Star Staff Writer
HOBSON CITY
The longtime suspicions of Hobson City residents were confirmed Tuesday night as environmental tests results were announced, revealing hazardous levels of contaminants in the town’s soil and ground water.
More than 30 people attended a public meeting at C.E. Hanna Elementary School where the results of a Department of Energy study were explained. Some gasped and others shook their heads as they listened to the report.
Three contaminants, found mainly in soil samples, included selenium, mercury, and arsenic, all linked to a variety of health effects, including various types of cancer. All nine soil samples showed levels of selenium and arsenic that exceed toxicity limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Three soil samples showed levels of mercury that exceed EPA limits. One of the four water samples showed mercury levels higher than EPA limits. The study did not test samples for PCBs.
“In general, all soil samples from Hobson City can be classified as hazardous waste due to the unusually high levels of regulated contaminants … The results should represent a cause for serious concern for the city and the inhabitants of the city,” the report stated. “The results presented here could begin to explain the unusually high incidences of cancer and other serious diseases in the city.”
Strong warnings were repeated throughout the report.
“The West Rock Quarry Bridge water sample is certainly indicative of a toxic surface water in terms of its mercury content,” the report stated in reference to the water sample that showed mercury levels at 36.76 ppm. The EPA limit is 1 ppm.
Extremely high levels of mercury — .33 ppm compared to the EPA limit of .2 ppm — also were found in the soil sample taken from Hobson City Apartments.
Soil samples were taken from a variety of locations throughout Hobson City, including two properties on Martin Luther King Drive, Hobson City Apartments, one property on Church Street, one location on Douglas Street, which borders C.E. Hanna Elementary School, and sites on the west end of the town. The only contaminated water sample came from the site at the West Rock Quarry Bridge.
The report recommended a follow-up study by the EPA and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, examining contamination more thoroughly.
Mayor Robert Pyles said the city is applying for federal Brownfield revitalization grants for assessment and cleanup. After a few questions, those in attendance voted unanimously for Pyles to proceed with efforts to secure a Brownfield grant. The results of the study have been given to the EPA and ADEM, he said.
Pyles said the number of Hobson City residents dying from cancer prompted him to seek environmental testing. He initially contacted the EPA a year and a half ago, but when that agency didn’t respond, he sought assistance through the National Council of Black Mayors, he said.
Hobson City qualified for a Department of Energy grant offered through the National Council of Black Mayors. Tuskegee University Professor Nosa Egiebor conducted the testing and authored the report.
Randy B. Kelley, pastor of Rising Star United Methodist in Hobson City, said the test results didn’t surprise him.
“You don’t have to do a study,” he said. “You just travel the streets of Hobson City and see the birth defects.”
Kelley has only pastored the church for one year, but during that time, he could tell something was wrong after conducting the funerals of many cancer victims.
Hobson City native and C.E. Hanna Principal William Hutchings said he knows too many people with health problems.
“You can go all the way down the street,” he said, pointing to Martin Luther King Drive. “Every other house, someone has died of cancer. If not that, it’s kidney failure.”
Joan Stephens grew up in Hobson City. Her mother’s yard was one of the test sites that showed toxic levels of selenium and arsenic. The results left her speechless.
“I really can’t put it into words,” she said. “I grew up here.”
Stephens’ father, sister and several childhood friends have died from cancer.
“It’s just not natural that that many people would die from cancer in the city,” she said.
Lifelong Hobson City resident Wiley Jackson said he has experienced a variety of health concerns, including skin problems, liver problems, shortness of breath and frequent cases of bronchitis.
“I feel dread and sad that I’m living in a place that is this contaminated and no one seems to care,” said Jackson, 55, a lifelong resident of Hobson City. “They were testing everywhere else, but not our town.”
Now he worries for his granddaughter, who often plays in his yard when she visits.
“I don’t even want her playing in the yard, with all this stuff in the soil,” he said.
Pyles encouraged residents to report any past dumping that has taken place in the town.
Several residents offered their ideas on the sources of the contaminants.
Residents commonly used “shop dirt,” as they called it, which came from local foundries. They used the free dirt to build the foundations of houses, churches and the town’s youth recreation football field, Hutchings said.
Others mentioned former Oxford dump sites near the town. Jackson said he has seen water draining from one site, which runs past the youth football field to a drainage ditch that parallels the town’s main street, Martin Luther King Drive.
Still others referred to industrial dump sites on Coldwater Mountain.
Kelley said the testing results only reinforce his suspicions that others took advantage of the poor, black community of Hobson City.
“I’m culturally paranoid knowing where dump sites are usually placed in black, poor and disadvantaged communities,” he said.