Oregon’s U.S. senators demanded Thursday that federal housing officials “urgently address” concerns about radioactive gas in public housing raised in a yearlong investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“We believe HUD should shoulder the responsibility to test for radon because tenants’ lives depend on it,” Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote Ben Carson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Wyden and Merkley’s letter expressed “serious concern” that HUD has neglected its legal responsibility to protect tenants from the cancer-causing gas.

The senators called out HUD’s failure either to require radon testing by local authorities or to take responsibility for completing testing itself. They noted that HUD had failed to ask for money to help with radon in its past two budget requests.

“Without action, tenants in federally subsidized housing will remain at risk for radon exposure,” the senators wrote.

The blistering dispatch from federal lawmakers comes less than two weeks after The Oregonian/OregonLive exposed the failure of HUD and public housing authorities across the country to protect tenants from the threat of radon.

Although federal law called for radon safeguards in public housing in 1988, and HUD began “strongly encouraging” testing in 2013, the newsroom revealed that many agencies still do not check apartments for the carcinogen. Others identify but fail to fix radon problems.

Calling findings from the investigation “very disturbing,” the American Lung Association has also renewed its advocacy for radon testing and installation of radon removal systems in public housing.

“We’re encouraging HUD to take more aggressive action,” said Janice Nolen, national assistant vice president for policy at the lung association. Radon “needs to be addressed in public housing,” she added.

Radon seeps into homes from the ground and is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, killing an estimated 21,000 Americans each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The only way to identify radon is to test for it.

Pressure from Oregon’s senate delegation comes as HUD and public housing authorities offered a tepid response in the wake of the newsroom’s investigation showing agencies commonly fail to test.

HUD emailed a “reminder” to the nation’s housing authorities last month, citing The Oregonian/OregonLive’s report, noting that testing and mitigation “has not received the attention” the agency encouraged in 2013.

Emily Benfer, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in health justice, said HUD’s renewed encouragement to housing authorities was wholly inadequate.

“HUD’s reminder to public housing authorities about the risk of radon exposure is not only underwhelming and unacceptable, it’s also decades late,” Benfer said in an interview. “HUD has been well aware of the risks of radon.”

Benfer cited The Oregonian/OregonLive’s investigation in written comments she and students submitted in November to a Congressional subcommittee examining health issues in subsidized housing.

HUD’s email to housing authorities attempted to shift blame away from federal officials to local officials. In it, HUD’s assistant secretary for public housing, Hunter Kurtz, wrote that housing authorities are obligated to find and eliminate “exposure to harmful toxins in homes.”

Kurtz also scolded local agencies for their inaction, asserting that “a majority of you are legally obligated under state law to test for radon.”

But The Oregonian/OregonLive could find no state law requiring radon testing in public housing, except for in Maine, where landlords must test. The newsroom consulted with the National Conference of State Legislatures and representatives of the radon-testing industry.

Questioned about the factual basis of Kurtz’s statement, HUD spokesman Jereon Brown declined to comment. He also declined to say whether HUD believes housing authorities will now start testing for radon in response to HUD’s email reminder.

Based on recent interviews, the renewed advice has done little to change minds so far.

The Public Housing Authorities Directors Association, representing about 1,900 agencies, declined to directly say what action its members might take but hinted it would be minimal.

“In the current environment of underfunding and capital need backlogs estimated at $70 billion nationwide, housing authorities will continue to make the most of limited resources to maintain safe and sanitary housing for the low-income households they serve,” the agency said in a statement.

The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, representing about 70 of the nation’s largest agencies, also declined to say whether HUD’s reminder would lead to more testing.

In fact, HUD itself still appears to have no plans to test for radon in public housing, even after reminding local authorities to test.

Federal officials are directly responsible through receivership programs for public housing in two locations, Gary, Indiana, and Alexander County, Illinois. When asked if testing would occur in these locations, Brown, the HUD spokesman, demurred.

Brown said HUD is revamping inspection protocols and that radon is being “weighed amongst” other potential changes.

Pressed why local agencies would test for radon if HUD itself would not make the commitment, Brown responded via email: “Very astute. Implementing any program to 3,200 housing authorities sometimes isn’t as simple as you might think.”

The newsroom’s investigation surveyed 64 authorities nationally responsible for nearly 125,000 units of public housing, finding that fewer than one in three agencies could produce testing records.

Reporters from The Oregonian/OregonLive and Advance Local also conducted independent testing in six cities, finding high radon in public housing in Denver, Worcester, Massachusetts and Huntsville, Alabama.

None of those three agencies initially pledged to test or fix units in response. It’s unclear how their positions on radon may have changed since publication.

Delvin Sullivan, board chairman for the Huntsville Housing Authority, told the newsroom this week that “there’s a lot of energy being put into this so these folks are safe.” But he did not have details.

Officials for the Denver Housing Authority reiterated this week that radon testing and mitigation will occur when properties are redeveloped. That process will take until at least 2025, the newsroom previously reported.

In a statement, the agency also said it will advocate for federal funding to address radon in public housing and pointed to other actions.

“DHA will contract with a third-party consultant to provide professional industry recommendations, identify costs, develop testing protocols, suggest potential remediation strategies and provide staff training recommendations on maintenance of remediation equipment,” the agency said.

It’s not clear how, if at all, that is a departure from existing practice.

Denver board members either declined to comment or did not respond.

Jamie Torres, the housing authority’s former board chairwoman and now a member of the Denver City Council, canceled a scheduled interview. Torres’ district includes Westridge Homes, one of the locations where reporters and tenants found high radon in three units. That complex is set to be demolished and redeveloped in the years ahead.

A spokeswoman for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who appoints housing authority board members, did not agree to make the mayor available for an interview. However, spokeswoman Theresa Marchetta provided this statement responding to the newsroom’s investigation:

“You make a solid case for changing HUD requirements and responses around radon. At this point, we have confidence DHA is addressing this issue.”

In Worcester, the agency’s executive director, Alex Corrales, said he is still contemplating next steps.

Testing by Advance Local reporters found high radon in a unit that had been used as an in-home day care. Corrales credited The Oregonian/OregonLive with catching the attention of local officials in select cities investigated by the newsroom.

“But unless HUD requires the testing and provides the funding, I just don’t see the impact happening nationally,” he said in an email.

In Washington, Wyden and Merkley voiced bewilderment at housing authorities that failed to act on high test results.

“These inexplicable discrepancies are threatening the health and lives of American families, especially the low income, elderly and disabled who live in federally subsidized housing,” they wrote in their letter to Carson.

The senators asked Carson to respond to five questions by Jan. 6.

Among other things, they want to know whether HUD: plans to survey the threat of radon exposure in public housing; has any current plans to require testing; will commit to mandating mitigation in units if high levels of radon are identified.

-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@_brad_schmidt