Health issues raised around asbestos mine
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 12, 2008
MONTPELIER – A new study by the Vermont Department of Health has found that those living near the Belvidere Mountain asbestos mine in Eden and Lowell appear to be at greater risk of developing serious illnesses associated with the mineral.
The study of the more than a century old – and now closed – mine is far from complete. But it does appear that the risks are not limited to those who worked at the Lamoille County mine.
People should stay away from the roughly 2,000 acre site of the mine – a popular spot for all terrain vehicle riders – if at all possible, according to the state.
"Don't go near it. If you have to go near it do not undertake any activity that stirs up the dust," said Vermont Commissioner of Health Dr. Wendy Davis. "The less this stuff is stirred up the better."
Asbestos was used in a wide variety of applications, from brake linings to heat insulation, fireproofing, flooring and exterior shingles, until its environmental hazards and toxicity when inhaled began to be widely publicized in the 1970s.
The study by the department looked at death certificates, hospital discharge reports and a registry of cancer patients. Those living in towns near the mine appear to have significantly increased risks for asbestosis and cancer.
And in two of the three sets of data – death certificates and a registry of cancer patients – the state was able to establish the odds of such illness were greater, even when former mine workers were excluded.
"Even if you exclude the mine employees we knew about, the risk is still higher for both of those outcomes," Davis said.
Still, she said, "there is an awful lot we don't know about the individuals in the study."
For instance, the state doesn't know the past exposures to asbestos of those whose records were examined, whether they spent time at the site, as well a series of other questions. And the state does not know if the exposure of those who developed the illnesses is all historic – in other words if the mine still poses a danger, or if the threat from it was once there but has since passed.
However, officials say the health study is worrisome. It found the odds of dying from asbestosis was 12 times as high for those living near the mine when workers were included, and eight times as high for those living nearby but not working there.
The state is asking federal authorities for assistance in further study, and the mine may be declared a superfund site, providing for additional state and federal money to be used to clean it up.
"In order to do some more sophisticated study it would help us to have some additional resources," Davis said. "It requires pretty narrowly focused expertise."
The health study is not the only new activity by officials around the mine, which was closed in 1993.
Both state and federal authorities have filed claims in bankruptcy court against the previous owners of the mine, and the state filed in August against the current owner of the property in Vermont court as well.
Meanwhile, about a year ago the Environmental Protection Agency began a program to stabilize the mine site and prevent tailings from the mine from being washed off the site. That work was completed late this summer.
Gary Lipson, on-scene coordinator for EPA at the site, said there remains much to be done before the true risks of the site are know, including air quality monitoring around the property's borders.
"There are a lot of questions that really need to be answered before the next step happens," Lipson said.
Part of the difficulty of evaluating the site – but also the importance of doing so – is simply its massive size.
"It is just too big, with too many potential problems, to sit there for another 50 or 100 years," he said. "It triggered a lot of people's attention to what has happened at the site," he said of the federal work on the Eden mine.
It is possible the mine could be listed as a superfund site.
"I am not sure what the likelihood is," said Laura Pelosi, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. "This new health information may have an impact on whether or not the site gets listed."
The involvement of DEC in the site is not new, Pelosi added.
"We have been working on this diligently over the last four years," she said.
Still, for residents, the bottom line is that neither state of federal officials can say for sure what the risk of living near the site is.
Davis said she doesn't know exactly what she would tell someone who asked her whether to buy property near the mine.
"I cannot put a number on what, if any, type of risk in 2008 that would expose you to," she said. "We truly don't know."
More information on the mine and the state study can be found at http://healthvermont.gov/ enviro/asbestos/vagm-healthstudy.aspx
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