by Melody Gustafson
EAST LIVERPOOL – Prompted by last month's EPA announcement regarding dangerous levels of airborne metals in the East End near S.H. Bell, the environmental committee of city council held a public informational hearing Thursday evening at the Motor Lodge.
Air quality monitors placed in the area by the Ohio EPA’s Division of Air Pollution Control have detected unsafe particulate levels of manganese and chromium. While these substances are common metals found in soil and rocks, long term inhalation exposure has a cumulative effect that can cause health problems.
The S.H. Bell Company services the steel industry and other companies with alloys, metals and raw materials, including ferrochrome, a key ingredient in making steel. Rusty Davis represented the company at the meeting and insisted that SH-Bell is in compliance with permits and laws and “has ongoing, constantly evolving efforts to control emissions.”
Davis explained the measures that the company takes to control dust, including a “load-out shed” with a “dust collector” which is an outdoor enclosure with an air cleaning system. The EPA recommended the company pave the access roads to reduce the particulates released when trucks “buffalo” over them.
The manmade variation of chromium called chromium (VI) is known to cause cancer, but Davis pointed out that the company does not deal with it at all. Manganese is used for carbon steel and there isn’t any evidence that it causes cancer, although long-term exposure to high levels of it result in permanent neurological damage, according to literature provided by the Bureau of Environmental Health.
“We are not looking at an immediate health threat,” said Paul Koval, toxicologist of the OEPA. “We haven’t found anything alarming, but I haven’t received a completed report yet.”
The meters take a sample every six days since 2000, according to Koval, and although there has been no immediate spike in the numbers, there is not enough data to show when air quality is expected to return to “normal” levels.
The EPA is preparing and collecting data that will reveal the type of chromium and the levels of toxins at the different meter locations. The completed reports will reveal the source and nature of the pollution so S.H. Bell can institute the proper prevention and cleanup measures.
