February 2010 - Utah Environmental Health Association

FEBRUARY 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
President’s Message
Pg 1
Who am I?
Pg 2
Reminders (Workshops, Spring
Conference, UEHA Board Members)
Pg 3
Crossword Puzzle
Pg 4
Editorial
Pg 5, 6
Answer to Who am I?
Pg 7
Puzzle Key
Pg 8
Clearfield Facility
Pg 9
Raid
Pg 10, 11
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
By Eric Peterson
I hope all of you were able to take some
time for yourself over the holidays. I say this
knowing that January usually results in an
over accumulation of work assignments,
many of them postponements from
December. You know I speak the truth. I
heard “let’s deal with that after the holidays”
from many mouths, including my own. Now
it’s time to pay the price of procrastination
and strive headlong into a more lean and
efficient year than the last. Some
economists and even Governor Herbert are
publicly stating that the economy is turning. I
hope they’re right, and if so, we can still
expect a delay of at least two to three years
before it actually feels like the recession has
turned. That means we have to get used to
operating without the resources and staff
we’ve been accustomed to. You might be
wondering where I’m going with these
comments about now, so I’ll get right to it.
With the economic strain we’re all
experiencing, we can all benefit from
sharing our experience, our technical
knowledge, and professional camaraderie
with one another. I often hear comments
from a myriad of individuals criticizing the
practices and differences between Health
Departments, State agencies, municipalities,
and business interests. I certainly recognize
that we will always do things differently, and
I am as guilty as the next for making a point
of them on occasion. However, I am posing
a challenge for each of you this year. I
challenge you to reach out to one another in
collaboration. Focus on what might be
accomplished and how we can come
together to meet the new challenges of
2010. We all share a common interest,
Environmental Health, and our purpose is to
protect the health of the people and the
environment. Please remember that when
we’re faced with our differences, choose
instead to focus on remedies and solutions.
Now, after that heart moving deliverance, I
want to thank Rob Nunn, Randy Williams,
and Dave Spence for their hard work putting
together the new UEHA website. The
website has been given a facelift and
redesigned with the intent of providing the
membership with more meaningful
information. Please take a moment to visit
the new website at www.ueha.org . We
welcome comments on its layout and
design, and if there is anything you would
like to see added or changed please let us
know.
Please start thinking about the 2010 Spring
Conference in Richfield on May 5, 6, & 7.
We will have the agenda out to you as soon
as we can. Also, please remember to get
your 2010 membership dues paid. Your
dues are the sustaining lifeblood of the
association. I hope to see you all in
Richfield.
Who am I?
February 2010
I have worked in the Environmental
Health profession for a year and a
half.
I can always tell how long I've worked in
this field because I was
married
two weeks before I started my career. I
am currently working on my
master's
degree at the University of Utah. My
favorite past time activities
includes
gardening, running, baking, and
spending time with my husband. Who
am I?
Reminders
February 2010
REMINDER
Just a reminder that we have
several food safety workshops
planned in Utah this coming
Spring-Summer.
Kaysville, UT
UEHA SPRING
CONFERENCE
RICHFIELD, UTAH
MAY 5-7, 2010
VISIT OUR WEB SITE:
www.ueha.org
Feb 2-4, 2010 - HACCP
(Basics)
Logan, UT
May 17-19, 2010 -- GMP
Workshop (HACCP
prerequisite)
May 19-21, 2010 -- Advanced
Sanitation Workshop
May 24-25, 2010 -- Statistical
Process Control Workshop
May 25-28, 2010 -- HACCP
Workshop
June 1-3, 2010 -- SQF
Workshop
June 8-10, 2010 -- Behavioral
Based Food Safety Workshop
UEHA BOARD AND
OFFICERS
PAST PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT ELECT
VICE PRESISENT
TREASURER
ASSOC.
TREASURER
SECRETARY
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
NEWSLETTER
LIAISONS
LIAISONS
LIAISONS
Grant Koford
Eric Peterson
Brian Cowan
Dave Spence
Bonnie Snow
Corinne Nelson
Leslie Freeman
Randy Williams
Mike Rhodes
Jim Jeffries
Rob Nunn
Sam Marsden
Stephanie Stark
Mark Williams
Quincy Boyce
Lori Walker
Ron Marsden
Crossword Puzzle
February 2010
EDITORIAL BY MARK WILLIAMS
(THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS REPRESENT MY OPINION ONLY – AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIME)
February 2010
GAG
Have you heard a lot of gagging lately. You ever
hear a phrase that says to the effect –“That’s
enough to gag a maggot”? Well, a lot of that
gagging I’ve been hearing lately is from all those
maggots out there that crawled out of their warm
home of caca and tried to take a deep breath of
fresh air and couldn’t. The air quality has been
pretty bad.
The local KSL web site had a headline “Northern
Utah’s Air is the Worst in the Nation”. The article
states that the state had exceeded its standards
for particulates, 50% of which were coming from
vehicles.
The Salt Lake Tribune’s headline was “Northern
Air Worst in Nation” and another “Breathing
Poison”. One of these stated that vehicles are the
largest contributor to the PM 2.5 problem.
An article published clear back in 2005 dealing
with diesel emissions states “Nationally, diesel
exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 7.5 times
higher than the combined total cancer risk from all
other air toxics.” Also, “Fine particle pollution from
diesels shortens the lives of nearly 21,000 people
each year.”
So, now we know there is a problem and the
public knows we have a problem but why do the
politicians NOT know? I say that because –
politicians did away with the diesel emission
testing program in Utah County because they
didn’t get any “credit” from the EPA for the testing.
Doesn’t matter if there are health issues. I say
that because they are still trying to loosen the
rules on emission testing for vehicles.
Why are newer vehicles only tested every other
year? Politics! A newer vehicle can get out of
whack and be spewing out crud for two years
before the next test and requirement for repairs.
Now we are hearing rumors (which may or may
not be valid) that the legislature is considering
exempting more vehicles from the emission
program by eliminating two speed idle (TSI)
testing, which covers 1995 and older cars, and
maybe even doing away with testing on the new
vehicles the first 5 or 6 years of their life. I even
hear now and then that some of them want to do
away with emission testing entirely because the
EPA doesn’t require emission programs.
The counties with emission programs do their best
to ensure that the decentralized testing stations
operate within the parameters of the law but we
know and have found that numerous stations do
fraudulent testing for a variety of reasons. The
end point being that those vehicles drive around
polluting everyone’s air. Gag!
Weber County Environmental Health slapped
some sanctions on a couple emission testing
facilities and incurred the wrath of their owners
who hired an attorney and now we have an
ongoing legal battle over penalties and whatnot
with no mention of the effects of this type of
emission testing on the environment.
Now the politicians want to place curbs on the
penalties counties can impose on these types of
stations thereby encouraging more fraudulent
activities since the penalties would likely be
insufficient deterrents.
It is my opinion that emission testing be statewide.
For example, we currently have laws now that
prohibit people from dumping used oil on the
ground or in our waterways – doesn’t matter if
they are in Salt Lake City or Moab. Doing so is
bad for the environment. Driving a dirty car/truck
or whatever is bad for the environment whether in
Kanab or Logan. If all counties had I/M testing
requirements, we would do away with the issue of
vehicles failing testing on the Wasatch Front and
then turning up as registered in Tooele or Vernal
despite the fact the owner still lives, drives and
breathes on the Wasatch Front.
The air we try to breathe should be a health issue,
not a political issue.
Fellow Legislators!............
February 2010
“Fellow Legislators!
This bill will do away
with automobile
emission testing. Who
needs it?
Who am I?
Stephanie Stark
February 2010
Puzzle Key
February 2010
Clearfield Facility
February 2010
A NEW BEGINNING
When I started working for Davis County in
1990, Environmental Health was sequestered
off in the basement of the old Davis County
court house along with some bad heating, stray
cats and fungus. My “office” was a desk butted
up against desks of several other EHS’s and I
had the privilege of listening to all their phone
conversations whether I wanted to or not.
Sometime later, the nursing division escaped to
greener pastures and we were allowed to
remodel, expand and have our own offices (still
in the basement). My office was stuck over in
an area where the heating system in the winter
worked non-stop. I used my food thermometer
to measure temperatures in the 90’s in that
room. At times I’d sit there with no shirt so I
wouldn’t succumb to heat exhaustion. That
wasn’t a pretty sight and I was lucky no one
walked in on me.
Someone felt sorry for us somewhere along
the line and allowed Environmental Health to
occupy the newly vacated buildings on the
south side of the court house parking lot. One
building consisted of a “temporary” building
that had been there 20 or so years and the
other was a small brick building that had
housed the parole officers. One hall was so
narrow, only one person could walk through it
at a time, unless two people slithered along in
there with the backs up against the wall and
their bellies sucked in. We still had stray cats,
water leaks and fungus. Nothing was nice
about that place and as of this date,
Environmental Health is still housed there. A
new day is dawning, however. The county is
allowing the entire Health Department to build
and move into a new facility in Clearfield.
Funding for the project has been “iffy”. Above
is a photo of the equipment for excavating the
foundation. As you can see in the background,
we’ll be located right next to the railroad tracks
Photo of the equipment for
excavating the foundation
and be able to keep track of the Front Runner
and all of the graffiti clad freight trains rumbling
by.
You’d think with labor being readily available in
this economic climate, they would be able to
hire people with ease. But no, they think they
can do it themselves:
Problem is, it looks like they are over dressed
and completely unfamiliar with the workings of
this equipment.
I think most of the Environmental Health staff
here in Davis County are looking forward to their
new offices, unless we all are retired first.
EPA Raid
February 2010
The Raid
Mark Williams
A few days ago I found a “missed call” deal on my work cell phone from a number I did not recognize so I called
back out of curiosity. Turns out it was a special agent from the EPA trying to get a hold of me and he asked me if I
was interested in going along on a search warrant serving the following day. I couldn’t pass that up, so I said “ok”
and got the time and place of the staging area.
Dave Spence likes this kind of stuff and we’d done a few before so I called and invited him along. I figured I’d share
in the fun. He quickly agreed and indicated he’d be at my office about a half hour before the “raid” and we’d ride up
together.
When we arrived at the staging area, we found we were under dressed. It was danged cold and we were spending
a lot of time just standing around and we didn’t have bullet proof vests or guns or tasers or any of that fun stuff. We
were also outnumbered. There must have been 20 agents there from various agencies including the EPA, the
Attorney General’s Office, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office and who knows what else. One
female officer there was equipped with “pink” handcuffs, wouldn’t want to be arrested with those.
While we were waiting for everyone to show up and suit up, I asked if someone would give me a hint of what was
going on and was told we were headed to a facility that was allegedly shipping stuff to China illegally. Now I don’t
know what the rules or laws are in shipping things across the sea but with all the armor we were seeing, it seemed
to be a serious offense, quite unlike a parking ticket.
We all left the staging area at the same time, 20 vehicles in a procession. Vehicles of all different makes, models,
shapes and sizes, some with tinted windows and hidden cop lights and sirens. It looked like a funeral procession
heading down the road.
We got to the facility and pretty much surrounded the building with vehicles and piled out. Dave and I were
instructed not to come in until five minutes had elapsed. That was fine with us and we had no intention of trying to
interfere with any gun battle or pink handcuffing.
We calculated about five minutes, maybe 10, maybe 15 before we dared go in and headed off into the unknown.
We made our way through what appeared to be a maze of hallways and ended up in a warehouse area that looked
somewhat similar to a teenager’s room. Danged messy! I haven’ seen that much “junk” in my life in one spot and
hope to never again.
Here are a few photos of the mess:
February 2010
Raid, cont’d
This place looked like it was processing all the junk
that the Deseret Industries can’t get to work including
computers, vacuum cleaners, TV’s, CD players and
even kids’ toys. There were boxes and pallets of
plastics, glass, wiring and whatnot in there.
Right in the middle of all this debris was an area
where another “business” was making fire starter
material and packaging it up for distribution. I’m
guessing the local fire department was unaware of
this (but soon will be). It was amazing to me that the
place hadn’t burned down already.
Dave and I ended up assisting the other agents in
obtaining sampling containers and equipment so that
lab analysis could be done on some of the suspected
haz-waste. Our contribution to the whole operation
was small but we enjoyed the “raid” and hope that
working with the feds will continue. Dave kept asking
where he could get some pink handcuffs for some
reason.
More photos of what we found at the raid