The BEAT News
June 29, 2006

Dalton adopts Scenic Mountain Act 6/28/06

Dalton is the 5th town in the Berkshires to adopt the Scenic Mountain Act, which gives communities the authority to protect scenic mountaintops and ridgelines above 1,500 feet above sea level.

According to the Berkshire Eagle, Monterey, Richmond, and Stockbridge have fully adopted the Scenic Mountain Act, and Lenox is currently in the process of writing its bylaws for the act.

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Save energy and money - computer tips

--A single computer with monitor running 8 hours a day, 5 days a week consumes approximate 850 KWH per year at a local cost of about $60. Activation of the power management features built into your computer can save up to 80% of that energy and cost.
http://pmdb.cadmusdev.com/powermanagement/quickCalc.html
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_management

--Limit screen-saver use. A screen saver does not save energy. In fact, more often than not, a screen saver not only will draw power for the monitor, but also will keep the CPU from shutting down. You can set your computer to go from screen-saver to sleep mode.
http://www.nrel.gov/sustainable_nrel/energy_saving.html

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PCBs and Dioxins possible culprit for changing human sex ratios?

Professor Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester, New York, not far from Sarnia Reservation, says that levels of contamination on the reservation are "incredible" and that the "first assumption" must be that they are to blame for far fewer male babies that expected being born. She believes that changing sex ratios may often provide an indication of dangerous pollution, and that low levels of exposure to such ubiquitous chemicals as dioxins and PCBs may explain the decline in boys in industrialised countries.

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Truck Drivers beware: Turn Engines Off When Not Rolling - Cars, too!

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) announced today that it has cited 10 truck operators – nine companies and a hospital – for keeping stopped vehicles running in violation of a state law that limits most engine idling to five minutes or less.

This law applies to cars, too! ( Local Idle Free Campaign)

MassDEP inspectors identified the violators during an enforcement sweep of neighborhood streets, shopping centers, truck terminals, and distribution facilities last fall in 10 communities - none in the Berkshires.

Twelve of 50 trucks observed were found to be idling too long during stops. Given weather conditions and how the trucks were being used at the time, MassDEP inspectors determined that running their engines for more than five minutes was “unnecessary” and therefore in violation of the idling law.

MassDEP is requiring the 10 truck operators it cited for violations to provide driver training so their employees will know what the law requires and how people’s health can be affected by excessive idling:

Diesel exhaust contains fine particles that can penetrate deeply into the lungs and cause breathing difficulties, respiratory infections, and attacks of asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Gasoline exhaust contains toxic carbon monoxide and a range of pollutants that contribute to smog.

State law and MassDEP regulations limit vehicle idling to no more than five minutes in most cases. A vehicle may idle longer only if absolutely necessary. The law applies to both diesel and gasoline vehicles. It includes exceptions for vehicles that are being serviced, making deliveries that require power for refrigeration, and operating power accessories. MassDEP, police departments, and local boards of health are empowered to enforce the state’s idling restrictions.

Last spring and the previous fall, MassDEP conducted a statewide crackdown on engine idling violations by school bus operators, observing 651 buses at 56 elementary, middle, and high schools. Three companies were cited for repeated violations, and a number of non-compliance notices were issued, but excessive idling dropped significantly between the first and second rounds of inspections in part due to training the agency provided to school bus operators across the state. The agency has also developed an Idling Reduction Toolkit to help Massachusetts’ towns and cities combat air pollution from unnecessary vehicle idling.

MassDEP is planning a second round of truck inspections over the next couple of months. The agency is also working to reduce smoke from buses, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles by requiring them to undergo emissions testing every other year and by requiring new diesel engines sold in Massachusetts to meet stringent California emission standards.

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PCB Blood Tests for students, teachers, and parents?

PITTSFIELD 4/11 According to a Berkshire Eagle article — Members of the Allendale Elementary School community will soon be able to have state-funded tests to determine the PCB levels in their blood.

The DPH announced last December that it would offer free blood tests to children, teachers and parents. The department has been working to develop a protocol that would provide accurate analysis and put the results in context so that the subjects can understand what the numbers mean.

Allendale Principal Ann Kuhn said yesterday [4/10] that she expects the school to send a letter to parents and teachers this week, informing them of the program and providing a Department of Public Health number to call if they are interested.

previously Pittsfield's Pediatricians Protest PCBs

Two Pittsfield pediatricians, Dr. Richard Rosenfeld and Dr. Siobhan McNally urged the City Council and Mayor James M. Ruberto to stop the dumping of PCB-contaminated waste at two toxic waste sites right behind Allendale Elementary School.

Rosenfeld told the council that a letter addressed to Mayor Ruberto(pdf) summarizing recent PCB research and detailing the reasons why the pediatricians believe the children and staff at Allendale School are at risk. All of Pittsfield's pediatricians signed a letter to Mayor James M. Ruberto urging the community to speak out against the two PCB dumps.

McNally, co-chairwoman of the Massachusetts American Academy of Pediatrics Environmental Health Committee, gave a three-minute presentation detailing the risks of PCB-contamination.

"I think it's important to emphasize that PCBs have no margin of safety and given the fact that PCB levels at Allendale Elementary School have been above background level, I think we need to take this under serious consideration," she said.

State and federal officials have maintained that tests conducted at Allendale have shown little or no detectable levels of PCBs and that the school is safe, but McNally said that prenatal research has shown that exposure to low levels of PCBs have been linked to very serious health effects that have been documented in medical journals. Based on this documentation, McNally said the state Department of Public Health has received funding to do an environmental tracking study on developmental disabilities in Berkshire County children to see if there are any links to PCB contaminant data.

Rosenfeld said he and McNally had also decided to address the council to advocate on behalf of the Allendale Task Force, a group of parents and teachers from the elementary school.

"The Allendale Task Force believes that every child has the right to attend an environmentally safe school," Rosenfeld said. "Despite the assurances from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Public Health, we believe that this is not possible."

Rosenfeld and McNally advised the city council and the mayor to call on GE and the EPA to stop the dumping and cap the dump sites, "until a safer alternative for the disposal and/or treatment of PCB residues and other toxins can be found."

For more on this issue see BEAT's GE and PCBs web pages

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New Species of Millipede Discovered by BCC Student

During a recent field trip to northeastern Costa Rica, Kate Edwards, an 18-year-old Berkshire Community College (BCC) student discovered a new species of millipede. Edwards, a recent graduate from New Lebanon (N.Y.) Central High School, was on a January field trip to Costa Rica as part of BCC's tropical ecosystems course, taught by professors Tom Tyning and Tim Flanagan. A total of 10 students participated in the trip.

During the trip, the class went out to explore the Caribbean slope. Edwards, who has a deep interest in herpetology, was looking for elusive low-laying pit vipers when she spotted a familiar shape crawling along a rotten log. Edwards' species will be the third new species of millipede to be found in Costa Rica in recent years. The other two were discovered by Edwards' friend and colleague Mike Boston, an Irish biologist, who also acts as a naturalist guide on the Osa Peninsula, where he discovered his species. The Osa Peninsula is located in the southwest corner of Costa Rica, miles from the Caribbean slope. The two geographies produce different habitats for the millipedes: Boston's were found in dense untouched "primary" forests, while Edwards' find was in a less dense secondary forest.

"It really ticks me off when an 18-year-old, second-semester, BCC student looks down at the ground and says, 'Hey, I think these are something different,' " joked Tyning at a recent presentation to the college's Board of Trustees. He added that he was very proud to have Edwards as a student. In addition to being an environmental science professor, Tyning is a well known herpetologist, having authored several books and worked with Mass Audubon for nearly 25 years.

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The filters from the air exchange machines at the Allendale Elementary School have apparently been thrown away. Tim Gray, Director of the Housatonic River Initiative, said Board of Health Director Philip Adamo reiterated last week, when the state Department of Public Health held a meeting at the school, that these filters would not be changed.

According to the Berkshire Eagle article: Superintendent of Schools Katherine E. Darlington said that the air filters inside the school were supposed to be changed in December, and that school custodians changed them during school vacation last week as part of their regular maintenance. "It was part of the routine maintenance that was going to be done," Darlington said. Darlington, who did not attend last week's meeting, was unaware of any agreement to save the filters.

David Martindale of California Avenue, whose daughter attends Allendale, said he was both "angry" and "incensed" that the air filters had been disposed of. "This is a travesty," he said. "Everybody talks about data, and now the last piece has been thrown out. It seems very convenient that this happened. It's not like it was a big secret that we didn't want the filters changed."

School staff members known as the "Allendale Safety Committee" released a written statement yesterday expressing their frustration at the most recent turn of events.

"We are frustrated and disturbed by the lack of communication between our city officials and state agencies," the committee's statement read. "There is no one person overseeing the PCB issue at Allendale school. As a result, different groups are unaware of what others are doing.

For more on this story check BEAT's Allendale School page.

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