MillWatch #40 (February 2003): Tests Find High Levels of Toxic Air Pollution

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Tests Find High Levels of Toxic Air Pollution

They waited for a foul wind, then volunteers tested the local air

Testing and Equipment

Our tests evaluated two types of monitoring equipment and looked for measurable levels of pulp mill pollution in ambient neighbourhood air. The tests focused on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and total reduced sulphur compounds (RSC or TRS). Those chemicals represent both the commonly encountered stink of kraft pulp mills and many of the toxic elements of pulp mill pollution. There are other important air pollutants not captured in these tests.

Amazingly, we found that no lab in BC was capable of analysing for these compounds in community air. Our test samples had to go to Alberta.

We built sampling buckets based on a model developed by pollution activists in the USA and tested them alongside specially designed vacuum canisters from the Alberta Research Council. The buckets were cheaper to build and maintain, but less reliable for many compounds and they must be delivered to the lab within 24 hours for valid results.

The Alberta Research Council canisters were the best way to test community air. Still, the technology is not even as sensitive as the human nose for some compounds. The cost is $750 plus taxes, shipping and handling to analyse each sample and there is a $100 per month rental fee.

Last fall, as part of the Reach for Unbleached! program on Pulp Mills, Pollution and Your Health, volunteers living near two of BC’s mill communities took air samples and sent them to the lab to find out what they were really breathing on those "bad air" days.

The results were startling.

An attempted sample in Gibsons near Howe Sound only turned up a profile of vehicle exhaust. But the story was different near Crofton. Pollution associated with the Crofton pulp mill was found above recommended levels in the air outside people's homes approximately 10 kilometres from the mill.

Total Reduced Sulphur Compounds (TRS) were over 5 times the provincial guidelines.

The highly toxic compound, phenol, was present at a concentration 30% higher than the level California lists as a health risk from chronic exposure.

A number of other toxic chemicals were present in low levels. Despite not being present in high concentrations, the mere presence of these compounds at such a great distance was astonishing to Grant Hill, the Alberta Research Council chemist who analysed the samples.

Usually, moving 2 kilometres from a point source dilutes sulphur compounds 60-80,000 times. That they can still be detected in the concentrations seen here is likely caused by our coastal BC terrain and weather. "This doesn't happen on the Prairies," said Hill.

BC has a provincial guideline for TRS of 5 ppb. Staff at the Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection explained that the monitors used by the province, which are less precise that those we used, would have actually measured the sulphur compounds we detected at between 30-to-38 ppb.

We discovered that the level of TRS we detected from the Crofton mill is not all that unusual. No direct action is, or can be, taken against any mill for exceeding the BC air quality objectives because they are unenforceable guidelines. The ministry does try to use this kind of evidence to pressure mills into making improvements.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has an extensive list of chemicals that pose a health hazard from both acute (immediate, high level) and chronic (long-term, lower level) exposures. The phenol readings from this one test are well above the recommendation for levels that can cause damage when inhaled regularly over a long period of time (called the chronic Inhalation reference exposure level).

Our tests are from a 5-minute sample of air. Most regulations are based on one-hour averages. Given the probable frequency of these occurrences, recent studies that show how averages can miss important peak exposures, and that none of the regulations take into account that we are breathing a huge mix of chemicals whose combined effects are unknown, these results are significant.

Volunteer Monitors

Our four key volunteers were an eclectic, dedicated bunch: A painter, a potter/instrument maker, a journalist, and a nurse. They shared the characteristic of either working from home, or spending chunks of time at home. Because of this, they all were aware of recurring pollution episodes in their neighbourhoods that other people might have missed.

They formed small "sniffer" networks, sharing phone numbers and schedules. Because of limited testing resources, our volunteers were very selective about when to test. "Does it stink really bad, or just kinda bad, today?" was a question they asked each other often.

Even when a "really bad" stink came up, a sniffer couldn't always get a hold of the tester and the tester couldn't always get to the stink before it moved away.

Obviously, some enhanced experimental structure would have helped. But we weren't out to do a full scientific analysis of the distribution, frequency, concentration and duration of airborne pulp mill VOCs and RSCs. Maybe the Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection or an eager PhD student can do that work. Our community activists are clear: while this was an interesting, valuable experiment, testing and monitoring is not their job.

We wanted to test some sampling methods and just see if there was anything out there we could detect - and we succeeded on both counts. We hope it helps pressure governments to give some teeth to the rules that are supposed to protect our health and the environment.

Test Results

Volatile Organic Compounds: 109 parts per billion (ppb) including
     Phenol at 67 ppb and
     Alpha Pinene at 29 ppb.
Total Reduced Sulphur Compounds: 25 ppb, including
     Dimethyl Disulfide at 11 ppb;
     Dimethyl Sulfide at 10 ppb; and
     Carbon Disulfide at 4 ppb.

Toxicity Information

Phenol: More hazardous than most chemicals in 5 out of 12 ranking systems.

Suspected: Cardiovascular or Blood, Developmental, Gastrointestinal or Liver, Kidney, Reproductive, Respiratory, Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant; Neurotoxicant.

Chronic Toxicity: Inhalation reference exposure level 200 ug/m 3 (50 ppb). TEST: 67 ppb

Alpha-Pinene: Less hazardous than most chemicals in 1 ranking system.

Hydrogen Sulfide: (while not present in our tests, this is considered the primary component of pulp mill TRS. The three other TRS components were present in levels near or over the chronic toxicity level of H2S)

Suspected: Cardiovascular or Blood, Reproductive, Respiratory Toxicant; Neurotoxicant

Chronic Toxicity Summary: Inhalation reference exposure level 10 mg/m 3 (8 ppb)

Acute Toxicity Summary: (1-hour exposure) Inhalation reference exposure level 42 mg/m (30 ppb); TEST: 25 ppb

Dimethyl Disulfide: 5 of 8 basic tests to identify chemical hazards have not been conducted on this chemical, or are not publicly available.

Dimethyl Sulphide: 5 of 8 basic tests to identify chemical hazards have not been conducted on this chemical, or are not publicly available.

Carbon Disulfide: On California's Chemicals Known to the State to Cause Reproductive Toxicity list. More hazardous than most chemicals in 4 out of 10 ranking systems.

MillWatch

No. 40 February 2003

Tests Find High Levels of Toxic Air Pollution

Testing and Equipment

Test Results

Toxicity Information

No. 40
February 2003