Stringfellow Acid Pits


Book Description

Stringfellow Acid Pits tells the story of one of the most toxic places in the United States, and of an epic legal battle waged to clean up the site and hold those responsible accountable. In 1955, California officials approached rock quarry owner James Stringfellow about using his land in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, as a hazardous dump site. Officials claimed it was a natural waste disposal site because of the impermeable rocks that underlay the surface. They were gravely mistaken. Over 33 million gallons of industrial chemicals from more than a dozen of the nation’s most prominent companies poured into the site’s unlined ponds. In the 1960s and 1970s, heavy rains forced surges of chemical-laden water into Pyrite Creek and the nearby town of Glen Avon. Children played in the froth, making fake beards with the chemical foam. The liquid waste contaminated the groundwater, threatening the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of California residents. Penny Newman, a special education teacher and mother, led a grassroots army of so-called “hysterical housewives” who demanded answers and fought to clean up the toxic dump. The ensuing three-decade legal saga involved more than 1,000 lawyers, 4,000 plaintiffs, and nearly 200 defendants, and led to the longest civil trial in California history. The author unveils the environmental and legal history surrounding the Stringfellow Acid Pits through meticulous research based on personal interviews, court records, and EPA and other documents. The contamination at the Stringfellow site will linger for hundreds of years. The legal fight has had an equally indelible influence, shaping environmental law, toxic torts, appellate procedure, takings law, and insurance coverage, into the present day.




Hazardous Waste and the Stringfellow Acid Pits


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Impact of Hazardous Waste on Human Health


Book Description

The author of Impact of Hazardous Waste on Human Health is a public health official with the unique perspective that only insider status can provide. His book is intended for policy makers, environmentalists, toxicologists, public health officials, academic personnel, and health care providers. The author addresses six themes: hazardous waste issues must be more vigorously examined, site remediation is critical, risk management must extend beyond waste site clean up, disease prevention must be a priority, interagency partnership is mandatory, and the best technology must be applied. Johnson also considers the pros and cons of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) also known as the "Superfund." His years of experience with this law, and countless other issues related to hazardous waste, make Impact of Hazardous Waste on Human Health an important and positive contribution.




EPA


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Inevitably Toxic


Book Description

Not a day goes by that humans aren’t exposed to toxins in our environment—be it at home, in the car, or workplace. But what about those toxic places and items that aren’t marked? Why are we warned about some toxic spaces' substances and not others? The essays in Inevitably Toxic consider the exposure of bodies in the United States, Canada and Japan to radiation, industrial waste, and pesticides. Research shows that appeals to uncertainty have led to social inaction even when evidence, e.g. the link between carbon emissions and global warming, stares us in the face. In some cases, influential scientists, engineers and doctors have deliberately "manufactured doubt" and uncertainty but as the essays in this collection show, there is often no deliberate deception. We tend to think that if we can’t see contamination and experts deem it safe, then we are okay. Yet, having knowledge about the uncertainty behind expert claims can awaken us from a false sense of security and alert us to decisions and practices that may in fact cause harm. In the epilogue, Hamilton and Sarathy interview Peter Galison, a prominent historian of science whose recent work explores the complex challenge of long term nuclear waste storage.







Hazardous Wastes


Book Description

Hazardous Wastes An illuminating, problem-solving approach to source area analysis, environmental chemodynamics, risk assessment, and remediation In the newly revised second edition of Hazardous Wastes: Assessment and Remediation, a team of distinguished researchers delivers a foundational and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of hazardous waste problems. The book offers two sections—one on assessment and the following on remediation—while exploring topics crucial to the study of environmental science and engineering at the senior or master’s level. This latest edition includes a new emphasis on the chemistry of emerging contaminants, including perfluorinated compounds, 1,4-dioxane, methyl tert-butyl ether, and personal care products. It also offers updated data on contaminant Threshold Limit Value, Reference Dose, Slope Factor, Reference Concentration, and Inhalation Unit Risk. New remediation chapters also provide many design problems, incorporating economic analyses and the selection of various design alternatives. Approximately 200 new end-of-chapter problems—with solutions—have been added as well. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to hazardous wastes, including discussion of pre-regulatory disposal and hazardous waste legislation Comprehensive discussions of common hazardous wastes, including their nomenclature, industrial uses, and disposal histories In-depth explorations of partitioning, sorption, and exchange at surfaces, as well as volatilization Extensive descriptions of the concepts of hazardous waste toxicology and quantitative toxicology Perfect for senior- and masters-level college courses in hazardous wastes in Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, or Chemical Engineering programs, Hazardous Wastes: Assessment and Remediation will also earn a place in the libraries of professional environmental scientists and engineers.