More Environmental Insanity

(Boring local news)

Like many coastal areas of the United States, Glynn County Georgia was historically an attractive location for industries like paper mills and chemical plants which built facillities here in the early 1900’s. Cheep land and abundant sources of water, along with local government’s willing to “sell their souls to the devil” provided ample tax breaks in return for the many high paying jobs offered to the citizens of the formerly rural, mostly agricultural and fishing based communities like the city of Brunswick.

The bad news is that these new industries were not good stewards of our lands and waterways—dumping tons of toxic chemicals like dioxin, PCB’s and industrial solvents into the environment.

Basically, depending on your definition of what is toxic waste, the entire area of Glynn County can be considered as a low level toxic waste dump. Everyone that has lived here for any length of time knows this fact, which is why I am so amazed at this story in The Brunswick News.

“Students at Goodyear Elementary School won't be spending any more playtime on the school grounds this April and May.

A federal government report raising questions about the possible presence of toxic chemicals in the soil around Goodyear has prompted school officials to confine physical education activities to the gymnasium and a public park on Parkwood Drive, about a half-mile from the school.

The decision to abandon the playground comes after elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, large quantities of which may lead to cancer, were discovered in the soil at the school, located at the corner of Parkwood Drive and U.S. Highway 17. A precise source of the chemicals was not identified.

The playground will be closed as a precautionary measure until further tests are performed on the soil, said Jim Weidhaas, public information director for Glynn County's schools. More testing will likely be conducted during summer break, he said.

The decision to keep students inside was made this week by interim school superintendent Delacy Sanford and Goodyear Principal Carla Hall.

It follows a recently released report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which characterizes Goodyear Elementary as an "indeterminate public health hazard." The report is based on analysis of soil testing performed in 2002”

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not proposing that we allow the school kids to play in a soup of toxic waste, but let’s look at the details of this story.

In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency came in and sampled the dirt in the playground. Almost three years later, when they finally get around to reporting their findings of “an indeterminate public health hazard,” the school officials loose their minds and close the playground until “further testing” can be done.

If further testing is so darned important, why doesn’t the EPA jump in and do it now? If it is imperative that the kids be protected, why doesn’t the School Board pay for independent testing now rather than waiting until this summer? I bet that they could have the results back in ten days. The kids have been playing on the renovated playground since 1997, so what difference is two months going to actually make in the big picture?

And what was the offending chemical agent the EPA found? Something called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH.) According to the ATSDR web site, PAH’s are actually more than one chemical.

“Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of over 100 different chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances like tobacco or charbroiled meat. PAHs are usually found as a mixture containing two or more of these compounds, such as soot.

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons usually occurs by breathing air contaminated by wild fires or coal tar, or by eating foods that have been grilled. PAHs have been found in at least 600 of the 1,430 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”

Notice that the emphasis is on ingestion through the air? We found PAH’s in our playground dirt. So what is the big deal? Are the kids out their eating the dirt? I guess that some might—but I suspect that there is more bird and cat poop in the dirt than PAH’s so the little dirt hog will probably die of E. Colli before the PAH’s get them.

It would also appear that PAH’s are not necessiarly man made, but instead occur as a natural form of “background pollution,” since the ATSDR web site says:

“PAHs enter the air mostly as releases from volcanoes, forest fires, burning coal, and automobile exhaust.”

PHA’s have been in the news before. Remember a few years ago when we were told by the media that I was going to die from using my Weber Kettle Charcoal grill?

Now even some grill manufacturers are getting in on the scare tactics:

“Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) such as Pyrene and Benzopyrene are known carcinogens. They are formed when burning charcoal (in the case of charcoal grills) and by the combustion of grease and oils in flames. Paula Davis McCallum, M.S., R.D., L.D. from the Cleveland Clinic states that, "fat that drips from grilled meats causes smoke to rise from the coals, wood chips, heating elements, and/or flames. The smoke coming in contact with the food can be carcinogenic. Therefore, use foil or a pan to catch the drippings and help eliminate the smoke during grilling." These PAHs are contained in the black smoke produced by grease dripping into and igniting in the flames of a gas barbecue grill. Not all smoke contains PAH. The white smoke produced when grease vaporizes without flames does not contain PAH.”

You know what? I’m still a charcoal grill man no matter what they say. I hate propane.

So any way, my point here is this...

How about using a little BALANCE AND JUDGMENT, People?

Don’t respond with hysteria and knee jerk reactions to newspaper storys and EPA reports. The EPA took almost three years to get the testing done, so closing the playground isn’t the worst idea in the world, but getting the testing done next week and verifying if there is a problem would be an even better solution in my opinion.