Public Comments Sought on Public Health Assessment for Flat Creek IMM site, Comments Accepted through August 14, 2009Mineral County County, Superior, Montana Wednesday, July 01, 2009 Frequent contact with waste tailings on the Iron Mountain Mine and Mill (IMM) site, the Flat Creek floodplain, and the town of Superior could harm people�s health, says a federal health assessment. Levels of arsenic and lead are of public health concern if residents, particularly children, repeatedly contact areas affected by waste tailings in and around Superior, MT. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) looked into possible health effects from heavy metals in waste tailings from the IMM site in soil, creek water and drinking water. The agency has released its assessment for public comment and is accepting comments through August 14, 2009. The IMM site formerly was home to mining and milling operations, and left-over waste tailings have contaminated portions of the IMM site and the Flat Creek floodplain. Waste tailings -- materials left over from the mining process after ore has been removed -- were also used in the town of Superior as fill material for roads, driveways, and yards. In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tested the soil in town and removed some mine tailings used as fill material because of possible short term health risks. This ATSDR assessment looked at the possibility of short and long term health risks from past, current, and future contact with the waste tailings contamination.
ATSDR recommendations include conducting further efforts to minimize exposure to the contamination, such as removing waste tailings deposits on the IMM site and floodplain area, and continuing to post warning signs about arsenic and lead at the mine site and floodplain area. The agency also recommends continued work with the community to determine which areas of town should be studied further. Interested persons are encouraged to read the public health assessment and make comments during the public comment period. A copy of the public health assessment is located at: Mineral County Courthouse Or Mineral County Public Library-Superior Comments on the health assessment must be made in writing. Comments received (without attribution) and ATSDR's responses to these comments will appear in an appendix to the final public health assessment. ATSDR staff will be available during an EPA Public Meeting on July 8, 2009. EPA staff will discuss the comment period on the proposed Superfund listing, the EPA community involvement plan, and the upcoming EPA sampling of residential properties this summer. ATSDR staff will discuss the health assessment. Both agencies will be available to answer questions. The EPA Public Meeting is 7� 9:00 pm at the Superior High School, Multi-Purpose Room, 410 Arizona Avenue, Superior, MT. For more information, community members may contact Dan Strausbaugh at (406) 457-5007. ### Members of the news media can request an interview by calling the NCEH/ATSDR Health Communication Science Office at 770-488-0700.
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