Finding forgotten smelters — at the library
Alison Young, an investigative reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, used her previous experience reporting about old lead smelters in other cities to investigate the story in Atlanta. The Standard Metal Directory led her to Evans Metal Co. and a story that starts:
Beginning in 1934, a lead smelter operated for decades near Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge roads in Atlanta. Its furnaces processed 5,000 tons of the toxic metal a year, spewing lead dust from its smokestacks that likely built up in the soil of surrounding properties, according to records and interviews.
But unlike smelters across the country that were cleaned up because of the danger posed by the legacy of lead fallout, the old Evans Metal Co. smelter was forgotten by state and federal regulators.
Today’s Tip: Look at copies of old industry directories, such as the Standard Metal Directory, from the 1950s and 1960s to see what smelters were operating in your area at that time and then see whether any of them are missing from your state’s inventory of hazardous sites, Alison says.
Alison says not all libraries have the directory – but you can have copies sent to your local library through an inter-library loan. She found the directory at the West Virginia State University library.
Alison also used corporation records, property records, and state and federal regulatory records obtained under open records acts to gather information about Evans Metal.
