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WalMart & Sam's Club sites are full of fly ash used to stabilize the mudholes both sites became just before paving. As a certified FOB the city said sure no problem bring all you need in. Joe this came from DP & L Indian River Site and was hauled in there for 2 weeks in every dump truck available to Interstate out of Delmar,MD This stuff happened behind the scenes and if the water wells adjacent to these sites become contaminated who's bill will that be on? I'll bet Salisbury's because they authorized it like many other things "Sure fob go right ahead."
The exact problem at the locations mentined and this doesn't include health issues!
"consistent testing. In addition, to reduce costs, cement manufacturers have been known to use too much fly ash (typical construction specifications permit substituting fly ash for just 15% of the cement) in the production process. As a result of one such case, after an earthquake in Taiwan in 1999, many buildings collapsed. Problems with fly ash used as a fill material in cement construction has also been documented in the United States. In Chesterfield County, Virginia, at least 13 buildings built around 1997 developed problems, including floors heaving upward and cracking, because fly ash fill that had been exposed to moisture was used in their construction."
12 comments:
So what about the mound of demolition debris, etc., at the old mall near the Civic Center -- and the dirt that has been piled behind it for 5 years or more.
Uh, Joe, I believe WalMart and Sam's were built a long time before Mayor Tilghman was in office.
Another person spitting out opinions as if they were facts. The EPA has determined that coal fly ash does not need to be regulated as hazardous waste. The US Geological Survey concluded that fly ash compares with common soil and rocks after numerous studies.
As for the 15 % that is wrong also. The American Concrete Institute desing standards call for 15% to 30% fly ash in regular concrete mixes with higher percentages for mass concrete.
Fly ash has been used for years. Did this person ever think that it was the shoddy construction methods and not the fly ash that caused the problems he mentioned. But then of course in his fantasy world everything is built to plans and specifications so something else must be the problem.
The amount of fly ash required was amazing and opinions regarding the safe use of fly ash are many on both the pros and cons. This discussion would require hijacking Joe's site.
The reason the parking lots had so many potholes not long after construction is BECAUSE...Walmart had an opening date of April 1 and they would not compromise that date. The parking lots were flooded with water from all the weather we had that year. IA Construction, specifically Billy Gisele would not put the blacktop down on the CR-6 subbase because it was not dry, and most importantly it did not meet with specs for putting down blacktop. However, Walmart being the royalty they are and their general contractor from South Carolina met with the powers that be at IA Construction and decided the work would be done as demanded IF and ONLY IF, Walmart signed a waiver that released IA Construction from any liability when the asphalt heaved and potted out. THIS is what happened at that parking lot, not the fly ash that is suggested. The blacktop was in fact laid in 6 inches and more of water against the grain of everything Billy and his crew knew to be right. I know this to be right because I was there, I hauled blacktop on that job. Since it was not a state job state requirements did not have to be met, such as the temperature of 40 degrees and rising.
We also put blacktop down in Ocean City with loaders pushing snow out of the way on Rt 1. Temps were not in line with specs but what OC wants, OC gets.
Fly ash was used to build the RT 1 bypass in Dover, I know this for a fact also because I hauled that crap up there to for a very short period of time. That mess is to hard on a truck, breather filters had to be blown out and/or changed weekly. It didn't pay enough to make it worth the time or trip. Besides, we had to build the sides of the trucks up just to get 15 tons on.
Fly ash could cause health risk
By: Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com
04/09/2007
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Draft report raises concerns utility company is calling premature
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A draft U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report has some environmentalists alarmed that coal-generated fly ash could pose a significant health risk.
They say that, according to the draft, the risk of getting cancer from coal-generated fly ash lagoons is 10,000 times greater than government standards allow.
EPA officials say they are aware of the situation and that the agency is "addressing our commitments identified in the Regulatory Determination of 2000."
The Ohio EPA also is working on a draft proposal that further addresses the disposal of all industrial waste, including coal-generated fly ash.
And industry leaders say that environmentalists have moved too quickly, using preliminary data to support their position.
What is fly ash and where is it found?
Fly ash is a byproduct of energy making, such as that done at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Eastlake coal-fired power plant.
Fly ash is contaminated because during coal's origins, the fossil fuel collected metals and toxins. When the coal is reduced to ash, these elements and compounds remain, but in concentrated and water-transportable form.
Eastlake and Lake Metroparks have parks along the Chagrin River built atop fly ash-filled gravel pits.
Eastlake's is the soccer fields and community vegetable gardens located off Lake Shore Boulevard.
Lake Metroparks' is its Chagrin River Park, located along the Eastlake-Willoughby line which also is the county park district's most frequently visited unit.
Central issue
The issue for environmentalists is that coal ash should be treated as a hazardous material.
"It's very simple. Coal combustion waste currently is being disposed without adequate safeguards and poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment in dozen of communities throughout the country," said Lisa Evans, an attorney for Earthjustice, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public interest law firm.
It has joined with 26 other environmental groups in calling for more stringent monitoring and regulatory control over coal-generated fly-ash disposal.
Evans said Ohio is in the top three or four states in coal-fired power plant emissions and has a lot of surface impoundments where fly ash is dumped.
"When you have a waste product that isn't being treated according to certain standards, and also isn't being monitored to ensure against leaching, then you have problems," Evans said.
Brian Wright, coal policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council and a leading environmental expert on coal fly ash, says the main concern for environmentalists is the lack of disposal standards.
Most states don't require any monitoring other than perhaps a surface discharge permit, Wright says.
"There is very little in the way of safeguards or oversight," Wright said.
The EPA's definition of hazardous waste is too stringent and should be more broadly considered, Wright said.
"What we'd like to see is the same level of concern about fly ash as there is for handling municipal waste," Wright said.
The lack of liners and barriers to keep the ash's heavy metals and other toxins from migrating into groundwater supplies is a threat as well, Wright says.
But the entire issue is low on just about everyone's radar screen, Wright says.
"It's been a real missing spoke of the wheel with power plants," Wright says.
Jack Shaner, media relations director for the Ohio Environmental Council, agrees.
"There is no question that fly ash can contain a toxic brew of dangerous chemicals.
"If the material is disposed of properly or if used in a byproduct such as drywall material or cement, it can be safe," Shaner said.
He said the problem is when fly ash comes into contact with water and leaches into groundwater supplies.
"That's why the siting of landfills is so important. If it is near the water table, then you are inviting trouble," Shaner said.
EPA officials say they have developed a revised risk assessment for coal fly ash, currently in draft form.
This document should be released soon, the officials said in a prepared statement of questions asked regarding the subject.
"The draft risk assessment concluded that coal combustion waste has the potential to present unacceptable health risks when mismanaged. The draft risk assessment, however, does not differentiate between past and current management practices, which we believe is an appropriate factor to consider."
In two separate regulatory determinations, the EPA determined that "neither large-volume wastes, nor remaining fossil fuel combustion wastes, warrant regulation as a hazardous waste ..."
The EPA did say that fly ash "can be productively used" as fill in sand and gravel pits, but that it should not be used in some circumstances.
These include when the material is placed close to the groundwater table.
"Proximity to a waterways was not an issue," the EPA said.
And before such material is placed in such pits an environmental assessment should be made, the government says, along with "engineering controls ... or the installation of a liner."
At the state level, the Ohio EPA is involved in governing fly ash through a number of different regulatory venues, says Scott Heidenreich, the agency's environmental manager.
In some cases, it even can be considered hazardous waste, he noted.
"It's very rare," Heidenreich said.
Coal-generated fly ash generally is labeled "excluded waste," falling under different guidelines, Heidenreich said.
Such waste is looked at on a case-by-case basis with a permit designed "specifically for that waste stream," Heidenreich said.
Heidenreich said the agency is looking at a draft proposal that will create a unified approach to regulating the disposal of industrial waste.
"And fly ash is a type of industrial waste," Heidenreich said.
Long-term monitoring is not done by the Ohio EPA for older coal fly ash fill sites, though it is being done at another location along Lake Erie in Painesville Township, which has been permitted by the state, said Bill Zawiski, an Ohio EPA environmental scientist.
Zawiski said that from biological surveys of the lower Chagrin River, the main stem of the stream is in "full attainment, meeting our water quality goals.
"It's a very gorgeous stream, and the quality of the aquatic reflects that," Zawiski said.
Utilities respond
A spokesman for FirstEnergy says environmentalists may have jumped the gun, making claims based on a preliminary draft.
"From our standpoint, we use what's called 'electrostatic precipitators,' which collect about 99 (percent) of the particulate matter, including fly ash," said Mark Durbin, a FirstEnergy spokesman.
From there, most of the fly ash - about 70 percent - is sold for use in construction material, Durbin said.
"For whatever reason the fly ash produced at the Eastlake plant is highly desired as construction material," Durbin said.
What is not sold is placed in Ohio EPA-approved sites, Durbin said.
Jim Roewer, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Utility Solid Waste Activity Group, also says environmentalists are assuming too much.
The group is a trade association responsible for addressing federal regulations of solid and hazardous waste on behalf of the utility industry.
"What the environmentalists are selling on their Web site is a PowerPoint presentation on a draft presentation, and I haven't seen the final draft and I don't think the environmentalists have either," Roewer said.
"We have over 20 years of data of coal combustion products research into its management. Based on those extensive studies, the U.S. EPA concluded twice that they didn't need to regulate it as hazardous waste."
The solution, say environmentalists, is to more closely monitor the substance and place it in better, more secured landfills.
Simple measures such as isolating the waste from groundwater supplies, prohibiting dumping of coal fly ash into sand and gravel pits, and lining landfills and surface impoundments would have "a huge impact" on limiting pollution from these facilities, Evans said. Meanwhile, the cost nationwide for proper monitoring and regulating of coal-generated fly ash is estimated at $1 billion, Wright said.
"But that's less than 1 percent of all revenues for the nation's utilities. So it's much less than emissions control."
©The News-Herald 2007
Anne Arundel County, MD is in the midst of dealing with this fly ash nightmare right now. Read all about it here.
Thanks, ND
There are many issues such as this one in Anne Arundel Co. involving fly ash contaminating drinking water wells. How many other places have fly ash buried underground?http://www.hometownannapolis.com/vault/cgi-bin/gazette/view/2007G/09/15-57.HTM
This site shows the facts regarding amounts of by products from the plant in Anne Arundel County 300,000 tons as the standard 30 day stockpile.
http://esm.versar.com/pprp/powerplants-new/brandon.htm
http://mercuryexposure.org/index.php?article_id=342
Link above for review of waste produced by Indian River Power Plant. Also named as Delaware's dirtiest power plant! And we have who knows how many 15 ton loads dumped on the north end of Salisbury!
Old Fisherman I have no idea how many truckloads of it were hauled in to Walmart but there is a way to find out. I don't know of any local dump truckers that would haul it after the Dover/RT 1 experience. IA Construction handled the site work on that job and then there is that outfit out of South Carolina that was the general contractor, they would have these records. I would think the city of Salisbury would have the specs on file as well. Don't they have to turn a copy of the plans over to P&Z? I would think at the very least the specs would be on file. If you give me enough time to think on this I'll remember the name of the site supervisor for IA at that time.
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