Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission Coal Tar Task Force October 10, 2006 Meeting Minutes 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; Room 405 Madison, WI

Transcription

1 Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission Coal Tar Task Force October 10, 2006 Meeting Minutes 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; Room 405 Madison, WI I. Call to Order a. Meeting called to order at 4:30 pm by Carl A Sinderbrand b. Attendance: Carl A Sinderbrand; Patrick Miles, and Roger Bannerman II. III. IV. Approval of Minutes a. No minutes available. Announcements a. No announcements. Public Comment a. Charles Powers with Sherwin Industries, Inc.; Milwaukee, WI; asked to comment on the use of coal tar. b. He shared the following comments: 1. The results of the USGS study on coal tar conducted in Austin, Texas are flawed due to inappropriate analytical techniques. This comment is supported by association representing the coal tar industry. 2. Misapplication of the coal tar product is a problem. 3. Benefit of coal tar is that it reduces impact of UV light on asphalt, so extends life of asphalt. 4. There is no documented evidence that coal tar extends the life of a parking lot surface. 5. Industry using more asphalt sealer because coal tar is in short supply. China was major supplier but is not shipping any more to United States. 6. Coal tar emulsion is applied at the rate of one gallon every 70 square feet. Two coats are normally applied. V. Preparation of Recommendations to Commission a. Roger Bannerman presented results of asking the industry about how much coal tar is used in Dane County and how do you tell if a coal tar sealer has been used on a parking lot. 1. A detailed list of his findings is on the attached sheet. 2. Until the supply of coal tar declined dramatically this year, as much as 300,000 gallons of coal tar product were applied to Dane County parking lots each year or enough material to apply two coats to about 330 acres of parking lot.

2 3. What most private applicators apply is based on what the suppliers recommend. 4. There are four major suppliers of sealer product in Dane County the largest being Seal Master. 5. Coal tar is a better sealer than an asphalt emulsion because it last longer. 6. The use of coal tar will probably decline in the future because of the limited availability of the product. 7. Two methods to determine the presence of coal tar are 1) the use of a black light, and 2) looking for a more black color versus blue gray of an asphalt sealer. b. The coal tar task force decided to recommend the commission prepare an ordinance banning the use of coal tar in Dane County. VI. Adjourn a. The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 pm.

3 Roger Bannerman October 10, 2006 Notes for Coal Tar Task Force (Lakes and Watershed Commission) Questions 1. How much coal tar product is used in Dane County? 2. Is there a way to tell if coal tar is the seal coat used on a parking lot? Question 1 Answers to Questions Information to answer question one was collected from private applicators in Dane County, national suppliers of coal tar, and WDOT. Each group was contacted by phone. It was determined that coal tar seal coat is being used in Dane County but its use is rapidly declining. Coal tar might not be available in three years. Jay Pakalski with Seal Master actually suggests the commission ban coal tar since a good alternative (asphalt seal coat) is available. The suppliers listed below represent most of the coal tar used in Dane County. Private Applicators: 1. Badger Asphalt ( ) Steve says they do not use coal tar sealer (one of the first companies to discontinue the use of coal tar). 2. Fahrner Asphalt Sealers ( ) Jim says they do use coal tar sealers (one of the largest companies). He applies approximately 484 gallons per acre. 3. American Pavement ( ) Josh says they do use coal tar sealer. 4. Stateline Paving and Seal coating ( ) They use what manufacturer supplies. This year it would be the asphalt sealer. 5. Four Lakes Paving Company ( ) They use coal tar sealer especially if they need a tanker full. It comes from Illinois. Otherwise they buy what is available locally. Public Applicators: 1. City of Madison They use asphalt sealers. 2. WDOT - They have no standard specification requirement or reference to coal tar. They do not allow coal tar. 3. DOA does not include sealants in their standard specs, never require the use of either coal tar or asphalt, and generally discourage their use. Some agencies may elect to use a sealant, but DOA typically will not pay for it out of project funding.

4 The DOA staff whom I spoke to said there may be some projects where it could be justified by the agency operating the facility, but he does not recall one in the six years that he has been at DOA. DNR follows DOA specs. They do not use coal tar or other sealants, in part because they aren't particularly useful and in part because of budget. Seal coat Suppliers: 1. Seal Master ( ) Jay Pakalski says they are not selling coal tar sealer this year but they have sold it for many years. In the past they typically sold 1.2 million gallons of coal tar sealer in their territory (WI, Iowa and UP). They also sold 500,000 gallons of asphalt sealer and 300,000 gallons of a blend of the two. He thinks they sold between 150,000 and 200,000 gallons of all three products in Dane County. He is not selling coal tar sealer this year because the supply of coal tar has dropped dramatically. Coal tar is also used by the aluminum industry and for making creosote. Seal coating is the smallest use of coal tar. Plus the price of coal tar is now very similar to the asphalt product. He feels coal tar might not be available as a sealer in the next three years. His asphalt product lasts as long as coal tar. He cannot quantify the benefits of sealers to the surfaces. He recommends the applicator apply 440 gallons /acre and they should use two coats. Jay thinks he could look at the seal coat and tell us if it is asphalt or coal tar. 2. Bonsal America (Amgard) ( ) They still sell coal tar but product has become much harder to find. Aluminum industry is buying most of it. Production of coal tar is flat. Product could disappear for seal coat industry. Asphalt sealer does not last as long. Some evidence from contractors that coal tar extends life of parking lot. They sell about 40,000 gallons of sealer each year in Dane County. This includes all types. 3. Good Seal (Al44sherwin@aol.com) Al Schultz says they sell about 80,000 gallons of coal tar in Dane County each year. He also said the product is becoming harder to buy. 4. Brewer Company They sell about 40,000 gallons each year of sealer product in Dane County. Question 2 A method is needed to identify the parking lots with coal tar sealer. People in Austin, Texas have been using a method that involves the use of black light. I have ed tom.ennis@ci.austin.tx.us who is the person using the method. He says he is willing to train people on how to use the black light method, if they come to Texas. Another method takes advantage of the persistence of the black color for coal tar, while asphalt sealer turns a blue gray with time. He would also show us how to tell the difference in color.. Jay Pakalski thinks he just look at a parking and tell us if it is coal tar or asphalt sealer. He says the asphalt is always more shiny.

5 Some Calculations It might be helpful to calculate how much coal tar would be needed to cover all the parking lots in Madison. There are approximately 4000 acres of parking lots in Madison. If you use an application rate of 450 gallons/acre, you would need 1.8 million gallons of sealer to put one coat on all the parking lots. That is about 9 times more product than Seal Master sells in Dane County each year. If we assume the sealer product sold in Dane County is all coal tar, then each year about 300,000 gallons would be applied to Dane County parking lots. This is enough of the product to coat about 660 acres of parking lot each year. If they put two coats on, the number is closer to 330 acres being sealed each year. The actual number of acres of parking lots with coal tar applied is less than 300, because a lot of the sealer sold is not coal tar.