Coal Tar Pitch, also known as Coal Tar or Pitch, is a hazardous chemical called a volatile. It is listed on the Right to Know Hazardous Substance List with many organizations including OSHA, DOT, NFPA, NTP, IARC and more. Coal Tar is a flammable liquid used as a base for coatings or paint, in paving and as a binder for asphalt. This chemical is a dangerous fire hazard as a fire from this product produces poisonous gases. Coal Tar is also a known human carcinogen or cancer-causing substance.

Coal Tar and the Environment

Coal Tar is so detrimental to the environment that the EPA requires any spills or leaks of this chemical to be handled as hazardous waste. Also, companies that use this chemical must also follow hazardous substance regulations in the containment and disposal of this chemical. Run-off from Coal Tar seal coated pavement contains high concentrations of a toxic substance called Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons or PAHs. PAHs are harmful to human life and toxic to aquatic life when it makes its way into our rivers, lakes, streams and ponds. Even more concerning is that Coal Tar-based sealants abrade over time and become part of the dust on the road where it is dispersed by wind, rain, car tires and even your feet into surrounding areas. This disbursement is how PAHs end up in soil and the surrounding environment–even as part of the dust inside your home.

Run-off into lakes, streams, ponds, rivers and other waterways have a disastrous effect, killing fish and causing fish embryos in the water to mutate. It also ends up in our storm systems through run-off into sewers and drains. Even worse, the toxicity of PAHs can be intensified by sunlight, making this component of Coal Tar even more deadly to aquatic, animal and human life. PAHs not only impact water quality but also air quality. Testing has shown that Coal Tar seal-coated pavement continues to release PAHs into the air for at least eight years after application. Experts agree that new applications of Coal Tar-based sealcoating release more PAHs in a year than the total annual vehicle emissions of PAHs.

Pitch Black vs Coal Tar

Coal Tar Pitch is a hazardous, cancer-causing, environmentally devastating product. That’s why EcoShield manufactures Pitch Black, a non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, eco-friendly alternative to Coal Tar Pitch that not only eliminates the environmental impacts but is safe and holds up better and longer. When you know better, you can choose better and demand better for your community and your neighborhood. To learn more about Pitch Black, check out our product information page here: https://www.ecoshieldasphalt.tempurl.host/#ecofriendly. And if you have questions, we’d love to answer them so give us a call!

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On January 31, 2022, Luisa Wiewgorra with Fox 47 News, reported that Grand Ledge, Michigan has implemented a ban on coal tar sealants.

Here is an excerpt:

Grand Ledge has banned the use of coal tar-based sealants, following mid-Michigan’s Meridian Township and East Lansing.

“We wanted to do something with the PAHs before it became a problem,” said Tom Jancek, a member or the Grand Ledge City Council, referring to a group of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. “And there are solutions now. You just use a different sealer.”

You can learn more about PAHs here.

Grand Ledge has banned coal tar as a pavement sealant, which means that contractors and retailers are not allowed to sell or use it anymore. The ordinance is meant to protect its residents’ health and the environment.

“Anytime you burn something, if you burn toast, you create PAH,” said Thomas Ennis, advocate and founder of Coal Tar Free America.

“If you’ve got coal tar on your parking lot, you will have high PAH is in your apartment,” he said. “You may say, well, that’s just the carpet. Well, that’s where our kids play…They’re constantly putting stuff in their mouth. And that’s what, that’s the way they experience their world. Well, they’re experiencing it in a pH rich environment. And it’s significant enough to increase their lifetime cancer risk 38 times by up for a child in those kinds of circumstances.”

Read more about the harmful effects of PAHs here.

Ennis said polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be breathed in, ingested, but also get in our bloodstream if we touch them, which puts construction workers at high risk as well. According to Ennis, the solution is easy and not any more expensive than coal tar.

“Coal tar sealcoat is about 70,000 parts per million. Then asphalt sealcoat is about 50 parts per million. So, we’re talking about the alternative being, you know, 1000 times less in PAHs,” Ennis said.

Michigan’s Van Buren Township was the first community in the U.S. to ban not only coal tar, but high PAH substances, everything that contains over 0.1 percent of PAH. In mid-Michigan, coal tar has been banned by Meridian Township, East Lansing and now Grand Ledge.

“We get our water from the groundwater. So, the more that we can protect it, the better long term we are,” Jancek said.

Lansing’s Communications Director Scott Bean said that the city of Lansing and its contractors are not using coal tar sealants. However, there is no ordinance in place for private contractors.

“This is an issue we will be discussing with the Sustainability Commission to possibly make a recommendation on any future action,” Bean said.

Ennis said he gets “a lot of calls from upset homeowners who’ve put this down, and you know, they’ve got small kids, and then they realize, ‘Oh, my gosh, I don’t want to poison them. I do all this the right things for my kids. I eat the right things, I do the right things. And then I didn’t know this.’ Well, I think that’s the role of good government is to protect, protect citizens from predatory uses of toxic substances,” Ennis said.

See the full article from Fox 47 News here: Grand Ledge bans coal tar in sealants (fox47news.com)

Watch the report:

And, keep checking back with www.ecoshieldasphalt.tempurl.host for the latest updates.

The post “Grand Ledge Bans Coal Tar in Sealants” appeared first on Ecoshield Asphalt.

An excerpt:

People who lived next to coal-tar-sealcoated pavement had a 38 times higher risk of developing cancer, according to the U.S. government. Here in Hampton Roads, high levels of the associated chemicals have been linked to widespread fish cancer in the Elizabeth River.

A Northern Virginia delegate has now brought a bill targeting toxic sealants. The legislation, advocated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, would allow localities to ban them.

The post “Virginia bill targets toxic pavement sealants, which can cause cancer in fish and humans” appeared first on Ecoshield Asphalt.