Eleven months ago, Iowa City residents asked for an answer and claim they heard silence in return. Men and women who allege they have suffered for years tried to stand against the expansion of an enterprise, but they say their pleas have gone unanswered.

Amid a pending investigation, rampant growth, and decades of unexplained health issues, the residents of southeast Iowa City are looking more and more for answers. 

In January, the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission met to approve the rezoning of the former Kirkwood campus on Lower Muscatine Road in Iowa City, much to the disapproval of community members, to allow for the expansion of Procter & Gamble plants in Iowa City.

They voted to allow the plant to expand, 7-0.

Procter & Gamble is a manufacturer of household cleaning products, such as Dawn Dish Soap and Oral B. The manufacturer has plants in the southern part of Iowa City and plans to expand.

Nearby residents, however, are worried the expansion of these manufacturing enterprises in southern Iowa City will worsen problems they have been facing.

At multiple meetings earlier this year of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Iowa City City Council, community members voiced their concerns about air quality and pollution issues, citing smells that have led them to experience headaches and sickness.

Some community members living near the plant claim that chemical pollution is responsible for their physical and mental health issues.

Residents of the southeast side of Iowa City, primarily in the area of the Longfellow neighborhood, have worked for years, through various complaints to the city and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, to find what is causing their health issues, which they believe to be pollution- related. Some believe it is the nearby Procter & Gamble plants.

Additionally, a Loparex facility operates in the area. It produces siliconized paper and film-based release liners, which are adhesive, sticker-like papers with numerous applications.

In a January 2024 statement to The Daily Iowan, when the rezoning was discussed by the city, Procter & Gamble Senior Director of Communications Patrick Blair wrote the company has been in Iowa City for over six decades and is focused on working for the community’s benefit.

“For generations, we’ve served consumers from our facilities in Iowa City, supported our employees, and helped the community — fundamental to our company’s purpose,” Blair wrote. “We look forward to continuing this commitment as good neighbors for years to come.”

Two residents, Tracy Daby and Anne Marie Kraus, both of whom have spoken extensively at City Council and Planning and Zoning meetings, report suffering from neurological and physical disability from exposure to airborne chemicals.

Daby and Kraus said the smell comes at random intervals and they attribute it to gaseous releases from the Procter & Gamble and Loparex manufacturing plants. Daby said the smell resembled chemicals like acetone and “a really rotten dumpster.” She and Kraus both said the smells keep them from going outside or opening windows and cause them to experience headaches.

Daby said using the Environmental Protection Agency’s EJScreen mapping tool shows that chemical pollution likely affects the one-mile radius around the plants. However, they said the supposed chemical pollution may impact a larger area of Iowa City where it is not perceivable by smell.

Additionally, an upset Daby said she and her children began suffering from health issues within five years of living in the area. 

Daby said her twin children, who are now approaching 28, were diagnosed early in elementary school as having pervasive developmental delay, which is a neurological condition that shares similarities with autism. 

Additionally, she and her two kids developed physical, Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms that resulted in tremors in her hands.

She also said her family was diagnosed with unusually high levels of androgen hormones, which are male sex hormones.

Kraus said she has dealt with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome for several years. Referred to as MCAS, it brings episodes of chronic, allergy-response-like symptoms, like hives, rashes, headaches, and dizziness, in a way that is pervasive and disabling at times. 

She said she has been affected negatively by the chemicals despite living just west of the Longfellow neighborhood.

“That was happening to me even back then, and I have more frequent episodes that are triggered by much less now,” she said.

Daby said the situation has caused her great stress and anxiety when dealing with the companies as they expand, the seeming silence from the city, and her health issues.

“I can’t afford to move, so it’s caused a lot of anxiety,” Daby said.

Daby also said local officials defend the forthcoming expansion of the Procter & Gamble plants for the economic benefits the plants bring to the area, including job creation.

Daby believes this is a poor excuse. She claims the plants are largely automated, with few employees inside or cars parked outside the plant.

Daby said she feels stuck in the area.  She said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is underfunded, so the proper tests could not be performed on the chemical releases, which left her unable to connect her illness with any potential chemical exposure — until recently.

The Iowa DNR reports receiving claims and complaints in the Longfellow neighborhood, or generally in the area south of Highway Six, for decades. Broadly, these complaints seemed invalid.

However, DNR Environmental Specialist Senior Ryan Stouder recently started working with residents to pinpoint the cause, source, and strength of the supposed chemical pollution.

He, Daby, and Kraus, along with other residents, have communicated, and Stouder came to Iowa City to see what was going on.

In the area, earlier in the summer, Stouder used a photo-ionization detector, which detects volatile organic compounds, to see if there was indeed the presence of harmful chemicals in the area.

The detector reported a chemical response in parts per million, which means a specific number of volatile molecules were present within one million local molecules, he said. There was a faint smell, but the detector could not identify specific chemical compounds.

Stouder worked with Iowa City to identify other possible causes for the chemical presence, such as issues with wastewater disposal. 

Eventually, that possibility was determined not to be problematic, but residents say the chemical problem remained.

So, with the combination of Stouder’s findings and comments from residents, Stouder contacted the EPA office in Kansas City for assistance.

The EPA then used specific monitoring equipment attached to a vehicle to search the area for hours to detect chemicals when they were released, as the times were seemingly random.

Now marks a waiting game; Stouder said the EPA is processing their reported findings, which could take weeks or even months. Stouder said that if the report reveals the plants in the area are not correctly handling chemical releases, the EPA could fine them or order them to make changes.

Stouder said it has been hard to identify exactly how people are affected and by what. Iowa City Community School District Director of Community Relations, Kristin Pedersen, said Southeast Middle School in the affected area has not noticed any smells or experienced any side effects.

Similarly, the complaints seem to be hit-or-miss with residents, he said.

“When you drive the area and ask people that live there, a lot of times folks say they don’t smell anything,” he said.

However, Stouder’s findings support the possibility that pollution is presently affecting the area, though the severity and length of time at which it has been present will be addressed by the EPA’s report and subsequent investigation.

Stouder said, from here, utmost caution is necessary to evaluate resident complaints and not attack businesses.

“Walking that fine line between folks in the neighborhood, companies, and other components make it a stressful situation,” he said.

To Daby, the situation is an environmental justice problem and needs to be addressed since it could affect local schools and a lower-income neighborhood. 

“All three of us were disabled within five years of living here,” she said. “All three of us were disabled with severe neurologic and hormonal mysteries. I wish we had the political know-how to get through to the city council before they approved expanding petrochemical manufacturing in our backyards.”