City expands pollution study after EPA cites Southeast Side company

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency investigators on Monday cited a Southeast Side industrial storage facility for emitting high levels of manganese, prompting city officials to expand studies on residents’ exposure to the toxic dust.

The EPA pressured S. H. Bell Company to install air monitors at its facility at 10218 S. Avenue O at the start of March, tracking concentrations of the natural element used in steel production.

Through the end of June, the monitors detected an average of 0.32 micrograms of manganese per cubic meter, federal authorities announced on Monday. The minimal risk level is 0.3 micrograms.

Chronic inhalation of elevated manganese levels can lead to neurological damage, with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The city announced Monday that it has hired a consultant to test the air and soil near homes in the Far South Side neighborhood, a longtime industrial dumping ground.

S. H. Bell spokeswoman Alyssa Pistininzi said the company welcomes the city’s study.

“We agree that we need a more comprehensive look at all companies in the area handling manganese, 27 that we know of, to fully evaluate the air quality in our community,” Pistininzi said in an email, noting warm summer weather generates more dust and could have affected the manganese readings. Mitchell Armentrout