DEP to conduct additional soil testing in Palmerton

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection plans to conduct additional soil testing in Palmerton this month.

Late last year, the department collected 10 soil samples from different locations in Palmerton. Around that same time, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reported elevated lead levels in air surrounding the American Zinc Recycling facility.

DEP announced in March that two of those samples — one taken from the Palmerton Borough Park and the other from West End Day Care — “showed exceedances of the statewide health standards for metals,” according to a news release detailing the results.

In the wake of those results, DEP will collect 71 more samples from the park and 12 more from the day care, Elizabeth Rementer, press secretary, wrote in an email to Times News Thursday.

Borough Manager Donna McGarry said sample collection will start on Aug. 12.

Community, state react

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s findings sparked a town hall last October, as well as the instillation of a permanent air monitoring station and meteorological tower at Palmerton’s school complex in Lower Towamensing.

They also moved the Pennsylvania Department of Health to host free blood lead screenings in Palmerton.

Those tests were taken in February. Of the 267 people screened, 12 had elevated lead levels equal to or exceeding 5 micrograms per deciliter (no amount of lead is considered “safe,” but 5 micrograms or more prompts medical concern.) At the time, a Pennsylvania DOH spokesperson said the department has chosen to let the results speak for themselves.

But soon after the results were released, American Zinc issued a statement, saying that its facility does not contribute to Palmerton’s lead concerns.

The company — which operates in a plant that used to belong to Palmerton Zinc — added that the screening’s outcome was “consistent with blood lead levels in the broader Carbon County region,” and did not “reveal any meaningful difference in the Palmerton community.”

“We are confident that our plant does not contribute to air quality concerns in Palmerton, and we look forward to continuing our work with the appropriate governmental authorities to allay any concerns in the community,” the statement read.