nothin Yale Wins Turf War | New Haven Independent

Yale Wins Turf War

David Sepulveda Photo

Fading memory: Yale faces Army on the grass.

Environmental concerns were not enough to stop Yale University’s plans to replace its natural grass football field with new synthetic turf.

Over the objections of the chair of the city Environmental Advisory Council and an official petition of intervention by the president of Environment and Human Health Inc., City Plan commissioners gave unanimous approval to a plan Wednesday night to convert the Yale Bowl field to turf during their regular monthly meeting at City Hall.

They made that decision after about an hour of questions with Yale officials and sorting out what to do about a petition of intervention, given that the person who submitted it, Nancy Alderman, had to leave before she could be heard by the commissioners. She’d stayed for about three of the four-hour meeting.

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Yale’s Jeromy Powers presents plans to replace the university football field.

Alderman, a Yale University alumna and president of North Haven-based Environment and Human Health Inc., and others had apparently been in dialogue with university officials opposing the synthetic field. Correspondence with Yale Athletic Director Victoria Chun that Alderman provided to the Independent indicated that she and a group of professors had been advocating against the field replacement since at least October, trying to convince her of dangers to student-athletes that might not have been taken into account. Her organization published an analysis that challenges industry claims to the safety of synthetic turf.

She said that Yale was asked not to install any new artificial turf fields and to make a long-term commitment to not replace the others synthetic turf fields that Yale has already installed with the same product when they wear out. This request is about protecting Yale students from carcinogens and injury. While the Yale Bowl is iconic, our goal is not symbolic, as we believe students should be protected wherever they play or practice.”

Alderman said she had hoped that her petition might cause the commissioners to hold a public hearing that might delay the commission’s vote and possibly persuade them to reject the plan on the grounds that it would be bad for the environment and an affront to the historic Yale Bowl.

Yale attorney Joseph Hammer argued Wednesday night that Alderman had not actually asked for a public hearing in her petition. The use of the Yale Bowl won’t change under the plan, Hammer argued, so Alderman’s concerns for the historic importance of the field went beyond the scope of the commission’s authority. He also argued that environmental factors beyond soil erosion and potential health factors also exceed the scope of the commission’s authority. And he pointed out that the commission had approved site plans for the other turf fields that Yale has installed over the years.

Dan Kroeber, a civil engineer with Milone & MacBroom, noted as he had done at a meeting with Westville/West Hills neighbors that synthetic turf has evolved. It is designed to last for about a decade before needing to be replaced, he said, noting that the shock absorbing mat” beneath the turf is designed to last even longer. He reiterated that the field would not require watering and that it would not be used on very hot days per university policy.

The field also would be groomed” once a month and then annually to redistribute the sand and rubber infill.

And in keeping with city regulations, the stormwater management system would be expanded to hold more water on site before releasing into the city system. Milone & MacBroom specializes in the design of synthetic turf fields.

Laura Cahn, who heads up the city’s Environmental Advisory Council and submitted a letter of opposition to the commission, urged commissioners not to allow Yale to remove the field and replace it with turf.

It’s not a natural substance,” she said. It’s plastic. It smells, it heats up, it off-gases. This stuff isn’t good for anything.”

Commissioners ultimately approved the site plan with conditions that the city’s engineering department review aspects of the stormwater plan for the site.

Yale Deserves Better”

Activist Nancy Alderman submitted the following opinion piece to the Independent after the meeting:

The New Haven Planning Commission last night sadly approved Yale’s proposal to put a synthetic turf field, infilled with ground-up rubber, into the Yale Bowl.

There were many reasons for the Commissioners to turn the application down — but that is not what happened.

First of all, the Yale Bowl is not only on the Register of Historic Places — it is even a step above that, it is also a Designated National Landmark.

As such, allowing the Yale Bowl’s surface to be covered with plastic is hardly in keeping with those important designations.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, Yale’s proposal included putting down acres of plastic infilled with a rubber product called EPDM.

EPDM stands for ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber. This product is a synthetic rubber, and just like the waste tires that make crumb rubber infill, EPDM contains harmful chemicals as well as containing carbon black.

Both EPDM rubber, as well as waste tire crumb rubber, contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that pose a health threat to the students who play on it.

The Material Safety Data Sheet for EPDM says the product is a Possible Cancer Hazard” — and can be an irritant to lungs, eyes and skin. As well, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) evaluation is that Carbon black, which is contained in EPDM, is possibly carcinogenic to humans, and that short-term exposure to high concentration of carbon black dust is a respiratory irritant .

EPDM rubber has never been proven safe for children and students to play on. This product was not designed to be put where students play. EPDM is used for roofing. hoses, cable joints, car hoses and vehicle sealants.

Yale has installed two other synthetic turf fields, and those fields are infilled with waste tire crumb rubber. Today we know a lot about the health hazards of crumb rubber. A study, actually done at Yale University, shows that crumb rubber contains 96 chemicals, some of which have been tested and some have not. Of those chemicals in the crumb rubber that have been tested, 11 are carcinogens and 20 are irritants — many of the 20 irritants are respiratory irritants. With asthma rates as high as they are, this is also poses a health problem.

Yale cannot be oblivious to the dangers that they are exposing their students to. There has been much written about these hazards, and even the Federal government has been charged with exploring the dangers.

And then thirdly, Yale’s own Sustainability Plan commits Yale to a Healthy Planet, Healthy People” It goes on to say, From campus buildings and grounds to transportation, food, and energy, our activities to enhance the environment also offer opportunities to improve the health and well-being of individuals on campus, in the community, and throughout the world. By looking for co-benefits in our sustainability actions —”strategies that provide both environmental and social or health benefits” — we can ensure we are being responsible citizens of our campus and our broader community.”

How does installing acres of plastic around the campus, infilled with toxic rubber products that are carcinogenic, comply with Yale’s own Sustainability Plan?

If Yale is not attentive to the health and well being of their athletes, who will be? Who in the end will take responsibility for these irresponsible decisions? Some of Yale’s own physicians have asked Yale to stop putting their students on these fields, as they worry about the long term health hazards these fields could pose.

Yale should not install anymore plastic fields with toxic infills. There is no safer surface for students to play on than natural grass. Our country’s professional football players say the same thing, as now over 50 per cent of professional football fields have removed their synthetic turf fields and installed natural grass.

The Yale Bowl and Yale students deserve better than plastic grass and toxic infills.

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