EPA to Assist in Cleanup of Toxic Fumes

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. —  The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it would use Superfund money to help establish a system to ventilate dangerous fumes rising from caves beneath the city.

The action came as the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta issued an advisory warning that although the chemical levels in the fumes have been low, they pose a potential long-term health threat to the city. The fumes have entered homes and schools in the area.

The EPA, working with local and state officials, will plan and construct a ventilation system to alleviate the fumes, the agency announced in a Bowling Green news conference. The $250,000 in Superfund money will also be used to continue the search for the source of the fumes.

In the advisory, CDC said the presence of chemicals in the cave system “may represent a potential long-term health concern to persons living in that community. Long-term exposure or frequent intermittent exposure to benzene would represent the greatest public concern.”

The CDC noted that benzene has been associated with leukemia, bone marrow depression, neurological depression, and kidney and liver damage. The other chemicals present have been associated with neurological depression and kidney and liver damage. High levels of volatile hydrocarbon chemicals also pose an explosion hazard, the CDC said.