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los angeles lead clean-up

9/22/2017

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I hope your school year is starting well!  It's been a combination of seating charts and assigning books, fire drills and some 3-day weekends.  You will start settling into a routine soon!

The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
A 5-Star Customer Review of Chemistry on a Budget at amazon.com states:
“[S]traight forward, to the point, using household chemicals…this is the lab book for you. 
I teach high school chemistry and this is exactly what i was looking for. Labs included simple household chemicals that could be easily found. Nice format, easy to follow along procedures, and touches on every topic of our chemistry curriculum.”
  
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you -- Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
“People who live near the old Exide battery plant in Los Angeles are demanding state help. Nearly all of the 10,000 homes within a 1.5-mile radius of the old plant have been found to have soil contaminated with lead and other toxins in their yards... Before closing, the Exide Technologies plant recycled car batteries for 70 years, spewing toxic lead, benzene and arsenic into the air, slowly poisoning these properties. Now, a recently released report confirms only 25 percent of homes will be cleaned.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/la-residents-demand-help-to-clean-up-contaminated-soil/
 
As reported on 7/6/17, “The Department of Toxic Substances Control plan sets in motion the next two years of a massive cleanup project spanning more than 10,000 properties across seven southeast Los Angeles communities around the Exide Technologies facility.
Crews have so far tested more than 8,200 yards, with more than 95% exceeding California’s 80 parts per million health standard for residential soil.
Based on sampling results released Thursday on 7,011 of those parcels, about 27% would qualify for cleanup under the plan, which has new guidelines for which properties will be cleaned based on lead contamination levels.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-exide-cleanup-plan-20170706-story.html
 
This page summarizes the situation related to the Exide Technologies facility in Vernon, California:
“What did Exide do?
  • Exide operated a lead-acid battery recycling facility in the city of Vernon, CA.
  • Exide is not currently operating, and [The California Department of Toxic Substances Control aka]  DTSC is working to safely close the facility. When operating, it processed an average of 120,000 tons of lead per year, or approximately 11 million batteries per year.
  • Based on soil testing conducted by DTSC, Exide’s contamination may potentially reach up to 1.7 miles away from the facility, which includes approximately 10,000 properties.”
https://a53.asmdc.org/article/exide-cleanup
 
 “What are the health risks?
Lead is a poison that, even in small amounts, can lower children’s IQs and cause other developmental harm.
From 1922 to 2014, regulators say, the Vernon plant’s lead-smelting operations deposited the harmful metal in the soil up to 1.7 miles away.
According to an analysis released last year by the [California] state public health department, nearly 300 children younger than 6 living near Exide had high blood lead levels in 2012 — the last year the plant was in full operation. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers blood lead levels of 5 micrograms per deciliter or more to be elevated.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-exide-what-we-know-20170806-htmlstory.html
 
“How long was Exide polluting L.A. area neighborhoods?
The plant operated in the industrial city of Vernon since 1922, spewing toxic air pollution over decades. Georgia-based Exide took over in 2000.
The 15-acre facility, known as a lead-acid battery smelter, had been one of only two plants west of the Rocky Mountains that could melt down lead from used car batteries for use in producing new ones. It operated around the clock seven days a week in the industrial city of Vernon, processing about 25,000 batteries a day.

Exide ran afoul of environmental regulations for years. Local, state and federal officials cited the plant over and over for emitting too much cancer-causing arsenic and lead, a potent neurotoxin, and for violating hazardous waste laws.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-exide-cleanup-story-so-far-20151121-story.html
 
This situation is concerning for various reasons such as the contamination started in 1922, but mainly that it is another story of toxic contamination affecting U.S. citizens.  Some past blog posts related to this topic include:
 
09/24/2015      Facts about the element Mercury
10/08/2015      Current Event - Contaminated Drinking Water​
12/17/2015      Current Event -- Lead Poisoning
09/23/2016      Water Pollution in US Schools
12/23/2016​      Criminal Charges in Flint, Michigan
01/20/2017      Contaminated Drinking Water
                            at US Marine Camp
  
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 
Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!

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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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