California
For Release: June 21, 2006
Contact: Doran Sanchez (951) 697-5220; E-mail: Doran_Sanchez@ca.blm.gov
CA-CDD-06-75
BLM Teams Up With Federal Health Agency to Provide Arsenic Information
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has joined forces with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to provide information about health risks resulting from exposure to arsenic after BLM discovered high concentrations of arsenic in the areas of Randsburg and Johannesburg, located in northwestern San Bernardino and northeastern Kern counties.
To increase public health education about arsenic and awareness of ongoing remediation efforts at Red Mountain, BLM has created a website at http://www.blm.gov/ca/ridgecrest. The website includes a copy of the BLM news release announcing the May 31 open house in Johannesburg, and a link to the ATSDR arsenic webpage, which contains considerable arsenic health-related information.
BLM conducted scientific sampling of old mine tailings around the Kelly Mine site near Red Mountain during the past several months to help identify any public health risks and set out necessary remediation steps. Testing indicated unusually high arsenic levels in the tailing piles range between 600 and 7,500 parts per million (ppm).
BLM has obtained about $500,000 in emergency funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior to perform initial work, primarily in Red Mountain, including fencing, installing erosion run-off control structures, building a culvert under U.S. Highway 395, installing protective covers over mineshafts, and removing tailing piles.
For more information contact Richard Forester, BLM remediation project manager, at (916) 978-4376 .
-BLM-
California Desert District Office
22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos
Moreno Valley, California - (951) 697-5220
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