Bunker Hill Research Articles

English

Adaptive management follows a general model of study, prescribe, monitor, and refine management approaches. The original Record of Decision concerning remediation activities at the smelter-affected Bunker Hill site in northern Idaho contained little guidance on how to evaluate the success of remediation. Therefore, the Bunker Hill project team convened a series of three workshops in 1998 and 1999 to develop remediation guidance statements including goals, objectives, and performance standards. Project purpose and goals defined broadly based visions for the project. Objectives identified specific approaches to achieving the purpose and goals, assuming all work would be conducted under the umbrella of adaptive management. Performance standards were developed for each objective to measure its success. Owing to significant uncertainty regarding performance of site soils at varying levels of plant cover, performance standards were considered interim until monitoring could measure parameters of site performance. Site remediation activities are now essentially complete and monitoring has been ongoing since 1998. An interagency project team workshop was convened in 2004 to evaluate site performance and to validate or invalidate the ability of the interim performance standards (IPSs) to clearly reflect the project’s objectives. Based on the workshop and site performance, proposed final performance standards (FPSs) were developed at the workshop. This paper presents the evolution of the performance standards and how monitoring results were used to validate or modify those standards. The role and importance of goal setting and their evolution in remediation projects are presented in the context of actual project performance. Additional

Communicating Liberty: The Newspapers of the British Empire as a Matrix for the American Revolution

Warner.communicating.liberty-1 Communicating Liberty: the Newspapers of the British Empire as a Matrix for the American Revolution William B. Warner “I beg your lordship’s permission to observe, and I do it with great concern, that this spirit of opposition to taxation and its consequences is so violent and so universal throughout America that I am apprehensive it will not be soon or easily appeased. The general voice speaks discontent… determined to stop all exports to and imports from Great Britain and even to silence the courts of law…foreseeing but regardless of the ruin that must attend themselves in that case, content to change a comfortable, for a parsimonious life,…” Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina, Wm. Bull to Earl of Dartmouth, July 31, 1774. [Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783, Ed. K. G. Davies. (Dublin: Irish University Press, 1975) VIII: 1774, 154.] Momentous historical events often issue from a nexus of violence and communication. While American independence from Britain ultimately depended upon the spilling of blood on the battlefields of Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown, the successful challenge to the legitimacy of British rule in America was the culmination of an earlier communications war waged by American Whigs between the Stamp Act agitation of 1764-5 and the Coercive Acts of 1774. In response to the first of the Coercive acts--the Boston Port Bill--Boston Whigs secured a tidal wave of political and material support from throughout the colonies of British America. By the end of 1774, the American Secretary at Whitehall, Lord Dartmouth, was receiving reports from colonial Governors of North America, like the passage quoted above from the Lieutenant-Governor of South Caroline, William Bull. These official private letters to Whitehall confirmed a catastrophic unraveling of British authority in America: colonial legislatures

Lead isotopes in soils near five historic American lead smelters and refineries

This survey of soil lead in the vicinity of old industrial sites examines how the stable isotope patterns vary among the sites according to the sources of the lead ore processed at each site. Lead smelters and refineries, which closed down decades ago, are the basis of this investigation. Samples were taken from near five old factory sites in Collinsville and Alton (Illinois), Ponderay (Idaho), East Chicago (Indiana) and Omaha (Nebraska). Historical records were searched for accounts of the sources of the lead. Lead concentrations were measured by atomic absorption flame spectrophotometry, and stable isotopic analysis was done by plasma ionization mass spectrometry. At every site visited, remnants of the old factories, in terms of soil lead pollution, could be found. In spite of potential complications of varying smelter feedstock sourced from mines of different geological age, it was possible to match the isotopic patterns in the soils with the documented sources of the ores. The Collinsville and Alton sites resembled Missouri lead. The Ponderay value was higher than major Bunker Hill, Idaho deposits, but closer to the minor, nearby Oreille County, Washington ores. Mostly Utah ore was used in East Chicago. The Omaha soil reflects lead from Mexico, Colorado and Montana.

Injustice for Salcido: The Left Response to Police Brutality in Cold War Los Angeles

1:00 A.M. on March 10, 1948, seventeen-year-old Augustin Salcido lay dead, shot several times through the skull, on the sidewalk in front of the Federation of Jewish Welfare Organizations Building on Temple Street near Grand Avenue in Los Angeles' Bunker Hill district His self-confessed assailant was Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) plainclothes officer William J. Keyes. The official version of events was reported by the press: Keyes and his partner, Ernest R. Sanchez, observed Salcido selling allegedly stolen watches. Detained by the officers, Salcido struggled with Sanchez. Keyes drew his gun and rushed to his partner's aid. Salcido struck the weapon, causing it to discharge, striking Sanchez in the stomach. As Salcido tried to flee, Keyes shot him as he ran, killing him.1

Of Tailings, Superfund Litigation, and Historians as Experts: U.S. v. Asarco, et al. (the Bunker Hill Case in Idaho)

When historians serve as expert witnesses in environmental litigation, they often develop expert opinions concerning historical events of a scientific or technical nature. The extent to which an expert historian may testify about such historical events may become a contested issue at trial. This article describes the author’s work as an expert witness, testifying on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice in U.S. v. Asarco, et al. (the Bunker Hill Superfund case in Idaho), in which the scope of his testimony became an issue.

Conceptual Design of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, Boston, MA, USA

(2004). Conceptual Design of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, Boston, MA, USA. Structural Engineering International: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 42-45.

Of Tailings, Superfund Litigation, and Historians as Experts: U.S. v. Asarco, et al. (The Bunker Hill Case in Idaho)

When historians serve as expert witnesses in environmental litigation, they often develop expert opinions concerning historical events of a scientific or technical nature. The extent to which an expert historian may testify about such historical events may become a contested issue at trial. This article describes the author’s work as an expert witness, testifying on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice in U.S. v. Asarco, et al. (the Bunker Hill Superfund case in Idaho), in which the scope of his testimony became an issue.

Commemoration, Public Art, and the Changing Meaning of the Bunker Hill Monument

The controversy over a 1998 public art project by Krzysztof Wodiczko at the Bunker Hill Monument dramatizes how the meanings of monuments are subject to constant renegotiation. Reaction to Wodiczko's art, which used the monument to comment on crime in Charlestown, Massachusetts, demonstrated both changes and continuities in the understandings of monuments since the Bunker Hill Monument was first designed in the 1820s. Both Wodiczko and the monument's original planners defined it as a tool capable of providing "eternal" recognition of heroism and sacrifice. Experimental projects may have great power to teach the public about the changing meaning of the past.

Zakim, Bunker Hill Bridge, Boston, Massachusetts

The new US$100 million Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge is a 429m long, 55.8m wide cable-stayed structure that carries 10 traffic lanes over the Charles River. The main eight-lane roadway is cradled within two inverted Y towers. A secondary two-lane roadway is cantilevered 13.7m to one side of the main roadway, making the bridge asymmetric in cross section. The 227.1 main span superstructure is of steel composite design. With concrete box girder back spans, the overall layout becomes hybrid. The unusually wide deck is carried by cables spaced at 6.098m on centre in the main span and 4.573m on centre in the back spans. The bridge, which forms Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) Project's critical link over the Charles River just north of downtown Boston, is unique among cable-stayed structures in several respects. Its cable arrangement, slender inverted Y towers and a two-lane roadway cantilevered outside the eastern cable plane are among the bridge's most notable features.

Commemoration, Public Art, and the Changing Meaning of the Bunker Hill Monument

Commemoration, Public Art, and the Changing Meaning of the Bunker Hill Monument

The Bunker Hill Hillsides: Site History and Planning for Early Successional Restoration on the Nation's Largest Superfund Site

Good project planning is essential to developing appropriate and achievable restoration programs. This paper discusses the history of the Bunker Hill site and its prior condition. It further discusses the planning approaches that were used and the guidance statements that were obtained. These guidance statements generated clarity for prescription development and measurement of success on the Bunker Hill hillsides project in the Silver Valley of northern Idaho. The hillsides are part of the Bunker Hill Superfund site, a 54 km 2 area centered in Kellogg, Idaho that has been contaminated by heavy metals from a long history of mining and metallurgical activity. Environmental documentation found within the site's remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) and Record of Decision provided some general concepts of restoration work that could occur on the site but was insufficient to avoid long-term conflicts between stakeholders. In particular, a 425 ha area on the south end of the site was composed of steep, heavily eroded, denuded, and inaccessible hillsides that were contributing substantial quantities of sediment to the Coeur d'Alene River basin. Successful restoration of the hillsides required agreements between stakeholders with respect to specific goals, objectives, performance standards, and monitoring methods. These and other guidance elements guide design and execution of the restoration program. Accordingly, the authors convened a series of three workshops with project stakeholders that outlined project-specific guidance statements for this undertaking to ensure that conflicts were minimized and that the path forward for the project was well-founded. These statements have guided project development, execution, monitoring, and mid-course corrections and has resulted in a successful project with few to no stakeholder conflicts. Additional keywords: conflict resolution, goals, objectives, performance standards, monitoring methods.

Using municipal biosolids in combination with other residuals to restore metal-contaminated mining areas

High metal waste materials from historic mining at the Bunker Hill, Idaho (ID) Superfund site was amended with a range of materials including municipal biosolids, woody debris, wood ash, pulp and paper sludge, and compost. The existing soil or waste material has elevated metal concentrations with total Zn, Pb and Cd ranging from 6000 to 14 700, 2100 to 27 000 and 9 to 28 mg kg −1 , respectively. Surface application of certain amendments including biosolids mixed with wood ash resulted in significant decreases in subsoil acidity as well as subsoil extractable metals. This mixture was sufficient to restore a plant cover to the contaminated areas. At the Bunker Hill site, a surface application of high N biosolids (44 or 66 tons ha −1 ) in combination with wood ash (220 tons ha −1 ) with or without log yard debris (20% by volume) or pulp and paper sludge (44 tons ha −1 ) was able to restore a vegetative cover to the metal contaminated materials for 2 years following amendment application. Plant biomass in 1999 was 0.01 mg ha −1 in the control versus a mean of 3.4 tons ha −1 in the residual amended plots. Metal concentrations of the vegetation indicated that plants were within normal concentrations for the 2 years that data were collected. Surface application of amendments was also able to reduce Ca(NO3)2 extractable Zn in the subsoil from about 50 mg kg −1 in the control to less than 4 mg kg −1 in two of the treatments. Use of conventional amendments including lime alone and microbial stimulants were not sufficient to support plant growth. These results indicate that surface application of biosolids in combination with other residuals is sufficient to restore a vegetative cover to high metal mine wastes.

The Bunker Hill Hillsides: A Case Study in the Use of Adaptive Management in Early Successional Restoration on the Nation's Largest Superfund Site

Active hillsides restoration included development and installation of site prescriptions using adaptive management and monitoring of results. Initial prescriptions for hillsides restoration and their implementation were based on a combination of site characterization and demonstration studies. Prescriptions were modified over time as the results of past activities became evident. Hillsides have responded well to prescriptions and successional processes appear to have been re-initiated. Adaptive management induced prescription modifications including changing liming materials to improve performance, increasing seeding rate to improve initial plant canopy cover, adjusting seed mix composition to remove poorly germinating species and adding herbaceous species with exceptional establishment and growth performance, increasing shrub sizes to improve establishment, and selecting tackifiers that reflected actual site performance of the products. Target plant covers were 50 percent or greater and overall plant canopy cover from 1998 and 1999 operational hydroseeding averaged over 61 percent after two growing seasons. Red top, bluegrass, sheep fescue, Idaho fescue, and timothy dominate the seeded communities. Plant and mulch cover is approximately 10 percent higher on east-facing slopes compared to west-facing slopes. Areas of low cover are often composed of rock pavement surfaces. New seedlings are emerging and volunteer plant species are appearing on the slopes. Turbidity of surface water emanating from the hillside watersheds has dropped substantially from past years. Instantaneous comparisons between background turbidity at the mouths of Government and Deadwood creeks indicate that State of Idaho water quality standards are being met in most cases. Early successional processes appear to be emerging on the hills with assistance provided by wildlife. Additional keywords: monitoring, surface water quality, plant cover, remediation

Landmark Cable-Stayed Bridge over the Charles River, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, in the forefront of the American Revolution two centuries ago, is now in the forefront of another revolution in the field of cable-stayed bridge technology. New technologies and innovations have become hallmarks of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge—a structure unique in the world. This crossing of the Charles River brought the community, engineers, and architects together to create a “signature bridge” and a “gateway” to the city. Located at a preeminent point where Paul Revere crossed in 1775, the bridge took on special meaning from a historical perspective. Numerous alternatives were studied for the crossing and the interchange configurations on both sides of the river. Based on significant community input and evaluation of costs for different alternatives, the option known as the “non-river tunnel” alternative was chosen, which required a 10-lane crossing of the river. The 10 lanes include 4 lanes each for I-93 northbound and southbound and a 2-lane ramp on the east side. Some impediments the bridge had to contend with included the Orange Line subway adjacent to and below the bridge; the close proximity of the Charles River lock and dam and the need to maintain navigation; a major water main in the area of the south tower footing; a cantilevered 2-lane ramp on only one side of the structure; the existing Storrow Drive ramps at the south end, dictating the arrangement of the stay cables in the back spans; and a new tunnel at the south end of the structure.

Assessing remedial effectiveness through the blood lead:soil/dust lead relationship at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site in the Silver Valley of Idaho

The 21 square mile Bunker Hill Superfund Site in northern Idaho includes several thousand acres of contaminated hillsides and floodplain, a 365-acre abandoned lead/zinc smelter and is home to more than 7000 people in 5 residential communities. Childhood lead poisoning was epidemic in the 1970s with >75% of children exceeding 40 μg/dl blood lead. Health response activities have been ongoing for three decades. In 1991, a blood lead goal of 95% of children with levels less than 10 μg/dl was adopted. The cleanup strategy, based on biokinetic pathways models, was to reduce house dust lead exposure through elimination of soil-borne sources. An interim health intervention program, that included monitoring blood lead and exposures levels, was instituted to reduce exposures through parental education during the cleanup. In 1989 and 2001, 56% and 3% of children, respectively, exceeded the blood lead criteria. More than 4000 paired blood lead/environmental exposure observations were collected during this period. Several analyses of these data were accomplished. Slope factors derived for the relationship between blood lead, soil and dust concentrations are age-dependent and similar to literature reported values. Repeat measures analysis assessing year to year changes found that the remediation effort (without intervention) had approximately a 7.5 μg/dl effect in reducing a 2-year-old child's mean blood lead level over the course of the last ten years. Those receiving intervention had an additional 2–15 μg/dl decrease. Structural equations models indicate that from 40 to 50% of the blood lead absorbed from soils and dusts is through house dust with approximately 30% directly from community-wide soils and 30% from the home yard and immediate neighborhood. Both mean blood lead levels and percent of children to exceed 10 μg/dl have paralleled soil/dust lead intake rates estimated from the pathways model. Application of the IEUBK model for lead indicates that recommended USEPA default parameters overestimate mean blood lead levels, although the magnitude of over-prediction is diminished in recent years. Application of the site-specific model, using the soil and dust partitions suggested in the pathways model and an effective bioavailability of 18%, accurately predicts mean blood lead levels and percent of children to exceed 10 μg/dl throughout the 11-year cleanup period. This reduced response rate application of the IEUBK is consistent with the analysis used to originally develop the cleanup criteria and indicates the blood lead goal will be achieved.

A landmark cable-stayed bridge over the Charles River, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, in the forefront of the American Revolution over two centuries ago, is now in the forefront of another revolution—in the field of cable-stayed bridge technology. A highly complicated structure, unique in the world, is complete. New technologies and innovations have become hallmarks of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. This crossing of the Charles River at the north end of Boston was a challenging assignment from the start. It brought the community, engineers, and architects together to create a ‘signature bridge’ and a ‘gateway’ to the city. Located at a pre-eminent point where Paul Revere crossed in 1775, warning colonists that the British were coming, the bridge took on special meaning from a historical perspective. Numerous alternatives were studied for the crossing and the interchange configurations on both sides of the river. Eventually, the option known as the ‘non-river tunnel’ alternative was chosen, which required a ten-lane crossing of the Charles River. The ten lanes include four lanes each for Interstate 93 (I-93) northbound and southbound, as well as a two-lane ramp on the east side. Some impediments the bridge had to contend with included the Orange Line subway adjacent to and below the bridge; the close proximity of the Charles River lock and dam, and the need to maintain navigation; a major water main in the area of the south tower footing; a cantilevered two-lane ramp on only one side of the structure; the existing Storrow Drive ramps at the south end, dictating the arrangement of the stay cables in the back spans; and a new tunnel at the south end of the structure.

A landmark cable-stayed bridge over the Charles River, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, in the forefront of the American Revolution over two centuries ago, is now in the forefront of another revolution—in the field of cable-stayed bridge technology. A highly complicated structure, unique in the world, is complete. New technologies and innovations have become hallmarks of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. This crossing of the Charles River at the north end of Boston was a challenging assignment from the start. It brought the community, engineers, and architects together to create a ‘signature bridge’ and a ‘gateway’ to the city. Located at a pre-eminent point where Paul Revere crossed in 1775, warning colonists that the British were coming, the bridge took on special meaning from a historical perspective. Numerous alternatives were studied for the crossing and the interchange configurations on both sides of the river. Eventually, the option known as the ‘non-river tunnel’ alternative was chosen, which required a ten-lane crossing of the Charles River. The ten lanes include four lanes each for Interstate 93 (I-93) northbound and southbound, as well as a two-lane ramp on the east side. Some impediments the bridge had to contend with included the Orange Line subway adjacent to and below the bridge; the close proximity of the Charles River lock and dam, and the need to maintain navigation; a major water main in the area of the south tower footing; a cantilevered two-lane ramp on only one side of the structure; the existing Storrow Drive ramps at the south end, dictating the arrangement of the stay cables in the back spans; and a new tunnel at the south end of the structure.

A case study of lead contamination cleanup effectiveness at Bunker Hill

A review of cleanup effectiveness at Bunker Hill Superfund Site (BHSS) has shown that yard soil cleanup is an effective tool for reducing house dust lead concentrations, thereby reducing children's blood lead levels. This review has also shown that contiguous cleanup of residences has a three-fold greater reduction of children's blood lead levels compared with cleaning only those homes where children currently reside by reducing exposures attributable to neighboring properties. This review underscores the importance of a community-wide, preventative approach to controlling lead contamination in soil and house dust. This review has further characterized the need for careful design, implementation, and perpetual maintenance of a community-wide lead cleanup. Several key areas of importance to maintain large scale mining/smelting remedies in the Bunker Hill area were analyzed and noted for further action, including: infrastructure, institutional controls for homeowner projects (post cleanup), erosion control for undeveloped hillsides with potential to impact the developed valley floor, drainage improvements and flood control, waste piles, and increasing the rate at which cleanup proceeds. Focusing on these areas is crucial to minimizing recontamination at a large scale lead cleanup.

The influence of soil remediation on lead in house dust

Lead in house dust has long been recognized as a principal source of excess lead absorption among children at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site (BHSS) in northern Idaho. House dust lead concentration from homeowner's vacuum cleaner bags has been monitored since the epidemic of childhood lead poisoning in 1974. Geometric mean house dust lead concentrations decreased from >10 000 mg/kg in 1974 to approximately 4000 mg/kg in 1975, in response to air pollution control initiatives at the defective primary lead smelter. After smelter closure, 1983 mean dust lead concentrations were near 3000 mg/kg and were most dependent on soil sources. Following emergency soil removals from public areas and roadsides and fugitive dust control efforts in the mid-1980s, house dust lead decreased by approximately 40–60% to 1200–1500 mg/kg. In 1992, a cleanup goal of 500 mg/kg dust lead community average, with no individual home exceeding 1000 mg/kg, was adopted. This goal was to be achieved by a combination of contaminated soil removals and fugitive dust control efforts throughout the 21 square mile BHSS. Continual reductions in house dust lead concentrations have been noted throughout the residential area soil cleanup. Geometric mean house dust lead concentrations averaged approximately 500–600 mg/kg from 1996 to 1999 and dropped below 500 mg/kg in 2000. Analysis of these data indicates that approximately 20% of the variance in dust lead concentrations is attributed to yard, neighborhood, and community soil lead concentrations. Since 1996, dust lead concentrations and dust and lead loading rates have also been measured by dust mats placed at entryways into the homes. Neighborhood soil lead concentrations, household hygiene, the number of adults living in the home, and the number of hours a child spends outdoors in summer explain approximately 26% of the variance in mat dust lead loading rates. It is estimated that post-remedial house dust lead concentrations will stabilize at 400–500 mg/kg, as compared to approximately 200 mg/kg in socio-economically similar background communities; the difference possibly attributed to residual soil concentrations (3–6 times background), recontamination of rights-of-way, tracking of non-residential mining district soils and dusts, fugitive dusts associated with the remediation, and residual structural or carpet dusts.

A critical evaluation of public health programs at the Bunker Hill Superfund site

Since 1983, the Bunker Hill Superfund site (BHSS) has been the second largest on US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priority List for cleanup. Contaminants include millions of tons of Pb, Cd, Hg and As. In 1974, following a bag house fire, 22.1% of young children had blood lead levels >80 μg/dl. In the early 1980s to the present, EPA initiated the cleanup of exterior residential soils and the smelter complex. In 1999, The National Geological Service confirmed that heavy metal pollution had extended from BHSS to Lake Coeur d'Alene (already known earlier) all the way to the Spokane River in Washington State via water borne tributaries linking Idaho and Washington States. This report focuses on public health programs and their results initiated by Federal and State agencies at the BHSS. These programs include blood lead screening, educational programs, exploratory dust control plans, and land transactions. These programs and their results are then evaluated, assessed and critically discussed. The conclusion of this critical evaluation assessment is that the protection of public health has not been adequately addressed or protected by Federal and State agencies.