Bloomberg Agrees To Remove Toxic, Cancer-Causing Light Fixtures - In Ten Years

The Mayor of Money has heard the fears and concerns of citizens regarding the cancer-causing toxic lights in NYCDOE schools that are leaking PCB's.

He says he'll have them all out - in ten years:

Responding to pressure from federal officials and worried parents, the Bloomberg administration said on Wednesday that it would replace light fixtures containing the toxic chemicals known as PCBs in nearly 800 school buildings across the city over the next 10 years.

City education officials said they had allocated $708 million to the effort, which will also involve broad improvements in energy efficiency, and opening bidding for a contract this year. A total of 772 schools have fluorescent fixtures that must either get new ballasts or be replaced completely because they contain PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, the officials said.

For months, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has been pressing the city to assess and replace older fixtures containing PCBs in all of those schools because of the danger of leaks. With so many buildings involved — nearly two-thirds of the city’s 1,200 school buildings — the Bloomberg administration balked at the cost, which it initially calculated at about $1 billion.

But advocates for environmental improvements countered that the city would recoup the investment through savings in electric bills because modern light fixtures are more energy-efficient.

The new plan immediately drew criticism from school advocates who said the problem is too urgent be addressed over a decade.

“The work can be completed in two years if they decided to make it a priority,” said Miranda K. S. Massie, director of litigation and training with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which has represented parents in a lawsuit against the city over PCB contamination from caulk in the schools. “There’s no reason to subject school children to PCBs contamination for an extra eight years.”

Health experts say that the PCB contamination does not pose an imminent health risk, but that the longer the problem persists, the higher the likelihood that the chemicals could prove harmful. PCBs have been linked to cancer, impairment of immune and reproductive function, lower I.Q. and other problems.

Here's a statement from Clueless Cathie Black on the PCB removal plan and the timeline:

“This is a progressive plan to increase energy efficiency at our schools and simultaneously address the issue of PCBs in old light fixtures,” the city schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, said in a statement. “Given that both the E.P.A. and the Department of Health have said there is no immediate health threat to students in these buildings, we believe this is the most responsible way to proceed.”

“This plan can be accomplished without any significant interruption to student learning, and it will generate significant energy savings in the long run,” she said.

What does that jive mean - "a progressive plan"? What the f--k is she talking about? A progressive plan would be to eliminate the toxic, cancer-causing material NOW.

Here's the UFT president in response:

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the plan “frustrating.”

“It’s pretty clear that the mayor is kicking the can into the next administration,” he said. “The idea that they are prioritizing boilers and energy efficiency — how about prioritizing the hazardous materials first? There’s a health hazard inside the buildings. That’s the priority right now.”

And the lighting fixtures are NOT the only toxic materials in the school buildings.

Turns out that the caulk used around doors and windows is also toxic and potentially cancer-causing.

Maybe they can get all that stuff out in twenty years?

And how many people will come down cancer or die as a DIRECT result of this hazardous material?

Oh, well - if Cathie Black says the Bloombergian Ten Year PCB Removal Plan is a progressive one, then it must be.

Right?

Wrong.

Who knew that the school buildings themselves are actually more toxic than the overall education reform policies of Bloomberg and Black.

You can bet if Black's or Bloomberg's children were in any of these toxic schools, it wouldn't take ten years to get the PCB's out.