WA: New fears over smelter's poisonous fallout

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WA: New fears over smelter's poisonous fallout

14 years after Asarco closure, soil study raises health alert Wednesday, April 19, 2000

By GORDY HOLT mailto:gordyholt@seattle-pi.commailto:gordyholt@seattle-pi.com SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The poisonous legacy of Asarco's Pierce County smelter, closed 14 years ago, is no longer a matter for debate, a new study shows.

Up to 23 times more cancer-causing arsenic than is allowed under state cleanup laws, and up to five times more lead, have been found in soil samples taken from downwind communities on Vashon and Maury islands, and from areas of the mainland from Federal Way north to Burien, a study released yesterday by Public Health-Seattle & King County indicates.

Island residents should take precautions when working or playing out of doors, county officials said. King County Executive Ron Sims joined health department Director Dr. Alonzo Plough and County Councilman Greg Nickels in calling for more research on the health effects.

"We're not declaring a health emergency, but we want to warn people," Sims said.

State law clearly requires cleanup when more than 20 parts of arsenic are present in a million parts of soil in residential areas, he acknowledged. And he said the county will meet with state Department of Ecology and federal Environmental Protection Agency officials to determine the next step.

But county officials are moving quickly to test the lead levels in children up to 6 years old. Health department clinics will be set up on Vashon Island during the next few weeks.

Sims, Plough and Nickels promised additional soil testing in areas already sampled, as well as in areas as far north as Seattle's Central Area and east to Mercer Island. And they promised a health information campaign to calm fears.

"We are not aware of any human health effects on the islands right now," Plough said. "But we need to look further."

State Health Department epidemiologists studied Asarco workers and their families but found no link between exposure and illness. Workers at the Ruston plant, however, experienced different conditions from those who live in the path of the plume that dropped poisons across the landscape for 100 years.

The plant began operations as a lead smelter in 1890, was converted to copper in 1912 and also was the country's only commercial producer of arsenic. After the copper plant was closed in 1985 for economic reasons, arsenic production continued until 1986.

Islanders, including activist Sharon Nelson, who persuaded Sims that the county should conduct the latest tests, aren't happy with the latest report. But they saw it coming.

"It's certainly not good news for these islands," Nelson said.

But, she added last night at a meeting of a subcommittee of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council, "I don't think there's going to be mass panic."

The arsenic question, which had been studied a couple of times since 1986, roared back as a community issue about a year ago when Nelson led a group opposed to reopening and expanding a gravel pit owned by Lonestar Northwest on the eastern edge of Maury Island.

If King County grants a permit, the pit will be allowed to mine 7.5 million tons a year, up from a previous production level of 10,000 tons a year.

Lonestar, which has since been renamed Glacier Northwest, has petitioned King County to grant the necessary permits, and would sell the gravel to the Port of Seattle for its proposed third runway project at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

But Glacier General Manager Ron Summers has repeatedly said that if his company does not win the port contract, he'll market the gravel elsewhere and would expect to run the operation for at least 20 years.

Nelson's group countered Glacier's initial application with an investigation of its own and found unexpectedly high levels of arsenic in soil samples taken in and around the gravel pit.

The group sampled soil at about a dozen spots, and paid for the testing itself. Glacier also tested samples from the same spots with a different testing method, but found less arsenic.

A subsequent e-mail from Nelson to Sims triggered the health department's study, which produced the results announced yesterday, Sims said. But, he added, Glacier's latest expansion plan indicates to him that the company intends to follow "good construction-management practices" if it is granted a permit.

Nelson is not convinced.

"They intend to move 270,000 yards of arsenic-laced topsoil just to get to the gravel," she said. "Their plans show that they will store it onsite, in a berm 2,100 feet long, 250 feet wide and 30 feet high. The closest houses won't be more than 50 feet away."

The new soil study is only the latest chapter in the story of Asarco's Northwest legacy. (Read the county's report.) Fifteen years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency together with the University of Washington produced a study that tracked the Asarco smoke plume's direction as it was blown by prevailing southerly winds from the smelter over Vashon and Maury islands. Soil was tested at 34 places on the islands, and a range of 2 to 290 parts per million was found. No further action was taken.

Despite expressions of great community concern at a series of local meetings a dozen years ago, the 27-square-mile island region was negotiated out of Asarco's cleanup responsibility when the company and the EPA drew their final cleanup boundary.

A lawsuit by Tacoma residents finally brought the cleanup area to a two-mile radius of the plant. But that did not include Vashon and Maury islands, which are three to six miles away across Dalco Passage.

A soil sample taken by the county from a park in Burien produced a hit of 28 parts per million while Normandy Park samples brought readings of up to 260 parts per million.

The sample taken from the south end of Maury Island showed an arsenic level of 460 parts per million, while readings in an area near the Glacier Northwest pit ranged from 150 to 370 parts per million. On Vashon Island's Burton Peninsula, levels ranges from 88 to 150 parts per million.

Lead concentrations ranged from 7 parts per million to 1,300 parts per million. A routine level of lead in soil is 24 parts per million.

Mary Protzeller, a 20-year Burton Peninsula resident, said: "I don't have any little ones now, but I think I would ask my daughter to take my 4-year-old granddaughter in for a test. She sometimes stays with me for 10 days at a time. I'd rather be safe than sorry."

About arsenic, lead Risks: Long-term exposure to heavy doses can cause skin, bladder, kidney, liver and lung cancer. Children exposed to lead are at risk for learning difficulties, reduced growth and decreased mental abilities.

Reducing danger: Dr. Alonzo Plough, director of Public Health-Seattle & King County, offered these suggestions:

Wash locally grown produce -- fruits as well as vegetables -- with soap and water, and scrub with a brush.

Garden in topsoil brought in from elsewhere, if possible. Or get your soil tested by an approved testing organization.

Cover play areas with bark, wood chips or fresh sod. Wash pets frequently.

Use a dust mask when working in dusty construction or farming areas.

Testing children: Parents should have children up to 6 tested for blood lead levels. Plans are in the works to conduct blood tests on the weekends of April 29-30 and May 6-7, probably at the Vashon-Maury Island Community Center.

Other consultation: Public health experts will be available for consultation at the center, 19021 Vashon Highway S.W., Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m. through the next few weeks beginning today.

More on the study: The study and a list of the health department's recommendations are available on King County's Web site: www.metrokc.gov. For more information, call the county's hazardous waste hot line: 206-296-4692.

http://www.postintelligencer.com/local/vash19.shtml



-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), April 19, 2000


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