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.
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.
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.
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.”
The Aberdeen Contaminated Ground Water site in Aberdeen, North Carolina has been proposed for addition to EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL) of hazardous waste sites. It is one of six hazardous waste sites to be proposed for addition to the NPL, while twelve sites nationally are being added to the list.
The Aberdeen Contaminated Ground Water site is about 1 acre in size and located on highway Route 211 in Aberdeen, Moore County, N.C. Powdered Metal Products (PMP) manufactured precision machine parts at the facility from 1980 until 1995. The operation utilized a trichloroethene (TCE) dip-vat as part of the manufacturing process. During the investigation of ground water contamination at the Geigy Chemical Corporation NPL site in 1990, which is located just on the other side of State Route 211, TCE, lead and pesticide contamination was detected in numerous private wells along Crestline Lane and Route 211. Investigations have identified contaminated soils in the vicinity of the former TCE dip-vat utilized by PMP as the source of TCE contamination in the ground water.
Trichloroethene also was detected in the town’s municipal water supply wells No. 5 and No. 9, according to an EPA report [PDF]. The level of the chemical exceeded the federal Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant level.
The report said the town took the wells offline for some time and is now blending water from those wells with water from other municipal wells to reduce the trichloroethene levels.
The EPA provided municipal water supplies to 56 residences and businesses in the area, according to the agency.
Read the EPA press release here. For the full Fayetville Observer article, see here.
A dry-cleaning shop on busy U.S. 1 has been proposed as a federal Superfund site after tests found nearby soil and groundwater contaminated with hazardous chemicals.
An Environmental Protection Agency official said the site presents no immediate health risk, but Broward County’s pollution prevention chief said he isn’t so sure.
Flash Cleaners, at 4131 N. Federal Highway [map], polluted the ground with a variety of chemicals used in the dry-cleaning business, most likely through spills and disposal of waste through a septic system, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Tests of soil and groundwater found concentrations of several chemicals exceeding federal safety standards, including dichloroethene, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethylene and vinyl chloride.
Although the shop still takes in dry cleaning, it no longer processes it on site.
Barbara Schuster, project manager for the EPA, said there’s no immediate danger to public health. Eight drinking-water wells, serving Hillsboro Beach and other portions of northern Broward County, are within a mile of the site. But Schuster said there is little danger to the wells because they lie northwest or southwest of the site and the groundwater flows east, away from the wells.
Jeff Halsey, Broward County’s director of pollution prevention and remediation, said there is not enough information to determine how much danger is posed by the underground spread of hazardous chemicals. Among the possible health effects of these chemicals are liver and kidney damage, neurological diseases and cancer, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Until we can get an assessment done and know exactly where the plume is going, we’re going to be very, very concerned,” he said.
The exact cause of the contamination is unknown, although environmental inspectors documented unsafe practices at the shop, according to EPA records. They found machinery and waste containers on a bare concrete floor without secondary containment. Wastewater from the dry-cleaning work was discharged into an on-site septic tank, which caused contamination of soil and water, according to the EPA.
The Superfund program, established after the discovery of thousands of tons of hazardous waste in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, N.Y., takes on the most serious contaminated sites. Under the program, the EPA tries to find the parties responsible for the pollution and make them pay for cleanup. Failing that, the Superfund pays, although its funds have dwindled since the expiration of a special tax on industries that pollute.
The owners of the shop, John and Susan Ferrel, say they didn’t cause the contamination and can’t afford to pay for cleaning it up. They bought the store in 1977 after working there for a year, and they’ve worked there ever since. They said they disposed of the waste properly and have been forced to pay for a preliminary environmental study because a state inspector found a small amount of dry-cleaning chemicals at the bottom of an unused machine.
“Because of that one thing, we spent a lot of money over the years trying to do what the county wanted and what the EPA wanted,” Susan Ferrel said, speaking from their home in Sebastian. “We just can’t afford this. It will take all our retirement.”
The EPA will conduct a study of the site and figure out a cleanup plan. Among the most likely options are digging up the soil and taking it to a landfill or pumping up the water and treating it to remove the contaminants. It is unknown what will happen to the business.
The one-story, peach-colored shop stands just back from the noisy traffic of Federal Highway. An American flag hangs in the window. A sign in the door states that it is closed Monday. Behind the shop is the Beacon Heights neighborhood, consisting of small apartment buildings and one-story houses.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Bob Manko, standing on the porch of his house on Northeast 42 Street. “If there’s something bad there, it ought to be cleaned up.”
But he said he hoped a small business wouldn’t be harmed by having to spend an excessive amount, unless the cleanup is necessary.
“Common sense should prevail,” he said.
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
EPA recently added twelve new contamination sites to its Superfund list. TCE is a known contaminant of concern at at least five of the twelve sites. These five TCE sites include:
St. Louis Park, Minn., Vapor Intrusion Study Update Meeting March 19
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 will host a public meeting to update residents on findings of the vapor intrusion study being conducted in the vicinity of Highway 7 and Wooddale Avenue. The meeting will be 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 19 at the St. Louis Park Rec Center, 3700 Monterey Drive, St. Louis Park, Minn.
Vapors from volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, have been found in some area ground water and could get into homes and commercial buildings. EPA has screened about 250 St. Louis Park properties since December. A Web site is at http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/stlouispark/index.htm
Officials from partner agencies are expected at the meeting. Partner agencies include Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Public Health, Hennepin County and the city of St. Louis Park.
For more information or special accommodations at the meeting, contact EPA community involvement coordinator Don de Blasio, 800-621-8431, Ext. 64360 (weekdays 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) or deblasio.don@epa.gov.
SOURCE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5
EPA owns a bad-ass mobile toxin detector. Officially, it’s known as the Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA). According to EPA:
The Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA) is a self-contained mobile laboratory capable of real-time sampling and analysis in the low parts per billion level of outdoor air or emissions from various environmental sources and concerns. In addition, the TAGA has specialized sampling equipment for measuring indoor air and at remote locations.
As we understand it, EPA has a limited supply of these mobile labs. Apparently, one of them is headed to Dover, DE this spring:
Federal pollution investigators will dispatch a mobile laboratory to Dover this spring as part of an expanded probe of toxic vapor risks from chemical contamination in groundwater flowing under the state’s capital.
The Environmental Protection Agency work will target pollutants spilled into the soil from a former coal gas plant and dry cleaning operation west of the city center.
Studies of the Dover Gas Light Company Superfund site have been under way since the mid-1980s. More than a decade later, officials acknowledged concern that vapors from some of the contaminants might trickle into buildings after escaping from shallow, tainted groundwater.
[...]
Part of the work scheduled for this spring includes use of a mobile Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer (TAGA) bus to sample vapors under the bottom slabs of buildings along the contamination plume.
The TAGA samples can be drawn from a small hole drilled into the floor of buildings, in a process that takes about 30 minutes. Some indoor air sampling work also is planned, using small, portable devices that collect samples over a 24-hour period.
[...]
Although public water supplies are considered safe from the pollution, past tests have found shallow groundwater contamination levels in worst-hit areas thousands of times higher than federal drinking water standards.
Chemicals most often mentioned include tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), solvents used in dry cleaning that are known to cause cancer or other health problems after long-term exposure at high levels.
In the 1980’s, Stauffer Chemical Co. and its successor, Formosa Plastics, were named as responsible parties for the chemical contamination found in groundwater in the Potomac Aquifer near Delaware City, DE. The toxins discovered included vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride and trichloroethylene. At the time, officials reportedly expressed confidence that this contamination would not impact nearby water wells. Apparently they were wrong:
Earlier this month, Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control notified owners of four properties near U.S. 13 and Wrangle Hill Road that they would be eligible for free United Water Delaware connections. The offer followed the unexplained appearance of a cancer-causing chemical, ethylene dichloride, in a well near the St. Georges Getty service station just north of the car dealership.
Officials had assured area residents for more than two decades that pollution from the site of the old Stauffer Chemical Co. toxic-waste landfills to the north was under control. That they were wrong underscores how little is known about how toxic chemicals make their way through complex geological formations into drinking-water supplies.
[...]
By 1982, the plant became Delaware’s seventh named toxic cleanup site following passage of the federal “Superfund” cleanup law, and one of the first to become a federally overseen project. Stauffer and Formosa eventually were ordered to remove pits containing vinyl chloride processing remnants, and to begin pumping and treating more than 400,000 gallons of contaminated water daily from around the site.
Investigators acknowledged decades ago that water “goes in all directions” from the site of the lagoons. But their initial confidence in the safety of deep aquifers used by water suppliers proved misplaced.
Although an EPA report in 1986 said that layers of clay shield the deeper Potomac aquifer from chemicals in more shallow wells, federal officials have since reported discovery of ethylene dichloride in the deepest wells, and in 2006 reported “no evidence” that the overall contamination had been contained in one portion of the upper Potomac Aquifer or the shallow aquifer above it.
It may be worth noting that when TCE degrades under ground, it can result in the formation of new toxins including ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride. This is known as TCE’s degradation pathway.
Also, much of the article talks about alternate uses of the contaminated water but fails to mention anything about toxic vapors or vapor intrusion:
“[The water is] just no good. It’s contaminated. The only thing we can use it for is washing the cars,” [resident and local car dealership owner Charles] Stapleford said.
and
Shazim Uppal, who owns the St. Georges Getty station at Wrangle Hill and U.S. 13, said he was unaware of the current cleanup debate. He is sure, though, that the tainted water near his business prevents the company from selling fountain-type drinks or using plain tap water from a company well.
“We bring in bottled water. If they can put in a pipeline, that would be good. We only use the water in the sink here for cleaning the floor,” Uppal said.
Hey folks, these toxins evaporate into the air. They can be toxic to breathe. Why haven’t these people been advised of this by state officials or by EPA?
As always, we’ll keep you posted as we learn more. Meantime, you can read the full story here.
Toxic TCE vapors are entering homes in Dayton. Though EPA is on the case, they’ve run into a few complications:
Efforts to make homes safe from contaminated groundwater fumes near the Behr Dayton Thermal Products plant, 1600 Webster St., have run into problems at as many as 10 homes.
And the effort to clean indoor air contamination at a nearby school is ongoing, authorities have said.
TCE fumes have migrated from the soil into the homes, businesses and schools, creating potentially hazardous vapors.
In homes that have dirt basement floors, those floors must be sealed for the air evacuation systems to work properly, said Mark Case, director of environmental health for Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County.
Levels of contamination in the problematic homes have reportedly dropped below 10 ppb. That’s still 25 times the Ohio Department of Health’s exposure limit of .4 ppb.
After finding cause for concern in previous tests, the St. Louis Park (MN) vapor intrusion investigation expands:
Expanding the search for potentially hazardous vapors in homes and businesses in St. Louis Park, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it will add about 50 properties to its study area on both sides of Hwy. 7 near Wooddale Avenue.
[...]
The main chemicals of concern, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, have been used for decades as industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry-cleaning fluids and seeped into the groundwater under St. Louis Park. Long-term exposure to them at certain levels has been linked to cancer, liver disease and other problems, according to state health officials.
[...]
EPA officials will go door-to-door this Saturday to explain the situation to those living in the expanded study area, and to seek their permission to take air samples. The testing involves drilling a small hole in the basement and inserting a 2-foot probe about the width of a pencil.
The initial study area contained about 270 homes and businesses, and the EPA received permission from owners to test vapors beneath 214 of the buildings. Of that number, 32 homes and eight commercial buildings were found to have enough contamination to justify more testing to check air in different rooms and for longer periods of time.
A story in today’s Columbia Basin Herald (WA) announced a Wednesday-night meeting in Moses Lake, WA where EPA was scheduled to present their clean-up plan for a massive groundwater contamination site. Sorry we posted this news so late, but it gives us the opportunity to tell you more.
The site is known as the Moses Lake Wellfield Contamination Superfund site.
According to today’s article, the TCE contamination has persisted (and, we assume, migrated) for about 50 or so years.
In a press release earlier this month, EPA previewed their plan:
A comprehensive cleanup plan for the trichloroethylene (TCE)-contaminated groundwater at the Moses Lake Wellfield Contamination Superfund site has been issued for public review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The site is located just north of Moses Lake and includes the Grant County Airport, the former Larson Air Force Base, and areas south of the airport.
“This cleanup plan takes steps that will protect human health and the environment and restore groundwater quality,” said Lori Cohen, EPA’s Associate Director of the Office of Environmental Cleanup.
The groundwater and soils at the site were contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other hazardous substances by operations of the former base and industrial activities associated with the aircraft industry. Approximately 1000 acres of groundwater are contaminated with TCE above health based standards and several contaminated soil waste areas are scattered throughout the site. The proposed cleanup is expected to cost about $31 million. TCE is an industrial solvent that was commonly used at this site for stripping paint from airplanes, washing airplane parts, and cleaning missile components.
The proposed cleanup plan calls for:
pumping out the most highly contaminated water and treating it to remove TCE;
cleaning up the contaminated soil areas by removing soils contaminated above safe levels;
restoring the groundwater to its highest beneficial use as a drinking water source; and
requiring local land use restrictions such as changes to local ordinances, zoning, and property easements to protect the public from contaminated groundwater and soils until cleanup work is completed.
In 1988, TCE contamination was found in three of the City of Moses Lake drinking water supply wells on the base. TCE contamination was also discovered in the Skyline Water System wells located south of the base. Since that time, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) have been investigating the contamination and cleanup options at Moses Lake. Between 1989 and 1993 the City fixed the three contaminated wells on the former base by deepening the wells. In 2003, the Corps constructed a replacement water supply well for the Skyline Water System. Continued testing has shown that the City and Skyline wells continue to provide reliable, clean drinking water to the community. The Corps and EPA continue to test a representative set of wells (up to 80) at the site. Based on this sampling, five homes have had whole-house filters installed at their wells to remove TCE from the water.
The safe level for TCE in drinking water is set at 5 parts per billion (ppb). The contaminated groundwater at this site contains TCE concentrations above 5 ppb and some areas contain TCE as high as 80 ppb. The primary risks for people who drink water containing TCE in excess of 5 ppb over many years are the potential to experience liver problems and an increased risk of getting cancer.
Though we haven’t been able to dig through much of it, EPA has links on its website to a whole treasure trove of documents related to the Moses Lake site, including the proposed clean-up plan [PDF, 26 pp., 148K] that was presented tonight. According to EPA’s website, the following people are available to answer questions about the site:
Two recent drinking water contamination scares that affected Scottsdale and Paradise Valley customers were unprecedented in Arizona, and possibly the nation, federal environmental regulators said Thursday.
“I do not believe that it has happened in the rest of the country,” said Keith Takata, Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Division director.
At the behest of U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, held a hearing in Washington Thursday involving the trichloroethylene, or TCE, scares at a private drinking water facility that serves residential and commercial customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.
[EPA w]orkers are testing the air inside 40 homes and businesses in St. Louis Park after chemical vapors were discovered in the soil under their basements, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.
Those properties were among more than 200 homes and businesses that were checked for potential risk from underground solvent contamination.
[...]
Each of the 40 properties will be visited by a mobile lab, [EPA's "on-scene coordinator, Sonia] Vega said. Technicians are going room to room in the homes, using special hoses to pump air into the lab to see whether the vapors are present in high concentrations. They will also leave 24-hour sampling canisters in each building to test the air in the basement and first-floor levels.
The main chemicals of concern, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, have been used for decades as industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry-cleaning fluids. Long-term exposure to them at certain levels has been linked to cancer, liver problems and other adverse health effects, according to state health officials.
[...]
The properties being tested are on both sides of Hwy. 7 near Wooddale Avenue. By last week, workers had pulled air samples from beneath the basement floors of 184 residences and 29 commercial or industrial buildings.
Vega said the vapors measured beneath the 32 homes and eight commercial buildings ranged from slightly above health guidelines to more than twice what is considered safe. The buildings with the higher vapor concentrations in their soils were clustered, Vega said, but she could not provide more details until the test results are completed and mapped.
Read the full story here. In a previous article, the Star Tribune posted a map of the evaluation area:
See below for the Star Tribune’s previous coverage of this story:
To better protect people from TCE , we must (amongst other things) eliminate the difference between the standard of protection for our workplaces and the standard of protection for our homes. The standard of protection for TCE in the air is an example where the difference between protection at work and home is intolerable.
For those who don’t know, the safety of the air in your workplace is governed by standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The air in your home is governed by guidelines established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In too many cases, OSHA’s standards for the workplace are drastically less protective than EPA’s guidelines for homes.
Just how much more TCE does OSHA allow in workers’ air? At least several hundred thousand times more than EPA allows in their homes.
The result? Workers are being poisoned…and OSHA is allowing it.
For those who don’t know, the OSHA standard above was set based on 1967 standards and has remained the same to this day. With all we have learned about TCE’s dangers since 1967 – including that it causes cancer and other significant diseases/health problems – workers remain as exposed and at as much risk of TCE-induced disease as workers of nearly 40 years ago.
Why is the air at work hundreds of thousands of times less safe than the air at home? How many people are poisoned by TCE at work to this day because of this disparity?
Of course, TCE is just one example of a chemical where workplace protection standards are outdated. Over at The Pump Handle, a blog that bills itself as a water cooler for the public health crowd, we learn that Beryllium is another example.
In a post entitled “Why do OSHA Standards Remain the Same, Even When the Science Changes?” David Michaels describes his look at outdated workplace exposure standards for Beryllium. Any of this sound familiar?
In a 1947 report, entitled Public Relations Problems in Connection with Occupational Diseases in the Beryllium Industry, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) asserted that the ability of the US government to produce nuclear weapons was threatened by the high incidence of severe health effects associated with exposure to beryllium, a metal vital to weapons production. In response, the AEC established a workplace exposure limit that dramatically reduced beryllium disease incidence. This limit is known as the “taxicab standard” since it was determined by two AEC scientists working in the back seat of a taxi on their way to a meeting.
Over the next several decades, however, increasingly powerful evidence accumulated that Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD), a progressive and irreversible inflammatory lung disease, was associated with exposure to levels below the “taxicab standard,” and by the 1990s, scores of workers employed in the production of nuclear weapons had been diagnosed with CBD.
Attempting to prevent strengthened government regulation, and to avoid negative publicity that would discourage use of the metal, the beryllium industry waged a concerted effort over decades to counter the accumulating scientific evidence of beryllium’s toxicity. The industry relied on expert services provided by a major public relations company and a leading ‘product defense’ firm. Eventually, when the scientific evidence became so great that it was no longer credible to deny that workers developed CBD at levels permitted by an out-dated standard, the industry responded with a new rationale for delay: that more research was needed to determine the best standard.
The industry’s efforts have been, for the most part, successful. While each year brings new studies linking CBD with beryllium exposures below the current standard, the “taxicab standard” remains the limit enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in private sector workplaces. New CBD cases have been reported recently in metal recycling facilities. US civilian nuclear weapons workers have greater protection than private sector workers; in 1999 the Department of Energy issued strengthened beryllium regulations, reducing the workplace exposure level that triggers protective action by a factor of 10.
The lessons from this case study for public health policymakers include:
The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. The lack of CBD cases in the 1950s should not have been seen as proof the standard was adequate.
The interpretation of scientific data by those with financial incentives must be discounted. Industry scientists defended the “taxicab standard” long after it was correctly recognized as inadequate by independent scientists.
In particular, work by scientists employed by firms specializing in product defense and litigation support must be seen for what it is: advocacy, rather than science. This study illuminates the practice of “manufacturing uncertainty,” the strategy used by some polluters and manufacturers of hazardous products to prevent or delay regulation or victim compensation.
To best protect public health, we must consider the hazards associated with a toxic material through the entire life cycle of the product.
Representatives Al Wynn (D-MD), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, and Hilda Solis (D-CA), the Vice Chair of the Subcommittee, are calling for a probe into a number of issues that affect American’s water and health. In a letter to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the lawmakers asked GAO to investigate bottled water, TCE, and the EPA’s rule-setting for other contaminants.
You can read more about the full range of investigation requests in the official press release. Here, we are focused on the TCE-specific portion:
Wynn and Solis are also asking the Government Accountability Office to
examine EPA’s failure to update its current drinking water standard for
Trichloroethylene (TCE). An EPA 2001 assessment found TCE was far more
likely to cause cancer than previously believed. Despite this assessment
and a recommendation from the National Academy of Science, EPA has
failed to update its national drinking water standard for TCE.
“The evidence of the dangers of TCE keep piling up and the EPA keeps
failing to act,” Wynn added. “Hopefully, GAO can shed some much needed
light on the reasons for EPA’s inaction.”
The EPA’s current drinking water standard for TCE allows a maximum of 5
parts per billion, but some have called for a revision of that standard
to reduce the maximum amount of TCE allowed in water.
From the text of the letter sent to GAO [PDF], we learn even more:
[We] request that GAO review the EPA’s failure to update it current drinking water standard for Trichloroethylene (TCE) following its August 2001 draft risk assessment entitled “Trichloroethylene Health Risk Assessment: Synthesis and Characterization.” The EPA 2001 assessment found that TCE was far more likely to cause cancer than EPA had previously believed. We note that in July 2006, the National Academy of Science (NAS) found “that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001” and recommended “that federal agencies finalize their risk assessment with currently available data so that risk management decisions can be made expeditiously.” EPA does not appear, however, to have acted consistently with respect to the findings and recommendations of these major scientific studies to protect the public health.
In conducting your review of the regulatory review process, and associated issues specific to TCE, please examine the following issues:
The extent to which EPA’s efforts to revise the TCE drinking water standard complies with the Safe Drinking Water Act’s requirements, and facilitate improvements to public health protection.
The obstacles, if any, that have interfered with EPA’s ability to expeditiously revise its standards for TCE.
The latest research and what it suggests about TCE’s effects on human health and the environment, including information from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s study related to Camp Lejeune.
The number of Department of Defense sites contaminated with TCE and the Department’s role, if any, in delaying or interfering with EPA efforts to update a drinking water standard for TCE.
Of course, we already know part of the publicly-accepted answer to #4: There are 1,400 military sites contaminated with TCE. We have reason to believe the actual number may be higher – more on this, and DOD’s interference, another time.
The topography and geology of the area where the contaminated wells were found suggest that the contamination may not be related to the CTS site, said David Dorian, on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I don’t think that at this point in time there is adequate data to say anything definite about the source,” Dorian said. “We shouldn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that this is linked to CTS. Further investigation is warranted.”
The N.C. Division of Environment and Natural Resources plans to conduct more soil sampling near the contaminated wells to determine the contamination source, said Harry Zinn, an environmental engineer with the state’s superfund division.
“It’s not totally outside the realm of possibility that there is another source in the vicinity,” he said.
Why is EPA going out of its way to defend CTS here? What is their motivation?
(Boston, Mass. – Jan. 25, 2008) – The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on January 9 entered a settlement agreement (Consent Decree) for the 850 acre Groveland Wells Nos. 1 and 2 Superfund site in Groveland, Mass [see map].
Settling with the United States, on behalf of EPA, is Groveland Resources Corp. and Valley Manufacturing Products Co.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Settling Defendants will pay 100 percent of the Net Sale or Net Lease Proceeds in the event their property on the Site is sold or leased to reimburse the United States for costs incurred at the site. The Settling Defendants will also be required to impose certain deed restrictions or institutional controls on the Site in order to protect EPA’s cleanup actions at the site.
The Groveland Wells Site is located within a residential area in the southwestern part of the Town of Groveland. Valley Manufactured Products Co. manufactured screw products as well as metal and plastic parts from 1963 until 2001. The site is contaminated primarily with trichloroethene (TCE) which was used to clean (degrease) finished parts. TCE was released into the ground from a variety of sources including, underground storage tanks, underground disposal systems and intentional dumping. The Groveland site was added to EPA’s National Priority List in September 1983. EPA has been conducting cleanup actions at the site that address the contamination in the soil and groundwater.
In 1997, the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Basin, a source of drinking water to tens of thousands of San Bernardino County residents, was found to be contaminated by TCE and perchlorate. According to EPA, “the contamination has forced the closure of numerous public drinking water supply wells and caused hardships for Rialto, Colton and neighboring areas dependent on the basin for their drinking water.” Ever since, the City of Rialto has attempted to treat the contaminated wells, remediate the perchlorate and TCE, and also recover costs for its efforts from a number of potentially responsible parties (PRP’s).
In a 2005, when EPA granted the affected cities more than $400,000 towards the cost of clean-up, the San Bernardino Sun (CA) explained why this money was “just a drop in the bucket”:
It costs more than $1 million to install perchlorate filters on a well, and about $500,000 a year for maintenance.
…
Fontana Water Co. General Manager Mike McGraw said the city spent about $3 million to set up treatment for two contaminated wells.
…
[Colton] has spent more than $4 million to date treating three wells for perchlorate, Medina said. He wouldn’t rule out a rate increase.
…
Rialto is suing the Department of Defense and 42 of its contractors, as well as fireworks manufacturers, for perchlorate contamination. One defendant, B.F. Goodrich, gave $4 million to the cities and district.
Rialto has spent about $7.6 million on legal fees and cleanup. It is treating two of its wells for perchlorate contamination.
Fast forward to 2008. After spending nearly $20 million trying to “hold dozens of suspected polluters responsible,” Rialto has just fired their city attorney (Bob Owens, who allegedly was quarterbacking Rialto’s strategy for recovering costs from other polluters) and is facing significant uncertainty as it prepares to determine what’s next.
Meanwhile, on the City of Rialto’s website, in addition to tracking the latest clean-up/lawsuit news and developments, the following declaration appears:
The City will continue to provide the citizens of Rialto with clean, safe, and affordable drinking water. It will also pursue parties that are responsible for the perchlorate pollution to pay for the clean up of the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Basin. It will repay Rialto’s ratepayers for the costs incurred in forcing the polluters to clean it up.
The state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed that trichloroethylene (TCE) continues to contaminate groundwater and migrate from the site of a former plutonium plant along Route 66 to the Kiski River in Parks.
Although the plutonium plant was razed, with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission granting unrestricted release of the site in August 2004, the groundwater is still contaminated with TCE. The plant site is adjacent to a nuclear dump.
A toxic liquid commonly used as a solvent, TCE was first detected by the owners of the site of the former plutonium plant, Babcock & Wilcox, in 1991.
“The site was decommissioned, and B&W removed contaminated soils, but it did not remove TCE from the groundwater,” said Helen Humphreys, DEP spokeswoman. The company was then required to monitor the groundwater for two years until the end of 2004. Since then, there has been no monitoring, Humphreys said.
“The contamination entering the Kiski does not pose a risk to people or the environment,” she said. “We need to work with the company for a complete cleanup of the site.” There is no cleanup deadline in place.
