DIRT ALERT! Learn about soil contamination from the Asarco Smelter this Saturday, May 10 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Burien Library.
Representatives from the Department of Ecology’s Tacoma Smelter Plume Project and King County Dirt Alert will discuss the history and extent of soil contamination from the former Asarco smelter in Ruston. For almost 100 years, arsenic and lead were blown from the copper smelter’s smokestack throughout King, Pierce, and Thurston counties.
Diana Smith and Denise Sharify will discuss the history and extent of contamination, health risks from long-term exposure to lower levels of arsenic and lead in soil, actions you can take indoors and outdoors to protect your health, soil testing options inside and outside the soil safety service area and other programs Ecology and King County are offering to address the Tacoma Smelter Plume.
Diana Smith is an outreach and public involvement coordinator for the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Tacoma Smelter Plume project and other toxics cleanup sites throughout southwest Washington. Ecology is using settlement funding from Asarco to address contamination from the former smelter in Ruston. Denise Sharify is an educator with King County Dirt Alert. King County Dirt Alert provides education, outreach, and soil safety testing in parts of south King County affected by the Tacoma Smelter Plume.
Also, there will be a presentation by Recology/CleanScapes, our new garbage/recycle pickup service. Very exciting company!
WHAT: How the “Tacoma Plume” impacts our neighborhoods.
WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 2014, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Burien Library, Multipurpose Room