April 21 , 2006

Washington County air quality is worst in nation

By BRANDON DONELSON-SIMS,
Guest Writer
simsb@marietta.edu

Washington County is not a healthy place to take a breath.
Carbon monoxide emissions: among the worst in the nation.
Nitrogen oxide emissions: among the worst in the nation.
Sulfur Dioxide emissions: among the worst in the nation.

In fact, Washington County ranks number one in the country for potential health risks from industrial air pollution, according to a 2005 Associated Press analysis of government records.
But less certain are what exactly those health risks are for the typical four-year Marietta College student.

One view is from Dr. Eric Fitch, professor of environmental science and a member of the Ohio Environmental Council board of directors. He says that students “will walk away from here with some direct impacts.”

“There is the potential for some lung scaring, and students will walk away from the Ohio River valley with a certain load of toxins,” Fitch said.

Dr. Francis Lee, a lung specialist at Marietta Memorial Hospital tends to concur with Fitch. “We’re living in one of the most polluted areas of the country and there’s definitely a harmful effect,” said Lee. “Industrial pollution has been linked to lung cancer, asthma, burning sensations in the nose, stinging in the eyes, and a shortness of breath.”

Tina Trombley, president of RECOVER, a local environmental group, added another possible pollution related concern for students: “The most prevalent problems in this area are sinus infections and the development of asthma.”

But Paul Koval, an Ohio EPA pollution risk analyst working in Columbus, spoke words of reassurance about the pollution problem. He says the long term effects are minimal or non-existent.

“We wouldn’t expect any lingering long-term effects for Marietta College students,” Koval said: “Four years compared to a lifetime is small. Compared to 30-70 years of exposure a college student’s risk is much smaller.”

But Fitch, Trombley, and Koval all agree that the medium and long term health effects from the region’s pollution are not fully known. They all say a detailed analysis is definitely necessary.
“We need to do a full-fledged study,” Trombley said, to positively prove the links between the local air pollution and respiratory problems. “We’re currently working with the Ohio EPA and other agencies to install a few more pollution monitors, which is good.”

According to Koval, who says that “right now our current information wouldn’t point to any extraordinary risks” of permanent harmful pollution effects, a study in Washington County is currently under way to determine what level of pollution would actually put county residents at great risk. “We are judging every possible effect (from pollution) just to make sure our current risk assessments are accurate.”

Other EPA studies under way in Washington County are examining possible pollution risks for asthma sufferers and children.

Fitch said that despite a lack of fully studied concrete causal links, a wide body of anecdotal evidence points to area pollutants as causing respiratory problems and lung damage. Lee concurs.

“I see a lot of asthma and lung cancer cases here,” Lee, who previously worked in Cleveland, said. “We see as many cases here as in the Cleveland Clinic, and that’s a major center.”
One example of an air polluting chemical is manganese.

Each year more than 4 million pounds of manganese, a toxic metal that can damage the brain and nervous system, is released into Washington County’s air. Several years ago biologist Dick Wittberg, head of the mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, compared children’s scores on a variety of physical and academic tests from Marietta and Athens. Marietta children scored lower on all the tests. Although the tests were designed to assess the impacts of local toxic emissions, Wittberg admitted to the Associated Press in an interview that “we didn’t do anything that in any respect proves that this is manganese that has done this, because there are other scenarios that are entirely possible.”

The Eramet Marietta metal refinery, the largest emitter of pollutants in Washington County, released 550,000 pounds of manganese in 2000. The environmental manager at the plant claimed in an interview that the company has “not seen manganese exposure-related neurological effects in our long term employees.”

The environmental manager added that no study or data has shown conclusively that “emissions from area industry have adversely impacted the health of residents.”

All current studies have revealed a complex combination of toxic materials being released into Washington County’s air each year: eight million pounds of hydrochloric acid, four million pounds of manganese, and one million pounds of sulfuric acid. Researchers have difficulty sorting out which toxins are possibly causing which respiratory ailments.

Carbon Monoxide emissions, for instance, are known to reduce over-all breathing capacity. Washington County industrial firms release more than 11 million pounds of respiratory toxins into the air each year. By contrast, most counties in Ohio release less than 2 million pounds per year. These toxins are thought to potentially contribute to breathing troubles, irritation of the respiratory system (nose, throat, trachea, etc.), increased and aggravated asthma, and lung cancer. Nitrogen oxide has even been linked to emphysema.

Bad surface level ozone days, which Marietta frequently suffers from, can cause skin damage around the eyes, deterioration of the mucus membrane, and destruction of lung tissue.

The situation becomes even more dangerous since Marietta’s industries tend to pump out smaller sized particulates of pollution. What this means, said Fitch, “is that those small particulates can make it through our bodies defenses.”

“What’s worse,” he added, “is that we are dealing with whatever is riding along with those particulates, such as lead, nitrous oxide, and other fossil fuel remains.”

These ride-alongs contribute to the possible negative health effects facing Marietta College students.

Referring to the wide mix of air-borne toxins in Marietta and the uncertain nature of the specific health risks the pollution creates, Fitch described Marietta as “one big mixing bowl, and one big experiment.”

Students, Fitch said, “for nine months out of the year, should be concerned about the quality of their local environment and should be active in its protection,” by joining local groups such as RECOVER, participating in rally’s, and writing their representatives about environmental protection laws.

Lee encouraged students “to rally for the (industrial) plants, like Eramet, to be responsible for the pollution problem.”
Inviting students to come to RECOVER meetings, Trombley said: “we want to help young people have a voice.”

“College students can write to the mayor and city council and encourage more action on pollution matters,” she added.
RECOVER meets every third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Washington County Community College.