Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Chicago’s Oak Street Beach, on the shores of Lake Michigan, has been dubbed “Asbestos Beach” by environmental protection groups, due to its widespread contamination with asbestos. While some conservation groups have issued precautions to “minimize inhalation of cancer-causing asbestos fibers,” other groups are calling for the complete closure of the beach.

According to a May 27 report by the Environment News Service, asbestos fibers were released daily from the Johns-Manville Asbestos Superfund site in Waukegan, Ill., and carried south by Lake Michigan’s currents for at least the past 20 years. The Superfund site is adjacent to the south end of Illinois Beach State Park.

ENS is an independently owned and operated daily international wire service for environmental news, established in 1990.

The ENS report goes on to say that water from the Superfund site is periodically released into Lake Michigan, allowing millions of asbestos fibers per liter of water to contaminate the lake, according to tests conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2002.

Oak Street Beach has the largest deep-water swimming area in the city, and is regularly used for recreational boating, swimming and scuba, as well as by athletes training for triathlons and other races and water sports.

The Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society warns that asbestos is present at Oak Street Beach at rates hundreds of times higher than in common urban settings. Among their precautions for people using the beach are to avoid eating and drinking at the beach, to avoid disturbing the sand and thereby stirring up the asbestos fibers, to shower thoroughly and clean all belongings prior to leaving the beach, and to isolate items used at the beach. Beachgoers are warned to use care in cleaning materials from the beach, avoiding sweeping or vacuuming, which might stir up dust and release asbestos fibers into the air.

However, according to the ENS report, an EPA Region 5 official says results of its study, conducted in September 2005, reveals asbestos concentrations no higher than levels that would be expected in urban areas, and maintains that recreational activity at Oak Street Beach is not a health hazard.

Despite this report, a web site apparently operated by the Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society dubs the beach “Asbestos Beach” and says Illinois and federal officials knowingly dump asbestos-contaminated dredged sand on state beaches.

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Tags: Asbestos Beach, Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois, Illinois Dunesland Preservation Society, Johns-Manville Asbestos Superfund site, Lake Michigan, Oak Street Beach

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