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EPA unveils Sandpoint pole yard threat Posted: Thursday, Nov 10, 2005 - 08:42:00 am PST By R.J. COHN Staff writer
Priest River resident prompts release of 9-year-old document SANDPOINT -- Cancer-causing waste from old pole yards in north Sandpoint has the potential to affect most of the city's population, a 9-year-old report recently released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report says.The 400-page report states 5,000 people may have had chronic exposure to pentachlorphenol from a 44-acre site where three pole yards once operated. Pentachlorphenol, also referred to as penta, is a known human carcinogen. The report was obtained from EPA after three months of prodding by Priest River resident Betty Gardener, who prompted the agency to investigate hazardous waste violation at Poles Inc. in Oldtown.
"Hopefully, the city will take steps to remedy the situation by putting pressure on government agencies that enforce cleanup of hazardous waste sites to promptly begin the long process of site remediation and cleanup," Gardener said. Cleanup has been under way for three years. Sandpoint officials are pursuing two EPA remediation grants totaling $400,000 that could return the contaminated, underutilized land back onto the tax rolls through a potential buyer. Mayor Ray Miller said he hopes to hear from the agency regarding the city's grant status within the next few months. The EPA report alleges that a cesspool may have existed for almost half a century at the former L.D. McFarland Co. pole yard site between North Division Street and North Boyer Avenue. The contamination at the property that once housed three pole yards adjacent to each other all used penta from the 1950s until the 1990s when they closed. It also says penta -- along with large quantities of creosote and other chemicals -- was both accidentally and intentionally spilled in excess of 5,000 gallons in at least three reported spills on the property since 1984. High levels of the chemical as well as dioxin, another carcinogen, were found on private property in the Chestnut Street neighborhood 1,500 feet north of the sites, suggesting it may have been used as an illegal dumpsite. Additionally, routine dumping into culverts near Little Sand Creek and Chuck's Slough -- along with undocumented buried containers of penta -- also occurred at the site, the report says. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has been overseeing cleanup of the site. "We've been working on a state remediation program for the last three years, and two of three contaminated areas at the McFarland site are clear," said DEQ's Geoff Harvey. A plume of penta found in the third area is now being carried by groundwater flow. "We're managing the plume as a potential threat to Sand Creek if it should get there," Harvey said. "We're holding McFarland responsible to clean it up and stabilize it, and we think they're doing a good job." Penta can be absorbed through the skin in toxic amounts. It can cause high blood pressure, muscular weakness, convulsions and death from cardiac arrest. The study suggests it has spread to off-site residences. "We found some incidental contamination on private property adjacent to McFarland's, and it's been dealt with," Harvey said. Although the study says a potential for increased cancer risk from exposure at sites where samples were taken may occur, it concludes there is not enough data to fully distinguish on- and off-site risks to human health. Gardener is no stranger in going up against hazardous waste violators. Her involvement with Poles Inc. spurred an investigation that revealed federal violations at the Oldtown pole yard, where penta had reached water 80 feet underground. Two other violations at Poles concerning illegal waste spills and insufficient containment of a hazardous substance mandated a massive cleanup process by state and federal agencies. According to report, penta does not break down quickly and has the potential to remain in the ground for years. When it does break down, the study says there is potential that the components it decomposes into pose greater threats than the original compound. It concludes that hazardous waste was and is running into nearby streams and entering the water table by penetrating into the ground. "A creosote plume was also found at the Joslyn Pole Yard," Harvey said. "The grand strategy is to get both the creosote and penta plumes dealt with and put in some other form that won't move to harm the environment. We're trying to keep it away from Sand Creek and other people's properties." Traceable levels of hazardous waste were also found in the Pend Oreille River and in the city sewer system, which EPA says McFarland routinely dumped waste into. "The report says that McFarland attempted to do some cleanup, but does not offer any documented evidence," Gardener said. "It mentions that B.F. Carney Industries (adjacent to McFarland) did its own cleanup, but refused to allow EPA to check up on it." Gardener said that's not good enough. "Independent hazardous waste assessment companies must be called in to do a documented empirical study of the waste sites and give a current assessment," she said. If the city is successful in obtaining EPA's $400,000 Brownfield Assessment Grant, it would be used for inventory and ranking of prospective brownfield sites, assessment of eligible sites, public outreach and cleanup planning. "Anyone who has lived here for any length of time is aware that the problem has existed for years in the pole yard sites," Miller said. "That's why the property has been sitting idle for so long." DEQ has a consent judgment with Joslyn Pole for cleanup and remediation. "Once these sites are properly cleaned up and cleared, they'll be very, very valuable real estate and are already attracting several interested buyers," Harvey said. POST YOUR OPINION
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Bonner County Daily Bee
P.O. Box 159 / Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 / 208-263-9534
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