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From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (22 articles)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2017 06:37:51 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 182AAFCF-774E-4A73-B5A6-64E3155779FA**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 6:37:40 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (22 articles)
FIREFIGHTERS WARNED OF 'EXTREME CONCERNS' ABOUT PARKERSBURG WAREHOUSE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, plastics
MEN INJURED IN SEMI ACCIDENT WITH CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_KS, transportation, release, injury, sulfuric_acid
SMALL FIRE EXTINGUISHED AT RIVER PARK SQUARE MALL
Tags: us_WA, public, fire, response, solvent
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile, formaldehyde, plastics, titanium
MAN SUFFERS SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT A SCARBOROUGH INDUSTRIAL PARK
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, acids
ECIGARETTE EXPLOSION DANGERS
Tags: public, follow-up, injury, batteries
NIAGARA COUNTY WARNS PUBLIC TO STAY OUT OF THE AREA, AS CHEMICAL LEAK BEING CONTAINED
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, response, hydrogen
CLARITY OF DESIGN CAN BOOST EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY REGS IN HIGH-HAZARD INDUSTRIES: REPORT
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental
FIRE REPORTED AT OIL AND GAS FACILITY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
THREE EMPLOYEES AT TRENTON MCDONALD‰??S TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER BECOMING ILL AT SAME TIME
Tags: us_MI, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
WV METRONEWS ‰?? PROGRESS AND CAUTION EXPRESSED OVER ENORMOUS PARKERSBURG FIRE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE INJURED IN AMMONIA LEAK AT SALINAS COOLING CENTER
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia
SAME DATE, 57 YEARS APART: EXPLOSIONS ROCK EASTMAN CHEMICAL CO. ‰?? MILLIGAN STAMPEDE
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, natural_gas
COAL MORE TOXIC THAN SHALE GAS, STUDY FINDS
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, natural_gas
MORE BURRILLVILLE WELLS TEST POSITIVE FOR UNHEALTHY CHEMICALS
Tags: us_RI, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
BREAKING: GENX LAWSUIT SAYS CONTAMINANT FOUND IN HOMES
Tags: us_NC, public, release, environmental, other_chemical
UNDERGRADUATE CHEMISTRY SAFETY PROGRAM RECOGNIZED WITH NATIONAL AWARD
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
FIRST RESPONDERS HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE CARFENTANIL EXPOSURE IN HILLTOWN
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, drugs
UPDATE: ASH FROM PARKERSBURG FIRE DECLARED NON-TOXIC
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
SOLVANG HOTEL TO PAY $31,000 FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE DUMPING
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, corrosives, pool_chemicals, waste, illegal
ST. GABRIEL RESIDENTS KEEPING UP THEIR FIGHT AGAINST CHEMICAL PLANT, INDUSTRIAL EXPANSIONS
Tags: us_LA, industrial, discovery, environmental, petroleum
INVESTIGATORS TO PROBE SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY AT U.S. AGENCIES
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
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FIREFIGHTERS WARNED OF 'EXTREME CONCERNS' ABOUT PARKERSBURG WAREHOUSE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, plastics
Two volunteer fire chiefs in Wood County warned nearly a decade ago that they had ‰??extreme concerns‰?? about the potential for a major fire at one of the local warehouses being used to store large amounts of plastics and unknown other products from area chemical plants, state records show.
The fire chiefs from departments in Lubeck and Washington Bottom specifically complained to the state fire marshal about a long list of problems at the warehouse, which has been burning since early Saturday. The inferno has created serious local concern about air quality, along with fears about the growing cost of fighting the blaze and cleaning up the mess certain to be left behind.
In a strongly worded letter accompanying a formal complaint, Chiefs K.C. Linder and Mark Stewart urged the fire marshal to conduct a surprise inspection of the warehouse at the former Ames Tool Plant, in Parkersburg, and a second facility owned by the same company ‰?? Intercontinental Export Import Inc. ‰?? located in nearby Washington. The fire chiefs indicated that they feared a massive fire they wouldn‰??t be able to contain, citing a variety of dangerous conditions, from several hazardous materials to the lack of adequate water service for firefighting and stacks of products blocking access to exits and aisles.
‰??Hazardous materials are stored randomly throughout the warehouse in unlabeled storage containers,‰?? said the July 28, 2008, letter from Linder and Stewart. ‰??These are scattered throughout the building.‰??
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MEN INJURED IN SEMI ACCIDENT WITH CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_KS, transportation, release, injury, sulfuric_acid
Two men were injured Tuesday afternoon in an accident involving two semi trucks that resulted in a chemical spill about 2.5 miles west of Garden City on U.S. Highway 50.
Martinez and Sandberg were transported to St. Catherine Hospital, where they were treated and released. Both men were wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.
KHP Technical Trooper Michael Racy said the accident involved a spill of sulfuric acid, which was quickly cleaned up by the Garden City Fire Department.
Racy said the westbound lane of U.S. 50 near Anderson Road will remain closed until Wednesday, unless an improvised lane can be opened up for travel.
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SMALL FIRE EXTINGUISHED AT RIVER PARK SQUARE MALL
Tags: us_WA, public, fire, response, solvent
SPOKANE, Wash. -
The Spokane Fire Department responded to the River Park Square Mall on a report of a fire on the third floor just after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Crews found smoke in the food court area and found a small fire in a plastic bucket that was full of rags in the kitchen area of the restaurant Classic Burger. Fortunately the fire did not spread and was contained to the bucket of cloths.
Investigators with the Spokane Fire Department Special Investigation Unit says kitchen rags recently laundered served as the cause for the fire. The towels (used to wipe out the restaurant‰??s fryers) were washed, dried and then tightly stored in a bucket which caused a chemical reaction and for the towels to ignite without an external heat source.
‰??This could happen to anyone and happens more often than you think,‰?? says Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer. ‰??These types of fires often occur after items with remnants of oil or cleaning solvents are cleaned and removed from dryers and placed in containers or piled on tables or in closets.‰??
Fire damage was limited to a five-gallon plastic bucket and the rags within it along with minimal smoke damage to the restaurant establishment and surrounding food court area.
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CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile, formaldehyde, plastics, titanium
PARKERSBURG ‰?? Two days after a fire erupted at the former Ames plant, a class action lawsuit was filed Monday in the office of the Wood County Circuit Court clerk.
Kathy A. Brown, an attorney with Brown-Houston PLLC in Charleston,W.Va., filed the suit on behalf of Timothy Callihan and others. Defendants named in the suit are Surnaik Holdings of West Virginia LLC, SirNaik LLC, Polymer Alliance Services LLC, Green Sustainable Solutions LLC and Intercontinental Export Import Inc.
In the filing the plaintiffs are seeking declaratory, injunctive and equitable relief, as well as compensatory and punitive damages, and costs incurred by the plaintiffs for what they term as the ‰??intentional, knowing, reckless and negligent acts and omissions of defendants in connection with their management, operation and occupation‰?? of the former Ames shovel plant on Camden Avenue.
According to the lawsuit, Callihan lives about two miles from the facility on 27th Avenue. At about 1 a.m. Oct. 21 a fire broke out which leveled the 40,000 square feet facility located in a largely residential area.
According to the suit the items in the plant included stryene-acrylonitrile, formaldehyde, titanium dixodie, carbon black and PTFE, also known as Teflon. More than 20 area fire companies in six counties from West Virginia and Ohio responded to the site, the suit states.
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MAN SUFFERS SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT A SCARBOROUGH INDUSTRIAL PARK
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, acids
Ontario‰??s Ministry of Labour has been dispatched to an industrial park in Toronto‰??s east end after a man was sprayed with acid.
EMS and Toronto Police say they arrived at a chemical wholesale business just after 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday at 10 Chemical Court near Coronation drive in Scarborough.
Paramedics treated a 25 year old man with serious but non-life-threatening injuries on scene. He was later transported to hospital.
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ECIGARETTE EXPLOSION DANGERS
Tags: public, follow-up, injury, batteries
According to a FEMA and U.S. Fire Authority report on e-cigarette explosions released in July 2017, the ‰??combination of an electronic cigarette with a lithium-ion is a new and unique hazard‰?? in the U.S.
The FEMA report which evaluated e-cigarette explosions in the U.S. from 2009-2016, summarized, ‰??There is no analogy among consumer products to the risk of a severe, acute injury presented by an e-cigarette‰?? and incidences of injuries are likely to increase.
The vaping industry has largely ignored e-cigarette explosions with dismissive statements that users are using them incorrectly, using the wrong chargers, and basically responsible for any explosions that have occurred
In direct conflict are FEMA statistics that show 62 percent of the devices exploded when being carried in a pocket or actively in use. The report shows that only 25 percent occurred during the charging process. Of particular note is the statement that new lines of lithium-ion batteries ‰??are not a safe source of energy for these devices.‰?? Instead, unlike other lithium-ion battery powered consumer products, they become ‰??flaming rockets when a battery fails‰?? due to their shape and construction.
Injuries from e-cigarette explosions are quite damaging and include flame burns; chemical burns; blast injuries to face, hands, and thighs; tooth loss; permanent skin scars; and loss of soft tissue. Many of the injuries require burn debridement, skin grafts, bone reconstruction, and long-term care.
---------------------------------------------
NIAGARA COUNTY WARNS PUBLIC TO STAY OUT OF THE AREA, AS CHEMICAL LEAK BEING CONTAINED
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, response, hydrogen
The Niagara Falls Airport is closed and variety of emergency agencies remain on scene in Niagara Falls Tuesday, where a tanker leaking refrigerated hydrogen is a flammable, explosive hazard to the area.
Niagara County Director of Emergency Services Jonathan Schultz advised the public to stay out of the area Tuesday morning, as crews "are taking our time" to preserve safety. At about 11:35 a.m., Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour said a Shelter in Place advisory became effective and will last for a few hours.
Voutour said officers will be going door-to-door and issuing alerts by telephone to those affected - about a 1,500-foot radius of the scene, affecting Military Road, Richmond Avenue, Jane Drive, Carol Court, Tuscarora from Effie to Homestead and Homestead Avenue. He said a few homes in the immediate area also will be evacuated.
Schultz said the event began about 10 p.m. Monday, when a tanker driver tried to turn around in the Wegmans parking lot on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Niagara Falls, but misjudged the turn and collided with a light standard. The tanker remains there Tuesday because its full load of refrigerated hydrogen is leaking and "we don't have the leak totally contained yet."
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CLARITY OF DESIGN CAN BOOST EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY REGS IN HIGH-HAZARD INDUSTRIES: REPORT
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental
Washington ‰?? Noting that ‰??regulators of high-hazard industries must have an informed and reasoned basis for making their regulatory choices,‰?? a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine states that clarifying design concepts of safety regulations in industries such as transportation, chemical manufacturing, and offshore oil and gas development ‰?? and exploring how various circumstances may impact them ‰?? can help.
A committee of experts in regulation, risk analysis and management assembled at the request of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that safety regulations often draw criticism after incidents occur. However, the effectiveness of these regulations still can be difficult to gauge because the aim is to limit statistically rare catastrophes. This can be further complicated by the inconsistent use of descriptors of means- and ends-based regulations ‰?? terms such as ‰??performance-based‰?? and ‰??prescriptive‰?? ‰?? that tend to be murky, the report states.
The committee identified four main types of regulatory design and tested each one against different high-hazard applications. The report authors warned the regulators against placing excessive emphasis on generic lists of advantages and disadvantages for design types.
‰??A safety regulator‰??s primary aim in choosing among regulatory designs should be to select designs that best suit the nature of the safety problem to be addressed,‰?? the report states. ‰??The regulator should take into account its own capabilities and resources for ensuring compliance and the capacity of regulated entities to meet their obligations. If such preconditions are missing or cannot be created, the regulator should be concerned that the type of regulation being considered will be inapplicable to the circumstances and potentially ineffective.‰??
Related Articles
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FIRE REPORTED AT OIL AND GAS FACILITY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
Santa Barbara County firefighters responded to a blaze at East Clark Avenue and Dominion Road in Orcutt Monday morning, which turned out to be a fire at a Greka oil and gas facility.
The fire was initially reported as a vegetation fire at 10:27 a.m., at the Greka facility at 5200 Dominion Road, and then a wellhead fire.
Crews discovered an above-ground injection pump station in flames, causing a lot of smoke in the area, County Fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and the rest of the responding units were canceled.
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THREE EMPLOYEES AT TRENTON MCDONALD‰??S TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER BECOMING ILL AT SAME TIME
Tags: us_MI, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Three McDonald‰??s restaurant employees were transported to Beaumont Hospital - Trenton Monday after they simultaneously became nauseous.
According to Steven Voss, Trenton director of police and fire operations, said the department received a call from management at McDonald‰??s, 1581 Van Horn Road, at about 10:45 a.m. with concerns that there was a gas leak in the building.
Trenton Police and Fire departments, along with DTE energy and a HazMat team rushed to the location and the sick employees were transported to the hospital.
The restaurant was evacuated and closed down while officials looked for any sign of a toxic substance.
‰??When they all started feeling sick at the same time, the decision was made to call,‰?? Voss said about the workers.
Members of HazMat, DTE and fire personnel went through the restaurant and found no toxic substance.
Voss said the air quality also was checked and nothing out of the ordinary was detected.
‰??They couldn‰??t come up with anything,‰?? he said.
Although the ‰??all clear‰?? was given just before 2 p.m. at the restaurant, it remained closed Monday.
---------------------------------------------
WV METRONEWS ‰?? PROGRESS AND CAUTION EXPRESSED OVER ENORMOUS PARKERSBURG FIRE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. ‰?? Emergency managers believe they‰??re making progress on dousing a persistent, enormous warehouse fire that has blanketed the area with smoke. They‰??re also optimistic coming weather will help alleviate the conditions.
But they remained cautious enough to announce that schools and government offices would be closed Tuesday for the second straight day.
‰??Tomorrow we‰??re gonna be fighting this aggressively,‰?? Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said during a Monday evening news conference.
Jim Justice
Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for the Parkersburg area, assuring residents that state government help would continue to flow to the city. Stopping the fire and smoke at the old Ames lawn and garden plant is likely to be complicated and costly.
‰??Multiple state agencies have been involved in assisting Wood County since this terrible fire started on Saturday,‰?? Justice stated in a news release. ‰??We are committed to making sure this disaster continues to be addressed and therefore I am issuing this declaration so that essential emergency services continue without interruption.‰??
The declaration will remain in effect for 30 days unless it is terminated or extended by a subsequent proclamation.
Wood County leaders say they are relieved and grateful that the state of West Virginia has offered financial and tangible support to fight the massive blaze at the old Ames lawn and garden tools plant.
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AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE INJURED IN AMMONIA LEAK AT SALINAS COOLING CENTER
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia
SALINAS, Calif. ‰??
An ammonia leak at GreenGate cooling center in Salinas prompted evacuations Monday night.
At least three people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said Cary Lesch with the Salinas Fire Department. They complained of either burning skin or a burning sensation in their throat, he said.
Reports of the leak came in around 6:45 p.m., according to the Salinas Police Department. The smell of ammonia spread fast through the area, near the intersection of Abbott and Merrill streets.
"It spread in 10, 20 minutes, it was really, really bad," said Christian Gonzalez, who works at one of the cooling centers. "They told us to evacuate and, if you can, just leave."
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SAME DATE, 57 YEARS APART: EXPLOSIONS ROCK EASTMAN CHEMICAL CO. ‰?? MILLIGAN STAMPEDE
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, natural_gas
Two dates that have become important to the residents of Kingsport are Oct. 4, 1960, and Oct. 4, 2017. These are the dates of the explosions at Eastman Chemical Company.
The explosion in 1960 took a high toll on the community. Sixteen people died and over 400 were injured.
The recent explosion was on a smaller scale. A coal gasification chamber blew and caused a lot of damage. There were no injuries.
According to a news report from the Kingsport Times-News, an employee said that the gasifier fumes were everything bad that‰??s extracted from coal, and when it blew up all of that went into the air, causing the black smokestacks that could be seen in the area.
According to Eastman Chemical Co., coal gasification is the technology of choice for converting coal to clean and efficient power, chemicals, fertilizers and fuels.
Two years ago Pete Lodal, technical fellow and group leader of the Plant Protection Technical Services, gave a lecture in the Kingsport area about the explosion in 1960. He mentioned how on his first day working at Eastman in 1977 they fingerprinted him, because that was the only way to identify someone after an accident, a lesson learned from the previous explosion.
The 1960 explosion could have been a lot worse. It happened due to pressure in the Aniline chamber. Aniline is a chemical compound that Eastman uses for dye. The fire and explosions were really close to hitting the hydrogen tanks and could have been significantly more damaging had they been affected.
Since the 2017 explosion occurred on the 57th anniversary of the first, it caused a lot of families to remember their lost loved ones from that 1960 accident as well as people who are working there currently to take even greater caution in their work.
Eastman recently posted a statement saying, ‰??The operations of the company has mostly returned to normal except the coal gasification chambers.‰??
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COAL MORE TOXIC THAN SHALE GAS, STUDY FINDS
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, natural_gas
New research suggests that lifetime toxic chemical releases are much higher with coal-generated electricity than those from electricity generated with natural gas obtained by fracking.
Researchers from the University of Michigan (U-M) have conducted a comparative analysis of the harmful health effects of electricity produced by both shale gas and coal and found that the lifetime toxic chemical releases were 10 to 100 times greater from coal than shale gas.
They looked at the amount of toxic chemicals released into the air, soil and water during both the resource extraction and electricity generation phases of both technologies. The results suggest that if the U.S. energy market continues to shift from coal to natural gas the overall toxicity burden will decrease.
‰??This analysis does not imply that concerns associated with shale gas production are unfounded, only that the overall toxic load of coal is definitely greater,‰?? Shelie Miller, an environmental engineer and an associate professor at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability's Center for Sustainable Systems, said in a statement. ‰??And while the study doesn't address this directly, we should be pursuing renewables more aggressively if we really want to decrease the human toxicity burden of our energy system.‰??
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MORE BURRILLVILLE WELLS TEST POSITIVE FOR UNHEALTHY CHEMICALS
Tags: us_RI, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
BURRILLVILLE, R.I. ‰?? Seven additional wells outside the Oakland section of Burrillville have tested positive for unsafe levels of a per-fluorinated chemical, linked to cancer and autoimmune disorders.
State health and environmental officials announced their findings to residents Monday night. Nearly 60 private wells within a quarter mile of Oakland were tested. The majority have traces of the chemical below the health advisory or none at all. Roughly 250 people get their water from these areas.
The chemical, shortened as PFAS, is not federally regulated. The state condcuted these water tests to be on the safe side, after finding the Oakland public water system tested positive for unsafe levels.
"This is what's considered an emerging contaminant,‰?? explained RI Department of Health Spokesperson Joseph Wendelken. ‰??It means we're learning more about these chemicals and what their effects are on people."
At this time, officials don‰??t know how the man-made chemical got into the wells in the first place ‰?? or how long it‰??s been there. They say it could be months before they determine the source of the contamination.
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BREAKING: GENX LAWSUIT SAYS CONTAMINANT FOUND IN HOMES
Tags: us_NC, public, release, environmental, other_chemical
WILMINGTON -- A Compass Pointe water heater is central in the latest GenX lawsuit.
After her initial shock at revelations about GenX in her water wore off, Victoria Carey, 58, decided to have her five-year-old appliance drained and samples taken of the sludge in the bottom.
Those samples, taken June 23 and tested by a private lab, showed levels of 857 parts per trillion (ppt) in the liquid portion of the sludge and 623 ppt in the solid. Both levels are higher than the 140 ppt health goal set by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
‰??It‰??s sitting in there and it‰??s piling up and it‰??s piling up, and as that water is coming through the faucet, you‰??re drinking it or whatever that chemical is that‰??s coming through the faucet and into your body,‰?? said Carey, who lives in Leland. ‰??This is scary, scary stuff.‰??
Carey‰??s class action lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, is at least the third of its kind filed against Chemours and DuPont, but the first one that points to evidence that hadn‰??t yet been in the public sphere.
Like the others, the suit says the chemical companies acted negligently and hurt property values. But Carey‰??s suit also calls for Chemours to remediate any properties contaminated by GenX and the associated chemicals, consider paying for alternative water sources on regional scale and fund diagnostic testing for the early detection of illnesses potentially caused by the companies‰?? alleged misconduct.
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UNDERGRADUATE CHEMISTRY SAFETY PROGRAM RECOGNIZED WITH NATIONAL AWARD
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
A health and safety program that benefits some 3,000 Stanford undergraduate students who participate in laboratory classes has been recognized by the American Chemical Society-Division of Chemical Health and Safety (ACS-DCHAS).
ACS-DCHAS is a 1,700-member division of the American Chemical Society that provides technical resources in chemical health and safety.
The ACS-DCHAS SafetyStratus College and University Health and Safety Award was recently accepted on behalf of Stanford by KEITH HODGSON, professor and chair of chemistry; MARY DOUGHERTY, laboratory safety program manager in Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S); CHARLIE COX, lecturer in chemistry; and LARRY GIBBS, associate vice provost for EH&S.
The Stanford program recognized by ACS enables students to develop and apply hazard awareness, risk assessment and safety skills. The award is based on an evaluation by ACS-DCHAS of 10 safety elements. ACS specifically recognized Stanford for ‰??establishing, promoting and sustaining an outstanding undergraduate chemical safety program.‰??
As part of the Stanford program, lab instructors, graduate students and teaching assistants participate in the beginning of the school year in a full day of safety oriented, hands-on training focusing on lab scenarios and skills students need to learn. Those lessons are then applied in all undergraduate teaching laboratories throughout the year.
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FIRST RESPONDERS HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE CARFENTANIL EXPOSURE IN HILLTOWN
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, drugs
Two members of the Silverdale Fire Co. and a Hilltown police officer were briefly hospitalized after it was feared they were exposed to carfentanil Saturday night.
Hilltown Sgt. Christian Browne said Sunday that the incident is still under investigation and pending test results it is still unclear if the dangerously potent opioid is what made the three first-responders feel ill at the scene of a suspected heroin overdose.
Browne said the call, which initially was reported as an unspecified medical emergency in the 600 block of Orangewood Court in the Orchard Hill development in Hilltown, came shortly after 9 p.m.
A woman in her 40s was found in cardiac arrest and was given a dose of Narcan, an anti-overdose medication. She was transported to Grand View Hospital in West Rockhill and her condition is unknown.
The Hilltown officer and the two firefighters, who are also trained as EMTs, reported feeling ill at the scene and also were taken to the hospital.
They were treated and released by Sunday morning.
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UPDATE: ASH FROM PARKERSBURG FIRE DECLARED NON-TOXIC
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WDTV)-- Heavy smoke continues to linger in the sky after a massive fire at a warehouse in Parkersburg Saturday.
According to WTAP, Camden Clark Hospital started preparing for aftermath effects of the fire around 9 a.m. Saturday morning. The hospital gathered the necessary supplies to treat potential victims and called in extra nurses.
Initial laboratory tests of fallen ash from the Ames fire showed that ash was not toxic to residents, according to Wood County officials. Those officials also reported early air monitoring testing indicated areas around the fire scene were within acceptable quality limits.
As a precaution, the Wood County Commission was advising residents to stay inside.
More than 30 volunteer fire departments continued to work at the fire scene Sunday along with hundreds of other local, regional and state officials.
The Ohio River is being used as a water source to fight the flames to put less of a strain on the Parkersburg water system. The West Virginia National Guard was also supplying foam to firefighters and the Division of Highways is providing additional water.
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SOLVANG HOTEL TO PAY $31,000 FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE DUMPING
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, corrosives, pool_chemicals, waste, illegal
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley has announced the resolution of an environmental-protection action against Solvang Hotel Group L.P., the entity that operates the Holiday Inn Express in Solvang.
The action was filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria. The complaint alleges the hotel illegally disposed of hazardous waste, specifically corrosive swimming pool chemicals, by placing them in an ordinary trash dumpster.
The environmental violations were discovered when fumes were emitted from the dumpster in which the chemicals were placed.
Hotel management called the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, which in turn contacted the Santa Barbara County Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA).
CUPA is a unit of Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services that regulates hazardous-waste compliance.
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ST. GABRIEL RESIDENTS KEEPING UP THEIR FIGHT AGAINST CHEMICAL PLANT, INDUSTRIAL EXPANSIONS
Tags: us_LA, industrial, discovery, environmental, petroleum
ST. GABRIEL ‰?? Over the years, this small Iberville Parish city flourished in the vast shadows of the numerous petrochemical and industrial plants dominating its rural landscape.
But many residents say enough is enough, and are making it clear they don't want to see any more chemical plants come into the community.
They've made their views known as they troop to City Hall regularly seeking to block requests to change residential zoning to classifications that would green light the construction of new industrial facilities.
"We're always vulnerable; always having to fight to keep things the way they are. It's just exhausting," says longtime resident Thomas Miller.
Instead of putting out a welcome mat for more smokestacks Miller, and some other residents argue, it's time city leaders look toward more commercial and residential development.
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INVESTIGATORS TO PROBE SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY AT U.S. AGENCIES
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
U.S. congressional investigators will examine whether the Trump Administration is respecting scientific integrity in federal agencies. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) requested the probe by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. His move came after reports that political appointees were screening scientific grant applications at the Environmental Protection Agency and that officials across the government were removing references to climate change from agency websites. Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, asked GAO to determine whether the Trump Administration has violated scientific integrity policies adopted under the Obama Administration. Those policies followed controversies about scientific integrity during the Administration of President George W. Bush, including a policy that GAO determined was limiting the scientific credibility of the Environmental Protection Agency‰??s health asses!
sments of pollutants. Nelson says, ‰??It is vital that science be impartial and free from interference, suppression or distortion.‰?? He adds, ‰??Scientists must be free to carry out their work without interference.‰??
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