Show t mil 0 0 6 7 r ft ift H lu ta 0 ina k s 1 ma fl t ri tf IJ I J 0 ua ya ya TRAMWAY att aaker MINES aaa 5 COMPANY cornucopia CORNY C COPIA ORE afta am N j am mah 10 f AMERICAN effect N WREV STEEL COMPANY k r m r 8 f r jul 1 T t z 7 2 tasi wf s 41 1 y 7 1 1 1 1 1 57 m fl i a 0 1 J d t i ff 4 ft fa report of the selby smelter commission by RALPH A GOULD secretary the filing of the report findings and recommendations of the selby smelter commission with the superior court of solano county settles finally and conclusively the long continued controversy between the residents of benicia and the adjacent agricultural coun country try and the selby smelting smelling Sm elting and lead company concerning the alleged disagreeable and injurious effects produced by the smoke from the selby smelter the smelter operated by the selby smelt ing and lead company is situated near vallejo junction in contra costa county california at the western end of the car quinea straits the city of benicia is situated in solano county at the eastern end of the straits about five miles from the smelter during nine months of the year the prevalent trade winds blow the smoke from the selby smelter over and into the city of benicia and the agricultural area lying between benicia and vallejo action brought in 1905 on march 14 1905 an action was brought by the district attorney of solano county california in the superior court of solano county praying for an injunction which I 1 would restrain and enjoin the selby smelt ing and lead company from permitting injurious smoke and gas from the selby smelter to blow over and upon the city of benicia and the tributary country the case was brought to trial on august 7 1906 and judgment of the court in favor of the plaintiff was rendered on july 16 1908 the decree of the court was to the eff effect act that during 11 eight months of each year between the of march and the of november the selby company was enjoined from I 1 ing ig noxious gases and fumes into the open air in such a manner that the same would be carried into and upon the city of benicia and the tributary country in solano county in such quantities as to be offensive to the senses and to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property after motion for a new trial was made by the defendant and denied by the court an appeal was thereupon taken to the supreme court of the state on june 12 1912 the judgment of the trial court was affirmed by the supreme court during the period covered by this litigation the selby company had been making efforts toward the elimination of some of the objectionable constituents of the smoke these efforts having resulted in the removal of the major portion of lead arsenic and sulphur trioxide from the smelter smoke plaintiffs still complain in the spring of 1913 although the selby company maintained that they had abated the nuisance complaints were made by the residents of the area that a nuisance still existed and that the decree of the court was therefore being violated by the smelt ing company various considerations among them the prospective heavy expense which would accrue to both parties to the litigation as a result of a trial of the smelter company for contempt of court led to conferences of the attorneys representing both sides which resulted in an agreement to submit the question of fact as to the violation of the decree of injunction to a board of technically trained men deemed by both sides to be qualified fled to act in such d a capacity and equal financial responsibility of the parties in the expense of the commissions activities the result of the agreement was the filing of a stipulation in the record of the cause providing for such a board commission board appointed on may alay 22 1913 this board was organized as the selby smelter commission with the following personnel J A holmes director U S bureau of mines E 0 franklin at the time of appointment chief of the chemical division of the laboratory of the U S public health service professor of organic chemistry leland stanford jr university ralph A goul chemical engineer san francisco secretary of the commission the function of the selby smelter commission was to determine the facts and report its findings on the following 1 Is the selby smelter operating in such a manner as to violate the decree of the court dated july 16 1908 2 if the defendant company is violating the decree what is the extent of the violation 3 if the defendant company is violating the decree what steps must be taken by the defendant to avoid a violation of the decree for the determination of facts the commission and its staff have carried on very careful and complete investigations of all matters which in the opinion of the commission could have any be bearing a ring 0 on n the questions at issue and to be answered these investigations were made by the following staff of trained scientific and technical men no one of whom otherwise than in arriving at the truth was directly or indirectly interested in the findings of the commission staff of elpe experts arts A E wells metallurgist and chief chem in charge smelter investigations spoilt pau and field work C el B button special legal agent fi S bureau of jo allt mines S charles A shaw professor of agronomy AU college 9 of JO av agriculture university of california ec 11 joi eill a a free soil 0 expert pwe and agronomist J W blankinship ph ila D I 1 id plant luid lu pathologist wyatt W M jones plant pathologist as 11 W M doans professor J of entomology leland elard pu stanford jr if university all C 11 haring D A IZ JOad professor JOSSO veterinary science college of jo agriculture university of jo california K F meyer D V V M professor bacher of JO I reports SU as given mission in U the all form below of JO 1 A detailed P study of jo statements su as regards c zone residents of the gill clos selby A smoke nuisance in u the of JO a the dill presence ualle area by C D B button pule and around the 11 a selby 2 9 conditions in III zone q by A selby smoke 9 smelter pul and the A a wells to 01 determine the at a extent X 3 investigations spoilt of JO the continuation 0 of J the av atmosphere in III the selby S smoke zone by the gill smelter emanations by A E wells 4 investigations jt SUOI to 04 determine p the sulphur dioxide present in III the atmosphere ui in places outside the selby smoke zone by A a wells 11 ol 01 the dill effects of JO sulphur dioxide on man luma by A a wells ZT 12 the possibility of jo reducing the sul abild dioxide output from the seiby smelter a U investigations on I 1 the all cases ij from mo the MCI and lloyd wintering sintering sint ering machines UL of 10 the NI selby loLus smelter jol b q studies in III the aill commer itlo cial utilization of JO the gill dIns sulphur anil dioxide 0 pro poona by the s selby lauis smelter aal by A a wells UT 13 bibliography aadu III the effect of jo sulphur dioxide on vegetation and animal life the chemists club library new york the field investigations upon which these reports emu are based were aaa conducted between ail ua june 1913 11 pur and september 1914 7 i C C 10 6 vlee o 0 7 V 7 aci C j laoz biology and protozoa logy I 1 university of JO california 1 1 through the dill courtesy of jo dean thomas forsyth iOd IllAs hunt of jo the dill college of jo agriculture PUL and professor a T J gray of jo 11 the at department of jo pathology the commission had the aill valued cooperation of JO several of 10 the gill staff of JO the dili university of JO 10 california IT e the lili facilities sai of JO the am a S bureau of mines also were placed ju at the atil disposal of jo the commission c and pu much assistance was rendered by sli its staff of jo experts adso especially Allup jj dr a G D cottrell and jj dr L H duschak results of jo the investigations the dill results of JO the investigations of JO the aill several experts were ajam presented to 04 the com 5 9 conditions of jo plant life in III the gill selby wlouis smoke zone by J f aj blankinship 6 9 the occurrence of jo sulphur dioxide injury to ol plants ui in the gill selby smoke 93 zone by wyatt eSAA Ili W jones 7 insect pests ui in the gill selby smoke zone by 11 ak doane 8 V agronomic 12 buo ouo lu 01 and soil ilos conditions ul in the selby ouiS smoke bouis I a zone by charles betic sala F d shaw 9 6 investigations of JO live GAII stock conditions and losses ut in the selby smoke ouiS zone by C D TZ haring and K P W meyer 10 fumigation experiments to ol determine ul a the 11 D a effect jj da I 1 of jo highly diluted sulphur dioxide upon a growing umas grain crop by A a wells AA in III collecting the GIN data for sill his report mr jj button interviewed the gill residents of the smoke zone III in st as thorough puli and as L representative senta tive a manner su as possible and sought to 04 obtain directly their ideas concerning the existence of jo a nuisance the opinion expressed Jl PaSSE as to 01 the OU existence of JO the nuisance and injury from the smelter smoke 0 varied from the extreme of jo unreasoning radicalism to 01 entire indifference A study of jo mr buttons I report reveals the fact that two OMI classes 0 of J odors have been described by the gill residents of jo the smoke zone su as smelter smoke one atio is edly aipa that quill due to ol dIns sulphur anil dioxide pul and the other sr is that of jo certain lipoid products from the j refining of petroleum the so called oil oft smell judging from the statements of these residents there can be no doubt that in the past up until 1910 or 1911 there was present at times in the smoke zone fumes and gases possessing very disagreeable odors the oil smell which could not pub sibly he have been s due to smelter emanations subsequent to 1911 oil fumes have not been so prevalent but occasionally the odor of sulphur dioxide has been detected mr buttons Dut tons report the conclusions derived from mr buttons report are that among the greater proportion of the residents there is at the present time only slight if any legitimate objection to the presence of smelter smoke in the atmosphere of the smoke zone under extremely unfavorable conditions and to supersensitive persons smelter smoke may occasionally be smelled in the area but to the fair minded person such occurrences do not prevent the enjoyment of life nor are they detrimental to the health of the community the commission considers that one of the most important phases of its investigations has been the direct determination by chemical analyses of the sulphur dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the smoke zone this work was conducted under the superintendence per of mr A E wells the metallurgist and chief chemist of the commission with the assistance of eight trained chemists and six helpers and is believed by the commission to be the most extensive and exhaustive of its kind heretofore for the determination of sulphur dioxide a method has been developed which is believed to be by far the best yet used in work of this character in that it combines in a most satisfactory manner those characteristic which permit sampling rapidity of execution easy field manipulation Pu lation and a high degree of accuracy concentrations of sulphur dioxide as low as 02 parts per par million of air are rapidly and easily determined by the method as developed and finally adapted by the commission for the essential features of the method the commission is indebted to mr J R marsden chief chemist of the selby smelter laboratories established for making observations in the field two permanent laboratories were established sulphur dioxide determinations were made at brief intervals daily and an automobile was equipped as a portable labora tary y by means of which determinations were ere made in all parts of the selby smoke oe as well as in many places outside ule selby iby smoke zone the f field investigations to determine the sulphur chur dioxide content of the atmosphere n the selby smoke one extended from september lath to december 15 1913 and march ch 1st ast to april 15 1914 during which the determinations were made during the same period about determinations were made in places outside the selby smoke zone during the entire course of the investigations gat ions especial attention was given to the metallurgical processes going on at the smelter and the amount of sulphur dioxide eliminated from the smelter during the tests in the smoke zone has been checked by the staff of the commission determinations were made when the wind conditions condition condi tiona 3 were the most possible for the area and when at the request of the commission and under its supervision the output of sulphur dioxide from the smelter was the highest possible other tests have been made with the smelter entirely closed down and with the wind conditions favorable and unfavorable to the smoke zone every attempt has been made to obtain these data under all possible conditions in order that maximum average and minimum figures might be obtained as to the sulphur dioxide content of the atmosphere of the smoke zone results of tests of the total number of instantaneous samples taken in the selby smoke zone during the period of field work sev enty five per cent contained less than 02 parts soa per million of air eighty six per cent contained less than 04 parts SO per million and over ninety seven per cent contained less than 10 part SO per million parts of air only twenty one samples or per cent of the total contained more than 20 parts SO soa and no sample analyzed more than 71 parts SO per million the higher concentrations were found only when puffs of the smoke from the selby smelter were drifted by a gentle breeze over the most exposed portions of the smoke zone and at no time did acon a concentration cent ration greater than 20 parts SO soa per million persist for a continuous period of more than thirty minutes the total time during the whole period of the commissions investigation that the concentration of sulphur dioxide was more than 20 parts per million at any part of the smoke zone was two hundred and twenty minutes or three hours and forty minutes only on six occasions was the concentration above 30 parts SO per million and the total time that the concentration was above that amount was sixty five minutes within the city limits of benicia itself the maximum concentration of sulphur dioxide found was 24 parts per million and only twenty two out of the 2840 samples taken in this portion of the smoke zone contained more than 10 part SO per million in the business section of san francisco during calm mornings the concentration of sulphur dioxide was found to be as high as 18 parts so SOs per million under brisk wind condi conditions tiong as are prevalent during the late morning and early afternoon during the period of trade winds the sulphur dioxide content was seldom over 02 parts soa per million on the ocean beach no determinable quantity of sulphur dioxide was found in oakland and berkeley of the determinations made none showed a concentration of sulphur dioxide higher than 10 part per million one hundred and three determinations were also made in the vicinity of richmond which showed an average value of 11 parts SO per million and a maximum content of 45 parts SOs SO per million in martinez Mar and vicinity determinations were made the average of these determinations was parts SO soa per million and the maximum 17 parts SO per million the results of these investigations show that on the one hand P although the atmosphere of other areas investigated show a higher constant concentration of sulphur dioxide than the selby smoke zone the maximum concentrations in the selby smoke zone on the other hand are higher than any of the other areas investigated these higher concentrations however never persist for more than a few minutes in order to determine whether the concentration cent ration of sulphur dioxide found in the smoke zone could |