USGS experts cite coal tar sealers' risks

Officials of the U.S. Geological Survey in Austin, Texas, told Suffolk lawmakers in Hauppauge Thursday a ban on coal tar sealers for driveways and parking lots could begin to significantly reduce contamination within five years and cut it in half in 15 years.

Barbara Mahler, a USGS research hydrologist, made the assessment during a nearly hourlong Web briefing on the hazardous effects the material has on ponds, bays and wildlife. She also noted dust from sealers can be tracked into houses.

A proposal sponsored by Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) that would bar sales of coal tar sealers, has been put before the county legislature and is in the middle of public hearings. The next hearing on the issue is scheduled for April 26 in Riverhead. Other municipalities including Austin, several counties in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., have imposed similar bans.

USGS officials, who will be testifying before Congress, say the sealers contain high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- chemicals formed when oil or coal is not burned completely -- some of which federal officials have deemed cancer-causing or toxic to aquatic life.

"It's very scary stuff," said Legis. Kate M. Browning (WF-Shirley) after the briefing. "It shouldn't be a problem, because there are safer alternatives that can be used."

Later, in an interview, Bill Walsh, sales manager for Velvetop Products, a Huntington Station-based company that makes refined coal tar sealers, criticized the federal officials for using "incorrect science" in making claims.

"They have jumped to a lot of conclusions with this stuff," he said, adding that industry research studies have shown the federal survey's research is wrong. He added that the Austin ban has shown no reductions in the levels after three years in effect. "Nothing has changed," he said.

Industry officials maintain that the coal tar sealer -- made from byproducts of coal heated to make coke -- protects pavements from damage from extreme temperature and lasts longer than alternatives such as asphalt that are petroleum-based and may grow more expensive as oil prices rise.