EPA tests show surface soil at facility is 'healthy.'

Pueblo County Commissioner Terry Hart said Thursday that Environmental Protection Agency tests conducted over the winter at the Runyon Sports Complex show that it is safe and there is no health risk for baseball and softball players to participate in activities at the complex.

In November, the EPA was given approval to conduct lead and arsenic tests at the Runyon Sports Complex, Pueblo’s biggest public baseball facility. Hart said the EPA assured the county that the surface area is clean.

“Since we are inviting children and families to the area, we want to make sure that we are providing the healthiest environment that we possibly can,” Hart said.

“This is one of the reasons we wanted to work with EPA: just to make sure, because we didn’t know if there was any contamination particularly from the smelter site. We were extremely pleased to hear when EPA told us we have the green light to play and it is healthy.”

A spokesperson with the EPA told The Pueblo Chieftain on Thursday that the data is still in draft form, adding: "Yes, the surface levels we are seeing are clear for recreational and public use."

In the late 1800s, the former Colorado Smelting Co. dominated the landscape in the Eilers neighborhood, which is about a mile from Runyon Field. The site was a former lead and silver smelter that was active from 1883 to 1908. EPA officials said the smelter stack deposited contamination into the surrounding soils.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Commissioners give EPA permission to access Runyon Field area.

The commissioners gave the EPA permission to access the Runyon Field study area for activities related to the Colorado Smelter Superfund Site. Indoor residential cleanups in the neighborhood started in the middle of 2016 and continue. Last year, the EPA started soil cleanups.

The EPA requested the county to cooperate and give consent to study the area, which the county owns. At Runyon, the EPA conducted surveying and visual field inspections of the property. They took samples of surface and subsurface soil.

Hart said the EPA did express concern about soils deeper than the surface at the complex.

“They said it was significantly below anything that could be turned up in daily activities or even minor maintenance on the field of anything like that,” Hart said.

“The only thing that could potentially affect the health is that if someone goes in and does a very deep dig into a portion of the area, which we are not planning on doing.”

Hart said the EPA wants to do more analysis on the deeper soil to determine if there needs to be a cleanup operation there.

“They have assured us that if they do need to do any kind of excavation in any portion of the property, that they would do it in a fashion that was consistent with the uses that we wanted to continue in using the property,” Hart said.

“They said over and over again that they wanted to assure us that there was no detection of any problem on the surface or any kind of activity on the surface.”

The 26-acre area consists of six baseball and softball fields and two playgrounds. High school and youth league games began last month.

Hart said EPA officials said they might not find much in the Runyon Field surface area because part of the construction process over the years has involved building up the ground level around it.

“The significant amount of material on the top appears to be from a different source, and it did not have any health constituents to it,” Hart said.

The commissioners have said the county has a moral obligation to ensure that it takes steps necessary to protect people who use the sports facility.

amestas@chieftain.com

Twitter: @mestas3517