Citizens Striving for Cleaner Air:
Group Keeps Pressure on Foundry

Pacific Steel is Installing a Carbon-Absorption System, But More Needs to be Done

DOROTHY VRIEND / The Berkeley Voice 11nov2005

JANICE SCHROEDER helped found Neighbors for Clean Air in 1981 after she began suffering headaches, nausea, eye and throat irritation, as well as tightness in her chest, while working in her garden.

Janice Schroeder, a longtime West Berkeley resident, was happy to hear last month of plans by Pacific Steel Casting to reduce the odor of burnt rubber that residents say emanates into nearby neighborhoods. But after nearly a quarter century of battling the company over pollution, she is still worried that it is not doing enough to ensure the neighborhood is safe from toxic chemicals used by the foundry located at Second and Gilman streets.

"I think it is good news that they are finally willing to put a carbon-absorption system on Plant 3," Schroeder said. "I don't think it's going to solve the problem. I think it's an important first step."

Schroeder is one of the founders of Neighbors for Clean Air, formed in 1981 to address Pacific Steel Casting's pollution issues. This year, a new group has formed, the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, to keep up the pressure. Schroeder is also a member of that group.

PSC makes high-quality steel castings, including parts for trucks, wheelchair lifts, shipping containers, gas meters, water systems, school buses, ski lifts and the Bay Bridge retrofit. It also exports to Europe and Australia.

The company first came to Schroeder's attention nearly 25 years ago. She found when working in her garden that she suffered headaches, nausea, eye and throat irritation, as well as tightness in her chest, and smelled an odor like burning pot handles.

She wrote the state Department of Health in 1981 and learned that these symptoms were consistent with exposure to phenol and formaldehyde, both used in the steel-casting process. This discovery caused neighbors to organize in an effort to force the foundry to reduce emissions, eventually resulting in an odor-abatement order from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in 1985.

PSC addressed the odor issues by putting carbon filters on its areas of operations known as Plant 2 in 1984 and on Plant 1 in 1991.

But residents continued to smell the odor and complain to the district. This spring, the air district issued violation notices to PSC after getting a raft of citizen complaints that were verified by district inspectors who came to Berkeley to follow up. Then, in the summer, the air quality management district requested an updated health risk assessment to investigate potential impacts to the community.

With the health risk assessment under way, PSC decided to put in a third carbon-absorption system on the one remaining plant that doesn't have it. It plans to install the filtration system by next fall.

Company representatives say steel production has risen, causing the company to use facilities previously underused.

"We don't even want to wait for everyone to tell us what to do anymore," said PSC's environmental engineer Chris Chan. "We just want to jump in and take care of it. I think it's important."

While Schroeder considers the announcement an important step, she is asking for more. "I would like them to use less harmful chemicals in their production," Schroeder said.

Sarah Simonet, one of the founders of West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, puts it this way: "We have a goal of making sure the factory has zero toxic emissions. The longstanding history of this issue is that a lot of times what is being addressed is only the odor, not necessarily the toxic emissions."

Residents say the carbon filters on Plant 2 haven't eliminated all the odors at that operation, leading them to question how the filtration system is managed and whether all emission sources are hooked up to the system.

Chan said carbon filtration does more than address the odors.

"It is a very effective way of treating air. It removes the odorous material and nonodorous materials that may be toxic," Chan said.

Luna Salaver, public information officer for BAAQMD, called carbon absorption a state-of-the art, preferred method for abating odors. As for preventing all toxins from escaping, she said she could not give a definitive answer.

"Each carbon-absorption device has a different efficiency rating. Without seeing what they propose to install, we can't give an indication whether that would be the answer to all their issues," Salaver said.

While the company has been cited several times for odor violations, it has never been cited for toxic emissions, said PSC spokesperson Elisabeth Jewel. But the plant's toxic emissions also have never been tested, she said. Testing for toxic emissions is required as part of the health risk assessment now under way.

The assessment will measure toxic air contaminants emitted by the facility, according to a Sept. 15 test protocol document prepared for PSC by the Avogadro Group.

The test protocol document, submitted to BAAQMD, lists particulate matter, phenol, formaldehyde, benzene and trace metals including arsenic, chromium, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc among the substances that air samples will be tested for. Several of these, such as chromium, benzene and nickel, are on the state EPA's list of known carcinogens. PSC's emissions inventory report is scheduled to be released early next year.

Peter Guerrero, a former federal environmental regulator and member of the Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, said PSC needs to improve housekeeping and use fewer toxic substances in addition to adding more equipment.

PSC's processes include making sand casts into which molten metal is poured. One of the community's concerns centers on the binders or glues used to solidify the sand casts. When the molten metal is poured into the hardened cast, the binders get burnt and create byproducts that are currently exhausted through roof vents, according to the test protocol document.

Binders used by PSC include phenols and polymeric resins. This summer, PSC experimented with alternative binders in an attempt to reduce odors but rejected them after finding that they lowered the quality of their products.

"They need to continue to look for alternative substances until they find something that is less toxic and that works. They are giving up prematurely in our opinion," Guerrero said.

Jewel said searching for alternative binders is an ongoing process but could be a long-term effort. Jewel said the company chose to install the carbon-absorption system as a more immediate solution.

"We know the community wants results, so the company is moving expeditiously to abate the odor now," Jewel said.

Schroeder, who says she still suffers nausea and other symptoms when the odors from the plant are heavy, points to daycare centers, a skate park and a soccer park within a few blocks of PSC's foundry, where young children are exposed to emissions.

"I'm not saying Pacific Steel Casting accounts for all the toxic chemicals in the air. They contribute," Schroeder said. "I live a mile away. If I'm getting symptoms a mile away, I have concern for workers at Pacific Steel and the people who live closer."