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Diesel & Oil Smoke Emissions in St George, UT

2K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  ernesteugene 
#1 ·
I now have a 2014 8.9L Cummins motorhome but recently I only travel 4 times per year, just enough to keep the engine from seizing up. I spend 3 months in St George in the spring & fall, 3 months in Cedar City in the summer, and 3 months in Mesquite in the winter.

This post is about diesel emissions and the EPA and I hope some find it interesting; however, the real reason I’m posting is to get a link to put on a hand bill so locals can type it into their web browser and read this post and see pictures of what happens in their public park while they’re at work.

What if you were given permission to “roll coal” in a city park for hours and days on end and do it in the vicinity of a children’s play area, bike path, skate park, volley ball court, pavilion with children eating lunch, horse shoe pit, dog park, and an assisted living complex, and then you were told you just contributed to the enforcement of the EPA clean air act because some students who paid you money to watch your activities learned how to identify excessive exhaust stack emissions. Well that’s basically the perverted logic behind my story below.

Instead of doing diesel analysis I now escort my dog Morris around town with the aid of my not yet diesel powered all terrain walker.



During Thursday May 4 and Friday May 5, 2017, I observed significant airborne pollution being intentionally emitted for a duration of several hours each day in Snow Park in the vicinity of the children’s play area, bike path, skate park, volley ball courts, pavilions with children eating lunch, the horse shoe pits, the dog park, and the assisted living complex.

A company by the name of Opacitek had set up a furnace-type incinerator with a smoke stack about 12 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall.



Several 5-gallon canisters of waste oil, diesel fuel, and possibly other unknown carcinogens were being metered into the furnace, and noxious smoke in copious quantities was coming from the smoke stack, wafting across the park, and settling out at ground level.



I was told by an Opacitek employee that training was being conducted so EPA workers would know how to identify various types and amounts of smoke stack emissions, and I was also told that this training has been going on in Snow Park for the past 15 years.



I watched an Opacitek employee call out a test number, make adjustments to some equipment, and the emissions from the smoke stack would change.



Sometimes dense black smoke was emitted like you’d see from an old-time diesel truck climbing a hill. Other times dense white smoke was emitted like you’d see following a car burning oil, and sometimes a medium dense grayish smoke was emitted.



All of the above cases caused my eyes to water and my throat and lungs to burn. I took pictures of the entire operation.

During the training on Friday May 5, I expressed my concerns to an Opacitek employee that the pollutants they were emitting cause cancer and other respiratory diseases, and in response the employee called the police. The policeman was very polite, and I had him witness the smoke wafting across the park. I pointed out to the officer that the smoke contained carcinogens and that in addition to the immediate exposure to the airborne carcinogens, the carcinogens settle out and accumulate on the grass and the surrounding park grounds where children play.

The officer agreed that doing this type of training in a public park wasn’t good and that he would express my concerns to his supervisor; however, the officer said he had no authority to shut down the training exercise. It seems to me that if a motor vehicle was driving around the park emitting even a fraction of what was coming out of the furnace smoke stack, that the officer would be empowered to cite the driver and even impound the vehicle.

During the training on Friday May 4, I encountered a fire marshal who told me he gave Opacitek permission to conduct their training in Snow Park. When I questioned his authority to do this the marshal replied that in order to do training he had the authority to burn down a house! I replied really, even in a public park? I took a picture of the marshal and walked away in disbelief.



Apparently St George officials think providing Opacitek a convenient place to conduct their training such as one with restrooms, water, electric, shade trees, and covered pavilions, is more important than protecting the health of the public.

As a PhD Electrical Engineer, it seems to me that in this age of computer simulation and sophisticated video display this training could easily be accomplished in a classroom. In any case if actual pollutants need to be emitted, this live training should absolutely not be done in a public park because children, seniors, and dogs, are especially susceptible to these types of pollutants.
 
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#3 ·
You can't expect LOGIC from these people, after all they work for the government..

"I expressed my concerns to an Opacitek employee that the pollutants they were emitting cause cancer and other respiratory diseases, and in response the employee called the police."

Anyone that doesn't agree with what the government establishment does is a THREAT?

I'm happy a few of us are starting to realize that.. :smile2:
 
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#4 ·
Thanks for the use of this site. I haven’t posted for a while due to back issues; but, now at least I can get around some with the aid of my fancy walker that’s made in Sweden and cost $1K. As I walk my dog around town I’m now handing out the flyer shown below. I also have a “dog park” friend circulating the direct link to this post via his Facebook network.

“To see the dangerous activity in Snow Park go here https://tinyurl.com/smoke-park to view this post “Diesel & Oil Smoke Emissions in St George, UT” on the Diesel Garage website.

Please help stop this dangerous activity. On days when “Snow Park” is allowed to become “smoke-park”, the public is exposed to airborne carcinogens. This dangerous activity also creates a potential long-term health threat because the carcinogens in the smoke settle out and accumulate on the grass and the surrounding park grounds where children play.”

It turns out that Opacitek is a “for hire” contractor …Welcome To Opacitek Environmental Services. Your source for: Smoke Schools; Visible Emissions Training… located north of Salt Lake City, and it’s quite possible EPA officials are unaware that Opacitek is conducting training in public parks.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
The state of Utah local EPA is fully aware of Opacitek and 3 other companies doing these testing schools. And it looks to be sanctioned and approved by the EPA..
 
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#6 · (Edited)
If those Utah local EPA officials really think it’s ok for children, seniors, and dogs to breathe the ”toxic emissions” that fill the air in Snow Park for many hours during each of Opacitek’s several consecutive training days, then those officials should bring their families to Snow Park on training days and have a nice all day long picnic at one of the pavilions next to Opacitek’s smoke stack, and let their children play on the equipment in the area next to Opacitek’s smoke stack, and let their children roll around in the grass where the smoke from Opacitek’s smoke stack settles to the ground, and let their dog eat that grass like my dog does!

I worked for the Naval Research Lab in Wash DC for 10 years, and as a contractor with other government agencies for another 15 years, and I’ll try to find some contacts to get this story to officials in Wash DC to see if they approve of ”toxic emissions” in public parks, and if they do, then Trump will really have some damming ammunition to use against the EPA.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
I went to the CNN website http://www.cnn.com/feedback and in the “initial thoughts” comment box I pasted…

Read below to see why Trump’s plan to rescind federal protection for “Bears Ears” and “Grand Staircase-Escalante” and let protection revert to Utah state and local officials is a bad idea.

To see how Utah state and local officials fail to protect the environment and endanger the health of the public go here https://tinyurl.com/smoke-park to view this post “Diesel & Oil Smoke Emissions in St George, UT” on the Diesel Garage website.

…and in the box where you can type “additional comments” I pasted…

Protection for “Bears Ears” should not revert to Utah state and local officials. To see how Utah state and local officials fail to protect the environment and endanger the health of the public go here https://tinyurl.com/smoke-park to view this post “Diesel & Oil Smoke Emissions in St George, UT” on the Diesel Garage website.

On days when “Snow Park” is allowed to become “smoke-park”, the public is exposed to airborne carcinogens. This dangerous activity also creates a potential long-term health threat because the carcinogens in the smoke settle out and accumulate on the grass and the surrounding park grounds where children play.”

Opacitek is a “for hire” contractor …Welcome To Opacitek Environmental Services. Your source for: Smoke Schools; Visible Emissions Training… located north of Salt Lake City, and apparently local city officials and Utah state EPA officials gave permission for Opacitek to conduct their training in a public park.
 
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