Officials to test soil at homes for asbestos

HAMILTON - Federal environmental officials are finalizing plans to test the soil at as many as 15 homes and other sites to determine the extent of asbestos contamination from the former W.R. Grace Zonolite plant.
The testing, which officials said should begin sometime in the first half of 2006, will be performed on properties within a half-mile of the now-vacant site of the one-time insulation factory on Industrial Drive.
The properties were chosen using several factors including the results of air modeling performed by state officials, according to a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency.
A draft of the air-modeling report obtained by The Times indicates asbestos from the plant's stacks was likely deposited in portions of the Whitehead Manor section of the township, as well as the Hutchinson Mills neighborhood. A final report has not been issued.
Federal and state officials declined to comment on that report.
EPA spokesman Jim Haklar said the agency would concentrate on spots that have not changed since the plant closed in 1994.
"What we are looking for are historically undisturbed areas," Haklar said. "We are probably looking at about 15 residential sites and also public sites."
For more than 40 years, the Industrial Drive plant processed vermiculite ore for use in fireproofing, insulation and garden products. The ore was shipped to Hamilton and dozens of other locations throughout the country from a mine in Libby, Mont.
In the late 1990s, that mine was found to be contaminated with tremolite, a deadly form of asbestos that can cause several health issues, including asbestosis and mesothelioma, a fatal cancer.
In 2002, EPA officials tested soil on the property surrounding the factory and found asbestos concentrations as high as 40 percent on some slide samples analyzed by the agency.
More than 9,000 tons of contaminated soil were removed from the factory grounds in 2003, but an additional 6,000 tons remain. That cleanup is scheduled for sometime in the spring.
In April, a five-alarm blaze destroyed the plant, forcing its new occupants, Accurate Document Destruction Inc., to move its operations. Hamilton officials originally labeled the blaze "suspicious," but state and county fire investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire.
Through a spokesman, W.R. Grace officials have denied that the plant posed a health risk to the community. They also dispute the EPA's description of contamination levels.
In a 1995 report issued by the company after the plant's closing, W.R. Grace contended that no further testing on the site was required because only minimal asbestos remained on the property.
The state Department of Environmental Protection accepted the company's report and declared the site clean, issuing a "no further action" order.
Earlier this year, the agency rescinded that order.
In April, the state Department of Health and Senior Services conducted air-modeling tests in an attempt to determine where dust spewed from the factory may have been carried.
The two neighborhoods identified in the report are the closest residential areas to the former plant.
Whitehead Manor is situated between Whitehead Road and the Assunpink Creek. Hutchinson Mills is the neighborhood to the east of the Industrial Drive factory, bordered by East State Street and East State Street Extension.
"Residents living near Whitehead Road and 4th Street intersection and Hutchinson Mills area were identified as potentially been (sic) exposed to elevated levels of asbestos . . . released from the facility," the report said.
The report goes on to say that the levels of asbestos in the air dropped significantly when the plant closed and again once the first stage of the cleanup was completed.
According to a senior scientist with the EPA who did not see the report but was told of the findings by a reporter, the asbestos concentrations determined by the models were extremely high in both neighborhoods during the years the plant was open.
According to the models, exposure levels were above limits set by the EPA - levels the scientist called "very high" for residential exposure.
But the EPA scientist stressed that modeling is not an exact science and the exposure levels must be taken in context with other data, including studies of cancer incidence in the area and soil testing.
A study released last spring by state health officials showed cancer incidence in the area was not higher than expected.
Preliminary soil testing conducted by the township last spring showed elevated asbestos levels in only one of five areas tested.
Officials for the state Health Department said since the air-modeling report is a draft, they could not answer questions about the information or what actions will be taken as a result.
A spokeswoman for the agency said she did not know the timetable for the report's completion.
State health officials have already determined that employees of the factory and their families were exposed to asbestos during the years the plant was in operation.
The plant employed dozens of workers during its 40 years in operation.
In a report issued earlier this year, officials identified several possible ways that employees and residents could have been exposed to the asbestos including through emissions from the plant.
Residents of Whitehead Manor told The Times last spring they had played near the factory as children and even brought some of the contaminated material home for use on their lawns.
Many said they were worried now about the possible health effects from the plant and all said they wished they had known the dangers of the material they were playing in.
They are not the only ones kept in the dark who want answers.
In February, W.R. Grace and seven executives were indicted by a federal grand jury in Montana for conspiring to conceal the dangers of the Libby vermiculite. That trial is expected to begin next year, but Grace has requested a change of venue, claiming that it will be unable to get a fair trial because of the intense media coverage the contamination of the Libby mine has received.
Locally, officials have also demanded an accounting of the company's actions in Hamilton.
After a series of articles in The Times detailed the contamination at the plant and the effects on the dozens of workers employed there during the plant's heyday, state legislators held a daylong hearing to determine whether mistakes were made by local and state officials.
In June, the state Attorney General's Office filed a $1.6 billion civil suit against the chemical giant, claiming the company had filed false information with state regulators.
Also in June, former employees of the Hamilton plant told The Times they had been contacted by investigators from the FBI and the EPA, who asked them questions about the workings of the factory. Both EPA and Justice Department officials have declined to acknowledge any criminal investigation of W.R. Grace or its employees actions' at the Hamilton plant.
But U.S. Rep Chris Smith, R-Hamilton, said this week that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation he requested in April was slowed after EPA and Justice Department representatives asked the agency, which acts as the watchdog over government actions, to hold off on its investigation so as not to jeopardize the federal inquiry.
"The GAO is getting some push back from the Department of Justice that this might hinder their ability to prosecute," Smith said yesterday from his Hamilton office.
Smith said he had requested a meeting with Justice officials to determine exactly what issues they feel may be a problem. The GAO will continue its inquiry, he said.
"I find it ludicrous," he said. "What part of a comprehensive GAO study, which starts first with Hamilton and will likely include other areas, would in any way hinder (a federal investigation) - or is this some kind of message like, `Don't mess with their turf.' "
Smith said the GAO would likely finish the design phase, which determines the scope of the investigation, by Jan. 18.