Asbestos and reality

Vein of denial runs deep in El Dorado

Sacramento Bee
Published May 2, 2005

Nobody wants to hear that an environmental hazard exists in one's neighborhood. In recent years, residents near Sacramento's railyards and Aerojet have been forced to confront that reality as new toxic legacies come to light. In El Dorado Hills, the threat is not a byproduct of past industrial activities, but veins of naturally occurring asbestos that developers have unearthed. On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that people, and especially kids, can greatly increase their exposure to this asbestos by playing at a popular park in El Dorado Hills. Two weeks earlier, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry recommended doctors be notified by people who were likely to have been exposed, such as coaches and student athletes who use the open tracks and fields at Oak Ridge High School. Authorities in El Dorado County have responded to these findings - and others since 1998 - in mixed fashion. Last year, officials quickly put together a program to cap exposed surfaces at Oak Ridge High before classes started in August. As early as 2000, county supervisors established asbestos dust controls for mining and construction. Unfortunately, these prudent steps were diminished by a confrontational response among some in the area, particularly Jon Morgan, the county's top environment official. Morgan has decided to become the county's designated asbestos debunker, setting back the cause of working closely with the EPA and other agencies to assess the risks. Morgan claims fear-mongers are picking on El Dorado, instead of investigating asbestos exposure across the state. True, asbestos can be found in other foothill counties, but nowhere along the Sierra can you find the massive earth moving you see in El Dorado Hills. Naturally occurring asbestos poses some legitimate questions. To date, most studies on asbestos have involved occupational exposure. Less is known about the threat to people who breathe these fibers periodically. All the more reason to be prudent and proactive. Some fresh dirt on a ball field and other common sense measures are a small price to pay to prevent an outbreak of mesothelioma 30 years from now.