Residents, organized as a group called the Behr VOC Area Leaders (BVOCAL), have released the following documentary on YouTube called “This our Neighborhood”:
The documentary details the history of the TCE contamination from the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant in the the McCook Field neighborhood in Dayton, OH.
In today’s news, residents are asking EPA for new widespread testing of indoor air in the neighborhood to rule out risks of exposure by vapor intrusion. So far, EPA has not agreed to the testing. In what appears to be yet another dubious, knee-jerk, party-line denial from federal agencies, Stacey Coburn, the U.S. EPA’s project manager for the site, has stated that “she doesn’t believe anyone’s health is at risk from the plume” despite reports of nearby groundwater contamination levels exceeding 900ppb of TCE and previous confirmation that dangerous levels of TCE have already poisoned indoor air in certain homes.
Meantime, a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the contaminated community who apparently disagree with EPA’s empty reassurances.
MA Members- From LagoonVet: I’m looking for former Marines living in Massachusetts who are affected by the contaminated water at Lejeune. I was stationed aboard Lejeune from 85 to 89. I lived in Tarawa Terrace base housing from 1985 to 1986. I remember several families from Mass. that lived in the same area I lived in, so I know you’re out there. We need to get together to pressure our Congressional delegates to act on our behalf. Together we stand and they know it. If there are 2,180 former Marines registered from Massachusetts then we need to form it up and sound off. Let’s begin the contact process and start communication by posting on the discussion board first then we can take it from there. We need to do this now. Please see my thread on TFTPTF http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=422 or send me an email through the website. -LagoonVet
IA Members- From Terri & Jon: We are looking for any Marines or their families that live in Iowa. Please contact one of the following individuals: Terri Huntley at tllhuntley@yahoo.com or Jon Tory at faba2th@msn.com. Please see our thread on the TFTPTF bulletin board at http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=421 -Terri & Jon
A day-long meeting was held on June 26, 2009 in Washington, DC for a day-long meeting to launch this exciting stakeholder and public involvement initiative. Keynote speakers will include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Director Dr. Linda Birnbaum. Breakout sessions allowed for discussion of specific issues related to public health and chemical exposures.
The 18 month long National Conversation will offer many opportunities for involvement, including: expert working groups, regional and local face-to-face public meetings, and web-based discussions. The resulting action agenda will outline steps for NCEH/ATSDR and other institutions to take to better protect public health from harmful chemical exposures.
Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to attend the kick-off meeting but we’re very interested in this initiative and will try to keep readers posted on developments here.
Did you participate in the kick-off of this “conversation?” If so, we’d like to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments or privately at tceblog[at]gmail.com.
For over a year now, McDowell County’s Omar McCourry has been digging into the history of Old Fort industry and of environmental protection in the community.
Spurred by the tragic death of his brother, Curtis, to brain cancer in 2004, he learned that his brother’s illness was not unique in Old Fort, despite the condition’s relative rarity among the greater population.
Word of mouth led him to suspect that an alarming number of folks in Old Fort had succumbed to the same illness. He has been lobbying public health officials to investigate ever since.
[...]
In 1989, more than 100 barrels of industrial waste were located buried on the site of the former Old Fort Finishing. These were excavated and found to contain dozens of chemicals as well as metals including lead, mercury, arsenic. EPA documents McCourry obtained said that 70 of the barrels had been crushed or decayed when they were unearthed.
The article notes that residential well water samples have detected TCE and PCE at levels exceeding federal safety thresholds for at least 20 years. The article fails to mention that scientists and health agencies worldwide have long-since established that TCE and PCE are neurotoxic and cause cancer.
Not only do local health officials appear typically disinterested, but a local Senator has decided to participate in what feels like an ongoing, nationwide charade:
As McCourry had been told when he brought his findings to the attention of state authorities, in any given population group, if they live long enough, a great number of them would be diagnosed with cancer. It is very difficult, they said, to identify a “cluster” of cancer cases that might indicate a pattern, or implicate an environmental toxin.
Senator Joe Sam Queen echoed that theme in his comments to The McDowell News.
“Cancer is a condition that touches every family eventually,” he said. “We are all interested in a situation that may involve or jeopardize the health of children.
Translation: People die, suck it up.
The Senator’s comment is one that we hear frequently, and it remains a transparent excuse for inaction. The Senator and local/state health officials should give this matter the attention it deserves rather than idly hiding behind their stuff happens party line.
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?
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.
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):
Assist impacted residents, communities and schools across New York State in addressing toxic chemical exposure from vapor intrusion.
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.
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.
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:
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.