WYFF4 reports: Upstate University To Impose Fines On Smokers

Lander University Imposes Fines On Student, Faculty Smokers

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- Lander University is preparing to give added emphasis to its status as the first state college or university in South Carolina to ban the use of tobacco products on its campus, a prohibition that was introduced with the start of the fall semester in 2007.

Lander president Daniel Ball accepted the recommendations of a committee that he appointed to come up with a strategy for introducing the tobacco-free policy to newcomers, and reminding returning students, faculty and staff that the use of tobacco is not allowed anywhere on Lander property. The ban includes campus parking lots and the university’s off-campus student housing facilities. The smoking ban also applies to visitors.

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USA Today reports: Lawsuit targets Lake County polluters

Ron Kurth grew up in Gary and worked in the steel mills, and he raised his family in the region near the outskirts of Chicago. And he always wondered about the smoke and smog that overcast the Lake Michigan shoreline.

"It's just a horrible atmosphere ... bringing a family up in this area," he said.

Kurth, who has a 16-year-old daughter who attends high school in Crown Point, decided someone ought to do something about the pollution, and Wednesday, he did.

He filed a lawsuit on behalf of his daughter against 11 northwest Indiana industries, including U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal, claiming the air pollution they emit from their smokestacks endangers the long-term health of Lake County children. The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of thousands of the county's schoolchildren.

The complaint cites a study that appeared in USA Today earlier this year that reported children in the heavily industrialized county are exposed to higher levels of airborne toxins than elsewhere in the United States, based on EPA data on air quality outside 127,800 schools nationwide.

Four schools in East Chicago -- Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, East Chicago Lighthouse, and Eugene Field Elementary School -- ranked in the study's first percentile, among the most polluted air.

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USA Today reports: Granholm wants to halt Mich. asbestos inspections

Michigan's environmental regulatory agency says it no longer can afford to inspect buildings scheduled for demolition or renovation to prevent asbestos releases into the air.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed budget recommends dropping the Department of Environmental Quality program designed to ensure compliance with federal asbestos rules. Significant exposure to the fibrous mineral is believed to boost risk of lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses.

If the Legislature approves, responsibility for conducting inspections and punishing violators will revert to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional office in Chicago, which critics say lacks the resources to do an adequate job.

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USA Today: Health officials want volunteers for dust study

State health officials and the Environmental Protection Agency want to test western North Dakota residents who have had long-term exposure to erionite, an asbestos-like mineral that can collect in the lungs of people who breathe it.

Health officials say hundreds of miles of roads in western North Dakota are covered with gravel containing erionite, a mineral found in chalky white rock mined for decades in Dunn, Slope and Stark counties.

State geologist Ed Murphy notified the EPA of the erionite in the region about years ago. Federal and state officials have been testing rocks and airborne samples since then but they say more tests, including tests on humans, are needed.

In the nation of Turkey, erionite has been linked to mesothelioma, an incurable form of lung cancer commonly associated with asbestos exposure, health officials say.

USA Today: Ore. school buses filled with fumes

The state Department of Environmental Quality says many Oregon students are riding to school in diesel-powered buses filled with potentially harmful fumes. "I don't think most parents realize that when they're sending their children off to school, how dangerous it can be," Dana Kaye, executive director of the American Lung Association of Oregon, told The Oregonian newspaper.

More than two-thirds of the state's 5,200 school buses leak fumes through a hole in the crankcase or through tailpipe emissions, and those fumes could lead to serious health problems in adulthood, according to the DEQ.

"There is a growing body of evidence showing the increased risk of cancer, heart disease, impaired neurological development and pulmonary disorders associated with exposure to diesel fumes," said Kevin Downing, coordinator of the DEQ's Clean Diesel Initiative.

Upstate meets clean air standards

The Greenville News
By Nan Lundeen • STAFF WRITER • March 2, 2009

Feds may tighten rules, making it harder to attract industry, jobs

New data show that the Upstate is meeting federal Clean Air Act standards for fine particles, but even as the area moves toward winning that longstanding battle, a federal court ruling last week laid down a path for the Environmental Protection Agency to consider tighter rules.