Cameron, Mo.-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating a second potential source of chromium and other contaminants that are the focus of lawsuits by area residents claiming health problems that were caused by fertilizer distributed from a tannery operation. EPA Region 7 spokesman Chris Whitley told Green Markets that, based on a anonymous tip, some 60 surface soil samples have been taken at a rail spur used a number of years ago to offload and stockpile shipments of lead and other metallic ores for transportation to the location of a former Rockwool Industries insulation plant. The samples were taken in Cameron, where a soccer complex is now located, and also from yards in an adjacent subdivision. The samples were sent to the EPA lab in Kansas City, where results are expected in five or six weeks. “The other theory relates to the fertilizer sludge distributed to four different counties from the tannery in St. Joseph, but there’s no direct connection between the tannery and Rockwool,” Whitley stated. He said sampling in connection with the tannery wastes is the responsibility of the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources (MDNR), which is currently reviewing the results of soil samples collected in late January from 15 farm fields and 10 associated residential yards in Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, and DeKalb counties. MDNR spokesman Judd Slivka said the sampling locations were selected based on each site’s history of sludge application from National Beef Leathers/Prime Tanning, with five sites each classified as high, medium, and low levels of sludge application. A total of 76 composite samples from the farm fields and 60 composite samples from residential yards were shipped to a contract lab for hexavalent chromium and other related analyses. Results have been received from the laboratory and are undergoing statistical analysis and quality assurance review.
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