Tests still needed to verify pollution
Tontitown source is still unknown
TONTITOWN — Positively identifying the source of pollution found in the air in Tontitown will require more testing. That was a finding of the company conducting the latest round of tests, and that finding is true, said a cancer expert from Boston College.
Tontitown residents’ complaints of foul odors near the Eco-Vista landfill led the state Department of Energy and Environment to order air quality tests in the area. Air sampling was done in February by the environmental engineering firm CTEH of North Little Rock. Those tests found higher-than-recommended levels of acrolein and benzene in air samples drawn near the landfill — and at a sampling site farther away and upwind from Eco-Vista.
Exposure to benzene in large amounts or prolonged exposure to small amounts increases the risk of leukemia or lymphoma, Dr. Philip Landrigan said in a phone interview Tuesday. Landrigan is a professor of biology and a pediatrician who used to work for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
“Acrolein is foul smelling but doesn’t cause concern,” Landrigan said.
The background test upwind of the landfill showed a level of 0.12 parts per billion of benzene on Feb. 7, CTEH’s report shows. The lowest level at any of the other four testing sites that day was 0.13 parts per billion. The highest was 0.18 parts per billion.
CTEH’s Feb. 26 report recommends more tests.
“All reports say that, but in this case it’s true,” Landrigan said. He received a copy of the report by CTEH from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The newspaper was referred to Landrigan by SciLine, a service of the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science. SciLine connects journalists with questions on specific scientific topics to relevant scientists.
The CTEH report does not rule out the landfill as a possible benzene source, Landrigan said, but a likely alternative would be a leaking oil pipeline if there is no oil or gas drilling nearby. Oil and oil products are the usual source, he said.
“I’d be moderately concerned” if he were a Tontitown resident, Landrigan said. Children are at greater risk than adults from benzene exposure, Landrigan said.
“Not only is their body weight less, but they breathe four or five times as much air,” he said. “They’re young and growing, including their organs growing.” Unborn children are also more vulnerable than adults, he said.
WM Inc., which owns the landfill, issued a statement Wednesday on the prospect of more testing: The state’s “consultant detected benzene and acrolein at sampling points that were located both upwind and downwind of the Eco-Vista facility, which means these compounds were found in the upwind or background air that had not yet reached the Eco-Vista facility. A common source of benzene is gasoline used by passenger vehicles and the sampling points downwind of the Eco-Vista facility were located very close to roadways. Acrolein can enter the environment as a result of burning wood, gasoline, and oil or from livestock feed and pesticides — all of which are common activities or occurrences. Overall, the sampling results do not support a conclusion that the Eco-Vista facility is the source of these detected compounds. The Eco-Vista facility continues to be operated in a manner that is protective of the health and safety of our employees,
The state collects fees from landfills and other businesses to monitor air quality yet only complaints from residents about bad smells led to discovery of the benzene, said Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs. Her district includes the landfill.
customers and community.”
Tontitown residents want someone to do something and do it now, Mayor Angela Russell said.
“What is at stake here is the health and well-being of the Tontitown citizens,” Russell said in a statement Tuesday, after learning of Landrigan’s remarks. “Comprehensive testing for benzene needs to be done immediately. The state needs to expeditiously take the proper steps to rid Tontitown of any toxins. In the meantime, any consideration of the landfill expansion should be put on hold.”
A proposed expansion of the landfill is on appeal before a state administrative law judge.
The CTEH tests were the second round of testing after Tontitown residents complained of foul smells in December.
The first round was done by a unit of the Arkansas National Guard the same month at the request of the state’s Department of Energy and Environment.
Those tests found sulfur dioxide, prompting the department to order the second round of tests by CTEH.
The private company has more sensitive testing equipment, according to a statement from the department.
The CTEH results prompted the Energy and Environment Department to coordinate with the state Department of Health to decide on a future course of action.
The state Energy and Environment Department confirmed in a statement Tuesday that it and the Health Department are working “on testing protocols and planning, which includes analyzing potential funding and procurement options, for upcoming monitoring in the Tontitown area.”
No cost estimate is yet available.
Paul Nony, CTEH senior vice president and principal toxicologist, said in a statement Tuesday identifying the source of the acrolein and benzene would require more locations both upwind and downwind of the landfill and more testing to determine “background” levels of the chemicals.
The state collects fees from landfills and other businesses to monitor air quality yet only complaints from residents about bad smells led to discovery of the benzene, said Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs. Her district includes the landfill.
“Nobody knows anything and it’s very, very frustrating to me,” Lundstrum said.
Another frustration is the complexity of figuring out how to pay for more tests, she said. She and Rep. Steve Unger, R-Springdale, are examining various state accounts to see which can pay for testing under the rules and restrictions that apply to each account, she said.
Unger believes testing needs to go far beyond air sampling, he said Wednesday.
He is working with Lundstrum and state agencies on finding money for air sampling and tests but has also ordered the drafting of a bill to take more than $1 million from the Energy and Environment Department’s Hazardous Substance Remedial Action Trust Fund to pay the University of Arkansas’ geology department to test for pollutants in groundwater from the landfill, he said.
He will introduce the bill in the Legislature’s upcoming fiscal session, he said. The session begins April 10.
The remedial trust fund includes money from fines and fees imposed by the Division of Environmental Quality of the state’s Energy and Environment Department.