04/28/2001

Airborne chemicals become sticky issue

Standards: Neighborhoods are forced to deal with a number of hazardous
gases emitted by factories.

By Christian Wihtol
The Register-Guard

JUST HOW dangerous - or how much of a neighborhood nuisance - are
chemical fumes from local motor coach factories?

The answer appears to depend in part on how close you are to the factory
and which way the wind is blowing.

In Coburg, scores of people live a few hundred feet south of Monaco Coach
Corp.'s paint-spraying booths. The wind often blows from the north,
pushing a cocktail of toluene, xylenes, ethyl benzene and other federally
classified hazardous chemicals toward the homes. The result: Neighbors
have filed nearly 600 complaints with the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority in the past two years. Earlier this year, they filed a trespass and nuisance lawsuit
against Monaco in U.S. District Court.

In Junction City, Country Coach's RV factory sits at the south edge town,
with the prevailing winds blowing from the north. Country Coach's paint
booths, fiberglass shop and wood shop emit toluene, styrene and other fumes. But
much of the factory is surrounded by vacant farm land. The result: Just
two complaints to LRAPA in recent years - one in 1997, and one in 1998 - both
citing smelly chemical vapors. The 1998 complaint said there had been a
"thick" odor of paint and paint thinner in the vicinity of the plant for three to four
months.

Chemicals the RV plants emit can be hazardous in high concentrations. But
once in the air, these volatile compounds are quickly diluted and break
down, experts say. Unlike, for example, dioxin or DDT, they don't linger for years in
the environment and in people, said LRAPA Director Brian Jennison.

So, the farther away you are from the factory - preferably upwind - the
better.

Just what amounts of these chemicals are safe to have in the air around
your home, no one knows for sure. No government agency has enforceable
neighborhood air standards for these compounds.

Setting such standards would be hugely difficult, because of many
variables. Would the level be different for adults than for children?
What hazard, if any, is posed by miniscule traces over many years? What effect, if any, do the chemicals have in combination - a whiff of styrene, mixed in with toluene
and topped off by a bit of ethyl benzene?

"The issue of assessing risks is somewhat in its infancy," said Andy
Ginsberg, the top air quality official with the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality.

The DEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are considering
creating neighborhood standards for some air toxics, but any rules are
many years away.

The EPA has this to say about the chemicals commonly emitted by RV
factories:

Toluene: Fumes may cause headaches, nausea and central nervous system
dysfunction, such as impaired speech and vision. No link to cancer has
been proven, but the studies are inconclusive.

Xylenes: Fumes may cause respiratory irritation, nausea, headaches,
tremors and incoordination. No information is available on the
carcinogenic effects in humans.

Ethyl Benzene: Fumes may irritate the nose, throat and eyes and cause
dizziness. Studies on animals showed birth defects, but no information is
available on humans. No one knows if it causes cancer in humans or animals.

Styrene: Fumes can cause headaches, fatigue, depression, eye irritation,
respiratory effects. There may be a link between styrene exposure and
leukemia and lymphoma cancers, but there's not enough information to be sure. Some
health agencies classify styrene as a probable carcinogen.

These chemicals are hardly a rarity. Toluene and xylenes, for example,
are in many household paints and varnishes. Check the label of the paint
and spray cans in your garage and you'll probably find them listed. You'll also find
warnings saying the fumes can cause nervous system damage and suggesting
you wear a respirator or use the liquids in a well-ventilated area.

In response to complaints from neighbors, Monaco tested the air in the
subdivision immediately south of the Coburg plant for four hours one day
last December when the spray booths were running.

Monaco's consultant, Paul Carlson Associates, a Milwaukie environmental
firm, took one-hour samples at four spots. Carlson noted that the winds
shifted during the testing, coming from the north, then from the south, and then
from north.

The tests found traces of toluene, xylenes, styrene, ethyl benzene,
isopropanol, acetone, and other chemicals. Carlson researched databases,
including the EPA's, on the chemicals and their effects. Even the highest traces found
were far below any suggested danger levels, Carlson said.

Toluene was found at 25 micrograms per cubic meter. The EPA's suggested
long-term exposure limit is 400 micrograms per cubic meter. That limit is
based on whatever studies have been conducted on the chemical, with a large safety
factor added. The limit is supposed to represent a level that won't be
harmful even if it is present for a number of years, the EPA says.

Carlson also found 34 micrograms per cubic meter of xylenes. The federal
suggested long-term exposure limit is 430 micrograms. And, Carlson found 7
micrograms per cubic meter of ethyl benzene. The suggested long-term
limit is 1,000 micrograms.

"The results, although encouraging, should be verified by additional
sampling," Carlson wrote. Monaco says it plans more testing this month or
next.

Country Coach, meanwhile, says it does not believe its fumes pose a
hazard to neighbors. Spokeswoman Carol Taylor-Clay noted there had been
only two complaints and added, "It was not determined that the odor even
originated from Country Coach."

Worry about RV factory fumes isn't limited to Lane County.

In 1996, Bend-based SMC Corp. moved fiberglass manufacturing from its
Harrisburg factory to a plant in Hines in Eastern Oregon. The Hines
factory created a couple of hundred jobs, and brought with it 50 to 60 tons a year of
styrene fumes.

The factory sits near other businesses, and homes are about a quarter
mile away, said Thane Jennings, who regulates the plant for the DEQ.

Even tiny traces of styrene can be smelled, and SMC's fumes have sparked
plenty of complaints, Jennings said. In some years, he said, he's
received as many as 40 complaints.

"It's from everyone - neighbors, businesses, people walking their dogs,
people jogging," he said. Recently, he said, the complaints have tapered
off to less than a dozen a year. "Probably that's only because people got tired of
complaining and not getting any results," he said.

The DEQ has sampled the air near the plant and found traces of styrene
far below any suggested hazard levels, Jennings said.

SMC declined to comment.

Lane County's biggest emitter of styrene fumes - about 35 tons a year -
is Monaco's fiberglass factory off High Banks Road in east Springfield.
But the plant is largely circled by hundreds of acres of marshes and farmland, and no one has ever complained to LRAPA. The nearest homes are a third of a mile
away.

- Christian Wihtol


Christian Wihtol
Business Editor
The Register-Guard
541-338-2381