Radon protection removed from council agenda

By Eric Fleischauer
DAILY Staff Writer
Printed: June 2, 2002; The Decatur Daily News, online edition

Mayor Lynn Fowler said he does not know who left radon-reduction requirements out of a proposed building code. Neither does Building Director Jimmy Brothers.

But radon reduction requirements are absent from the building code that the City Council will reconsider at Monday night's meeting.

The building code, which applies to one- and two-family residences, first appeared on the agenda last month. The City Council tabled consideration of the ordinance because of concerns over whether radon reductions systems should be required in new homes.

After that meeting, Brothers said he would submit a revised code that requires radon-reduction systems. He said Friday that he did submit the revised code, but he does not know what happened to it.

"I sent that ordiance down there, but the other one is on the agenda," Brothers said.

Council President Pat Woller, who is in charge of council meeting and agendas, was not immediately available for comment.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the readon health risk in Morgan County is one of the worst in the nation. The cost of installing a passive radon protection system in a new home is about $250 -- about one-tenth of the cost of installing such a system after construction.

As many as 30,000 people a year die in the United States annually because of radon-caused lung cancer, according to the EPA.

James NcMees, radon contact for the Alabama Department of Public Health, in April said that EPA studies show that 1 picocurie per liter of air of radon roughly equates to the lung cancer risk of two cigarettes per day. Some readings in Decatur, he said, show a risk equivalent to 180 cigarettes per day.

"If I lived in Decatur; I know I'd want radon protection," McNees said.

May add requirement

Fowler said the council may add a radon-reduction requirement if test kits distributed by the city show high results.

"We don't want to be more restrictive than we have to, but we want to protect the residents of Decatur. There is some question whether we even have a radon problem in Decatur. The test results should help answer that question," Fowler said.

In April, Brothers said, "The fact of the matter is we have big radon problems in North Alabama. From a political standpoint, though, radon, protection is just not going to fly."