If LeeAnne Walters turns on the water in her home, she would be in violation of RCRA rules by putting hazardous waste down the drain.

Pb > 5ppm.

HOW LEAD ENDED UP IN FLINT"S TAP WATER
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

"LeeAnne Walters"s home in Flint, Mich., this past summer, one sample had lead levels that reached a staggering 13,200 parts per billion"

Eric Clark, MS, CCHO, CHMM
Los Angeles Trade Technical College
400 West Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90015

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**med.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 5:02 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (16 articles)

Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 8:01:37 AM

A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=cjURAFi248hb-PSRCvwVYhlsydYJYkNMzHGEImWIYMM&s=2X9cBGsshe2dY2r7J0EiKN5tAfnzGLIpeug4dJBUUkc&e=

Table of Contents (16 articles)

NEONICOTINOIDS THREATEN WATER, ACTIVISTS CLAIM
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, pesticides

HOW LEAD ENDED UP IN FLINT"S TAP WATER
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE WEST, TEXAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate

RISE IN IMPROPERLY DECLARED HAZMAT CARGO HIGHLIGHTS SUPPLY CHAIN RISK
Tags: Germany, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

MYSTERIOUS CHEMICAL SPILL BRINGS HAZMAT CREW TO CHATHAM HOME...
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, response, pesticides

ETHANOL FUEL AND FIREFIGHTING FOAM
Tags: us_MA, transportation, discovery, response, ethanol, gasoline

FAIRBANKS OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION AT FIRE TRAINING CENTER
Tags: us_AK, public, discovery, response, other_chemical

CHEMICAL REACTION AT PHOENIX PEST CONTROL COMPANY PROMPTS HAZMAT
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, response, pesticides

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MAN ACCUSED OF SETTING GIRLFRIEND ON FIRE
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, response, gasoline

CHEMICAL FIRE SPARKS AT INTEL PLANT IN CHANDLER
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

TWO INJURED IN WINTON HASH-OIL LAB EXPLOSION, SHERIFF"S DEPARTMENT SAYS
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, butane, drugs

HAZMAT SITUATION CLOSES CLOVERDALE ROAD
Tags: us_ID, transportation, release, response, ammonia

CHINESE INVESTIGATORS IDENTIFY CAUSE OF TIANJIN EXPLOSION
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate, sodium_cyanide

EXPLOSION AT BANGOR UNIVERSITY LABORATORY SPARKS EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

DOW CHEMICAL BLAST STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_MA, industrial, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical

6 CHARRED TO DEATH IN DRUG UNIT BLAST
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, pharmaceutical

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NEONICOTINOIDS THREATEN WATER, ACTIVISTS CLAIM
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, pesticides

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is urging EPA to adopt more stringent thresholds to better protect U.S. waters and aquatic organisms from neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides under scrutiny for their potential to harm bees. In a Feb. 2 petition, the advocacy group warns that widespread contamination of waters with neonicotinoids threatens aquatic invertebrates, including crabs and insects. "This petition formally urges EPA to respond to this unrecognized threat to our waters, the toxic effects of which will harm entire food chains and ecosystems," says CFS attorney Peter T. Jenkins, the petition"s author. "Evidence of extensive and high-level neonicotinoid water contamination raises the alarm that we are approaching an ecological crisis," he says. Neonicotinoids are applied on more than 150 million acres of cropland annually, according to CFS. The group is urging EPA to stop classifying neonicotinoids as "reduced risk" pesticides and to require safety data fr!
om manufacturers before the pesticides are allowed on the market.

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HOW LEAD ENDED UP IN FLINT"S TAP WATER
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

When Virginia Tech researchers tested the water in LeeAnne Walters"s home in Flint, Mich., this past summer, one sample had lead levels that reached a staggering 13,200 parts per billion.
That"s almost 900 times as high as the 15-ppb regulatory limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency. When lead levels exceed that threshold, water utilities must act to reduce concentrations of the toxic element.
"What was so scary about LeeAnne"s house was not one sample," says Marc A. Edwards, the Virginia Tech environmental engineer who led the team. "We took 30 samples over 20 minutes, and the average was over 2,000 ppb. And even after 20 minutes of flushing, it never got below 300 ppb."
In terms of sustained high levels of lead in a home, Edwards had seen nothing like it before. "It was in a league of its own."
Lead contamination is the most troubling in a series of water problems that have plagued Flint since the summer of 2014. All of them were caused by corrosion in the lead and iron pipes that distribute water to city residents. When the city began using the Flint River as its water source in April 2014, it didn"t adequately control the water"s ability to corrode those pipes. This led to high lead levels, rust-colored tap water, and possibly the growth of pathogenic microbes.

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A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE WEST, TEXAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate

Here at Chem.Info, we"ve extensively covered the disaster at the West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas. But in case you missed it: In April 2013, a fire at a fertilizer storage and distribution facility triggered a massive explosion that killed 15 people, injured around 260 and left overwhelming physical destruction in the community nearby.

But knowing the facts and actually seeing the damage are, of course, two different experiences " which is why this nicely produced video by the Chemical Safety Board, the federal agency charged with investigating chemical accidents, is worth a watch. Even if you"re familiar with the incident and with the CSB"s recent investigation, this video shows:

How the fire spread.
The wooden bins the chemicals were stored in (including ammonium nitrate, which was responsible for the blast).
The extensive damage to the community of West.
How volunteer firefighters responded to the incident and why so many were killed by the blast.
How poor regulations were both the underlying culprit of the problem and why they could prevent the disaster from happening again.
Hats off to the CSB for rendering a high-quality video to accompany their 260-page investigation and continuing to shed light on how to improve safety in the chemicals industry.

---------------------------------------------

RISE IN IMPROPERLY DECLARED HAZMAT CARGO HIGHLIGHTS SUPPLY CHAIN RISK
Tags: Germany, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

Hapag-Lloyd says there was a 65 percent increase in improperly declared hazardous cargo it carried last year, the latest sign of how dangerous goods could disrupt supply chains through accidents such as those that took place recently in China and Brazil.

The announcement of the discovery of more than 4,300 cases of wrongly declared cargo was made possible by Hapag"s Watchdog IT system, which reviews cargo data and flags unusual or suspicious information and shipments for further inspection.

It is actually because of one of these aforementioned incidents, the explosion at the world"s tenth-busiest port of Tianjin in August, that Hapag saw such a steep increase in misdeclared cargo. Increased scrutiny of supply chains and shipments by ports in the wake of that explosion, which killed more than 170 people, was at least partly responsible for the uptick, according to Ken Rohlmann, head of the dangerous goods department at Hapag-Lloyd.

The other reason for the dramatic increase in Hapag-Lloyd"s number of misdeclared shipments is the acquisition of CSAV, which dramatically increased the number of shipments handled by Hapag.

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MYSTERIOUS CHEMICAL SPILL BRINGS HAZMAT CREW TO CHATHAM HOME...
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, response, pesticides

On Sunday, Feb. 7, the Chatham Police, fire department and emergency squad were dispatched to a hazardous materials spill on Clark Street, police said. After the homeowner spilled a pungent-smelling chemical onto the ground, he called poison control and explained the situation.

After reading off the ingredients inside the spilled bottle to poison control, the homeowner was told he may have Agent Orange in his home and to immediately call the fire department and a hazardous materials team.

Poison control made a big mistake, however, and the substance was later identified as Malathion, not Agent Orange. Malathion is an insecticide with low toxicity to humans.

As a precaution, the Morris County HAZMAT Team was dispatched to positively identify the substance and appropriately dispose of it, police said.

The chemical was left in the home from a previous homeowner.

There were no injuries associated with the incident.

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ETHANOL FUEL AND FIREFIGHTING FOAM
Tags: us_MA, transportation, discovery, response, ethanol, gasoline

Ethanol isn"t your granddaddy"s automotive fuel.

In a training video shown as part of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy"s Ethanol for First Responders program, a frustrated engine company desperately tries to extinguish a car fire. The more water hosed onto the vehicle, the more stubbornly the flames react. The car in the video burned for hours in real time, despite efforts by firefighters who hooked up a large-diameter hose and flowed enough water to fill an Olympic-sized pool.

Worcester, Mass. Fire Lt. Martin Dyer, a fire academy instructor, put it simply when discussing the dangers of ethanol: "Dilution may not be the solution." Consider this: 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of water are required to dilute 1,000 gallons of ethanol. "That ratio of one-to-four or one-to-five is humongous," Dyer said.

Obviously, the firefighters in the video were unaware of the dangers presented by the bio-fuel, which is essentially hillbilly moonshine concocted from corn, soy beans or other vegetable products and made undrinkable to humans by adding small quantities of gasoline.

Automobile service stations label their pumps with the type of fuel being dispensed. E-10 denotes 10 percent ethanol. It"s important to note that the percentage of ethanol per gallon is increasing nationwide. In some regions, motorists are burning E-85.

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FAIRBANKS OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION AT FIRE TRAINING CENTER
Tags: us_AK, public, discovery, response, other_chemical

ANCHORAGE -
Fairbanks officials are investigating a possible chemical contamination of private water wells near the city"s Regional Fire Training Center, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

Officials were notified recently that concentrations of "perfluorinated compounds" had been found in the groundwater at the fire training center, city officials say. The concentrations were higher than advisory levels set by the EPA.

Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, were present in an aqueous foam agent used by firefighters to extinguish fires until 2004. The foam was also used to put out petroleum fires during training exercises at the center, city officials say.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, scientists are unsure about the health effects associated with exposure to PFCs but the compounds can build up and remain in the human body for long periods of time.

Homes and buildings connected to the city"s municipal water system are not at risk of the contamination, according to Jackson Fox, planning and permitting manager with the city of Fairbanks.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL REACTION AT PHOENIX PEST CONTROL COMPANY PROMPTS HAZMAT
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, response, pesticides

PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) -
Crews from the Phoenix Fire Department were called to a hazardous materials incident at a pest control company in the area of 26th Avenue and Thomas Road on Monday.

Capt. Larry Subervi said firefighters responded to a fire at the business and found some pesticide product had mixed with water and caused a chemical reaction that produced a cloud of smoke.

One building was evacuated.

Hazardous materials crews were called to the scene and found that the chemical reaction was complete.

Subervi said there is no threat to the environment and the public was not exposed to the products involved.

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MAN ACCUSED OF SETTING GIRLFRIEND ON FIRE
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, response, gasoline

Northern California man is accused of pouring gasoline on his girlfriend and setting her on fire during an argument, authorities said.

Late Thursday, El Dorado County Sheriff"s Deputies responded to reports of a woman screaming in the community of Cameron Park, about 30 miles east of Sacramento.

Sheriff's deputies found a woman with serious burns to her lower body, the department said in a statement. Curtis Menezes, the woman"s boyfriend, is accused of setting her on fire.

Menezes, 28, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a caustic chemical.

The woman was taken to an emergency room burn unit, deputies said.

"If the burns had been more severe, we would have arrested him for attempted murder," said Lt. Jim Byers, spokesman for the sheriff's department. "From the waist down, her legs were burned."

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL FIRE SPARKS AT INTEL PLANT IN CHANDLER
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

CHANDLER, AZ - The Intel plant in Chandler was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after a chemical fire inside the facility.

Crews were called to the plant near Dobson and Ocotillo roads around 4:30 p.m.

Firefighters were able to control the fire and keep it from spreading.

There were no reported injuries.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

---------------------------------------------

TWO INJURED IN WINTON HASH-OIL LAB EXPLOSION, SHERIFF"S DEPARTMENT SAYS
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, butane, drugs

A man and woman from Winton suffered major burns Monday night when a marijuana-oil laboratory in their home exploded in flames, the Merced County Sheriff"s Department said.

Four children ages 3 to 13 were in the home but were not injured, Sgt. Ray Framstad said.

Seranto Martinez, 53, and Candelaria Martinez, 33, were flown to a Fresno hospital with second-degree burns on their hands and arms. They are expected to remain hospitalized for at least several days, deputies said.

Fire erupted about 8:06 p.m. inside the garage at 7040 Myrtle Ave. in Winton. Deputies said the man was using butane to extract oil from marijuana when fumes were ignited by a candle flame in the kitchen, causing an explosion that rocked the home and separated the walls from the ceiling.

Investigators, led by Sgt. Aaron Rosenburg, seized about 60 cans of butane and "several pounds" of marijuana buds and ground plants used to extract the oil.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT SITUATION CLOSES CLOVERDALE ROAD
Tags: us_ID, transportation, release, response, ammonia

BOISE -- Police have reopened Cloverdale Road after an ammonia leak inside a truck at a FedEx facility shut down a section of the road Tuesday morning.

The road was closed shortly after 11 a.m. between Franklin Road and Executive Drive, according to Boise Fire Department spokeswoman Tammy Barry.

No one was injured, but the facility was evacuated after a worker at the facility noticed the smell of ammonia and checked the truck, where he found a small leak in the valve of an ammonia container.

A Boise HAZMAT team was called out.. The trailer with the containers has been isolated, while crews wait for a new container cap to arrive.

At about 3:30 p.m., Boise fire Tweeted that crews were monitoring the situation but there weren't any safety concerns. A part to fix the issue was on the way, and the fix was expected around 4:30 p.m.

---------------------------------------------

CHINESE INVESTIGATORS IDENTIFY CAUSE OF TIANJIN EXPLOSION
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate, sodium_cyanide

A new report by China"s top governing body identifies the cause of an explosion at a hazardous goods warehouse in Tianjin"s harbor in August of 2015. The catastrophe killed 165 people.
Assigning responsibility far and wide, investigators blamed the disaster on the negligence or corruption of 123 people in addition to the 49 previously arrested.
The immediate cause of the accident was the spontaneous ignition of overly dry nitrocellulose stored in a container that overheated, according to the report, issued on Feb. 5. Wetting agents inside the container had evaporated in the summer heat, investigators found. Flames from that initial fire reached nearby ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which exploded.
Investigators determined that the accident had a fairly limited impact on the local environment. Marine life in Bohai Bay, outside Tianjin, was not affected, the investigation found. And although hundreds of tons of sodium cyanide were stored at the warehouse, no one died from poisoning, the report added. Investigators noted that local authorities are still monitoring environmental quality in the area.

---------------------------------------------

EXPLOSION AT BANGOR UNIVERSITY LABORATORY SPARKS EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

An explosion at a Bangor University laboratory saw emergency services rush to the city centre today.

The Alun Roberts chemistry building on Deiniol Road was evacuated after a build-up of pressure in a fume cupboard caused the explosion on the fifth floor at about 11.30am.

The laboratory where the explosion took place will remain closed until tomorrow, and all Today's chemistry lectures have been cancelled.

The fire service sent crews from Beaumaris, Bangor and Llanfairfechan, an aerial ladder from Bangor and a technical resource unit from Caernarfon to the scene.

The ambulance service sent a rapid response vehicle to the incident, but there were no injuries.

---------------------------------------------

DOW CHEMICAL BLAST STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_MA, industrial, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical

NORTH ANDOVER " Nearly a month after the Dow Chemical plant explosion which left four people critically injured, the investigation into the cause of the blast remains ongoing.

Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan, says the office has still been unable to interview all four victims, who were hospitalized after suffering injuries as a result of the Jan. 7 explosion at the chemical plant on Willow Street.

On Jan. 15, Mieth confirmed fire investigators at spoken to two of the victims, but indicated a final cause of determination could not be determined until all four of them had been interviewed.

Mieth Monday did could not confirm the current conditions of the victims or their identities. Mieth also did not say when the office expected to conclude its investigation.

In an email last week, a spokesperson for Dow Chemical said the victims were "experienced workers and longtime colleagues" of the company, out of respect of their privacy, could not release their personal information.

---------------------------------------------

6 CHARRED TO DEATH IN DRUG UNIT BLAST
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, pharmaceutical

Hyderabad: Six employees of an intermediary drug manufacturing unit died and their colleague suffered serious injuries in an explosion at the factory in Mankhal near Maheswaram on the outskirts of the city in the early hours of Monday.At 6.30 am, a 'Nutsche filter', an industrial filter, at Hasita Aromatics Pvt Ltd in Mankhal industrial area of Maheswaram exploded during filtration of certain chemicals.As a result of the explosion, plant operator-cum production in-charge G Satyanarayana Murthy, 45, of Meerpet, quality controller, B Venkateswar Rao, 28, of Krishna district, casual workers Posa Ram, 22, Deva Ram, 23, Jogi Ram, 24 and Dasu Ram, 25, all from Chhattisgarh, died on the spot due to severe burns. "Another worker, Sunil Ram, who too suffered serious burns, is undergoing treatment at a local hospital," Maheswaram sub-inspector B Sai Prakash Goud said.When the explosion took place, 11 workers were at the unit. "Six workers died on the spot and another suffered injuries!
, while the remaining four workers, who were at a distance, escaped unhurt," the SI said.

Due to the intensity of the explosion, the asbestos tin-sheet roof and walls of the factory were ripped apart. "The blast was so powerful that the bodies were thrown up into the air and one body was found outside the unit," sources said. The intermediary drug manufacturing unit was strewn with pieces of flesh and and severed limbs.Among the six victims, the four workers from Chhattisgarh took the full impact of the explosion.

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