National Newspaper Questions Air Quality Of Local Schools
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
The air quality around Lincoln and Sacred Heart elementary schools may not be the safest for students, according to a USA Today story Monday titled "The Smokestack Effect."
But school and business officials question the data and conclusions drawn.
According to the story at usatoday.com, 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 is a computer simulation that predicts the path of toxic chemicals released by companies near the schools.
Using the model, the newspaper identified schools in what it called "toxic hot spots." It is a task the newspaper said the Environmental Protection Agency has never undertaken.
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 puts 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.
Other area schools affected, according to the report, include Edgewood Middle School at the 7th percentile; Eisenhower, 18th; Harrison, 2nd; Jefferson, 2nd; Lakeview Middle School, 3rd; Leesburg, 26th; Madison, Warsaw Community High School and Washington, all in the 7th percentile.
With Leesburg being in the 26th percentile, that means 32,504 other schools across the nation have worse air quality, according to the report. In the 2nd percentile, there are 1,923 schools across the nation with worse air quality than Harrison.
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 names the "polluters most responsible" for toxics outside the schools. Their list for Lincoln and Sacred Heart includes Dalton Corp., Warsaw Chemical Co., Da-Lite Screen Co., Med Cast Inc., all of Warsaw; and Steel Dynamics Inc., Columbia City. The Web site allows a reader to click on each business to find out more information.
Chris Gensinger, assistant to the superintendent for Warsaw Community Schools, said, "It seems to me the compliance doesn't fall on the schools, but the industries."
He said he assumes all the companies are following EPA standards. The No. 1 concern is keeping the kids safe and for the schools to be prudent in keeping the schools clean.
If the computer simulation is true, Gensinger said, it would not only affect schools, but homes, grocery stores, parks and businesses.
All the air that comes into the schools is filtered before it gets into the classrooms, he said. "We are doing some research to make sure we are properly filtering it and treating it," Gensinger said.
All Warsaw Community Schools' buildings are air conditioned, too.
Regarding the story, Gensinger said, "It is an angle I never thought about before."
Ron Yeiter, Warsaw School Board president, said, "It's one of those situations where you're caught between a rock and a hard place. We do our best to keep our children out of harm's way." However, he said, there are many organizations involved, including cities, counties, states and businesses.
Warsaw school buildings have air purifier systems in place, Yeiter said, but children do go outside for recess. "You can't purify that air."
And it's not only the schools affected. There's also the elderly and commercial businesses in the neighborhood.
"Everyone is at risk, but I don't mean to speak negatively of the foundries or anything," Yeiter said. Many local businesses have improved, he said. He cited Dalton Corp. as a business that has worked toward improving air quality.
Schools are just a victim of the situation, Yeiter said. "I'm still not sure how you battle that," he said.
"After looking at the story, I'm not sure where you could go and not be harmed," Yeiter said.
Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins this morning said, "First of all, if there is an issue, it needs to be addressed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management."
IDEM handles such issues, and the EPA sets limits for air quality. Wiggins said the story was all done by computer simulation, and he'd be curious as to if there was any sampling done for the story.
Questions regarding air quality in Warsaw should be directed to the EPA, he said. The city is not involved in any of those issues. The city has talked about air quality before, he said, as it relates to Dalton, but he said Dalton has made major improvements to its business.
While it's good the story makes people more aware of air quality, Wiggins cautioned people from reacting to it until IDEM investigates the information.
"I'd be very cautious if it deals with computer modeling," he said.
All the Warsaw-based businesses cited as polluters in the Lincoln and Sacred Heart schools area were contacted for comment Monday.
Vic Gamble, corporate secretary for Warsaw Chemical, said some of the information used for the story is out of date or questionable.
The story lists the toxic chemicals emitted by Warsaw Chemical as chlorine, gylcol ethers and nitrilotriacetic acid.
Gamble said Warsaw Chemical used chlorine in its industrial division, but got out of that business eight to 10 years ago. At one time, chlorine had been stored there, and Warsaw Chemical was a distributor for it, but not for almost 10 years.
While Gamble would not argue gylcol ethers are toxic to the touch, he said it is used for common water-based cleaners.
As for the nitrilotriacetic acid, Gamble said, it is a powdered water softener. The amount Warsaw Chemical handles, he said, is such a quantity that they don't even have to report it for their air permit. "It's below the threshold where we have to have a permit for it," Gamble said.
Dalton officials provided the following statement: "Dalton has just become aware of the story and has not had an opportunity to fully review the report and its conclusions."
The owner of Med Cast Inc. could not be reached for comment. Three calls and voice mails left for Da-Lite Vice President of Marketing Wendy Long were not returned.
