ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

ATSDR Finds No Harmful Exposures to Site-Related Contamination
At Naval Air Station Brunswick

For Immediate Release: October 13, 2004

ATLANTA - No harmful exposures to site-related contamination are associated with groundwater and drinking water, surface water, or indoor air at the Naval Air Station Brunswick site in Brunswick, Maine, finds the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in its public health assessment on the site. The health assessment is available locally for public review and comment through Nov. 20, 2004.

The health assessment also finds that consumption of locally killed deer does not present a public health hazard.

NAS Brunswick has been an active air station since 1943, when it served the U.S. Navy's anti-submarine warfare operations. Various chemicals were spilled or released to the ground, and some of those chemicals have reached groundwater and on-site tributaries. The primary contaminants of concern are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as those in cleaning solvents, and petroleum hydrocarbons used in fuels.

In its evaluation, ATSDR considered past, current, and future potential exposure situations and concluded that they are not of health concern.

—Contaminated groundwater and drinking water use. ATSDR determined there is no exposure to harmful levels of contaminants in groundwater via municipal or private wells. The groundwater under NAS Brunswick is not used as a main drinking water source, and local private wells are outside the area of groundwater contamination.

—Possible exposure to contaminants in on-site or nearby surface water. ATSDR determined there are no harmful exposures to site-related contamination associated with on-site or nearby surface water bodies. Low levels of contaminants have been detected in on-site streams, but because people don't use the streams for drinking water or for recreation any exposure would be minimal and is not expected to pose a public health hazard.

—Possible exposure to contaminants for consumers of venison. ATSDR found that consumption of locally killed deer poses no public health hazard related to NAS Brunswick. Chemicals, such as those in soil in certain areas of NAS Brunswick, do not typically accumulate to harmful levels in deer tissue.

—Possible vapors in buildings above or near groundwater contamination. Occupants of on-site buildings located near groundwater contamination would not have encountered harmful levels of indoor air contaminants. VOCs can move upward from groundwater through soils into building foundations and possibly contaminate air inside buildings. ATSDR analyzed available air monitoring data or estimates of indoor air concentrations to find that no harmful vapor levels are or were in the on-base buildings.

The public health assessment is available for review and comment through Nov. 20, 2004, at Curtis Memorial Library, 23 Pleasant St., Brunswick, Maine.

Comments on the public health assessment must be made in writing. Mail comments to
Chief, Records Management Activity
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Road, NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to the ATSDR administrative record for this health assessment. Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

For more information, community members can contact environmental health scientists Katherine E. Hanks or Gary Campbell, toll-free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Gary Perlman also may be contacted at 617-918-1492. Callers should refer to the Naval Air Station Brunswick site in Brunswick, Maine.

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.

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Members of the news media can request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling the ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700.