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Silent danger at the rinks ~ StarTribune.com StarTrihune.corll The bill would put Minnesota ahead of the rest of the nation on regulating ice arena air quality. The only other states with laws that address the issue are Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but their standards have not been lowered to deal with the carbon monoxide threat. Florida is working on legislation after a carbon monoxide incident at a rink near Tampa Bay last year. The problem has also prompted action in hockey-crazed Canada, where the provinces began tightening emission standards in the late 1990s. In Manitoba, which updated its guidelines in 2009, the carbon monoxide limit is the same level that Minnesota legislators are proposing. In the past year, U.S. arenas dealt with at least a dozen medical emergencies related to air quality, said Jeff Theiler, chief operating officer of Serving the American Rinks, a national organization for rink workers. Whitecotton, who manages his son's team, said he visits five rinks a week during hockey season and never worried about the exhaust fumes puffing out of the heavily used ice grooming machines. Many parents figured the rinks had warning devices that would alert them to any carbon monoxide problems, just as they have at home. What's the right threshold? There's some disagreement over what the threshold should be for carbon monoxide. Under a 1977 law, carbon monoxide levels were supposed to fall below 30 parts per million and rink managers were required to check air quality once a week. The new law would lower that threshold to 12.5 parts per million and require constant monitoring over eight hours. By comparison, the Minnesota Health Department is recommending a threshold of 25 parts per million and would require one hour of monitoring. Dr. Leon Prockop, a neurology professor at the ~~ University of South Florida, said that any level of carbon monoxide in the ambient air of enclosed ice arenas above 10.0 ppm puts athletes at risk for neurological and/or cardiac damage," according to his written testimony to the House Health and Human Services Committee. Under the stricter level proposed by legislators, there would have been 750 violations at Minnesota rinks in the past three years, said Dale Dorschner, who oversees air quality compliance at rinks and other indoor facilities for the state Health Department. Ron Staples, the facility manager at Lee Community Center, said any rink with an old ice resurfacer would never be able to meet the proposed threshold of 12.5 parts per million. Carbon monoxide is no longer a major issue at about 20 of Minnesota's 194 indoor ice rinks because they now use electric equipment, said _ __...... v _. .~,..___.- - ~ - _~~.~_,.W. - -:.~.~ ..: _.....~r~.u-- ~~` _ = - ~. FR1~AY; J[lAfE 4 ON SAiLiE IItE]W rrcK~rr~as~r`~.canrr ~I~S~a~ ~~~E !ClySlt~O • ~dYE4 ._~ ~~::.ow,mann0.'d'~udbra,esn,Kpcewae..umn,so,aiccmmu+Jry mysticlatte.C~RI Print Powered By ~ i=c `!~`~a~Dynamic~ s'~ http://www. startribune. com/sports/preps/895 67652.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3 LGDi07aiU Page 2 of 3 04/06/2010