Lincoln Elementary School is one of 62 schools around 22 states that will be tested by the Environmental Protection Agency for toxic air contaminants.
According to online information at www.epa.gov/schoolair, as part of a new air toxics monitoring initiative, the EPA, state and local air pollution control agencies will monitor the outdoor air around schools for pollutants known as toxic air pollutants. The Clean Air Acts includes a list of 187 of these pollutants. The Web site states that air toxics are of potential concern because exposure to high levels of these pollutants over many decades could result in long-term health effects.EPA selected schools after evaluating a number of factors including results from an EPA computer modeling analysis, the mix of pollution sources near the schools, results from an analysis conducted for a 2008 USA Today series on air toxics at schools, and information from state and local air pollution agencies.
According to the EPA Web site, the EPA and its partners will collect samples of outdoor air near selected schools over 60 days; analyze those samples for air toxics of potential concern; report on levels of air toxics found and their potential for long-term health impacts; evaluate actions that may be needed to reduce levels of pollutants of concern; and take action as needed to ensure that nearby industries are in compliance with clean air regulations.
The Web site includes further information on the EPA's initiative. Information states that when monitoring results are available, likely this summer for some schools, the EPA will post them on the Web site.
Pollutants to be monitored at Lincoln Elementary School include toxic metals contained in particulate matter that is 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller (such as lead, nickel and manganese), and volatile organic compounds (such as benzene and vinyl chloride).
The other three schools in Indiana that will be monitored include Pittsboro Elementary School, Pittsboro; Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, East Chicago; and Jefferson Elementary School, Gary.
Chris Gensinger, Warsaw Community Schools assistant to the superintendent, said, "This is more of a long-term test." The monitoring will be done at the EPA's expense, and Gensinger said he had no problems with them doing the monitoring.
The EPA will install a monitor on Lincoln Elementary's roof and monitor the outside air quality for 60 days. After the monitoring period is over, Gensinger said, the EPA will analyze the results and provide the results to the school corporation.
If there is any air quality problems, Gensinger said, "It sounds to me like they plan to follow up."
However, Gensinger said, he anticipates that everything will go well.
According to the USA Today series of articles titled "The Smokehouse Effect," which began Dec. 8, the air quality around Lincoln and Sacred Heart elementary schools may not be the safest for students.
According to the story, the newspaper used the government's most up-to-date model for tracking toxic chemicals. It spent eight months examining the impact of industrial pollution on the air outside schools across the country. The model was a computer simulation that predicted the path of toxic chemicals released by companies near the schools.
Using the model, the newspaper identified schools in toxic hot spots.
As a result of the study, the newspaper came up with a ranking of 127,800 public, private and parochial schools based "on the concentrations and health hazards of chemicals likely to be in the air outside." Emission reports filed by 20,000 industrial sites in 2005 were used by the model.
The study put Lincoln and Sacred Heart in the 1st percentile. That means the air is worse at only 101 other schools across the nation, according to USA Today's information.
Chemicals most responsible for the toxicity outside Lincoln and Sacred Heart, according to the study, include: manganese and manganese compounds, 63 percent of overall toxicity; nickel and nickel compounds, 33 percent of overall toxicity; chlorine, 2 percent of overall toxicity; copper and copper compounds, 1 percent of overall toxicity; and naphthalene, 0 percent of overall toxicity.
The report also named the "polluters most responsible" for toxics outside the schools.
Faced with parents' concerns about the air quality around Lincoln and Sacred Heart elementary schools after the USA Today article, Warsaw Schools and Sacred Heart had an air quality study of their own done.
The schools received the report Jan. 5.
The results of the study, conducted by Grauvogel & Associates, Granger, on Dec. 12, showed that "results were below the (Environmental Protection Agency Reference Concentration for Chronic Inhalation Exposure), indicating that there is no appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime of exposure for children at these concentrations, and below the (U.S Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Minimal Risk Level), also indicating that no adverse health effects would be expected over a lifetime of exposure to these concentrations."
The report also concluded that the air quality outside Lincoln and Sacred Heart schools presents "no risk of significant exposure."
For the study, Warsaw Schools and Sacred Heart each paid Grauvogel & Associates $1,900 for the study.
In Grauvogel & Associates' summary of their evaluation, the reports states that "for a gray iron foundry such as the Dalton (Corp.) operation, manganese and nickel are emitted as elemental manganese, elemental nickel and their oxides. It should be carefully pointed out that manganese and nickel in any of these forms are not carcinogens. Other manganese and nickel compounds are much more toxic, for instance nickel refinery dust and nickel subsulfide. Actually, both of these elements are necessary for normal human metabolism, that is, they are essential in the proper concentration within the body to good health."
The recommendation from Grauvogel & Associates states, "Since the air quality was found to be acceptable compared to the appropriate criteria, no further action is necessary at this time."
