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Ecology solicits comments on dioxin pollution

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More than two dozen people attended the state Department of Ecology's public meeting on sediment pollution in Oakland Bay last week in Shelton, questioning the agency's role in identifying current and future sources of contamination and clean-up efforts.

Representatives from Ecology and the state Department of Health (DOH) gave a 30-minute presentation on the results of a sediment investigation conducted in Oakland Bay over the last two years that showed industrial chemicals measuring low on the state's toxic management threshold, but high levels of carcinogenic dioxin chemicals found throughout the area.

Moreover, the study found high levels of wood-related chemicals in Shelton Harbor and other parts of Oakland Bay.

"Dioxins were higher than we would have expected in a rural area," said Joyce Mercuri, an environmental specialist in Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program. "It was of concern to Ecology."

In surface sediment samples, dioxins were found in a range of between 4.4 parts per trillion (ppt) and 54 ppt in Oakland Bay and as high as 175 ppt in Shelton Harbor; the typical level found in non-urban areas around Puget Sound is about 4 ppt.

At 12 locations tested below the surface at one to three feet, concentrations measured up to 902 ppt, which indicates a historical contamination source, Mercuri said.

The chemical makeup of the dioxins,. which are formed through industrial processes like wood and fuel burning, resembled that of the chemical Pen-tachlorophenol (PCP) and dioxins associated with the burning of pulp mill waste.

"We can't necessarily say what this is, but this can give you clues as to what it is associated with and what it is not associated with," Mercuri said.

Without further research, it would be impossible to identify a pollution source, she continued.

Despite the contamination, human health is not at a high risk of being adversely affected by eating shellfish or being around the sediments, said Len O'Garro, a health assessor with the Office of Environmental Health, Safety and Toxicology at DOH.

Dioxins can have negative effects on fetal development and the immune and reproductive systems, but shellfish do not accumulate dioxins well, O'Garro said.

According to a DOH study done on Oakland Bay shellfish in 2009, even if someone consumed extremely high quantities of shellfish (260 grams a day or 659 clams a month), they would not come close to exceeding either the federal government's or the World Health Organization's measurements of acceptable daily dioxin intake.

As for cancer risk, a person would have to eat 5,000 clams each month for 30 years or 2,500 clams a month for 70 years before falling on the high end of the Environmental Protection Agency's spectrum of acceptable cancer risk, which is 1 in 10,000.

Some in the audience questioned the lack of study on larger animals that consume the shellfish from Oakland Bay, and in turn accumulate dioxins in their own bodies, and others commented on how individual lifestyles must contribute to make the cancer risk higher.

One woman asked how people would be able to stop future contamination, and others urged Ecology to make a formal recommendation against biomass incineration plants like the proposed ADAGE facility.

DOH and Ecology representatives encouraged further public comment, but said that no future studies were planned at this point and that the next step would depend on public input.

"We don't really know exactly how it's going to play out," Mercuri said. "These things can take a long time."



Copyright 2010 Shelton-Mason County Journal, Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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