By Jenny Goldsmith
Sierra Sun
Thursday, July 3, 2008

Making sure the air inside these windows at Frishman Hollow is as fresh as the air outside the windows has become a top priority for the developers of the new affordable housing project on Highway 89. The air quality at their previous affordable housing project, Henness Flat, was brought into question.

Seth Lightcap/Sierra Sun

Spurred by an investigation into formaldehyde levels in Truckee's Henness Flats apartments, modifications are now being made to the neighboring Frishman Hollow complex to ensure safe air quality.

"We've taken a new position ourselves in dealing with indoor air quality," said Caleb Roope, chief executive officer of Pacific West Communities — developer of Henness Flats and Frishman Hollow.

Although there are no federal regulations on formaldehyde exposure levels, Roope said his company will now be installing a state-of-the-art air circulation system in Frishman Hollow to improve ventilation, and they are looking into installing the device in Henness Flats.
Pacific West is also exploring possible techniques to seal off the particle board used in cabinetry that emits formaldehyde gas, Roope said.

Frishman Hollow — located between Pioneer Trail and Alder Drive on Highway 89 north — is a 32-unit apartment complex for lower-income tenants, and is similar to Henness Flats in design and structure.

Construction is expected to be completed this month and tenants will start moving in come August, Roope said.

Pacific West also conducted pre-occupancy tests for formaldehyde in Frishman Hollow, and found concentration levels lower than the Environmental Protection Agency's recommendations, Roope said.

"We're looking to take our [air quality] standards to a new level, and hopefully other developers will follow our lead," Roope said.

After reports surfaced of an investigation into formaldehyde levels in the Henness Flats complex, Pacific West hired an independent environmental consulting company to conduct third-party tests for additional analysis.

Twenty-three occupied units, 28 unoccupied units and one outdoor location were sampled under varying conditions, according to a report from LACO Associates — the company hired to do the testing.

Results ranged from .015 parts per million to .091 — a concentration lower than the EPA's recommended 0.1 parts per million.

However, the report also indicated that test results from one unoccupied unit that was "heated to a maximum temperature of at least 80 degrees" found concentration levels above 0.1 parts per million.

The unit was later retested under normal conditions and found to have indoor formaldehyde levels of less than 0.1 parts per million, according to the report.

"We find the testing method certainly acceptable," said Wesley Nicks, director of the Nevada County Department of Environmental Health. "We don't feel any need for immediate protection."
Both Nicks and representatives from LACO Associates say the levels found in Henness Flats are consistent with those found in typical California homes.

However, the test results provided by the management differed from concentration levels found by Advanced Chemical Sensors Incorporated — a Florida-based laboratory that was used to detect dangerous levels of formaldehyde in manufactured trailers issued to displaced Katrina victims by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Becky Gillette, a formaldehyde campaign director with the Sierra Club and driving force behind the Gulf Coast toxic trailer issue.
"Out of nine tests, we had three that were over the 0.1 parts per million," Gillette said. "I just don't think it is right that the health department accepts the apartment building owner's tests as valid and evidently ignores the Sierra Club tests when giving this apartment complex a clean bill of health."

Formaldehyde experts also say the problem lies in the fact that there are no standards to regulate the amount of toxic substances contained in building materials, so no one can say what is truly safe for each individual.

Because sensitive groups such as children, the elderly, and people with health-related illnesses may be more vulnerable to toxic substances, the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry has recommended minimum risk levels for formaldehyde that depend on the duration of personal exposure, said Dr. Jack Thrasher, Technical Director of the National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation in Las Vegas.

"People have to understand that the EPA's 0.1 parts per million is not a standard, it's just a suggestion and does not cover the sensitive population, which many of the residents at Henness Flats are," Thrasher said. "The bottom line is formaldehyde should not be allowed in building materials and furniture."

National attention is now being brought to the formaldehyde issue, particularly since the Sierra Club helped expose dangerous levels of the suspected carcinogen in trailers issued to displaced Katrina victims by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gillette said.

"The EPA is now in the process of beginning rule-making on formaldehyde, but it could be years before anything is adopted. In the meantime, people are still not being protected," Gillette said.
In an effort to expedite the process, the Sierra Club has been urging Congress to set a deadline for the EPA to adopt formaldehyde standards, but no action has been taken yet, Gillette said.
In the meantime, the Sierra Club will continue to work with Henness Flats residents to answer requests for additional formaldehyde testing and to supply information on ways to reduce exposure, Gillette said.

"It is far past time for the U.S. to phase out the use of formaldehyde-based glues that caused this health threat. It is shameful that this known harmful gas is still allowed to be used in building materials, especially when safer alternatives exist," Gillette said.

California sets formaldehyde restrictions

Starting in 2009, the California Air Resources Board will enforce strict regulations on manufactured wood to reduce formaldehyde emissions and to protect public health, which will be in full effect by 2012, said spokesperson Dimitri Stanich.

All wood has some amount of naturally occurring formaldehyde, but more formaldehyde is added to composite wood in the form of adhesives, Stanich said.

This composite wood can be found in furniture, cabinets, shelving, countertops, flooring and molding in homes, and is ultimately released through windows, doors and ventilation systems in homes, schools and other buildings, Stanich said.

This new legislation will require all composite wood products sold in California to meet strict formaldehyde limits, and manufacturers — both domestic and foreign — will be required to prove their compliance with California's regulations by a third party lab, Stanich said.
"Formaldehyde was identified as a toxic air contaminant by the Air Resources Board in 1992 with no safe level of exposure," according to the report.

The legislation will help reduce the source of formaldehyde in California, but federal regulations are still needed on a national level to set acceptable levels for indoor air quality, said Dr. Jack Thrasher, Technical Director of the National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation in Las Vegas.
"California's legislation is as good as it gets right now, but it's not going to solve the formaldehyde problem," Thrasher said.

An earlier story on the subject....

Formaldehyde levels vary in test results on Henness Flats apartments
Truckee apartment owners say levels are below federal EPA guidelines

By Jenny Goldsmith
Sierra Sun

Test results from two different laboratories analyzing formaldehyde levels in Truckee's Henness Flats apartments were inconsistent and have generated further questioning from concerned tenants.

Representatives of Pacific West Communities — developer of Henness Flats apartments — met with a group of residents Thursday after reports surfaced of an investigation into formaldehyde levels in the complex.

"We ran 31 tests in 14 different units in a variety of conditions in both occupied and unoccupied apartments," said Caleb Roope, chief executive officer of Pacific West. "All 31 tests came in below the recommended exposure level set by the Environmental Protection Agency."

The results ranged from .015 parts per million to .091 parts per million, a concentration lower than the EPA's recommended 0.1 parts per million, said Christopher Watt, Director of Environmental Services for LACO Associates, the independent environmental consulting company that conducted the tests before sending them to a state-certified laboratory for analysis.

In addition, the building materials used to construct Henness Flats are consistent with materials used in standard homes in California, Watt said.

Roope said the insulation and carpet in the building is free of formaldehyde, and management is investigating where other materials came from to identify a possible source.

Although concentration levels were found below the EPA and American Lung Association exposure recommendations, the guidelines do not take into consideration sensitive groups, such as infants or the elderly who may be more sensitive to formaldehyde exposure than healthy adults, said Dr. Jack Thrasher, a Minden, Nev.-based toxicologist and Technical Director of the National Toxic Encephalopathy Foundation in Las Vegas.

There are no federal regulations on formaldehyde exposure levels, but there are recommended minimum risk levels researched and set by the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry that depend on the duration of exposure, Thrasher said.

For example, the minimum risk level for a healthy adult is a recommended 0.03 parts per million during a period of 14 to 365 days, Thrasher said.

"It's based on the individual. No level can say what is safe and what is not safe," Thrasher said. "We need to do away with the use of formaldehyde in all construction materials and furniture."

The test results provided by the management differed from concentration levels found by Advanced Chemical Sensors Incorporated — a Florida-based laboratory that analyzed eight of the 92 units at Henness Flats, and detected unsafe levels of formaldehyde in all eight units ranging from .03 parts per million to .17 parts per million, Thrasher said.

Although elevated concentration levels were found in a Henness Flats unit where an infant died recently, the cause of death is still pending, according to the Nevada County Coroner's office.

The difference in the findings could largely be due to ventilation, exposure time and temperature, said Thrasher, who worked alongside the Sierra Club to expose toxic levels of formaldehyde in manufactured trailers issued to displaced Hurricane Katrina victims by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Temperature is very important. As the temperature rises, molecules become more excited and move much faster. Thus, the concentration increases with the rising temperature," Thrasher said. "Management claimed their test results showed formaldehyde concentrations found in other California homes, but they can't make that claim unless we know what the temperature was."

During the first tests conducted by LACO Associates on May 14 in several unoccupied units, the heat was not turned on and the units had never been ventilated, Watt said.

"We did not record the temperature," Watt said of the first round of tests in unoccupied units. "But given the heat outside, I speculate it was pretty warm in there."

Of the occupied units tested, the ventilation and temperature conditions varied depending on the circumstances each individual tenant lived in at the time, and those variations were recorded, but have yet to be reviewed and released, Watt said.

One of the occupied units tested by LACO was set to a maximum of 55 degrees — according to the tenant — and found lower formaldehyde concentration levels than when it was set to 65 degrees and was tested through the Sierra Club, Thrasher said.

"The results from the management do not indicate what formaldehyde levels would be at a standard 70 degree temperature," Thrasher said.

Both testing methods are used industrywide and are standard techniques, said Thrasher, who used the same test in the early 1980s to expose toxic levels of formaldehyde in Southern California trailers.

Management agreed to provide and pay for further testing if requested by a tenant, to pay for a purification of the unit, and also recommended "increasing ventilation in the home by opening doors, windows and using fans for air circulation," Roope said.

"These residents are my customers and they are my priority," Roope said. "If by some reason a test comes in above the levels recommended by the EPA, I am committed to helping the residents find the source."