Proposal to include radon removal

By Eric Fleischauer
DAILY Staff Writer
Printed: May 8, 2002; The Decatur Daily News, online edition

In an about-face, the Decatur Building Department will revise a proposed building code to require all new homes to include a radon removal system.

Building Department Director Jimmy Brothers said he is writing a building code to require that all new Decatur homes include a passive radon reduction system. The City Council will vote on the building code after a public hearing June 3.

Brothers said the City Council did not request him to make the revisions.

Julie Dutton, Morgan County's extension agent, outlined the role of the media and others in getting the code requirement adopted.

"I'm just deciding that's the right thing to do. That's how I want to submit it to the council," Brothers said.

The original draft ommited any requirement for radon removal, despite the fact that Morgan County's levels are among the worst in the nation for cancer-causing radon. The City Council delayed a vote on that version of the building code Monday night.

Brothers also said he will set aside $5,000 of the Building Department's existing budget to provide free radon testing kits to Decatur residents.

He expects the kits to be available in about two weeks. Residents may obtain the test kits by calling the Building Department at 351-7580.

The main impediment to requiring radon removal systems in new residential structures came from the Decatur Home Builders Associaton.

"The Home Builders Association has this attitude that if this is really what we need to do, then that's what we're going to do. Everyone wants to do what we can to protect the public health," Brothers said.

The Madison County Home Builders Association already contacted Brothers about the revision, apparently out of a concern that Madison County and Huntsville will follow Decatur's lead in requiring radon removal systems.

The city's change in position came about in part because of a presentation to the City Council by County Extension Coordinator Julie Dutton on Monday night.

"This just makes sense," she said of mandatory radon reduction systems. "It's us taking responsibility. We'd be eliminating the problem before it starts."

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, radon exposure is second only to cigarette smoke as a cause of lung cancer.

Ms. Dutton said that radon levels are so high largely because of geologic formations related to the Tennessee River. She said blasting in the area by rock quarries also increases radon gas concentrations.