Recently in Environmental Category

Eight hours into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill "top kill" operation, a BP official said Wednesday night that it was too soon to tell if it would work. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said he expected to know if the plan was working within 24 hours. “Top kill,” which has been described as one of the most elaborately staged and far-reaching maneuvers to stop oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, was put into action at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Engineering expert Manhar Dhanak of the Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering in Boca Raton, Fla., was concerned about the state of the blowout preventer. If it is damaged, the rate of oil could greatly increase. “Rather than helping, it could create more problems,” Mr. Dhanak says.

For more, see csmonitor.com.

A proposal for an affordable housing complex on a swath of open space in the northeast corner of Belmont, MA, does not violate environmental standards and would not significantly impact wildlife habitats, the Department of Environmental Protection said last week.

The recommendation, likely to be the basis for a final decision in the coming weeks, reaffirms a previous DEP ruling that Pennsylvania-based O’Neill Properties’ plan to build a 299-unit housing complex meets environmental standards. Beverly Coles-Roby, the DEP’s presiding officer in the case wrote that environmental expert witnesses testifying for O’Neill Properties "made a particularly striking impression [with] the compilation of numerous reports based on calculations accepted as standard industry practice.”

For more, see news from the Arlington advocate.

CSX Transportation's appeal in a case alleging a Pittsburgh law firm conspired with a radiologist to fabricate an asbestos exposure claim is drawing attention from tort reform groups and asbestos expert witnesses.

Several organizations, including the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the American Tort Reform Foundation, are supporting the appeal of CSX. A federal judge granted Robert Peirce's law firm on its motion for summary judgment two weeks before a September trial was to begin.

For more, see legalnewsline.com. 

The executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality testified last week that his organization will follow any plan that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency develops regarding water quality in the Illinois River watershed, although he expressed skepticism that the effort will be finalized as quickly as the federal agency projects.  Steve Thompson said during his testimony in federal court in Tulsa that the EPA rarely, if ever, meets its initial deadlines in such situations.  EPA Acting Deputy Regional Administrator Miguel Flores sent a letter Oct. 1 to state officials in Oklahoma and Arkansas to inform them that over the next 12 to 18 months, the agency would develop a "scientifically robust model of the Illinois River watershed" to form the basis for a water-quality restoration plan in the area.

The trial began Sept. 24, and the state spent several weeks introducing environmental expert testimony buttressing its claims about the phosphorus, copper, zinc and arsenic in the watershed that it asserts can be traced to the poultry industry.

For more, see waterworld.com.

After months of the state public hearing process, the town of Darian, CT, is one step closer to receiving the final word from the state Department of Environmental Protection on the Baker Park Flood Mitigation Project.  On Jan. 4, state hearing officer Kenneth Collette issued his official recommendation, stating that, after three months of testimony, including the credible testimony of three expert witnesses, evidence, and presentations, it was his recommendation to award the town the necessary permits for the Baker Woods project. According to his recommendation, the Baker Woods project is the “most prudent and feasible alternative” to alleviate flooding in Darien. 

The DEP commissioner has the final say in the proposed project which calls for a new pipe underneath the Noroton Heights railroad tracks and a 3.5-acre detention pond in Baker Park woods to help alleviate the flooding on Heights Road. To create the proposed detention pond, more than 300 trees in Baker Park woods would be cut down which drew opposition from neighbors and led to the state’s public hearings. 

For more, see dariantimes.com. 

Scientist Victor Bierman, an expert witness for Oklahoma poultry companies, testified in federal court Thursday that a study by the state showing phosphorous pollution in a sensitive watershed was incomplete, rife with errors and "not scientifically defensible." The testimony targeted Oklahoma's closely watched case against 11 Arkansas poultry companies in a trial that began in September.

Bierman's testimony focused on a report by state expert Bernard Engel, a Purdue University professor who tried to estimate the tons of poultry manure dumped in the Illinois River watershed each year and its effect on the environment.

For more, see wtop.com. 

In Is Mold Causing Your Indoor Air Quality Problem?, environmental health and safety expert James L. Unmack, PT, CIH, CSP, REA, writes:

But how does this process occur in the first place? When carpets, dust, wall board, wallpaper, insulation, or other organic products become wet or saturated with water, they become breeding grounds for spores or growth parts (hyphae). The original materials for colony formation are in the air we breath, just in smaller concentrations (we call these Colony Forming Units or CFUs). Because fungi reproduce so rapidly (even after a period of dormancy), the concentrations of spores in ducts or walls or carpets escalate accordingly, thereby increasing the concentrations of fungal reproductive materials in the air we breath.

As microorganisms compete for food and space, they have developed several forms of defense that prevent or retard other microorganisms from growing on the same food source. Human engineering has taken advantage of this condition.

In Is Mold Causing Your Indoor Air Quality Problem?, environmental health and safety expert James L. Unmack, PT, CIH, CSP, REA, writes:

We have all seen molds on food or paper products (books, bathroom walls, etc.). These visible manifestations are only indicators of potential problem. The problem is actually not seen by the naked eye. It is the reproductive result of these indicators that is of concern.

Molds and yeasts are grouped under a heading of fungus (plural, fungi). Fungus is a primitive plant form that does not contain chlorophyll. Fungi must have a source of food and water to grow. Where there is sufficient food and water, fungi grow and multiply at an astounding rate. It is this growth rate that is one of two conditions for concern. Many fungi grow by expelling (1) spores or (2) small bits of growth material, into the air for creation of colonies in other areas. If these spores or growth material are created in air handling systems for instance, they can be part of the air we breath and can find their way into our bodies, impacting our immune system. The second condition is the dormant stage of fungi. Long after the water has been removed (remember food and moisture are required for growth), colonies can remain quasi-dormant: that is, spores can become air borne by disturbance such as pulling affected books off a shelf, cleaning carpets with a vacuum, removing wall board from affected areas, etc. When this happens, spores can be released and inhaled into the respiratory system where it is moist and may have food sources.

The battle of the experts in the Illinois River watershed pollution lawsuit resumed Monday, as the state of Oklahoma challenged claims by an expert witness for the defense that the poultry industry is not to blame for any water-quality problems.  John Connolly, an expert in water quality and pollutant migration, testified Monday that the state's evidence he reviewed indicated that no correlation existed between poultry production and the amount of phosphorus in Lake Tenkiller.

David Page, an attorney for the state, cross-examined Connolly, asking him to comment on a series of scientific studies on which the state has relied in its case against the poultry industry. Page asked Connolly why so many investigators focused on so-called "nonpoint" sources of phosphorus pollution — meaning pollution that doesn't come from one point, such as a wastewater-treatment center — when they examined water quality in the Illinois River watershed.

For more, see tulsaworld.com.

Consultants from Bureau Veritas spent parts of late November and early December sampling air pockets, liquids, sludges and solids located in and around Bauer Road and Industrial Boulevard, Wooster, OH, and found that the highest concentration of the stench was coming from EnviroClean Services, 515 Industrial Blvd.

The study found high concentrations of dimethyl sulfide in air quality samples taken both inside and directly outside the facility, and at a rear unloading station. Other samples taken away from the property registered significantly lower levels of the chemical, which became even weaker at greater distances from the facility.

City Law Director Richard Benson said the consultant from Bureau Veritas will be available to testify as an environmental expert witness should the matter come before the courts.  According to the Material Safety Data Sheet on dimethyl sulfide, the effects of overexposure to the chemical can include headache, memory loss, confusion, convulsions, and unconsciousness.

For more, see http://www.the-daily-record.com/