Corzine to Sign Law Requiring Air-Quality Checks at Day Care Centers
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Gov. Jon S. Corzine was to go Thursday to a Gloucester County town where high levels of mercury were found in three day care centers to sign into law a measure requiring air-quality monitoring at such centers across the state.
The law requires the state departments of Health and Environmental Protection to establish air-quality guidelines for day care centers built on or near contaminated sites, and to ensure that the operators meet the standards before the facilities are licensed to open.
Environmental groups criticized lawmakers for removing key provisions from the bill, including one that would have monitored air-quality at all day care centers, not just new ones. But Sen. Fred Madden, whose legislative district includes the stricken sites, called the bill "a significant first step to advancing safety of our children'' during legislative hearings in November.
The bill signing was being staged in Franklin Township, the same small southern New Jersey community where more than 30 children were exposed to toxic mercury vapors while attending Kiddie Kollege, a day care on the site of a former thermometer factory. A second center, also closed, was atop a former fuel company. A third sits at a former gas station that has leaking underground tanks.
The state Department of Environmental Protection found mercury levels at Kiddie Kollege were 25 times the allowable limit during a random check of the site in July, prompting the building to be shut. Subsequent tests showed the preschool students had elevated levels of mercury, but officials said the effects of the exposure should not be long-term.
The state filed a lawsuit against the current and former owners of the site last month, claiming that environmental officials have been denied access to the site since Kiddie Kollege closed in August. The families of several children enrolled at Kiddie Kollege have filed their own lawsuits.
The state Attorney General's office is looking into how the center, which opened in 2004, was allowed to operate without a cleanup of the mercury.
Wolf Skacel, assistant DEP commissioner for compliance and enforcement, said the agency has thus far inspected 142 of the 1,400 day cares located within 400 feet of a site that DEP regulates. Those include dry cleaners and other businesses for which the environmental agency issues permits, as well as contaminated sites, Skacel said.
Money Markets and More for Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Snow in Washington, D.C., puts some testimony of interest to Wall Street on hold. Staying connected can cost you; many consumers are spending a bundle on electronics. Did e-tailers get a boost from holiday shoppers?
E-Mail Story
Print Story
