1. Presentation by Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator, US EPA Region 2 October 2011 PCBs in Lighting Fixtures in NYC Schools
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9. EPA National Guidance This ballast sparked a fire at a southern California school in 1999 An old ballast that burst unexpectedly Recommends that schools take steps to address exposures to PCBs from older fluorescent lighting fixtures.
10. 2011 New Jersey Department of Education Letter Letter to all NJ Chief School Administrators and Business Administrators referencing the EPA national guidance and recommending that schools “survey and inventory all light fixtures in schools built before 1979 and develop a plan to replace those identified to contain PCBs within the ballasts.”
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14. Summary of EPA Sampling Results Exceeds one million parts per million; pure PCBs School Borough Date of Sampling Event Number of Samples Taken Number of Samples > 50 ppm (mg/kg) Range of Exceedances in ppm (mg/kg) PS 53 Staten Island 1/8/2011 33 22 51 – 260,000 PS 11 Brooklyn 1/15/2011 28 18 51 – 3,000 PS 13 PS 358 Brooklyn 1/22/2011 7 7 70 - 560 PS 68 Bronx 1/29/2011 13 10 61 – 1,260 PS 206 PS 37 PS 112 Manhattan 2/5/2011 10 1 3 (14 total) 9 1 2 (12 total) 95 – 7,600 PS 45 Brooklyn 2/12/2011 19 19 830 –670,000 PS 306 Brooklyn 2/19/2011 31 25 480 –1,200,000
27. Looking Forward Need this issue addressed in every school building older than 1979 that has not replaced its lighting
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Notas do Editor
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are human-made organic chemicals that were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications before their production was banned and their use restricted
January 2009 - NYC agreed to conduct pilot study in five schools to evaluate PCBs in caulk Summer 2010 - NYC took air, dust and soil samples at three schools (one each in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx) Test results released by NYCDOE showed air and soil levels above health-based benchmarks (some were elevated)
Determined that widespread leaking PCB-containing lighting ballasts were contributing to elevated air levels
Many schools in the United States built before 1979 have light ballasts containing PCBs EPA has also seen evidence of leaking PCBs in light ballasts in schools in Oregon, North Dakota, and Massachusetts If a school was built prior to 1979, it is likely that the lighting fixtures contain PCB ballasts if they have not been updated
In December 2010 EPA released national guidance recommending that schools remove older PCB-containing lighting ballasts
Other Agencies in Region 2 (NY and NJ) are issuing guidance information.
During January and February 2011, EPA conducted seven targeted inspections of lighting fixtures at public schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx 145 samples taken total 113 samples showed results above the EPA regulatory limit of 50 ppm At each school, at least two-thirds of the samples taken showed results above the regulatory limit At PS 306 in Brooklyn, two sample showed a result of approximately 1,000,000 ppm, or 100% PCBs
(Chairs are upside down, they are stored this way).
February 2011 NYC DOE announced its "Comprehensive Plan to Increase Energy Efficiency and Environmental Quality at Schools” The Plan calls for the removal and replacement of all PCB lighting ballasts throughout the entire school system over the course of ten years Approximately 754 NYC schools have PCB-containing ballasts
42 City Council members signed a letter to the RA of EPA Region 2 The New York City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Committee on Education held a hearing on April 13, 2011 Interest from: Representatives Jose E. Serrano, Joseph Crowley and Jerrold Nadler; Senator Charles Schumer; Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, among many others
And what do we mean by “a strategic approach to energy management”? Over the past decade, ENERGY STAR has observed that leading organizations are implementing a number best practices in designing and implementing their energy management programs. In fact, EPA has been able to distill the common elements of these successful practices to create a set of guidelines to help other organizations kick-start their energy management efforts. The ENERGY STAR Guidelines for Strategic Energy Management are shown above, and much more information is available online. In short however, these guidelines act as a roadmap to help organizations assess energy performance, set reduction goals, track savings over time, and recognize and reward improvements. The first step is making a top-level commitment to continuous improvement of energy performance. A great way to do this is to join ENERGY STAR as a partner. Today, though, we are focusing on the second critical step, assess performance.
In NYC, need to prevent exposure ASAP Global Issue
NYSERDA, NYPA and LIPA have funding and technical assistance. Other EPA resources: ENERGY STAR Building Upgrade Manual - http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/EPA_BUM_Full.pdf Energy Efficiency Programs in K-12 Schools - http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/documents/pdf/k-12_guide.pdf ENERGY STAR primer on financing energy efficiency projects, including through performance contracting - http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/COO-CFO_Paper_final.pdf . US Dept. of Energy Resources: DOE’s EnergySmart Schools program - http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energysmartschools/about.html Guide to Operating and Maintaining EnergySmart Schools - http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/energysmartschools/ess_o-and-m-guide.pdf Guide to Financing EnergySmart Schools - http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energysmartschools/financing_guide.html
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