Queen’s University (receives $millions in corporate “donations”) via CBC spews crap to deflect dioxin and phosgene pollution/health risks in Ontario and Quebec from Norfolk Southern’s toxic train derailment, burning of vinyl chloride, etc.

Greg Macdougall@GregEqEd March 8, 2023:

Chemistry prof Philip Jessop @queensu quoted saying dioxins are “too heavy to have crossed the Great Lakes through the air.”

But study from 2000 found that almost all dioxins in Nunavut got there by traveling 1000s of km in the air.

The 2000 study specifically found HYSPLIT air models accurately track dioxins through the air from sources (mostly in East USA) up to Nunavut

But CBC “debunks” the HYSPLIT models from NOAA, b/c “dioxins are too heavy to travel in air”. WTF #OhioChemicalDisaster #onpoli #cdnmedia

Smart and Sassy@SmartandSassy11 Mar 8, 2023 Replying to @GregEqEd:

Here’s the study for anyone interested in reading it. There are lots of studies just like this. Environment Canada, Health Canada and CBC relying on a plastics and energy chemist for opinion on atmospheric contamination is just so wrong. It really reeks.

Many excellent visuals in the study:

Long-range Air Transport of Dioxin from North American Sources to Ecologically Vulnerable Receptors in Nunavut, Arctic Canada, Final Report to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation by Barry Commoner, Paul Woods Bartlett, Holger Eisl, Kimberly Couchot, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS) Queens College, CUNY, September 2000

… The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) was established by Canada, Mexico and the United States to help build cooperation among the NAFTA partners in the protection of their shared environment, with a particular focus on the opportunities and challenges presented by continent-wide free trade. …

  1. Conclusions
    The results generated by the air transport model support a series of conclusions that specify the locations, classes, and individual identities of the sources; that assess the relative exposure of the various Nunavut receptors to airborne dioxin transported from these sources; that evaluate the meteorological factors that influence these source/receptor relationships; and that identify the relatively few sources that, if targeted for remedial action, could significantly reduce dioxin exposures in Nunavut. These conclusions are summarized below.
    • Of the total of 44,091 North American dioxin sources, 16,729 (37.9 percent) are in Canada, 22,439 (50.9 percent) in the United States, and 4,923 (11.2 percent) in Mexico. Of the total amount of dioxin emitted by these sources during the one-year study period, 4,713 grams TEQ, those in Canada emitted 364 grams TEQ (7.7 percent), in the United States, 2,937 grams TEQ (62.3 percent), and those in Mexico, 1,412 grams TEQ (30 percent). There are virtually no significant sources of dioxin within about 500 km of Nunavut.
    • Of the 23 classes of North American dioxin sources, municipal waste incinerators emitted 25 percent of the total dioxin emissions; backyard trash burning, 22 percent; cement kilns burning hazardous waste, 17 percent; medical waste incinerators, 11 percent; secondary copper smelters, eight percent; and iron sintering plants, seven percent. Thus, only these six major classes of dioxin sources are responsible for 90 percent of the total North American emissions.
    • The air transport model estimates the amounts of airborne dioxin emitted by each of the sources that is deposited on a specified Nunavut receptor. While sources from all three North American countries contribute to the deposition of dioxin at the Nunavut receptors, by far the greatest amount (70 to 82 percent, depending on the receptor) is due to U.S. sources; Canadian sources contribute 11 to 25 percent, and Mexican sources five to 11 percent. Only 0.2 percent of the dioxin deposited on Nunavut from all North American sources originates from sources within the boundary of Nunavut.
    • The amounts of dioxin transported from North American sources and deposited in Nunavut vary significantly among the eight receptor sites. Deposition at Sanikiluaq, the southernmost receptor, is more than 10 times higher than it is at Arctic Bay, the most northern receptor. This is a consequence of the exponential decline in the rate of deposition with increasing distance from the sources, nearly all of which are south of Nunavut, due to dispersion, destruction and deposition of airborne dioxin during transport.
    • The data generated by the air transport model allow us to rank the dioxin sources with respect to the amounts that each of them contributes to the dioxin deposited at each of the receptors in the one-year study period. Only a very small proportion of the 44,091 North American sources accounts for most of the dioxin deposited on the Nunavut receptors. At a typical Nunavut receptor, Coral Harbour, only 0.04 percent of the individual sources account for 35 percent of the total deposition; 0.10 percent of theindividual sources account for 50 percent of the total deposition, and 1.4 percent of the individual sources account for 75 percent of the total deposition at any of the receptors.
    • The air transport model serves to identify the individual sources that are most responsible for the dioxin deposited at a Nunavut receptor. For example, 35 percent of the deposition at the Coral Harbour land receptor is due to only 19 individual sources. Of the 10 largest individual contributors, nine are U.S. facilities: three municipal waste incinerators in Minnesota, Iowa and Pennsylvania, three cement kilns burning hazardous waste in Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska, two iron sintering plants in Indiana, and a secondary copper smelter in Illinois. One Canadian municipal waste incinerator in Quebec (ranked seventh) is included as well.
    • The amount of dioxin deposited on Nunavut receptors depends on the amount emitted from the sources and the efficiency with which the airborne dioxin is transported to the receptor. This is expressed as the fraction of a unit amount emitted from the source that is deposited at the receptor, i.e., the Air Transport Coefficient (ATC). The ATC value decreases sharply with the distance between the source and the receptor and is affected by the weather pattern en route and at the receptor as well. Of these two factors, only the weather varies over time, so that its influence can be assessed, for example, by means of monthly estimates of the ATC values. These show that dioxin deposition at the receptor is high when the weather pattern favors efficient transport from those areas of North America where the source emissions are most intense, in particular the eastern half of the United States.
    • Based on some preliminary measurements of ATC values from locations in Europe and Asia and available European dioxin emission inventories, it is possible to make a rough estimate of the amount of airborne dioxin transported from these non-North American sources that is deposited at Nunavut receptors. This amount is between 1.9 and 19 percent of the deposition from North American sources, and most likely closer to the lower of these values. Thus, the problems created by the deposition of airborne dioxin in Nunavut originate in North America, and remedial action is an intrinsically North American responsibility.

***

Nathanial@SlappyKurbs Mar 7 Replying to @CBCNews:

MSM says don’t worry.

Worry.

Experts debunk social media posts about Ohio train pollution, Derailment poses no risk to people in Canada: authorities, experts by Ben Andrews, CBC News, Mar 07, 2023

On a map shared widely on social media, a dark cloud originates from a point marking the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and appears to disperse over eastern Ontario and much of southern Quebec.

Images of the map spread quickly on TikTok and other social media platforms, accompanied by warnings that dangerous pollutants from the catastrophic Feb. 3 train derailment had blown across the border.

“We were told it was unlikely to [affect] Canada,” one reads. “But in reality that’s exactly where it went.”

In the aftermath of the derailment, these posts were collectively viewed millions of times.

The map was originally released shortly after the derailment by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency responsible for monitoring environmental and weather conditions.

According to a release from the agency, the map is designed to simulate the direction and dispersion of particles through the atmosphere.

Importantly, it does not show pollution levels near the ground where people live and breathe.

Contrary to widespread theories online, subject matter experts told CBC the map and other modelling tools like it help tell a clear story: the Ohio train derailment does not pose a threat to human health in Ontario or Quebec.

“There’s no risk here,” said Philip Jessop, a professor of green chemistry at Queen’s University. “I really believe the risk is insanely low.”

Responsible reporting would advise the citizenry of potential risks, not quote some academic from a university that gets millions of corporate cash gifts (aka bribes) smearing people experiencing health harms, and or concerned for their health, their loved ones and pets. Why not suggest mitigation such as economical efficient safe N95s worn outdoors, test ponds and other surface water used for drinking water and lands used for food production, if concerned.

Academia bought & bribed reality check:

Above from: Consolidated Financial Statements, Queen’s University at Kingston, 2022

During the initial frac frenzy years, I learned not to trust most Canadian academics, notably at U of Calgary, U of Alberta and U Waterloo, because of fossil fuel industry corporate cash gifts (aka bribes used to control study and messaging). For the same reason, I do not trust Mr. Jessop, green as he claims to be. And, I learned decades ago, the more someone professes to be green, the less green they are. In my experience, those living and working green, don’t brag about it.

End Academia bought and bribed reality check.

Jessop, who studies the environmental impact of industrial processes and products, said a harmful concentration of chemicals from the disaster simply would not have reached Ontario.

Harmful chemicals ‘not making it to Ontario’

Much of the safety concern on social media hinges on questions about specific chemicals released in the derailment.

The most problematic chemical involved was vinyl chloride, Jessop said.

Authorities in Ohio vented vinyl chloride from the tanker cars and burned it as it was released to avoid a larger, more dangerous explosion.

Burning vinyl chloride produces several byproducts, including hydrogen chloride and phosgene, according to the World Health Organization. The burn was also responsible for producing an enormous column of black smoke, visible for kilometres.

The only chemical involved that “even slightly, conceivably could be a risk” to people in Ontario and Quebec, Jessop said, is phosgene.

Phosgene is a colourless toxic gas that in high enough concentrations causes severe damage to the respiratory system, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The gas is poisonous enough that it was used as a chemical warfare agent in the First World War.

Jessop said by the time any phosgene released in Ohio were to have reached southern Ontario, it would have become diluted to well below the threshold where it’s dangerous.

To test the risk, Jessop created a “worst-case scenario” model that asked what would happen if the full volume of phosgene settled over a single location in southern Ontario. Even in this “highly improbable” scenario, he found it would cause no negative health effects for people who live there.

Real-world conditions were far from the worst case.

“It has rained multiple times. It’s snowed multiple times. [There is] a giant lake, which is a giant sponge for collecting phosgene, that exists between Ohio and Ontario,” Jessop said. “It’s not making it to Ontario. It’s just not happening.”This is irresponsible dishonest reporting by CBC and in my view, foolish statements by an “expert.”

Despite the favourable conditions, Jessop said he supports Environment Canada’s decision to monitor for any traces of the chemical as a precaution.

Relatively small amounts of another chemical, called dioxin, may have also been produced by the burning, Jessop said.

Although the compound is highly toxic, Jessop said it mainly poses a health threat by contaminating food close to where it’s released and is too heavy to have crossed the Great Lakes through the air.Pfffft!

‘1st TikTok disaster’

That the disaster drew such widespread attention is unsurprising, said Josh Greenberg, director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication.

“Those images really shape, in quite powerful ways, what public perceptions of risk are,” Greenberg said.

Some commentators have since branded the derailment the “first TikTok disaster,” Greenberg said.

TikTok, he said, played a key role in spreading misinformation and shaping risk perception in the fallout of the derailment.

Rather than a new phenomenon, TikTok likely represents an “extension” of existing problems found on other social media platforms, Greenberg added.

“Social media has kind of obliterated the distance between where an event takes place … and the opportunities for people to participate in the response to that event,” he said.

Many Ontarians participated.

A TikTok video speculates about health risks to Ontarians after the Ohio train derailment on Feb. 3, 2023.

Videos, such as the one pictured here, contribute to the moniker ‘first TikTok disaster’ some have used to describe the Ohio train derailment. (drippiibeats/TikTok)

TikTok videos posted in early to mid-February claim to show a variety of dangers, from polluted snow falling on northern Ontario to ice reflecting an oily sheen to animals disoriented from a supposed chemical exposure.

Greenberg said conspiracy theories often develop in an information “vacuum” created when clear and consistent official communication is absent.

Add visceral images that appear to contradict statements from authorities and it may become difficult for people to determine which information is accurate, he said.

“That is something I think that officials in the U.S. — but also in Canada — really need to pay closer attention to,” Greenberg said.

“You run the risk of responding in tone-deaf ways to what are very significant social and psychological effects.”

It took three weeks after the derailment and several days after receiving repeated questions from Radio-Canada about the health risk to Ontarians and Quebecers for Environment Canada to issue its first public statement about the misleading information on social media.

“We’re concerned misleading social media posts may be creating fear for people in Canada about potential environmental and health effects of the Feb. 3 Ohio train derailment in the U.S.,” the agency wrote.

“The Government of Canada has determined that there are no expected environmental or health risks for people in Canada.”Says the gov’t that still has not yet publicly released its 2012 frac report admitting numerous potential health hazards from frac’ing and did not tell the public a supreme court of Canada judge is suspended because of reported drunken “creepy” hanky panky in the USA.

The department did not respond to questions from CBC about its communications strategy.

Jessop said, in his view, all public statements from the agency were “scientifically correct.”

“I don’t know what else they could say to convince the people that are naturally skeptic,” he said. “I don’t know that they could do any better.”

Refer also to:

Rob Rogers cartoon, Team Trump-GOP-Norfolk Southern’s vast Poisoning for Profit Project, East Palestine Ohio, PA, NY, Ontario, Quebec and more: “I love the smell of deregulation in the morning.”

Just like the wanna-be-GOP, Trump-worshipping conservatives in Canada, notably in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan where deregulation is religion, and oil and gas towns ‘n trains ‘n frac’d water towers blow up poisoning and killing (with judges lying in rulings, enabling the corporate poisoners while punishing the poisoned). So grateful I have no kids suffering humanity’s toxic world.

Water Testing After Ohio Derailment — Led By Rail Company Itself — Condemned As ‘Sloppy’ The state used preliminary results from railroad-funded sampling to declare that East Palestine’s drinking water was safe in the wake of the toxic spill

Other chemicals of concern at the site include phosgene and hydrogen chloride, which are released when vinyl chloride breaks down; butyl acrylate; ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate; and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. All these chemicals can change when they break down or react with other things in the environment, creating a stew of potential toxins. …

Above from: Dispersion Of Chemicals Using NOAA’s HYSPLIT Model

From the NOAA Air Resources Lab: The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model. This is used to track a single air particle to show how far and in what direction it travels. We have used this to plot the origin of arctic air, and even retroactively plot the suspected path of the Chinese Spy Balloon.

Here we can see the cloud spread with the wind to the North and Northeast. A high enough concentration was determined to have reached across northern Pennsylvania, Buffalo and Albany in New York, and beyond to Montreal in Canada.

East Palestine Ohio toxic train derailment: Chickens, fish, pets, livestock dying; fallout over much of Ontario and Quebec. Norfolk Southern Railway Co, market value $55 Billion (rejected safety measures), offers residents $5 each for ordered evacuation (or face death) to flee toxic fumes. For the stingy $5, will residents have to sign NDAs (gags) and forfeit their right to sue?

Oil and gas industry pollution travels hundreds of kilometres, No wonder Harper is muzzling Canadian scientists

Fracing’s long reach: New Study says Fracking Wells Could Pollute The Air Hundreds Of Miles Away

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