Bullseye pollution problems

There are lots of former Bullseye employees in the glass scene that have shit to say about Bullseye. What I notice is that it is really the same ratio as most people who have worked physically demanding production jobs with pay slightly above minimum wage. They get burned out hate work and quit then talk shit. Bullseye has always made it super clear up front that some positions are very difficult and taxing physically. I really doubt that their.environmental controls were out of legal standards or that they were not consciously trying to do the best they could. Could they have done things better? It sure looks that way and unfortunately it looks like they will be wading through some shit to get there.

Well imo if you are a multi million dollar company and you "can" make some improvements or you "can" do better in order to make your employees even more safe.. It is your duty as a good buisness person to do so. Regardless if your paper work says you are in compliance or not. And frankly it is so sad that its stereotypical american to do the fucking bare minimum until told to do otherwise.. This shit makes me sick to my stomach.

I agree completely, and that is why I never worked at mentioned company, and why I will never work (for) anyone. I will only work (with) people and companies that share my ideals and at times I have to work with other peoples standards while upholding my own. I have a very hard time being in shops that have animals present, and especially children present. My oldest is 13 and I wont let her on the torch, and my personal shop space does not allow kids but that is just me others have there own standards. I was working offhand with a well known dude a couple years ago and he would grab very fine frit and powders and toss it around like he was baking bread. Not my cup of tea and I masked up all times with him afterwords. Different standards for everyone.

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Originally Posted by HumanLathe

Well imo if you are a multi million dollar company and you "can" make some improvements or you "can" do better in order to make your employees even more safe.. It is your duty as a good buisness person to do so. Regardless if your paper work says you are in compliance or not.

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The funny part, if you are a publicly traded company, you could get sued by your shareholders for doing what you suggest.

Not funny at all its the messed up way businesses are run these days.

Do you think the big three in our color industry wil be on the cad chopping block next .


I was informed by someone a bit ago they where already stockpiling the cads they like to use .


For some lots of folks 20 pounds of a color will last them a long time .

Others throw twenty pounds in a crucible over and over .

That would suck to lose all cads .

A whole new area of supply and demand bubble .

Haven't you all learned yet that damn near everything around you is trying to kill you. Its all about what you let win the race. So use the poisonous color cautiously and use good ventilation and respirators when necessary. And maybe if your lucking you'll die of something else Late in life.

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Supposed to say lucky

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Originally Posted by jr23

I was informed by someone a bit ago they where already stockpiling the cads they like to use .

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stockpiled here. not that i necessarily think anything is going to happen, but to be on the safe side. lots of color around the hotspots in question.

I figured so yinz . I had a couple og friends that live out there tell me about the case and how it could really spread to all glass factory in USA .

Like the folks earlier mentioned .

I was just thinking about how company's moved to Brazil's as said earlier .

And thought up a fake headline for a fake industry paper .

Extra extra read all about it , cad crunch down spreads to borosilicate color and the big three have set aside any friendly rivalry . Negotiations are set for tues of next week . Topics of duscusion and speculation of merge .

One of the subsidiary's has bought the devardi facility in India for producing all cad colors .


Somthing like this .

Another article to check out.


Bullseye Glass Company Voluntarily Suspends Hexavalent Chromium Use Pending Further Data Provided by Oregon DEQ
Company Officials Express Confusion Over Actions by DEQ


PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Feb 12, 2016) - In response to a personal request from Oregon DEQ Director Dick Pedersen, Bullseye Glass Company suspends the use of hexavalent chromium, an industry standard material lawful to use under the company's existing air quality discharge permit and DEQ's own regulations.

Company officials expressed confusion over the latest in a series of events undertaken by DEQ this week. According to company co-founder Dan Schwoerer, Director Pederson called a Bullseye employee at around 1:30pm on February 11th with a personal request that the company stop using chromium, an essential element in artisanal glass-making. Pederson made this request despite DEQ's inability to provide any direct evidence that Bullseye was a significant source of chromium. In fact, DEQ's own monitoring data from October 2015 showed peak levels of chromium on days when Bullseye's factory was idle.

The company has asked DEQ for information on the human health, scientific or legal basis of its request, which came less than 24 hours prior to the release of an Oregonian editorial critical of DEQ. As recently as February 10th, DEQ assured both Bullseye and the public that the company operates in compliance with its air quality discharge permit and DEQ's own regulations. Bullseye has regularly reported its use of chromium, as well as other industry standard materials, to state regulators for more than 20 years.

Company co-founder Dan Schwoerer said, "Bullseye Glass has been a conscientious member of SE Portland and of the broader artisan glass community for more than 40 years. We not only work here, more than half of our employees also live and have raised their families here. We and OSHA regularly monitor conditions within our facilities to protect our employees. We have a great track record for safety. We are committed to doing the right thing. We are concerned that DEQ's frantic actions could put us out of business and cause 140 people to lose their jobs."

DEQ now says it has been acutely aware of this issue for many years, but has not informed the public of any potential health risks, or alerted producers like Bullseye of any need to modify their operations until today. The company is committed to continuing to working with DEQ to resolve this situation.
Contact:

Chris Edmonds
503-961-4115

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Originally Posted by brads

Uh-oh, that sounds like a shit-storm in the making for Bullseye, even if they were technically in compliance with gov't regs.[...snip]

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Shit-storm indeed...

There's no stopping the hippie hype train now.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/Blogt...action-of-that

I took a private tour of the facility when we first started distributing for them, and there were a few things I thought were a bit crazy. But, it was overwhelming the sheer volume they were pumping out and the equipment was one of a kind stuff mostly. That was almost 10 years ago too. So, they have blown up in volume since then. They will have to install 500K - 1 Million in equipment and scrubbers to fix it. But, sounds like the local community is pissed big time. Read another article about a town hall meeting at the high school last night, where people were claiming illness and even death! Yikes. Apparently there are pickets there yesterday and this morning also. Oregon hippies man, mess with the environment up there, and you are straight screwed.

Indeed. and yes, brads linked to one of the articles about the protest above. what a nightmare. I agree if there are things you can do to not pollute, you should do them, but putting 140 people out of work shouldn't be on the path to getting it done. Bullseye said before any of the protests that they would improve things even though they were well below DEQ standards.

The protest group on fb has also pulled Abe and north star into the equation, attacked him pretty hard over uranium. His reply,

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Originally Posted by Abe

Hello fellow neighbors this is Abe Fleishman co-owner and president of Northstar glassworks. We manufacture borosilicate color glass rods tubes and Frits. I want to let everyone know that we are very aware of what is going on in Portland and are concerned just like all of you. We are doing testing over the next week to get more insight to what could be emitted from our factory. We feel we will be way under the benchmark but will go over and beyond to make it better. We are not like the other glass factories in question. We are very small and produce glass on a very small scale as well 30-50lb batches. We are fully commented to making our factory a industry standard, hopefully zero emissions if that can be achieved. We will have air tests back in the next few weeks to see what our limits are. We are willing to share this info with the public and also give insight to what we are doing to make our air 100% clean!! We are already working with our ventilation company to design and install dust collecting systems that filter hopefully 99.9 percent of any air going out of our factory. Please feel free to contact me with questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Maybe we could have someone from the group call with questions that can be answered for the group so I don't get slammed with too many calls. The safety is our biggest concern and would love a open dialog with the public. Thanks for taking the time for reading this and hope we can all work together.

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Originally Posted by Abe

We also don't have u308 on sight. We have our uranium glass produced by gaffer glass in New Zealand that hold a permit to purchase and manufacture uranium glass. We receive the glass in a form called a billet. The uranium is already locked into the matrix of the glass. So we take the glass billets and remelt and pull into small rods for artists to use. Our web site has the reading from ohsu radiation department.

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This will no doubt trickle down to all the others, possibly even the small shops like you and I. My girlfriend told me this morning that her new vent is filtered. Her fiance did a bunch of research and built it himself. They have a ton on their plate right now, but hopefully when they have some time they will put together some info for us on how to go about doing this.

We used to run a lot of lead glass for X-Ray absorption. When our volume started going up, we voluntarily submitted our waste for testing. Interestingly enough, it wasn't air-borne lead, it was the glass sludge from the glass grinders. And even though the lead is locked in the glass matrix, in a landfill, it's subjected to the acids in the ground water and leaches out. For close to 8 years we submitted to bi-yearly analysis and special (not hazardous) waste disposal. Eventually, our volume went down, and all was well with the world.

But the important thing to keep in mind here is that even though whatever is in the glass is locked in a glass matrix, once it hits the landfill, all bets are off.

And now the hype has reached the point where even glassblowers are piling on - facts or not.

Time to invest in pitchfork and torch manufacturers?

Attachment 82185

parramore....now there's a surprise.

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Originally Posted by brads

And now the hype has reached the point where even glassblowers are piling on - facts or not.

Time to invest in pitchfork and torch manufacturers?

Attachment 82185

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If you look at who is doing all the finger pointing (Jane Greer), *snip* I wouldn't put any stock into what she's got to say.

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Originally Posted by istandalone24/7

parramore....now there's a surprise.

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Don't be hating on Roger.

Hahaha, no way. He didn't earn it or anything.


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Shut up and blow glass.

;)

Oh man.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...Portland-Glass

https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/eisler/CHR_12_Arsenic.pdf

copied

SOURCES, FATE, AND USES
Global production of arsenic is estimated to be 75,000 to 100,000 tons annually, of which the United States
produces about 21,000 tons and uses about 44,000 tons; major quantities are imported from Sweden, the
world's leading producer (NAS 1977; EPA 1980). Almost all (97%) of the arsenic made worldwide enters endproduct
manufacture in the form of arsenic trioxide (As2O3), and the rest is used as additives in producing
special lead and copper alloys (NAS 1977). More than 80% of the As2O3 is used to manufacture products with
agricultural application, such as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, algicides, sheep dips, wood preservatives,
dyestuffs, and the medicines for eradication of tapeworm in sheep and cattle (NAS 1977). The sole producer
and refiner of As2O3 in the United States is a copper smelter in Tacoma, Washington (NAS 1977).
Arsenic naturally occurs as sulfides and as complex sulfides of iron, nickel, and cobalt (Woolson 1975). In
one form or another, arsenic is present in rocks, soils, water, and living organisms at concentrations of parts per
billion to parts per million (NAS 1977). Soil arsenic levels are normally elevated near arseniferous deposits, and
in mineralized zones containing gold, silver, and sulfides of lead and zinc (Dudas 1984). Secondary iron oxides
formed from the weathering of pyrite act as scavengers of arsenic (Dudas 1984). Pyrite is a known carrier of
arsenic and may contain up to 5,600 mg/kg; for example, total arsenic is 10X above normal background levels in
soils derived from pyritic shale (Dudas 1984). Natural weathering of rocks and soils adds about 40,000 tons of
arsenic to the oceans yearly, accounting for <0.01 mg/l input to water on a global basis (NRCC 1978). Many
species of marine plants and animals often contain naturally high concentrations of arsenic (NAS 1977), but it is
4
usually present in a harmless organic form (Woolson 1975). Anthropogenic input of arsenic to the environment
is substantial, and exceeds that contributed by natural weathering processes by a factor of about 3X (NRCC
1978).
The most important concept with respect to arsenic cycling in the environment is constant change. Arsenic
is ubiquitous in living tissue and is constantly being oxidized, reduced, or otherwise metabolized. In soils,
insoluble or slightly soluble arsenic compounds are constantly being resolubilized, and the arsenic is being
presented for plant uptake or reduction by organisms and chemical processes. Man reportedly has modified the
arsenic cycle only by causing localized high concentrations (NAS 1977). The speciation of arsenic in the
environment. is affected partly by indiscriminate biological uptake, which consumes about 20% of the dissolved
arsenate pool and results in measurable cooncentrations of reduced and methylated arsenic species. The overall
arsenic cycle is similar to the phosphate cycle; however, regeneration time for arsenic is much slower--on the
order of several months (Sanders 1980). The ubiquity of arsenic in the environment is evidence of the
redistribution processes that have been operating since early geologic time (Woolson 1975). A prehuman
steady state solution to the global arsenic cycle (Austin and Millward 1984) indicates that major reservoirs of
arsenic (in kilotons) are magma (50 billion), sediments (25 billion), oceanic deep waters (1.56 million), land (1.4
million), and ocean mixed layers (270,000); minor amounts occur in ocean particulates (100), and in continental
(2.5) and marine tropospheres (0.069). Arsenic is significantly mobilized from the land to the troposphere by
both natural and anthropogenic processes. Industrial emissions account for about 30% of the present day
burden of arsenic in the troposphere (Austin and Millward 1984). Agronomic ecosystems, for example, may
receive arsenic from agricultural sources such as organic herbicides, irrigation waters, and fertilizers, and from
such nonagricultural sources as fossil fuels and industrial and municipal wastes (Woolson 1975). Arsenic is
mobile and nonaccumulative in air, pant, and water phases of agronomic ecosystems; arsenicals sometimes
accumulate in soils, but redistribution mechanisms usually preclude hazardous accumulations (Woolson 1975).
Arsenic compounds have been used in medicine since the time of Hippocrates, ca. 400 BC (Woolson 1975).
Inorganic arsenicals have been used for centuries, and organoarsenicals for at least a century in the treatment
of syphylis, yaws, amoebic dysentery, and trypanosomiasis (NAS 1977). During the period 1200 to 1650,
however, arsenic was used extensively in homicides (NRCC 1978). In 1815, the first accidental death was reported from arsine (AsH3) poisoning, and in 1900-1903 accidental poisonings from consumption of arseniccontaminated beer were widely reported (NRCC 1978). In 1938, it was established that arsenic can counteract selenium toxicity (NRCC 1978). The introduction of arsphenamine, an organoarsenical, to control venereal disease earlier this century gave rise to intensive research by organic chemists, which resulted in the synthesis of at least 32,000 arsenic compounds. But the advent of penicillin and other newer drugs nearly eliminated the use of organic arsenicals as human therapeutic agents (EPA 1980). Arsenical drugs are still used in treating
certain tropical diseases, such as African sleeping sickness and amoebic dysentery, and are used in veterinary medicine to treat parasitic diseases, including filariasis in dogs (Canis familiaris) and blackhead in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and chickens, Gallus spp. (NAS 1977). Today, abnormal sources of arsenic that can enter the food chain from plants or animals include arsenical pesticides such as lead arsenate; arsenic acid, HAsO3; sodium arsenite, NaAsO2; sodium arsenate, Na2AsO4; and cacodylic acid, (CH3)2 As(OH) (NAS 1977). The major uses of arsenic are in the production of herbicides, insecticides, desiccants, wood preservatives, and growth stimulants for plants and animals. Much smaller amounts are used in the manufacture of glass (nearly all of which contains 0.2% to 1.0% arsenic as an additive--primarily as a decolorizing agent) and textiles, and in medical and veterinary applications (NAS 1977; EPA 1980). Arsenic is also an ingredient in lewisite, a blistering poison gas developed (but not used) during World War I, and in various police riot control agents (NAS 1977). The availability of arsenic in certain local areas has been increased by various human activities: smelting and refining of gold, silver, copper, zinc, uranium, and lead ores; combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal and gasoline; burning of vegetation from cotton gins treated with arsenical pesticides; careless or extensive use of arsenical herbicides, pesticides, and defoliants; dumping of land wastes and sewage sludge (1.1 mg/l) in areas that allow leaching into groundwater; use of domestic detergents in wash water (2.5 to 1,000 mg As/1); manufacture of glass; and by the sinking of drinking water wells into naturally arseniferous rock (NRCC 1978; EPA 1980). There are several major anthropogenic sources of environmental arsenic contamination: industrial smelters--the effluent from a copper smelter in Tacoma, Washington, contained up to 70 tons of arsenic discharged yearly into nearby Puget Sound ((NRCC 1978); coal-fired power plants, which collectively emit about 3,000 tons of arsenic annually in the United States (EPA 1980); and production and use of arsenical pesticides, coupled with careless disposal of used pesticide containers (NAS 1977). Elevated levels of arsenic have been reported in soils near smelters, in acid mine spoils...




if anyone has information on what's being released when we torch the glass that would be helpful to me.
I would like to know more but don't know where i'd find that info. pm me or whatever

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Originally Posted by PyroChixRock

Oh man.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...Portland-Glass

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I especially love the last line in that "article", Misha:

"Attorney Advertising. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case."

I'm sure you caught it, but in case anyone else didn't, although it is written to look like a news article this is an ad seeking clients for a big class action suit. Chase ambulances much? While something like this was predictable from right from the start, it's still a bit disconcerting to actually see it in print. You can be sure this whole thing is on a fast road to nowhere good.

.

I said the other day, those employees probably have lawyers waiting at their cars at the end of each shift. Not only are they in line for potential class action from the community, but the employees if they decided to, could probably really screw them.

And now there are videos of Protestors outside of Bullseye...

The worst thing, for me, to see about this is glass people turning on other glass people. Sure, maybe bullseye could have done more, but so could have almost every other business in the world. At the end of the day we are all trying to feed our families.

Stick together. One love, one flame.

I welcome any and all Glass Companies that want to move to the Wild Wild SouthWest!

I'd love a few color companies a bit closer to me ;)

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what being released when we torch the glass?

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Gray matter summed it up nicely, earlier in this tread.

An update

http://koin.com/2016/02/23/bullseye-...-indefinitely/


Attachment 82300

Attachment 82301

Link to the same letter, but including a video from Mr. Schwoerer:
http://www.bullseyeglass.com/news/a-...schwoerer.html

Another update


http://www.oregonlive.com/environmen...cart_big-photo

E-mail and Statement from Uroboros

http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u...0&e=20790b1374

http://www.uroboros.com/announcements.php?id=41

Tangentially related to this issue, briefly touching on Uroboros and Spectrum

http://talk.craftweb.com/showthread.php?t=11019

And now the shit really starts hitting the fan.

http://katu.com/news/local/7-se-port...enic-southeast

http://glassalchemy.com/blogs/the-fo...ly-unavailable

Looks like GA has at least temporarily stopped production of crayolas and lemon drop... I imagine as a result of this. Just in case no one had noticed the blog post.

Finally, a little sanity begins to creep into this over-hyped shitshow...

Thanks for the URL brad. Here's a couple more updates.


http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0WB2VS

Attachment 82740

https://youtu.be/5gI3PPyXLNE



Dammit, can't get the video to post right...