Florence redux

Chapter 16

The pace of science teaching doesn’t share rhythms with general industry. Following days, sometimes weeks, reviewing research reports, textbooks and monographs, professors ‘return the favor,’ condensing massive quantities of data into fifty-minute lectures. But by about ten thirty, excepting a few high-end obsessive compulsives, professor types often sag under the weight of specialized topics presented to mildly interested audiences. Weary of ‘board work,’ science profs migrate back to their offices where stacks of student papers await grading. While chemistry professors may be in a privileged intellectual position to aid their industrial counterparts, these rhythmic disparities often account for why they don’t.

Weeks earlier Trace had sought technical assistance from a nonrock-and roll, Jackson Brown. Chemist, not musician, Jackson Brown possessed expertise in organic chemistry and was also selftaught in occupational and environmental health fields. Trace’s previous collaborations with Brown had been limited to occasions mostly paid exercises the latter verified the composition of herbicidal mixtures Trace proposed to use. Released from TVA and less than enthusiastic about joining NFDC Trace sought Brown’s counsel.

Trace explained why he was there. ‘The agency has moved management of its Fairways herbicide management program to contract-only status, effectively ending my role in TVA’s Office of Power.’

Anticipating he might see the likeable Virginia Tech graduate again, Brown had saved a Time-Daily article, one he believed Trace needed to see. In chemist-to-chemist style, Brown produced the clipping from a desk drawer, sliding it across the desk toward his visitor.

Eagerly Siblings Held in Agent Orange Removal Case

(© Knoxville News Leader). Two siblings, Robert Grant and Carl Eugene Eagerly were apprehended Tuesday by officers from three federal law enforcement agencies plus Alabama and Tennessee officers. While details regarding the brothers’ criminal activities are sketchy, both men face charges of attempting to sell the Tennessee Valley Authority expired barrels of Agent Orange taken from Gulfport’s naval base. Younger Robert Grant (known locally as ‘Bob’) Eagerly entered a nolo contendere plea before a federal magistrate. Authorities indicate they are finalizing charges for his older brother, Carl Eugene Eagerly.

Trace provided a two-word response. ‘Eagerly again.’ Jackson Brown solicited no additional comments but moved to a new topic by asking a question. ‘How much do you know about the Florencebased Steiner Stone firm or its CEO, Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Steiner.’

Trace stayed within bounds. ‘Beyond seeing their trucks and occasionally passing by one their Steiner cement plants, not much.’

Jackson Brown quickly expanded Trace’s knowledge. ‘Steiner is a generational construction company, meaning they have quarried stone and produced cement and concrete longer than nearly anyone else in the Tennessee valley. We’ve performed their routine phosphate and nitrate determinations for years but Betsy appeared here two weeks ago with a fresh initiative, one requiring chemical analyses and air pollution-type stack sampling expertise.’

‘The scope of her proposed project is significant, enough to support a salary. I’d like to move on this, though, before Betsy drives or perhaps flies a Spearman biplane she owns, to Tuscaloosa or

Auburn seeking labs and consultants. You may know, she also enjoys a considerable reputation as a WASP pilot.’

Trace’s response was measured but positive. ‘That sounds interesting, are there papers I could read regarding Steiner’s needs?’

‘Yes, I’ll loan you the preliminary data she shared, most of which appears to derived from a Cincinnati-based rotary kiln demonstration project.’

Sensing buy-in, Brown continued. ‘There’s a secondary issue. Steiner proposes to retrofit one or more rotary kiln cement plants to accept Pozzolan-adapted fly ash, meaning they’ll embed a concrete strengthener in cement while also feeding Haz-waste liquids into their burners, thereby destroying toxic liquids and boosting the feed line’s BTU-content.’

Trace distilled. ‘Steiner will be paid to accept both fly ash and Hazwaste liquids, incorporating both in cement.’

‘Yes, but EPA regulators in Atlanta, and others in Birmingham and Montgomery, will want to make sure the wastes are consumed, not emitted or redistributed.’

‘So, what’ll it be Mr. Trace, sound like something you’d like to do?’

Method 5

Chapter 17

While arranging emissions testing might have seemed a poor career move for a budding agronomist, Jackson Brown and the Steiner-funded project proved to be a good fit. Past completing new-hire forms, Trace familiarized himself with a multi-component emissions testing apparatus commercially termed an R-A-C emissions package (early manufacturer of stack sampling equipment).

Anticipating he and Trace needed R-A-C-applicable drills, Prof Brown arranged for the facility engineers to create screw-type or bung-type openings in an exhaust duct, creating a location where they could practice moving the R-A-C device’s probe in-and-out of the stack at measured distances while adjusting the device’s extraction rate to match the stack’s velocity.

But however important the Steiner project, Prof Brown was often called away, teaching responsibilities standing at the head of that line. Trace even filled-in a couple of times for his boss when Jackson presented out-of-town seminars, mainly proctoring examinations or answering students’ softball questions.

Trace drove to Blacksburg to attend a Virginia Tech engineering seminar devoted to stack sampling, mainly devoted to calibrating and operating the R-A-C equipment. Seminar speakers’ repeated references to ‘on-the-fly’ measurements sounded almost aviationlike.

The fact the course didn’t conclude until late on Friday afternoon, allowed Trace to Friday night at Peg’s flat before renewing College

Inn friendships and departing Blacksburg in his car the following morning. . While he had two days to drive back to Florence ahead Monday work meeting, he hoped to at least clear the mountains by Saturday evening Reaching Knoxville late that afternoon, he pushed on, arriving in Florence past midnight.

That Monday he outlined what he had learned, emphasizing the ‘on-the-fly’ nature of the measurements. As Trace shared with Jackson, the challenge would be one of operating a delicate piece of sampling gear, the R-A-C sampler, in harsh field conditions.

Brown interrupted the flow of Trace’s comments. ‘And speaking of challenges, here comes somebody who knows a lot about that topic, Ms. Betsy Steiner.’

Trace could have mistaken the woman heading for Jackson’s office as an airline pilot or perhaps a retired female military officer, well those descriptions did apply. Trace’s initial impression arose mostly from piercing blue eyes accompanied by a warm smile. ‘I’ve heard many good things and couldn’t wait to come here today to meet you, Trace.’

Although embarrassed by the attention, Trace returned in-kind. ‘Thank you but the pleasure is all mine.’

Prof Jackson turned the discussion over to Trace who outlined that he was freshly back from a good seminar at Virginia Tech, one applicable to, as he put it, Ms. Steiner’s emissions testing project.’

Trace focused on the permitting challenge. ‘Prof Brown and I have put together a demonstration of what we propose to do at your Decatur test site. I’d love to show you more.’

Trace highlighted the R-A-C test equipment’s features, particularly emphasizing those involving its control panel when Jackson encouraged him to describe more about the device’s sampling probe as opposed to its control elements, maybe even demonstrate its Pitot tube.

‘The sampling probe removes air containing particles that we collect and analyze via a filter while the glass vessels or impingers collect gases. The probe’s Pitot tube measures both static and velocity pressures, the latter corresponds to air velocity.

Trace was shocked by newly-introduced Betsy’s response. ‘Oh yes, the reliable Pitot tube. I’ve flown thousands of hours relying on that clever gadget, as it estimated the plane’s airspeed.’

Brown solicited their sponsor’s help in developing a project timeline. ‘How far along are they at Decatur with the modifications, knowing that will help us schedule your emissions test.’

‘Our engineers are collaborating with the consulting engineer-sales people to adapt our fuel feed lines to accept Haz-waste liquid feeds, they should finish doing that in perhaps two weeks. We’ve also identified ash in Kingston Tennessee that we want to use for the test.’

While Betsy was known for her brevity, she shortly introduced a sidebar issue. ‘I’m not sure who wants our permit more, TVA or us, expense isn’t the sole driver, both of us want to see waste inventories reduced.’

Trace spoke to a technical issue. ‘We’d like for the tested liquid feeds to be intermediate BTU-producers, otherwise we’ll likely struggle to coordinate our sampling plan with up/down temperatures and outputs.’

Betsy nodded, adding. ‘The Decatur kiln is certainly a hot one, it surface temperatures push 2000 degrees F, 1600 degrees F at itscore.

My Cincinnati contacts say that’s comparable to their conditions and should work for us, too.’

Prof Brown followed. ‘Trace and I will generate a pre-sampling plan for the regulators. Once the test is complete and results submitted, we’ll return here to discuss additional sites and testing plans for Haz-waste-to-concrete conversions.’

Betsy got to specifics. ‘So, win, lose or draw, based on the Virginia Tech info and more, eventually this is a million-dollar pass-fail exercise?’

Here came Trace. ‘That’s essentially it. EPA Method Five testing means we move the probe in-and-out of the stack while the regulators strain their necks to see what’s going on up there. Make sure the plant guys have coffee made, that may be the deciding factor.’

‘We’ve spent most of a million dollars to adapt Decatur to accept the waste feeds Our reasons for seeking the permit are not only monetary. I’ve visited the Emelle landfill site and would like for Alabama to represent more than a national Haz-waste storage site. The Valley is a special place and I’d like to help keep it that way, my people have been here for one hundred years.’

.

While it’s unlikely Henri Pitot (1695-1771) foresaw either the aviation of air emissions testing applications possible for his special metal tube, Pitot’s invention formed the basis for dozens, maybe hundreds of similarly configured velocity-measuring devices.

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), an energetic inventor-clergyman is credited with the discovery of elemental oxygen. In the age of coal and, more specifically coal mining, concern arose not only from a mine-based shortfall of oxygen but from the presence toxic gases there as well.

By the late 19th century, Louis Orsat (1837-89) pioneered a curious rubber-tubed glass (buret) device useful to mining engineers charged with estimating oxygen concentrations, Orsat’s analyzer was equally applicable to carbon monoxide and dioxide determinations.

World war II maritime navigational advances necessitated sturdy steel drawer assemblies accommodating quick changes outs of electronic gear, meaning one set of malfunctioning electronics could be quickly replaced by another. The replaceable drawer concept crossed over to air pollution engineering and was reflected in the R-A-C sampler Trace and Jackson proposed to use. EPA’s Method Five, one applicable to estimating particle concentrations, relied upon a a complicated drawer assembly. within a sampling train (chain of air collecting components).

On a warm June 1980 Tuesday, a dozen pick-up trucks and cars, recent visitors to the Decatur cement plant, monopolized its gravelsurfaced parking spaces, a khaki-hued Studebaker Lark numbered among the first to arrive.

In early May that year Betsy called-in a favor from David S. Freeman, chair of the TVA board of directors, suggesting his agency as a source of Pozzolan-quality fly ash (Pozzol-i rhymes with Napol-i, villages).

Betsy similarly contacted an Avenger field classmate, one managing a North Carolina-based military aviation rework facility, about a shipment of waste hydrocarbon-based solvents. Her classmate, and former WASP pilot, was delighted to help Single-engine Bets while also freeing up space in one of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s spent solvent tanks.

On a warm June test date Tuesday, the R-A-C stack sampler hung from a permanent I-beam high above the ground at SteinerDecatur. A near-sighted observer might have wondered why the cement plant was flying a green flag from it stack. That stack had been modified by the addition of a drawer-supporting I-beam, from which the sampling probe and associated impinger – filter box hung, both umbilical-ed to a control box five feet below, one that presently had Trace’s complete attention.

Nearly a year had passed since Betsy’s meeting with Congressman Tom Bevill, similarly three months had passed since Trace had joined Brown’s lab. Per instructions from regulators, Trace would monitor air emissions beginning at nine, concluding at two pm, creating an air pollution-relevant record of what occurred during that five-hour cement-producing span.

A single, oddly named feature of his sampling efforts would determine success or perhaps failure that term being ‘isokineticity,’ basically a comparison of the stack’ velocity and Trace’s ability to match that velocity in terms of the sampling device.

The pass-fail criteria were strict, he either produced a result that fell within plus-or-minus five percent of the stack’s possibly modulating velocity or their efforts would be judged as unsuccessful. As a matter of comparison most laboratory-derived results struggle to achieve plus-minus three percent precisions but are not derived from dusty days hanging on the side of a stack with delicate sampling gear.

Across morning, the cement plant’s operator occasionally relinquished controls long enough to consult with Trace regarding the match between concrete production and Trace’s monitoring efforts. Even during these brief conversations Trace’s eyes focused the sampler’s control panel. ‘On-the-fly’ was a good description of his efforts.

Regulators mainly took notes, spoke to one another or watched Trace. When he secured the sampler just after two pm and climbed down, he passed his clipboard calculations to an EPA compliance who used a Polaroid camera to photograph its data sheets, effectively eliminating any possibility of someone altering data.

Standing by his car, Trace used a Texas Instruments calculator to quickly perform a series of calculations confirming they had met the plus-minus five percent requirement. Only one task remained, one of placing the R-A-C sampling equipment in the Lark’s back seat area. The sampling train and two metal drawer devices fit well there. Trace removed the car’s bottom seat cushion to use it as a brace just ahead of the delicate equipment.

Betsy offered an aviation-applicable compliment. ‘Seeing that Pitot tube attached to the sampling probe brought back a flood of memories. Pitot’s haven’t failed me; I don’t think yours will either. adding. ‘In my world, you earned your wings today, Trace.’

The Lark proved no match for a hot rod Hudson as both were piloted toward Florence, Alabama.

Ladder Climbs

Chapter 18

Steiner’s interconnected air pollution controls must have worked well on test day, although the plant’s cement output was thirty percent lower than normal, giving regulators pause for concern.

Across the 1980’s EPA regulators were known to listen with both ‘ears,’ meaning they remained attentive to mixed viewpoints. In the case of the Steiner – Decatur, it turned out plant emissions wasn’t the environmentalists’ principal concern, instead Haz-waste transportation issue occupied their attention.

By 1981 TVA planned to decommission its coal-burning Kingston, Tennessee plant while nearly simultaneously commissioning a more powerful nuclear-fueled facility at nearby Watts Bar, Tennessee. While carbon dioxide and acid gas emissions would dissipate when Kingston’s burners went cold, the same wasn’t true for coal ash wastes there, some of it near the banks of the Emory river.

Under David S. Freeman’s leadership (1977-84) TVA sought nuclear energy expansions, planning to commission perhaps as many as twenty reactors at seven locations. But the last thing the agency wanted was a legacy surrounding permanently stored fly ash.

Environmentalists had speculated that a Kingston-based berm breach could send millions of cubic yards of toxic fly ash into the Emory river.

Freeman, TVA’s chairman, personally phoned Betsy to congratulate her, jokingly inquiring when he would learn of similar permitting successes at Steiner facilities in Tennessee. Thanking him for his interest, Betsy suggested his calls to Tennessee Senator Howard Baker or even to its Congressman, Al Gore, would be helpful to Steiner.

Following the Independence Day 1981 and another St. Florian hog roast, Jackson Brown convened a lessons-learned panel to discuss the Decatur – Steiner permitting test. Panelists included Trace, Betsy, Brown and a female history professor who had called, wanting to meet WASP pilot, the next time she was on campus.

Betsy listened as Trace summarized both their sampling strategy and related analytical results, ones applicable to the mass of particles emitted each hour, plus some destruction efficiencies for the liquid waste. The presentation was short, maybe seven minutes, after which Prof Brown asked if there were questions.

Betsy responded. ‘We’ll add these results to some financial disclosure information we’ve assembled. forwarding both to EPA Region Four; we have some ideas regarding similar Tennesseebased conversions.’ Betsy moved the agenda to transportation.

‘We need to highlight the local need for chemical waste recycling, particularly given Olin Corporation’s presence in Huntsville.’

As the meeting concluded, the history professor introduced herself to a Betsy, asking her if she would autograph a book, one describing contributions of WASP pilots. The two women sat for a while and chatted.

Solvent Foes

Chapter 19

The open purchase feature surrounding the Steiner work created an atmosphere in which the laboratory continuously analyzed Steineroriginated samples via both chromatographic (creates separations) or spectrophotometric (recordable color-like changes) means. The arrival of the mail runner at the laboratory about two pm each day created a near Christmas eve-like package opening session, albeit of a chemical nature.

Jackson Brown sought laboratory independence, meaning Steiner should not be its sole client, using bully pulpit marketing techniques to seek additional clients, frequently presenting papers, and accepting speaking engagements

The origins of Robert Fink’s interest in a small environmental lab one hundred miles from Birmingham possibly originated in the ‘alcohol-blinding’ James Perkins case. A more careful historian, however, might have reviewed Fink’s background back to his Chicago years when he sought out the counsel of Louis Gdalman, RPh and Eleanor Berman, PhD, individuals with backgrounds very different than his, making them particularly valuable to him.

Regardless, Fink phoned Prof Brown to schedule an August 1981 road trip, one in which they could discuss a clinical matter he wanted to describe in person. Fink’s call concluded with the standard physician-initiated travel question. ‘What’s it take doorto-door to reach there?’

Fink arrived mid-day and, as promised, had brought a deli tray featuring three identical corned beef-on-rye sandwiches. Past a quick tour of the lab and survey of its capabilities, Fink, Prof

Brown and Trace sat down to learn more about the reason for Fink’s two-hour car trip to Florence, Alabama.

He outlined what he described as a series of forty peripheral neuropathy cases, ones that he believed possessed origins beyond more common metabolic or infectious origins. According to Fink, the consequences of the illnesses were severe, beyond tingling and lack of sensation, chronic intractable pain, decrements in vision and hearing and possibly even death

Fink’s suspicions regarding chemical origins originated with a concerned spouse who had insisted on bringing an unlabeled can of solvent to clinic, insisting her husband’s illness had followed its use for what she described as ‘cleaning avionics.’

While Fink indicated he found the solvent link interesting, further attempts on his part to reconcile solvent use with likely exposures had been largely unsuccessful. He had apparently identified a specialty laboratory, one located near Philadelphia, to identify the can’s contents, noting the lab had indicated it contained a solvent, one frequently used to remove grease or varnish-like residues.

Prof Brown interrupted. ‘Does the solvent have a name?’

Fink provided a one-word answer. ‘Hexane, hexane, that’s what the National Medical Lab chemists claims it contained. So, I’ve come here enlisting your help in identifying possible chemical origins for these cases.’

Fink then turned to geography. ‘These patients mostly originate in rural locations, not many are from cities. Most report either being unemployed or performing what they term ‘odd jobs,’ the exception being two living near Nashville who claim to have been previously employed as aviation mechanics.’

Prof Brown interjected. We’re well aware of the Willow Grove, Pennsylvania laboratory, they perform GC – Mass Spec work-up’s similar to what we do here, although our clients are more interested in Haz-waste matters than blood-and-urine monitoring. Say, Doc, Florence is a lot closer than Philly’s Willow Grove.’

Reaching for a sales valise, Fink extracted a sheaf of lab reports and clinical summaries, shortly proposing a plan. ‘Keep track of your time and give me a call after you’ve reviewed the National Medical Lab reports and these patient summaries. Both your expertise and location put you in the right place, maybe we can work together to prevent some future neuropathies.’

The oddly-named GC – Mass Spec term derived from a more complete, although harder to recall, gas chromatography – mass spectrometry expression. During the early 20th century at least three Nobel awards and perhaps a knighting owe origins to a chain of discoveries underpinning its chromatographic and charge-tomass based development.

The hyphenated term possesses a distinctly upper Midwest flavor, appropriate since key features of its development occurred in Midland, Michigan, home of Dow Chemical. In the right hands, GC – Mass Spec is powerful, one capable of shining new light on chemical identities and concentrations.

Fink’s proximate departure was announced by the distinctive sound produced when two case-closing metal staples are fed into matching valise hasps. Beyond Fink’s success in recruiting a panel of supporting chemists, Prof Brown had gotten something he needed, too, a second major client for their lab.

Dr. Fink checked his car’s gas gauge before departing Florence, a mainstream southern community, wary of refueling at out-of-theway gas stations, recalling the words of a Morehouse mentor.

‘Doctors drive Buicks, dependable cars that rarely fail. AfricanAmerican doctors drive three-year old Buicks because they attract even less attention.’

After the Shell ‘full service’ attendant topped-off the LeSabre’s twenty-six-gallon tank, Fink handed him a twenty-dollar bill for an eighteen-dollar purchase.

Smiling, Dr. Fink completed the transaction. ‘Just keep the change.’

Flight plans

Chapter 20

If enthusiasm were marketable, the Brown –Ballew team would have been rich. Every aspect of Haz-waste-to-concrete expansions necessitated additional analyses, revenues, too. But while the Brown –Ballew lab load had increased, so had Betsy Steiner’s worry list. What about the record-keeping and storage issues surrounding accepting another firm’s Haz-wastes. Furthermore, how was Steiner supposed to respond if regulators withdrew their Haz-waste-to-concrete permit, reverse ship mini-mountains of tarped fly ash back to TVA? Even worse, attempt to return threehundred-gallon liquid-waste-filled carboys?

In late 1981 Trace was joined in the Jackson Brown laboratory by a newly-recruited female graduate who liked to be called Kyle, she had previously worked in the Cleveland Clinic’s esteemed lab. While a newcomer to the mid-South, Kyle was a huge fan of rockand-roll, where better to live and work than near Rick Hall’s appropriately-named, Fame Studio.’

Betsy Steiner co-signed a note permitting Brown to expand the lab’s metals analysis capacity, appropriate for a team analyzing fly ash. The expansion meant Kyle could abandon tedious one-at-a-time analyses in favor of a multi-element technique described by a long name. Given few could recall its designation, and even fewer could spell it, I-C-P won out over inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy.

Trace and Prof Brown analyzed urine and blood specimens originating in Fink’s neuropathic patients, searching along a neurotoxic trail, although few associations emerged and even fewer suggestions of causality perhaps accounting for Fink’s increasingly anxious calls, at times suggesting Trace should go on the road to investigate further.

Prof Brown asked Trace what he thought of Fink’s visit proposal, causing Trace to review a similarly unsuccessful attempt to travel across all twelve TVA sectors in search of weed management insights. Fink or TVA, it always came down to trips across a TVA service area containing eighty thousand square miles.

Sensing a lack of direction, Prof Brown scheduled a Thursday conference call with their Birmingham physician friend, one in which they could agree on the scope of work. Fink led off by affirming his interests in the hexane exposure piece.

Seeking higher ground, Prof Brown proposed that he and Trace would put a sampling plan and expense estimate to support what he termed selected or representative visits. Fink softened, thanking his collaborators for their efforts before hanging up, leaving Trace and Brown only a few minutes before a scheduled in-person meeting with Betsy Steiner.

True to reputation, she arrived a few minutes early but didn’t propose new agenda items, apparently content to listen to a discussion involving three laboratory specialists, Trace, Prof Brown and newly-introduced Kyle.

Excusing himself, Brown noted he and his wife were hosting a birthday party for their twelve-year-old daughter that afternoon.

Betsy laughed, jokingly asking what flavor. Kyle similarly excused herself, claiming she was needed to check on the I-C-P’s afternoon progress.

Trace and the former WASP pilot had developed a professional friendship. No doubt, the Decatur success helped but there was more. Learning of Trace’s shabby treatment across the final days of the TVA Fairways program allowed her to recall some similar misgivings at being unfairly terminated

Seeking aviation expertise, Trace sought Betsy’s counsel. ‘We have a medical client, Dr. Robert Fink at UAB, trying to link some air and skin exposures with what he describes as a series of neuropathies, one case of blindness, too. At times he has hinted his cases may have origins in aviation-maintenance, a field well outside our scope.’

Laughing, Betsy admitted that medical issues were well outside hers, too, but followed with a question. ‘Well, what sort of airports or even airfields is he talking about?’

Trace led. ‘His patients, and those of his medical colleagues, are mostly in Tennessee. Have you ever heard of Camp Tyson or the Cornelia Fort Airport? How about the Ft. Campbell’s Sky Drop or a field near Gillespie? When we tried to look these up, it appears they either don’t exist anymore or have a greatly reduced status.’

Betsy silently recalled occasions she and the chief pilot had performed touch-and-go’s and refueling stops at all four of the locations Trace described, his comments stirring memories stretching from Courtland to Avenger field.

Perhaps distracted, Betsy recalled an incident when a less than (<) air-savvy aviation candidate at Sweetwater had similarly petitioned her for help. Past lights-out that woman and Betsy had reconfigured lockers and junk barracks furniture to resemble a Link trainer. With the other woman seated atop a pile of lockers, Betsy circled, redirecting broomstick-initiated maneuvers, similarly yanking and tugging at locker handles in a comical attempt to recreate dive, tilt and climb. The day dream dissolved with the image of < Air-Savvy at her right during inspection and review on the day of they received their wings.

One Engine Betsy had an idea. ‘Would it help you if we flew to some of the Tennessee airfields you mentioned. perhaps allow a few minutes at each for you to assess their environments and possibly even make a few measurements?’

Flummoxed by the offer, Trace settled on a one-word response. ‘Sure.’

Here came Betsy. ‘I don’t have prior commitments Saturday. Why don’t join me for a ride to Tennessee in a Stearman. We’ll meet at the Courtland air training facility. Right now, write down the names of the airfields you wish to visit so I can put a flight plan together.’

Heading east on US 72 that Saturday, Trace’s Lark was the final entry in a parade of trucks pulling boat trailers toward Wheeler lake. Pulling into the parking lot, he noted Betsy’s parked Hudson, halting his Lark alongside it.

Recognizing space would be an issue in the biplane, he had brought only a knapsack containing an apple, a notepad and a small direct-reading air gadget.

By the time Trace parked, Betsy had already filed a flight plan and was currently completing her pre-flight check. After waving him over, she agilely demonstrated a leg-up approach to boarding the biplane’s front seat. Seating herself behind Trace, she explained.

‘Our flight plan today heads toward Camp Tyson, a continuation to the Tennessee McConnell airfield and then back her to Courtland.’

One of many interesting Stearman-associated features is that while taxiing, its front seat affords a skyward view while the rear-seated pilot relies on mostly lateral views ahead of liftoff. Betsy handed Trace some insert-type ear plugs before they taxied out into a stiff breeze from the southwest

During takeoff Betsy called on the Stearman’s radial engine for all of its two hundred horse power, placing them shortly comfortably above both power lines and trees. While Trace’s TVA year afforded travel opportunities, those experiences waned in comparison to the raw, gritty experience of flying in a 95 knot (100 mph) biplane, noting observers waving at them from the ground below, ones perhaps knowledgeable regarding the Spearman’s role in training combat pilots or others recognizing north Alabama’s WASP.

A north-by-northwest flight plan from Courtland skirted larger towns, instead they flew above both Collinwood and Waynesboro, Tennessee, ahead of a planned landing at the small Camp Tyson airport where Betsy flew the Stearman all the way onto the runway, choosing a taildragger wheel-type landing as opposed to a stall.

Taxiing to a stop near a steel hangar outbuilding, they waved to a male who straightened from a truck’s engine compartment. Returning the wave, the truck’s mechanic motioned them over. Perhaps anticipating gusts, Betsy secured the biplane before they joined Camp Tyson’s mechanic.

Past morning greetings, newly-introduced Ralph suggested coffee, directing them into a hangar where a glowing red light announced a fresh product. Handing a Styrofoam cup to Betsy, he passed an identical one to Trace before retrieving his personal mug from a hook.

Camp Tyson’s hangars hosted two Cessna’s and one other plane. Trace chose not to explore solvent issues with Ralph, preferring instead to listen to the exchange between the pilots.

Ralph explained he owned the third airplane, an Aero Commander. Trace found Betsy’s offer to purchase a spare seat obviously removed from the Aero Commander peculiar. Ralph declined the offer, explaining he planned to reinstall the seat before the Aero Commander’s next inspection.

Betsy thanked him for the coffee and the conversation before suggesting they were departing. Ralph concurred, predicting gusty cross winds later. Once in the air Betsy plotted a new course nearly due east, part of a seventy-five-mile aerial journey to Tennessee’s mostly abandoned McConnell field, one located near Nashville. While its support elements had been abandoned, the airfield featured an east-west landing trip, a worn wind sock suggesting a light west-to-east breeze, otherwise no one would likely welcome them there.

Shouting above engine noise, Betsy informed Trace her initial approach would not be to land but to estimate landing conditions, and that they would re-circle the field ahead of a landing. This one featuring a neat three-point stall inches above the runway’s surface. Taxiing toward the hangar and parking area, Betsy instructed Trace remain in his ‘belt’ until the propellor blades had halted.

Climbing down, they walked toward an obviously unoccupied hangar-office building. No hot coffee awaited, instead they repurposed an outdoor smoking area as a lunch site, splitting a Trowbridge-prepared chicken salad sandwich and an envelope of Golden Flake potato chips.

Trace sat on an ancient appearing, although surprisingly lightweight aluminum chair, while Betsy picked a cushioned armless chair, one likely extracted from a private aircraft requiring more space.

Betsy inquired whether Trace had enjoyed himself so far, further questions regarding any aviation ambitions he might possess, suggesting his knowledge of Pitot tubes and air velocities could enable that process. The Pitot reference possibly refocused attention on the day’s mission, Fink’s aviation maintenance concerns.

Betsy explored. ‘Did you notice the extracted Aero-Commander seat at Camp Tyson, the one I proposed buying? Here again, we’re seeing these surplus-ed aircraft seats, including the one presently accommodating me.’

Trace was obviously puzzled by her comments. ‘But what do surplus-ed aircraft seats have to do with solvent exposures?

Short of a tease, Betsy threw him a lifeline. ‘Where do you think the aluminum chair you are seated in originated?’

Shaking his head, Trace remained silent before Betsy made a suggestion. ‘Turn it upside down and examine its underside.’

Doing so, Trace read a series of letters and numbers aloud.

BUSHIPS – U.S. NAVY – DD-876

‘So that would make it a surplus-ed property item, one possibly removed from a naval vessel, likely a destroyer one possessing an 8-7-6 hull number.’

Trace reached out for a more conclusionary lifeline. ‘Ok, I believe I see where you’re going with the military surplus thing, but I still don’t see how the Navy figures in aircraft-related solvent

Betsy patted her surplus-ed aviation seat. ‘How about this one, where did it originate.’ She promptly answered her own question.

‘This seat and also Ralph’s Aero-Commander seat likely originated in passenger aircraft being modified for longer flights.’

Here came Betsy. ‘One of the main reasons private aircraft are being modified is to support longer south of the border flights, ones favored by drug traffickers, Cocaine Cowboys as they apparently like to be called.’

Trace still struggled. ‘So, you believe seat replacements have something to do the solvent exposures?’

‘Not directly, but solvent use is integral to fuel tank modifications. Whether at Camp Tyson or McConnell, fuel tank modifiers could be using the hexane Dr. Fink is interested in. These kinds of Cocaine Cowboy modifications are being performed in environments lacking air exhausters, personal protection or PPE, ones certainly lacking gloves or protective suits. While a few aircraft mechanics may be willing to break the law or even risk arrest, they remain sticklers regarding protocols. If hexane is listed as the cleaning solvent, then hexane it is, possibly connecting Camp Tyson with McConnell here, or even Soddy-Daisy for that matter.’

Trace tried to connect the dots. ‘But even if that were true, how could I test environments in the modified airplanes, they’re long gone?’

Apparently, Betsy believed a question deserved another one. ‘But where did the displaced tank go, likely to the same ‘home’ as the seat discards. One more feature, though, mechanics ‘prep’ the removed tank in the same way they do the larger installed tank, using the same solvent. Just like our new friend Ralph, they anticipate re-installing the smaller tank when they leave the drug trade.’

Betsy got to the punch line. ‘Trace, let’s fly the Yellow Peril back to Courtland, I believe you’ll find surplus-ed tanks you can test there.’

That was the first, but not the last time, Trace heard her refer to her biplane using that curious term.

Bone yard blues Chapter 22

Betsy landed the Spearman at Courtland field as daylight faded on a sparkling fall day. For Trace the flying excursion provided a fresh opportunity to review Tennessee Valley landscapes without Clearnet or Eagerly tagging along. And what about the great leads Betsy provided regarding Dr. Fink’s issues. For Betsy the day trip had also been a welcome respite, time away from the office certainly.

No dogs guarded the Courtland aviation scrap area, one secured by a chain link fence, mostly used to support an inventory of the Bone Yard’s T-6 aluminum scrap ahead of a periodic load taken to a Decatur metals recycler. While scraped aluminum receipts were modest, they funded the office coffee ‘mess’ and purchased holiday turkeys for some of the airfield’s less prosperous neighbors.

While unspoken, Betsy possessed her own ideas regarding a possible for role aviation fuel (also called Avgas) in Fink’s neuropathy cases Although locals occasionally ‘pinched’ Avgas from airfield pumps, she was not aware of illnesses, only infrequent arrests. Following Trace’s shared interest in the Fink cases, she had phoned a Northrup Grumman executive, inquiring whether they had experienced similar illnesses in their giant Atlanta-based facility, one employing more than a thousand workers. While < Air Savvy was happy to hear from her, her sister WASP denied hexane-based toxicity problems on a corporate level there in Atlanta.

After assisting with hangar-ing the Stearman, the Courtland airport manager asked if she needed anything else, the lead-in she needed. ‘Could you let my friend and me in the Bone Yard. He’d like to perform some testing on an auxiliary fuel tank I noticed there , we promise to return it tank when he’s done.’

Chuckling, the volunteer manager joked. ‘I didn’t know Steiner Concrete wanted in the metals recycling market. Tossing her the Bone Yard key, he sealed the deal. ‘Just throw the key on my desk when you leave, the office door locks itself.’

Amidst expired aviation grade rivets and fasteners, along with assorted avionics junk, Betsy tugged at an auxiliary fuel tank, trapped under a heavy brake assembly. Trace helped her free the tank which the two of them hoisted onto a metal shelf, finding nothing physically unusual about it.

Anticipating some measurements during the fly-in, Trace had brought a hand-held concentration-measuring device, one usually known by its spectroscopy-adapted identifier, HNU (pronounces as H-new, Planck’s constant). While not well suited for determining individual concentrations of chemicals, its manufacturers touted its use as a quick check of ‘total’ concentrations.

Past the HNU’s stabilization phase, Trace verified that the airfield wasn’t a unique source of heightened Avgas concentrations. Given their Spearman had been the only plane landing recently the device read essentially zero until Betsy cracked open the auxiliary tank. The HNU’s digital light panel cascaded through steadily increasing digits.

Trace shared. ‘The HNU doesn’t uniquely measure hexane but when I attach this pre-filter gadget, it does a better at producing a hexane-only reading, not the best Tri-Corder but what we’ve got for now.’

The pre-filter equipped HNU produced much lower readings but never returned to baseline. Tiring of knowing ‘more’ but not ‘enough,’ Trace turned the device off, returning it to his knapsack. Similar to their strategy with the heavy R-A-C drawers Trace and Betsy carefully lodged the fuel tank in the Lark’ rear set, again removing its bottom seat, using it as a soft wedge to squeeze the tank ahead of the seat back.

Before departing, Trace outlined steps to follow. ‘Prof Brown and I have some tricks up our sleeves via his GC-Mass Spec, ones that will allow us to estimate air concentrations of pure hexane, the solvent Dr. Fink wants to know more about.’

Continuing, he outlined Monday’s lab schedule. ‘We’ll park a fuel tank-originated sample behind other determinations during Monday’s ‘run ’ Thanks for a great day flying and even more for your insights. I’m sure Dr. Fink will be similarly appreciative.’

Betsy returned to aviation roots, instructing Trace to make sure he left the Lark’s back windows open, lest his driving be affected by ‘fumes’ as she termed them. ‘Once an aviator, always an aviator.’

It was late Monday afternoon by the time the Courtland-derived charcoal tube-derived tank specimens made their way to the GC-Mass Spec’s’ load position. The resulting chromatogram (answer sheet) achieved baseline separation separating hexane from other chemical components but the sample was too concentrated to yield a quantifiable estimate. Noting same, powerful GC – Mass Spec technology automatically performed an adjustment that placed a second diluted sample on scale.

While selection of an analytical method or even the choice of the Courtland fuel tank specimen could always be questioned, the result was clear, any unprotected person breathing in the vicinity of the tank could have been exposed to a neurotoxic hydrocarbon.

While hardly publication-ready, Trace and Betsy’s findings prompted Dr. Fink to prepare a series of public health advisories that were not only read by medical audiences but attracted media attention, too. Perhaps Fink’s selection of ‘Cocaine cowboys are killing their customers with more than dope’ broadened their impacts.

UAB-based Fink never used the term ‘medical research’ in the advisories, well aware of ethical breaches attending Tuskegee infectious disease protocols (1932-72).

In Chicago, seventy-one-year-old Louis Gdalman and Kathryn, caught a page three Tribune by-line, ‘UAB’s Fink Chases Cocaine Cowboy Air Mechanics.’ Louis posted amental note to obtain an article reprint, concluding as well that he owed Bob a call.’

Postscript: Kirk v. Tennessee Valley Authority

December 2001

Chapter 22

Birmingham Alabama’s Hugo Black Courthouse custodial staff possibly deserved as much credit for the building’s appearance as its designers. Past close each evening, its custodians removed trace soiling left by buildings occupants, trading smudges, finger prints and shoe scuffs for shiny surfaces. In early December, a prolonged discussion regarding Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Plant laborer duties had consumed nearly eight days for a three-judge federal panel, jurists possessing limited laborer or custodial backgrounds.

Low-speed orbital floor polisher operators maneuvered heavy machines with curling-quality precision, erasing vestiges of coffee spills and less frequent diaper outflows, efforts made in behalf of the building’s decorum. While the Hugo Black building custodians arrived after court had concluded, their cleaning efforts actually aligned with plantiff concerns.

Experts appearing on behalf of the Kirk family included a TVA industrial hygienist from Knoxville and a university professor named Jackson Brown from Florence, Alabama. TVA’s government counsel oddly chose two east coast-based two experts, a distractable New York-based behavioral safety expert and an expansive Temple University professor, someone repeatedly referring to a ’twelvepoint’ respiratory protection plan although he struggled to identify even eight or nine of that plan’s supporting features.

Barring a few relatively minor exceptions, experts on both sides agreed that by early 1979 a TVA hazard control manual required the agency to provide asbestos-exposed employees with respiratory and skin-relevant protective gear when they worked in applicable construction zones. The meaning of the term asbestos worker was also called into question, agency counsel attempted to limit its meaning to strict H-R classifications while plaintiff counsel sought a more inclusive definition.

The Knoxville-based industrial hygienist used H-R prepared documents to support the idea that workers designated as asbestos applicators/removers were afforded personal protection equipment but could not say for sure that those steps applied individuals cross-assigned from other crafts.

While multiple story boards and explanations were needed, the jurists eventually registered some understanding of TVA’s dual locker arrangement, the first accommodatng street clothes and the second, past the hot-water shower, loaded with respirators and hard hats, protective coveralls and gloves, plus other safety items

A TVA H-R official reluctantly admitted that a James N. Kirk had been added to removal crews’ rolls but could not produce asbestosspecific training applicable to Mr. Kirk. To TVA’s embarrassment, the legal discovery documented multiple pay periods when Mr. Kirk received a ‘1340.09’ incentive, a thinly veiled reference to hazardous duty pay.

While arcane features attending H-R or even safety issues dominated testimony and subsequent discussion, other features acquired a very human element, one in which the Kirk’s neighbors and some of Mrs. Kirk’s ‘Cut & Curl’ clients spoke. Jurists learned that the Kirk’s shared lives commenced from September 28, 1971 when twenty-three-year-old Barbara Eileen Ware married twentyfive-year-old James Nick Kirk. Three Julian avenue neighbors specifically recalled an early October 1971 weekend when ‘Barb’s Cut & Curl’ replaced the frame house’s enclosed garage space.

During days one and two plaintiff attorneys sought to establish that James N. Kirk had never been afforded access to separate cleandirty lockers nor post-work decontamination showers. Plaintiff attorneys also insisted that James N. (Nick) Kirk may have been confused with an unrelated John N. Kirk who had been properly provided with asbestos-specific protective gear Oddly, the two unrelated Kirk’s shared ‘last fours,’ in terms of their respective social security numbers during an era in which the agency had sought to minimize use of social security numbers for non-pay and benefit purposes.

The New York and Temple University experts appearing on the part of the defense team emphasized TVA’s general-to-specific safety policy pyramid, even though most of their examples applied to radiation exposures or general safety concerns such as trips-andfalls. Perhaps reaching too far, the defense team produced work records from Nick’s earlier employment at Alabama Wire, findings at least one jurist noted as irrelevant.

The trial’s second week was accompanied by a sense of fatigue applicable to the three jurists and counsel on both sides. If the fatigue accomplished anything, it might have explained both sides willingness to accept a ‘draw’ regarding the source of the asbestos exposures although that was not true regarding Kirk-related pathological findings. However, plaintiff experts’ account of a rigid tumor tethered to the right lung, compressing tissue and distorted the diaphragm, clearly favored their side of arguments.

Across the trial’s concluding days much of the testimony centered on clothing, how it was selected and characteristics of soiling and wear. A textiles expert posited how asbestos fibers become entrapped in both cotton-blend, or even more susceptible softer cotton garments before being released by activities like shaking or sorting. Discussion surrounding a technical feature termed ‘friability,’ went mostly nowhere given multiple experts inability to explain its meaning past a simplified ‘shake-off’ basis. Jurists gained a better appreciation of work clothes’ significance, often a blue-collar symbol of wearers’ work efforts on behalf of their families.

Jurists also reviewed bathroom access for Cut & Curl mostly female patrons. Miss Lulu and two others described a hamper-less bathroom/utility space in which two barracks bag-type duffels hung from two nail arrangements, one duffel labeled as BF, apparently a Brown’s Ferry designation while the second carried a FAM label, signifying family laundry.

Jurists further learned the while the FAM duffel’s contents were laundered throughout the week, Mrs. Kirk laundered the contents of the BF bag exclusively on Saturday evenings. Nicki Kirk, the elder daughter provided testimony that two laundered sets of work coveralls were sufficient for her father, although a third, worn set was held in reserve should he have, as she put it, a ‘bad week.’

Characteristic of a federal three judge tribunal, the arguments were long, consuming nearly eight days and generating nearly three thousand pages of documents and supporting materials.

Barring a wedding license announcement and Nick and Terri’s birthweight entries, the Julian street Kirk’s had never previously merited mention in local newspapers but that was about to change.

The Florence Times-Daily’s readers, perhaps expecting to learn of a father’s work-related illness, were quite surprised to learn the jurists’ findings were in behalf of (deceased) Barbara Eileen (Ware) Kirk as opposed to her husband, James Nick Kirk.

Nobody saw this coming.

No particular action was taken in this matter to prevent asbestos fibers from leaving the plant. A 1979 TVA Division of Nuclear Power Safety Manual clearly directed. ‘Each employee exposed to airborne concentrations of asbestos shall be provided with two separate lockers. One locker shall be used for street clothes and must not be contaminated with asbestos.’

The feature’s writer quoted directly from the jurists’ findings. A 1979 internal plant memorandum clearly indicated that TVA and Federal safety and health standards require that locker and shower facilities will be provided for insulators and their helpers.’

The most telling rationale for the decision appeared last. ‘There was no discretion in those requirements, ones required to prevent asbestos from leaving the plant on the clothing of workers. TVA violated those requirements, resulting in Mrs. Kirk’s illness and death.

Beyond the Kirk’s daughters and spouses, only one Florence-based person, a TVA retiree, drove to Birmingham each day for the trial, Nick’s friend Jimmy Myron.

Barbara Eileen (Ware) Kirk’s heirs were awarded three million dollars, perhaps a modest sum given her untimely death from a single fibrous mineral, one strangely named asbestos.