SOURCE: EPA Jeremy DeLuca / THE POST

Most Ohio University students do not expect to wake up and find a fresh coating of black dust covering their cars.

But for students living near Facilities Management, formerly the Physical Plant, near Wren Stadium, this is not unusual.

"I woke up one morning last summer, and when I went to drive my car, I noticed black stuff on the windshield," junior Tim Ziegenfuss said.

This "black stuff" is coming from the coal stacks at Facilities Management and is creating a "mini acid rain," said John Burns, OU director of Legal Affairs.

"If the heat in the coal stacks is not right, and if it spews out and blows on automobiles, it can act like an acid and damage the paint," he said.

According to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet, acid rain forms when pollutants from burning coal combine with other substances in the atmosphere to form acids. This can lead to damage to waterways and buildings. It also can cause health problems such as asthma and bronchitis, according to another EPA fact sheet.

The emissions damaged Ziegenfuss' sports utility vehicle after the black coating left little spots of silver resembling pen dots all over the car, he said.

"Some of them were pretty big," Ziegenfuss said. "I didn't know what it was."

It cost Ziegenfuss $2,000 to repaint his car, but he said he only received $300 from his insurance company.

Burns said the university does step in to help resolve such incidents, and damage assessment done to cars is worked out on an individual basis.

In an effort to reduce acid rain, Facilities Management is working with Sarbent Technologies, a Cleveland-based company, said Sherwood G. Wilson, director of Facilities Management.

The two jointly applied for an Ohio Coal Development Office grant and were issued $6.5 million for a new project.

They are working on technology that uses scrubbers to filter the gas before it gets to the atmosphere, which will help to eliminate acid rain. Wilson said the project should be completed in a year and far will exceed EPA standards.

But for now, acid rain is still a concern to some.

OU senior Laura Edgerton, who lives near the coal stacks and has had problems with the emissions covering her car, said she is concerned with the health risks.

"It is just like a layer of black filth," she said. "It has kind of added up, and it doesn't come off in the rain."

But Dan Canter, environmental specialist at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Southeast District, said the plant is in compliance with EPA standards.

Facilities Management was issued air permits for all three of the coal units used and must meet an emissions limit set by the EPA.

Canter said the plant limits emissions by using control devices like an electrostatic precipitator. The precipitator is statically charged to catch particulates and sulfur.

The coal is burned in broilers that create steam, Wilson said. The steam is used to heat the campus, domestic tap water and to generate electricity. Seventy thousand pounds of steam are released per hour.

Wilson said all of the units have filters, are regulated by the EPA and are inspected routinely.

"There is an elaborate series of different filters they go through before exiting the chimney," he said. "If not, there would be columns of black, sooty smoke."

Wilson said he was not aware of any recent complaints.

If the plant is operating in compliance, emissions should not be falling on the cars, Canter said. If that is happening, it indicates some sort of malfunction.

"It might be an increase in emissions or something else happening in the boilers causing them to malfunction," he said. "Generally, there shouldn't be any problems with cars."

But Burns said about two to three dozen cars have been repainted in the last 10 years because of damage from emissions. The cost of painting the cars varies, but it usually costs about $1,000.

Facilities Management houses many different divisions, such as construction and maintenance, and most of the problems with paint damage seem to occur in the employee parking lot, Burns said.

Zone maintenance worker Steve Davis said because the wind blows the emissions, there is nowhere for employees to park to avoid the dust.

"We can park here or in The Plains and walk it," he said.