When the British-born industrialist Robert Lanyon traveled to Pittsburg in 1877, the city's zinc smelting industry was born.
Shortly after building his own Pittsburg Zinc Smelter, his brother S.H. Lanyon and two nephews, William and Josiah, followed suit. And while there were other smelters built throughout the city, it's within 500 feet of the three Lanyon smelters that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will test local soil for possible lead contamination next month.
Zinc smelting
Because coal mining was prevalent in the Pittsburg area, the city was a premier location for zinc smelters, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Zinc smelting is the process of using extremely high temperatures to convert zinc concentrates into pure zinc. In this area, the primary zinc ore was sphalerite, which was about 60 percent zinc by weight. It took about four tons of coal to smelt one ton of sphalerite, which is why building a smelter near coal mines rather than zinc mines "makes sense," according to KDHE.
Zinc smelting was dangerous, however. Along with releasing sulfur and oxygen oxides, which irritates the eyes and lungs and creates acid rain, burning 28 tons of coal per day also created large amounts of soot. That soot was generally contaminated with elevated levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic and zinc.
But airborne pollution wasn't the only potential health risk. Smelting operations also left large volumes of solid waste, which also could be contaminated with sulfur and heavy metals, including lead. While some of that waste was reprocessed for its iron, gold, silver or copper content, much of it remained at the smelter sites even after production stopped and the smelters closed, allowing wind and precipitation to spread it to surrounding locations.
KDHE begins local tests
As part of the department's statewide effort to test grounds surrounding former zinc smelters, KDHE officials visited Pittsburg in 1987 to collect soil samples at the former Pittsburg Zinc smelter sites. Subsequent assessments took place in 1994 and from 2001 to 2005.
During much of the early tests, KDHE officials did not move off the site of the former smelters. Rick Bean, KDHE remedial section chief, said the initial main priority was the actual smelter sites.
"We were just finding out if there was lead contamination at the smelter sites," he said. "The investigation builds from there.'
Bean said KDHE officials, earlier this decade, began finding indication that surrounding properties may be subject to lead contamination that had spread from the smelter sites. However, the investigation into those properties was not always full steam ahead, as time and money constraints often put a hitch in KDHE's plans.
"A lot of these investigations take a lot of money," Bean said. "And there are hundreds to do across Kansas. We may have something planned for a year, but then something else may come along and we have to shift our resources."
Another factor that slows the process is KDHE's policy of trying to locate a "responsible party" before any remediation action is taken.
"It takes time to do this, but we always try to identify if there are any responsible parties out there," he said. "If it's a company that caused it and it's still around, we want to work with them from a state standpoint through some sort of enforceable agreement. We don't want to involve the EPA if we don't have to."
However, for the Lanyon smelters, Bean said, "We didn't find any responsible party to address the darn thing." So in the fall of 2008, KDHE officials made their referral to the EPA.
Similar situation in Iola
In 1895, natural gas reserves were discovered in Iola. Hoping to profit from the discovery, Allen County officials offered free fuel to smelters operating there. By 1900, all coal-fired smelters, including those in Pittsburg, were closed.
In 1904, however, market prices for zinc were good enough that the coal-fired plants were reopened. Zinc smelters operated in Pittsburg for another 11 years before the final one closed in 1915.
The upcoming soil assessments in Pittsburg are similar to what is currently under way in Iola. Todd Campbell, EPA project manager and on-site coordinator for next month's project, said the main similarity is the source of contamination: zinc smelters. Another similarity is that it is a voluntary cleanup, meaning property owners had to give the EPA permission before stepping onto their property.
Corey Shinstock, Iola's assistant city manager, said Iola residents expressed initial concern about the project. He added, however, that as they better realized what was actually taking place, their worries subsided.
"At first, a lot of people didn't want them in their yard," Shinstock said. "After it got started, however, it went pretty well. It has been pretty well accepted by the people."
Shinstock said between 100 to 150 yards in Iola have been "cleaned up" and added that there is probably an equal amount that has yet to be sampled.
While there are similarities, Campbell said it's too early to make a direct comparison between the Iola project and the upcoming Pittsburg assessment.
"Until we get data back, it's hard to say if actions in Pittsburg will be similar to actions in Iola," he said.
TIMELINE
1877 Robert Lanyon, a British-born industrialist, builds the first Pittsburg zinc smelter.
The city is deemed ideal due to vast quantities of “slack” or soft coal and its proximity to rich zinc mines
1895 Natural gas reserves are discovered around Iola. Allen County offers free fuel to smelters operating there. By 1900 All area coal-fired smelters are closed.
1904 Market prices for zinc and troubles with the Iola gas reserves cause reopening of coal-fired plants
1915 Last Pittsburg zinc smelter is closed
1987 Kansas Department of Health and Environment starts to identify sites of former smelter operations in Kansas and conducts limited site sampling.
2004 Phase I focused Former Smelter Assessment completed.
2005 Phase II assessment completed
2008 KDHE is not able to find a responsible party for the Pittsburg Zinc Site smelters, so they refer to Environment Protection Agency for a removal action.
Feb. 2 EPA notifies city of Pittsburg of intent to conduct additional test to determine the extent of the levels of contaminants.
Feb. 21 Letters mailed to 167 property owners with request to give EPA permission to test soil
March 16 Testing scheduled to begin on all city parks, school and church playgrounds, day care centers and real estate with 500 feet of the Pittsburg Zinc site
Source: Bureau of Environmental Remediation/Remedial Section, KDHE; and John Bailey, Director of Public Utilities, City of Pittsburg
