Teachers Say Pole Yard Making Them, Pupils Sick Deq Says School District Must Prove Neighbor’S Use Of Pesticide Is A Hazard

Fourth-grade teacher Anna Hertzberg says school makes her sick.

She fears Idaho Hill Elementary in Oldtown also may make her unborn child ill.

The potential culprit, Hertzberg says, is stinky fumes from the neighboring pole yard.

Poles Inc. argues Hertzberg’s claim, supported by a majority of Idaho Hill teachers, is unfounded. In its 60 years of operation, the company says its thermal insecticide treatment has made no one ill.

It has already volunteered to treat the poles, many of which are sold to utility companies, at night after the schoolchildren leave.

Poles Inc., a six-employee company, soaks its logs once a week in concrete vats filled with a mixture of hot oil and insecticide. This prevents infestation and decay. Hertzberg, who began teaching at Idaho Hill seven years ago, can see the pole yard from her classroom window. She says the fumes drift inside and the heavy fuel smell overwhelms the grade school, causing headaches, dizziness, nausea and runny eyes and noses. The symptoms affect both teachers and students. The majority of the staff is concerned about long-term health effects.

On hot summer days, the stench is so strong teachers must keep the windows closed, making conditions almost unbearable because there is no air conditioning.

“I’m not trying to be an alarmist,” says Hertzberg, who will give birth to her first child in March. “Right now we don’t have any evidence other than when we smell it we don’t feel well, we have headaches and burning throats and eyes.”

Hertzberg and other teachers want to know for sure the pole yard presents no health hazard.

That’s why her husband, Bill, called the state Department of Environmental Quality and Betty Gardner, the Parent, Teacher and Student Association vice president, brought up the issue at Wednesday’s West Bonner County School Board meeting.

After receiving several complaints, mostly from school staff but at least one homeowner, the DEQ came to Oldtown Oct. 19 for an unannounced visit to the pole yard.

There is no proof that the insecticide, pentachlorophenol, presents a health concern for the school or the town, says Dan Redline, a DEQ air quality analyst based in Coeur d’Alene.

In 1993, DEQ inspectors found Poles Inc. in compliance with all regulations.

The department inspects small operations only when complaints are filed.

Redline says that was probably the reason for the 1993 inspection.

With these new worries, the department may perform another inspection this spring when the company begins treating poles again.

Redline says DEQ needs further evidence of a health risk before it can step up its investigation. That means it’s up to the school district or concerned residents to prove a health risk and that would require teachers and students to get blood tests.

Superintendent Joe Malletta didn’t return phone calls Wednesday about the district’s plans.

“There is no information one way or another that there is a health impact occurring,” Redline says.

Hertzberg says she is considering a blood test, but wants the community to know about the potential problem.

Concerned parents and teachers may ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to intervene.

Many of Idaho Hill’s 200 students live outside Oldtown and are bused in so their parents probably aren’t aware of the fumes, Hertzberg says.

Redline says he is doing some research about the health effects of pentachlorophenol, but not taking extraordinary measures.

The department checks into many odor complaints and just because something stinks, doesn’t mean it’s harmful, Redline says.

He isn’t even sure the smell coming from Poles Inc. is the insecticide.

The EPA reports that pentachlorophenol has little odor at room temperature, but has a sharp smell when hot. Pole companies heat the insecticide with oil to treat the wood. DEQ has gotten similar air-quality complaints throughout the years about McFarland Pole in Sandpoint, a much larger operation than the Oldtown company.

Plant manager Howard Fiedler has worked for Poles Inc. for 45 years. He finds the latest commotion disturbing and blames it on the ignorance of area newcomers.

“We are trying to be as good of neighbors as we can,” a hesitant Fiedler says. “It’s pretty difficult to appease the implants.”

Like Fiedler, many of the employees have worked in the pole yard for decades and are unaware of any health problems.

“We’re here all the time and so we know there is no problem with it,” he says.

Pentachlorophenol was at one time the most extensively used pesticide in the United States. It is no longer available to the general public and applicators must get a license from state agriculture departments.

Studies on pentachlorophenol’s effects on humans are inconclusive, but animals that ingested the chemical in tests have an increased risk of cancer and harmful effects to developing animal fetuses, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Web site.

The pesticide is “extremely toxic to humans” when it is ingested or inhaled in large doses, the EPA reports.

Long-term exposure to smaller amounts has resulted in effects on humans’ respiratory tract, blood, kidney, liver, eyes, nose and skin, the EPA says.

The EPA also lists pentachlorophenol as a probable human carcinogen.

Idaho Hill Elementary Principal Gary Go is satisfied with the pole yard’s move to change its treatment hours to evenings and weekends.

He says the company has been a good neighbor and often donates cedar shavings to the playground.

“It’s not the point that we want to put them out of business,” Go says. “The point is the safety issue.”