Another Coal Tar Sealer Extinction Factor: Fuel Resistant Alternatives

Sealcoaters around the country privately admit that the days of coal tar sealants are numbered. Long term users refer to it as a dinosaur facing extinction.  While there are plenty of environmental and economic reasons for ending this product's use, one of its previous performance distinctions, fuel resistance, is fading away as well.  Here's why. 

Air Quality and Coal Tar Pavement Sealers, the State of the Science

There is an abundance of research on the air quality impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's).   While much of the work has focused on industrial workers1, recent studies have included the effects of airborne PAH's on the unborn including obesity2, lower IQ 3, and behavioral problems 4.    Very few studies have been done specifically on coal tar pavement sealants and its effect on air quality.  It isn't surprising since the discovery of coal tar based sealcoat as a water quality or stream sediment problem pollutant has been in the last 10 years.  

The Million Marylander Measure: Suburban DC County Emerges with the State's First Coal Tar Sealant Ban

The Great Falls of the Potomac in Montgomery County, Maryland

Earlier today Montgomery County, Maryland (pop. 971,000) passed the State's first ban of coal tar pavement sealers.  Montgomery County is the 8th most affluent county in the US and the most educated.  It is the third largest ban to be passed in the US and the largest yet in 2012.  The bill's primary sponsor, Councilmember Craig Rice said of the issue, "This is bad stuff we don't need to use if we don't have to."  He added at an earlier meeting, "Why would we put our constituents in a position [of exposure] where we know there are carcinogens?"