Posted on November 2nd, 2011 in Dust Control, Environmental, Industry Watchdog, Soil Stabilization by Bob Vitale
Last month’s accident on Wetzel County’s Blake Ridge Road where a natural gas drilling truck rolled over, the third such occurrence in a week, got my attention – really got my attention. No driver error here. The problem was that a chemical that ostensibly was to makes a road safer, may have actually made it dangerous. My ire would be no less – probably more – if it were a Midwest product involved in the incident.
The bottom line is that it is time for someone to step up and bring important change to the game, and that means self regulation. The EPA has risen to the occasion in the last few years, helping to create regulations related to dust as a pollutant. But there is no regulation or industry oversight – none, zippo, zero – regarding the chemicals and their applications used to control dust. It’s 2011 and it’s still the Wild West out there!
I tasked my team to create a plan to help bring awareness and creative solutions to this critical issue so, among other things, we won’t be seeing any more incidents as we did on Blake Ridge Road. They proposed a broad-based communications effort – we are calling it Regulation by Education – to educate industry influencers and decision-makers about the questions they need to ask before committing to a dust-control solution.
Here are some questions you should have answers to before committing to a dust-control solution for roadways:
- Is the product you are considering certified effective or environmentally safe? By which independent third parties? If so, for what has it been certified and by whom?
- Do assessments meet ASTM and AASHTO standards?
- Has any supplier you are considering asked for samples of your roadway materials to determine the optimal dust-control product and application treatment for your problem area?
- Can the supplier you are considering customize a product solution for your unique needs, based upon laboratory and field testing?
- Has your supplier done a competitive cost-per-performance comparison for three-, or five- year programs to demonstrate lifecycle cost savings?
- Have suppliers talked to you about the short- and long-term impacts their products have on the environment?
In the absence of true regulations for product development and application, Midwest has regulated itself for more than 35 years now, a practice started because of our own concern about the environment long before such concern was trendy. We have also learned that products that are gentle on the environment can also, over the not-so-long term be gentler on our customers’ wallets.
Over the next few months Midwest’s R&D teams will help craft “self regulation recommendation” guidelines that will help assure that your project is estimated and executed with a focus on environmentally-friendly, safe products that deliver the best cost/value and have a positive impact on society and your community, not the negative impact of an overturned truck or worse!!
Contact us now if you are in the consideration phase of a project. We’ll be happy to answer the questions above – and many others – so you can make a truly informed decision about which vendor will deliver the most for you.
Tags: AASHTO, ASTM, Environmental Regulations, epa, Regulation by Education
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