Ohio Updates Fish Advisories: Perch Mercury and PCBs Easing

COLUMBUS (TBD) -- Some of the environmental damage that has made it unhealthy to consume Ohio sports fish is easing. State officials say it is now generally safe to eat yellow perch and sunfish at least twice a week. The updated fish consumption advisory is HERE , and the saddest tidings are that walleye from the Ohio River still are dangerous if consumed more than once a month.

That's a bad break because walleye are considered by many the tastiest fish of all. Along with perch, they are often main dishes in communities near Lake Erie. The Ohio Valley communities don't yet share in the feast.

This year, the Ohio EPA has again put the advisories on the Web but is offering them in four languages -- English, Spanish, Korean and Chinese. State officials also plan to put them in booklets that are passed out when fishing licenses are sold. All an effort to cut down on the toxic hazards of years of chemical dumping, widespread neglect of Mother Nature's gifts and despoiling of land and waterways. It will be a long time, if ever, before fish can be eaten without warnings.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Health Department says mercury is the big problem, especially for women and children. "Fish advisories due to mercury are most serious for women of child-bearing age, pregnant and nursing mothers and children under age 15. Fish contaminated with high levels of mercury have been shown to cause neurological damage and impaired development of young children."

Ohio EPA: GOP Holdover Stays No. 2 Administrator

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A top Ohio EPA official under Republican administrations since 1991 will become No. 2 at the agency under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. Laura Powell, currently the acting administrator, will move back into her old position as assistant director. She will be the chief deputy of Strickland-appointee Chris Korleski, who is scheduled to take over the top spot on Feb. 1.

"Laura's knowledge of the agency and her strong background in legislative and policy issues will be a tremendous asset to the administration, particularly during this time of transition," Korleski said. Powell said she looks forward to working with Korleski, whom she says envisions an "environmentally friendly economic development and a common sense approach to the regulatory process."

Prior to joining Ohio EPA in 1991, Powell was a legislative aide to former State Sen. Gary Suhadolnik, a Cleveland-area Republican who chaired the Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Committee. She is a graduate of Duke University and majored in public policy studies with a focus on health care and hospital management. Powell does have some Democratic credentials -- she interned with the late U.S. Rep. Claude Pepper, a Florida firebrand from the New Deal era who was a fierce advocate for the nation's senior citizens. Powell started at Ohio EPA as a legislative liaison and took over as chief of its Office of Legislative Affairs in 1999.

Former Gov. Bob Taft named her Ohio EPA's acting director on Dec. 29. Powell is one of a handful of high-ranking officials from the Taft years to hang on to her state job.

Ohio EPA Fines Ohio DNR For Dirty Drinking Water

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- The state-operated public water system serving Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County fails to meet Safe Drinking Water Act standards and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has been slapped with $10,200 in civil penalties, The Daily Bellwether has learned.

The state controlling board will be asked to release funds Monday to pay the fine levied by the Ohio EPA last Nov. 28. A report filed with the controlling board describes problems at Salt Fork, Ohio's largest state park, and says:

"The Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Parks and Recreation, operates a nontransient, noncommunity public water system that provides potable water to all facilities within Salt Fork State Park. The existing treatment plant utilizes a slow sand filtration process with chlorination to treat raw water drawn from the lake. This process, when combined with higher levels of organic materials and natural turbidity occurring in the lake, is incapable of meeting the OEPA's current maximum contaminant levels for total trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids five, and other disinfection byproducts (DBP's)."

There is a lot of information about disinfection byproducts and debate about health effects, including cancer risks after years of exposure. More information is HERE.

The state park eventually will have a new water treatment plant, perhaps by 2011, according to the document filed with the controlling board.

"ODNR, with the knowledge and approval of OEPA, has initiated a pilot study for the eventual replacement of the existing water plant with a new treatment process that will produce water meeting current requirements. A temporary auxiliary granular carbon filtration unit has also been installed within the existing treatment system is order to significantly reduce DBP levels until the pilot study is completed, approved by OEPA, and the new plant designed and constructed (estimated completion in 2011)."

The sad thing about the fine is that one branch of state government is taking money from another -- a shuffle. Why not waive the fine and push DNR to fix the water system sooner?

Ohio EPA: German Chem-Maker Polluted Cincy Air

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A German multi-national, Cognis Corp., that makes chemicals used for cosmetics has agreed to pay a $310,000 penalty for air-pollution violations at a Cincinnati plant from 2001 to 2006, Ohio EPA officials said today. The company has described itself in promotional material on the Web as setting "economic, ecological and social standards for others to follow."

The violations include failing to conduct timely stack checks for emissions and failing to limit particulate emissions. EPA called the case a "major settlement" and said $290,000 of the penalty will go to the state. Another $62,000 will be earmarked for the Clean Diesel School Bus Program fund, which aids school districts in converting bus fleets to cut down on smoggy exhaust. Officials said the company also will spend $20,000 on a pollution prevention study at its Cincinnati plant. Hamilton County's Department of Environmental Services also monitors the plant and aided the EPA.

The full text of the agreement is HERE.

Cognis has about 8,000 employees worldwide and in company materials portrays itself as a corporation that practices a socially responsible "green" philosophy. CEO Antonio Trius is quoted saying: "As a global player, we are very much aware of our social responsibility and the respect that we owe to both our employees and our neighbors. People, environment, company, products -- the sustainability philosophy of Cognis extends across all these four dimensions."

The German company's latest corporate responsibility report is HERE. Press releases and recent financial results are available at this site.

Cleveland Air: Cooper Tire Broke Rules, Coughs Up $$$$

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- An automobile parts plant on Cleveland's west side continued operating after its Ohio EPA air-pollution permit expired and failed to submit "a timely and complete permit renewal application," state officials say. Cooper Tire and Rubber Company and Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc., owned the factory at the time of the violations and have agreed to a $30,000 penalty.

The factory, at 2130 West 110th Street, made plastic exterior body moldings for auto manufacturers. State officials said numerous pieces of equipment were operated in the plant that emitted pollutants into the air. The violations took place before 2005, when another company assumed ownership of the plant, state officials said. Cooper Tire is based in Findlay, Ohio. Cooper-Standard is from Novi, Mich.

Some $6,000 of the Clean Air fine is going into a program that aids Ohio school districts in equipping their diesel bus fleets with pollution controls that lessen noxious emissions. The money also is used to switch school buses to burn cleaner fuels. EPA expects to put about $1 million into the school bus fund from Clean Air Act violations. It started the fund last year.

Full legal details are available about the financial settlement with Cooper. State officials noted: "The violations were documented by the Cleveland Division of Air Quality, Ohio EPA's contractural representative for air-pollution issues in Cuyahoga County."