OEPA targets manganese in air

Readings showed the highest level of a potentially
dangerous metal in the
United States.

BY D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

EAST LIVERPOOL — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has started an enforcement action to lower air emissions that can harm people.

The OEPA has monitored air quality in East Liverpool from 2000 to 2007 at two S.H. Bell Co. facilities.

Tests from three monitors show the highest level of manganese in the United States, according to Mike Settles, an OPEA spokesperson.

High exposure to manganese, a natural metal, can cause mental and emotional disturbances, slow and clumsy body movements, and damage to the liver, kidneys and brain, according to the OEPA.

S.H. Bell breaks up ore and other materials at the two facilities, Settles said.

The OEPA has given the company two weeks to respond.

If there is no response, the OEPA will tell the company what to do, Settles added.

The company could not be reached Tuesday after business hours.

Tests at one of the monitors showed readings average 34 times the U.S. EPA’s recommended safe levels for inhalation exposure.

Another monitor showed chromium concentrations at twice the acceptable health risk for carcinogens.

Settles said OPEA Director Chris Korleski said of the test results, “It’s a serious concern.”

East Liverpool residents have complained about emissions for years from the company’s two locations.

The State Line site is at 101 state Route 68, Midland, Pa., along the northern bank of the Ohio River. The site covers about 92 acres, half of which is in Ohio. The site uses 28 covered storage and processing buildings and stores bulk and packaged materials.

The company’s Web site says that its Little England site is located off of St. George Street in East Liverpool, also on the northern bank of the Ohio River. The site covers approximately 8.5 acres with three covered storage and processing buildings. The site also provides outside concrete storage pads for storing bulk and packaged materials.

Korleski is also asking for help from state and federal officials in assessing the health effects.

It’s the county’s second health issue in recent weeks. Last month, two congressmen asked that the final assessment of staff members at the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton exposed to toxic levels of cadmium and lead be completed quickly.

U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, of Niles, D-17th, and Charles Wilson, of St. Clairsville, D-6th, have written to the U.S. Justice Department asking the final assessment be completed “without delay.”

A recently released report by the justice department’s Office of Inspector General said a multiagency investigation determined that employees at the prison in Elkrun Township were exposed to levels of cadmium and lead 450 times than are allowable by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

wilkinson@vindy.com