Community Air Monitoring of Pacific Steel Casting Company
Environmental group tests air near steel plant
BERKELEY: Neighbors worry that emissions contain poisonous heavy metals
Doug Oakley, Media News - Contra Costa Times, April 26, 2007
To try to prove that Pacific Steel Casting in Berkeley is showering residents with dangerous heavy metals, a San Francisco group has started monitoring air around the Second Street plant.
Meanwhile, the plant has agreed to change an ingredient in its steel-making process that should reduce pollution coming out of its stacks by 2 tons a year, said Adrienne Bloch, staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment, which sued the steel foundry in federal court last year over violations of the Clean Air Act.
Bloch said that Pacific Steel agreed to change a binder used in sand that forms castings into which molten metal is poured. When that binder gets hot, it releases a smelly emission that Pacific Steel thinks is to blame for most of its complaints.
Pacific Steel also plans to install a new pollution-control device on one of its older plants that should further reduce emissions, Bloch said. The measures resulted from a settlement of the lawsuit that mandated the plant set up a committee of union members, plant managers and Communities for a Better Environment representatives to talk about how it can reduce pollution. "They are taking the settlement very seriously, but there are a lot of things that still need to be done," Bloch said.
Pacific Steel spokeswoman Elisabeth Jewel declined to comment on either the air-monitoring project or the two measures the plant is taking to reduce pollution.
While the plant applies for permits from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to change its steel-making process, community members now are monitoring the air around the plant through a project funded with a $25,000 air district grant. The equipment and procedures used to monitor the air have the agency's blessing as a credible scientific undertaking, said air district spokeswoman Karen Schkolnick.
On Monday, Global Community Monitor of San Francisco placed a machine atop the home of Berkeley resident Richard Spencer, who lives about four blocks from Pacific Steel, to start taking 24-hour readings.
"We have a long history of complaints related to Pacific Steel," Schkolnick said. "There's been a relationship built over time with the community, and this grant came out of that in addition to the other enforcement and litigation we are pursuing as a comprehensive (pollution-reduction) strategy." She said the district is in the process of installing a permanent air-monitoring device near Pacific Steel but added that it could take years to get it running.
Denny Larson, director of Global Community Monitor, said he wants to use data collected from the air samples to show that Pacific Steel is endangering the health of the community.
"We think Pacific Steel is a serious community health problem in Berkeley, and we want to assign the proper blame to them, which we think is quite large," he said. "We're very dissatisfied with the denial the company is exhibiting on this issue. They are spending a lot of money on public relations rather than cleaning up their act."
He said the air monitoring will be done in 24-hour increments for about four months at eight or 10 other locations in Berkeley. He said he is looking for "marker" metals that he and the air district have identified as specific to Pacific Steel.
Schkolnick said the district will look at the information from the monitoring, but "it's a little premature to say if it will be used for enforcement."
Community Activist L A Wood, who is helping with the monitoring, said the air district is giving the air-monitoring job to a nonprofit group "because it gets (the air district) off the hook. That works for them. Sometimes they have other people do what they can't or won't do."
Spencer, who volunteered the roof of his home for the monitoring device, said he did so because he is worried about his health. He and his son suffer headaches and have trouble sleeping at night, and he thinks the plant's emissions are the reason. The blasts of toxic smell that hit him at different times have driven him to get tested for the presence of heavy metals in his body.
Spencer showed the lab results of a test taken from his hair that showed he is in the 95th percentile for the "potentially toxic elements" of bismuth, cadmium, silver and tin.
"I thought about moving away, but how far do you have to move?" he said. "If I walk around the corner here, immediately I am assailed. The smell comes in blasts, but it is not sustained. The smell suggests toxicity. And the company has been recalcitrant in divulging what those blasts contain."
West Berkeley Residents Monitor Pacific Steel Emissions
By Riya Bhattacharjee Berkeley Daily Planet April 24, 2007
A group of West Berkeley residents have set up an air monitor to detect emissions from Pacific Steel Casting (PSC) Monday.
Setting up an air monitor has been the goal of community members for a long time. Denny Larson, director of the non-profit Global Community Monitor (GCM)—an organization that promotes environmental justice and human rights for communities—helped acquire funds for the project from the Bay Area Air Quality District (BAAQMD).
He was joined in his effort to install the monitor by environmental activists including Steven Ingraham, L A Wood and Peter Guerrero.
“We are putting it up to verify what is in the air,” said Ingraham, a Berkeley resident who tested the equipment. “The community has a right to know.”
Located at 1333 Second St., PSC produces steel castings that are used in different industries. Area residents have complained for years about noxious odors and emissions which they feel impose a health risk.
Ingraham added that the exact location of the air monitor would not be disclosed because it might be tampered with.
“This is an Airmetrics, Mini-vol monitor. It’s state-of-the-art battery-powered and has an electronic programming model which was recommended by the district,” he told the Planet Monday.
“The grant's collaboration parameters have given Denny information on the use, and some of their staff came by to check out our site this morning. We have a rooftop platform which the unit is mounted into and the program was set to begin catching a sample for lab analysis.”
The group hopes to get definite data over the next six months and carry out surveys of illnesses in West Berkeley that have been linked to long-term exposure to chemicals. They are currently looking for more funding.
Air advocates test Pacific Steel site. Group attempts to prove plant odor is toxic
Doug Oakley / East Bay Daily News, April 25, 2007
In an attempt to prove that Pacific Steel Casting in Berkeley is showering residents with dangerous heavy metals, a San Francisco group has started monitoring air around the Second Street plant.
Meanwhile, the plant has agreed to change an ingredient in its steel-making process that should reduce pollution coming out of its stacks by two tons a year, said Adrienne Bloch, staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment, which sued the steel foundry in federal court last year over violations of the Clean Air Act.
Bloch said Pacific Steel agreed to change a binder used in sand that forms castings into which molten metal is poured. When that binder gets hot, it releases a smelly emission that Pacific Steel believes is to blame for most of the complaints.
Pacific Steel also plans to install a new pollution control device on one of its older plants that should further reduce emissions, Bloch said. The measures resulted from a settlement of the lawsuit that mandated the plant set up a committee of union members, plant managers and Communities for a Better Environment representatives to talk about how it can reduce pollution.
"They are taking the settlement very seriously, but there are a lot of things that still need to be done," Bloch said.
Pacific Steel spokeswoman Elisabeth Jewel declined to comment on either the air monitoring project or the two measures the plant is taking to reduce pollution.
While the plant applies for permits from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to change its steel-making process, community members are now monitoring the air around the plant through a project funded with a $25,000 air district grant. The equipment and procedures used to monitor the air have the agency's blessing as a credible scientific undertaking, said air district spokeswoman Karen Schkolnick.
On Monday, Global Community Monitor of San Francisco placed a machine atop the home of Berkeley resident Richard Spencer, who lives about four blocks from Pacific Steel, to start taking 24-hour readings.
"We have a long history of complaints related to Pacific Steel," Schkolnick said. "There's been a relationship built over time with the community, and this grant came out of that in addition to the other enforcement and litigation we are pursuing as a comprehensive (pollution reduction) strategy."
Schkolnick said the district is in the process of installing a permanent air monitoring device near Pacific Steel but added that it could take years to get it running.
Denny Larson, director of Global Community Monitor, said he wants to use data collected from the air samples to show that Pacific Steel is endangering the health of the community.
"We think Pacific Steel is a serious community health problem in Berkeley and we want to assign the proper blame to them, which we think is quite large," Larson said. "We're very dissatisfied with the denial the company is exhibiting on this issue. They are spending a lot of money on public relations rather than cleaning up their act."
Larson said the air monitoring will be done in 24-hour increments for about four months at eight or 10 locations in Berkeley. He said he is looking for "marker" metals that he and the air district have identified as specific to Pacific Steel.
Schkolnick said the district will look at the information from the project but "it's a little premature to say if it will be used for enforcement."
Community activist L A Wood, who is helping with the monitoring, said the air district is giving the air monitoring job to a nonprofit "because it gets (the air district) off the hook. That works for them. Sometimes they have other people do what they can't or won't do."
Spencer, who volunteered the roof of his home for the monitoring device, said he did so because he's worried about his health. He and his son suffer headaches and have trouble sleeping at night, and he thinks the plant's smell is the reason. The toxic has driven him to get tested for the presence of heavy metals in his body.
Spencer showed the lab results of a test that showed he is in the 95th percentile for the "potentially toxic elements" of bismuth, cadmium, silver and tin.
"I thought about moving away, but how far do you have to move?" Spencer said. "If I walk around the corner here, immediately I am assailed. The smell comes in blasts, but it is not sustained. The smell suggests toxicity. And the company has been recalcitrant in divulging what those blasts contain."
