The TCE Blog » Communities

Residents launch Youtube documentary on Behr contamination site (OH)

Neil Fischbein — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:00:31 +0000

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.

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Searching for affected Camp Lejeune Marines and families (MA and IA)

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:58:46 +0000

We are re-posting here with permission from The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten:

Looking for TFTPTF Members in MA & IA

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

Thanks,

Andrea Byron

Website Administrator

The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

www.tftptf.com

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July 14 meeting to discuss TCE at Rochester school site (NY)

Neil Fischbein — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:32:45 +0000

As reported in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

The Rochester Board of Education has scheduled a special session to question state health and environmental officials about a factory-turned-schoolhouse whose owner has asked that it be declared a brownfield.

Board President Malik Evans stressed that the purpose of the meeting, slated for July 14 at 6 p.m. at the board’s downtown headquarters, is to learn more about the toxins at the site and not to take action on the Rochester School District’s future use of the building.

The district last year signed a 15-year lease on the building at 690 St. Paul St. [map], a former Bausch & Lomb factory, where it temporarily housed School 33 this school year and plans to have School 14 and the new Dr. Walter Cooper Academy share space for the next few years.

Evans said the board was unaware of any contamination concerns when it authorized the lease, noting that the site hosted a charter school between 2000 and 2005.

[...]

Word of the meeting comes two weeks after the board rejected by a vote of 5-to-2 a motion that sought to pull students out of the space immediately and stop the two schools from moving in this fall.

[...]

Environmental tests of the site conducted last summer revealed traces of trichloroethene [a/k/a Trichloroethylene] in the air, soil and groundwater.

Clean-up plan submitted for metal coatings site in Fort Wayne (IN)

Neil Fischbein — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:16:10 +0000

The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, IN reports:

Nearly five years after toxic chemicals were found moving toward a middle school, the company causing the contamination has a plan to clean it up.

Wayne Metal Protection, 1511 Wabash Ave. [see map], reported polluting the soil and groundwater to Indiana’s voluntary cleanup program in the fall of 2004, but consistently missed state deadlines for investigating the extent of the contamination and forming a cleanup plan. The metal-plating company sits a few hundred feet away – and uphill – from Memorial Park Middle School, and the plume of contamination extends toward the school.

[...]

Decades of metal coating at the site have left the soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents, which move easily in groundwater and then evaporate as a gas up through the soil.

The chemicals Wayne Metal Protection found in the soil and groundwater – tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene – have been linked to numerous health problems including spontaneous abortions, menstrual disorders, altered sperm structure and reduced fertility, miscarriages and developmental problems. They have also been connected to kidney and liver problems, can affect the nervous and immune systems and have been linked to kidney, liver and cervical cancer, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

In addition, the company later reported it had found cyanide, arsenic, lead and chromium at the site, as well as vinyl chloride, which is so dangerous the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says there is no safe level of exposure.

Though the firm has submitted a plan, it will still need technical review by IDEM and a public comment period, a process that could take several more months.

TCE/PCE related disease from Old Fort Finishing site in McDowell County? (NC)

Neil Fischbein — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:11:20 +0000

From The McDowell News (NC) approximately one month ago:

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.

Edit: Thanks to Jill for the tip.

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State admits Tallevast pollution study way off mark (FL)

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:46:51 +0000

Last week’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) reports:

During the last 20 years, Tallevast residents say dozens of their neighbors have died prematurely. Others are still fighting cancer and beryllium-related health issues.

But a draft Florida Department of Health report on the community blighted by more than 200 acres of polluted ground water found just four cases of cancer.

The report could hardly be more different from a survey by residents that showed about 90 cases of cancer or beryllium-related diseases in the mainly black community.

DOH officials who met with the neighborhood group FOCUS on Monday agreed that their numbers, based on a state database and figures from a local hospital, were wildly off the mark. They also admitted they had studied the wrong ZIP code.

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Although Tallevast has a post office, most Tallevast residents live in a Sarasota ZIP code.

“That’s one of the problems of dealing with a statewide database,” said Randy Merchant, a DOH administrator. “It’s hard to get a handle on what is happening in so small an area.”

The results left community leaders upset that state officials had not worked more closely with them to ensure errors like this did not happen.

“We’re angry,” said Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS. “We’re just not sure what road to take. No one ever came into the community to do a study. If you are doing it from behind a desk, you’re going to miss a lot.”

FOCUS’ figures on incidences of cancer came from a door-to-door survey quizzing families about their medical histories.

The community of about 80 homes sits above more than 200 acres of polluted ground water left behind by the former American Beryllium Co., which built parts for nuclear warheads for the federal government for nearly 40 years.

State officials said they will likely get an epidemiologist to conduct a similar door-to-door survey.

The cost would be about $125,000, they said.

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said if the DOH cannot fund it he will look for other funding sources.

“I’ve committed myself to help see that that happens so that the question can be answered and a more accurate picture developed,” Galvano said.

Residents in Tallevast have asked Lockheed Martin, the company responsible for the cleanup of the site, to pay for them to move. They have also filed several lawsuits against Lockheed and other companies that operated at the site seeking damages for health issues and falling property values.

Lockheed became the owner of the Tallevast site after the company acquired the former Loral company in 1996. It shut down the plant and sold the property, but not before discovering soil and ground-water pollution on and around the site.

In 2000, Lockheed notified county and state officials of the pollution, which included trichloroethylene, or TCE, a compound linked to liver and kidney cancer and other ailments.

Residents, who were not informed for almost four more years, continued to use well water. Their homes were switched to the county drinking water system in 2004.

FOCUS leaders said they would welcome state officials’ repeating their survey.

“We think the state will be better at it,” Washington said. “You need to put your feet on the ground and come out here and collect that information.”

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TCE and PCE contaminating Superfund sites in Woods Cross and Bountiful (UT)

Neil Fischbein — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:49:27 +0000

The Deseret Morning News (UT) reports:

Drinking water supplies for tens of thousands of people near three active Superfund sites in the Bountiful and Woods Cross areas have been at risk or even polluted because of groundwater contamination.

The pollution is so bad that the federal government decided to join state regulators in directing long-term cleanup efforts of those sites.

Business owners who bought property in the affected areas, but were unaware that sources of contamination within the Superfund sites were beneath them, are expected to pay for removal of tainted soil and old polluting underground tanks that were put in long before they came along. Federal funds for cleanup are available for Superfund sites if they are active on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List, but some property owners still pay.

Utah Division of Drinking Water director Ken Bousfield said last week that water suppliers in Bountiful and Woods Cross are, based on the most recent tests, providing clean drinking water. Bousfield also is aware of the plumes of contaminated groundwater in those areas and how test results can change.

“That’s why you monitor,” he said.

The EPA lists at least 14 active Superfund sites in Utah that are among the worst hazardous waste sites in the country. Two sites in the Woods Cross and Bountiful areas are active due to three plumes of groundwater polluted by chemicals used in the past by dry cleaners, automotive garages and other industry.

(more)

A third Superfund project on the EPA’s active National Priorities List is called the Intermountain Waste Oil Refinery site, located in Bountiful in the area of 995 South and 500 West. That site, listed in 2000 as a federal priority, has been deemed by the EPA as “under control” in terms of risk for human exposure to the chemical pollutants.

At one time, however, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and EPA were looking into whether those who rely on the so-called East Shore aquifer for drinking water — about 68,000 people — were “potentially affected” by a release of dichloroethylene into the aquifer.

Woods Cross public works director Scott Anderson follows state and federal testing regulations, which call for sampling of two wells every three years. He said municipal drinking water in his city is safe, serving about 7,400 people.

“Safe as anywhere else in the country,” Anderson said. “I think it’s very safe.”

Still, Woods Cross shut down one of its four drinking water sources, which supplied half the city, due to contamination by tetrachloroethylene, which the EPA said consistently was above the Cancer Risk Screening Concentration. Karla Scott can see the well from her home, where someone representing Woods Cross showed up about five years ago asking to test her water.

“He said it was OK,” Scott said. “You just go on with your life and don’t worry about it.”

If she wanted to, Scott could take a water sample for testing to the Utah State Health Lab, which sometimes takes special individual cases on, or to the private Chemtech-Ford Laboratories in Murray. The state lab does rigorous testing for water utilities throughout Utah.

Anderson said a test in 2004 showed that one of the three remaining active wells in Woods Cross turned up traces of trichloroethylene (TCE), but not at a level unacceptable by federal standards.

Bousfield said that in a few past isolated cases elsewhere in Utah, contamination has been so bad in drinking water supplies that people could actually smell chemicals in the water. When that happens, he added, there is a potential for an immediate health risk.

“It’s such a rare occurrence,” he said, unable to come up with a specific example over the phone. “I’m sure they do exist.”

5th South Plume

One of two large plumes of polluted groundwater in the Bountiful and Woods Cross areas, defining one Superfund site, is bad enough that seven of 26 domestic wells in the affected area are believed to have been contaminated by chemicals at concentrations that exceed acceptable federal levels. The potentially cancer-causing chemicals connected to that site are perchloroethylene (PCE) and TCE.

The EPA calls those two plumes the Bountiful/Woods Cross 5th South PCE Superfund Site, a place the EPA has assessed as “Human Exposure Not Under Control.” Mario Robles, the EPA’s project manager over the 5th South site, federally listed as a priority in 2001, said last week that cleanup of those plumes migrating under about 450 acres could take about 15 years.

“Really, nobody knows — it could be more, it could be less,” Robles said on the phone regarding a remediation time line.

So far, the plume contaminated with PCE has made its way into two residential drinking water wells, with one homeowner accepting the EPA’s offer of being hooked up to municipal water without charge. The other homeowner, Robles said, is opting to rely on filters for clean drinking water, preferring its taste over city supplies.

“The issue is if they change it often enough,” Robles said about the filter. “We explained the risks to them.”

The remaining five of the seven affected domestic wells are used primarily for irrigation, and Robles said there is not a risk of human exposure to the polluted groundwater around those wells. State regulators don’t keep track of water quality in private wells.

The two plumes, located roughly in the area of 500 South and 800 West in Bountiful, are slowly moving west, and the area of impact could spread, increasing the potential for future exposure from ingesting contaminated groundwater or by inhaling vapors as people use the groundwater for irrigation, according to the EPA.

Robles said that as soon as next month the EPA will decide whether soil near the Bountiful Family Cleaners, in operation since the 1940s but under different ownership, is contaminated enough with PCE to warrant removal and replacing. If that happens, the current owners of the cleaning business may have to cover some of those costs. PCE has been a preferred chemical used by dry cleaners for decades, dating from long before more strict disposal standards for PCE were put in place.

Ronald Bangerter bought the business in the 1960s and now owns it with his eight sons. One son, Bryce, said he hopes Bountiful Family Cleaners won’t have to pay any more than the $100,000-plus it already has spent during the past six years on legal fees and to look for pollution under the property.

“Sleepless nights, gut-wrenching, worried, what’s going to happen to the business,” is how Bryce Bangerter describes those six years. “We’ve run a clean ship since the ’60s.”

Prior to Bangerter’s family owning the business, waste went into a septic tank that drained into a field. But it’s unknown, Bangerter said, if the tank is still underground.

Until cleanup of the two 5th South plumes begins, the EPA is checking eight monitoring wells around the 400-acre PCE plume and 13 monitoring wells around the 50-acre TCE plume to watch how and where they move. The EPA believes the TCE plume has not impacted any wells.

The EPA’s plans for cleanup of the two plumes includes drawing the groundwater out, cleaning it and putting it back into the ground. Another method being considered involves adding nutrients into the polluted groundwater to speed up a natural degradation process.

Five Points Plume

A second Superfund site in the area, which is known by the EPA as the Five Points PCE plume, is a third plume of contaminated groundwater. It is located in the area of approximately 1500 South and State Highway 106, and received its active Superfund priority listing just last year.

The EPA’s on-scene coordinator, Duc Nguyen, said Your Valet Dry Cleaners owner Jim Patterson paid just under $100,000 last year to remove 43 cubic yards of contaminated soil and an old 1,000-gallon underground tank that Patterson said was leaking “bad gasoline.” The irony is not lost on Patterson that he had to pay for removal of a contamination source that wasn’t even linked to the dry cleaning industry.

“We pretty much feel confident that we removed the source of contamination,” Nguyen said.

Excavation stopped, however, partly because of so many underground utility lines and the area’s proximity to busy streets. And Woods Cross shut down one of its four drinking water wells because of consistently high amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals showing up in tests. The EPA said that migration of the plume is likely to increase contamination in wells over time.

Nguyen added that the EPA does not yet know the size of the Five Points plume west of Patterson’s business, located just up the hill from Karla Scott’s home of 40 years. Although there is one old monitoring well a block away, and the EPA will be installing new monitoring wells in the coming year, at this point it’s unknown what the impacts are from that plume, which the EPA said contains PCE.

Patterson recalled two other dry cleaners near the old Five Points Mall that possibly could be held accountable for the Five Points plume, but he said they are no longer in business. Patterson bought his Bountiful location in 1963. The money he spent on testing and clean-up is not covered by insurance, although the expenses do qualify as a tax write-off.

“You don’t get much of a sympathetic ear, because you own the land, and who owns the land pays,” Patterson said. “If I could go back on who had the tank, I might seek recovery from them.”

Even though the Five Points plume got its official EPA priority listing last year, Patterson has been dealing with state and federal officials for about nine years, drilling and testing to see where and what type of contamination existed. It is all a result of a drinking water test years ago that found unacceptable levels of PCE present.

Your Valet now says on its Web site it is the first dry cleaner in Utah to offer a new process called GreenEarth Cleaning, which instead of PCE uses a silicone-based cleaning solution developed by General Electric in the 1990s. It is a modified liquid silicone similar to what’s found in cosmetics, shaving creams and deodorants that “will not pollute our water, soil or air.”

Patterson said only one of his six locations still needs converting to GreenEarth, at a cost of about $15,000. There’s no law that says he has to make the conversion, but it’s something he said he’s doing in good conscience.

“There’s not a lot more that I can do, short of tearing up the intersection and knocking the building down,” he said. “It’s expensive, and we’ve done what we can do. I hope it’s over.”

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NRDC and Dickson residents file TCE lawsuit over landfill (TN)

Neil Fischbein — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:06:24 +0000

We learn this by way of the Environment News Service:

The Natural Resources Defense Council and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee have filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and city governments. They allege that trichloroethylene, TCE, an industrial chemical disposed at the Dickson Landfill that has been linked to neurological and developmental harm and cancer, poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.

Dickson, a town of some 12,000 people is located about 35 miles west of Nashville. [map]

The Dickson County Landfill, 74 acres off Eno Road, sits within 500 to 2,000 feet of approximately 40 homes, most owned by blacks.
This community group is fighting to rid their area of contamination from the Dickson County landfill.

One African American family in particular, the Holts, a family of black landowners, has been especially harmed by the chemical. Many Holt family members are struggling with cancer and other illnesses, and two of its members are plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

The environmental group and Sheila Holt-Orsted and Beatrice Holt allege that TCE pollution has seeped beneath the landfill to underlying groundwater and has spread through a large area of Dickson County.

TCE contamination has rendered water from wells and springs as far as two to three miles from the landfill unfit for human consumption, the plaintiffs claim.

Polluted spring water is flowing directly into the West Piney River, a fishing stream and a major source of drinking water for the Water Authority of Dickson County. Several square miles of Dickson County have been recognized as an ‘imminent threat’ area by the county.

TCE contamination above drinking water limits, and orders of magnitude above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency screening levels for drinking water, has been found in at least one well even beyond that threat area.

In some areas, this TCE contamination may be growing worse, the plaintiffs claim, but the city and county have not done anything to remove the contamination.

“Some two decades after TCE was first detected in nearby drinking water sources, those responsible have not even fully characterized the present extent and likely future spread of the contamination. Defendants have, in effect, surrendered the ground and surface water of Dickson County to the slow spread of an invisible and toxic chemical,” the complainants said in a statement.

The complaint asks the Court to require the defendants to investigate the present extent and future spread of TCE contamination from the landfill in the soil, surface water, and groundwater of Dickson County; to remediate and abate TCE contamination.

Holt-Orsted has undergone six surgeries and chemotherapy for breast cancer. The Holts originally filed lawsuits in 2003 and 2004, naming the city and county of Dickson and the state of Tennessee, and claiming the family was a victim of negligence that resulted in their cancers and other health problems.

Attorneys for the county and state deny the claims in the earlier lawsuits.

An article [entitled Deadly Tenessee Two-Step Pushes Leaky Landfill Away from Officials' Homes] by Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, gives background and detailed water test information.

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March 26 TCE meeting planned in Collegeville (PA)

Neil Fischbein — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:52:54 +0000

The Earth Times recently reported:

The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public meeting at 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, March 26, in Collegeville to update residents on efforts to reduce airborne trichloroethylene (TCE) levels in that area of Montgomery County.

The meeting will be held the Perkiomen Valley Middle School East auditorium, 100 Kagey Road.

“Since releasing our January 2007 air monitoring report, our agency has worked closely with Accellent and Superior Tube to develop emission reduction strategies that would effectively reduce TCE emissions by these narrow tube manufacturers,” said DEP Regional Director Joseph A. Feola. “The department has been, and will continue to be, fully engaged in this effort, and will use this opportunity to update the community on the significant emission reductions that have been achieved to date.”

(read more)

Recent data from the stationary air monitor in Evansburg State Park show levels of airborne TCE are diminishing, with many days registering no measurable levels of TCE in the air. That trend is expected to continue at both the existing and planned monitoring stations given the companies’ voluntary efforts to reduce emissions.

Superior Tube completed reformulation and degreaser removal projects that are expected to reduce TCE emissions by more than 50 percent this year. On Feb. 13, the company announced it is taking steps to eliminate the use of TCE from its manufacturing process completely.

The company is seeking approval from DEP to replace TCE with an alternative approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — n-propyl bromide, or nPB. Unlike TCE, nPB is not considered an air toxic.

Accellent, meanwhile, is operating the first of two carbon absorber units to control TCE emissions from the company’s large degreasers. Accellent had the first unit operating on Oct. 2 and received the second unit on Feb. 8. This second unit is being installed now and should be operational by early March.

While the manufacturer for the carbon absorber equipment guarantees an overall emission reduction of 35 percent, DEP believes this is a very conservative estimate. Emission reductions of 90 percent or greater usually result from this type of installation.

Complete progress reports and other related information have been posted on DEP’s Southeast regional Web page since a public meeting in February 2007. DEP created this web-based resource so area residents and local officials could obtain news and background information about Collegeville-area air monitoring and TCE emission reduction efforts.

The site can be accessed at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/, keyword: Collegeville.

A recent addition to the Web page, “Additional Monitoring Under EPA Grant,” provides a link to DEP’s December 2007 work plan for additional monitoring efforts. The agency was awarded a $269,000 grant by EPA to expand its air monitoring efforts for TCE and other compounds in the Collegeville area.

This community-wide monitoring project will develop baseline references of airborne TCE concentrations to support exposure estimates. The project will track long-term measurements of air toxics following the already implemented emission reduction strategy in the area.

Residents who have questions or concerns prior to the meeting may contact DEP Community Relations Coordinator Lynda Rebarchak at 484-250-5820, or by email at lrebarchak@state.pa.us.

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Queens residents protest toxic schools (NY)

Neil Fischbein — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:44:13 +0000

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.

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