infringe the ‘171 patent. Costs were awarded to Martin Engineering as the prevailing party.

This decision, which can be reviewed at www.martin-eng.com/news, is another significant victory for Martin Engineering and its counsel, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, who were adamant in defense of this litigation.

Ed Peterson, chairman of Martin Engineering, expects the company to be awarded in excess of $4 million in litigation fees and expenses as a result of Judge Matsch’s finding of the case as “exceptional” and his strongly worded opinion of inequitable conduct.

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

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says air quality last year improved.

An annual report shows that air quality trends for pollutants for which air quality standards have been developed – along with some heavy metals, nitrates, sulfates, volatile organic and toxic compounds – are continuing to show downward or stable trends that are well below the established standards.

Air quality during 2008 was either good or moderate more than 96 percent of the time throughout Illinois.

There were 14 days air quality in some part of Illinois was considered "Unhealthy" for sensitive groups, this compares to 24 "Unhealthy" for sensitive groups days in 2007.

The improved numbers come even though a more stringent federal standard for measuring acceptable air quality was used for the 2008 report.

Percentage changes from 1999 through 2008 show decreases of 14 percent for particulate matter (PM10), 20 percent particulate matter (PM2.5), 15 percent for sulfur dioxide, 13 percent for nitrogen dioxide, 47 percent for carbon monoxide, 18 percent for lead and 12 percent for ozone.

Environmental protection officials in Beijing have had an easy time since the Olympics last summer.

The city recorded fewer polluted days following its smog-cleaning campaign for the Olympics, and authorities last month announced that the city’s air quality has reached the highest level in decades after meeting its annual target for "blue sky" days one month ahead of schedule, for two consecutive years.

But the fact that Beijing’s air is now clean is bad news for reporters.

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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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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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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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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 »