Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
BREDL NC HEALTHY COMMUNITIES



 
NC Healthy Communities News:
for a chronological listing of news and archives

Dry Cleaning Solvents

News and Events:
Nov. 16 - 18, 2007:
SE Regional Conference on Mega-Dumps, Nuclear Power & Sewage Sludge


"Don't Dump on Us Keep North Carolina Healthy" Tour - August 2007

Reports and Factsheets

Video: Sept. 2008 runoff from sewage sludge spread day before a Hurrincane Hanna hit

Links

Contacts


NC Healthy Communities: Recent Postings




BREDL Brochure

Feb. 2010: Phase-out PERC Now - brochure highlighting adverse effects from the dry cleaning solvent Perchloroethylene, emphasis on Durham County, NC impacts



August 2009: Are Biosolids safe for our farmlands and food? BREDL Biosolids Factsheet



Aug. 12, 2009: League launches state-wide campaign to involve communities in safe cleanup of dry cleaning sites - 42 North Carolina Counties have contaminated soil and groundwater: Today the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League launched a statewide community-centered campaign to ensure the public is involved with cleanup of dry-cleaning contaminated sites. The League’s goals include educating residents about the dangers of toxic dry cleaning solvents, securing community level influence on state decision making, and protecting water quality and human health. The League is working with their network of chapters and organizing new community groups located near these contaminated dry cleaning sites. BREDL Press Release


Community forum to look at risks of sewage sludge spreading on farmlands: The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL), and the Center for Health, and Environment and Justice (CHEJ) will host a community forum concerning the risks to public health and the environment from the spreading sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants on farmlands. The forum will specifically focus on issues related to sewage sludge spreading on farmlands in Orange, Alamance and Chatham Counties, NC. The forum will take place on Thursday, June 4 from 7-9 p.m., at the Cane Creek Baptist Church Activity Center, 6901 Orange Grove Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278. A press briefing will take place at the Center at 6 p.m. where the speakers will discuss with members of the media the risks associated with land application of sewage sludge on public health and the environment.
More info: BREDL Press Advisory


April 3, 2009: BREDL comments on NC DENR Division of Waste Management proposed Septage Management rules. BREDL comments that additional changes to the rules would provide better protections to public health, farmlands and surface waters in the State of North Carolina, and provide further clarification in addressing specific rules and procedures under the proposed septage rules.


BREDL comments on the EPA’s newly proposed rules concerning emissions from medical waste incinerators. BREDL Jan. 15, 2009 comments by Sue Dayton | BREDL Jan. 15, 2009 comments by David Mickey | BREDL Feb. 17, 2009 comments


Feb. 6, 2009: BREDL comments on NC Division Air Quality’s Proposed Boundaries for Ozone Nonattainment Areas in North Carolina. Read BREDL Comments. As part of our comments, BREDL requests that the NC DAQ support the following recommendations to its Proposed Nonattainment Boundaries:

• Follow the EPA’s guidance in adopting a regional approach in determining nonattainment boundaries by including all NC counties in whole as cited in EPA’s Presumptive Boundaries.
• Consider combined contributions of air toxics - VOCs, carbonyl compounds and PM components - that contribute to ozone pollution.
• Consider single sources of ozone pollution in rural counties, such as incinerators and coal-fired power plants, in nonattainment boundaries.
• Consider permits from significant ozone contributing industries, such as Fibrowatt LLC, that plan to build incinerators in rural counties.
• Consider combustion sources from industry that are contributors to ozone pollution.
• Consider the impacts of multiple sources of “ozone contributors” in rural counties and adjacent counties.
• Purchase additional ozone air monitors to accurately assess ozone levels in nonattainment areas.

Dec. 31, 2008: Read BREDL comments on NC Combustion Source Exemption - BREDL Comments by Janet Marsh | BREDL Comments by Sue Dayton | BREDL Comments by David Mickey | BREDL Comments by Louis Zeller. Excerpt from comments:

North Carolina's health-based air toxics rules and the elusive federal MACT are neither duplicative nor equivalent. The Clean Air Act's technology-based standard is well and good, but a given pollution source 100 yards away from a community will have a vastly greater impact than the same pollution source 200 yards, 500 yards or 1000 yards away. North Carolina's acceptable ambient levels take into account the distance of smokestacks from property lines and hence from people. In fact, full implementation of the state toxics limits, without exemptions, is the best such protection available to the residents of this state. We urge the NC Environmental Management Commission to eliminate exemptions for industrial boilers.

 



NC Healthy Communities: Reports and Factsheets




BREDL Brochure

Feb. 2010: Phase-out PERC Now - brochure highlighting adverse effects from the dry cleaning solvent Perchloroethylene, emphasis on Durham County, NC impacts


August 2009: Are Biosolids safe for our farmlands and food? BREDL Biosolids Factsheet


BREDL Brochure


March 2008: BREDL Brochure - "Neighbor-to-Neighbor:" What Do You Think About Spreading Sewage Sludge on Farmland?


July 17, 2007: FAQs about Sewer Sludge





Taking Precautionary Action: Roadmap for Success

Conference Proceedings and Precautionary Action Resource Guide from The Southeast Regional Conference on Mega-Dumps, Nuclear Power & Sewage Sludge November 16 – 18, 2007, The Proximity Hotel, Greensboro, NC






This September 2008 video shows a hill in Alamance County, NC, off Hwy. 87, where multiple tankers of sewage sludge was spread a day before Hurricane Hanna hit. The video was taken the following day during which rains from Hanna released sludge from the sludged field, down a hill, through the beaten-down grass “buffer” zone and into erosion channels running 100 yards along the road where it reached Cane Creek, swollen out of its banks.

The sewage sludge that was spread on the field came from the City of Burlington’s Wastewater Treatment Plant

In an interview with Channel 8 the day before the rains hit, a representative from the NC Agricultural Extension Service stated that the grass buffer zone would prevent sludge runoff from reaching surface water. Also, the representative stated that the grass would take up any contaminants that may be contained in the sludge.

When asked if spreading sludge would take place prior to the Hurricane, the Division of Water Quality said it had no way to predict the weather and that there are no regulations that address the spreading of sludge in the event of a hurricane or other inclement weather event.


NC Healthy Communities: Links


Alamance County, NC High Impact Land Uses/Polluting Industries Ordinance (originally adopted Aug. 21, 2006)




NC Healthy Communities: Contacts

Sue Dayton
NC Healthy Communities Project Coordinator
PO Box 44
Saxapahaw, NC 27340

phone: (336) 525-2003







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