On Friday, the EPA issued modified orders to Doe Run, a St. Louis based company, for its efforts on cleaning up lead mine tailings in Leadwood, MO. The modified orders were in response to concerns from area residents about the work being done by Doe Run to clean up the site in Leadwood.

We have previously written about the community concern regarding Doe Run’s efforts to clean up the site. The community began to go public with their health and lead dust exposure concerns after sludge that was dumped on a mining site to initiate growth spilled onto a landowner’s property. Doe Run has been using sludge, partially treated sewage and animal bones, as fertilizer to begin vegetation growth on the tainted areas. The sludge that spilled onto a landowner’s property was a large amount of animal bones and other trash from a Farmington sale barn.

The EPA order mandates that Doe Run submit a new sludge management plan by August 21. The order also requires that Doe Run finish its work at Leadwood by Sept. 30, 2010. Also under the new administrative order, Doe Run is forbidden from using materials containing animal bones or carcasses at the site as fertilizer.

In 1992, the EPA declared six mine tailing piles in St. Francois County as part of a federal Superfund cleanup project. The piles are leftovers from historic lead mining in an area known as the “Old Lead Belt.” For more than a decade, Doe Run has led the cleanup efforts. In addition to Leadwood, other piles are located in Bonne Terre, Desloge, and Park Hills.


For more information, see the article at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/story/57FC3102B84A2F488625760500025FB2?OpenDocument

Labels: Doe Run, fertilizer, lead, Lead dust, Leadwood, Mines