Archive for the ‘North Dakota’ Category

More than two months ago, at the end of April, state and federal health officials discovered that an asbestos-like mineral that is present on around one hundred miles of road in Dunn County, North Dakota, can be inhaled when airborne. Environmental Protection Agency officials still aren’t sure whether the dust poses a risk to locals, but some residents of the area claim that the attention the erionite is getting is simply a storm in a teacup.

The erionite mineral is a residue of volcanic ash. Health officials have been aware since 2006 that the mineral, which may potentially cause cancer, can be found in locally-mined gravel that has been used on public roads and in parking lots.

A map published by the State Health Department indicates that erionite deposits can be found in the Killdeer Mountains, the White and Chalky buttes in Slope County, the “little Badlands” southwest of South Heart in Stark County, and in other locations in southwestern North Dakota.

The Environmental Protection Agency collected and tested samples of the erionite-containing gravel from Dunn County, and found that it has a “complete exposure pathway,” meaning that particles are of a size that allows them to collect in lung tissue.

Dunn County and the State Health Department subsequently recommended that use of the erionite gravel be discontinued.

The EPA has also been trying to determine what the effects of long-term exposure to the Dunn County erionite might be, but an EPA On-Scene Coordinator, Joyce Ackerman, pointed out that it’s difficult to determine what the true long-term effects might be because it’s difficult to estimate how much erionite locals have been exposed to.

Inhalation of erionite has been linked to lung diseases, including some mesothelioma-like cancers in Turkey, however the substance is not regulated by the EPA.

Some of Killdeer’s local residents are nervous about the possible risks of breathing in erionite dust. Rick Rice, a rural mail carrier who frequently drives over the erionite gravel roads, is worried about breathing in the dust and would be happy to undergo EPA tests to help the agency determine whether there are risks present. Rice is 62 and has been delivering mail on the dusty gravel roads for around 35 years.

Rick Rice is just one of around fifty locals the EPA wants to carry out some simple tests on to determine if exposure to erionite has caused any health changes. The protocol for the tests is currently under development, and the EPA hopes to be ready to start testing this summer.

Some residents, however, aren’t worried at all. Terrald Bang is sixty years old and has been living at the end of a white gravel road for decades. He says he’s lived near the “good old mountain gravel” all his life and he has no lung problems.

Art and Viola Lundberg, who live nearby, say the same. Lungberg, at eighty years old, says the EPA’s concerns over the gravel is “a bunch of baloney…I’ve been in this dust all my life…I’m not worried about it.”

EPA On-Scene Coordinator Steve Way says it’s too soon to tell whether or not the gravel is a health risk, “We’re trying not to make a big deal out of it, because we don’t know if it is a problem.”

Killdeer, North Dakota – Over the last two weeks, residents of Killdeer in Dunn County, North Dakota have learned that around one hundred miles of road in the county, as well as other locations such as flower beds, ball fields and parking lots, was laid with gravel containing an asbestos-like substance called erionite.

Erionite is located in several natural gravel deposits in the area, including the Killdeer Mountains, the White and Chalky buttes in Slope County, the “little Badlands” Stark County, and in other locations in the southwestern part of the state. Officials in Stark and Slope Counties have been asked not to use the gravel.

Since the discovery that the gravel was contaminated with erionite, the Environmental Protection Agency has been in the area conducting tests on the gravel, and meeting with locals to determine how to solve the problem. Now they plan to start testing local residents to find out if exposure to erionite has caused any health problems.

According to Steve Way, an EPA On-Scene Coordinator, some studies have shown that erionite causes cancer in lab rats. In Turkey, inhalation of erionite has been linked to lung diseases, including some mesothelioma-like cancers. However, the substance is not regulated by the EPA.

The EPA has tested samples of the erionite-containing gravel found in Dunn County, and determined the size of the particles were small enough to become airborne and be inhaled, and large enough to collect in the lungs.

The EPA has also been trying to determine what the effects of long-term exposure to the Dunn County erionite might be. EPA On-Scene Coordinator, Joyce Ackerman, believes it may be difficult to establish the long-term effects due to the difficulty of determining how much erionite locals have been exposed to.

Last week, EPA and North Dakota Department of Health officials met with locals to disseminate information on erionite and the tests that have been carried out in the area.

The EPA now hopes to start testing local volunteers to determine if long-term exposure to the erionite-containing gravel has caused any effects on health. Steve Way says the EPA plans to complete testing within around eighteen months.

Despite the EPA’s concerns and plans to determine whether the local erionite is harmful, some locals believe that the concern over the mineral is just making a mountain out of a molehill, and are more concerned over tax increases that might result if the county has to find the money to lay fresh gravel on roads and other local spots.