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School Lab Legacy ChemicalsA chronology
Dave WaddellLocal Haz Waste Mgmt in King County WA
1957
• Sputnik Launched
• The U.S. panics
1960
• Congress & NSF grants in response to Russian threat
• $4,000,000 for science education
• Sizeable chunk trickles down to secondary schools
1995
• Wash. Dept. of Ecology launches School Sweeps
• Visits to community colleges includes labs
• Serious stockroom problems
1997• School Sweeps ends- lab
training offered
• 2 high school lab teachers attend
• “That looks like my lab”
• Inspect their lab, saw this
• Make proposal we fix it
1998
• Rehab the Lab launched in King County
• 100% cost coverage for disposal
• $300,000 initial budget for 3 years (later expanded)
2000• NAHMMA Boston
• Put on 1st 8-hour training on school labs
• Attendees from 8 states
• Scared the snot out of them
• Each state began working on issue (Iowa ran amuck!)
2002
• Rehab the Lab concludes• $565,000 over 4 years• 38.2 tons of chemicals removed• 577 visits to 324 schools• Bomb squad to over 40 schools• Remember!
– This is in one county
2005• NBC Nightly News
coverage of issue
• Multiple states & EPA focusing on issue
• Hurricane Katrina plea for help mentions school lab chemicals
