ATSDR - Norfolk Naval Shipyard Repository Site in Portsmouth, Virginia

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Issues Public Health Assessment for Public Review and Comment on the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Repository Site in Portsmouth, Va.

Findings Are No Apparent Health Hazard or Indeterminate Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: September 9, 2003

ATLANTA - The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today is issuing a public health assessment (PHA) on the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Repository Site in Portsmouth, Va. ATSDR finds that exposure to surface water and sediment, to calcium hydroxide, and to lead in soil and to emissions from the former shipyard foundry pose no apparent public health hazard or are an indeterminate health hazard.

The document will be available to community members for public review and comment through Oct. 10 at the Portsmouth Main Library, 601 Court St., Portsmouth.

Background
In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) to the National Priorities List.

In 1999 and 2002, ATSDR visited NNSY to collect information about how people on-site and off-site might be exposed to environmental contamination, to review environmental sampling data and to learn about community health concerns.

Recommendations
This PHA evaluates past, current and potential future exposures to contaminants originating from NNSY. After analyzing the available data, ATSDR recommends the following actions:

ATSDR concurs with the current Navy remediation efforts and the Navy's ongoing Pediatric Lead Poisoning Prevention (PLPP) program. ATSDR recommends review of the current status of housing conditions, and results of blood lead screening of children to ensure that blood lead levels have remained below levels of concern and that all children potentially exposed in housing areas are tested.

ATSDR recommends that families in Portsmouth participate in the current Virginia Department of Health (VDH) childhood lead poisoning prevention program, called Lead-Safe Virginia. This includes families in the Cradock area, the New Gosport areas and other neighborhoods identified by VDH as high-risk areas. Participation in a blood-screening program that meets or exceeds CDC guidance combined with the recommended steps to clean, remove, renovate or remediate lead in and around houses should be health protective and reduce lead exposure.

Any future feasibility study to assess possible future reuse of the Paradise Creek Disposal Area should consider possible methane levels at the Site 3 landfill, as well as potential exposures to chemical contamination, including volatile organic compounds.

ATSDR welcomes comments to its public health assessment. Comments must be submitted in writing. Mail comments to

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Road, NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's responses to the comments, will appear in an appendix to the final PHA. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the PHA may contact Charles Grosse, toll free, 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Tom Stukas also may be contacted at 215-814-3142. Callers should refer to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Repository site in Norfolk, Va.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. Established by Congress in 1980 under the Superfund law, ATSDR conducts public health assessments at each of the sites on the EPA National Priorities List, as well as other sites when petitioned. Headquartered in Atlanta, ATSDR is staffed by more than 400 health professionals including epidemiologists, physicians, toxicologists, engineers and public health educators.

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Members of the news media may request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Elaine McEachern or Jennifer Sarginson in the ATSDR Office of Policy and External Affairs at 770-488-0700.

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Updated by R. Searfoss September 10, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)