Government and Social Leadership Stands United as GCLAC Against Lead Poisoning in NEO - Committed to Eradication by 2010

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 22:09.

The most important message communicated at today's press conference kicking-off Lead Awareness Week was that our government leadership at the state, county and municipal level stand united to eradicate lead poisoning in Northeast Ohio by 2010. Publicly expressing their concern about lead poisoning here, and their commitment to its rapid elimination, East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones added important voices to the chorus of public health and social service champions of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council... a unique, world-class collaboration of around 85 organizations.

WKYC TV-3 did a nice job of picking-up the news, which may be viewed on-line here.

Throughout the week, related activities are planned across the region, including free lead testing for children and a resource fair, as listed below.

 

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Environmental Risks

  Every day, anywhere, our lives are exposed to environmental risks.  Northeast Ohio is the most toxic part of the state, but we continue to live here, despite the risk.  Lead is one  major environmental risk, but look over the Toxic Release Inventory for Cuyahoga County. Regulating/eliminating these permitted releases should be our priority now. 

Row # Chemical Total On-site Disposal or Other ReleasesTotal Off-site Disposal or Other ReleasesTotal On- and Off-site Disposal or Other Releases

1 1,1-DICHLORO-1-FLUOROETHANE 3,530 33 3,563
2 1,2,4-TRIMETHYLBENZENE 13,477 20 13,497
3 4,4'-ISOPROPYLIDENEDIPHENOL . . 0
4 ALLYL ALCOHOL . . 0
5 ALLYL CHLORIDE 0 0 0
6 ALUMINUM (FUME OR DUST) 4,610 892,864 897,474
7 AMMONIA 215,225 10,287 225,512
8 ANTIMONY 50 2,467 2,517
9 ANTIMONY COMPOUNDS 1,948 3,461 5,409
10 ARSENIC . . 0
11 BARIUM 250 0 250
12 BARIUM COMPOUNDS 4,796 434,722 439,518
13 BENZENE 591 2 593
14 BENZO(G,H,I)PERYLENE 11 66 77
15 BENZOYL PEROXIDE . . 0
16 BENZYL CHLORIDE . . 0
17 BERYLLIUM . . 0
18 BIS(2-CHLOROETHYL) ETHER . . 0
19 BORON TRICHLORIDE 0 0 0
20 BUTYRALDEHYDE . . 0
21 C.I. BASIC RED 1 0 1,827 1,827
22 C.I. SOLVENT YELLOW 34 . . 0
23 CADMIUM . . 0
24 CADMIUM COMPOUNDS 151 12,341 12,492
25 CERTAIN GLYCOL ETHERS 39,930 4,504 44,434
26 CHLORINE 2 0 2
27 CHROMIUM 596 12,958 13,554
28 CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS(EXCEPT CHROMITE ORE MINED IN THE TRANSVAAL REGION) 661 155,730 156,391
29 COBALT 0 20 20
30 COBALT COMPOUNDS 23 10,981 11,004
31 COPPER 3,143 146,447 149,590
32 COPPER COMPOUNDS 2,670 96,033 98,703
33 CUMENE . . 0
34 CYANIDE COMPOUNDS 2 0 2
35 CYCLOHEXANE 222 0 222
36 DECABROMODIPHENYL OXIDE 0 3,586 3,586
37 DI(2-ETHYLHEXYL) PHTHALATE . . 0
38 DIBUTYL PHTHALATE . . 0
39 DICHLOROMETHANE 5,125 55 5,180
40 DIETHANOLAMINE . . 0
41 DIISOCYANATES 87 0 87
42 DIMETHYL SULFATE . . 0
43 DIOXIN AND DIOXIN-LIKE COMPOUNDS ** 0 **
44 EPICHLOROHYDRIN . . 0
45 ETHYLBENZENE 18,473 65 18,538
46 ETHYLENE GLYCOL 102 0 102
47 ETHYLENE THIOUREA 0 679 679
48 FORMALDEHYDE 5,035 85 5,120
49 FORMIC ACID 146 0 146
50 HYDROCHLORIC ACID (1995 AND AFTER "ACID AEROSOLS" ONLY) 14,038 0 14,038
51 HYDROGEN FLUORIDE 33,322 291 33,613
52 LEAD 9,934 273,491 283,425
53 LEAD COMPOUNDS 5,485 150,007 155,492
54 LITHIUM CARBONATE 65 12,935 13,000
55 MALEIC ANHYDRIDE 1 5 6
56 MANGANESE 1,023 62,178 63,201
57 MANGANESE COMPOUNDS 26,253 2,608,433 2,634,686
58 MERCURY 0 0 0
59 MERCURY COMPOUNDS 35 54 89
60 METHANOL 36,446 22 36,468
61 METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE 4,056 40 4,096
62 METHYL METHACRYLATE 20,921 2,472 23,393
63 MOLYBDENUM TRIOXIDE 1,306 1,675 2,981
64 N,N-DIMETHYLFORMAMIDE 608 0 608
65 N-BUTYL ALCOHOL 18,950 0 18,950
66 N-HEXANE 9,674 167 9,841
67 N-METHYL-2-PYRROLIDONE 19,101 4 19,105
68 NAPHTHALENE 17,523 5 17,528
69 NICKEL 1,706 17,978 19,684
70 NICKEL COMPOUNDS 525 38,676 39,201
71 NITRATE COMPOUNDS 22,469 4,188 26,657
72 NITRIC ACID 58,477 5,156 63,633
73 O-CRESOL . . 0
74 PHENOL 13,382 51 13,433
75 POLYCHLORINATED ALKANES . . 0
76 POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC COMPOUNDS 687 1,800 2,487
77 PROPYLENE . . 0
78 SEC-BUTYL ALCOHOL 15,372 0 15,372
79 SELENIUM COMPOUNDS . . 0
80 SODIUM DIMETHYLDITHIOCARBAMATE . . 0
81 SODIUM NITRITE 1,139 7,248 8,387
82 STYRENE 22,805 25 22,830
83 SULFURIC ACID (1994 AND AFTER "ACID AEROSOLS" ONLY) 11,700 0 11,700
84 TETRACHLOROETHYLENE 115,879 6,240 122,119
85 TOLUENE 30,671 774 31,445
86 TOLUENE-2,4-DIISOCYANATE . . 0
87 TOLUENE-2,6-DIISOCYANATE . . 0
88 TRICHLOROETHYLENE 83,742 74 83,816
89 TRIETHYLAMINE 526 0 526
90 VANADIUM COMPOUNDS 301 45,156 45,457
91 VINYL ACETATE . . 0
92 XYLENE (MIXED ISOMERS) 111,207 568 111,775
93 ZINC (FUME OR DUST) 25,974 2,815 28,789
94 ZINC COMPOUNDS

Eliminate lead hazards AND shut down Mittal

I completely agree we must eliminate all pollutants possible in NEO - I am for shutting down Mittal and all industrial enterprises that harm the region more than they may possibly help (jobs may not be traded for cancer, in a civilized economy).
I am for conservation, to reduce energy consumption, to reduce pollutants.
We must correct the harms of sprawl, to reduce vehicle pollution.
Lead is a pollutant from industry and energyproduction that may be reduced through such practices...
But none of that may be confused with the lead poisoning crisis in NEO, which is largely related to the 400,000+ lead contaminated buildings in Cuyahoga County, plus other lead contaminated buildings in other area counties, urban and rural.

Getting back to industrial pollution here... I chose to live as far away from the causes as I may, and still be "urban", so I moved from Ohio City to East Cleveland. Consider how near you live to the follwoing, from my Mittal posting linked above...

So here was the cost to real NEO in 2003 for the 1,200 "good" jobs that came from all the politicing, and town halling, and backroom dealing, and foreign venture capitaling, per job, in 2003 - and for 2004 we know "the asthma and cancer-causing pollution has risen over 30% from 2003 to 2004" so it is imaginable the results are much worse today, in 2006:

  •  72,500 pounds of air pollution spewed upon our neighborhoods per Mittal employee, in 2003
  • ... that's 31.25 tons of air pollution per employee in 2003
  • 83.3 pounds of pollution discharged into the Cuyahoga River and so Lake Erie per employee in 2003
  • 1 acre of land kept out of clean, sustainable development per employee
  • ... that's 43,560 square feet of blight per employee

Disrupt IT