LINCOLN — Federal and local officials say soil in a public park next to an abandoned brass foundry is contaminated with lead.Sherryl Carbonaro, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said soil samples collected in May indicate lead contamination is evident in the First Avenue Park in Lincoln.
Carbonaro said EPA officials are still evaluating soil samples collected two months ago in the neighborhood surrounding the abandoned Lincoln Metals Corporation/Heartland Faucet site at 248 Foundry Lane, and have recently collected more soil samples in other areas of the community.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management collected soil samples more than three years ago at the abandoned foundry and from the immediate area surrounding the site, but did not inform residents about the high levels of lead contamination.
The community surrounding the foundry, and Lincoln city officials, only recently learned of the lead contamination and piles of hazardous waste left behind at the site.
“An EPA official told me a corner of the park, next to the plant, was contaminated with lead,” said Mayor Lew Watson. “That’s basically what I know. … Only in the park, a small area — that’s where the problem is.”
The First Avenue Park, also known as Kirksey Park, has a baseball field and a play area for small children and is a place where people go to cook out and have picnics, Watson said.
Environmental officials discovered the contaminated soil at the right side of the baseball outfield, and the lead contamination continues all the way to a ditch that borders the park.
“It’s not like a snake that can jump up and bite you,” Watson said. “It’s not like radioactive material. You have to ingest it.”
Lead dangers
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, published by the Department of Health and Human Services, states children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning than adults.
“Exposure to lead is more dangerous for young and unborn children,” the agency report on lead states.
But lead is dangerous to adults, as well.
“The effects of lead are the same whether it enters the body through breathing or swallowing,” according to the report. “Lead can affect almost every organ and system in your body. The main target for lead toxicity is the nervous system, both in adults and children.
“Long-term exposure of adults can result in decreased performance in some tests that measure functions of the nervous system,” the report states. “It may also cause weakness in fingers, wrists or ankles. Lead exposure also causes small increases in blood pressure, particularly in middle-aged and older people and can cause anemia.
“Exposure to high lead levels can severely damage the brain and kidneys in adults or children and ultimately cause death,” according to the report. “In pregnant women, high levels of exposure to lead may cause miscarriage. High-level exposure in men can damage the organs responsible for sperm production. … The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that lead and lead compounds are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens, and the EPA has determined that lead is a probable human carcinogen.”
But there is no conclusive proof that lead causes cancer in humans, the report concluded.
Suspect sand
An EPA official said foundry sand that is contaminated with lead was found in a ditch leading from the old foundry to Blue Eye Creek. The contaminated sand was found about a mile from the foundry site, along the ditch.
The ditch also borders First Avenue Park.
Watson said water from the ditch is known to overflow into the park and into the First Avenue North neighborhood during heavy rains. It follows the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, emptying into Blue Eye Creek near the historic downtown district of Lincoln.
“Norfolk has cleaned the ditch out many, many times over the years,” Watson said. “I don’t have a clue where they disposed the dirt. They probably never even thought about it (lead contamination).”
The ditch eventually reaches Blue Eye Creek, where residents say people swim, fish and have even been baptized.
“With that foundry in operation for so many years, it would be hard to imagine that lead wouldn’t have reached the creek,” Watson said.
“People used to get foundry sand for this or that,” he said.
People in the area didn’t have much money and would use the foundry sand to make driveways. They apparently did not know the sand was contaminated with high levels of lead.
“It wasn’t just low income folks,” Watson said. “A lot of folks would take their trucks down there and pick up sand and slag off the site.”
Former workers for the brass foundry said some people would pick up foundry sand and use it for fill dirt or in their gardens. The foundry sand made it easier to till the garden.
Foundry history
Watson said he can remember the foundry in operation when he was a child.
According to ADEM documents, the foundry was built in 1947, but the earliest records of operation found were from 1956 when the company changed its name from Lincoln Metals & Chemical Company Inc. to Lincoln Metals Company Inc.
Royal Brass Manufacturing Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, bought the foundry from Lincoln Metals Co. Inc. in 1972, and it became known as Lincoln Metals Corporation.
In February 2000, Heartland Faucet Company of Frankfort, Ind., received a loan from the First National Bank of Talladega to buy the foundry, but about a year later, the company declared bankruptcy, according ADEM documents.
Investigation continues
Carbonaro said EPA is still assessing the situation at the foundry site and surrounding area, determining what is there and the best way to proceed.
While the assessment continues, she said, EPA officials are working to determine who is responsible for the hazardous waste and who is responsible for cleanup costs.
Before actual cleanup can begin, the division director for the EPA’s Superfund Division must approve the cleanup action.
Carbonaro also said more soil samples were collected about two weeks ago from other parts of the residential area surrounding the old brass foundry. Once all the data is analyzed, the EPA will notify residents of its findings.
