Earlier this month, a small group of citizens and legislators gathered at the New York home of Debra Hall (Founder of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water & Clean Air and founding member/co-chair of the New York State Vapor Intrusion Alliance) to announce and unveil legislation requiring the EPA to better protect the public from TCE-contaminated water and air. The new legislation is intended to be the House of Representatives' companion to Senator Clinton et. al.'s TCE Reduction Act.

Here's a video of the press conference announcing the new legislation:


This press release comes from U.S. Rep. John Hall's (D-NY) website:

Standing with Hopewell Junction families who have suffered from cancer and other health problems due to groundwater contamination and vapor intrusion by the carcinogenic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), U.S. Rep. John Hall (D-NY19) today unveiled legislation to help communities deal with TCE contamination. The TCE Reduction Act, which Hall is introducing with U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY22), would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set stricter regulations to protect the public from exposure to TCE.

"Growing scientific evidence shows the danger TCE pollution poses to people," said Congressman Hall. "Yet the EPA continues to drag its feet instead of setting a new standard that would help the residents of Hopewell Junction and similar communities throughout the country."

TCE and other contaminants have plagued Hopewell Junction residents as the result of Hopewell Precision’s disposal of painting and degreasing wastes directly on the ground, resulting in a 1.5 mile long groundwater contamination plume. Chemicals have been detected in local drinking water wells and many homes have experienced significant problems caused by vapor intrusion. The site was listed on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund National Priority List, a list of the most severely polluted sites in the country, in 2005. Yet residents are still suffering from significant TCE contamination.

"TCE is a pervasive, toxic chemical that cannot be allowed to continue to pollute our communities," said Congressman Hall. "Study has shown that it is a likely carcinogen, can cause nerve damage, lead to developmental difficulties in children, and pose a significant threat to public health. We expect our government at all levels to provide security. When the fire alarm rings, we expect the fireman to show up and put the blaze out. EPA is no exception. But what did EPA do when the alarm rang about TCE spill here and throughout the rest of the country? It recommended more study."

In 2001, a draft EPA Risk Assessment found TCE to be as much as 40 times more carcinogenic than previously thought, but instead of setting a more protective standard for TCE in drinking water, the Bush Administration called for more study. The National Research Council (NRC) was directed to conduct an in depth study of the health studies involving TCE. The final NRC report, issued in 2006, found that "the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001." The report went on to say, "The committee recommends that federal agencies finalize their risk assessment with currently available data so that risk management decisions can be made expeditiously."

"No action has been taken by the EPA to update the water standard," stated Debra Hall of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water. "There is no federal standard to deal with vapor intrusion even though this is a very dangerous environmental issue. I applaud Congressman Hall for taking action to force stricter regulations related to TCE. People living here in Hopewell Junction and the entire nation will benefit greatly when this bill becomes law. Stricter standards will allow more homes to be mitigated. It is obvious that legislation is needed to force protection against cancer and other health issues that are caused by TCE."

Hopewell Junction resident Sharon Whalen testified that her father developed prostate cancer after living in her home. The house was also dubbed "the sick house" because everyone living there became almost constantly ill. Whalen's home is impacted by vapor intrusion only and at the highest amount of the entire superfund site.

The TCE Reduction Act addresses both groundwater contamination and vapor intrusion caused by TCE and would require the EPA to:

• Issue a revised health advisory for TCE within 6 months of enactment.
• Issue revised draft health standards for TCE in drinking water within 12 months of enactment, and final drinking water standards within 18 months.
• Issue a health advisory standard for TCE vapor intrusion within 12 months of enactment.
• Establish an integrated risk information system reference concentration for TCE vapor which is protective within 18 months of enactment.
• Ensure that all standards set under the bill fully protect susceptible populations (including pregnant women, infants, and children) from the adverse health affects of TCE.

Like Mike Partain, Bill Smith is a male breast cancer survivor who was exposed to toxins at Camp Lejeune, NC. Bill was kind enough to share his story with us:

After graduating from Florida State University with a journalism degree, William J. P. Smith, Jr. served in the USMC from 1956 until 1959, stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, the majority of the time with the Globe as sports editor and acting editor of the largest Corps newspaper at the time. While there, he married, residing at the trailer park on the base and later in Midway Park, while fathering two girls.

In 1994, Bill was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a radical modified mastectomy with 30 lymph nodes removed from his left side. He was treated with Tamoxifin for five years, and has had no reoccurance. It should be noted that there was no history of any kind of cancer in the Smith family. His former wife and two girls have had no symptoms of the disease.

On behalf of women, Bill has been a fund raiser and is the subject of two books, Living with Breast Cancer, the Story of 39 Women and One Man by Perry Colemore and Lisa Adelsberger, and Messages from Somewhere, Inspiring Stories of Life After 60 by Harriet May Savitz. He has also written an autobiographical screenplay on his experience. The irony of all of this is that Bill was part of the team at Xerox Corporation that introduced xeroradiography for the early detection of breast cancer in 1969 at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit. Every once in a while, he takes the press kit from his library shelf and shares it with his students, who find it hard to believe that men can contract the horrific disease.

Today, Bill resides in Tallahassee, FL with his wife Kathy, teaches at FSU and runs an integrated marketing communications consultancy, Huckleberry Finn Tomorrow.

There are now at least 4 men known to have developed breast cancer after exposure to toxins at Camp Lejeune. With fewer than 2,000 new cases of male breast cancer diagnosed each year, we wonder:

• What are the odds of finding 4 cases of male breast cancer from the same contaminated military base?
• How many other military men have developed breast cancer?

As we learn more, we'll keep you posted.

Recently, the Queens Tribune (NY) reported:

Advocates and community members gathered Tuesday in front of State Senator Frank Padavan’s Bellerose office to protest his lax legislation concerning environmentally contaminated school sites and to announce a leafleting campaign to educate constituents in Padavan’s district about the issue.

The meeting was hosted by Dave Palmer, a lawyer for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which represents community groups dealing with environmentally contaminated school sites. School sites leased by the City do not require the same type of community, political and environmental review processes as schools owned by the City. This loophole allows for schools to be located on contaminated sites posing health threats to children, according to the organization.

“All of that we think places children at risk,” Palmer said.

“Children are most vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals.”

In June, the State Assembly passed a bill sponsored by Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood) that NYLPI believed strongly addressed the issues surrounding leased school sites. Palmer said community groups also had an assurance from Padavan that he would sponsor an equally strong bill in the Senate, though they say the bill that was past last session did not contain strong enough provisions for community notice, City Council review and environmental review.

Padavan said in a June statement, “Through discussions with the City and environmental advocates, we have crafted legislation that addresses concerns relative to school leasing in the City. The legislation that we have developed ensures that any proposed leased site for a school undergoes a two-phased environmental review process with adequate time for public review and comment on any site remediation plan impacting students, parents and community.”

Advocacy organizations and community groups plan to begin distributing leaflets Saturday throughout Padavan’s district, which encompasses parts of northeastern Queens, in an effort to get his constituents to pressure him to draft legislation that more closely reflects their concerns about leased schools.

At the meeting Tuesday, Katie Acton, whose daughter attended PS 65 in Ozone Park from 1999 to 2002 spoke about the toxins beneath the school that she believes led her daughter to develop asthma. Acton belongs to PS 65 Parents and Neighborhood Against TCE, which now has a lawsuit against the City. The school is located is a former airplane parts factory.

“Leaving the school, her health has improved and so have her grades,” Acton said. “It is my understanding that the Department of Education knew of the contamination before the families.”

It has also been reported that the site of the Information Technology High School in Long Island City, a former factory, is contaminated.

Cancer Monthly posted a great feature entitled Cancer and the Presidential Candidates. We extracted the legislative efforts that we think most relevant for TCE-impacted individuals and communities:

Barak Obama has sponsored a bill to enable states to develop or expand activities to monitor exposure to environmental toxins and pollutants (S.1068);

Hilary Clinton has sponsored a bill that would amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the health of susceptible populations from trichloroethylene (S.1911);

Both of them, along with John McCain, cosponsored a bill that would provide grants to better understand the environmental factors related to breast cancer (S.579).

Of course, this is just a glimpse of the candidates' cancer-fighting credentials and only part of the feature. The rest of it is worth checking out, especially the part that leads Cancer Monthly to conclude:

And finally, beneath its public relations veneer as our protector, the FDA is an agency that reportedly lets drug company representatives make decisions for the country, approves dangerous drugs, and does not perform necessary follow-up on approved drugs.

Update: You know, we checked out the proposals that we blindly copied cited above. Of course we were already familiar with the TCE Reduction Act (S.1911), so we checked out the Obama and McCain-sponsored proposals. The McCain cosponsored proposal, (S.579), reads pretty much as Cancer Monthly advertises.

We're not certain, however, that Cancer Monthly captured the full impact of Obama's proposal. It seems to us that its scope is much broader than just expanding states monitoring capabilities. Seems to us like Obama is seeking accountability. Judge for yourself - here's the full text:

'A bill to promote healthy communities. '
Bill # S.1068

Original Sponsor:
Barack Obama (D-IL)

Healthy Communities Act of 2007 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Advisory Committee on Environmental Health to review environmental health data and studies to: (1) assess the impact of federal laws, policies, and practices on environmental health and justice; and (2) identify and recommend ways to change or ensure compliance with federal laws, address gaps in federal environmental health research, and prevent or mitigate harm from federal policies, programs, and practices that may adversely affect environmental health or justice. Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prepare a biennial Environmental Health Report Card for the nation and for each state. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish the Health Action Zone Program to award grants to at-risk communities for comprehensive environmental health improvement activities; and (2) expand and intensify environmental health research. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director, to provide grants and technical assistance to enable states to develop or expand activities related to biomonitoring of exposure to environmental toxicants and pollutants. Requires the Secretary to: (1) promote translation and dissemination of findings; and (2) incorporate the data collected under this Act with existing data collection efforts. Requires the Director to expand training and educational activities relating to environmental health and justice for health professionals and public health practitioners.

After several years of exploration, the East Pikeland Planning Commission has just recommended a plan to build an elementary school on land contaminated with VOC's (including TCE). Last week, the Daily Local News (West Chester, PA) reported the unanimous recommendation was made to the Board of Supervisors. Now, presumably, the Board will consider the issue.

Back in 2006, the Planning Commission summarized the history of the site and outlined their major environmental concerns regarding school-building there:

[Attorney Christopher] Roe explained that across Coldstream Road from the proposed school site the Henry Company site has long been the subject of environmental investigation and clean-up under the direction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Ciba-Geigy, a chemical company, operated there in the 1950s and early 1960s. USEPA has identified lagoons that were used for disposal in that area and are the likely source of solvent contamination in the groundwater. The lagoons were excavated in 1984, but the monitoring and clean-up of groundwater continues.

In the 1980s groundwater monitoring wells were installed on nearby properties to determine how far contaminants had spread. These off site wells included four that were installed on what is now the Kimberton Elementary School property. Two of the wells on the north northeast side of the Kimberton School property have never shown the presence of any solvent contamination. A third well, on the east side of the property along Rt.113, has shown low levels, at or below clean-up standards. The fourth well, monitoring well MW-17 –along the southwest edge of the property – has consistently shown elevated levels of solvent contamination.

Phoenixville Area School District (PASD) will not use groundwater from the property for any purpose. Despite this, PASD and its advisors met with and are working with USEPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to insure that the presence of the contaminants in the groundwater below part of the property will not pose unacceptable risks to employees or students.

PASD is actively engaged in two steps toward this goal. First, PASD has directed that the designers of the school building follow and implement USEPA guidelines for ensuring that school buildings are protected from subsurface vapors.

Second, PASD has hired environmental specialists to install additional groundwater monitoring wells to better define the areas of the property under which contaminated groundwater may exist, including the concentrations and water elevations.

Given the history of the use of the property, another issue that PASD is having its environmental advisers fully evaluate and address is the appropriate handling of the construction debris and other fill materials, including a small area reportedly used as a town disposal area in the 1960s or earlier. PASD’s consultant will submit a plan for the handling of the fill materials that will be reviewed and approved by PADEP before actual construction work begins.

A quick poke around EPA's website reveals a bit more detail regarding the history of the Henry Co./Ciba-Geigy contamination site:

In 1981 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in monitoring wells. As a result, a series of initial clean-up actions took place including removal of drums, excavation of the lagoons, and treatment of residential wells. In 1992 a public water system was built providing water to residences and businesses around the site. Approximately 500 people live within a one-mile radius of the site. A small stream that crosses through the site is the discharge point for local groundwater. Less than one-mile from the site is French Creek, a public recreation and fishing area.

[...]

Threats and Contaminants
During routine water quality testing in 1981, contamination in a well on the site was detected. The lagoons were identified as a source of contamination at the site. The groundwater is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including trichloroethene [aka trichloroethylene], dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride. A tributary to French Creek was also contaminated with VOCs.

[...]

Cleanup Progress
In the past ten years, over 3,000 pounds of VOCs, mainly TCE, have been removed by the groundwater treatment system. The groundwater and surface water are regularly monitored and this information is reported to EPA. EPA completed a five-year review of the site on September 30, 2004 and found that the remedy is protective of human health and the environment. The next five-year review will be due by September 2009.

Though online sources do not appear to reveal the levels of contamination at the adjacent contaminated property or under the proposed school, plans to build a geothermal system into the proposed school reportedly have been scrapped because of the vapor intrusion risk associated with drilling into the soil.

We can't help but wonder: If the soil is so contaminated that drilling into it may exacerbate vapor intrusion, do you really want to put a school there?

Apparently we're not the only ones concerned. In an opinion letter published this past Sunday in the Daily Local News, West Chester resident Bruce Molholt Ph.D., an independent environmental consultant and a part-time professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Environmental Studies whose research interests include "environmental factors which exacerbate cancer incidence among children," writes:

As a toxicologist who has investigated many schools built upon ground containing chlorinated solvents, this situation looks potentially dangerous to future schoolchildren whether or not a geothermal system is put in place.

The problem is that chlorinated solvents underground are degraded by soil bacteria to vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic gas. This carcinogenic gas migrates upwards, much like radon, and may accumulate in buildings on top of contaminated soil.

In one such school built in 1965 atop a trichloroethylene (TCE) dump in Marion, Ohio, I found that the leukemia rate in schoolchildren was three times that expected. Upon my recommendation, the local school board finally moved the school to another location. Obviously this unwise location caused both inestimable human trauma and great expense to the school district.

Bruce Molholt
West Chester

If any readers know the actual levels of contamination found at or near the site, please contact us via the link above or send an email to tceblog [at] gmail.com. Meantime, we'll try to keep you posted as we learn more.

We posted this news weeks ago and wanted to tell you more:

According to the press release announcing its formation, the New York State Vapor Intrusion Alliance (NYVIA) was recently formed by citizens representing Ithaca, Victor, Endicott, Hopewell Junction, Plainview, Hillcrest, Middleport and Ft. Edward. Each of these communities has been forced to deal with ongoing TCE pollution and the impact of vapor intrusion. Founding members of the Alliance include (links have been provided below where available):

Debra Hall, Co-Chair Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Air and Clean Water	Bruce Oldfield, Co-Chair Hillcrest Environmental Action Team
Mike Barry Victor New York TCE	Carol Meschkow Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community, Inc.
Laura Haight NY Public Interest Research Group	Ken Deschere Regina Deschere Ithaca South Hill Industrial Pollution
Bill Borell Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Air and Clean Water	Sue Hughes Julie Rizzo United Neighbors Improving Tomorrow's Environment
Stephen Boese Healthy Schools Network	Don Teeling CARE - Ft. Edward

They are supported by two technical advisors:

Lenny Siegel Center for Public Environmental Oversight

Dave Palmer, Esq. NY Lawyers for the Public Interest

Their press release states their mission:

1. Assist impacted residents, communities and schools across New York State in addressing toxic chemical exposure from vapor intrusion.


2. Explore the impact of vapor intrusion on health and property, identify commonalities, and present our findings as a means to educate the public, media, and policy-makers.


3. Collaborate with local and state officials to adopt protective remediation standards, policies, procedures and technologies to prevent or mitigate vapor intrusion that are based on 21st century knowledge and science.

In support of this mission, the Alliance has already inserted itself into state politics and is lobbying for legislation designed to better protect the public from migrating toxins and vapor intrusion.

In addition to announcing support for proposed state legislation regarding Landlord Notification to Tenants of Contaminants (requiring that landlords disclose to current or prospective tenants any known contamination on a property, including the results of any investigations concerning vapor intrusion) and announcing support for the state's proposed Private Well Testing Act (requiring that drinking water from private wells be tested - upon transfer of a property - for contaminants including VOC's), the Alliance is meeting with legislators and urging New York State to revise its indoor air action levels for TCE:

A document from the NYS Department of Health in 2003 listed the range of potential criteria for long term exposure of trichloroethylene (TCE) in indoor air from 0.2 to 4 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3)of air and then sets 5 mcg/m3 as the indoor air guideline. In 2005, the NYS DOH adopted a matrix for evaluating residential indoor air that lists values for mitigation of TCE vapors ranging from 0.25 to 5.0 mcg/m3 depending on subslab concentrations. As a response to public outcry about the matrix, the NYS DOH convened an expert panel in August of 2005 to comment on the use of this matrix. NYS DOH rejected the panel’s recommendation that the standard be set between 0.1 and 1 mcg/m3 of indoor air. In 2006, NYS Senator Thomas Libous wrote to the NYS DOH requesting that the NYS standard be set between 0.016 and 0.02 mcg/m3 of air. The NYS DOH has been unresponsive to requests to lower NYS indoor air standards.

[...]

The community action groups in this Alliance have found that the NYS Indoor Air guidelines in the matrix are not applied uniformly in pollution cases. The screening levels appear to be different in different communities and the action levels vary significantly. In Hillcrest (Town of Fenton) NY, mitigation of TCE vapors was done down to 0.14 mcg/m3 whereas in Endicott NY a standard of 5 mcg/m3 was applied.

The NewYork-Vapor Intrusion Alliance strongly supports the introduction of legislation to adopt trichloroethylene indoor air standards to be set at the detection level using the most accurate measurement devices available. NY-VIA also strongly supports that the standards be applied uniformly across New York State.

The New York State Vapor Intrusion Alliance is working towards important goals. Their voice and influence have become necessary to fill a critical gap left by legislators and regulators who, unduly influenced by corporate and political pressures, have been unable or unwilling to adequately protect the public from migrating toxins and vapor intrusion.

The TCE Blog fully supports NYVIA's mission and its efforts. Further, we believe other states can and should learn from their example. Every state should establish a similar Vapor Intrusion Alliance.

If anybody from Connecticut wants to help us launch the CTVIA, please contact us.

We wanted to alert readers to a free online tool that allows ordinary folks to create custom Google maps. With it, users can easily plug-in street addresses, lat. and long. coordinates, or can navigate visually to a location by hand, and can add the digital equivalent of push-pins and labels. Though Map Builder is technically still in beta, we've recently used it and fell in love.

After free registration, users can create their very own, custom Google maps without having to know any code. Well, almost - if you want to add a map to your website, you will need to know how and where to copy/paste the code (all generated for you by Map Builder), but that's about all.

We thought this was the perfect tool for activists, community representatives, or anyone who would like to communicate visually about contamination. Whether marking the location of contaminated water wells, plume boundaries, vapor intrusion detects, or disease occurrences, nearly every contaminated community can benefit from a custom map. Plus, we can't tell you how many frustrated web-searchers have ended up at the TCE Blog in search of a contamination map, only to find the particular map they seek does not exist online at all.

We used Map Builder to create the following 2 simple maps as examples:

• 17 EPA-identified contamination sites in Cheshire, CT
• Map of select toxic migration as of 1985 in Cheshire, CT

(For more context on these maps, see this post at The Cheshire Town Post)

Our only negative experience with Map Builder so far is with the map editing interface: It's a little clunky when you start, but once you get used to it, it is a breeze.

Check out Map Builder. And consider making maps! If you do create and post them, please let us know.

According to today's Philadelphia Inquirer (PA):

Superior Tube Co., a Collegeville manufacturer that has released some of the nation's highest airborne amounts of trichloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen, announced today that it is phasing out use of the chemical.

Company president Tony Jost said the TCE would be replaced with a less hazardous chemical.

The company has asked the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for permission to modify its procedures. If approved, Jost said, the work could be completed by the end of April.

Charles McPhedran of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a key critic of the company's practices, said Superior was making "a big step forward."

Company officials said the new process would be state of the art and would meet or exceed all the changes that have been vigorously sought by area residents, legislators and the environmental community.

Read the full story here.

Congratulations to Liz D., Jon Goodman, the folks at PennFuture, and the others in the Collegeville/Trappe area who are fighting to protect people from TCE and played an important role in influencing Superior Tube's decision. Thanks also to Liz for the tip.

Wanted to alert folks to a blog we've been reading for a few months which tracks contamination news of all sorts. It's called Contaminated Nation and is run/edited by Jay Gaines. Jay is a capricorn, his zodiac year is the rooster (would we make this stuff up?), and he has this to say about his background and the blog's purpose:

As an employee of a large environmental risk information company, I have unique insight into contamination issues in the U.S. The purpose of this blog is to share what I see and learn about the effects of contamination in our nation and our neighborhoods.

Be sure to check out all the latest contamination news at Contaminated Nation.

From Friday's Midhudsonnews.com:

East Fishkill – The New York Vapor Intrusion Alliance has been formed with members across the state. It was spearheaded by Debra Hall, an East Fishkill resident who has been fighting for clean water and clean air after her house was found to be contaminated.

The group’s primary purpose is public awareness of the problems surrounding vapor intrusion, said Hall.

“We basically want people to recognize vapor intrusion, know that it’s a real health problem, and there needs to be legislation that is going to protect people for it,” she said. “Now that we know that it’s here, who knows how long people have been breathing in vapors with TCE and PCE and all these other chemicals that volatize?”

Hall and members of the group will be meeting with state lawmakers and DEC officials next week to push for legislation that would require landlord notification when dealing with environmental investigations and testing, and a private well testing law.

UPDATE: There's more on the NYSVIA in this Dec. 29, 2007 Ithaca Journal article:

Broome County, with more than 700 properties affected in Endicott, the Town of Union, Vestal, Binghamton and Hillcrest, is among the largest stakeholders in the TCE regulatory process, said Bruce Oldfield, a Hillcrest resident and Broome Community College professor. He is co-chairing the group, called the New York State Vapor Intrusion Alliance, representing citizens groups from nine areas throughout the state. Debra Hall of Hopewell Junction in Dutchess County, is a co-chair.

TCE has also been detected in parts of the South Hill section of Ithaca. Coalition members plan to meet with lawmakers in Albany in January, Oldfield said. They are pushing for simple and uniform rules that prohibit trichloroethylene (TCE) in indoor air.

“There seems to be a wide discrepancy in how they (state health and environmental departments) approach these sites,” Oldfield said. “That is troublesome.”

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP's) are by nature retaliatory lawsuits. They are designed to stop people from speaking out or taking action. As Wikipedia tells us:

This form of litigation is frequently filed by organizations or individuals to intimidate and silence critics or opponents by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense so that they abandon their criticism or opposition. The acronym was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring [

Canan and Pring, cited by Wikipedia as coiners of the phrase, describe typical targets of these suits in their book, SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out:

Our study confirms that these suits are a growing legal threat for concerned Americans who speak their minds on issues of importance to their communities, state, or nation:

• every citizen who takes a stand on a public concern;
• everyone who has ever been tempted to 'fight city hall';
• everyone who has ever worked in a political campaign;
• everyone who has ever felt like speaking up on a neighborhood issue;
• everyone who supports a cause;
• everyone who has ever stepped on powerful toes
• everyone who cares if "government by the people' works in America.

Despite the potential initial shock value of a SLAPP, we learn from the Florida Specifier that SLAPPs are a poor strategy choice for industrial facilities facing citizen suits:

What not to do

One reaction to avoid when confronted with a citizen suit is filing a "strategic lawsuit against public participation." These SLAPP suits are legal actions that companies file against environmental groups or individuals that have no merit, and are instead filed to intimidate the plaintiffs into leaving the facility alone. If one of the plaintiffs happen to be a large national environmental group, such a lawsuit is not going to accomplish anything.

A long time ago, the national environmental groups adopted policies of never backing down to SLAPP suits. Even for small groups, their lawyers have likely been through the drill before and know that the only option is to continue to fight. In addition, the environmental community has considerable resources available to defend SLAPP suits and usually rallies around these situations. There is also the fact that SLAPP suits are an anti-democratic, bully tactic.

Something tells us AVX didn't get this memo.

By the way, 26 states have anti-Slapp statutes in place. South Carolina is not one of them.

WDEF Channel 12 Interview with Alvin Shipp about the Camp Lejeune water contamination and the death of his son in 1968.

The Camp Lejeune hearing begins tomorrow. You can watch/listen via webcast here. It appears the witness list for the hearing has been revised. The updated witness list includes:

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gross
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps

Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
PSC Box 20005
Camp Lejeune, NC 28542-0005

Accompanied by Ms. Kelley A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps (I&L)
2 Navy Annex
Washington, DC 20380-1775

United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard
Director
Office of the Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
1322 Patterson Avenue, Suite 3000
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5066

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease registry

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSD
Mail Stop E-28
1600 Clinton Road
Atlanta, GA 30333

Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist (sic)
and
Morris Maslia
Environmental Engineer

Panel III

Mr. Peter J. Murtha
Director
Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvanie Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460

Accompanied by Mr. Tyler Amon
Special Agent
Criminal Investigation Division

Mr. Franklin Hill
Director, Superfund Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 4
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303

Maria G. Crosse, Ph.D.
Director, Public Health and Military Health Care Issues
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW, Room 5K21
Washington, DC 20548

We recently received the following announcement from our friends at VOTE - Victims of TCE Exposure in Oregon:

Meeting Notice
View-Master Health Study Citizens Advisory Group (VMHS CAG)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room, Beaverton Library [Google map]
(SW Hall and Fifth St.)

Tentative Agenda:

1. Introductions (5 min.)
2. Approval of minutes of the April meeting. (5 min.)
3. Quick Reports (charter, letters). (10 min.)
4. Discussion with Dr. Don Austin. Dr. Austin is an M.D., an epidemiologist, and a co-investigator on the proposed View-Master health study. He will discuss with us the formation of the Oregon Cancer Registry, and talk about a few specific cancers thought to be associated with TCE. (50 min.)
5. Next meeting: September (probably Thursday, Sept. 27) (5 Min.)

Please notice that we are meeting on a Tuesday evening in order to accommodate Dr. Austin's schedule. We are meeting at 6:00, our customary time, because the library closes at 8:00.

In an attempt to expand and deepen our coverage of TCE-related developments in communities across the country and around the world, we are looking for local correspondents/field reporters.

Our hope is to provide occasional news and insights regarding local developments in affected communities beyond what is covered in the mainstream press (of course, we'll continue to provide mainstream coverage as well). Correspondents/reporters can be identified on the blog by name as such or can be kept confidential if necessary/desired.

If you or anyone you know may be interested in serving in this capacity for a TCE-affected community, please contact us.

NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

For planning purposes: June 8, 2007

Contact: Jodi Seth 202-225-5735

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune.

The purpose of this hearing is to examine issues arising from the extensive, high-level contamination of drinking water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. This is the first of a series of hearings the Subcommittee plans to hold on environmental problems at Department of Defense (DOD) facilities.

The hearing will include testimony from former Marine Corps residents of Camp Lejeune who, along with their families, drank the contaminated water, cooked their food in it, and bathed in it. The Subcommittee will also receive testimony from the Government agencies involved in dealing with the contamination, assessing the adverse health effects, and investigating allegations of criminal violations of Federal law, including the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, ATSDR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

WITNESS LIST

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gros
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps
Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
Accompanied by Ms. Kelly A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard Director
Office of The Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Department of Health and Human Services

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSDR
Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist
and
Morris Maslia, P.E.
Environmental Engineer

According to the Pottstown Mercury (PA), the following Pennsylvania lawmakers have joined the fight to apply EPA's new solvent emissions regulations to the narrow tube industry (all have written letters criticizing the exemption, all were reportedly on a conference call with EPA pressing this issue on Friday):

• Congressman Joe Sestak, D-7th Dist. (read Sestak: No exemptions for 'narrow tube' plants);
• Congressman Jim Gerlach, R-6th Dist. (read Gerlach Pushes For A TCE Emissions Response);
• Congressman Charles Dent, R-15th Dist.;
• Senator John Rafferty, R-44th Dist.;
• Senator Andrew Dinniman, D-19th Dist.;
• State Representative Mike Vereb, R-28th Dist.

This was announced just last Friday on the PR Newswire:

Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Emissions Standards on hazardous air pollutants halogenated solvent cleaning[sic].

[...]

"I believe the EPA did not adequately consider public health risks when establishing new air emissions standards for TCE, nor did they take into account the reasonable, economically-feasible and expedient measures that are available to the narrow tube industry to reduce emissions," said Governor Rendell, noting his reason for directing DEP to challenge this action. "Exempting these industries from more stringent emission standards fails to protect the well-being of our people, our communities and our economy."

[...]

"Contrary to the argument that reductions in TCE emissions will place an unfair burden on the narrow tube industry, we are seeing voluntary reductions by manufacturers in Montgomery County that can be realized within a year," said Governor Rendell. "That calls into question the EPA's evaluation of the facts about this industry. For the sake of our residents, I am asking the EPA to act quickly in reviewing our objections and reverse this decision."

The question Rendell raises is an interesting one: Should voluntary efforts by a few undermine regulatory exemptions for an entire industry? We wonder what impact, if any, Rendell's argument may have on those organizations considering or undertaking such voluntary TCE reduction efforts (beware the law of unintended consequences).

At the same time, we wonder if perhaps Rendell is avoiding a more obvious question: Why have ANY exemptions from health-protective standards like these? It just seems like obvious nonsense to us that any organization, let alone the most powerful polluters in the world, should get a free pass from keeping people safer because it is hard or expensive for their business. More on this another time...

For now, bravo to Governor Rendell for taking action to keep his citizens safe.

If investigative reporter Jon Goodman is right, the citizens of Pennsylvania have a disturbing public health problem on their hands.

Back in April, the EPA promulgated new, more stringent emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. Trichloroethylene (TCE) was one of the pollutants impacted by these new standards*.

At the same time, EPA carved out exemptions in the new standards allowing certain industries to simply opt out of compliance because of "technological challenges and high costs." The narrow tube industry was one of these industries**. Hence, the narrow tube industry was exempted from reducing its TCE emissions.

This exemption did not sit well with the Board of Supervisors in Lower Providence, Pennsylvania. Lower Providence includes the towns of Collegeville and Trappe, both ranked as having higher TCE levels in their ambient air than most towns in the state...and both happen to be home to narrow tube manufacturers who emit lots of TCE. Today, in a strong rebuke, the Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the EPA's exemption.

At this time, it is unclear what impact this will have on the narrow tube manufacturers TCE emissions in Collegeville and Trappe.

--
* We owe readers more detail on this. As with other things we're backed up on, it's coming. Swear.

** EPA received significant comments on the proposed standards from four industry sectors: the aerospace manufacture and maintenance industry, the narrow tubing manufacturing industry, industries that use continuous web cleaning machines, and a major military equipment maintenance facility. These industries commented that they would face serious technological challenges and high costs if the proposal were finalized. All four were granted exemptions.

From their website (English, French):

OUR MISSION

The gravity of the situation necessitates, in our opinion, constant and rigorous attention to this matter, so we have taken on the task of representing the citizens in everything, big and small, that touches the contamination file. To do this we have a seat on the Follow-up Committee put into place by the municipality and we are in contact with the Québec Public Health Department and the Ministry of the Environment so as to ensure the most adequate solutions. The citizens of Shannon are at the heart of our preoccupations, we believe it is essential that all citizens be informed.


OUR OBJECTIVES

• To ensure regular surveillance of all the filter systems put in place at the homes with contamination problems.
• To see to it that all the citizens on the south side benefit from a water test and that rigorous surveillance is assured on the north side of the municipality.
• To find answers so that residents who wish to take advantage of medical support have ready access to adequate resources.
• To see that the Committee be informed of all the steps that are taken at the environmental level.
• To see to it that the aqueduct system be installed as quickly as possible without entailing any additional cost to residents.

Victor, NY resident Michael Barry has created a Public Awareness Web Page focused on emerging contamination issues in Victor, NY. It contains links to local news and information regarding recently-highlighted trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination in and around Victor. They have kindly provided a link to this blog as an informational resource (thank you).

They also document the formation of a local task force established in response to local concerns. From the minutes of the first task force meeting, held April 1, 2007, the task force's stated mission is:

To investigate the contamination in our community, the effects of the contamination from a health and economic standpoint and to educate the community on our findings. Finally, to work with Town, County, State and Federal officials and agencies to ensure that the community is well represented.

If you are looking for more information or would like to get involved in Victor, be sure to check it out.

To Michael, folks visiting us via his website, and all others who have arrived at our blog while looking for information about TCE and Victor, Welcome. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to be helpful.

On January 19, 2007, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection released the Collegeville Area Air Monitoring Report (PDF, 592K). Among the highlights of the report was the following finding which put the Collegeville/Trappe community on alert:

The annual average TCE concentrations in 2005 at the Trappe and Evansburg sites were 0.26 ppbv and 0.14 ppbv, respectively. In comparison, most other Pennsylvania sites in 2005 were near or below the 0.04 ppbv detection limit. The excess lifetime cancer risk due to TCE in 2005 was 1.60 in 10,000 at the Trappe site and 0.88 in 10,000 at the Evansburg site.

We've realized recently that a number of readers have arrived here in search of more information about TCE in (or because of) Collegeville and Trappe, PA. Through some very minor sleuthing, we've realized that at least 3 websites have emerged that are devoted to monitoring the local issue. They are great resources where folks can learn a lot more. And they've been kind enough to mention or link to this blog (thank you), sending a number of new readers our way.

• Talk of the Town: Investigative reporter Jon Goodman's blog, where, "At great risk he has sought to reveal the problem, the cause and the solution."


• Collegeville TCE Watch: Run by A Concerned Citizen who "decided to setup this blog which will be devoted to gathering information about this important issue, and getting our government representatives to fix this problem quickly."


• Concerned Citizens of Collegeville, PA: A Yahoo Groups group run by Liz D. from Trappe. She writes: I envision this site to be a place where everyone can post and read information and share their thoughts and ideas about the air quality problem in our area. A place to discuss what they've read in the paper, what public officials have told them and what they've heard at public meetings they have attended. It is also a place to discuss what progress, if any, has been made and what we can do as a community to make sure that the air quality in Collegeville/Trappe improves for us and our children.

To all who arrived here from those sites above, and to all others in search of info because of or regarding Collegeville/Trappe, welcome. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to be helpful.

According to the East Valley Tribune (Scottsdale, AZ), a former Scottsdale resident petitioned the ATSDR to determine if cancer rates in the area are elevated:

“Those of us who were developing children in the NIBW [the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund site] would like to know definitively if there is a higher rate of cancer among our population,” Oberlender wrote in a request to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The petition, submitted in January, is being reviewed to determine if more evidence is needed, said Charles Green, a disease registry spokesman. A response is expected in early April.

The Superfund site is 13-square-mile area in Scottsdale and Tempe. It is bounded roughly by the Salt River on the south, Chaparral Road on the north, Scottsdale Road on the west and Loop 101 on the east.

TCE, or trichloroethylene, was used to clean circuit boards beginning in the 1950s. It was dumped down dry wells, sewers and into leaching beds for three decades until it was discovered in 1981 in five drinking water wells that serve Scottsdale.

The wells, three of which were owned by Phoenix until Scottsdale purchased them in 1987, were closed immediately, but concentrations of TCE were as high as 390 parts per billion near the time they were shut, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The federal standard for drinking water is less than 5 parts per billion.

Four companies — Motorola, GlaxoSmithKline, Salt River Project and SMI Holding, formerly Siemens — have claimed the lion’s share of the more than $100 million in cleanup costs. Between 1981 and June 2006, an estimated 61.3 billion gallons of groundwater from the site were pumped and treated to remove an estimated 56,800 pounds of TCE.

It is expected to take 20 more years to clean up 90 percent of all the TCE in the groundwater, said Dennis Shirley, project coordinator for the companies.

[...]

Oberlender, who lives in Blacksburg, Va., particularly takes issue with a Superfund fact sheet Scottsdale posts online that says “trace” amounts of industrial chemicals, primarily TCE, were found in two of Scottsdale’s drinking water wells. Three wells owned by Phoenix that supplied water to Scottsdale residents for decades were some of the most contaminated. But the city does not reference those in its fact sheet, Oberlender said.

“Some Scottsdale residents are under the false impression that they did not drink the contaminated water because they paid their water bills to the city of Phoenix,” she said.

Read the full story here.

Last week's Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) reported:

Members of the city's community group on Wyle Labs lashed out at city and school officials Thursday night for not doing more to inform the public about pollution from the testing facility.

The Wyle Community Advisory Group called on Norco officials to honor a 2-year-old commitment to the Riverside County grand jury to monitor clean-up efforts at Wyle Labs and communicate with residents about it.

"It's the city's job to protect the public," group Chairwoman Celeste Tittle said.

Representatives from the school district and the city have not attended an advisory group meeting for more than a year, she said.

City and school officials could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

People who contact the city for information about Wyle are told that it's not a problem or that they can't review regulatory reports, Tittle said.

"I don't believe the school (district) has been active in getting out the information as they would like us to believe," Tittle said.

Read the full story here.

Recently received a nice note from Lizzie Grossman, author of High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health. She sent the following invitation for TCE Blog readers:

What: A reading and discussion of "High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health," my new book about the environmental and health impacts of the entire life-cycle of high tech electronics, just out from Island Press. (see http://www.islandpress.org)

C-Span Book TV will be coming to film, so here's your chance to reach an audience of thousands when you ask that important question! Seriously, this is a great opportunity to help promote understanding of these issues, so come prepared to have a lively conversation.

Where & When: August 15, 7 pm, at Book Passage in San Francisco, in the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero — (415) 835-1020 for directions

Victims of TCE Exposure (VOTE) are hosting a punk rock circus (as a fundraiser) this Saturday:

PRESS RELEASE ---------------------------------------------------

A FUNDRAISER CONCERT FOR VICTIMS OF TCE EXPOSURE:

SCOTT KELLOGG'S BIG
PUNK ROCK CIRCUS
SATURDAY 22 JULY 2006, 8 PM
THE TONIC LOUNGE
3100 NE SANDY BLVD
PORTLAND [OR] 97232

8 BANDS FOR 8 BUCKS!!

THE BANDS:

THE NEINS – 8 FOOT TENDER – DIRTY LOWDOWNS – MS 45 – MUDDY RIVER NIGHTMARE BAND – SK AND THE PUNKASS BITCHES – THE LEGEND OF DUTCH SAVAGE – HOWIE AND THE HOTKNIIVES

A FUNDRAISER CONCERT FOR VICTIMS OF TCE EXPOSURE … A LASTING LEGACY A 501(c)3 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION COMMITTED TO HELPING WORKERS AND FAMILIES GET THE COMMUNITY SUPPORT, MEDICAL INFORMATION, AND LEGAL INFORMATION THEY NEED TO COPE WITH THE ENORMOUS ADVERSE HEALTH RISKS OF LONG-TERM TRICHLOROETHYLENE (TCE) EXPOSURE SUFFERED IN THE HOME OR AT THE WORKPLACE.

CONTACT:
Amanda Evans
tcein3d@yahoo.com , (503) 615-5963
VICTIMSOFTCEEXPOSURE.ORG