Austin Celebrates 10th Anniversary of the Nation’s First Coal Tar Sealer Ban
City Biologist Recounts Highs and Lows of Discovery, Media, and the Ban On November 18, 2005 the City of Austin enacted the nation’s first ban of coal tar sealers. Ten years later, Austin’s waters are cleaner and over 18 million Americans have joined them in a ban. The local university’s saying (the University of Texas), […]
New Sealer Alternatives Aren’t All They’re Cracked Up to Be
New Michigan Ban First to Outlaw New Products ‘Tis the Season for grand beginnings from humble locations! In that spirit Van Buren Township, Michigan, with little fanfare, ushered in a new era in pavement sealant regulation: banning all products which exceed a certain level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It is the first of its […]
WEF Exclusive: Coal Tar Sealers Past, Present & Future
The following article appeared in the October/November 2015 Issue of World Water Stormwater Management Magazine, a Water Environment Federation (WEF) publication and is presented here with the permission of WEF, one of the world’s leading organizations in water management with about 34,000 members. Coal Tar Sealers: Past, Present and Future by Tom Ennis on Scribd
TarMan Chronicles: First 10 Years Coal Tar Free
First of all Happy Birthday Austin, Texas which today, 10 years ago, passed the nation’s first ban of coal tar pavement sealers. To mark that occasion, here is a 2 minute cartoon-video which tries to summarize the highlights of what has happened in that 10 years. My apologies to some if I have not highlighted […]
Maryland: the Coal Tar ‘Free State’
****UPDATE via Twitter 11/12/2015 It’s official! Bill signed; veto averted! 40% of #Maryland now coal tar free; thanks #AnneArundel @ChrisTrumbauer ! http://goo.gl/LukYru Despite efforts by two separate industry trade groups and a motion to delay, the Anne Arundel County Board passed a ban of coal tar pavement sealers on Monday. Anne Arundel County has a population […]
Editorial: Only Safe Solution is to Ban Coal Tar Sealants
from the October 20, 2015 Springfield-News Leader (Springfield, Missouri): Recently the News-Leader editors (“City should put hold on use of coal tar asphalt sealants until safety determined,” Sept. 12) encouraged the City of Springfield to adopt a moratorium of the referenced product. They called for the city to commission “whatever studies or steps are needed […]
Celebrating 5 Years of Coal Tar Free America!
It’s been nearly 5 years since I nervously posted my first brief article on the world wide web about coal tar sealers. Many recommended against it. Some applauded the effort. Nonetheless, I was surprised that a site like this was even necessary. The facts are plain and compelling. As someone has said, the more you […]
Westwood: MA’s First Municipal Ban of Coal Tar Sealers!
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts joins eight other states and districts with an outright ban of coal tar pavement sealers by a community within its borders! On May 4, 2015 the Town of Westwood, with an appropriate moniker “Committed to Service,” passed the Commonwealth’s first ban of this product. Westwood (population 14,000) is a picturesque, historic […]
New Coal Tar Ban Pushed Out in MD
Additional information about the ban and a more complete list of currently suitable substitutes can be found by clicking here.
Honestly, Does Your Community Have What It Takes?
Through a variety of projects, I have been thinking a lot about batteries lately. Yes we have Tesla’s new home battery announcement, Powerwall, but my projects are quite a bit less grand or expensive. It got me wondering how a ban of coal tar pavement sealers is like stringing a bunch of batteries together to […]