The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is issuing an air pollution advisory through Friday, Dec. 4, due to stagnant air conditions over Klamath,
Lake, Jackson and Josephine counties.

Please see news release for more information:

http://www.deq.state.or.us/news/prDisplay.asp?docID=3153

Klamath County prohibits burning in Klamath Falls; DEQ asks Lakeview, Medford, Ashland and Grants Pass residents to voluntarily limit wood heating.

Because the air quality in Klamath Falls reached the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” level this morning, Klamath County prohibits burning in Klamath Falls today. The county prohibits burning in woodstoves, fireplaces or fireplace inserts. Burning is allowed in pellet stoves. Outdoor burning is also prohibited. Klamath County updates its air quality advisory daily. Call 541-882-BURN (2876) or go to http://www.klamathair.org for the current advisory.

Read the full news release above for more details.

This story comes the NW Examiner in the Northwest Neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. http://www.nwexaminer.com/issues/11November2009.pdf

Hexavalent chromium accumulates in organisms and does not break down in the environment. No level of human exposure is considered safe.

The EPA says that the respiratory tract is the major target organ for chromium 6 toxicity, both for acute (short term) and chronic (long-term) inhalation exposures. Shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing were reported from a case of acute exposure to chromium 6, while perforations and ulcerations of the septum, bronchitis, decreased pulmonary function, pneumonia and other respiratory effects have been noted from chronic exposure. Human studies have clearly established that inhaled chromium 6 is a human carcinogen, resulting in increased risk of lung cancer. 

Most of the of the 64 toxic substances emitted by ESCO have multiple health consequences. In addition to seven substances known to cause cancer, another 12 are suspected carcinogens.

OTA was on the radio last week for an appeal it filed last Friday over the air discharge permit granted to Seneca Sawmill for its biomass plant in Eugene. Lisa Arkin (OTA's executive director) says the appeal was filed with the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency or LRAPA. Listen to the audio file from KLCC to learn more...

and OPB broadcasting also played the story which features Rodolfo Oliviera, a chemical engineer, who consults for OTA. Listen to that audio file below...

Eugene (KMTR) - How safe are the toys your kids play with?

The Science Factory in Eugene is giving parents a chance to find out on Saturday, as it hosts its second annual toxic toys testing.

According to the Oregon Toxics Alliance, many of the toys made before February of this year, when a federal safety act took effect, may contain harmful levels of lead or other chemicals which are known carcinogens.

Josh Vincent of the Oregon Toxics Alliance says, “They're also linked to things like brain damage, nervous system damage, they can harm the reproductive system. So these are all threats, especially when you're talking about toys and children who are still in developmental stages. They can be much more susceptible to this kind of harm."

The ranking by Forbes was for the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area. The ranking was derived by counting the amount of superfund sites in the city, the amount of facilities releasing toxic chemicals, pounds of toxic chemicals released, and by the air quality ranking.

If Portland and the rest of Oregon would like to continue to be the beacon for the environmental movement, then we need to get serious about cleaning up the toxic facilities in our state.

According to the list, Atlanta Georgia is the most toxic city and Las Vegas, Nevada is the cleanest....go figure.

New Database on Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products Reveals
Lead, Arsenic, PVC, & Hazardous Flame Retardants
in School Supplies, Pet Products, Cars, and More

(September 16, 2009 - Ann Arbor, MI) A nonprofit environmental research organization released results today on over 900 common products tested for toxic chemicals including lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, chlorine (PVC) and arsenic. Using an XRF analyzer, researchers at the Ecology Center analyzed the ingredients of pet products, cars, women's handbags, children's car seats and more, creating the largest database yet of independent tests of toxic chemicals in consumer goods.

The results can be found on the user-friendly website: www.HealthyStuff.org. Visitors can look up products by manufacturer, brand, or product type and easily generate lists of highly rated and poorly rated products.

Puget Sound Down the Drain: New Study Shows How Chemicals In Shower Curtains, Vinyl Floors, and Other Consumer Products Pollute Puget Sound

Ordinary House Dust Uncovered As Source

(Seattle, WA Sep 29, 2009) Chemicals from everyday consumer products in our homes are polluting Puget Sound, according to a new study released today by the Washington Toxics Coalition and People For Puget Sound. Groups say policy changes are needed to eliminate harmful chemicals and restore Puget Sound.

The study, Puget Sound Down the Drain demonstrates for the first time that house dust contaminated with chemicals from everyday consumer products is hitchhiking on our clothes and heading down the drain to Puget Sound via washing machine rinse water and sewage treatment plants. Copies of the study are available at www.watoxics.org or www.pugetsound.org.

DEQ Announces Final Priority Persistent Pollutant List For Surface Waters After months of public input and technical review, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced today an official list of persistent, surface water pollutants that pose a potential threat to the state’s environment and residents. The list identifies 118 toxic pollutants that come from a wide variety of sources and have a documented effect on human health, wildlife or aquatic species. The final list is available on the DEQ Web page http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/SB737 (under “Documents to Download,” in right-hand column). It contains two types of toxic pollutants: substances that either persist in water environments or accumulate in the tissues of people, wildlife or plants; and chemicals that have been banned or restricted for years but remain in sediment and tissue samples at detectable levels. Oregon is the first state in the nation to develop such a comprehensive list of toxic pollutants related to surface waters, combined with a data-driven reduction strategy to protect human health and the environment. The list will help the state identify sources of pollutants and develop ways to reduce their amounts in Oregon’s waters.

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Thursday, Oct 15, 2009
News: Local: Story

In the next month, the 80-foot walls on Seneca Sawmill Co.’s massive new wood-fired electricity generating plant will rise along Highway 99 in north Eugene.

The company got its construction permit from the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency on Friday, and builders were on the job by Monday, said Rick Re, sawmill general manager.

“We’ve got a timeline, and we want to stick with it,” he said. “We’ve cleared the land. We dug down to a level where we need to put a grounding grid in for the system. We’re excavating for the foundations of the buildings now.”

Start-up for the $45 million electrical plant is scheduled for October 2010, and the plant is expected to sell enough juice to EWEB to power 13,000 homes by early 2011.

The decision to go ahead with the plant — fueled with slash from the forest and other wood waste — has been controversial because of concerns about air pollution.

Air authorities spent eight months studying the issue, taking testimony and ruling on Seneca’s application. About 300 people submitted comments; LRAPA’s document addressing their concerns is 105 pages long.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Short-term exposure to air pollution could trigger appendicitis in adults, possibly because pollutants cause inflammatory responses, according to a Canadian study published Monday.

Researchers found that people exposed to nitrogen dioxide for a week during June, July and August -- when levels of the pollutant are at their highest -- were almost twice as likely to come down with the potentially deadly condition as those who had no exposure.

Those over 64 were more than four times more likely to develop appendicitis under the same conditions.

Nitrogen dioxide is most usually produced by traffic and causes most health problems during summer months.

The Canadian team -- led by Dr. Gilaad Kaplan of the University of Calgary -- studied the cases of 5,191 people admitted with appendicitis at three adult hospitals in Calgary, Alberta, over a seven-year period.