Arsenic from a long-closed pesticide plant in south Minneapolis has
contaminated the yards of at least 200 homes, far more than previously
known, and the widespread pollution may land the neighborhood on the
federal Superfund list.

After testing the soil from 3,000 residential properties this spring,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that properties with
high concentrations of arsenic were triple the total of 65 earlier
this year.

That means the familiar scenes of machinery scraping soil from yards
and hauling it away will become all the more commonplace in East
Phillips and surrounding neighborhoods. In addition, about 500 more
homes whose yards carry lesser levels of arsenic may need to be
cleaned up in 2008 or later.

All of this is provoking concern among citizens, many of whom are
scrambling to learn more as letters arrive telling them their yards
are potentially hazardous to their health.

EPA project manager Tim Prendiville said experts will be available at
a public meeting on Tuesday to answer questions. He also said that, by
the end of September, the agency will propose adding the area of East
Phillips and portions of surrounding neighborhoods to the national
Superfund list to tap into funds reserved for large-scale
hazardous-waste cleanups.

No clear patterns

Prendiville said the latest results from 3,000 yards sampled in May
and June show no clear pattern of contamination: some yards with high
levels of arsenic are next to others with almost none at all.

The agency expanded the test area this year to homes within a
three-quarter-mile radius of the CMC Heartland Lite site at 28th
Street and Hiawatha Avenue S. The plant manufactured or stored
pesticides, some of which contained arsenic, from 1938 to 1968. Wind
blew contaminated dust into people's yards. The pollution wasn't
discovered until some nearby road work in 1995.

Most of those property owners in the latest round of tests have
received letters detailing the results, Prendiville said. About 130
learned that their yards need soil replacement because the arsenic
levels are 95 parts per million or higher. That is the level at which
children who play in the dirt and eat large amounts of it could become
seriously ill, according to health officials.

Chelsea Miller said she called her pediatrician as soon as she learned
that her front yard in the Corcoran neighborhood has high levels of
arsenic. Her 2-year-old daughter will be tested at her own expense,
she said, and she's wondering if her dog is at risk. "I feel confused
and distrustful," Miller said. She grew up in the neighborhood and
worries about her health as well.

The public health risks are low, according to Rita Messing, a
Minnesota Department of Health scientist. "Just because it's in your
yard doesn't mean it's in your body," she said, adding that much of
the affected area is covered by lawns or other landscaping.

As a precaution, Messing said, residents should wash their hands after
working outdoors, rinse off vegetables grown in their yards, avoid
tracking dirt into their houses and follow other practical measures.

"People can still use their yards and gardens, just with a little more
care," she said.

No health study by state

State officials have rejected citizens' requests to do a health study
in the area. Messing said such an effort would produce no meaningful
results, because arsenic can come from other sources, and because the
health consequences of long-term exposure to arsenic are so varied,
ranging from cancer to cardiovascular and nervous problems.

However, Jerry Beltt, whose yard in the Corcoran neighborhood has high
concentrations of arsenic, now wonders whether it played a role in the
chronic throat congestion that developed immediately after he did a
lot of digging to add plants and shrubs in 2001. He said he has almost
no grass in his back yard, and keeps the windows open all summer.

"Now I'm vacuuming more and mopping more and dusting more," Beltt said.

On Wednesday, Stephen Kopacz stood in front of the house on 29th
Avenue S. where he's lived since 1973. A small excavator and a
front-end loader were removing the top foot of his front yard, and a
worker was shoveling dirt away from the house's foundation.

Kopacz wondered whether arsenic was related to abnormal skin growths
around his eyes several years ago. He shook his head as the soil was
scooped into dump trucks to be taken to a landfill. "I'm not happy
about it, but I'm glad it's not costing me anything," he said.

Prendiville said the other 130 yards will be excavated during the next
few weeks and next spring. He estimated that it will cost another $3
million, bringing the total spent on testing, analysis and cleanup to
$6.7 million since EPA began the project in 2004.

Prendiville said EPA officials must analyze the latest results more
closely, and will decide within a couple of months whether the soil
testing needs to be expanded further into the Corcoran, Powderhorn,
Longfellow and Seward neighborhoods. The agency also plans to ask a
small number of homeowners for permission to take samples of indoor
dust to test for arsenic, he said, to check how it correlates to
arsenic levels in their yards.

Arsenic occurs naturally

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can come from many
sources, including some crabgrass killers that were used until
recently. State health officials said five to 20 parts per million of
arsenic can be expected as background, or normal levels in soil.

About 500 yards tested so far in south Minneapolis have arsenic levels
above that number but below the 95 parts per million that the EPA has
set for the highest-priority cleanups.

Tom Meersman, Star Tribune

Last update: September 21, 2006 – 9:55 PM