http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/toxic_barge_spill Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:18:58 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/14460 Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/14460 trailers and mobile homes to house Katrina victims.  FEMA's requirements were detailed in a mere 25 lines, with minimal details regarding occupant safety.  Today, industry and government experts say this is linked to a public health catastrophe involving 300,000 people, many children, who lived in FEMA homes and were—in many cases—exposed to high formaldehyde levels exceeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommended 15-minute exposure limit for workers.  Fifteen minutes is the limit at which acute health symptoms begin to appear in sensitive individuals.

"I still can't believe that we bought a billion dollars' worth of product with a 25-line spec. There's not much you can do in 25 lines to protect life safety," said Joseph Hagerman, a Federation of American Scientists expert spearheading a $275 million effort, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, to develop new emergency housing. FEMA has also been criticized not responding sooner when it received reports of problems.

Formaldehyde is an industrial chemical that can cause nasal cancer, may be linked to leukemia, and worsens asthma and respiratory problems.  Within months of moving into the trailers, residents began complaining about unusual sickness; breathing problems; burning eyes, noses and throats, and even death.  Formaldehyde is emitted from the resins and glues used in many construction components, including particleboard flooring, plywood wall panels, composite wood cabinets, and laminated countertops. Emissions are greatest in warm weather and when trailers are newly constructed, such as the conditions experienced by Katrina victims.

According to a Washington Post review, the crisis was caused, in part, by weak government contracting, sloppy private construction, a gush of low-quality wood imports from China, and inconsistent regulation, to name a few.  Currently, 17,000 plaintiffs who lived in FEMA units have alleged damaging health consequences—from respiratory problems to dozens of deaths and cancer cases—in a federal class-action lawsuit naming 64 trailer makers and the federal government.  

It seems certain brands and sizes of trailers release more formaldehyde than others and a random sampling of trailers showed examples of every type and brand had very high and very low levels of formaldehyde.  Average formaldehyde levels in the tested units ranged around 77 parts per billion (ppb), which is high enough to increase the chances of cancer and respiratory diseases.

Some say in 2005-2006, much of the nation's hardwood plywood came from Asia and was high in formaldehyde.  China's share of the North American market has grown from four to nearly 40 percent since 2001 and "The most likely source of formaldehyde in the Katrina trailers and in all travel trailers are composite wood products . . . [and] the most likely source for those materials are imported products," primarily from China, said Elizabeth Whalen, director of corporate sustainability for Columbia Forest Products, of Portland, Ore., the association's largest U.S. plywood manufacturer.

FEMA relocated over 4,000 families after receiving 11,000 health complaints; however, about 22,000 of its trailers remain occupied despite a CDC recommendation that all residents be moved to safer housing.  As of May 1, over 3,000 mobile homes were still occupied.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13529 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13529 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that it would finally begin testing toxic trailers distributed to Gulf Coast Hurricane victims for formaldehyde fumes this Friday.   But while FEMA was busy patting itself on the back, many where wondering why FEMA needs to bother testing the toxic trailers at all.   There is already plenty of evidence – including the results of tests conducted by other organizations – that the FEMA trailers are too dangerous for human inhabitation.  

Tests of the toxic FEMA trailers have already been delayed for nearly two months, although FEMA has been dragging its feet in regard to the trailers since concerns over their safety were first raised in 2006.  When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, thousands of those made homeless moved into FEMA trailers.   By 2006 FEMA was getting reports from field workers that residents where getting sick from the air in the toxic trailers.  The first suspect was formaldehyde, which is used in the manufacture of the trailers.   But FEMA tried to ignore the problem.   E-mails uncovered earlier this year during a congressional investigation into the trailers showed that FEMA lawyers told the agency to drag its feet on air quality testing. FEMA’s Office of General Council also advised the agency not to test the trailers because doing so “would imply FEMA’s ownership of the issue”.

Formaldehyde is an invisible gas that is known to cause cancer. It can also cause other illnesses ranging from nose bleeds to chronic bronchitis. The chemical was used as glue in the FEMA trailers and mobile homes. At least two deaths of FEMA trailer residents have been linked to formaldehyde exposure. 

Even without official test results from FEMA, one look at the “Toxic Trailers” website makes it apparent that the shelters are dangerous.   The website is filled with the testimony of FEMA trailer residents who have either suffered from health problems themselves, or have seen their loved ones stricken since moving into the trailers. 

What’s more, tests for formaldehyde fumes have already been done on some of the FEMA trailers and mobile homes inhabited by hurricane victims. According to a report posted on MSNBC.com, the Sierra Club conducted independent tests on 600 FEMA trailers and mobile homes being used along the Gulf Coast in 2006. In some extreme cases, formaldehyde levels in the structures were 70 times higher than what is considered safe. Of the FEMA trailers and mobile homes tested by the Sierra Club, only 23 had formaldehyde levels that “were at less than twice the acceptable long-term exposure limit” of 0.008 ppm, and only 9 where below that standard. The majority of the FEMA trailers had levels of .56 ppm, while the formaldehyde detected in mobile homes was also above the threshold, in some cases as high as 0.1 ppm.

Considering all of this, it’s no wonder that many people feel that the imminent FEMA trailer tests are too little, too late.   In a posting on “Toxic Trailers”, Becky Gillette of the Mississippi Sierra Club says that at this point in time more tests are not the answer.  “Instead of another round of testing, FEMA needs to immediately purchase some formaldehyde free emergency housing,” Gillette wrote.  “That type of housing is available. Since the problem has already been well established, why is FEMA being so slow to act to replenish the stock of housing needed for emergencies?”

Gillette’s question is one many victims of FEMA’s toxic trailers would like to have answered.


]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12617 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12617
The spill, which occurred late Tuesday from a Kirby Inland Marine-owned barge, was as much as 8,000 gallons of a petroleum-based substance called cumene, said the state Environmental Protection Agency. The chemical spill did not appear to pose a serious threat to residents or marine life, the Coast Guard said.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12618 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12618
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Wayne Chapman told CNN that the spill of cumene did not pose an immediate threat to drinking water systems. The solvent, which is used to make other chemicals, floats on the water and evaporates, he said, and had not been detected at water intake systems along the river.

The Kirby Marine barge hit an underwater, moveable dam called a wicket dam, CNN said. The company said it would move the remaining solvent to another barge.

Maggie Carson of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency told CNN the agency is assessing the environmental impact of the spill.

"There's a tremendous volume of water going through there, so there's a dilution factor and this will be taken into consideration as they try to take measures to contain it," Carson said.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12619 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12619
Not enough to be a danger, but a mess that had to be cleaned up none-the-less. You could call it pure luck; a barge carrying cumene got stuck on a lock near Brookport Illinois and spilled some chemicals into the Ohio River.

Ironically, hundreds of local, state and federal leaders were less than 20 minutes away practicing for an event just like this. "We're real fortunate we had some outstanding local state as well as federal agencies on the scene for an exercise" Captain Denise Matthews tells me this barge got stuck Tuesday evening on Lock and Dam 52.

Leaders did not find out until Wednesday morning they had a hazardous problem on their hands. Chemists determined a total of 8,000 gallons of cumene leaked out. "Right now it appears the leaking came to a stop because of water pressure" said Matthews.

Cumene is a component used in paint thinner. The chemical gives off a fallow stench and folks in area got a good whiff earlier in the day.

Leaders did close down Interstate 24 to test the air quality from the bridge to make sure it's ok to breathe "we're still conducting air monitoring to ensure the public safety and result are indicating levels where you can smell it, which is about 50 times lower than what can hurt you so that's good news" said Matthews. She adds its good news because the next step is to load the cumene onto another barge and re-open the Ohio River to boat traffic.]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12627 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/12627
No evacuations or injuries resulted from the Tuesday night accident involving the barge, which spilled 10,300 gallons of the petroleum-based chemical cumene, said Lt. Wayne Chapman, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Paducah, Ky.

Much of that chemical remained trapped in the void between the barge's inner tank and the vessel's outer hull; the amount that actually made its way into the water should be known once crews unload the remaining chemical in the barge, Chapman said.

Air-quality readings near the site showed non-threatening readings, Chapman and Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said.

"Unless you're right up on the barge, you're not getting any readings at all," Chapman said.

The barge, owned by Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine, was en route from the Gulf of Mexico to a port somewhere in the Midwest when it hit a guide wall of Dam 52 on the Illinois side of the river on Tuesday night, puncturing one of several storage tanks, officials said.

The six-tank vessel was carrying a total of about 960,000 gallons of cumene, and the damaged tank held roughly 164,000 gallons, he said.

The Ohio River was closed until about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday for a mile in either direction, Chapman said.

The fast-flowing river was expected to safely disperse any cumene that couldn't be contained, Chapman said.

Efforts to unload some of the chemical from the barge snagged on Wednesday night, when a towboat being used to couple the damaged barge with an empty one hit the same lock wall, damaging that vessel, Chapman said. Offloading was delayed again Thursday when severe storms rolled through the area, officials said.

Cumene, also called isopropyl benzene, is used in the manufacture of plastics, Kirby Inland Marine spokesman Mark Buese said.

Inhaling the chemical can cause headaches and dizziness and irritate the eyes, nose and throat, according to the National Institutes of Health Web site. It also can be damaging to animals directly exposed to it, according to the EPA.

As a precaution, local authorities closed Fort Massac State Park, near the spill site, until it was reopened Thursday after it was deemed safe for public use, Thompson said.

"We're continuing to monitor it and working with locals to see if there's any assistance they want," she said. "Right now, it looks like most things are more or less under control."]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/toxic_barge_spill Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/toxic_barge_spill Ohio River Toxic Bar Spill On February 27, 2007 thousands of gallons of a toxic chemical spilled into the Ohio River between Illinois and Kentucky after a barge collide with a lock wall. The spill late Tuesday was estimated to be up to 8,000 gallons of a petroleum-based substance called cumene, said Maggie Carson, a state EPA spokeswoman.

Kirby Inland Marine, the Houston-based owner, said the barge crashed into the guide wall of a lock that helps manage water flow. State officials earlier said it had run aground. The barge was en route from the Gulf of Mexico to a port somewhere in the Midwest, a company official stated.

Contact with cumene can irritate skin and eyes, cause headaches in humans if inhaled, and be damaging to animals directly exposed to it. It is used in a variety of petroleum products, manufacturing, as paint thinner and as a component of high-octane fuels, according to the EPA Web site. Cumene is used in a variety of petroleum products.  Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure to cumene may cause headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, slight incoordination, and unconsciousness in humans. 

Cumene has a potent central nervous system (CNS) depressant action characterized by a slow induction period and long duration of narcotic effects in animals.  Cumene is a skin and eye irritant.  No information is available on the chronic (long-term), reproductive, developmental, or carcinogenic effects of cumene in humans.  Animal studies have reported increased liver, kidney, and adrenal weights from inhalation exposure to cumene.  EPA has classified cumene as a Group D, not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity.

The U.S. Coast Guard categorizes oil spills into three sizes: Minor; less than 1,000 gallons; Medium; 1,000 to 9,999 gallons; and Major, 10,000 gallons or more. Major spills are the largest contributor, medium spills are somewhat significant, and the minor spills (most are under 100 gallons) are insignificant.

If you or a loved one has experienced health ailments as a result of this toxic chemical barge spill, please fill out the form at the right for a response from a qualified attorney. Additionally, Call 1-800-LAW-INFO for a free evaluation.]]>