January 13, 2015

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL, US MAIL AND ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION

Docket Coordinator, Headquarters

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CERCLA Docket Office
(Mail Code 5305T)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Proposed Rule to add 35th Avenue site to the National Priority List
Docket No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-2014-0623

Re:

Dear Sir or Madam:

GASP1 respectfully submits the following comment on the Environmental Protection
Agencys (EPA) proposal to add the 35th Avenue superfund site in Birmingham (the 35th Avenue
site), Alabama to the National Priority List (NPL). We appreciate the opportunity to make these
public comments. We encourage the EPA to add the 35th Avenue site to the NPL.
I.

Purpose
GASP supports the proposed rule of the EPA to put the 35th Avenue site on the NPL.
The EPAs proposed rule is critical because industry contamination at the 35th Avenue site and in
surrounding communities has an adverse effect on public health. In the Hazardous Ranking
System Documentation Record (the HRS Documentation Record), the EPA concluded that the
soil, air and water at the 35th Avenue site have been contaminated by surrounding industries.
Although the HRS Documentation Record scored only soil exposure pathways, the EPA is also
concerned with air migration pathways2, As a health advocacy organization that is actively
involved with the 35th Avenue site and surrounding communities, GASP contends that further
1GASP is a non-profit health advocacy organization fighting for healthy air in Alabama. We
strive to reduce air pollution through education and advocacy because Alabamians
deserve clean, healthy air. http://www.gaspgroup.org

investigation needs to be done because of public health risks due to air contamination.
Accordingly, GASP vigorously encourages the EPA to implement further, more extensive air
monitoring as part of the remedial action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) should the 35th Avenue Site be added to the NPL.
II.

Background
A. The 35th Avenue site should be placed on the NPL
The NPL is a list of national priorities among the known or threatened releases of
hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States."3 The NPL is
intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation to
assess the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks associated with a release of
hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants.4
Because the Hazardous Ranking System (HRS) allows the EPA to evaluate the relative
potential of uncontrolled hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants to pose a threat to
human health or the environment5 the findings in the HRS Documentation Record should lead
EPA to perform further air monitoring at the 35th Avenue Site and surrounding neighborhoods.
Although the HRS Documentation Record did not score air migration pathways, [t]hese
pathways are a concern to EPA and may be considered during future evaluations.6 GASP
contends that the 35th Avenue site should be added to the NPL because there is sufficient
evidence to show that further investigation is necessary to determine the effects of the industrial
contamination on public health. Because air migration pathways are a concern to the EPA,
further air monitoring should occur if the EPA adds the 35th Avenue site to the NPL.
B. Summary of the 35th Avenue site and historical record of polluting industries
The 35th Avenue site is a mixed industrial and residential area of Birmingham, Alabama.
Since 1886 the area has been home to 20 foundries and kilns; seven coal, coke or byproducts
facilities[]By 1981, 20[%] of the land area was devoted to large industrial plants.7 Five
facilities are identified as possible or likely contributors to the lead, arsenic and/or
2See EPA. HRS Documentation Record,
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf (last visited Jan. 13, 2015).

3 National Priorities List, Proposed Rule No. 61, 79 Fed. Reg. 183, 56540 (proposed Sept. 22,
2014) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 300).

4 Id. at 56540 (emphasis added).

5 Id. at 56540 (emphasis added).
6 EPA. HRS Documentation Record, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf
(last visited Jan. 13, 2015).

benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) contamination found in the area of observed contamination: Walter Coke,
ABC Coke, U.S. Pipe, KMAC and Alabama Gas Corporation (Alagasco).8
Coke is the residue from the destructive distillation of coal. The 35th Avenue site and the
surrounding area include two coke oven plants: Walter Coke and ABC Coke. The coal used in
the coke plants in the site area was generally obtained from mines in the Birmingham area until
the late 1950s.9 Coal mines in the Birmingham area [] [are] known to have arsenic levels as
high as 1,500 [mg/kg]. BaP is a known contaminant from coke ovens and foundries[]; lead is a
known contaminant from foundries and other industrial plants.10
III.

The EPA in its HRS Documentation Record concludes that air is the primary
source of deposition within the 35th Avenue site area of observed contamination
The HRS Documentation Record cites scoring only for soil exposure pathways. This
score of 100.00 for the soil exposure pathway, resulting in a HRS site score of 50.00, is sufficient
to qualify the 35th Avenue site for the NPL. Although air migration pathways were not scored, the
EPA states that this pathway is a concern to the EPA and may be considered during future
evaluations. GASP strongly encourages the EPA to pursue this concern and consider air
migration pathways in future evaluations.
Furthermore, the EPA should consider air migration pathways because in the HRS
Documentation Record, the EPA states that [a]ir is the primary source of deposition within the
35th Avenue site [area of observed contamination] from smokestacks and windblown particles
from process fires and other stockpiled material.11 Sampling in the 35th Avenue study area
showed the presence of lead, arsenic and BaP, which is most likely due to emissions from facility
stacks.12 The coal from mines in the Birmingham area and Black Warrior Basin that was used
extensively in the North Birmingham area caused concentration of arsenic during the burning

7 Id. at 16
8 See EPA. HRS Documentation Record,
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf (last visited Jan. 13, 2015).

9 EPA. HRS Documentation Record, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf

(last visited Jan. 13, 2015) at 16.

10 Id. at 16.
11 Id. at 16 (emphasis added).
12 See EPA. HRS Documentation Record,
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf (last visited Jan.13, 2015) at 43.

process at coke facilities.13 When such causal links are established in the HRS Documentation
Record, it would be prudent for the EPA to further study and monitor air migration pathways.
IV.

The ATSDR concluded that when a contaminant exceeds a health-based

comparison value it needs to be evaluated further for adverse health effects
The ATSDR concluded that past and current exposures to contaminants and particulate
matter in the communities adjacent to Walter Coke resulted in both short and long-term harmful
effects in sensitive individuals. The ATSDR concluded that the general public did not face the
same health risks.
However, in Tonawanda, New York, a similar coking facility to Walter Coke and ABC
Coke14 was not being properly monitored. Citizens began monitoring the air themselves, which
resulted in the EPAs involvement and eventually resulted in the state performing a health
outcomes review.15
In the overall study area [] lung cancer, bladder cancer, and total cancers were elevated
among both males and females; esophageal cancer was elevated among males and uterine
cancer was elevated among females. Two additional types of cancer were elevated, each
in just one sub-area: oral cavity/pharynx cancer among males, and leukemia among
females. Using Erie and Niagara Counties as the comparison area, the same cancer types
showed elevations, but the elevations were reduced, and some were no longer statistically
significant.16
Preterm births were also elevated in the study area.17
The comparison of the health outcomes review with those done by ATSDR and the Jefferson
County Department of Health (JCDH) is significant because Tonawanda Coke is a similar
facility to ABC Coke and Walter Coke. Accordingly, because air monitoring and industry
compliance have not always been consistent or exhaustive18 at the 35th Avenue site and in
surrounding areas, the EPA should do further air monitoring that would provide more sufficient
13 See Id. at 43.
14 Tonawanda Coke is a coking facility that has been in operation since 1917.
15 See N.Y. State Dept of Health, Tonawanda Study Area Health Outcomes Review: Birth
Outcomes and Cancer Erie County, NY (2013),
http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/tonawanda/docs/final.pdf

16 Id.
17 See Id.
18 In the HRS Documentation Record the EPA points to historical violations of Title V air
permits and the Clean Air Act by both ABC Coke and Walter Coke. See generally EPA. HRS
Documentation Record, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1897.pdf (last
visited Jan.13, 2015) at 45-48.

data from which ATSDR and the JCDH could prepare a more exhaustive health assessment,
similar to that done in Tonawanda, NY. Accordingly, GASP strongly encourages the EPA to add
the 35th Avenue site to the NPL and as part of the remedial action under CERCLA require further
air monitoring.
Furthermore, in ATSDRs Public Health Assessment for the 35th Avenue site, they
conclude that [w]hen a contaminant exceeds a health-based comparison value it does not mean
that it will cause a health effect, but it does mean that the contaminant needs to be evaluated
further for adverse health effects. 19 Throughout their assessment, ATSDR refers to EPA
changing the annual particulate matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in
2012 from 15.0g/m3 to 12.0g/m3 in order to provide increased protection against health
effects associated with long and short-term exposures.20, ATSDR asserts that additional
monitoring would be helpful in light of these NAAQS changes,21 which supports GASPs
contention that further, more extensive air monitoring should be part of remedial action under
CERCLA.
Finally, a UAB study shows increased pre-term births and low birth weight in children
living within five kilometers of the industrial plants situated in the North Birmingham
neighborhoods. The study concludes that
[t]he present investigation suggests fugitive emissions from industrial point sources may
increase the risk of adverse birth outcomes in surrounding neighborhoods. Further
research teasing apart the relationship between exposure to emissions and area-level
deprivation in neighborhoods surrounding industrial facilities and their combined effects
on birth outcomes is needed.22
Accordingly, this UAB study also points to adverse health effects associated with contaminants
and particulate matter coming from industrial plants and the studys conclusion further bolsters
GASPs contention that further, more extensive air monitoring should be a part of remedial
action under CERCLA.
V.

Conclusion
The EPA lists a site on the NPL as a means of protecting human health. GASP strongly
encourages the EPA to list the 35th Avenue site on the NPL: human health in this community
depends upon the EPA taking remedial action under CERCLA once the 35th Avenue site is on the
19 ATSDR, Evaluation of Air Exposures in Communities Adjacent to the 35th Avenue Site
Birmingham, Alabama, (2014)
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/NorthBirminghamAirSite/35th%20Avenue
%20Site_PHA_PC_06-26-2014_508.pdf at 25.

20 Id, at 23.
21 See Id. at 67.

22 Porter, Kent, Su, Beck, and Gohlke. (2014), Spatiotemporal association between birth outcomes and coke
production and steel making facilities in Alabama, USA, Environmental Health,
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/13/1/85.

NPL. Taking into consideration the conclusions and assertions put forth in the HRS
Documentation Record completed by the EPA and ATSDRs Public Health Assessment, it is clear
that a causal connection exists between air emissions and particulate matter from polluting
industries and human health. Accordingly, not only should the 35th Avenue site be added to the
NPL, but also further monitoring of the air migration pathways should be part of the CERCLA
remedial action.
GASP is appreciative of the opportunity to submit this comment. We look forward to the EPAs
decision to add the 35th Avenue site to the NPL.
Respectfully submitted,

Stacie M. Propst, PhD

Executive Director
GASP