ATSDR - Sierra Army Depot (SIAD) site in Lassen County, California

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ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Issues Health Consultation on Sierra Army Depot Air Emissions
Finding Is No Apparent Public Health Hazard

For Immediate Release: Dec. 3, 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 released its public health consultation for the Sierra Army Depot (SIAD) site in Lassen County, Calif., near the California-Nevada border.

ATSDR finds that inhalation exposures to emissions from SIAD pose no apparent public health hazard. The designation is one of five "hazard categories" ATSDR assigns to sites on the basis of its technical analyses. For this site, where community members were exposed to site-related contamination but not at levels expected to cause adverse health effects, "no apparent public health hazard" is the designation used

Until August 2001, SIAD used open burning and open detonation to treat or destroy waste ordnance such as explosives and propellants, an activity that generated large plumes of air contaminants visible from several miles away.

In 2000, CDC was petitioned to evaluate the public health implications of potential exposures to SIAD air contaminants. ATSDR has gathered and evaluated data to address community health concerns and has met with residents from surrounding areas; this health consultation is the response to this petition.

As a prudent public health measure, the public health consultation recommends that, if open burning or open detonation were to be resumed at any time in the future, the Army conduct routine air sampling for particulate matter in the residential area downwind from SIAD.

Copies of the health consultation are available for review at the following repositories:

Lassen Community College Library
Attn: Rosanna Brown, director
478-200 Highway 139
Susanville, CA 96130
530-251-8830

Sierra Army Depot Contracting Office
Attn: Sue Ritz, contracting officer
Bldg. 74, C St.
Herlong, CA 96113
530-827-4835

Reno Main Library
301 South Center St.
Reno, NV 98501
775-785-4190

California Dept. of Toxic Substances Control
Attn: John Harris, project manager
8800 Cal Center Drive Sacramento, CA 95826-3200
916-255-3758

For more information, community members can contact Environmental Health Scientist Jeff Kellam toll free at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Bill Nelson also may be contacted at 415-947-4316. Callers should refer to the Sierra Army Depot site in northeastern California.

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 can request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling Jennifer Sarginson or Jill Smith in the ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.

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Updated by R. Searfoss December 3, 2003
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)