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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:
Read more here. For new readers arriving here in search of information about TCE contamination at these sites, welcome.
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.”
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.
After several years of exploration, the East Pikeland Planning Commission has just recommended a plan to build an elementary school on land contaminated with VOC’s (including TCE). Last week, the Daily Local News (West Chester, PA) reported the unanimous recommendation was made to the Board of Supervisors. Now, presumably, the Board will consider the issue.
Back in 2006, the Planning Commission summarized the history of the site and outlined their major environmental concerns regarding school-building there:
[Attorney Christopher] Roe explained that across Coldstream Road from the proposed school site the Henry Company site has long been the subject of environmental investigation and clean-up under the direction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Ciba-Geigy, a chemical company, operated there in the 1950s and early 1960s. USEPA has identified lagoons that were used for disposal in that area and are the likely source of solvent contamination in the groundwater. The lagoons were excavated in 1984, but the monitoring and clean-up of groundwater continues.
In the 1980s groundwater monitoring wells were installed on nearby properties to determine how far contaminants had spread. These off site wells included four that were installed on what is now the Kimberton Elementary School property. Two of the wells on the north northeast side of the Kimberton School property have never shown the presence of any solvent contamination. A third well, on the east side of the property along Rt.113, has shown low levels, at or below clean-up standards. The fourth well, monitoring well MW-17 –along the southwest edge of the property – has consistently shown elevated levels of solvent contamination.
Phoenixville Area School District (PASD) will not use groundwater from the property for any purpose. Despite this, PASD and its advisors met with and are working with USEPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to insure that the presence of the contaminants in the groundwater below part of the property will not pose unacceptable risks to employees or students.
PASD is actively engaged in two steps toward this goal. First, PASD has directed that the designers of the school building follow and implement USEPA guidelines for ensuring that school buildings are protected from subsurface vapors.
Second, PASD has hired environmental specialists to install additional groundwater monitoring wells to better define the areas of the property under which contaminated groundwater may exist, including the concentrations and water elevations.
Given the history of the use of the property, another issue that PASD is having its environmental advisers fully evaluate and address is the appropriate handling of the construction debris and other fill materials, including a small area reportedly used as a town disposal area in the 1960s or earlier. PASD’s consultant will submit a plan for the handling of the fill materials that will be reviewed and approved by PADEP before actual construction work begins.
A quick poke around EPA’s website reveals a bit more detail regarding the history of the Henry Co./Ciba-Geigy contamination site:
In 1981 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in monitoring wells. As a result, a series of initial clean-up actions took place including removal of drums, excavation of the lagoons, and treatment of residential wells. In 1992 a public water system was built providing water to residences and businesses around the site. Approximately 500 people live within a one-mile radius of the site. A small stream that crosses through the site is the discharge point for local groundwater. Less than one-mile from the site is French Creek, a public recreation and fishing area.
[...]
Threats and Contaminants
During routine water quality testing in 1981, contamination in a well on the site was detected. The lagoons were identified as a source of contamination at the site. The groundwater is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including trichloroethene [aka trichloroethylene], dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride. A tributary to French Creek was also contaminated with VOCs.
[...]
Cleanup Progress
In the past ten years, over 3,000 pounds of VOCs, mainly TCE, have been removed by the groundwater treatment system. The groundwater and surface water are regularly monitored and this information is reported to EPA. EPA completed a five-year review of the site on September 30, 2004 and found that the remedy is protective of human health and the environment. The next five-year review will be due by September 2009.
Though online sources do not appear to reveal the levels of contamination at the adjacent contaminated property or under the proposed school, plans to build a geothermal system into the proposed school reportedly have been scrapped because of the vapor intrusion risk associated with drilling into the soil.
We can’t help but wonder: If the soil is so contaminated that drilling into it may exacerbate vapor intrusion, do you really want to put a school there?
Apparently we’re not the only ones concerned. In an opinion letter published this past Sunday in the Daily Local News, West Chester resident Bruce Molholt Ph.D., an independent environmental consultant and a part-time professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Environmental Studies whose research interests include “environmental factors which exacerbate cancer incidence among children,” writes:
As a toxicologist who has investigated many schools built upon ground containing chlorinated solvents, this situation looks potentially dangerous to future schoolchildren whether or not a geothermal system is put in place.
The problem is that chlorinated solvents underground are degraded by soil bacteria to vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic gas. This carcinogenic gas migrates upwards, much like radon, and may accumulate in buildings on top of contaminated soil.
In one such school built in 1965 atop a trichloroethylene (TCE) dump in Marion, Ohio, I found that the leukemia rate in schoolchildren was three times that expected. Upon my recommendation, the local school board finally moved the school to another location. Obviously this unwise location caused both inestimable human trauma and great expense to the school district.
Bruce Molholt
West Chester
If any readers know the actual levels of contamination found at or near the site, please contact us via the link above or send an email to tceblog [at] gmail.com. Meantime, we’ll try to keep you posted as we learn more.
According to today’s Philadelphia Inquirer (PA):
Superior Tube Co., a Collegeville manufacturer that has released some of the nation’s highest airborne amounts of trichloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen, announced today that it is phasing out use of the chemical.
Company president Tony Jost said the TCE would be replaced with a less hazardous chemical.
The company has asked the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for permission to modify its procedures. If approved, Jost said, the work could be completed by the end of April.
Charles McPhedran of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, a key critic of the company’s practices, said Superior was making “a big step forward.”
Company officials said the new process would be state of the art and would meet or exceed all the changes that have been vigorously sought by area residents, legislators and the environmental community.
Read the full story here.
Congratulations to Liz D., Jon Goodman, the folks at PennFuture, and the others in the Collegeville/Trappe area who are fighting to protect people from TCE and played an important role in influencing Superior Tube’s decision. Thanks also to Liz for the tip.
The Express Times (Easton, PA) has this report about TCE migrating away from a Hellertown Superfund site:
Contaminated soil at the former Champion Spark Plug factory on Main Street is covered with a cap under a layer of asphalt, but federal officials want to determine if any chemical gases from the property made their way into nearby homes.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to test two residences over the next few months for the presence of trichloroethylene (TCE), one of the chemicals that entered the soil and groundwater at the site between 1930 and 1976.
Read the full story here.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports migrating TCE contamination in Parks Township, Armstrong County, PA:
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.
Readers may recall that there are two narrow-tube manufacturers in Pennsylvania that have caused quite a stir because of their nation-leading TCE emissions.
Recently, local advocacy group Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (a.k.a. Penn Future) commissioned a report to outline for these manufacturers how they can reduce their use and emission of TCE.
According to the Philadelphia Enquirer (PA):
The 15-page technical report, commissioned by the advocacy group Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, outlined changes that it said could reduce emissions by up to 90 percent. It came just days after Superior released a report saying its TCE emissions had been reduced by 60 percent as a result of changes made within the last several months.
Tony Jost, Superior’s president and chief executive officer, said he had not yet read the full report and could not comment on it. But he said the company’s current emissions “show the effectiveness of the voluntary reduction programs we’ve been working on. We’re very happy to have exceeded our 2007 goals, and we’re continuing to work hard on further reductions.”
Accellent spokesman Jeffrey M. Farina was unavailable yesterday.
[...]
Although the plants had largely been operating within their state permits, residents and advocates have argued that with so much at stake – according to the DEP, the increased lifetime cancer risk from the TCE emitted is as high as 1.6 people per 10,000 – the companies and regulators are doing too little.
As outlined in the consultant’s report, Penn Future’s consultant identified several steps the companies could take while cautioning against silver-bullet mentality in recommending wholesale replacement of TCE:
Superior Tube, Company Inc (Superior Tube) and Accellent, Inc. (Accellent), two narrow tube companies in the Collegeville, PA, were ranked #6 and #8 respectively, for TCE emissions in the United States in 2005. Matson & Associates, Inc. (M&A) was asked to analyze the sources of toxic TCE emissions from the two facilities and provide recommendations on ways in which these companies can reduce their TCE emissions. Pursuant to this request, M&A has identified the following three methods that when implemented, in some combination, by Superior Tube and Accellent with significantly reduce TCE emissions at their Collegeville, PA plants:
(1) Route emissions from equipment emitting significant levels of TCE to effective activated carbon (AC) systems;
(2) Install closed-loop, vacuum, or airless vacuum vapor degreasers in place of equipment currently being used to perform degreasing operations.
(3) Switch from TCE to a non-HAP formula (e.g. n-propyl bromide) in equipment currently employing TCE;
Items (1) and (2) are feasible for reducing emissions from both large and small emitters of TCE. Item (3) is best employed for small emitters. nPB is a volatile organic compound (VOC) though it is not classified as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP), as is TCE. As a VOC, it does present some safety and environmental concerns such that its release in large quantities is not desirable.
Read the full Philadelphia Inquirer story here. Or download the full consultant’s report here in PDF format.
Upon further review of this announcement in the PA Bulletin from several months ago, 2 things struck us. First, more from the bulletin (emphasis is ours):
Bottled Water: This alternative provides for the Department to furnish commercial bottled water to the impacted residences. Bottled water would be delivered regularly to each residence that has a water supply contaminated in excess of the Maximim Contaminant Level (MCL) of 5 ppb for TCE. This would effectively remove the risk posed by ingestion, but would not remove the risk posed by inhalation and dermal contact.
Point-Of-Entry Water Treatment Units: This alternative provides for the Department to install carbon treatment systems on the supply line of private wells that are contaminated. The carbon treatment systems would effectively remove the risk posed by ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact. [TCE Blog note: Not entirely true, see below]
Here’s what struck us:
First, PA DEP acknowledges that the policy of providing bottled water to TCE-exposed residences is not designed to protect people from the risks of direct skin contact with the TCE-contaminated water nor from inhaling toxic TCE vapors. Even if families are being told that non-drinking use of the poisonous water is “harmless” (as told to us by a resident), it appears PA DEP knows better. Why they wouldn’t expressly discourage such use and warn residents of the practical dangers remains a mystery to us.
Second, DEP claims that carbon filters placed on private water supply lines will protect residents from inhaling toxic TCE vapors (”…would effectively remove the risk posed by ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact”.) This is an unfortunate overstatement that ignores the well-established risks of vapor intrusion.
While it may be true that carbon filters will reduce the level of TCE coming into each filtered home from the water supply itself, this does nothing to stop toxic vapors from entering homes as they evaporate directly from the giant TCE plume below. No matter how many carbon filters DEP installs or bottles of water it provides, every family residing above or near the plume remains at risk of breathing toxic TCE vapors today. This risk has quietly persisted for as long as the TCE plume has plagued this community.
We hope the residents have been getting the full story from DEP. Right now, that is far from clear.
Why is Pennsylvania DEP allowing families in TCE-polluted Tomstown, PA to regularly bathe in and wash with TCE polluted water coming out of the tap between 6ppb-24ppb?
This decision was quietly made public in The Pennsylvania Bulletin on February 10, 2007:
Bottled Water, was initiated on January 1, 2007, for residences with
water supply contamination levels greater than 5 ppb of TCE but less
than 25 ppb.
Point-of-Entry Water Treatment Systems will be provided for residences
that have TCE levels greater than 25 ppb TCE in their water supply.
The Department has determined by risk analysis that this level
presents an unacceptable inhalation threat in addition to the
ingestion threat.
So…DEP is providing bottled water to families in Tomstown whose tap water is contaminated above the federal MCL (5ppb), but has no plans to filter the water unless it tests higher than 24ppb.
This means that families who have up to 24ppb coming from their taps are left with a poisoned water supply in their homes, to bathe in, to wash with, to flush, and to inhale. To date, we have found no evidence that these families have been warned of the dangers of such uses.
On the contrary, we’ve been advised by a contact in Tomstown that not only are the DEP-provided bottles of water designated by DEP for drinking and cooking only, but reportedly DEP has called any other use of the contaminated tap water “harmless.” We hope this report is based on a misunderstanding, but we’re still awaiting DEP’s reply to our email requesting clarification of their policy here.
In response to our first email, a DEP spokesperson was kind enough to let us know they are indeed on the case:
The articles that you have posted on your blog are accurate. The state is investigating groundwater contamination and the state is supplying bottled water or installing carbon filtration on wells. A vapor intrusion study will be done when the contamination plume has been identified.
As we suspected, it appears no vapor intrusion investigation has been initiated. We’re also informed by locals that there has been no warning to residents about the dangers of breathing toxic indoor air.
Meantime, we’ve been advised that the federal MCL for TCE (5ppb) applies to drinking water in a strict, literal sense, therefore allowing families to bathe in higher concentrations of TCE may not be illegal.
Still, it seems awfully dangerous for PA DEP to continue to allow these ongoing exposures above the MCL without clearly warning the families of the consequences.
Given that there’s no telling for how many years these families have been bathing, washing, flushing, and inhaling vapors from the contaminated water – not to mention drinking and cooking with it – prior to DEP’s discovery of it in 2006, this is all pretty scary stuff from where we sit.
As we learn more, we’ll keep you posted.
The Bradford Era (PA) reports:
The Department of Environmental Protection has named a third responsible party in the contamination of the ground near drinking water sources in Lewis Run.
The Control Chief Corp. signed the agreement that it will pay a total of $110,000 to the state’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act Fund that settles their liability in the contamination.
[...]
This is the third company the DEP has reached settlements with – the others are McCourt Label and Tronox, formerly known as Kerr-McGee.
[...]
From 1978 to 1998, Control Chief, which has its headquarters in Bradford, owned property in Lewis Run and operated an electronic equipment manufacturing facility.
When another company bought the property and an environmental assessment was conducted, chlorinated solvents typically used as degreasing agents were found in the soil and groundwater. The chemicals included tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE) and cis-1,2-dichloroethylene. The situation has resulted in the borough having to hook up to Bradford City water to supply its residents with safe drinking water.
Tarbell said the DEP is not actively pursuing additional responsible parties at this time.
Read the full story here.
The Record Herald (Waynesboro, PA) reports:
Longtime residents of Quincy Township can remember the days when car oil, antifreeze and other liquids were simply taken out back of the garage, house or makeshift junk yard and dumped into the ground.
Those types of practices may have caught up with the township in recent months with the discovery of trichloroethylene contamination in Tomstown area wells.
More than a dozen wells have been found with TCE – an industrial degreaser and suspected human carcinogen – at levels above the maximum threshold of 5 parts per billion allowed by the federal government.
In response and as the state Department of Environmental Protection conducts an investigation of the TCE’s source and migration pattern, township supervisors have amended the municipal subdivision ordinance relating to water testing for new homes.
The revised ordinance requires developers of major subdivisions to complete a more rigorous test well program and a comprehensive groundwater feasibility study.
Groundwater quality also will have to be tested for volatile organics such as TCE – a new requirement intended to catch pollutants in the future and help the township proactively combat groundwater contamination.
Read more here.
The Pottstown Mercury (PA) reported a very odd story on Friday:
The state will hold a public hearing July 3 on changes to the permit for Superior Tube which will allow the plant to lower its airborne emissions of a chemical that has been linked with cancer.
The chemical in question is trichloroethylene, or TCE, and it has been found in higher quantities in the air around Collegeville and Trappe than in other areas of the state during a year-long sampling project by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
…
As it stands now, the hearing will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 3 at the DEP Southeast Regional Office, 2 E. main St., Norristown, PA 19401 [Google map].
Written comment on the plan should be submitted to [the head of DEP's Southeast Regional Air Quality Program, Francine] Carlini at the hearing or prior to the hearing at the above address. Copies of the permit changes are also available at DEP’s Norristown office.
We find this story so odd because of the wording in the first paragraph. Allow the plant to lower it’s airborne emmissions of TCE?
To our knowledge, there are no legal restrictions whatsoever that prevent Superior Tube (or any heavy TCE polluter) from reducing, or even completely eliminating, their TCE emissions.
Therefore, the implication that this narrow-tube manufacturer somehow has to wait for approval before protecting public health is not only odd, it is absurd.
Let’s be very clear: If Superior Tube and other narrow-tube manufacturers want to protect the public from TCE, they could eliminate their use of TCE altogether today without any government permission. As a minimum good faith demonstration toward this end, they could comply with recent federal legislation that requires the reduction of TCE emmissions across a number of industries. But as we know, the narrow-tube manufacturing industry has no interest in this kind of public health protection. Mere months ago, they lobbied EPA to ensure such emissions-reduction measures wouldn’t be applied to them…
Perhaps this was simply the case of a reporter inadvertently selecting the wrong word for his story. And maybe we’re just being nitpickers about language. Even if both are the case, it is important that the public be accurately informed.
UPDATE: We somehow missed this the first time around. The article continues:
The head of the Air Quality Program at DEP’s Southeast Regional office in Norristown, Carlini said the elimination of one of the vapor de-greasers at the plant will require a small uptick in the emissions from other equipment at the plant, even though the overall effect will be a decrease in admissions. It is the uptick that triggered the need for the hearing, she said.
Um. Oops. Still, we stand by what we wrote: If Superior Tube and other narrow-tube manufacturers want to protect the public from TCE, they could eliminate their use of TCE altogether today without any government permission.
According to The Mercury (Pottstown, PA):
A high-ranking federal official has agreed to revisit and possibly reconsider a controversial decision to exempt two local tubing plants from new, more restrictive pollution regulations, according to a local congressman.
William Wehrum is the assistant administrator for air and radiation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
According to a Wednesday announcement from U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-6th Dist., Wehrum “agreed to review and possibly reconsider the agency’s current regulation exempting certain industries from tough TCE standards” following a May 18 conference call in which a variety of state and federal elected officials participated.
Read the full story here
According to the Pottstown Mercury (PA), the following Pennsylvania lawmakers have joined the fight to apply EPA’s new solvent emissions regulations to the narrow tube industry (all have written letters criticizing the exemption, all were reportedly on a conference call with EPA pressing this issue on Friday):
This was announced just last Friday on the PR Newswire:
Governor Edward G.
Rendell announced today that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection has filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the Environmental
Protection Agency’s National Air Emissions Standards on hazardous air
pollutants halogenated solvent cleaning[sic].
[...]
“I believe the EPA did not adequately consider public health risks when establishing new air emissions standards for TCE, nor did they take into account the reasonable, economically-feasible and expedient measures that are available to the narrow tube industry to reduce emissions,” said Governor Rendell, noting his reason for directing DEP to challenge this action. “Exempting these industries from more stringent emission standards fails to protect the well-being of our people, our communities and our economy.”
[...]
“Contrary to the argument that reductions in TCE emissions will place an unfair burden on the narrow tube industry, we are seeing voluntary reductions by manufacturers in Montgomery County that can be realized within a year,” said Governor Rendell. “That calls into question the EPA’s evaluation of the facts about this industry. For the sake of our residents, I am asking the EPA to act quickly in reviewing our objections and reverse this decision.”
The question Rendell raises is an interesting one: Should voluntary efforts by a few undermine regulatory exemptions for an entire industry? We wonder what impact, if any, Rendell’s argument may have on those organizations considering or undertaking such voluntary TCE reduction efforts (beware the law of unintended consequences).
At the same time, we wonder if perhaps Rendell is avoiding a more obvious question: Why have ANY exemptions from health-protective standards like these? It just seems like obvious nonsense to us that any organization, let alone the most powerful polluters in the world, should get a free pass from keeping people safer because it is hard or expensive for their business. More on this another time…
For now, bravo to Governor Rendell for taking action to keep his citizens safe.
If investigative reporter Jon Goodman is right, the citizens of Pennsylvania have a disturbing public health problem on their hands.
Back in April, the EPA promulgated new, more stringent emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. Trichloroethylene (TCE) was one of the pollutants impacted by these new standards*.
At the same time, EPA carved out exemptions in the new standards allowing certain industries to simply opt out of compliance because of “technological challenges and high costs.” The narrow tube industry was one of these industries**. Hence, the narrow tube industry was exempted from reducing its TCE emissions.
This exemption did not sit well with the Board of Supervisors in Lower Providence, Pennsylvania. Lower Providence includes the towns of Collegeville and Trappe, both ranked as having higher TCE levels in their ambient air than most towns in the state…and both happen to be home to narrow tube manufacturers who emit lots of TCE. Today, in a strong rebuke, the Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the EPA’s exemption.
At this time, it is unclear what impact this will have on the narrow tube manufacturers TCE emissions in Collegeville and Trappe.
–
* We owe readers more detail on this. As with other things we’re backed up on, it’s coming. Swear.
** EPA received significant comments on the proposed standards from four industry sectors: the aerospace manufacture and maintenance industry, the narrow tubing manufacturing industry, industries that use continuous web cleaning machines, and a major military equipment maintenance facility. These industries commented that they would face serious technological challenges and high costs if the proposal were finalized. All four were granted exemptions.
From The Citizens Voice (Wilkes-Barre, PA) on May 11:
A class-action lawsuit against Foster Wheeler Corp., stemming from a trichloroethylene contamination in Mountain Top groundwater, has been tentatively settled, according to legal notice advertisements running in the Citizens’ Voice this week.
The preliminary approved settlement requires the company to pay $1.64 million for administrative costs, attorneys’ fees and to class members, the legal notice says. More than 50 property owners could have been affected by the contamination, which was discovered in 2004.
TCE, which was used as a degreaser by the company at it’s Crestwood Industrial Park plant, has been linked to cancer as well as kidney, liver and nerve damage, according to various studies.
Homeowners in the contaminated area have fought for tax relief on their now contaminated property. The Luzerne County Board of Assessment Appeals recently gave the homeowners an abatement of a third of their property taxes through 2010.
Anyone living in the contaminated area in Wright Township from Aug. 1, 2004, to April 16, 2007 qualifies to receive part of the settlement.
Members of the class action suit did not want to comment on the case at this point. Their attorney could not return repeated phone calls to his Philadelphia-based office.
The terms of the settlement still have to be approved by the District Court at a hearing scheduled August 6.
For more information call the class action help line at 1-866-963-9976 or visit the Web site, www.martinfosterwheelerclassaction.com. The site has not worked the past two days, but should be functioning by the end of the week, administrators said.
On January 19, 2007, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection released the Collegeville Area Air Monitoring Report (PDF, 592K). Among the highlights of the report was the following finding which put the Collegeville/Trappe community on alert:
The annual average TCE concentrations in 2005 at the Trappe and Evansburg sites were 0.26 ppbv and 0.14 ppbv, respectively. In comparison, most other Pennsylvania sites in 2005 were near or below the 0.04 ppbv detection limit. The excess lifetime cancer risk due to TCE in 2005 was 1.60 in 10,000 at the Trappe site and 0.88 in 10,000 at the Evansburg site.
We’ve realized recently that a number of readers have arrived here in search of more information about TCE in (or because of) Collegeville and Trappe, PA. Through some very minor sleuthing, we’ve realized that at least 3 websites have emerged that are devoted to monitoring the local issue. They are great resources where folks can learn a lot more. And they’ve been kind enough to mention or link to this blog (thank you), sending a number of new readers our way.
- Talk of the Town: Investigative reporter Jon Goodman’s blog, where, “At great risk he has sought to reveal the problem, the cause and the solution.”
- Collegeville TCE Watch: Run by A Concerned Citizen who “decided to setup this blog which will be devoted to gathering information about this important issue, and getting our government representatives to fix this problem quickly.”
Concerned Citizens of Collegeville, PA: A Yahoo Groups group run by Liz D. from Trappe. She writes: I envision this site to be a place where everyone can post and read information and share their thoughts and ideas about the air quality problem in our area. A place to discuss what they’ve read in the paper, what public officials have told them and what they’ve heard at public meetings they have attended. It is also a place to discuss what progress, if any, has been made and what we can do as a community to make sure that the air quality in Collegeville/Trappe improves for us and our children.
To all who arrived here from those sites above, and to all others in search of info because of or regarding Collegeville/Trappe, welcome. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to be helpful.
According to this article in The Mercury (Pottstown, PA), investigative reporter Jon Goodman has Trappe and Collegeville water and sewer officials so concerned about imminent litigation that they entered “executive session” to exclude the public from a recent monthly meeting. If this was not their concern, says Melissa Melewski, media law attorney with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, this private meeting may have violated the law.
“To discuss legal matters in executive session you must be discussing pending litigation that has been filed in court, or litigation where the threat is imminent and the only thing you’re allowed to discuss is legal strategy to deal with the lawsuit,” Melewski said.
She further said the fact that the matter is the subject of a right-to-know request makes it even less appropriate for excluding the public, not more.
“If that were true, every time a citizen filed a right-to-know request, it could be cited as a reason for executive session,” she said. “That’s cutting against the act itself, whose goal is making government more open, not less open.”
Do Trappe and Collegeville officials know something about litigation over the TCE issue that the rest of us don’t know?
According to the article, Goodman submitted a formal request for information on the amount of TCE emitted into the air by the public water supply’s TCE filtration system. Reportedly, this request was the subject of the meeting.
Participants in the meeting responded to questions about the suspected violation of local open meetings laws:
“If I want to get legal advice from my lawyer, I’ll ask for it,” said Trappe councilman Nevin Scholl, who also sits on both joint boards.
Asked if there is any litigation filed in connection with the discussion that just occurred, Mark A. Hosterman, whose Blue Bell law firm advises the Collegeville half of the joint committee, said the discussion involved a subject which “could be potential litigation.”
According to the article, some kind of announcement regarding TCE contamination in the area is expected April 6. We’ll keep you posted.
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