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9486 in the collection
How Will We Know When Our School Is Sick?
Read what happens to a New
York City teacher when he fights for
environmentally safe schools.
Joseph Mugivan
j.mugivan@att.net
August 12, 2008
Ms. Christine Quinn
Speaker of the New York City Council
Robert Jackson (Education), Melinda Katz
(Education),
John Liu (Education), Joseph Addabbo (Labor)
James Gennaro (Environment), Eric Gioia
(Investigation)
Peter Vallone (Public Safety)
Michelle Schimel (State Assembly), Jeffrion
Aubrey (State Assembly)
Craig Johnson (State Senate), Toby Stavisky
(State Senate)
Congressman Gary Ackerman, Senator Hillary
Clinton
William Thompson (City Comptroller) Claim
#2008LW009871
Re: Application for The New York City Council’s
Teacher Whistleblower Protection [protecting
the health and welfare of students]
Dear Ms. Quinn,
This letter is an application for
protection under the recent teacher
whistleblower legislation passed by you and Mr.
Gioia during your current administration. I
will explain why I am presenting this to the
council independently of the teachers’ union.
October 24, 2008 will mark the fifth
anniversary of the day that I was obliged to
leave my classroom, with medical documentation,
due to toxic vapors in my school, that were
making me sick. I was forced onto an unpaid
medical leave, which automatically severed my
association with my city and state union
affiliates.
My status as teacher has not changed. I
have not resigned, retired or been terminated,
yet the city has withheld my income and
benefits for this period of time. My local
state representatives have written letters
inquiring of the city comptroller, how this can
happen.
Senator Hillary Clinton has called for
an investigation of my school, PS7 in Elmhurst,
Queens through the State Departments of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department
of Health (DOH) based on my [attached report]
relating to a toxic spill reported adjacent to
my school.
At the same time Congressman Gary
Ackerman’s office has brought an accounting
from federal environmental agencies regarding
this issue.
The office of the chancellor of the New
York City Department of Education (DOE)
indicated or implied that the Federal
Occupational and Safety Administration (OSHA)
and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) had cleared the school site of any toxic
exposure.
Recent documents received from these
agencies, through my congressman’s office,
indicate that OSHA had done no investigations
in the area at or around that time, while the
EPA reports that this would not be in its
jurisdiction. Due to these conclusions I have
requested that the president of the United
Federation of Teachers reopen my original
grievance with the DOE per [attached email].
With no recourse, due to documented
nerve and optical pathologies, I applied for
retirement. The Teachers’ Retirement System
(TRS) took four years to process my
application, denied me the right of appeal
before the board when my own medical records
were changed by its medical department, refused
to make my file available for inspection
contrary to TRS regulations and ignored its own
recommended medical specialist, who called for
an environmental investigation of the site.
The New York City Department of Health
refused to provide a medical specialist and its
own medical determination, which is a violation
of State law and Federal HIPPA law. The city
comptroller’s representative on the TRS board
attempted to access my records without success.
I believe that my work to expose the
dangerous conditions at my school falls within
the realm of whistleblower status prompting
government action and potential remediation. I
have testified before four committees of the
Council regarding my school’s situation.
The New York Lawyers for the Public
Interest has also testified before the Council,
that all air quality testing be performed by
independent industrial hygienists “retained by
the parents” and paid for by the city.
My original report entitled “How Will
We Know When Our School Is Sick?” (2005) has
been answered. It has taken five years.
Very truly yours,
Joseph Mugivan
Teacher
City of New York
A Request for an Environmental Investigation
Of Public School 7 (PS7) in Elmhurst,
Queens
Richard Daines, Commissioner
New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)
Alexander Grannis, Commissioner
New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
Randi Weingarten, President
United Federation of Teachers
Joseph Mugivan
Advocate/Teacher
Date: December 6, 2007
NYSDEC and NYSDOH are the lead agencies
for vapor intrusion monitoring.
As a New York City teacher I have
discovered information that supports my concern
that there is an “undiagnosed” health crisis in
my school at PS7.
Without going onto the particulars of
my own pathology and that of others, I wish to
develop a “site conceptual model that considers
both, the [environmental and building
condition]” (NYSDOH) of my school. I left the
building in October, 2003. A spill adjacent to
my school was reported to NYSDEC on July, 2003.
Recently, Mt. Sinai attempted to gain access to
children’s health records without success. The
lead agency would have to be the New York City
Department of Health.
This report will be the foundation for
a comprehensive investigation by the designated
authorities on vapor intrusion in New York
State, the NYSDOH and the NYSDEC.
The Environmental Condition (Part 1)
According to the environmental chairman
of the local planning board, PS7 was built on
the former site of the New York City Water
Department truck yard dating to 1939. The same
site has had a petroleum bulk storage site for
four different city agencies. It was also a
hazardous waste generator/transporter site for
the New York City School Construction
Authority, according to a recent report from
Toxic Targeting
Having a history of automotive repair,
I would encourage the testing for chlorinated
solvents beneath the school along with non-
chlorinated compounds which would contribute to
vapor intrusion. The DEC report of January 15,
2004 states that
“there are additional environmental conditions
known to exist on property [Rothchild Printing]
including elevated metal concentrations, in
both soil and groundwater and chlorinated
solvents present in groundwater….
Site does not meet standards.”
I recently learned of a spill at the
adjacent site of PS 7, Rothchild Printing, in a
report by the firm of CA Rich Consultants .This
company was retained by Rothchild Printing to
investigate the site for a potential real
estate sale. From these investigations we can
conclude the following at this testing site
which is 140 feet from PS7:
The report indicates that “In all instances the
soil beneath the shallow groundwater table
(approximately 10 feet below grade) revealed
higher organic vapor readings than the soil
above the water table.”
Present in the soil beneath the shallow
groundwater are excessive levels of the semi
volatile organic compounds (SVOCs):
Benzo (a) pyrene at three sites 1002 ppb, 123
ppb and 70 ppb
The safe clean up levels for New York State,
TAGM, is 61 ppb.
Benzo (a) anthracene was measured at 997 ppb,
TAGM is 224 ppb
Chrysene was measured at 975 ppb, TAGM is 400
ppb.
The three chemicals fall into a class
known as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
(PAHS) which has the tendency to emit vapors
more than other kinds of SVOCs
NYSDOH guidelines indicate that vapor
intrusion impact can be up to 100 ft from the
plume, should the water table under Rothchild
Printing be different than the one under the
school, 140 feet away, and that “the potential
of vapor intrusion increases with increasing
concentration of volatile chemicals
underground” (NYSDOH). New York State includes
some SVOC’s as volatile organic compounds
(VOC’s), depending on their ability to emit
vapors and that “some SVOC’s can migrate into
indoor air from soil and groundwater”.
Studies of people show that individuals
exposed by breathing or skin contact for long
periods to mixtures that contain PAHs and other
compounds can also develop cancer. The above
mentioned chemicals are known carcinogens.
(2)
The Environmental Condition (Part 2)
Twenty three (23) feet below Rothchild
Printing is a deep water table that contains
Trichloroethane (TCE), a very serious
chlorinated solvent at 140 ppb and
Dichloroethene (8.9 ppb.) The TAGM groundwater
standard is 5 ppb for each. CA Rich determined
that no TCE levels exist at Rothchild Printing,
possibly due to a level of clay that exists
above this lower water table. This sounds
reasonable for Rothchild Printing, but it may
not apply to the area beneath PS7.
New York State indicates that
“fractures in bedrock and/or tight soils may
increase the potential for vapor intrusion over
what would be expected for the bulk unfractured
matrix.” The recent vapor intrusion guidelines
of the United States Air Force reports that
‘homogeneous and un-fractured clay deposits
occur only rarely”. The foundation of PS7 would
have to have penetrated this clay layer.
Foil requests relating to the original
environmental impact statement (Freedom of
Information Law) to the New York City
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
and the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) were
unsuccessful. There is the possibility that no
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was
performed at PS7.
Guideline of the NYSDEC:
The soil vapor intrusion pathway must be
investigated at any site with the following:
a) an existing subsurface source (e.g. on the
basis of preliminary environmental sampling) or
likely subsurface source (e.g. on the basis of
known previous land uses) of volatile chemicals
in excess of their appropriate standard,
criteria or guidance concentration; and
b) existing buildings or the possibility that
buildings may be constructed near a subsurface
source of volatile chemicals.
The Building Condition
According to the New York City
Department of Education Inspection report dated
February 19, 2003 there is water infiltration
“through” the sub-slab area. It would seem that
the ground water has penetrated the school. The
most recent capital plan for 2005-2009
indicates that a “building upgrade” is
scheduled for “flood elimination” and “interior
structural foundation walls”
The above mentioned 2003 report
indicates that air conditioning compressors
needed to be replaced and all compressors were
replaced in the summer of 2005, according to a
local civic leader and a city report.
(3)
The ventilation system had been
dysfunctional since the school was opened in
1994 and the above mentioned new capital plan
calls for “system replacements” and “heating
plant upgrade” of “air conditioning” and
“ventilation”.
My classroom had received complaints by
me and the former teacher who occupied it. In
one study of CO2, this classroom had the
weakest ventilation. It was also unique in that
it had a window that opened to the outside. I
also perceived problems, through physical
reaction, with the auditorium.
I look forward to a rigorous
investigation of this sensitive site.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph Mugivan
Advocate for School
Indoor Air Quality
Member
New York Vapor Intrusion Alliance
231 Manorhaven Blvd.
Port Washington, N.Y 11050
516 883 2981
cc: James Gennaro, Environmental Committee
New York City Council
Eric Gioia, Investigation Committee
New York City Council
Richard Italia, President
Planning Board 4, Corona, New York
Tom McKenzie, Environmental Committee
Planning Board 4, Corona, New York
Catherine Nolan, Chair, Education
Committee
New York State Assembly
Michelle Schimel, Environmental
Committee,
Representative New York State Assembly
Craig Johnson, Representative, New York
State Senate
Gary Ackerman, House of Representatives
Unsigned OSHA Response
July 9, 2008
Hon Gary Ackerman
House of Representatives
218-14 Northern Blvd.
Bayside, N.Y. 11361
Dear Congressman:
Thank you for the letter that you
received from OSHA regarding the vapor
intrusion into my school at PS 7 in Elmhurst,
Queens. I understand why it was mailed with no
return name and unsigned.
It fails to report that the state has
no environmental impact statement on record for
this school, or address any investigations of
the toxins that were present in the spill
reported to the State DEC in July of 2003 such
as TCE, a very dangerous chlorinated solvent.
Admittedly, carbon dioxide testing is
an indicator of air “flow” quality, buy it does
not test for other elements. If air flow
quality is so good, why were 15 compressors
replaced in the school two years after I left
and ventilation problems continue to exist
today, according to the most recent capital
construction budget.
It reports acceptable levels of CO2,
but fails to mention how this standard was
determined. Are they acceptable according to
the commercial standards of ASHRAE, the
independent agency which sets commercial air
quality standards for the workplace? This is
the product of an unsigned report.
In the interview with teachers, there
is no way for them to determine if they are
exposed to chemicals in the workplace, as was
the case with a recent school in New Jersey,
built on a site that contained very high levels
of three different pesticides. Only when they
were aware of this were the pathologies of
children and teachers able to be explained.
HIPPA permits government agencies to examine
health records of children due to a possible
health crisis, but this has not been done.
There is no indication how many employees were
interviewed or their locations in the school.
It is reported that the State Labor SH-
900 logs at the school had no injury reports
linked to indoor air quality, but these records
are supposed to report any complaints, not
whether they can be verified. Ms. Suzanne
Gordon, the teacher in my room previously,
testified publicly at an open meeting that she
complained all year and had medical support.
Why was not my name on these records? Does that
fact have to be proven before the complaint is
recorded? This is a violation of State Labor
law.
The United Federation of Teachers did a
“walkthrough” inspection in 2007, four years
after the initial complaint by its own union
member. Do we need to go further on this? Have
they tested for the state spill results?
We stlll have no investigation by the
lead agency for vapor intrusion, the State DEC,
of the potential exposures from their spill
report at the adjacent Rothchild Printing, or a
record of an environmental impact statement
when the school was built in 1994.
OSHA continues to allow PESH to violate
its own 29CFR 1910.1020 regulations, relating
to timely reporting of environmental
information, addressed to the chief executive
of the school, the principal, by scratching its
head wondering where such a report might be
located. In the meantime, it seems that the
maintenance company that serviced the
ventilation system of PS7 lost all of its
records in a flood.
It is the duty of the employee to
request it, not go looking for it, and not
waiting for years at the hands of PESH, rather
than the 15 business days, as mandate by the
Federal Government of the United States. These
laws protect the teachers and children in
schools across the country.
I continue to appreciate your interest
in the violation of these Federal Laws. I will
forward a copy to Senator Clinton.
Very truly yours,
Joseph Mugivan
Advocate for School
Indoor Air Quality
Cc: Senator Hillary Clinton
— Joseph Mugivan
letters
2008-08-12
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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