Complete list of press releases

Environmental Defense today praised Governor Gray Davis for including $40 million in his budget request to the legislature to acquire and clean up the former rail yard known as the Chinatown Cornfield. If the legislature approves the request, it will represent a leap forward in the effort to turn this blighted land into an attractive park. Environmental Defense went on to call upon the legislature to approve the request as soon as possible.

“It has been a great concern that the short-term energy crisis would overwhelm this opportunity for long-term benefits to Los Angeles. The window to purchase the last, vast open space near downtown is small, and this timely action from the Governor keeps that window open. Turning the Chinatown Cornfield into a park will enrich this park-poor community, in a city that already ranks last in the nation for per capita park space,” said Jacqueline Hamilton, director of Environmental Defense’s Los Angeles Environmental Justice Project Office.

As plaintiffs in a legal case settled earlier this year, Environmental Defense and others held off efforts to turn the site into an industrial and warehouse district, winning the chance to seek state funds to purchase the land. Environmental Defense called upon the legislature to approve this request quickly, since under the terms of the settlement the state must complete all approvals and actually acquire the land by Sept. 30, 2001.

“All of Los Angeles will benefit from this action. The Cornfield represents the city’s past, with remnants of the historic irrigation system that allowed for settlement by early residents of this area, and its future, in which a vibrant city provides attractive civic spaces for its residents to gather and enjoy nature. Study after study has shown that creation of accessible green space provides multiple benefits to local areas, and can even help reduce the urban heat-island effect, which can reduce energy consumption over time,” said Hamilton.

Environmental Defense today praised Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) for introducing legislation to coordinate and monitor efforts to reduce polluted runoff in the Upper Mississippi River.

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Act of 2001 would establish a monitoring network and use computer models to help target voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs. The bill would also create an advisory council of federal, state and local officials and private interests to coordinate clean-up efforts and share information throughout the five-state basin.

“Representative Kind’s bill will give decision-makers the information they need to target major sources of polluted runoff,” said Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber.

Runoff from farmland and city streets is the primary reason large segments of the Mississippi remain too polluted to support fishing and swimming, and is contributing to a large “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico where marine life cannot survive.

Because fertilizer applications have tripled in the last 40 years, fertilizer applied to farmland contributes approximately half of the nutrients washed into the Gulf, according to federal studies. The Upper Mississippi River basin — which drains parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri — is a disproportionately large source of those nutrients, studies show.

A “dead zone” action plan endorsed in January by states bordering the Mississippi called for a 30% reduction in the size of the dead zone by 2015. The task force also called for the creation of sub-basin coordinating committees by summer 2001, the development of computer models by fall 2001, and expanded monitoring efforts by spring 2002.

“If Congress acts quickly on Representative Kind’s bill, we can stay on schedule and begin to bring life back to the northern part of the Gulf,” Faber said.

For more information on the dead zone, visit: www.epa.gov/OWOW/msbasin/.

Environmental Defense today praised Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) for introducing legislation to encourage the use of manure to produce energy.

The Farm Energy Act of 2001 would extend a renewable energy tax credit to farmers who use animal waste to produce energy.

Some farmers are using manure “digesters” to produce energy on their farms by capturing and burning methane. Digesters also control odors and can kill pathogens that might otherwise be washed into nearby waterways.

By burning the methane, farmers can provide their on-farm energy needs and sell energy to others, but digesters cost more than traditional animal waste systems that pollute the environment.

“Many dairy farmers in California’s Central Valley concerned about power reliability can meet their energy needs and sell power at a profit by using ‘cow power,’” said Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber. “With the right incentives and technology, thousands of farmers could meet their energy needs, sell energy to consumers, and help the environment.”

For more information on digesters, visit www.hogwatch.org/resourcecenter/onlinearticles/econreport/index_econreport.html.

Environmental Defense today released a study estimating that at least 70% of Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects in Indonesia will fail to produce lasting economic or social benefits for the Indonesian people. The findings, based on publicly available ADB documents, come as Bank officials gather in Honolulu this week for their annual meeting. Indonesia is the Asian Development Bank’s largest client country, owing the Bank over $16 billion by the year 2000.

“The lack of sustainable benefits from these projects for Indonesia spells disaster for such a heavily indebted country,” said Environmental Defense senior scientist Stephanie Fried, the author of the study. Evaluating the Asian Development Bank in Indonesia: The operation was a success, but the patient died can be accessed at www.environmentaldefense.org

The study finds that according to the Bank’s own reports, in both 1998 and 1999 just under 60% of loans underwrote projects rated “generally successful” by the Bank. Given Indonesia’s $16 billion debt to the ADB, these numbers suggest that by the year 2000, at least $5.9 billion went to wasteful or harmful projects. These figures assume that projects rated “generally successful” by the Bank actually were successful. This estimate also does not take into account matching funds spent by the Indonesian government, or additional loans from the World Bank and other lenders for the same projects.

Bank documents, however, disclose that half of the projects that it characterizes as “successful,” in fact are of questionable sustainability, indicating that the project failure rates are much higher. Based on the Bank’s own estimates, the Environmental Defense study finds that as many as 7 of 10 Asian Development Bank funded projects, potentially over $11 billion dollars worth, will fail to provide lasting economic or social benefits for the country.

“The Asian Development Bank’s own project records indicate that many of its loans to Indonesia underwrite projects that contribute to serious environmental harm and social upheaval while failing to create the long-term benefits the country needs to pay back its massive debt,” said Environmental Defense international program director Bruce Rich. “The Asian Development Bank’s irresponsible lending practices are further crippling Indonesia’s economy and harming its environment and people.”

Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, La. (May 3, 2001) — Entergy Corporation, one of the nation’s leading electricity providers, today pledged it will voluntarily take actions to stabilize its domestic greenhouse gas emissions at year 2000 levels through 2005, and develop a long-term target which would include additional reductions to help combat climate change.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) is the first U.S. electric company to publicly announce such a greenhouse gas emissions target. To implement this target, the New Orleans-based company will partner with Environmental Defense, a national advocacy group, to develop a program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from Entergy’s plants in the United States that generate electricity through burning fossil fuels.

Entergy also announced it has become the first U.S. electric company accepted for membership in the Partnership for Climate Action (PCA), a collaboration of international business and environmental leaders dedicated to climate protection.

“The process of intergovernmental debate and negotiation on the terms and conditions to assure economic parity around the world takes time that we may not have,” said J. Wayne Leonard, Entergy’s chief executive officer. “It is incumbent upon every individual and business to take voluntary initiatives to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the risks we face today. As businesses, we know the right answer without government action to force us to act more responsibly. Entergy’s program will demonstrate that companies can do the right thing while remaining competitive and profitable.”

“We appreciate, in this period of major uncertainty in the electric generation sector, how important it is for a leading company like Entergy to step up and guarantee that it will reduce its emissions even while it continues to grow its business,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp. “As we have learned from past experience, it is possible to cut emissions and still provide products to customers and profits to shareholders. Entergy’s leadership in this arena should encourage other electric utilities to take similar steps to reduce pollution.”

To meet its greenhouse gas reduction target, Entergy will undertake a combination of internal actions and investments in emissions reduction projects. Entergy’s nuclear assets are not included in this target. Entergy has established a $25 million Environmental Initiatives Fund to help accomplish that goal through 2005. Entergy will work with Environmental Defense to design the programs that implement the target. “Entergy’s first priority is to reduce greenhouse gas pollution within our own operations. We expect to achieve at least 80 percent of the reduction in this way,” said Leonard. “Entergy also believes that extending our reach outside our own walls for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will stimulate innovation and create incentives for finding new ways to aggressively cut pollution in the most practical, cost-effective manner possible.”

Entergy will also work within the PCA both to share its experience and to learn from the other members. As indicated in its policy statement, PCA members agree to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, take direct actions, employ market-based mechanisms and share their learning. The organization, launched in October 2000, currently includes Environmental Defense, Entergy and seven other members: The Canadian aluminum company Alcan, BP, DuPont, the French aluminum company Pechiney, the Canadian electric company Ontario Power Generation, Shell International and Suncor Energy.

Texas environmentalists responded today to U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s (R-Sugar Land) campaign to suspend a key provision of the Clean Air Act for Houston, a move they say would indefinitely condemn the region to unhealthy air. Rep. DeLay intends to offer an amendment to a federal appropriations bill to create a loophole for Houston that allows more smog-producing pollution from the region’s cars and trucks than is necessary to reach federal clean air standards.

“If this amendment is adopted, the citizens of Houston will be subjected to worse air quality, by law, than the rest of the citizens of the United States,” said Jim Marston, director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense.

Patrick Gallagher, the Sierra Club’s attorney in the suit, criticized the short-sightedness of Rep. DeLay’s threat. “Since Mr. DeLay plans to use a spending bill to perpetuate Houston’s air pollution, he may as well tack on a few hundred million dollars to the bill to deal with the health care costs resulting from the pollution.”

Earlier this month, Rep. DeLay organized meetings in Houston for U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Dallas) and U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) to criticize the Texas plan to clean up the region’s smog. Rep. DeLay said he would pass legislation to negate a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the U.S. EPA. The lawsuit, filed by Environmental Defense, the Sierra Club, the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention and the Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association, is to ensure that the clean air plan for the Houston area is adequate to protect public health.

“Rep. DeLay’s agenda is to remove a major tool in the fight for clean air — transportation conformity,” said Jim Blackburn, a Houston attorney who represents the plaintiffs. “Transportation conformity was included in the Clean Air Act because automobile pollution is a key part of the smog problem in regions like Houston.”

The Clean Air Act requires reductions in various sources of air pollution in areas of the country that violate air quality standards. Transportation funding may be denied unless emissions from motor vehicles are shown to be less than the conformity budget. The lawsuit was filed because environmental groups believed that the budget approved by EPA relied on obsolete information and was too high to bring the Houston area into compliance with the standard.

North Carolina Environmental Defense said that non-controversial legislation approved today by the N.C. House of Representatives to extend a moratorium on new factory hog farms does little to solve the swine waste crisis or protect public health and the environment.

“Extending the moratorium until existing problems are fixed is critical,” said Dan Whittle, senior attorney with North Carolina Environmental Defense. “But a simple moratorium extension does nothing to stop the air and water pollution caused by factory hog farms already operating in North Carolina. Pork companies will never eliminate harmful lagoon systems and clean up the pollution they create if lawmakers merely keep extending the moratorium. To adequately address public health and environmental impacts caused by factory farms, lawmakers must pass legislation that eliminates lagoons once and for all.”

Environmental groups have called upon the General Assembly to adopt higher environmental standards for hog farms and to mandate the use of environmentally superior technologies on all hog farms in the state by 2005. Under the House bill passed today, waste standards for existing farms would not change.

Smithfield Foods and its subsidiaries, which include Murphy Family Farms and Carroll Foods, agreed last year to replace lagoons with environmentally superior alternatives on its more than 250 company-owned farms by 2005. Environmental Defense is calling upon the legislature to adopt legislation that requires all the state’s hog farms to replace lagoons.

House Bill 1312 extended the moratorium on the construction or expansion of large hog farms for two more years, until July 2003. Hog waste is typically stored in open-air lagoons the size of football fields and then sprayed on farm fields. The legislature first enacted the moratorium in 1997 to allow time for the development of more protective alternative waste technologies for North Carolina’s more than 2,500 hog farms.

Environmental Defense today released the following statement by senior attorney Tim Searchinger about flooding on the Mississippi River and Davenport, Iowa:

“In recent days, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joseph Allbaugh has blamed Davenport, Iowa, for failing to build a floodwall and has suggested that federal taxpayers are subsidizing Davenport’s ‘aesthetics.’ On this point, Director Allbaugh is dangerously misinformed. History has shown that levees mean more damages overall because they encourage floodplain development.

“While not perfect, Davenport, Iowa, is close to a model for how towns along large rivers should deal with the inevitable floods. It does not have a floodwall, but for the most part, it has cleared buildings from frequently flooded areas and uses these areas for parks. In 1993, when floods caused more than $12 billion in damages in the region, Davenport suffered only a few million dollars in damage. The vast bulk of damages occurred instead where floodwaters overtopped floodwalls and levees and destroyed the homes, airports and infrastructure built in the false security of a levee. In 1993, Chesterfield, Missouri, alone suffered hundreds of millions in damages. By not building a floodwall, Davenport has avoided these tragic mistakes.

“In addition to cutting the city off from the river, the millions of dollars a floodwall would cost make little economic sense precisely because Davenport has kept most buildings out of harm’s way. A cheaper solution is simply to remove or floodproof the remaining 100 or so flood-damaged buildings.

“Davenport could yet improve. Although it relocated many buildings after the flood of 1993, a number of damaged homes were rebuilt in the floodplain. Director Allbaugh is right that the federal government should not pay over and over again to rebuild these homes. Relocation or floodproofing is the answer. Director Allbaugh deserves credit for his proposals to reform the flood insurance program.

“The flood of 1993 caused its billions in damages despite billions of dollars in private and public levees. By contrast, relocation after 1993 has truly worked. Davenport needs a little more relocation, not a flood wall,” said Searchinger.

Environmental Defense today praised the introduction of the bipartisan Cleaner Efficient Automobiles Resulting From Advanced Car Technologies (CLEAR) Act. The bill, which has the support of both industry and environmental organizations, would provide a tax credit to consumers who purchase environmentally friendlier vehicles. The bill’s sponsors include senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), James Jeffords (R-VT), John Kerry (D-MA), John Rockefeller (D-WV), John Ensign (R-NV) Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Michael Crapo (R-ID).

“The CLEAR Act is a win for the environment, consumers and business,” said Environmental Defense attorney Kevin Mills. “The CLEAR Act will reward consumers for purchasing a range of advanced vehicles with increased fuel economy, and will encourage the industry to provide cleaner vehicle technology for the mass market.”

“Most important, the CLEAR Act provides the biggest tax credit for vehicles with the highest fuel economy, so it rewards consumers for buying vehicles that reduce pollution and fuel-use most,” said Mills. “The CLEAR Act also rewards technologies, such as hybrid cars, that are already on the road, so the bill can make an immediate impact, both on consumers’ wallets and on the environment.”

“The CLEAR Act is a forward-thinking bill that will save consumers money, spur cleaner car technologies, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Mills. “The CLEAR Act is one piece of a comprehensive strategy to get cleaner vehicles on the road.”

Environmental Defense and The Food Alliance announced a new strategic partnership today, which will work to create brands and labels for food produced using environmentally beneficial methods. The Food Alliance is a non-profit organization, serving farmers and ranchers by offering its marketing labels for food produced according to its sustainable agriculture standards. Environmental Defense, a non-profit advocacy organization, works to protect atmospheric resources, oceans, biodiversity, and human health, all of which are impacted by agricultural production. The partnership recognizes the critical importance consumer choice has in rewarding farmers and ranchers for adopting environmentally sound methods.

The agreement signed today provides that the two organizations will cooperate in the development of standards governing a variety of production methods used by participating farmers and ranchers. Such standards are gauged according to their resulting environmental benefits. Food Alliance labels appearing on products will certify food products that meet or exceed the agreed upon standards.

“The Food Alliance is pleased to join with Environmental Defense in expanding our outreach to farmers and ranchers in the Northwest and other regions of America. The Environmental Defense record of success with food service companies, such as McDonald’s, will certainly be helpful in this effort, demonstrating to processors and retailers that this labeling program offers real marketing opportunities. In addition, Environmental Defense’s work with farmers and ranchers on issues related to carbon sequestration, water quality, and wildlife habitat can only further catalyze the effort to simultaneously raise consumer awareness and reward socially and environmentally responsible farming practices,” said Jonathan Moscatello, The Food Alliance’s farm program manager.

“Giving consumers the ability to choose food according to production methods creates powerful new incentives to protect the environment. Farmers and ranchers face a recurring squeeze between low market prices and rising costs of production. Food Alliance labeling gives them a way to maintain and even expand market share, in some cases at better market prices. At the same time, consumers can’t vote with their pocketbooks unless they know what they’re buying. Food Alliance labels will provide that information,” said Dr. Zach Willey, Environmental Defense economist.

Environmental Defense today welcomed reports that the Bush administration will announce support for the United Nations Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The POPs treaty bans or severely restricts twelve of the world’s most toxic chemicals such as PCBs, DDT and dioxins.

“As the organization that led the fight to get rid of DDT in America thirty-five years ago, we are pleased that the administration will support international efforts to phase out toxic chemicals whose dangers have long been recognized. The administration should now also move forward to cut the greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to global warming,” said Environmental Defense senior staff member Steve Cochran.

“The Kyoto Protocol is by no means complete. Negotiations on the treaty stalled in November, and are set to re-start in July. It’s time for the administration to turn away from those who deny the scientific reality of climate change, roll up its sleeves and finalize the rules for the global warming treaty that will work best for America and our environment,” said Cochran.

“Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the threat from human-induced global warming is growing, and that Earth’s climate, its species, and many of its countries are already feeling the effects. In light of these findings, the administration should begin work immediately with the bipartisan congressional coalition developing legislation to control carbon dioxide from power plants, and play an active and positive role in negotiations aimed at finalizing the Kyoto Protocol,” said Cochran.

“As the world’s last remaining superpower, and the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases and many other pollutants, the United States has a special obligation to lead on environmental issues. The international community and forward thinking elements of the business community are already taking on the climate change issue; it’s time for the new administration to face its responsibilities on these issues as well,” said Cochran.

Different degrees of environmental burden felt by different racial/ethnic and income groups are now documented and available for every community in the U.S., Environmental Defense announced today. The information is available free on the group’s www.Scorecard.org website, which lets users type in their zip codes to get the local facts.

“This access to comparative data in a single place is an important breakthrough for the environmental justice movement,” said Gerald Torres, a law professor at the University of Texas and former U.S. Justice Department official. “For the public at large, it will make it possible to see differentials in environmental burdens in our society, not just where those problems are already obvious but place by place throughout the country.” Torres is co-author, with Professor Lani Guinier, of a forthcoming book on race and politics from the Harvard University Press.

“Environmental justice is important, sensitive, and hard to measure,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney David Roe. “We are putting the best measurement data we can find out into public view, so people can see a local picture no matter where they live.” The new service, launched today in English and Spanish, represents the first time local-level environmental data have been systematically analyzed across the country to show the differences experienced by several different demographic groups (such as people of color, low-income families, etc.).

“These are first-cut data only,” Roe cautioned. “The best numbers available today are very far from being perfect measures of the environmental burdens that different people experience — and of course numbers can’t tell the whole environmental justice story. But systematic data on the ‘where’ and ‘how much’ of unequal environmental conditions, even if imperfect, will help focus attention and set priorities in this critical area of public policy.”

The analysis now on www.Scorecard.org offers statistics on how four environmental burdens are experienced by seven different demographic groups, in every U.S. county. The four measurements are: local releases of toxic chemicals (as reported under the Toxics Release Inventory); local cancer risks from hazardous air pollutants (estimated from detailed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exposure data); proximity to Superfund sites; and proximity to stationary sources of criteria air pollutants.

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helped protect the health of thousands of children by lowering the reporting threshold for lead compounds under the federal right-to-know law, affirming a Clinton administration EPA decision. Environmental Defense applauded the lowered reporting standard and called on EPA to further expand the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) right-to-know program, including lowering the reporting threshold for other heavy metals such as cadmium and reporting toxic chemicals in manufactured products.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 900,000 American children aged one to five have unacceptably high levels of lead in their blood,” said Environmental Defense senior engineer Lois Epstein. “EPA’s lowered reporting threshold on lead will provide immensely useful information on determining the sources of toxic lead pollution. The EPA has helped to protect our nation’s children from lead poisoning with these more comprehensive lead reporting standards.”

In 1999, EPA lowered the threshold for reporting other toxic chemicals such as mercury that remain in the environment and concentrate in wildlife. Following the same methodology plus using data on the build-up of lead in humans, EPA finalized a rule in January 2001 lowering the reporting threshold for lead from 10,000 pounds (or 25,000 pounds for certain facilities) to 100 pounds. EPA also stated in the preamble to the rule that evidence may yet exist to lower the reporting threshold even further, to 10 pounds.

“EPA’s cost-effective Toxics Release Inventory program provides the public with data on the sources of toxic pollution in America,” said Epstein. “This information is the key to preventing pollution and improving public health. EPA’s decision on lead reporting closes just one of the many gaps that exist in the federal right-to-know program and will be a boon to children’s health.”

Data from the 1999 Toxics Release Inventory were made public on April 11 in summary form. The new data show a 45% reduction in toxic chemical releases from core industries since the 1988 baseline year, and a decrease of 2.5% from 1998. This successful environmental program represents just 2/1000 of EPA’s annual budget. The TRI summary can be found at www.epa.gov/tri on the Internet.

A peer-reviewed paper published today in Science demonstrates the extent of environmental harm from agriculture as practiced over the past few decades. Use of nitrogen fertilizer has risen dramatically, and half of all the fertilizer that has ever been used on Earth has been applied in the last 15 years, leading to massive pollution of coastal waters. Agricultural nitrogen fertilizers that run off into coastal areas squeeze oxygen from the water, leaving behind “dead zones” devoid of most life forms.

Polluted agricultural runoff from farms in the upper Midwest contributes to a dead zone the size of New Jersey located in the Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi River. Coastal waters and two-thirds of the nation’s rivers and bays are degraded from nutrient pollution, much of it coming from farms.

“Coastal waters are being decimated by pollution from nitrogen fertilizer,” said Environmental Defense senior scientist Bob Howarth, one of the authors of the Science paper. “Fisheries, coastal ecosystems and the recreational and commercial industries that depend upon them are being hit hard by fertilizer overuse. If trends of the past 35 years continue, nitrogen fertilizer use will more than double globally by 2050.”

A letter signed by 128 of the nation’s leading environmental scientists to Congressional leaders will be released today in coordination with publication of the Science paper. The letter calls for Congress to provide authorization funding for a plan to reduce nitrogen flux in the Mississippi basin by 30% in 15 years. All of the governors of the states in the upper Mississippi basin have signed the Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force Action Plan, but federal assistance is necessary for the plan to succeed. The letter and a list of its signatories can be found at www.environmentaldefense.org

“Congress must step forward and make the investments needed to foster an environmentally sustainable green revolution, which will make U.S. coastal and agricultural areas stronger, safer and more productive,” said Howarth. “They should support the Midwestern governors and provide funding for the Task Force nitrogen reduction plan. Congress should also revise the Farm Bill and help farmers make the transition to more environmentally benign agriculture practices. Planting winter cover crops and using somewhat less fertilizer, combined with full Congressional funding of wetlands restoration and preservation, are important and practical steps toward restoring the economic and environmental health of America’s coastal waters. Solutions are easily available that help preserve the oceans without harming crop production.”

Increased energy efficiency protects the environment and saves people money by reducing their electricity bills,” said Environmental Defense executive director, Fred Krupp. “A matching effort on air conditioners will help clean air, save money and slow global warming. The administration’s decision on higher efficiency standards for water heaters and clothes washers is a good one.”

The proposed air conditioner standard, which was approved during the Clinton administration, requires new models to be 30% more efficient than the current minimum standard.

“At a time when concerns about the U.S. economy and rising energy costs are growing, the administration should move swiftly to improve the energy efficiency of air conditioners as well. Increasing energy efficiency is one of the best way to protect our nation’s environment and economy,” said Krupp. “These programs can keep the lights on as concerns about rolling blackouts increase, while reducing the use of polluting technologies that warm the globe and fill the lungs with dangerous particulates.”