Air Pollution – Soil Vapor Intrusion
Environmental Law Video
Lawyer & Attorney ReferralsOutdoor sources of Indoor Air Contaminants
Posted By James J. Periconi, Esq. on June 9, 2008
Pollen, dust, fungi, industrial pollutants, and general vehicle exhaust are common outdoor sources of indoor air pollution. Other sources include exhaust from vehicles on nearby roads or in parking lots or garages, loading docks, odors from dumpsters, unsanitary debris near outdoor air intakes, and cigarette smoke from office workers now required in most cities to take their cigarette breaks outside of building entrances. Another source is exhaust from the building itself or from neighboring buildings that is re-entrained, or drawn back into the building.
However, the most significant newly “discovered” out-of-building source in office buildings, and indeed all buildings, is soil gas vapor. Such vapors rise through groundwater into subsurface soil, and can be compressed just below building foundations to generate relatively high levels of interior pollutants. Contaminants include those from leakage of underground storage tanks, contaminants from previous uses of the site (e.g., landfills or historic industrial uses) whose past clean-ups were insufficient; pesticides used on the grounds outside the building, and occasionally from radon. The very recent and vigorous regulation of soil gas vapor by the state in New York, which includes new tools for calculation of indoor contaminant levels of potentially health-threatening magnitude based on subsurface levels, is discussed below. Federal regulation of soil gas vapor is at the draft stage as of this writing, but is expected within the next year.
About the author
James J. Periconi, Esq.
James Periconi’s practice focuses almost equally on commercial property transaction counseling, on environmental regulatory matters in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and on environmental litigation in the federal and state courts. A former Chief of Solid and Hazardous Waste Enforcement for the State DEC and an Assistant New York Attorney General prosecuting civil and criminal environmental cases, he has in private practice since 1989 had substantial experience representing defendants in governmental actions brought for remediation of Superfund and other contaminated sites, and for prosecution and defense of private cost recovery actions for such sites.
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