For Release: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
DEC Outreach Program Assists Schools in Identifying and Removing Mercury
Pollution Prevention Program Teaches Schools How to Better Protect Students
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan today highlighted DEC's pollution prevention program that assists schools across the State in identifying and properly removing mercury and mercury containing products from our schools.
"DEC's mercury outreach program has helped remove hundreds of pounds of mercury from schools statewide,"Commissioner Sheehan said. "Created thanks to Governor Pataki's commitment to making our schools safer for students and eliminating the hazard of mercury in our schools, the mercury removal and education program teams the State with local school systems to protect our children as well as our natural environment. This ongoing program will continue to assist schools in identifying sources of mercury and help school properly and safely remove and dispose of such sources."
DEC's Pollution Prevention Unit along with the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association (NEWMOA) has been conducting statewide workshops at schools, presenting information on how to identify, inventory, collect and properly handle mercury and mercury containing products. At these workshops, DEC provides information developed in conjunction with the State Department of Health (DOH) and offers schools a "hands-on" mercury spill exercise and information about the replacement of mercury-containing items with non-mercury alternatives.
The workshops also highlight New York State's recent mercury legislation enacted in July 2004. Chapter 145 of the Laws of 2004 amended the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) to require the proper management of mercury products. Under the provisions of the law, schools were prohibited from using or purchasing elemental mercury (also known as quicksilver) on or after September 4, 2004.
DEC has held five workshops in Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, New York City and Long Island. As a result of the workshop held in Syracuse, the environmental health and safety coordinator for the City of Syracuse school district is spearheading a mercury inventory and removal program for 2006. Similar mercury reduction efforts will be occurring in the New York City schools and in schools districts on Long Island. The City of Rochester school district recently removed 225 pounds of mercury through a coordinated mercury clean out effort with the DEC. Nine school districts in Albany County are currently participating in a mercury clean out effort coordinated by DEC.
With the cooperation of the New York State Department of Education, DEC's outreach efforts assist schools to avoid potential spills and provide information to schools on how to respond should a spill occur. If not properly addressed, such spills can be hazardous to human health and the environment.
During the next two years, DEC's outreach to schools will be expanded to include at least ten more workshops across the State.
More information about mercury in schools, how to handle a mercury spill, and how to remove mercury from schools can be found on the DEC website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/35381.html and on the DOH website at http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/chemicals/hsees/mercury/brochures/index.htm.
06-48
