Drop in dioxin levels near Columbus incinerator

[slester@essential.org]

This article appeared in the Sept. 19, 1995, edition of the "Columbus 
Dispatch," Columbus, OH. It confirms what the local activists have 
suspected all along:  the incinerator was producing levels of dioxin that 
have significantly dropped since the facility was closed.  The article 
follows. 


DIOXIN DIPS SINCE PLANT'S CLOSING - Levels Drop 46 percent
By Scott Powers, "The Columbus Dispatch," September 19, 1995.
 
	Dioxin levels in the air have dropped in most South Side areas around the 
former trash-burning power plant since the incinerator was closed last 
December, a study has found. 
	Ambient air samples taken in May and June by the Ohio Environmental 
Protection Agency found significant drops in dioxin levels in the air at 
three places near the plant, slight drops at two other places and an 
increase in a sixth place, compared with similar tests done in April and 
May of 1994. 
	The new study's results say three things: People living on  
the South Side now have less health risk from dioxin than before the 
plant closed; The trash plant was responsible for much of the dioxin 
found in the air, an assumption many officials were reluctant to accept before; There remains other significant sources of dioxin in the area. 
	Dioxin is a toxic mixture of chemicals that can be 
created through incomplete burning of materials containing chlorine. It 
is considered a probable cancer-causing agent at very low levels, and 
also has been associated with other health problems. 
	Ohio EPA officials cautioned that the 1994 and 1995 measurements do not compare easily 
because the wind generally was blowing in different directions. That helps explain why one place almost due north of the plant, in Berliner 
Park, actually saw an increase in dioxin this year, said Paul Koval, 
supervisor of the EPA's air toxics unit. 
	Still, when all six test locations are added together, the total dioxin 
level dropped 46 percent since 1994. 
	"This reinforces the common-sense answer - that the trash plant was a 
source a dioxin," Koval said. 
	Previously, that answer was not taken for granted by some city officials, 
even though measurements taken inside the trash plant's smokestacks in 
1992 and 1994 had found very high dioxin levels in the exhaust gases. 
	Until now, officials only had computer models to suggest that the dioxin 
coming up the smokestacks was great enough to actually pollute the 
neighborhood air. 
	"It does appear that the solid waste facility does have a measurable 
impact," said Michael J. Pompili, assistant Columbus health commissioner 
for environmental health.  "We have been committed to doing the objective 
science, and this is a part of this process."
	Grove City resident Teresa Mils, a leader of a citizens group that has 
long been critical of the plant, said the findings should be a warning to 
anyone thinking about reopening it. 
	Columbus has been considering selling the plant. 
	"You have possibly on of the largest known sources of dioxin in the 
country; you close it, and you would expect a decrease," she said. "And 
in fact you have it."
	The biggest drop was recorded in the air samples taken at the Scioto 
Trail Elementary School, which is about a mile east of the plant, at 2951 
S. High St. 
	In 1994, the dioxin levels recorded there were the area's highest - more 
than five times higher than background levels found in rural air. The 
1995 tests saw an 85 percent decrease in the dioxin levels outside the 
school. Now the school's dioxin levels are just slightly higher than 
background levels. 
	Those areas more to the east of the plant saw the greatest drops in 
dioxin levels - due to the fact that the 1994 tests had wind blowing to 
the east while the 1995 tests had wind blowing to the north. 
	At its worst, the 1994 dioxin levels represented about two or three 
additional cancer deaths among every million people exposed, the Ohio EPA 
estimated. The 1995 levels represent about one more cancer death per 
million. 
	"We would like to stress that the (dioxin) levels at the school, while 
higher than the others, were not deemed to be a big risk," in 1994, Koval 
said. "And, if anything, the risk has gone down that proportional 
amount."    
 

Michael Drescher
Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste
e-mail:  cchw@essential.org