ATSDR - Fort Wainwright site in Fairbanks, Alaska

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Releases Final Public Health Assessment for Fort Wainwright site
in Fairbanks, Alaska

Finding Is No Past, Current or Apparent Future Public Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: Oct. 27, 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 the final public health assessment on the Fort Wainwright site in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The purpose of this public health assessment is to evaluate potential sources of contamination associated with Fort Wainwright and to identify potential exposure pathways in the surrounding communities. The most common contaminants at the base are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and petroleum, oils and lubricants.

ATSDR's review of available information indicates that people residing near Fort Wainwright have not been, and are not currently being, exposed to site-related contaminants at levels that could result in adverse health effects.

After evaluating available environmental information, ATSDR has drawn the following conclusions:

The majority of the on-post contaminated sites do not represent a public health hazard for on-post or local residents either because they are not easily accessible by the public, or they contain only low levels of contamination or they have been remediated to remove the contaminants of concern. The Army, in coordination with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Environmental Protection Agency, has been remediating all known sources of on-site environmental contamination.
Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from on-site drinking water wells poses no past or current public health hazard.
Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from off-site municipal or private residential wells poses no past, current or apparent future public health hazard. Private wells used by the Shannon Park Baptist Church and the Church of Latter Day Saints' Steese Chapel Hall have been affected by site-related contaminants. However, ATSDR found no evidence of harmful exposure to church parishioners or workers. An off-site spill also occurred in a residential area; however, ATSDR found no evidence of harmful exposures to residents using private wells.
Past exposure to air emissions from the on-site coal-fired power plant was categorized an indeterminate public health hazard because of a lack of measurements during time periods when plant emissions could have reached concentrations in the ambient air that exceed current National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Fort Wainwright's current efforts to both reduce and monitor emissions from the power plant are expected to ensure that ambient air quality will meet federal standards and be protective of public health.

The public health assessment may be reviewed at the following repositories:

EPA Region 10
Superfund Records Center
1200 6th Ave. ECL-076
Seattle, Wash.

Noel Wien Library (Selected Documents)
1215 Cowles St.
Fairbanks, Alaska

Fort Wainwright Directorate of Public Works (Administrative Records)
Building 3023
Fort Wainwright, Alaska

Community members seeking more information on the public health assessment may contact Environmental Health Scientist Sue Neurath or Health Communications Specialist Youlanda Outin, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. When calling, please refer to the Fort Wainwright site in Fairbanks, Alaska.

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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 October 27, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)