{"id":28454,"date":"2017-07-13T13:56:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T18:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=28454"},"modified":"2017-07-13T14:39:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T19:39:27","slug":"state-finds-no-evidence-of-elevated-cancer-rates-in-oklahoma-town-tormented-by-coal-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/07\/13\/state-finds-no-evidence-of-elevated-cancer-rates-in-oklahoma-town-tormented-by-coal-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"State Finds No Evidence of Elevated Cancer Rates In Oklahoma Town Tormented by Coal Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28456\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28456\" alt=\"Susan Holmes stands on the front porch of her home in Bokoshe, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics153_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics153_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics153_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics153_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics153_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Susan Holmes stands on the front porch of her home in Bokoshe, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>The tiny community of Bokoshe is flanked by old mines, which companies are filling with thousands of tons of waste produced by the coal-fired power plant down the road.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/333045686&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more-->The coal waste \u2014 known as coal ash, or fly ash \u2014 is a powdery, pernicious dust that blows off trucks and pits. Residents worry about <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/06\/30\/coal-ash-bedevils-oklahoma-town-revealing-weakness-of-epa-rule\/\">breathing the ash<\/a>, fear it has contaminated local water supplies and have linked it to various medical problems, including cancer.<\/p><p>There is little medical evidence for claims of health problems, but after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/06\/30\/19829\/coal-ash-bedevils-oklahoma-town-revealing-weakness-epa-rule\">an investigation<\/a> by the Center for Public Integrity and StateImpact last year, the Oklahoma State Department of Health launched a formal study of cancer rates in the area.<\/p><p>The agency analyzed rates of eight different types of cancer linked to two toxic substances often present in coal ash: Arsenic and chromium-6. The final report, released this week, found Bokoshe\u2019s cancer rates were on par with the state average.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Summary Report of Cancer Incidence within Bokoshe<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-documentcloud\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div class=\"DC-embed DC-embed-document DV-container\">\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:129.42857142857142%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;\"> <iframe src=\"\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/3894019-Summary-Report-of-Cancer-Incidence-Within-Bokoshe.html?embed=true&responsive=false&sidebar=false\" title=\"Summary Report of Cancer Incidence Within Bokoshe (Hosted by DocumentCloud)\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:0;box-sizing:border-box;\"><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThere is no statistical evidence of elevated cancer rate above what is normally expected for that area,\u201d says Raffaella Espinoza, the state\u2019s cancer surveillance coordinator.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Beneficial\u2019 use<\/h3><p>Bokoshe residents have protested the ash pits for 20 years, and have filed scores of complaints with regulators. The ashy waste is no match for the Oklahoma wind, they say, and people who near the town have documented the dust billowing out of trucks and off the pits. The fine, abrasive dust creeps into homes, coats crops, clogs swimming pool filters and erodes paint on homes and vehicles.<\/p><p>Coal remains a key part of the electricity generation equation in the United States, and coal-fired power plants are responsible for one of the country\u2019s largest streams of industrial waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considered classifying coal ash as \u201chazardous waste\u201d after a high-profile ash spill in 2008, but the utility industry successfully lobbied against that.<\/p><p>Coal ash can be disposed of or recycled through a process known as beneficial use, which includes minefilling operations like those in Bokoshe, where truckloads of coal ash are packed into pits excavated at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.okhistory.org\/publications\/enc\/entry.php?entry=CO001\">now-defunct<\/a> mines . Those who live near the pits, however, often don\u2019t see the benefit.<\/p><p>\u201cWhen it blows, it\u2019s like this huge cloud of dust,\u201d local resident Susan Holmes told StateImpact last year. \u201cIt gets on everything. If you were to go out and feel my car, the top of it feels like sandpaper.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28457\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28457\" alt=\"A truck enters the coal-fired AES Shady Point Generating Station near Bokoshe, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics268_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics268_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics268_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics268_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/07\/20160602-bokoshe-pics268_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck enters the coal-fired AES Shady Point Generating Station near Bokoshe, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>\u2018Bumfuzzled\u2019<\/h3><p>Department of Health officials will update the Bokoshe report as new statewide cancer numbers come in, says Espinoza, who estimates the agency does three to six cancer cluster studies a year, on average. In the 13 years the health agency has conducted such studies, it has never found evidence of a cancer cluster.<\/p><p>\u201cCancer is not just one disease. That&#8217;s a common misconception,\u201d Espinoza says. \u201cIt is a hundred diseases with very different risk factors. It is also very common.\u201d<\/p><p>Holmes says she doesn&#8217;t trust the state\u2019s cancer study. \u201cI was bumfuzzled,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought they were way off.\u201d<\/p><p>Holmes says many residents have stopped contacting state environmental authorities about the dusty waste, which she says still blows through the town. \u201cI get tired of calling,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes you just have to let it be for a little bit.\u201d<\/p><p>Over the last year, one thing <i>has<\/i> changed with the coal ash pits in Bokoshe. One major operator recently applied for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/3894172-MMHF-Permit-Revision-Application.html\">revised permit<\/a> to process the coal waste for another use the government authorizes as beneficial: Extracting aluminum and iron, and producing sand and agricultural lime to sell.<\/p><p>A spokesperson for AES, the Virginia-based company that operates the southeastern Oklahoma coal plant did not respond to StateImpact\u2019s request for comment. The manager of the company operating the pit seeking the permit modification didn\u2019t respond either.<\/p><p>\u201cThey\u2019re going to dig it up and repurpose it,\u201d\u00a0 Holmes says. \u201cI don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to do that without creating more dust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tiny community of Bokoshe is flanked by old mines, which companies are filling with thousands of tons of waste produced by the coal-fired power plant down the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":28456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[532,670],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28454"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28466,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28454\/revisions\/28466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}