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.

There is "no apparent public health risk" at the North Brunswick Township High School and its surrounding areas associated with the soil contamination found in 2003, according to a preliminary public health assessment.

Last Thursday, township officials and representatives from the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry held a meeting to discuss the remediation project that resulted from the expansion of the high school in 2003. The primary concern for the school, Veterans Park, Judd Elementary School, a PSE&G easement and six nearby residences was arsenic in surface soil, lead in settled dust and tetrachloroethylene (TCE) [sic] in groundwater.

In July 2003, waste material consisting of pharmaceutical and laboratory wastes, glass vials, bottles and an unidentified dark brown material were uncovered near and within the Oval area of the high school, which is where the current auditorium sits. It is believed that the site was used as a municipal dump between the 1940s and 1960s. Approximately 9,200 cubic yards of waste materials and soil were excavated and removed, according to the report.

Since that time, officials said 54 soil samples and 18 interior surface samples were taken from the high school, and 10 interior surface samples were collected from Judd, with follow-up tests conducted. The high school perimeter and football field, as well as the neighboring park and residences at block 143, lots 94.01 and 95.01 were also examined.

Although remediation is still needed at Veterans Park and efforts will continue to oversee and limit any possible groundwater and vapor contamination, the report states that there are no cancer or noncancer health risks associated with the project.

One parent claimed his son "lived in the dirt" for 18 years as an athlete and developed a brain tumor, although he is not positive there is a correlation. A student noted that the epidemiology report is only calculated through 2001, but statistics may have changed through 2008. Another person mentioned that the cancer rates should be evaluated specific to the area surrounding the high school and not broadened out to the general population, since any health effects will involve North Brunswick.

Also, residents are concerned that there could have been inhalation of chemicals since the investigation and remediation phase began, and that sites that have not been remediated, such as the high school perimeter, the overused football field and Judd school, could have contaminants in the soil that become disturbed and loosened as time goes on. One parent is concerned that no additional testing was done at Judd before the current expansion and renovation project began.

Vapor Intrusion of Toxic Chemicals:
An Emerging Public Health Concern

Final Report
January 2006

Assemblyman Thomas P. DiNapoli, Chairman
New York State Assembly
Committee on Environmental Conservation

In 2007, Toronto Public Health examined a variety of chemical substances that may be released from institutional, commercial and industrial operations in Toronto and identified 25 toxic substances of priority health concern. They include carcinogens such as cadmium, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. These substances occur in the Toronto environment at levels that are of concern to health. For Toronto residents, emissions to air are the most important route of exposure to these chemicals, and hence pose the greatest health risk.

Although we know these substances are in our environment at levels that are a concern to health, we are missing important information about how these chemicals get into our environment. To be able to reduce the levels found in our environment we first need to know where they are coming from.

Canada has a pollutant tracking program called the National Pollutant Release Inventory, or “NPRI.” About 300 facilities in Toronto report to the NPRI. The majority of operations in Toronto that may use or emit chemical substances, however, are too small to meet current NPRI reporting requirements. Toronto Public Health estimates that more than 80 per cent of emissions to air of these 25 priority substances are not reported at all. The proposed Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Program would fill this gap in information. It will track the use and release of the priority chemicals from all sizes of operations.

Over the past two years, Toronto Public Health has examined similar programs used in North America and met with businesses, community organizations and other experts to decide what would work best for Toronto.

This document presents an idea about how an Environmental Reporting and Disclosure Program could work. It does not contain the actual text of a bylaw. It identifies elements such as the chemicals to be tracked, the types of businesses affected, what information they would be required to report and how the public could access the data. It also outlines some options for facilities to innovate, prevent pollution and improve competitiveness.

KB Homes had hoped to build 461 residences in the 1,595-acre canyon, but those plans have been delayed since the summer of 2006 when Southwick and a cadre of residents who call themselves the "Radiation Rangers" (See: "Dirty Business," Nov. 1, 2007) questioned the safety of the project.

[…]

The Reporter has obtained a December 2007 study of offsite pollution around SSFL prepared by an Arcadia-based environmental engineering firm MWH for Boeing, NASA and the Department of Energy which shows that TCE has been detected in approximately 10 percent of several dozen groundwater samples collected on Runkle Canyon property.

[…]

Around 1.73 million gallons of TCE were used at [Santa Susana Field Laboratory] as a solvent to hose down rocket engines, as the Reporter first revealed during its investigation of the Runkle Canyon-adjacent Ahmanson Ranch development. That project tanked over toxic troubles in 2003 before becoming state park land (See: "Air Apparent," Feb.13, 2003). Approximately 530,000 gallons of the carcinogen, which is a volatile organic compound, have seeped into the area's groundwater. With the current rate of remediating TCE being less than 10 gallons a year at SSFL, it will take more than 50,000 years to clean up.

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.

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.

In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discovered in some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects, including cancer. In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) began a study to examine whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water are more likely to have developed certain childhood cancers or birth defects. ATSDR has projected a December 2007 completion date for the study. The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2005 required GAO to report on past drinking water contamination and related health effects at Camp Lejeune. In this report GAO describes (1) efforts to identify and address the past contamination, (2) activities resulting from concerns about possible adverse health effects and government actions related to the past contamination, and (3) the design of the current ATSDR study, including the study's population, time frame, selected health effects, and the reasonableness of the projected completion date. GAO reviewed documents, interviewed officials and former residents, and contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to convene an expert panel to assess the design of the current ATSDR study.

Efforts to identify and address the past drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune detected VOCs in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued testing identified two VOCs--trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser, and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent--in two water systems that served base housing areas, Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace. In 1984 and 1985 a Navy environmental program identified VOCs, such as TCE and PCE, in some of the individual wells serving the Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace water systems. Ten wells were subsequently removed from service. Department of Defense (DOD) and North Carolina officials concluded that on- and off-base sources were likely to have caused the contamination. It has not been determined when contamination at Hadnot Point began. ATSDR has estimated that well contamination at Tarawa Terrace from an off-base dry cleaner began as early as 1957. Activities related to concerns about possible adverse health effects began in 1991, when ATSDR initiated a public health assessment evaluating the possible health risks from exposure to the contaminated drinking water. The health assessment was followed by two health studies, one of which is ongoing. While ATSDR did not always receive requested funding and experienced delays in receiving information from DOD for its Camp Lejeune-related work, ATSDR officials said this has not significantly delayed their work. Former residents and employees have filed about 750 claims against the federal government. Additionally, three federal inquiries into issues related to the contamination have been conducted--one by a Marine Corps-chartered panel and two by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Members of the expert panel that the National Academy of Sciences convened generally agreed that many parameters of ATSDR's current study are appropriate, including the study population, the exposure time frame, and the selected health effects. ATSDR's study is examining whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune between 1968 and 1985 were more likely to have specific birth defects or childhood cancers than those not exposed. DOD, EPA, and HHS provided technical comments on a draft of this report, which GAO incorporated where appropriate. Three members of an ATSDR community assistance panel for Camp Lejeune provided oral comments on issues such as other VOCs that have been detected at Camp Lejeune, and compensation, health benefits, and additional notification for former residents. GAO focused its review on TCE and PCE because they were identified by ATSDR as the chemicals of primary concern. GAO's report notes that other VOCs were detected. GAO incorporated the panel members' comments where appropriate, but some issues were beyond the scope of this report.

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.

• 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.

• Health Consultation - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (Public Comment Draft) - March 26, 2007 - NEW
• Information Sheet - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (Public Comment Draft) - March 26, 2007 - NEW
• Written Response Form - Health Statistics Review Follow-up (PDF, 11KB, 1pg.) - March 26, 2007 - NEW

What is a health statistics review?

A health statistics review uses existing health data from data sources like birth certificates and health registries to determine whether health outcomes in a particular community are occurring at higher, lower, or about the same level compared to statewide or national levels after taking into account the age, race, and sex of individuals in the community. A health statistics review does not tell us why elevations or deficits in health outcomes exist and can not prove whether there is a cause and effect relationship between exposure to chemicals and health outcomes. While a health statistics review can take risk factors commonly found on health records into account, a health statistics review may not be able to take into account certain individual risk factors for health outcomes such as medical history, genetics and occupational exposures which may explain the elevations or deficits. Rather a health statistics review can generate hypotheses and may indicate whether a more rigorous study should be considered. This health statistics review follow-up is the second major report resulting from the step-wise approach to addressing health outcome concerns related to environmental contamination in Endicott, NY.

Why was a health statistics review conducted?

A health statistics review was conducted because of concerns about possible exposures to chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Groundwater in the Endicott area is contaminated with VOCs from leaks and spills associated with local industry and commercial businesses. Trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene (PCE) are two main VOCs of concern in the area. The VOCs moved from the contaminated groundwater into air spaces in the soil and then into indoor air through cracks in foundations in some buildings, a process known as soil vapor intrusion. Because of possible health concerns, the New York State Department of Health conducted the prior health statistics review and the health statistics review follow-up.

The follow-up health statistics review gathered additional detailed information to see if known risk factors may have played a role in the higher than expected levels of health outcomes shown in the previous review. The follow-up looked at individual birth defect records, birth certificates, cancer records, and death certificates to find information about risk factors such as smoking, occupational history, family medical history, and medication use. Newspaper obituaries, Motor Vehicle records, city directories, and telephone directories were used to trace residential histories.

The follow-up also reviewed two additional birth outcomes, conotruncal heart defects (specific defects of the heart's outflow region) and stillbirths. The scientific literature suggests that both of these outcomes may be associated with TCE exposures. The follow-up also reviewed cancer incidence for all types of cancer, taking account of race. Findings from the follow-up review as well as the findings from the prior review were used to guide the development of possible options for next steps.

Radioactive emissions from a 1959 nuclear accident at a research lab near Simi Valley appear to have been much greater than previously suspected and could have resulted in hundreds of cancers in surrounding communities, according to a study released Thursday.

Chemical contamination from rocket engine testing at the site continues to threaten soil and groundwater in the area around Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the study also found.

The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer "over a period of many decades," the study concluded.

But the advisory panel that oversaw the five-year study, conducted by an independent team of scientists and health experts, said it could not offer more specifics about potential exposure to carcinogens because the Department of Energy and Rocketdyne's owner, Boeing Co., did not provide key information.

"This lack of candor … makes characterization of the potential health impacts of past accidents and releases extremely difficult," the panel concluded.

The lab's former owner, Rocketdyne, has said for years that no significant radiation was released. But the independent advisory panel said the incident released nearly 459 times more radiation than a similar one at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979.

[...]

The Energy Department, Boeing [the site's current owner] and the state have been involved in efforts to decontaminate the site. The state has estimated that more than 1.73 million gallons of toxic trichloroethylene was dumped on the grounds and that 500,000 gallons have saturated the bedrock beneath the lab.

The panel concluded local soil and groundwater also may have been contaminated. The rocket fuel additive perchlorate has been found in a well, but Boeing has disputed assertions it came from the lab. Long-term exposure to high levels of perchlorate can cause thyroid problems.

Environmental officials this week released final plans for the cleanup of industrial solvents seeping from a former oil drum disposal site in West Kingston [a.k.a. WEST KINGSTON TOWN DUMP/URI DISPOSAL AREA].

The state Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released the so-called record of decision [PDF, 1.5MB] regarding the cleanup of the West Kingston dumpsite on Tuesday. The voluminous document chronicles the site's history and the steps leading to the remediation effort.

The 17.4-acre former town dump east of Plains Road and adisposal area of about 17 acres at the University of Rhode Island were placed on the EPA's high-priority cleanup list in 1992.

The agencies agreed to cap portions of the former dumpsite, but were unable to trace the source of ground-water pollutants until last summer, according to the DEM.

Environmental officials determined the solvents -- tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene -- had leaked from a dozen rusted drums, apparently containing roofing tar, and seeped into the ground water. A plume extends about 2,500 feet from the drum area toward Hundred Acre Pond, traveling in a northwesterly direction along the bedrock, the decision states.

The report concluded health risks from emissions were undeterminable prior to 1987, before stricter reporting and emissions standards took effect. But the public's exposure to TCE was "probably higher" than to all other chemicals used during that time, it concluded.

That may be an important consideration in follow-up research that will attempt to determine the cause of excessive rates of congenital heart defects, testicular cancer and kidney cancer in neighborhoods south and south west of the plant. The diseases have been associated with TCE exposure in other studies.

The report presented Tuesday at the First United Methodist Church, McKinley Avenue, could not quantify risks from TCE emissions from the plant because of incomplete documentation, according to the report. One document, however, offered an important clue. From 1965 to 1968, the plant used at least 7.35 million pounds of the chemical each year.

"That is greater than any other chemical for any other time period," said John Wilhelmi, a chemical engineer who contributed to the ATSDR report.

Officials from the ATSDR, which joined the state Department of Health in the Endicott TCE investigation after the vapor intrusion problem was discovered in 2003, will know whether it can justify an even more intensive follow-up study in the fall. Some of that will depend on whether scientists think they have the scientific wherewithal — called "statistical power" — to document a causal relationship between cancers and chemical exposure.

"We don't completely understand combined exposure risks from multiple pathways (of TCE exposure)," [ATSDR's Greg] Ulirsch said. "Historic air exposures should be considered in the feasibility of performing an in-depth health study ... We're leaving that door open."

From: Martel, Susan
Date: Jul 20, 2006 11:46 AM
Subject: RE: Congressional briefing re: TCE report?
To: neil fischbein

Neil,
The report will be released on July 27 at 4:00 pm EDT. It will be posted to the National Academies' website at that time.
Susan

Briefing for Congressional Staff Only
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
B-308 Rayburn House Office Bldg. - 2:00 p.m.

[...]

Should you have any questions about this briefing, please contact Jim Jensen of the National Academies' Office of Congressional and Government Affairs at 202-334-1601 or email him at jjensen@nas.edu.

Abstract: Carbon tetrachloride (CTC), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) were four of the most widely used cleaning and degreasing solvents in the United States. These compounds were also used in a wide variety of other applications. The history of the production and use of these four compounds is linked to the development and growth of the United States' synthetic organic chemical industry, and historical events that affected the development and use of chlorinated solvents in general. Part 1 of this article includes a discussion of the historical background common to each of the four solvents, followed by discussion on the history of CTC and PCE. In the early years of the 20th century, CTC became the first of the four solvents to come into widespread use. CTC was used as a replacement for petroleum distillates in the dry-cleaning industry, but was later replaced by PCE. In the 1990s, CTC was phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to its role in stratospheric ozone depletion.

[...]

Part 2 of this article describes the history of TCE and TCA. TCE production in the United States began in the early 1920s. TCE was used as a replacement for petroleum distillates in the dry-cleaning industry, and became the solvent of choice for vapor degreasing in the 1930s. TCE's use as a degreaser decreased in the 1960s due to toxicity concerns and the increasing popularity of TCA. Significant TCA use began in the 1950s with the development of suitable stabilizer formulations. In the 1990s, TCA was phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to its role in stratospheric ozone depletion.

A state report on the relationship between cancer cases in Lisle and Downers Grove and groundwater contamination found no significant disease clusters.

The study was the result of two separate pollution problems in areas of south Lisle and west Downers Grove.

In Lisle, hundreds of private wells were tainted with the solvent trichlorethylene, or TCE, due to spills at the Lockformer Co. plant on Ogden Avenue.

In Downers Grove, TCE and a related chemical, tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, were detected in the groundwater in several homes. The toxins came from the Ellsworth Industrial Park, authorities concluded.

Illinois Department of Public Health scientists compared countywide data with cancer cases in the neighborhoods where the wells were tested for toxins using statistics from the Illinois State Cancer Registry.

The study looks at 19,093 cancer cases reported between 1998 and 2002 in DuPage County. Fifty-three cases were found in neighborhoods with tainted wells.

Researchers concluded "no significant elevation of cancer incidence was found in the target area and no correlation was suggested between TCE or PCE contamination in well water and increase of cancer incidence." Read more here. Or download the report here.

1. According to Lockheed Martin Corp., Addendum 3 to the Site Assessment Report contains sufficient information for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to base an approval of the Site Assessment phase. Such an approval by the DEP will allow Lockheed to proceed with the preparation of a Final Remedial Action Plan. However, the latest report lacks key information and in some cases includes inaccurate information. It should not be the basis on which to proceed to a Final Remedial Action Plan phase.

2. DEP must require that the lacking information be generated, the inaccurate information corrected, and a fourth Addendum to the Site Assessment be issued and available for public comment, prior to consideration of allowing Lockheed to move to the Final Remedial Action Plan phase...

(Show more key findings)

3. One of the objectives of the Site Assessment is to evaluate current exposure and potential risks of exposure to humans and the environment, including multiple pathways of exposure. The site assessment failed to include information on vapor intrusion and volatile organics being transported into homes in the residential areas, churches, businesses and the community center from Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) in the shallow groundwater.

4. The VOCs in the shallow groundwater pose a risk to human health through inhalation. That exposure pathway must be evaluated as an important part of the site assessment.

5. Lockheed has acknowledged that although VOCs in the groundwater are a potential concern, inhalation is not considered to represent a significant exposure pathway because air concentrations are presumed to be low. Presumption of low concentrations of toxic chemicals is not acceptable.

6. Lockheed used the low concentrations presumption to omit the study of groundwater vapor intrusion into homes.

7. Lockheed used the lack of human exposure to groundwater contaminates to justify not considering relocation of residents since the community supposedly no longer uses individual water wells.

8. Lockheed failed to evaluate the vapor intrusion pathway of the toxic off gassing of VOCs into residential homes.

9. If the FDEP does not require the vapor intrusion pathway and indoor air quality to be investigated as a part of the Site Assessment, the Remedial Action Plan will fail to address a critical human health exposure pathway and continue to allow the community to be exposed to the toxic chemicals of concern.

10. The groundwater table beneath the residential area is less than 5 feet below the ground surface. Toxic volatile organic chemicals in excess of criterion are present in the shallow groundwater beneath the residential areas at depths of 0 to 30 feet below ground surface in the Upper Surficial Aquifer System and 35 to 45 feet below ground surface in the Lower Surficial Aquifer System.

11. The Upper Surficial Aquifer System groundwater 15 to 20 feet below ground level in the residential areas contains 1,4-Dioxane, PCE, TCE, cis-1,2-DCE, 1,1-DCE and 1,1-DCA in concentrations in excess of Screening Criteria.

12. The Lower Surficial Aquifer System groundwater 35 feet below the ground surface in the residential area contains 1,4-Dioxane, PCE, TCE, cis-1,2-DCE, 1,1-DCE and 1,1-DCA in excess of Screening Criteria.

13. FDEP must require that the transport of volatile organic chemicals from the shallow groundwater beneath the residential areas into the homes of people living on top of the groundwater plume and the human exposure pathway be evaluated as part of the Site Assessment.

14. It is critical to evaluate this human health pathway during the Site Assessment phase and not allow the Remedial Action phase to proceed until the magnitude and extent of human health exposure is defined.

15. This evaluation could lead to an additional recommendation in Section 5.2 of the Site Assessment Report that would require an evaluation of groundwater off gassing impacts to human health that could result in relocation of residential areas over the groundwater plume.

16. One of the significant findings of the Site Assessment Report is that the horizontal and vertical extent of COCs above GCTLs in site groundwater has been delineated. But the vertical extent of the groundwater contamination plume has not been determined for the entire plume area. There are not adequate wells below groundwater strata exceeding GCTLs throughout the plume to define the vertical extent of the plume.

17. Two other significant findings of the Site Assessment Report are that the vertical extent of chemicals of concern or COCs above GCTLs in site groundwater is limited to within approximately 200 feet below ground surface water and in the Lower Arcadian Formation Sands and Floridan Aquifer System is not impacted with site COCs above groundwater cleanup targeted levels.

18. These findings fail to present the fact that chemicals of concern have migrated into the Lower Arcadian Formation Sands and Floridan Aquifer System as documented by testing of the minimal number of monitoring wells installed in the two water bearing zones.

19. Chemicals of concern including TCE and PCE are present in groundwater formations deeper than 200 feet below ground surface and have been detected in groundwater to depths of 365 to 385 feet below ground surface.

20. Chemicals of concern have impacted the Lower Arcadian Formation Sands and the Floridan Aquifer System.

21. Samples of private water wells were collected and analyzed as part of the Site Assessment process. Lockheed made a decision to not include some of the results in the Site Assessment report and will submit the data to the DEP under separate cover. This is not acceptable.

22. The 2006 Private Well Survey Data that was submitted to DEP under separate cover on May 22 indicates that samples from several wells to the north and east of the Booth well showed contamination, yet those wells, in particular Well 98 on Trey Desenberg's property, arenot within the plume. This indicates that both the horizontal as well as vertical extent of the plume has not been defined and needs further study.

23. Test results of private wells not included in the Site Assessment contained concentrations of 1,4-Dioxane, TCE and cis-1,2-DCE in concentrations, in some cases, in excess of groundwater targeted cleanup levels.

24. Lockheed has suggested that these private wells were beyond the limits of site impacted groundwater and beyond monitoring wells which had non-detectable concentrations of the chemicals of concern found on the former American Beryllium Company site.

25. There are many individual plume maps for specific chemicals within the overall composite plume map. Examination of individual plume maps indicate that other plumes traced back to the plant may be contaminating those private wells.

26. The entire Private Water Well Data set must be required to be provided in the Site Assessment Report and the DEP must require that Lockheed do additional testing to delineate groundwater contamination outside the current plumes and determine if the source material for the plumes of the unreported private water wells are interconnected to the former beryllium facility plumes or originated from the former plant.

27. Only one on-site surface water sample has been collected and analyzed throughout the testing and evaluation phases of the former ABC facility site. No on-site or off-site sediment samples have been collected and tested for COCs. This constitutes a lack of data on which to fully characterize the former ABC facility site and the surrounding area known to be impacted by the contaminated groundwater plume.

28. Sediment sampling and analysis for COCs must be performed in order to complete the characterization needed to finalize the Site Assessment phase.

29. DEP should require a more proactive remedy than the cleanup strategies proposed by Lockheed in the site assessment. That proactive remedy should include: relocation, contaminated groundwater removal or bioremediation at hot spot areas in addition to the Interim Remedial Action, and removal of contaminated soil from on the industrial site and from the residential yards.

SOURCE: Wilma Subra, Subra Company, "Comments on Site Assessment Report Addendum 3, Former ABC Facility, Tallevast, Florida, submitted to DEP by Lockheed Martin on April 26."

(hide findings)

Cornell University sent the 2005 Annual Report Executive Summary [PDF, 24K] for the Chemical and Radiation Disposal Sites. Highlights for the radiation site include: areal extent of the paradioxane plume was significantly smaller than in 2003; no radionuclides or volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected in groundwater above limits; one surface water sample was positive for paradioxane; and the groundwater recovery system pumped 3.7 million gallons during the year. Highlights for the chemical waste site include: the area of the VOC plume remained stable with trichloroethylene (TCE) detected above 5ug/l in 7of the 21 monitoring wells; low levels of TCE detected in surface water on airport property; and 2.3 million gallons of groundwater pumped from the disposal site and 10.6 million gallons from the plume control system. The Groundwater Treatment Plant processed the nearly 16 million gallons to the discharge limits with the exception of dissolved iron and generated 1.25 tons of spent activated carbon and bag filters.

The former Radiation Disposal Site (RDS) and former Chemical Disposal Site (CDS), located just north of the Tompkins County Airport.


The two former disposal sites are located one-third of a mile apart, just north of Tompkins County Airport. The shaded areas indicate where the groundwater is believed to be contaminated by chemicals migrating from the sites.

The document [PDF, 1.3 MB], published by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry with the state Department of Health, is an update of a study in August that found high rates of testicular and kidney cancers, birth defects of the heart and low birth weights in areas polluted with industrial solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE). They've ruled out a number of other possible causes, but aren't yet willing to say that residential exposure to toxins has resulted in these diseases:

The updated study, dated May 26 [...] took into consideration additional factors that could explain poor birth outcomes, including the mother's age, education, race, number of previous live births, and the amount of prenatal care she received. But they didn't influence the findings.

[...]

"It (poor birth outcomes) isn't explained by prenatal care or these other factors," said Karolina Schabses, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health.

But there are other possibilities still being considered, mainly exposure to factory emissions or chemical gases seeping in the ground, or occupational exposure. They seem like logical suspects, but they are difficult to pin down.

"You work through the steps and you try to come to a conclusion. There is a huge realm of possibility of the things we are dealing with," Schabses said.

It sounds to us as if the the DOH is either trying to keep expectations very low or laying the foundation for a politically palatable finding of inconclusive causation.

Come to think of it, isn't it strange that Departments of Health are so quick to emphasize the uncertainty? It almost sounds like a known and popular polluter ploy. You never see Departments of Health out there declaring "There is a cause here, dammit, and we're going to find it." Wonder why that is?

Meantime, it seems like whatever NY DOH's goal, the approach is having its intended effect:

To the layman, it seems like a matter of common sense: Toxic chemicals cause illness. But waiting for years of detailed study to determine exactly who was exposed to what, at what levels, for how long and to what effect have proven frustrating for community members, said Frank Roma, a member of the Western Broome Environmental Stakeholders Coalition.

"Every time I talk to anybody, it's on people's minds," he said.

Will they ever find an answer?

"I'm hoping for it. It seems to be out of reach," he said.

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