Pine River task force inducts 2 into hall of fame
Founding members Hall, Smith honored
The Pine River Citizen Task Force was formed in 1997 as a community advisory group to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its remediation efforts of the former Velsicol Chemical Co. plant site in St. Louis.
Recently, two founding members, former chairperson and current board member Jim Hall and longtime treasurer Gary Smith, were honored with induction into the group’s hall of fame.
Hall served as chairperson from 2014-20 and was instrumental in starting the hall of fame that now includes 15 members.
Among those are St. Louis city officials, scientists, college professors, public health agents, chemical plant workers and citizens who have dedicated years of service to help restore both the local environment and the city’s reputation.
“Coming up with the verbiage of the (hall of fame) plaque, I never really thought about being on it someday,” Hall said. “It was a shock and now I know how people felt that we honored in the past. Humbled at best.”
Hall, whose infant daughter was born with extreme health problems, eventually dying, was convinced his exposure as a child to PBB and DDT contributed to her abnormalities and death.
He has appeared in national news articles and videos as a spokesperson for the Michigan PBB Registry’s research.
Working with Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., Smith researched old chemical company files and helped track down former plant workers after the task force had convinced researchers that the chemical workers should once again be included in studies.
The Michigan Department of Public Health, now the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, had dropped the workers from studies because of the high levels of contamination in their blood and organs.
Both Hall and Smith were actively involved in the 2013 dead bird study, funded by the task force, that led to the EPA excavating soil from yards in a 12-block St. Louis residential neighborhood near the former plant site that were contaminated with PBB and DTT.
Each went door-to-door answering questions for residents, hearing their com
plaints and concerns, and following through by obtaining action from state lawmakers and EPA officials.
The names of Hall and Smith will now be listed among other hall of fame inductees on a plaque that’s on permanent display in St. Louis City Hall.
The other members that have been previously honored are: Joe Scholtz, Arnie Bransdorfer, Fred Brown, Gene Kenaga, Bill Shrum, Phil Ramsey, Lester Eyer, Jane Keon, Bob Mcconkie, Carol Layman, Bernie Bessert, Norm Keon and Ed Lorenz.