Work is continuing on a study investigating potential health impacts stemming from elevated levels of harmful emissions in Calvert City – primarily from chemical plants operating near the far western Kentucky city.
At a community meeting last week, researchers from the University of Louisville’s Envirome Institute and Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences shared what data they have gathered so far, and how they want local residents to assist their efforts over the next year.
Overall, the BEACON Health Research Study is looking into how environmental contamination in Marshall County caused by chemical pollution could correlate to community health patterns. The multi-faceted project has, so far, received over $400,000 in federal grant funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published results from a years-long air quality monitoring study around Calvert City’s Industrial Complex, which is home to several chemical manufacturers. It found elevated levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including ethylene dichloride – which the EPA says can pose increased cancer risks and harm the liver and kidneys over a long period of time.
In addition to evaluating Calvert City air monitoring data from the Kentucky Division for Air Quality, UofL researchers have been testing wastewater from Grand Rivers since November for presence of metabolites – byproducts the human body creates when processing certain substances – that would indicate whether community members at large had breathed in certain air toxins. Co-principal investigator Ted Smith said the team still hasn’t been granted access to test Calvert City’s wastewater supply despite the research team requesting permission last year.
At a community meeting in Grand Rivers on Thursday, Smith said preliminary testing has found evidence of metabolites from at least 11 volatile organic compounds in Grand Rivers’ wastewater that the KDAQ has also detected in the air around Calvert City.
“We're as close as we can be. And many people move around this area, so it's not completely crazy to imagine that this [chemical presence] is in the greater area of the study project,” Smith said.
Smith said the Envirome Institute conducted a similar study in the early 2000s around Louisville’s Rubbertown industrial neighborhood. Researchers at the time found high levels of toxic air pollutants around the area that’s home to a cluster of chemical manufacturing plants.
Now, Smith said researchers want to see whether there are similar pollution patterns out in far western Kentucky.
“We know a fair amount about different levels of some of these air toxins. We know what kinds of health risks they present. So we do hope to learn whether those chemicals are in sufficient concentrations to cause health problems in the community or not,” Smith said.
The UofL team is also working on a small human health study with volunteers who live near Calvert City’s Industrial Complex. This includes working with volunteers who are allowing researchers to test samples of their blood and urine for the presence of certain chemicals and metabolites. Currently, 12 residents are enrolled in this study – but co-principal investigator Luz Huntington-Moskos said they would ideally like the group to grow up to 30 volunteers.
Some UofL students are also currently in the Calvert City area collecting blood samples from various birds in the region to test those animals for chemical exposure.
Additionally, researchers are asking local residents – especially those in Marshall, McCracken and Livingston counties – to report unusual scents in their area on the Smell MyCity app. Smith said that these smell reports could help map out how different chemical emissions travel throughout the region.
The team plans to publish its findings and share its results with the community next summer. Until then, Smith said the group plans to hold quarterly community meetings to keep residents updated on its preliminary findings and ongoing research.
