EPA finds air pollution in Granite City poses high cancer risk

By Kim McGuire

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

06/25/2009

 Granite City residents are among the most likely in the nation to contract cancer as a result of breathing toxic air pollution, according to an assessment released Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The average cancer risk from air pollution nationally is 36 in 1 million, according to the National Air Toxics Assessment, an analysis of health risks posed by toxic air.

But residents of two Granite City areas have cancer risks of 1,100 in a million in one — the second-highest in the nation — and 537 in a million in the other, according to the EPA. Both areas are near U.S. Steel Corp.'s Granite City Works.

A neighborhood in Los Angeles County had the greatest cancer risk due to toxic air pollution — 1,200 in 1 million.

"I am not surprised we were on this list," said Kathy Andria, director of the American Bottom Conservancy, a Metro East-based environmental group. "I was surprised we were rated number two in the country."

In Illinois, 54 neighborhoods in Madison and St. Clair counties had risk rates higher than the national average. Two in Madison County — both in Granite City — were more than 10 times the national average.

It's unclear from the EPA's assessment which facilities in or near Madison County are responsible for the high risk rates. The county has two refineries, a steel mill and several other manufacturing facilities.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officials said they called their federal counterparts on Wednesday to inquire about which industrial source emissions influenced the risk assessments.

"What contributed to the modeled results, they believe, were an industrial source, the coke ovens at U.S. Steel," said Jim Ross, director of the IEPA's air pollution control bureau.

Ross said industrial sources account for about 25 percent of the air pollution factored into Madison County's risk assessment, while cars and trucks account for about 35 percent. What's known as background emissions make up about 45 percent, he said.

He also said the data from the EPA's assessment were from 2002 and that the coke ovens have been idle since earlier this year.

"It does make us raise an eyebrow," Ross said. "We do need to make an effort to understand what the data (are) telling us. What we do know is that our ongoing air programs are working now and will continue to work in the future."

SEARCH: Cancer rates by state, county, or risk rating.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Steel Corp. said the company was reviewing the assessment.

Madison County officials, however, blasted the EPA's assessment, which they say was based on incorrect assumptions and doesn't reflect the current state of air quality there.

"Since 2002, industrial plants in the county have spent millions of dollars and made substantial changes to reduce the pollutants released into the air," said Alan Dunstan, Madison County Board chairman.

Dunstan also said that "after speaking with EPA officials and quickly reviewing the data, the only area in Madison County that had higher concentrations of air pollutants was in a very small portion of the county."

He also defended U.S. Steel Corp., which purchased the Granite City plant in 2003.

"While there may have been some emission problems at the coke plant in 2002, any problems that existed were corrected by the current ownership," he said.

Darrell Stokes said he knows the air in his Granite City neighborhood isn't great. Sometimes elderly neighbors have trouble breathing, and the breeze seems to carry a dust or mist.

"When you wake up in the morning, you can see it on your car," said Stokes, 40. "You have to dust your windows off."

But he said there are benefits to having U.S. Steel Corp. for a neighbor. The plant provides jobs and tax money that supports the hospital and other city services. His neighborhood, practically in the shadow of the steel plant, is a safe place for his wife and four children, he said.

"It ain't the best, but it sure ain't the worst," said Stokes, who has lived in East St. Louis, where he said his family might face dangers more immediate than cancer. "You've got to take the good with the bad. Not everything is going to be peaches and cream."

The EPA's analysis predicts the concentrations of 124 different hazardous air pollutants by coupling estimates of emissions from a variety of sources with models that attempt to simulate how the pollution will disperse in the air. Only 80 of the chemicals evaluated are known to cause cancer, EPA officials said.

The information is used by federal, state and local agencies to identify areas in need of more monitoring and attention.

The EPA used census tracts, population-based areas of between 2,500 and 8,000 people, for geographic comparison.

"If we are in between 10 in 1 million and 100 in 1 million, we want to look more deeply at that. If the risk is greater than 100 in 1 million, we don't like that at all ... we want to investigate that risk and do something about it," said Kelly Rimer, an environmental scientist with the EPA, said Tuesday to The Associated Press.

In Missouri, 404 of 1,320 areas — or 30 percent — exceeded the national average for cancer risk rates to due to toxic air pollution. Of those areas, 280 were in St. Louis and St. Louis County.

More than 1,700 areas — 60 percent — in Illinois had risk rates higher than the national average, with more than 75 percent of those falling inside Cook County.

People living in parts of Coconino County, Ariz., and Lyon County, Nev., had the lowest risk. The counties with the least toxic air are Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont.

The Associated Press and Greg Jonsson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.