School Lab Legacy ChemicalsA chronology

Dave WaddellLocal Haz Waste Mgmt in King County WA

dave.waddell@metrokc.gov

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