- YouTube.com
Two Portland glass factories will voluntarily suspend the use of chromium in their colored glass products, state environmental regulators announced this afternoon, after concerns about high rates of the metal in air around Southeast Portland’s Bullseye Glass.
“On Thursday, Feb. 11, DEQ requested both companies to voluntarily cease their use of all chromium compounds until further notice,” reads a news release from the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Environmental Quality.
The move by Bullseye and its North Portland competitor Uroboros Glass makes the third substance glass factories have elected to forego since air quality concerns about the toxic substances coming out of their furnaces were raised last week. Bullseye had already suspended use of the heavy metals arsenic and cadmium, both carcinogens, the company said. Uroboros suspended the use of cadmium, saying it doesn’t use arsenic.
Both those substances are known carcinogens that present other health dangers. Chromium is a little different. The material, which, as we’ve noted, showed up in high levels in the air around Bullseye last October, can come in two forms. Chromium III isn’t much of a risk. Chromium VI is much more concerning, with relatively low levels in the air meeting risk-based concentrations DEQ sets.
That risk-based concentration is .15 nanograms per cubic meter in air for chromium VI. DEQ air testing last year found average chromium levels of 71.5 nanograms per cubic meter over the course of a month, but didn’t differentiate between the two types.
Here’s how the press release describes the difference:
“There are two types of chromium: chromium 3 (trivalent chromium) and chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium). Chromium 3 is the most common form and is an essential nutrient found in our bodies (and urine). Chromium 6 is less common but much more toxic. Inhaling chromium 6 at very high levels can cause acute respiratory and skin irritation. Chronic, low-level exposure to chromium 6 can increase the risk of certain lung cancers. DEQ does not yet have data regarding the levels of chromium 6 in this case.”
It’s likely chromium VI was involved in the air readings, OHA officials say. DEQ says a preliminary analysis of data provided by Bullseye and Uroboros “indicated both companies were using compounds containing hexavalent chromium as a raw ingredient.”
Nina DeConcini, Northwest regional administrator for DEQ, said the agency asked the glass factories to discontinue use of the compounds yesterday, but didn’t secure those commitments until this afternoon. Bullseye has agreed to suspend use of hexavalent chromium, officials say. Uroboros has agreed to suspend using all chromium compounds.
“At the levels we’re talking about here, the most significant risk would be an increased risk of lung cancer,” OHA toxicologist David Farrer said at a news conference today, discussing the health risks around Bullseye. “It sort of adds to the risk of arsenic and cadmium.”
As expected, the recent uproar in Portland is having statewide repurcussions. DEQ now says it’s creating a list of facilities around the state that are allowed to emit chromium compounds, and “researching other facilities that may be using chromium compounds that are not otherwise regulated for use.”
The concerns over chromium took such precedence for DEQ and OHA that the agencies have missed a deadline set by Gov. Kate Brown, who asked for a full accounting of the agencies’ knowledge of the pollution by close of business today. A DEQ official told reporters the agency would turn in that information over the weekend.
Update, 9:30 pm: Bullseye released a testy statement this evening, and it’s another sign of fight from the company, which, remember, refused to stop using all chromium compounds as the state had asked.
The release mentions the DEQ’s “inability to provide any direct evidence that Bullseye was a significant source of chromium.”
“In fact,” it adds, “DEQ’s own monitoring data from October 2015 showed peak levels of chromium on days when Bullseye’s factory was idle.”
Bullseye is now openly questioning DEQ’s rationale and legal authority, and accusing the agency of bowing to pressure from an Oregonian editorial. Most seriously, it’s hinting that it’ll have to shut down if the state’s demands continue much longer.
“We are concerned that DEQ’s frantic actions could put us out of business and cause 140 people to lose their jobs,” Bullseye co-owner Dan Schwoerer said in the release.
Here’s this afternoon’s press conference.
MORE COVERAGE:
State Finds Alarmingly High Arsenic, Cadmium Levels Near Two SE Portland Schools
Bullseye Glass Has Suspended Use of Arsenic and Cadmium Because of Air Quality Concerns
Portland Public Schools Is Ordering Air Tests Because of Arsenic, Cadmium Concerns: “We Need A Public Meeting”
Soil Near Bullseye Glass Contains Arsenic and Cadmium—And Other Things Officials Told Parents Thursday
Essential Pollution Controls Lacking at Two Glass Plants Blamed For Cadmium Emissions
rather have 140 people lose there jobs then 1 person get cancer
It seems to me that there should be some documented evidence of Hexavalent Chrome before insisting that either Bullseye or Uroboros stop making green glass which is what Chrome does.
There are a number of ways to introduce chrome. One can use Potassium or Sodium dichromate. One could use Lead Chromate, one could use Chrome oxide but that’s a hard way to get it melted. These melts don’t tend to gas off quite the way the arsenate or cadmium melts do.
In either factory, between the red and the green glasses, it would account for more than half of either companies product and will be financially crippling if that’s the goal. My problem is that there is insufficient evidence to warrant stopping the use of Chrome at this point. DEQ is not exactly washing itself in glory over the way they’ve handled this so far and I’m not impressed with either the Bullseye or the Uroboros response either but I think that having actual evidence is appropriate before shooting the alleged offenders in a perp walk.
I would also take note that the European union has Chrome in its sights in glass at the landfill level. That’s pretty far down the carcinogenic food chain.
I would still love to see both companies installing Donaldson Torit filters yesterday. It’s the right thing to do. When we have people like Dave Munro from DEQ saying they couldn’t work- which is just flat out wrong, that doesn’t lend credibility to the investigation. This is becoming more like a Keystone Cops process with potentially deadly results. I further find the comments coming in that say South Portland is just a redlined neighborhood and people living there should just move to be perhaps the most troubling aspect of this at all. That’s just shameful. Stopping toxins now is important just as quitting smoking today increases your chances of living longer and better. Portland deserves better.
The owner of Bullseye Glass is trying to play the victim and spin this as some sort of anti-art witchhunt. Excerpts from her posting last night to Facebook: “Portland slaughters craft” and in contrast to the unfortunate closure of the Museum of Contemporary Craft: “Glass factories are harder to snuff. We do not intend to go down quietly”.
Neighbors are concerned about Bullseye’s history: failing to use relatively inexpensive pollution control equipment that would have dramatically reduced or even eliminated arsenic, cadmium, chromium and other toxic heavy metal emissions. Ms. McGregor’s callous attitude towards those concerns is unconscionable.