The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week urged rapid action to minimize potential arsenic exposure at a public park in Deer Lodge. State officials said technical issues have delayed plans to place temporary soil covers over exposed areas.
Scott Sudweeks, an EPA toxicologist, told a public meeting Wednesday night that arsenic concentrations in soil at Arrowstone Park in Deer Lodge are not high enough to cause short-term health effects. But he added that the longer patches of contaminated soil are left exposed, the greater the potential for long-term effects.
“The concern we have about arsenic is repeated exposure, again and again, over many years,” Sudweeks said.
The park was built on top of contaminated mine waste in the 1990s by contractors for Atlantic Richfield. Arsenic and heavy metals have since risen above the soil cover, creating barren patches called slickens. Sudweeks said he believes the park is safe to recreate in, but that children should be watched closely to make sure they don’t eat any of the soil. He added exposure risk should be mitigated quickly.
“I also want to encourage and stress that it’s important that we get those bare areas addressed as quickly as possible,” Sudweeks said.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has posted signs warning of arsenic risk at the park entrance. But DEQ officials said technical issues had delayed an agreement with contractors to place a temporary soil cover over exposed slickens.
Officials said temporary covers would be in place by the end of the year and that construction on a permanent remedy would begin next fall.