The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today releases two Public Health Assessments (PHAs) for the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation site in Columbus, MS.  One PHA addresses air exposure to contaminants from the Kerr-McGee site.  The other PHA addresses exposure to hazardous substances in soil, sediment and surface water on or near the facility.

The PHA of airborne contaminants concludes that the site poses no apparent public health hazard; although past air exposures did contribute to health risks to the population.  The second PHA of soil, sediment and surface waters on or near the facility concludes that the Kerr-McGee site is a past public health hazard and an indeterminate present public health hazard.

Now owned by Tronox, the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation wood treating site manufactured pressure treated railroad products from approximately 1928-2003.  The production process used creosote and creosote coal tar solutions. The facility also used pentachlorophenol (PCP) for wood-treating from the 1950s through the mid 1970s.  The production process possibly exposed people to airborne contaminants and released hazardous waste materials into the groundwater and off-site soils and sediments. Chemical exposure to PCP, dioxin and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was possible.

The air exposure PHA concludes that:

• Pentachlorophenol released into the air posed a low health risk from 1950-1975 from which no adverse health effects are expected.
• Naphthalene released into the air during the creosote treatment process posed the possibility of respiratory irritation.
• The small amounts of naphthalene released from the soil when it rains pose no health risk although the vapors are unpleasant.

ATSDR recommends that:

• Residents remove any treated wood in the home.
• Property owners remove or encase soils that have strong odors.

To process wastewater from the facility, Kerr-McGee used an unlined hazardous-waste surface impoundment.  As part of modifications designed to reduce environmental impact, the impoundment was closed in 1986 and in November, 2004, Kerr-McGee remediated soil and sediment in ditches near the facility.

The soil, sediment and groundwater PHA concludes that

• The Kerr-McGee site was a past public health hazard for children who frequently played in ditches near the facility and were exposed to PAHs.
• Children who played frequently in drainage ditches may have been exposed to dioxins.
• Based on available data, the level of contamination in residential surface soil poses no adverse health effects.
• The site is an indeterminate public health hazard because residual contamination has not been sufficiently defined in areas prone to flooding. 

ATSDR recommends

• The continued removal of sources contributing to off-site migration of contaminants and off-site buried contaminated sediment or materials.
• More evaluation of surface soils in residential yards for the presence of site-related contaminants.
• Additional off-site sampling to further define the nature and extent of contamination. 

Residents are encouraged to read the public health assessments and make comments during the 60 day public comment period.  A copy of both health assessments will be available beginning Tuesday, September 23rd at the following location:

Columbus Public Library
314 N. 7th Street
Columbus, MS 39701

ATSDR will accept comments on the public health assessment through November 24, 2008.  Comments on the health assessment must be made in writing.  All comments received during the public comment period will be logged into the ATSDR administrative record for the health assessment and will appear in the final health assessment.  Comments received (without the names of individuals who submitted them) and ATSDR's responses to these comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment.  Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release in answer to requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Mail comments to:

ATSDR
Records Center
Attn:  Kerr-McGee Site in Columbus, MS
1600 Clifton Road, NE MS F-09
Atlanta, GA 30333

To receive a copy of the public health assessment or for more information about ATSDR's public health activities in Columbus, MS, please contact Loretta Asbury, Health Communication Specialist at 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636) or 770-488-0718.

ATSDR will hold a media availability session before each meeting from 12:00 pm