Coal ash. "Clearer rules needed on coal ash dumping," is the lead editorial today in the Indianapolis Star.
Open burning. "State may monitor ammo plant fires: Recent spike in lead levels within air quality standards," is the headline to this story today in the Louisville Courier Journal. A quote:
The burning of contaminated buildings at the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant last winter did not violate air-quality standards, according to a new state study. But the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, which did the study, said more monitoring may be done for future burns. And an agency administrator said the Army could be required to do a more thorough clean-up of the buildings — depending on the level of contamination — before setting fire to them.[Update 5/15/04] This story today in the Marion Chronicle-Tribune is headlined "IDEM halting training burns: Abandoned property burning could be bad for air quality." Some quotes:
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is limiting the number of abandoned properties the city of Marion may burn legally, complicating the city's efforts to get rid of blighted houses. Open burning is restricted under state law, including for fire departments like Marion's that uses the controlled burning of abandoned or rundown houses for fire training.Here is an IDEM press release from 5/13/04 on its push to curb open burning. Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 14, 2004 12:42 PMAmy Hartsock, an IDEM public information officer, said the restriction on open burns is because of concerns about poor air quality. "What we want to do is start working more closely with the fire departments to make sure their training needs are met, but at the same time that these burning activities are not excessive," Hartsock said. * * * Hartsock said IDEM would probably limit the city to three or four houses a year.