Artificial Turf: Council Revisits this issue July 1 at 2pm

The Transportation, Infrastructure and Environment, aka T&E, Committee of the Montgomery County Council will discuss the environmental impacts of artificial turf at its July 1 meeting at 2:00 pm. The staff report, by Keith Levchenko (PCMC shout out to this brother of Councilmember Phil Andrews!) should be posted here soon. Members of the T&E Committee are: Nancy Floreen (D-Developers), Chair; George Leventhal (D-At Large); and Roger Berliner (D-District 1), Lead Member for Energy and Environment.

Be there or be square!

To brush up on the environmental impacts and safety issues of these ground rubber car and truck tire fields, type ‘Artificial Turf’ in the text box.  Key issues: 1. lead content; 2. carcinogens and other hazardous materials; 3. heat islands with temps up to (our data) 167 degrees F; 4. cost.  I will post a review of key issues later this week, so stay tuned…

DATE: Thursday July 1, 2010

TIME: 2pm

LOCATION: 7th Floor Auditorium, Council Office Building,

100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville

Can’t make it? Make sure to email the council here.

We hear from the Safe, Healthy Playing Fields Coalition that in addition, State Senator Jamie Raskin (D-District 20) has asked the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to revisit its earlier determination on the safety of these playing fields. Readers of this blog will remember that we posted here about how FieldTurfTarkett and other members of the artificial turf industry successfully lobbied the CPSC to make sure that artificial turf was not categorized as a ‘childrens’ product’ making sure it would not be tested for lead content, as is required for children’s products.