Coal Tar Free America: Congressman Doggett Compliments, Challenges EPA on Sealants

June 2, 2011
By Tom Ennis

Full article: https://coaltarfreeamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/congressman-doggett-compliments.html

Just a few daysago, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) delivered a new message to theAdministrator of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, complimenting some movement onenvironmental issues, but pressing the Agency that the work on sealants is farfrom complete.

EPA efforts that were applauded included attentionto polluted runoff from coal tar sealed lots and their 2010 report on theRelative Potency Factors of PAH mixtures. The problem is that an independentscientific advisory board found some incompleteness with work and recommendedadditional study be undertaken. What action and on what timetable this will bedone has not been made public.

Congressman Doggett also took theopportunity to remind EPA about the parking lot runoff study promised him ina July2009 letter. While it may be a duplication of the work doneby the USGS, the City of Austin, the University of New Hampshire, it may yield another datapoint in our understanding and may give the EPA the justification for furtheraction. If the EPA is staying close to schedule, then the results will beavailable this summer.

The Congressman has been a lone, enduringcongressional champion of this nationwide problem for many years. As the banscontinue to mount up and the nation's understanding of coal tar sealantpollution increases, Congressman Doggett should be recognized for the quietvision and resolve we need in our politicians today.

The letter can beread in its entirety at this link.