April, 12 2010, 10:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
Soaring Use of Coal Waste in Homes Risks Consumer Headaches
Could Chinese Wallboard Problems Start to Plague U.S. Industry?
WASHINGTON
The rising toxicity of coal combustion wastes used in U.S.
construction poses new public health and regulatory concerns, according
to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). New
evidence about toxic elements in re-used coal combustion wastes and the
absence of government regulation open the door to consumer traumas such
as occurred with Chinese wallboard, which afflicted thousands of homes
in the Southeastern U.S.
One of the biggest components of the
modern American home is gypsum, an average of more than 8 tons of which
is spread over more than 6,144 square feet of wallboard. Gypsum used in
wallboard now commonly comes from coal combustion waste as synthetic
gypsum generated primarily by flue gas desulfurization. In 2001, only
15% of the total domestic gypsum supply was synthetic gypsum. By 2009,
synthetic gypsum use had more than tripled, accounting for more than
half (57%) of the national supply.
Contaminated Chinese drywall
is synthetic gypsum and may have been used in more than 100,000 homes,
producing complaints of foul odors, damage to electrical systems and
illness. While the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has not
pinpointed the precise cause of the problem, it is now recommending that
consumers rip out any Chinese drywall in their homes, regardless of
cost. Chinese drywall is made from coal combustion wastes but in a less
refined form than used by U.S. drywall makers.
At the same
time, new anti-pollution requirements to reduce mercury emissions in
coal-fired plants are dramatically elevating the mercury content of U.S.
coal combustion wastes. Mercury is a neurotoxin and even low-level
exposure over time has been associated with fatigue, memory loss and
depression. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies are finding
that mercury is released into the atmosphere during the manufacture of
synthetic gypsum. In addition, EPA is finding mercury in the synthetic
gypsum itself, both Chinese and domestic. In fact, the mercury levels
in one major source of U.S. synthetic gypsum was the highest of six
sources EPA tested - more than three times the highest Chinese sample
(2.08 parts per million versus 0.562 ppm) - in 2009.
What
happens to the mercury in the wallboard is less clear. The effects of
heat and humidity on mercury release remain to be investigated. Also
unknown is what happens at the product "end of life" - does
mercury-infused wallboard require special disposal or demolition
precautions? For example, currently old wallboard is land-filled or
used as a "soil amendment," where its elements can leach out over time.
"The question is whether you want mercury-laden wallboard in
your child's bedroom or school," asked PEER Executive Director Jeff
Ruch. "These questions about mercury in wallboard also need to be posed
for other coal wastes that are being used in everything from ice
removal to carpet backing to toothpaste."
At present, the Obama
administration is weighing a proposed regulation that would classify
coal ash and other combustion wastes as hazardous, requiring special
disposal to avoid direct human contact and prevent wastes from reaching
water supplies. This initiative was spurred by a massive coal ash spill
in December 2008 from TVA sludge ponds outside a Kentucky power-plant.
The current regulatory debate revolves around how to treat so-called
"beneficial uses" of coal combustion waste, such as gypsum. "Coal
combustion wastes are unquestionably hazardous and we trust that the
Obama administration will finally make that classification official,"
Ruch added, noting that the coal industry finances and controls most of
the research about coal waste re-use. "We desperately need independent
environmental and public health studies of the effects of injecting coal
wastes into your home, workplace and throughout the stream of
commerce."
Read
about the mercury link in Chinese and U.S. wallboard
See
rising mercury content in coal combustion waste due to tougher emission
controls
Look
at mercury releases from flue gas desulfurization products
View
the CPSC investigation results on Chinese drywall
Examine industry
control of research on coal combustion waste hazards
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.
LATEST NEWS
'The Opposite of Leadership': US Vetoes Palestine's UN Membership
Palestine's permanent observer at the United Nations said the resolution's failure "will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination."
Apr 18, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday used the country's veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N.
While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries—along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom—who have veto authority at the Security Council.
Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
In the lead-up to Thursday's vote, the Biden administration was pressuring other countries to oppose the Palestinian Authority's renewed membership effort so it could possibly avoid a veto, according to leaked cables obtained by The Intercept.
"Take a moment to ponder how isolated Biden has made the U.S.," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, after the veto. "Biden lobbied Japan, South Korea, and Ecuador HARD to oppose the Palestine resolution so that the U.S. wouldn't have to veto. They refused. So Biden cast his fourth veto in seven months (!!) This is the opposite of leadership."
In addition to the nations Parsi highlighted, Algeria, China, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Slovenia voted for giving Palestine full U.N. membership while Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstained.
After the vote, U.N. Newsreported on remarks from Riyad Mansour, a U.N. permanent observer for the state of Palestine:
"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
Council members were given the opportunity "to revive the hope that has been lost among our people" and to translate their commitment towards a two-state solution into firm action "that cannot be maneuvered or retracted," and the majority of council members "have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic."
"The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will, and it will not defeat our determination," Mansour added. "We will not stop in our effort. The state of Palestine is inevitable. It is real. Perhaps they see it as far away, but we see it as near, and we are the faithful."
Parsi said that "a Western-friendly senior Global South diplomat" told him of Biden's veto: "Whatever agonizing claim the U.S. had to lead a self-appointed free world has died a very loud public death on the Security Council horseshoe tonight. YOU CAN'T LEAD IF YOU CAN'T LISTEN."
Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, has faced fierce criticism in the United States and around the world for U.S. complicity in Israel's war on Gaza—which Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority, has controlled for nearly two decades. In under seven months, Israeli forces have killed 33,970 Palestinians, injured another 76,770, displaced most of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million population, devastated civilian infrastructure, and severely limited the flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
Israel—which already got $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid before October 7—continues to receive weapons support from the Biden administration, even as a growing chorus of critics, including some Democrats in Congress, argues that the arms transfers violate U.S. and international law.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
Apr 18, 2024
The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
The arrests came a day after Shafik testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
"There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against anti-war protesters, because it's been pro-war and anti-war protesters is what it seems, like, correct?" asked Omar.
"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
"Suspending and arresting Columbia/Barnard student activists and disbanding student organizations—including Jewish students and organizations—doesn't combat antisemitism or increase safety," said Cabán. "All it does is punish and intimidate those who believe in human rights for Palestinians. Shameful."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'The Pressure Is Working': Biden Weighs Climate Emergency Declaration
Campaigners urged the president to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
Apr 18, 2024
The youth-led Sunrise Movement on Thursday celebrated Bloombergreporting that "White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency."
The Wednesday revelation came just two days after six young activists were arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles, California home to increase pressure on the Biden administration to make such a declaration, which would unlock various federal powers to combat the fossil fuel-driven global crisis.
According to Bloomberg:
Top advisers to President Joe Biden have recently resumed talks about the merits of such a move, which could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling, and curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because a final decision has not been made.
White House advisers are divided over the idea of declaring a climate emergency, with some saying it wouldn't provide Biden with enough newfound authority to make substantial changes, the people said. Others, however, argue such an announcement would galvanize climate-minded voters.
"The pressure is working. Let's keep it up," Sunrise said on social media, highlighting some of what Biden—who claimed last year that "practically speaking," he had already declared a national climate emergency—could do with a real declaration.
Sunrise wasn't alone in welcoming the news. The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action said that "we've BEEN calling for a climate emergency!! Now, the White House is considering declaring one."
The group urged Biden to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
As Biden and Harris have campaigned for reelection in November—when they are expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump, whose plan for the planet is "drill, baby, drill"—the Democrats have encountered intense pressure from campaigners including members of CPD and Sunrise to step up their climate actions.
"I'm on the frontlines raising my voice for my Black and Latine families and friends, because I know that we deserve to have affordable housing and healthcare, we deserve an administration who will fight for us, but instead of declaring a climate emergency, we are seeing Biden and Harris expand oil and gas production to record levels," 18-year-old Ariela Lara, who was arrested at Harris' house, said Monday.
Climate campaigners have praised the Biden administration for parts of the Inflation Reduction Act and a recent pause on liquefied natural gas exports but blasted the president for skipping last year's United Nations summit, continuing fossil fuel lease sales, and enabling the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Willow oil project, and construction of the nation's largest offshore oil terminal.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular