PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT
SHARON STEEL CORPORATION (FARRELL WORKS)
FARRELL, MERCER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The Sharon Steel Slag Pile (SSSP) and disposal area is a public health hazard to site visitors (trespassers) because of potential irritation from highly alkaline pond water (pH to 13) and the physical danger posed by slumping or sliding slag piles. The site is unrestricted and receives frequent foot and vehicular traffic.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) prepared a health consultation for the site in June 1997. That document, accompanied by a PADOH fact sheet, recommended that local citizens, particularly children, not play on the site or wade or swim in the on-site ponds. We also recommended that the slag pile be removed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
placed the SSSP on the National Priority List (NPL)
of hazardous waste sites on July 28, 1998. Federal law mandates that NPL sites receive a public
health assessment within one year of listing. Accordingly, PADOH and ATSDR have evaluated the
site for adverse health effects posed by the slag pile and other site features. After several site visits
and extensive citizen interviews, no one has expressed any community health concerns about the site.
The Sharon Steel acid slag disposal area is a 400 (+) acre site southwest of the former Sharon Steel
(now Caparo Steel) plant in Hermitage, Mercer County, Pennsylvania just north of Interstate 80
(Figures 1 and 2). Parts of the waste disposal area are only about 500 feet east of the Ohio border.
The site is bounded on the east by the Shenango River (Figure 2). Sharon Steel used the area to
dispose of blast furnace slag, basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag, electric arc furnace (EAF) slag, and
sludges since about 1900 (1). From 1949 to 1981, millions of gallons of spent pickle liquor acid
were dumped over the slag. Theoretically, the acid would be partly evaporated and then neutralized
by the carbonates in the slag. In actuality, considerable groundwater and surface water
contamination was the result.
Most of the blast furnace slag, particularly north of Ohio Street (Figure 3), has been mined and used as aggregate for railroad ballast, highway construction and other similar applications. The BOF slag, predominantly south of Ohio Street, is frequently mined to recover the metals within it.
In November 1980, eighteen monitoring wells were installed to detect the extent of groundwater contamination. Table 1, obtained from the files of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), reports some significant parameters and their respective concentrations. It is uncertain if these are maximum values for each listed parameter. Concentrations of arsenic, chromium, and lead exceed maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for drinking water by one to two orders of magnitude. Monitoring was ended in 1986 when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the wells were improperly constructed (1).
In 1992, four well clusters containing two wells each (one shallow, one deep) were constructed to replace the original wells. Table 2 (2) summarizes data from an August 1992 sampling round from the new wells. We were unable to obtain an accurately scaled map of reasonable size (8 ½" x 11") which shows the locations of wells on site. Concentrations of selected parameters in the new wells are much lower than in the original wells.
In a telephone conversation with PADEP on September 15, 1998, PADOH learned that there had been no additional sampling of environmental media since the June 1997 health consultation. Neither had there been formal action to remove any slag from the site.
Site Visits and Current Site Conditions
On October 23, 1996, J.E. Godfrey of the PADOH visited the site with a PADEP representative. Site access is unrestricted. The slag pile rests on glacial and stream deposits in the Shenango River Valley. The bedrock beneath the valley is predominantly sandstone, conglomerate, and shale of the Mississippian Cuyahoga Group (3).
Sharon Steel, now in bankruptcy, has sold the steel production plant to Caparo Steel. Sharon Steel still owns the slag waste area, except a small parcel sold to another company (Dunbar Slag) for the operation of an asphalt plant. Dunbar also operates a second asphalt plant on Sharon Steel property. Asphalt production and occasional slag removal (mining) are the only industrial activities taking place on the site.
The remaining slag piles (mostly arc furnace and BOF slag) are south of Ohio Street and occupy a space nearly one-half mile long, several hundred feet wide and fifty or more feet high. Two or three shallow ponds, several acres in area, are in the southern part of the site (Figure 3). Rain and melting snow leach calcium oxide from the slag to form calcium hydroxide, a compound that causes surface water (and groundwater) to become very alkaline (high pH value). On the day of one site visit, the PADEP representative took three or four pH readings approximately in the area shown in Figure 4. Even after several diluting rain showers, all pH values were above 12.0 with the highest recorded at 12.9 near the base of one slag pile. Despite the alkaline water, the PADEP representative stated that ducks and geese use the ponds. Remnants of an apparent duck/goose blind were in one of the ponds. We also know that humans frequent the site because we observed vehicle tracks and spent shotgun shells and bullet casings near the ponds. Several sections of the slag pile were so steep that slumping or sliding appeared imminent.
More than 50 homes are within one-half mile of the site (Figure 2). Nearly all are south and west of the site and at least half are in Ohio across Bedford Road, the center of which is the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line. Areas just east of the Shenango River contain predominantly industrial facilities, including the Caparo Steel plant. Farrell High School is about three miles east of the site.
On January 29, 1997, J.E. Godfrey again visited the site with Barbara Allerton and Alice Hoffman of PADOH, and an official of the Ohio Department of Health. While on the site the investigators noted loose debris sliding down steep slopes of slag without any disturbance from humans or animals. Apparently the diurnal freeze/thaw cycle in winter is sufficient to loosen the slag and cause debris slides. Investigators extensively interviewed local school officials and citizens of both Ohio and Pennsylvania. On January 30, 1997, PADOH staff continued to interview local officials from three nearby municipalities.
The site was formally placed on the NPL on July 28, 1998.
On October 7, 1998, Mr. Godfrey met with PADEP and EPA officials subsequent to the NPL listing and discussed the forthcoming Remedial Investigation for the site. No significant change occurred on the site since the January 1997 visit.
A summary of site demographics is presented in Figure 5.
The site presents several physical hazards. Site visitors may drown in the open ponds. Slumping or sliding waste piles could injure or bury people whether on foot or motorized vehicle. The highly alkaline pond water poses a risk of skin and eye irritation to anyone wading or splashing in it.
We are basing our discussion of health hazards on the assumption that calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) is the substance in the slag that is raising the pH of the water. Calcium hydroxide in its solid form is a skin, mucous membrane, and respiratory tract irritant. In its solid form it is also a severe eye irritant (4).
About 0.185 grams (gm) of calcium hydroxide will dissolve in 100 milliliters (ml) of water at room temperature. This will produce a saturated solution with a pH reading of about 12.4. However, aqueous solutions of calcium hydroxide are not readily absorbed into tissues and prolonged contact is necessary for toxicity.
Lime burns of the eye are caused by a splash of a thick, moist, pasty material (plaster, mortar, or cement), less commonly by a splash of milky fluid (whitewash) and rarely by a clear solution of calcium hydroxide (lime water) (5).
PADOH does not feel that accidental ingestion of small amounts of limewater with a pH of up to 13.0 will cause any serious damage to the gastrointestinal tract. Minor irritation to the skin may occur following prolonged contact. Some eye irritation may occur if the limewater is splashed into the eyes but we do not expect serious or permanent damage.
People should avoid skin, eye, and respiratory tract contact with dust from the slag pile. Solid particles of calcium hydroxide or its parent compound calcium oxide (burnt lime) may be present in the dust.
Groundwater beneath the slag is high in dissolved metals, but no drinking water wells are on or immediately downgradient of the site. Therefore, no exposure is occurring through groundwater. The Shenango River receives surface water runoff and groundwater discharge from the site, but the most recent river monitoring results show no increase in metal concentrations and only a slight increase in downstream pH (7.50 upstream, 7.57 downstream) (2). The wetlands in which disposal occurred are apparently doing a remarkable job of "buffering" the effects of the waste. The PADEP maintains a "Do Not Eat" fish advisory for carp from the Shenango Lake Dam near Sharpsville to the river mouth near New Castle, some 15 miles south of the site (Figure 4). The chemicals responsible for the advisory are PCBs and chlordane, neither of which is associated with the site (6).
Children are a sensitive subpopulation that were considered in preparing this document. There is no evidence that small children have access to the site. Older children that may trespass on the site, are at the same risk as adults that may occasionally trespass on the site.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania maintains several health outcome databases including the vital statistics and the cancer registry. These databases provide information on, but are not limited to, total mortality, cancer morbidity and birth defects. They are often used to evaluate the health status of the people living in the surrounding area of the Superfund site if the site may potentially cause adverse health effects on the residents.
The primary hazardous substance on the Sharon Steel site is calcium hydroxide which is not known to induce cancer. The site is in an industrial area and the only residential housing within a one mile radius of the site is on the east side of the Shenango River and along Bedford and Wansack Roads (Figure 3). Therefore, the site poses a threat only when people trespass on it. Otherwise, the health impacts are small to the residents in the area. In addition, no residential wells are on or immediately downgradient of the site, so no exposure through the groundwater (private wells) occurred . Therefore, the review of the township-wide mortality, cancer morbidity, and birth defects data is not relevant here.
Occasionally, some people may eat carp or other fish from the Shenango River despite PADEP's "Do Not Eat" advisory. To protect the public health, PADOH will give, the best available information about site hazards, and advise them to stay off the site and follow the fish advisory.
The Sharon Steel site is in three municipalities and borders the state of Ohio. PADOH determined community health concerns in discussions with representatives from each municipality, the local school district, and the surrounding neighborhood. The community agreed that periodic trespassers drive, walk, and bike onto the site to park, hunt, fish, and use the site for recreation. We observed evidence of these activities such as hunting (shotgun shells and cardboard target), illegal dumping (garbage), fishing (the type of container used for worms and found along the river), boating (trailer tracks on the river bank to the water's edge) and drinking (beverage cans) during our visits to the site. A local police officer mentioned that the department receives occasional calls reporting trespassers on the property. Neighbors identified a dirt road and trail entering the property where they have seen children on bikes. The main access road is unrestricted and enters the property from Ohio Street.
We asked nearby neighbors, the local health officer, the school nurse, a school administrator, a community health nurse, and representatives from each local municipality if they were aware of any complaints of adverse health effects related to the site. No one was aware of adverse health effects associated with the site. A local health officer felt that people may occasionally eat fish, including carp, caught in this area of the Shenango River.
At a meeting with the local school district, we discussed how to be sure that parents know to keep their children away from the site. The attached fact sheet has been developed to increase awareness and provide information on the hazards associated with the site. The school district agreed to distribute the fact sheet to its students through the quarterly publication of the school's newsletter, which is received by all the students' parents. Representatives from the municipalities and the Mercer County State Health Center said that they would also make a fact sheet available to the families they serve. A representative from the Ohio Department of Health reviewed the fact sheet and that department will be provided with copies.
The Sharon Steel slag disposal area is a public health hazard because of alkaline surface water bodies on the site and the slumping or sliding potential of parts of the slag piles. The site also provides easy access for fishing the Shenango River. These hazards may be avoided if local residents stay off the site and obey "Do Not Eat" fish advisories issued by PADEP.
The EPA is beginning the formal Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study required for NPL sites. It will be at least two years before site remedies or public health action plans will be known. The PADOH has already distributed a public health fact sheet to the community, including the local school administrators. A copy of that fact sheet is included in the appendix of this report. PADOH will evaluate new data for the site as soon as it becomes available.
Document Reviewed but not Referenced
J.E. Godfrey, M. Ed, M.S., P.G.
Division of Environmental Health Assessment
Pennsylvania Department of Health
Mark A. Lavin, B.S.
Division of Environmental Health Assessment
Pennsylvania Department of Health
This Public Health Assessment for the Sharon Steel site was prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). It is in accordance with approved methodology and procedures existing at the time the health consultation was initiated.
Roberta Erlwein
Technical Project Officer, SPS, SSAB, DHAC, ATSDR
The Division of Health Assessment and Consultation (DHAC), ATSDR, has reviewed this health assessment and concurs with its findings.
Richard Gillig
Section Chief, SPS, SSAB, DHAC, ATSDR
Figure 3. Site Features and Sampling Locations
Figure 4. Fish Consumption Advisory #811
Figure 5. Sharon Steel (Acid Slag Waste Area)
Table 1. PADEP Sampling Results 1980-1986 for original monitoring wells at Sharon Steel Slag Area (1).
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TDS - Total Dissolved Solids
TOC - Total Organic Carbon
TOX - Total Halogens
Table 2. Concentrations of Selected Parameters (parts per
billion) in New Monitoring Wells, August 24-25, 1992 (2).
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* S - Shallow
ND - Not detected at laboratory detection limits
* D - Deep
