A class-action lawsuit against DuPont was finalized in February 2005, resulting in a $108 million settlement (see

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Vol. 13, No. 11 for more on the tentative settlement). DuPont was charged with polluting the drinking water of several Ohio and West Virginia communities with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, which is used to manufacture Teflon^® and other products (see

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Vol. 13, No. 3). Some of the money will fund an independent study of the health implications of exposure to C8. More than 800,000 people drank contaminated water for more than a year and will be paid for submitting questionnaires and blood samples for testing. If researchers link C8 to any human disease, DuPont will be forced to fund a medical monitoring program, costing an additional $235 million. A separate lawsuit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pending. Meanwhile, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has renewed water pollution and waste management permits for a Wood County DuPont landfill without limiting the permissible discharge of C8. Although company tests show that C8 is leaching from the landfill, the state has no water pollution standards for the chemical.

The Marco Island City Council voted four to two in March 2005 to ban artificial turf, in response to a dispute between homeowner Ed Ehlen and his neighbors (see

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Vol. 14, No. 2). While Ehlen argued that his synthetic lawn’s water savings made it environmentally friendly, the city council countered that the lawn’s rubber pellets could float into the city’s sewer system and canals, harming wildlife. City officials have yet to establish whether preexisting fake lawns may be grandfathered in. For more on artificial turf, see

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Vol. 13, No. 4.

Peter Yost,

EBN senior editor during 2000 and 2001, has banded with Nathan Yost and Steven Baczek to form 3-D Building Solutions, LLC, a building-science consulting firm specializing in building investigation, architectural design review, and training for both the residential and commercial building industries. The three worked together at Building Science Corporation for three years before creating their own firm. Although the company is based in Columbus, Ohio, Baczek and Peter Yost will operate out of their offices in Reading, Massachusetts, and Brattleboro, Vermont, respectively. More information is online at www.3-d-buildingsolutions.com.

The Building Materials Reuse Association (formerly the Used Building Materials Association, see

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Vol. 13, No. 3) is seeking presentation proposals for its upcoming conference, Building Materials Reuse and Recycling: Decon ’05. The conference will be held November 7 and 8, 2005, in Atlanta, just before the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild conference gets underway, also in Atlanta. Proposals are due May 1. For details, e-mail Brad Guy at guy_brad@yahoo.com.

One year after the Kresge Foundation announced its Green Building Initiative (see

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Vol. 13, No. 1), the foundation has released new guidelines for the grant program. These new guidelines reflect the foundation’s two goals for the Initiative: to help nonprofit organizations without an explicitly green agenda meet their facility needs with green buildings, and to help nonprofits with green building experience build projects with “significant innovation in sustainable design.” Kresge has already awarded 38 planning grants, representing a total of $2,619,000. Details on the Green Building Initiative, including the new guidelines, are available online at www.kresge.org.

The Sherwin-Williams Company, the nation’s largest paint manufacturer, has dropped its challenges of Pennsylvania’s new air-quality regulations. The state’s new coating standards set limits for emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 48 distinct categories, including paints, primers, and stains. The regulations are anticipated to reduce VOC emissions, which contribute to ground-level ozone pollution and smog, by 10,200 tons (9,300 tonnes) per year. Sherwin-Williams’ recent actions mean that the new rule, which took effect in early 2005, will stand.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has approved a $70,000, 15-month study of the effects of noise on productivity. “Indoor background noise can dramatically impact occupants by causing annoyance, affecting productivity, hindering speech communication, impacting sleep, and degrading overall occupant comfort and satisfaction,” according to principal investigator Lily Wang, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Heating and ventilation systems are often to blame for excessive indoor noise, notes ASHRAE. For more on noise management, see

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Vol. 10, No. 1 and

Vol. 14, No. 3).

Decreased intelligence caused by fetal exposure to mercury costs the U.S. economy $8.7 billion each year in lost productivity, according to a study published in

Environmental Health Perspectives. About 15% of that cost burden can be attributed to the emissions of coal-fired power plants, according to the study, which was performed by pediatricians at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. A 1.6-point drop in an individual’s IQ leads to $31,800 in lost revenue over the course of that person’s life, according to the report. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 8% of American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to threaten the health of a fetus.

With the March 2005 approval of Resolution 6644, Scottsdale, Arizona, became the first city in the nation to require that all new city-owned buildings achieve a LEED^® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The resolution applies to buildings of any size, as long as the green features have an anticipated payback period of five years or less. USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi congratulated the City of Scottsdale and Mayor Mary Manross, saying, “You will be an inspiration for cities across the country, paving the way towards a healthier future for us all.” The City of Scottsdale’s website is www.scottsdaleaz.gov.

A national renewable portfolio standard requiring that 20% of all energy used in the U.S. come from renewable sources by 2020 would dramatically improve the economy, according to a study released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The plan would create a net gain of more than 157,000 jobs while saving families and businesses $49 billion in electricity and gas bills through 2020, according to the report,

Renewing America’s Economy. “It is time our elected officials free us from being hostage to energy resources of the 19th century,” said Alan Nogee, director of the UCS Clean Energy Program. “The technologies are ready. All it takes is the political will,” he says. The report can be downloaded from www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/.