This story ran in the Brandywine Community News on Oct. 5, 2007.
Residents of Claymont are taking matters into their own hands to test for health hazards in the steel dust falling on their homes.
The Claymont Dust Study, a committee of eight citizens, decided at a Sept. 27 meeting to begin a project to test the dust themselves, instead of relying on a dust study by Claymont Steel.
Claymont Steel was ordered to do the study in 2005 after the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control identified the steel mill as the source of the dust, which falls as a thin powder on the neighborhoods around the mill in Claymont.
The company has hired an environmental consultant to install four monitors near the mill to measure the dust, but committee members don’t think the monitors will show how serious the problem is in their neighborhoods.
The monitors will be placed at the Lawn Croft Cemetery on Ridge Road in Linwood, Pa., at 3416 Philadelphia Pike, at 4 Colby Ave. and in Wooshaven Kruse Park on Darley Road.
“None of those are in range of what the true picture is,” said committee member Dee Whildin.
“That’s what we’re fighting for, a permanent monitor in our area.”
Whildin, who lives near the steel mill on Sherman Drive in Claymont, said she has been collecting samples of dust at her home since 2003 and wants a monitor in her neighborhood to measure it.
The committee, which was formed in August, plans to hire Global Community Monitoring, an environmental advocacy group based in San Francisco, Calif., to provide them with four portable dust monitors they can use at their homes.
The monitors, five-gallon buckets that pump air through a filter to collect the dust, are simple versions of reliable scientific equipment, according to Denny Larson, executive director of Global Community Monitoring.
Larson said the collected dust will be sent for testing at a laboratory to identify what is in the dust and if it is a health hazard. The major advantage of the buckets, he said, is portability.
“If you rely solely on a permanent monitoring system, you’re going to have to rely on the wind,” said Larson. “The goal of this project is to identify where the emissions are going.”
The buckets can collect one dust sample every day and can be moved to measure how far the dust is traveling. The entire project, which includes one year of lab testing, an eight-hour training course for the citizens and four buckets, will cost about $50,000.
The committee plans to ask Claymont Steel for the money and the company’s attorney, Tim Housel, said the company has agreed to make a contribution to the study.
Whilden said a major reason the citizens decided to do their own study is to find out if the dust is hazardous to their health.
James Werner, division director at the department, said the department has tested the dust and it is not a health hazard because the particles are too big to get stuck in the lungs.
“Just because it’s not a health problem doesn’t mean it’s not a problem,” said Werner, who has been director for three years. “We are very aware that there is a problem still in the community and we are working to get that problem solved.”
The department ordered Claymont Steel to begin their dust study immediately on Sept. 13 and the company has 60 days to set up the monitors that will cost $150,000.
Brad Klotz, an environmental engineer with the department, said that the company has paved roads around the mill, planted trees and reduced its inventory of steel waste to reduce dust.
The department will monitor Claymont Steel’s progress as they make more improvements, which Klotz said include more water spray systems and an inspection of the fumes coming out of the steel mill’s melt shop.
“Whether or not the dust will be 100 percent eliminated, I don’t know, but there should be a reduction,” said Klotz, 36, who has worked for the department for 10 years.
Claymont Steel Environmental Engineer Brian Houghton could not be reached for comment.
Klotz said the department has ordered Claymont Steel to submit a timeline for the improvements within 60 days, but the committee members are concerned that the project is taking too long to get started.
“We haven’t moved forward at all,” said committee member George Lossé. “I don’t want to lose the jobs. I don’t want to lose the steel mill if it means that, I just want them to clean up their act.”
Some members of the community are frustrated with the dust, which they have to scrub off their cars several times a week.
“It’s more than a nuisance to me. It’s a quality of life issue now,” said Brian Dennis, who has lived in Addicks Estates for 15 years and said dust falls on his home and cars whenever the wind blows.
Mike Mcginnis, who has lived in Claymont for 30 years, said the dust has never been as much of a problem as it is now.
“I’d rather see them shut the plant down than keep running it like this,” he said.
Gene Barlow, who lives on Sherman Drive about 1,000 yards from the steel mill, has started covering his cars with tarps to protect them from the dust, which he said falls every weekend.
“It looks terrible, like a snowstorm hit us. They just need to stop it,” said Barlow.
Whildin said the committee doesn’t know where they will put the four buckets, but they will be on roofs of homes near the mill. They still have to get funding for the project and training from Global Community Monitoring before they can start testing the dust.
