LINCOLN — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing soil samples collected around an abandoned brass foundry in Lincoln, where high levels of lead contaminants have been discovered. “The facility is hot,” said Leonardo Ceron, who works with the EPA Emergency Response and Removal Branch and who is also the federal on-scene coordinator for the old Lincoln Metals Corporation/Heartland Faucet site at 248 Foundry Lane.
Officials said high levels of lead were detected inside the fenced boundary of the property and inside the foundry building itself.
Ceron said high levels of lead were also found in a drainage ditch that runs along railroad tracks, northwest of the foundry.
“My concern is for the citizens,” Ceron said Friday.
According to the EPA, lead is a toxic metal that was used for many years in products found in and around homes. Even at low levels, lead may cause a range of health effects, including behavioral problems and learning disabilities. Children 6 years old and younger are most at risk because this is when their brain is developing.
For adults, lead poisoning can result in kidney problems and high blood pressure.
Large area sampled
Ceron said soil samples were collected from around the site last month, including from the front and back yards of residences near the abandoned foundry.
He said soil samples were also collected from a park and baseball field adjacent to the foundry and a drainage ditch that runs along the railroad tracks north of the site.
“We should have certified data by the end of June,” Ceron said.
Some of the area lies in a flood zone, including the baseball field in the park next to the foundry, officials said.
The problem won’t go away by itself — lead does not dissolve in water.
“It’s going to be there until we pull it out,” Ceron said.
Initial field tests indicate there are not high levels of lead inside the park or in the residential area next to the foundry. But high levels of lead were found in the drainage ditch more than half a mile from the foundry.
The drainage ditch eventually leads to Blue Eye Creek, which feeds into Logan Martin Lake, but Ceron does not believe high levels of lead reached Blue Eye Creek, about one mile from the foundry.
Long manufacturing history
According to an environmental assessment conducted on the former Heartland Faucet site by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the foundry was built in 1947, but the earliest records of operation found by ADEM were from 1956 when the company changed its name from Lincoln Metals & Chemical Company Inc. to Lincoln Metals Co. Inc.
“Royal Brass Manufacturing Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, bought Lincoln Metals Co. Inc. and became Lincoln Metals Corporation,” the assessment report prepared by Linda Olding states. “In February of 2000, Heartland Faucet Company of Frankfort, Ind., received a loan from the First National Bank of Talladega and purchased the property from Royal Brass. … Sometime during March 2001, Heartland Faucet declared bankruptcy, and in November Silvercrown Investments purchased the company out of bankruptcy.”
According to the Talladega County Revenue Commission office, taxes on the property have not been paid in the past seven years.
Because the foundry has not been in operation for several years, owners of the property and those responsible for the ground contamination are more difficult to locate.
“We have a corporation that has taken some responsibility,” Ceron said Friday.
He said the EPA will attempt to have the owners pay for the lead contamination cleanup.
If the owners refuse to pay or are unable to pay for the cleanup, EPA Superfunds could fund the cleanup.
If forced, EPA could file suit in federal court seeking an order for the owners or those responsible for the contamination to repay the government for the cleanup.
Ceron said the process of cleaning up the lead contamination will begin soon. The cleanup process should begin before the end of September and will take about two to three months to complete — “if we don’t encounter any problems,” he said.
The lead-contaminated soil could be treated with a chemical to render it non-hazardous. The treated dirt may then be transported to a Subtitle D landfill for disposal.
“That’s one option,” Ceron said.
