Last week the City of Chicago’s Finance Committee listened to comments by representatives of the coal tar sealant industry about the City’s proposed ordinance to ban the use of coal tar pavement sealants. Many are based upon flimsy logic and myths perpetuated for years.
As reported in today’s Daily Whale, the Pavement Coatings Technology Council brought in a new toxicologist to refute proponents of a ban. The toxicologist, Brian Magee of Arcadis, cited a Dutch study that showed no adverse effects from coal tar product use. Strange that he would quote a study from a country that has outlawed the use of coal tar pavement products and would consider the product he is representing as “hazardous waste.”
Industry representatives also continued to talk about jobs being lost. This is not a ban of ALL pavement sealers, just those that contain coal tar. It is akin to an oil company predicting they would be out of business when we banned the use of leaded gasoline. Most major sealant companies already make both coal tar and asphalt based products. In fact, the sealant company slogan at the plant of concern is: From refined tar to asphalt emulsion pavement sealers, GemSeal has you covered! Who will make the asphalt based sealants if coal tar goes away? They will. Why are the fighting this then? The same reason Home Depot and Lowes stopped using this: liability.
When questioned by Alderman Ed Burke about why others had banned it if there wasn’t a human health issue, industry said they were caught off guard by the Minnesota ban legislation. That’s funny since I put it up on this blog site on March 21 right after it was introduced for all the world to see and it didn’t pass the Minnesota House of Representatives until May 14 about 2 months later.
Stay tuned for more debate and discussions on this in the City of Chicago.