RE: [CPEO-MEF] Asbestos info came late, some at Lowry say

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

The following was posted by Janice Panichello
<janice.d.panichello@state.or.us>
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You might be interested in the public health consultation we've
completed on the North Ridge Estates Subdivision in Klamath County,
Oregon, at the former Marine Recuperational Barracks.  Over 80 buildings
were constructed in the 1940's; the base closed a few years later and
was transferred to a college for educational use.  In the 1960's it was
then sold to private
owners who demolished the buildings and disposed of the asbestos
on-site.  The property was then developed into a residential subdivision
in the 1990's. Over 49 tons of fragments of asbestos-containing
materials (ACM) were removed from the site surface of about 50 acres of
the subdivision in 2002, with fragments still remaining (and surfacing)
throughout the subdivision.
Five disposal sites have also been identified, with more suspected.
Asbestos-wrapped pipe is also below the property surface from the former
steam plant at the military base.  There are over 20 homes with over 60
residents, many of them young children.  Before residents knew the
fragments were ACM, children played with their dump trucks in the
disposal hills, used
the ACM to write on rocks, and rode dirt bikes through the high desert
dusty areas that make up a large portion of the multi-acre lots.  Some
residents reportedly rent raking equipment each Spring to gather the ACM
that has surfaced over the winter from the freeze-thaw cycle.  Others
report making many trips to the dump or disposing materials with their
weekly
garbage pickup.

The Public Health Consultation (PHC) was written by the Superfund Health
Investigation & Education (SHINE) program, Oregon Public Health
Services. We have determined the site to be a Public Health Hazard.  The
SHINE program is a cooperative agreement program with the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) who worked with us on the
report.  Follow-up sampling of soil and air is being planned, and
additional PHCs will be completed as additional information is
available.

We have also completed a Public Health Consultation on the former Burns
Air Force Radar Station site and have determined it to also be a Public
Health Hazard (due to asbestos and physical hazards).  The radar station
closed by 1970 and was transferred to the local school district for
educational use. In the 1980's it was then sold to private owners.  With
the exception
of use of a portion of the site for telecommunications equipment, the
20-some buildings on the property are abandoned.  They have been heavily
vandalized, however, and are a popular hangout for kids in the area.

Our website is available at http://www.healthoregon.org/superfund. Any
questions can be directed to me - Janice Panichello, Program
Coordinator,
(503) 731-4025, or to Amanda Guay, Public Health Educator, at the same
number.  My email address is janice.d.panichello@state.or.us.

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