The company I work for was awarded a contract to do the sitework for a shopping center in Carmel, CA. We have been waiting for our grading permit for a long time because apparently we had to submit a report on our Acrolein emissions . This substance is Non-carcinogenic but apparently the report submitted by me showed much higher than allowable amounts of Acrolein. We have spoken to the Monterey Bay Unified Air Polution Controll District (MBUAPCD),as they are the ones who imposed this regulation on us, and they have no regulation directly addressing acrolein, but they claim they are a regulatory agency so that is where their power comes from. They claim that we are the "Guinea Pig" (actual quote) on this Acrolein thing and have actually used my work to formulate spreadsheets and modeling math for future projects. Trust me when I say the equations are way inaccurate (PM me if you want the spreadsheets you'll see what I'm talking about) I know this is bad for a first post but PLEASE help (ideas or anything). I have lots of info on acrolein so if you want more info PM me. I just need to get this project started.
I never even heard of it until your post, so I googled it. I'll bet most of our members haven't heard of it either. In amongst the results was this: "Sources and Potential Exposure Acrolein can be formed from the breakdown of certain pollutants found in outdoor air, from burning tobacco, or from burning gasoline. (1) Airborne exposure to acrolein may occur from breathing contaminated air, from smoking tobacco or proximity to someone who is smoking, or from being near automobiles or oil or coal power plants. In several large cities, acrolein has been measured at 9 parts per billion (ppb). (1) Occupational exposure to acrolein could occur in industries that use acrolein to make other chemicals. (1) Small amounts of acrolein may be found in some foods, such as fried foods, cooking oils, and roasted coffee. (1) Acrolein has not been detected in drinking water, and is not commonly found in surface water. (1) " Are they suggesting that you must quantify the amount of Acrolein that will be produced by the operation of your equipment, or is there some environmental source that you'll be disturbing? This kind of stuff is way above my head, so don't expect me to have any solutions, but sometimes answering questions from us dumb guys can help your own thought processes. Maybe limit the number of coffee and smoke breaks you take? :beatsme
Welcome to HeavyEquipmentForums No offense intended here, but I don't know how you guys in Ca. put up with all those regulations you face!! I've never heard of Acrolein either!
I think I have it,who do I sue? :slomo
I had to make a spreadsheet that calculates the amount of Acrolein our equipment will put out. They use a hazard index which pretty much is a percentage of what the limit is. Ex. If you are at the limit or 100% your hazard index is one. This report is only done to protect potential "receptors" people. There are no effects to the environment. As a matter of fact Acrolein is naturally occuring. Alot of paper processing and burning vegetation, trees, etc. put off wayyy more Acrolein than our equipment. What makes me laugh even more is the fact that they don't have a way of testing it. I told them to give me a baseline to add to my spreadsheet and they didn't have one. And when I looked up the state average air quality for Acrolein we are already past the allowable limit 240% past witout even starting a piece of equipment. I'm not surprized this is an issue. I'm sure theres more too it politically than air quality. I got into an arguement with one of the engineers over the emissions of an Entech wheel :lmao I had to explain to the engineer that it was only an attachment... twice... thats like asking what the emissions on a wheel barrow are. I'll be sure to update you as the story continues. And I promise to contribute better posts to the board. And yes the stupid laws we sometimes get in Cali make me want to strangle somebody.
I'm curious--Is there any kind of "political football" aspect to the project itself that you're trying to get underway? It just seems, from what you've described so far, that the issue, and the rules you're being asked to adhere to, are so nebulous. It honestly sounds like you're either being shaken down, or someone has a hidden agenda that includes stopping you from going ahead. That possibility aside, I gotta believe that the closest freeway is going to contribute more Acrolein than your equipment. Do the any of equipment manufacturers, or the oil companies have any info available on how much their products will emit? I would think that it could be correlated somehow to the amount of fuel you'll go through in the course of the project, which compared to the amount of fuel burned by motor vehicles on any given day in the general vicinity would probably be insignificant.
Good advice I'll contact some of the manufacturers and see what they have to say. I'll get back to you. Thanks.
Allright the latest is that we have been givin the green light. Permit is in our hands and were digging. One of the higher ups in the planning department got a whiff of this crap and thought it didn't smell quite right. His recommendation was to try and keep our teir two equipment working as much as possible to keep the acrolein emissions as low as possible and the air pollution controll district needs to come up with a better model before they can make bogus regulations like that. all that aside the regulations will be here soon so if your in california start learning up on your acrolein. Stay safe and thanks to all who spoke up, I always appreciate advice -J
Oh and one more thing. If this regulation does affect you, you will need some clean running equipment or you will need to retrofit your older equipment with a Platinum injection system . You don't really need ot know that you just need to call people who sell "oxidative catalist" or particulate filters and tell them your dillema. They will want to know the horsepower rating (roughly) the exhaust diameter, how close you intend to put it to the manifold (the more heat the better) and the emissions you are trying to mitigate. Probably a few other bits of info as well but if you have that ready they can give you a rough estimate how much it will cost. Also, dont let the guys from the air quality departments bully you. You have a right to work and don't need to be hassled by bogus regulations. On the other hand sometimes they have done all their homework and can come up with a legitimate regulation (I know it sux). If you do your homework and know more than they do, you'll be fine.