Advocates for Oakwood Village, a majority-Black Cleveland suburb, want more information about whether lead may be contaminating their community after the blast.
Hall argues that a major concern is whether the lack of initial action — such as an evacuation order or lead exposure warnings — may have already brought lead exposure to children, who are the most vulnerable to its damaging, lifelong effects. Hall said many local residents probably are unaware that there might be a lead risk from the explosion; lead is odorless and is visually indistinguishable from other dust and particulates on surfaces.
“It’s a lifetime impact,” Hall said. “The lack of action could have potentially changed some young people’s lives for the rest of their lives. Lead goes from your blood to your bones as a teen, and then to your organs as a senior. And it can still do damage as grown folks.”The Ohio EPA said air-quality monitoring the day after the blast and in the following days did not show lead levels that would risk public health.
Lead, which occurs naturally in soil at very low levels, is considered hazardous under EPA thresholds when it surpasses 400 parts per million in children’s play areas and at 1,200 ppm in non-play areas. Most of the samples fell below the play-area threshold, though two sites near the plant showed elevated lead in levels, including one at 3,144 ppm, more than 2½ times the higher threshold.
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator of the federal EPA, agreed with CLASH’s assessment of testing the soil for lead, including school and playground areas — and found the community’s frustrations unsurprising.“It is very common to struggle to get the attention of a local EPA. I often tell groups to have their state legislator or city council get involved,” said Enck, whose EPA work was focused in the eastern United States and Puerto Rico.
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