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Good evening, President Brandman, Dr. Weast, and members of the Board:
My name is Anne Ambler. I'm a resident of Silver Spring since 1970. Although my children both graduated from the Montgomery County public school system, this is my first time before the Board. I've been active on environmental issues here for the last 10 years, as past chair of the local Sierra Club and currently as president of a watershed protection nonprofit.
What brings me here is not only a concern for the next generation of school children, but concern for the environment we all need to lead healthy lives. We got the neurotoxin lead out of gasoline and out of paint. President Obama's Executive Order addresses Bay restoration. And Congress is moving toward addressing global climate change.
But with each new synthetic turf field installed, I fear we are moving in the opposite direction.
The very essence of these fields, shredded used tires and colored plastic and nylon blades is highly problematic.
Of the many concerns, I will highlight just three: Water contamination, heat island effect, and disposal.
Water contamination. The leachate from crumb rubber when fields are water-cooled or when it rains have been shown to contain lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, and zinc.
These are neuro-toxins, carcinogens, mutagens, and liver and kidney disruptors. Copper and zinc, although necessary for plants and animals, are harmful in these higher quantities. (See KEM, Swedish Chemicals Agency, Facts: Synthetic Turf, April 2007.)
The leachate also contains carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which accumulate in the body; and phthalates, which have caused alarm among users of soft plastic baby products.
In addition, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station found four compounds that produce gas which then leached into water at ambient temperatures. These ranged from irritants to a recognized carcinogen and suspected toxicant to the endocrine, gastrointestinal, immune, nerve, skin and sense-organ systems (butylated hydroxyanisole). (See The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Examination of Crumb Rubber Produced from Recycled Tires, August 2007.)
My question: What system do we have in place to test and accept or reject prospective synthetic turf depending on test results, and to monitor leachate from existing turf as the crumb rubber and blades degrade?
Heat island effect. Synthetic fields get extremely hot, retain heat, and reheat rapidly after being cooled with water. At Brigham Young University in Utah, this turf was measured at 37 degrees hotter than neighboring asphalt and 86.5 degrees hotter than natural turf. Every field contributes to warming our cities, even as we apply reflective coatings to roofs to cool them. The darker the material, the more heat retained. How will this be addressed in light of the county's global warming efforts?
Disposal. When they were tires, this rubber was hazardous waste. Now that they're playing fields, are they any less hazardous waste? What about the plastic blades? What plan do we have for ultimate disposal of these fields? The more they're used, the faster they will degrade, so since we plan to use them to the hilt, are we budgeting for disposal of them as hazardous waste in 5 to 8 years?
I urge you to reconsider the wisdom of investing in these fields. Aren't we in effect testing them out on our children, our drinking water, our future?
To more fully educate yourselves on these issues, I highly recommend the Delaware Riverkeeper's Fact Sheet - Artificial/Synthetic Turf.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Anne Ambler
12505 Kuhl Road
Silver Spring, MD 20902
310-946-5599
anambler@gmail.com
