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.

The EPA started keeping records on the fugitive dust problem across American in 1985. One of the worst years was in 1988 when a wide spread drought hit the nation. That year alone, it was reported that over 55 million tonnes of dust was in the air from multiple sources. In non-drought years, the EPA reports that only 25 million tonnes of dust is suspended in the air from these multiple sources, but this is every year. These sources include 17% from the wind and other natural sources, vehicles traveling over roads of which 40% are from the unpaved and 8% from paved roads, construction dust is 13% of this source, along with 19% coming from agricultural sources along with wildfires, and then there is 3% from miscellaneous sources.

The concentration of the dust problem is dependent on the surface area and the weather conditions of the region. Idaho is a great example. This state has a dry season and rainy season. For most of the summer, the temperature is hot and no significant rainfall occurs. This causes the soil to dry out. When this occurs, soil stabilization from moisture is not present and the winds take the top soil off the land and make it airborne.

Many states are instituting many regulations for fugitive dust control. These measures include the use of water and other chemicals to help control the dust problem. Dust suppressants and the paving of more roads have also helped to decrease the amount of particles that are becoming airborne.

Different strategies in controlling the dust problems are dependent on the region and the makeup of the land. Farmland has to have a different solution than unpaved roads have. There is not, at the present time or in the future, a cure-all for every situation when it comes to fugitive dust. To help you in determining specifically what is best for your situation, there is a valuable resource with information on this environmental topic at Soil Control International and their informative blog site.

Processing of bulk solids inevitably leads to generation of fugitive dust on many sites. Often, it is not possible to contain dust at all stages of the process and dust emissions become inevitable. The Environment Agency is becoming increasingly strict on dust nuisance and will serve closure notices or award punitive damages to offenders.

Using The Renby Fogging System to suppress dust can avoid this. The systems can be fitted locally to the dust source, for instance, a transfer chute or as a general system to suppress dust in a warehouse for example. Specially designed nozzles produce atomised water to droplet sizes of a few microns. Dust adheres to these droplets and falls out of the air. The system is very economical to purchase and operate.

With low power consumption, fog is an essential and cost effective tool in the battle against dust pollution. Doing nothing is not an option and can lead to company closure.

Contact Renby now to find out more about fog and other dust control measures.

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.

Another way dust can be decreased on the mining site is with the use of a dust suppression system. This is where water is sprayed over piles of rocks and the ground, particularly in the loading areas. These particles will be absorbed by the water thus become too heavy to stay in the air and eventually drop back onto the ground from which they came

The large trucks that are used in the mining area are also responsible for kicking up a great deal of dust, but most of that is fugitive dust from the ground soil and not the mine dust.

Additional information can be found regarding how an erosion control blanket can be used to keep dust contained, especially in construction areas where dust is most prevalent. Check out the Dust Stop Zone for more Free information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_D_Sierra

“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.

“Following the inspections, management of all nine facilities committed to addressing this issue, for instance by upgrading air pollution abatement equipment and further investigating possible fugitive dust emission sources, as well as measures to minimise air pollution.”

A number of steps were in motion to address the many challenges in effectively enforcing environmental laws.

A meeting between Sonjica and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe in September had resulted in the decision to move forward with the re-establishment of environmental courts.

“Officials within the relevant departments are now working on the details and processes which will be submitted to the ministers for consideration. It’s envisaged that the establishment of dedicated courts would have a profound impact on the fight against environmental crime.”

The commencement of new legislation like the NEM Waste Act and the various Environmental Laws Amendment Acts during 2009 should now provide additional tools to ensure effective enforcement and compliance monitoring.

The amendments have resulted in an increase and standardisation of maximum penalties for environmental offences, from hundreds of thousands of rands to five years in jail, or R5 million for a first offence and 10 years or R10m for a second offence. — Sapa

http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=362655

Observations of dust emissions from haul trucks show that if the dust emissions are uncontrolled, they can become a safety hazard by impairing the operator’s visibility. This increases the chance for haul truck accidents. Yet, the greatest long-term health danger of dust created from hauling operations is due to inhalation of the respirable dust [median diameter <4 micrometers (?m)] along with thoracic dust, which is equal to the EPA’s characterization of PM10 [particulate matter with a middle diameter <10 ?m]. Exposure to respirable dust has always been thought a health danger at surface mining operations, particularly if silica dust is present.

There are two governmental acts that police the air quality for mining operations: the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the Clean Air Act of 1970. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 established the limits designed for dust in the work place for health and security purposes. The Clean Air Act of 1970 controls air emissions from facilities from an environmental viewpoint. Characterizing fugitive dust emissions from haul trucks may help mine operators understand the effects of exposure.

The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 recognized a maximum value for coal respirable dust of 2 mg/m3 for coal pit staff. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) enacts and enforces mine worker safety and health standards to lessen mine worker injuries as well as job-related diseases. If silica is encountered at some stage in the sampling procedure then the applicable respirable dust standard is reduced to the quotient of 10 divided by the measurement of quartz in the dust. For non-coal mine workers, the applicable standard is the respirable dust standard of 10 divided by the total of the quartz proportion added to 2. Both of these dust standards are intended to limit employee respirable crystalline silica (quartz) contact to 0.1 mg/m3 or fewer for the work shift. Falling in line with these dust standards is expected to lessen a worker’s chance of job-related lung illness over an average life expectancy. Furthermore, MSHA’s nuisance dust maximum value (total dust) for non-coal miners is 10 mg/m3.

Richard Harington spends nearly all of his time working to find solutions to haul road dust control products and other conservation and ecological projects not only for work but for pleasure as well. For more information regarding dust control or Haul Road Dust Control  please contact the author of this article.

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."

In a $34-million settlement arranged last summer, the Atlanta-based energy company consented to spending $32 million to reduce output of particulate matter from the plant and $2 million to control fugitive dust. City officials say their long-term goal remains closing the plant, although nobody seems to have a timeline for when that might happen.

"As you know, and the press release admits, carbon dioxide is not yet regulated by the EPA," said Mirant spokeswoman Misty Allen. "The regulatory agency has a rulemaking proceeding underway and Mirant will meet any future EPA regulations of C02 as it does for all EPA regulated emissions."

The report concluded that the Mirant plant on the Potomac is the second dirtiest power plant in Virginia in 2007 based on carbon dioxide pollution, according to a new analysis of government data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The report also found that power plants built three decades ago or more produced 73 percent of the total pollution from power plants in 2007.

"It’s time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act," said Environment Virginia community organizer Pamela Leibowitz. "In order to stop global warming and reap all the benefits of clean energy, we must require old coal-fired clunkers to meet modern standards for global warming pollution."

Respirable coal mine dust can cause lung diseases such as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), emphysema, silicosis, and bronchitis—known collectively as black lung. Black lung can lead to lung impairment, permanent disability, and even death. While there is no cure for black lung, there are important and potentially life-saving measures that MSHA requires to be undertaken to reduce exposure to respirable coal mine dust and prevent disease. Even though these measures have been required for many years, new cases of black lung disease continue to occur among the nation’s coal miners, even in younger miners.

Recently, MSHA conducted a targeted enforcement initiative that focused on miners’ exposures to respirable coal mine dust at selected underground coal mines. As a result of the lessons MSHA learned during this initiative, the agency requests that underground coal mine operators conduct audits of their respirable dust monitoring and control programs and address any deficiencies.

Dust sampling programs did not adequately address proper maintenance of sampling equipment or ensure that samples are collected at the required times (either on shifts or days).

Many mining operations implement a haul road dust control program in order to decrease the level of fugitive dust in the work area. 

Full story here

Ed Tanner, Bristol zoning official, said a zoning change from general business to manufacturing at the site will make ELJ in compliance with town regulations.

Mr. Tanner said, as of now, the business is a non-conforming use. ELJ has argued in the past that the business is grandfathered because they used the property for similar uses before zoning at the property.

“They’ve done a lot of things to their operations to try to comply with our requests and the neighbors’ complaints about noise and dust,” Mr. Tanner said.

The property has been the scene of zoning battles and lawsuits dating back to 2005, when families on Brook Farm Drive sued ELJ for noise and air pollution.

The R.I. Department of Environmental Management issued a dust control “ fugitive dust ” violation to ELJ in October of 2005, citing clouds of dust traveling from the Tupelo Street property to adjacent neighborhoods. Samples taken tested positive for silica, a potentially harmful substance when breathed in.

Since 2005, Mr. Tanner said, ELJ has taken several measures to clean up the property.

There were many past complaints by neighbors of mud being dragged up and down Tupelo Street, but now ELJ uses a street sweeper to keep the dust and the mud from being spread around the neighborhood.

Mr. Tanner said ELJ also implemented several dust control  measures, including changing the way they were using their rock crusher and the storing of stockpiles of materials on the property.

ELJ now uses water and a chemical called a tackifier resin that is sprayed on material piles to hold them in place and not produce dust.

Mr. Tanner said the town hasn’t had any recent complaints about the business. “(ELJ) has certainly done some things to clean that up and to address the town’s concerns,” Mr. Tanner said.

Part of the zoning agreement involves the submission of a master plan showing a map of the property with entrances, exits and parking. The change is on the planning board’s agenda for recommendation at their Tuesday, Dec. 8, meeting and would then go before the council the next day.

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.

High concentrations of dust also can be an explosion hazard.

Main, who first worked in coal mines when he was 18 years old, is a former head of the United Mine Workers of America’s Occupational Safety and Health Department.

Safety advocates had expressed hope that under his leadership, MSHA would be aggressive about implementing new coal-dust exposure rules.

In May, before Main was nominated by President Barack Obama to run MSHA, the agency announced that it intended to look at a new rule on dust – but not until 2011. That timetable upset safety advocates, who said MSHA was moving too slowly.

Main suggested Friday that that timetable will be revised in the coming new set of laws.

“I think you will see a comprehensive plan on ending black lung unveiled,” Main said. “We’re going to do everything we can to speed up the process here.”

Tony Oppegard, a Lexington, Ky., attorney and former state and federal mine regulator, welcomed Main’s comments as good for miners.

“The respirable dust program has been an abject failure for decades,” he said. “Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.”

The dust-exposure limits set in 1977 were intended to end black lung among miners. But Oppegard said another generation has worked in the mines since those rules took effect, and the disease persists.

That’s evidence the system has not worked, for whatever reason,” he said.

Main’s former union said it was looking forward to seeing MSHA’s proposed regulations.

“This issue has been on the back-burner at the agency for far too long,” UMWA spokesman Phil Smith said in an e-mail. “With the frequency of black lung once again on the rise in the coalfields – including among younger miners – it’s important for MSHA to take swift, aggressive action so that we can end this scourge once and for all.”

Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining Association, said in an e-mail that “industry has been working with MSHA, NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and labor for years to refine dust monitoring devices.”

MSHA last month asked the mining industry to provide input by mid-December on the use of the dust monitors.

Under the current dust-monitoring system, a miner wears devices that note exposure levels on a cassette. The cassette is removed at the end of a shift and sent to a laboratory for analysis. Results at times can take weeks.

The new monitor would record dust levels as the miner works and show instantly whether the dust is reaching unsafe concentrations.

The current exposure limit for coal dust is 2 milligrams per cubic liter of air. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health suggested in 1995 that the limit be reduced to 1 milligram.

In 1998, The Courier-Journal published a series of articles detailing widespread cheating by mine operators, aided by miners, to conceal deadly coal-dust levels.

But MSHA did not issue a new rule under then-President Bill Clinton, nor did the agency act during the presidency of George W. Bush.

ACE will provide labor, supplies, materials, supervision, transportation, and equipment to repair, maintain, or build asphalt or cement roads, parking lots, runways, taxiways and shoulders at the bases and range.

An environmental assessment report [pdf] on Nellis and the test range prepared by the US Air Force in May 2007 noted that unpaved roads on the USAF facilities contributed to air pollution in the region.

According to the Draft Environmental Assessment for the Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan at Nellis Air Force Base and the Nevada Test and Training Range, there is a concern about air pollution and dust control at the facilities:

“Exceedances in particulate matter are due to the release of dust from construction, unpaved roads, and unprotected soil surfaces….Some air pollutants are released during the explosion of ordnance….Movement of vehicles along gravel and unpaved roads also results in the release of fugitive dust in localized areas.”

Fugitive dust [pdf] is fine particles that can carry heavy metals and cancer-causing organic compounds into the deepest and most susceptible part of the lungs. The smaller the size of particles matter, the farther it can travel into the lungs and get trapped in the air sacs, causing an inflammatory response that increases the potential for respiratory disease and heart attack.

The work being performed by ACE should help lessen the risks from fugitive dust. The contract has a base year with the option to extend it up to 4 additional years. At this time, $100,000 has been obligated. The 99th Contracting Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base manages the contract (FA4861-09-D-A010).