2001_0813_packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

C Driscoll, Margaret From: George Larson [gdl @reell.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 9:38 PM f To: City. Council (E-mail); Johnk (E-mail) cc: Linda Larson (E-mail) ., p Subject. RoSelaWn Crematorium Proposal Dear Mayor and City Council, I I spoke at the July 23 city council meeting regarding the proposed' crematorium stack height but did not have materials prepared for your review. Based on my further investigation, I am concerned that the concentration of the poisonous gas HC1 in our backyard is likely to be significantly higher than oS HA's limits. Calculations are below. Excerpts on stack height are also below. In addition I have concern regarding the ability of cemetery personnel to set and follow procedures (specifically demonstrated by the difference between the policy stated for use of the dump and actual use of the dump.) Please consider the following information when you renew your consideration of the crematorium. HC1 Concentrations: I have made calculations regarding the amount of air around the crematorium and roughly calculated the parts per million levels that may be reached. In a volume 100 ft high X 1000 ft wide X 2000 ft long there is about 1/2 million pounds of air at 1 atmosphere and 70 degrees F. Into this air on a day when 4 cremations occur there would be discharged, according to the calculations from the numbers distributed for 300 bodies per year, 0.3 lbs of HC1 gas, 2.4 lbs of NOX gas and 18.4 lbs of CO gas. The parts per million can be calculated by doubling because there is 1/2 million pounds of air in the defined space. This gives 0.6 PPM HC11 4.8 PPM NOX and 36.8 PPM of co. I do not have the notes from the city council meeting, but I think the HC1 and CO limits stated by the retired OSHA inspector are lower than these levels. The NOX may be also. If the pollutants did not disperse into this large an area the concentrations could be several times higher. In addition to the concentration PPM is the gas density issue. If any of these pollutants is heavier than air it will pool in our backyard, which is adjacent to the pond, the lowest point east of the proposed crematorium. HC1, the most dangerous of these gasses, is 26% heavier than air. Depending on the concentrating effect of cooling and pooling, the poisonous gas concentrations could reach 500 times the OSHA limits. We have daughters who are 5 and 3 who play in the back yard every day. Toxic gasses above OSHA limits for adults cannot be acceptable in this situation. Stack Height: In the limited time, I am unable to find US information on stack heights. The appended discussion in part caused a crematorium proposal to be denied in England due to incompatibility between acceptable aesthetic and technical stack height requirements. The site address is here and at the appended section. http://www.doublef.co.uk/texts/ecol/crem.htm The applicable information in the web site is the need for evaluation of the surrounding landscape and stack height to disperse pollutants out of residential areas. The accepted stack height engineering standard is 1.6 X the building height. I believe the appended section applies to the technical theory and practice for dispersing pollutants resulting from locating a crematorium near a residential area regardless of local regulations. Dump Use: