Doe Run ordered to stop hauling lead in open trucks

HERCULANEUM, Mo. -- The state has ordered the Doe Run Co. to change the way it does business here, requiring the operator of the nation's largest lead smelter to halt all activities causing or contributing to the community's lead-pollution problem.

Dust from company trucks has been blamed for much of the problem in this 2,800-resident community 30 miles south of St. Louis, and recent tests by state and federal officials show higher-than-expected local lead levels -- far above those considered safe. Lead poisoning has been linked to decreased intelligence and learning difficulties in children.

While saying Doe Run has taken steps to pare contamination from vehicles going to and from the smelter, "more aggressive cleanup is needed based on extremely elevated lead concentrations," Steve Mahfood, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' director, said in a statement Wednesday.

Mahfood has said the order signals the state's recognition that the Herculaneum pollution is more serious than first thought.

Barbara Shepard, Doe Run vice president of human resources, said Wednesday that the company had not yet digested the DNR directives and could not immediately respond publicly.

"Of course, we take anything seriously and continue to be responsive, as we have in the past," she said.

Closed trucks suggested

The state Department of Health and Senior Services has ruled that the lead contamination "poses a clear and present risk to public health and an imminent and substantial endangerment to the citizens of Herculaneum, especially to young children and pregnant women," the DNR statement said.

The DNR wants Doe Run to switch to closed trucks within 45 days, upgrade its truck-washing site to include all vehicles leaving tainted areas of the plant, complete all road and site cleaning within seven days, and ensure that all water from street- and vehicle-washing is contained and treated.

Among other things, the order also calls for Doe Run to submit within 10 days a detailed plan for ending the use of open-backed trucks for hauling lead concentrate, halt using such trucks for those purposes within 45 days, and complete all residential yard cleanup outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.