Test results of the soil near a Mooresville day care confirm what experts feared: what they call “unacceptable levels” of carcinogens and radioactivity in the coal ash placed there decades ago as fill dirt.
The findings follow a WCNC Charlotte investigation that revealed the coal-burning byproduct and its toxic ingredients are not just buried near Tutor Time of Mooresville. The coal ash is buried under the day care too, according to state environmental records.
The idea of leave it as is, it’s not an option,” Duke University Distinguished Professor Dr. Avner Vengosh said. “This is definitely a problematic situation that needs to be mitigated as soon as possible. When you’re continuously exposed to that, especially a vulnerable population like children, then we are talking about the risk. It’s not a one-time exposure. That’s the kind of thing that worries me.”
Dr. Vengosh, chair of environmental quality at the Nicholas School of the Environment, agreed to analyze WCNC Charlotte’s samples in an effort to help inform and protect the community. He called the mixture, which includes elevated levels of arsenic and radium, “a cocktail of toxic elements.”
“What’s unique about coal ash is we have a cocktail of multiple contaminants that those children could be exposed to, so the impact could be even more severe than just one contaminant,” he said. “Each of them has been demonstrated to have a severe impact.”
WCNC Charlotte collected the samples just beneath the surface of a public median near Tutor Time. Dr. Vengosh’s analysis found levels of arsenic, on average, 69 times higher than North Carolina’s own soil remediation goals and nearly 13 times higher than average levels in the natural soil. The three samples he analyzed had arsenic levels ranging from 45.1 to 50.1 mg/kg (ppm), while he noted the average background soil in North Carolina is 3.7 mg/kg (ppm).
The radium results showed elevated radioactivity, at its highest, exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency‘s cleanup standard. WCNC Charlotte’s samples registered radium levels, on average, more than four times higher than the approximate natural levels in North Carolina soil. The two samples Dr. Vengosh analyzed for radium 226 and radium 228 registered levels of 5.9 and 6.9 pCi/g, while he noted the average background soil in the state is around 1.5 pCi/g.
WCNC Charlotte’s sample also included more than four dozen of coal ash’s other ingredients, including selenium, chromium and lead, according to the lab analysis. Dr. Vengosh, like other experts WCNC Charlotte has interviewed, said he fears kids could inhale or ingest tiny particles from the coal ash.
Unlike regular soil, he said coal ash can become airborne. Pictures suggest some of the coal ash within the day care property has made its way to the surface over the years. Tutor Time recently covered what appeared to be an exposed section of coal ash along the playground fence after WCNC Charlotte pointed it out.
“If I would have known that my kids were going to a place where they were daily exposed to coal ash, I would be extremely concerned,” Dr. Vengosh, a father of four, said. “It’s not me as a professor at Duke saying it. It’s a huge consensus among scientists about the potential toxicity of coal ash and it’s impact on human health.”
By Nate Morabito WCNC
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