Increase in Airborne Lead Levels Detected During LA Fires

For a few days in January, airborne lead levels near Los Angeles more than doubled, according to the latest issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The data were captured by the Atmospheric Science and Chemistry Measurement Network (ASCENT), an initiative that provides continuous measurement of the components of PM2.5 at 12 sites in the United States.

 

The plume from the Eaton Canyon fire, which began Jan. 7, was carried by winds to the ASCENT site in Pico Rivera, California, approximately 14 miles to the south. From Jan. 8 to Jan. 11, the average PM2.5 lead concentration detected by ASCENT was 0.077 µg/m3, an approximate 110-fold increase over the average concentration during Jan. 2–6. The peak lead concentration recorded was 0.5 µg/m3 on Jan. 9.

 

EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard for lead in total suspended particles is 0.15 µg/m3 over a three-month rolling average.

 

The Eaton Canyon fire burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed or damaged nearly 10,500 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The MMWR report notes that many of the structures burned in the Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires were built before the U.S. ban on lead paint went into effect in 1978.

 

“Unlike chronic lead exposure, which has been widely studied, the health effects of brief, elevated lead exposures are not well understood,” the MMWR report states. “Additional health research is needed, because airborne lead levels alone do not necessarily indicate exposure.” The report notes that data from ASCENT can help meet the need for studies that characterize the contributions of PM2.5 particle sources, chemical compounds, and sizes to health effects.

 

Read the report in the MMWR.

 

 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency completed its Phase 1 hazardous materials mission related to the catastrophic Los Angeles County. This effort has been the largest wildfire hazardous waste cleanup in the history of the EPA.

 

EPA partnered with the U.S. military and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop and execute a response plan. Under EPA leadership, crews identified and cleared hazardous materials from 13,612 residential properties and 305 commercial properties, paving the way for debris removal and other stages of the recovery effort to move forward. Administrator Zeldin traveled to Los Angeles on February 6, 2025, to survey damage and meet with EPA personnel on the ground.

 

By the Numbers:

 

Phase 2 will be conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), as coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Properties deferred to Phase 2 means that due to the presence of unsafe conditions at the property, hazardous waste removal crews cannot complete Phase 1 work. In this case, hazardous waste removal, if required on a particular site, will be completed by the USACE as part of their Phase 2 debris removal work.

 

FEMA assigned EPA the first phase of the overall recovery and cleanup: to survey, remove, and dispose of hazardous materials and to remove lithium-ion batteries. This work, conducted at no cost to residents, ensured the safety of residents and the workers who will — after the household hazardous materials are gone — undertake Phase 2 of the post-fire recovery. For more information on EPA’s Phase 1 work, visit the EPA California Wildfires webpage. Learn more about EPA’s lithium-ion battery removal work.

 

Additionally, EPA convened a working group to coordinate with utilities, state, local and federal stakeholders to expedite cleanup operations and meet unmet needs in the sector. At the request of water utilities, EPA also is providing technical assistance to help bring systems back online. EPA offered technical assistance as local air authorities monitor for air pollution in the communities impacted by both fires.

 

EPA secured temporary storage, or staging, locations for materials from each fire site. Staging areas are essential to the hazardous material removal process and will enable residents to rebuild their homes faster.

 

Once the staging areas are no longer needed for EPA’s Phase 1 work, EPA will sample the soil in staging areas to ensure no negative impact to the property and provide the owner with a summary report. Some staging areas may remain during Phase 2 to ensure proper handling and disposal of materials collected from deferred properties. In those cases, USACE will complete the breakdown and sampling of the staging areas when their work is complete. Please visit EPA’s staging areas for the LA wildfires (pdf) to learn more.

 

A Delaware corporation with a manufacturing facility in Ohio pleaded guilty in federal court in the Southern District of Ohio to a charge of willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule. The criminal charge is related to an incident where an employee was killed when a pneumatic door closed on his head.

 

Fabcon Precast LLC (Fabcon) operates several facilities in the United States, including one in Grove City, Ohio, that manufactures precast concrete panels. At Fabcon, employees known as batch operators were responsible for the operation and cleaning of the facility’s only concrete mixer. Concrete was discharged from the bottom of the mixer through a pneumatic door. By design, the mixer had an exhaust valve that released the pneumatic energy powering the discharge door, rendering it inoperable. Some months prior to June 6, 2020, the handle that operated the valve broke off and was not replaced.

 

On June 6, 2020, Zachary Ledbetter, 20, a batch operator since January 2020, was on duty when the discharge door failed to close after releasing a batch of concrete. Because the valve was broken, Ledbetter could not perform the proper procedure to make the door safe to work around. When he attempted to free the door it closed on his head, trapping him. Eventually, Ledbetter was freed and transported to a hospital where he died five days later.

 

Federal law makes it a class B misdemeanor to willfully fail to follow an OSHA safety standard, where the failure causes the death of an employee. The class B misdemeanor is the only federal criminal charge covering such workplace safety violations.

 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly A. Norris for the Southern District of Ohio, and Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Megan Howell of the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Great Lakes Region, made the announcement.

 

The Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

 

Senior Trial Attorney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cullman, of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and for the Southern District of Ohio respectively, prosecuted the case.

 

 

The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released guidance for the state’s new regulation protecting workers from heat illness. The Nevada Department of Business and Industry announced in November 2024 that the regulation had been filed with the Nevada Secretary of State and gone immediately into effect. The regulation requires Nevada businesses with more than 10 employees to perform a one-time job hazard analysis of working conditions that could cause heat illness. If so, employers must develop written safety programs, emergency procedures, and training protocols to protect workers. The heat illness prevention guidance document is intended to help affected employers and workers understand the new regulatory requirements.

 

In Q&A format, the guidance document explains the scope of the heat illness regulation, the requirements of the job hazard analysis, examples of engineering and administrative controls and personal protective equipment, recommendations for the written safety program, and other matters related to the rule’s implementation. “This guidance differentiates between actions that are required in the regulation versus actions that are recommended/best practices,” the document states.

 

To allow employers time to implement the document’s provisions, Nevada OSHA has stayed the enforcement of the heat illness regulation for 90 days after the release of the guidance document on Jan. 29, 2025. Enforcement measures will begin on April 29.

 

According to the Nevada Department of Business and Industry, heat-related complaints to Nevada OSHA have “grown exponentially” since 2021. “During calendar year 2021, 344 complaints were filed, compared to 467 complaints filed through September 2024,” the department notes.

 

More information about Nevada’s new heat illness regulation is available in a news release by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry. The heat illness regulation guidance document may be downloaded as a PDF.

 

 

Learn when it’s convenient for you. Many of Environmental Resource Center’s courses are available in a computer-based training format.  Check out our website for a complete list of available courses!

 

 

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has added five hazardous chemicals to its candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and updated the entry for one additional chemical. SVHCs are chemicals that can harm people or the environment. Inclusion of chemicals on the candidate list triggers requirements for suppliers, importers, and producers under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.

 

Four of the chemicals added to the candidate list are 6-[(C10-C13)-alkyl-(branched, unsaturated)-2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl]hexanoic acid, which is used in lubricants, greases, and metalworking fluids; O,O,O-triphenyl phosphorothioate, also used in lubricants and greases; octamethyltrisiloxane, used in the manufacture or formulation of several products including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; and perfluamine, used in the manufacture of electrical, electronic and optical equipment and machinery and vehicles. The fifth added chemical is the reaction mass of triphenylthiophosphate and tertiary butylated phenyl derivatives, which has no current registered uses.

 

ECHA updated the candidate list entry for Tris(4-nonylphenyl, branched and linear) phosphite—a chemical used in used in polymers, adhesives, sealants and coatings—to indicate that it is an endocrine disruptor due both to its intrinsic properties and when it contains greater than or equal to 0.1 percent by weight of 4-nonylphenol, branched and linear (4-NP).

 

For more information, visit the ECHA website.

 

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will deploy its mobile laboratory to assist the state and local health departments ensure public water and drinking water from private wells is safe to drink. EPA is closely coordinating drinking water testing with FEMA, the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (KDEP), the Kentucky Department for Public Health and local health departments, including Pike, Martin and Perry counties.

 

“EPA’s mobile lab is a vital resource to assist communities impacted by flooding and other events that can contaminate drinking water supplies,” said Acting Region 4 Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle. “We are working closely alongside our federal, state and local partners to test both public water and private well water so residents of Eastern Kentucky communities can have confidence that their water is safe to drink.”

 

EPA’s mobile lab will be prepared to analyze samples of both public drinking water and private well water starting on Monday, February 24, 2025.

 

EPA’s mobile laboratory can only accept water samples directly from water utilities, KDEP and local health departments – not residents. Private well owners whose wells were completely flooded or otherwise damaged by the storm are urged to contact their local health department to request testing.

 

EPA will test the public water supply and private wells for the presence of total coliform and E. coli, which are indicators of fecal contamination. Their presence in water suggests that other disease-causing microorganisms may be present, and the water is not safe to drink.

 

EPA committed to supporting response and recovery efforts in Eastern Kentucky and stands ready to provide further assistance, as requested.

 

 

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