WDEF Channel 12 Interview with Alvin Shipp about the Camp Lejeune water contamination and the death of his son in 1968.

Facing significant community pressure, Georgia's #1 emitter of TCE is taking steps to use less TCE by eliminating TCE from it's degreasing operation (thereby presumably emitting less TCE into the local environment). Last week, in a letter addressed to "Neighbors and Friends of the Winterville Community," Nakanishi President Kunio Kanaeda promised

[By] the end of 2007...[we] will eliminate the use of TCE in our degreasing operation.

[...]

Nakanishi Manufacturing Corporation remains committed to being a good corporate citizen and a good environmental steward in the Winterville community.

Congratulations to Nakanishi, Jill McElheney (thanks for keeping us in the loop), Micah's Mission, Clean Air Athens, and all those working to reduce Georgia's exposure to TCE.

Click here to download the official letter (PDF, 190K)

October 8, 2005 Update:

Though we originally attributed the statement in the article headline below to University of Georgia Professor, Dr. Jeff Fisher, we were recently informed by Dr. Fisher that he did NOT make this statement. He was kind enough to email us, explain the situation, and request that we change our headline. We have gladly done so and apologize to Dr. Fisher for the improper attribution/implication. We have posted Dr. Fisher's clarification (sent to us via email) with his permission:

From: Jeff Fisher
Date: Oct 8, 2005 10:00 AM

I need to tell you that the editors of the local newspaper added the headline about TCE is a human carcinogen. I did not say, 'TCE is really a human carcinogen'. I think that statement is a very controversial statement and I am not qualified to evaluate the epidemiological data that support or refute the claim. It is regulated as a probable human carcinogen, which means is that the goal is to protect the population from its potential carcinogenic effects. I would appreciate you removing the statement from your article on your website. It suggests that I say TCE is a known human carcinogen.

Thank you,

Jeff Fisher

------------------------------------
Originally posted on October 6, 2005

From the Athens Banner-Herald (GA):

TCE really is a human carcinogen

by Jeff Fisher

After the Athens Banner-Herald's Sept. 22 editorial on the use of trichloroethylene at Nakanishi Manufacturing in Athens-Clarke County ("Allegations of local TCE harm not yet proven"), I'm compelled to provide a better-informed view. I've spent 20 years conducting toxicological research on TCE, and I participated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's most recent reevaluation of the health risks it poses.

Last month, I participated on an expert panel to review the state of New York's proposed air guideline value for TCE.

TCE is regulated as a human carcinogen. Authoritative consensus-based bodies classified TCE as a probable human carcinogen in 1995 and in 2000. Human cancers associated with TCE are liver/biliary, kidney, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, cervix and esophagus. The editorial is incorrect in stating "it is not abundantly clear there is a link between TCE exposure and cancer." The cited references are out of date.

TCE is a common environmental contaminant. Many industries now use other cleaning products, or have changed processes in order to reduce or eliminate reliance on TCE. I compliment Nakanishi for its effort to reduce or phase out TCE use, and encourage aggressive action in that regard. I say this not only because of citizen concerns, but because a pending National Academy of Science review of the health risks will probably impact environmental regulations for TCE in the United States.

The public health "state of affairs" when a company emits tons per year of a chemical carcinogen such as TCE into the air of a neighborhood with a school is one of great polarization and controversy. This circumstance has repeated itself many times across this country during the last 20 years. My real surprise in Athens-Clarke County is that no air quality or water quality data are available to determine the exposures of local residents and children to TCE. From a thermodynamic point of view, people in the community are highly likely to be exposed to TCE. The question is what the concentration of TCE is in the air, or, perhaps, the water. The only hint of what the TCE exposures may be to local residents comes from mathematical models that predict the air concentrations of TCE based on reported stack emissions data.

The limited modeling data I have seen predicts TCE concentrations of 1 to 4 micrograms per 1,000 liters of air. Members of the expert panel of which I was a part last month were verbally recommending a TCE air guidance value ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 micrograms per 1,000 liters of air to the New York State Department of Health. I think a better understanding of community exposures to TCE is one step in the right direction to better understand the heath risks posed from TCE in the community.

To demonstrate harm to children from exposure to TCE in the Coile Middle School or community, as suggested in the editorial, would require a large and fairly expensive research/clinical study to evaluate selected health concerns such as neurobehavioral/reproductive problems. Also, many cancers take years to develop, so children from the school would be adults before the onset of cancer. This approach is probably not an option without federal assistance and the willingness of the community to participate. Proving harm also suggests that the burden of proof relies on the citizens. They have complained about health issues.

• Fisher is a professor in the University of Georgia's College of Public Health and head of the Department of Environmental Health Science.

Clean Air Athens has created a web page with information about Nakanishi Manufacturing and TCE contamination. From the web page:

Nakanishi Manufacturing dumps massive quantities of trichloroethylene, or TCE, a "dinosaur" chemical that it is being phased out around the country. It's the chemical that poisoned the community in the movie "A Civil Action." Safer alternatives exist, and Nakanishi claims they have been studying alternatives for several years. Demand that Nakanishi to switch to non-cancer-causing solvents immediately.

Be sure to check out the site for additional information and links.

Online Athens (GA) reports:

Pollution coming from the Nakanishi Motor Corporation's plant near Winterville does not pose a health threat to its neighbors, and there is no reason to deny the company's application to renew its pollution permit, state officials said at a public meeting Monday night.

The 1225 Voyles Road plant vents more than 100,000 pounds of year of a solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE, less than one-third of a mile from W.R. Coile Middle School. But it is so diluted by the time it reaches the school or a nearby church that the health risk is far below any federal standards, said Randy Manning, coordinator of the state Environmental Protection Division's Environmental Toxicology program.

Lenny Siegel, Director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO) offers:

This article raises two questions:

First, what level of TCE in air do Georgia regulators consider safe?

Second, why is Nakanishi Motors still using such large quantities of TCE? My impression is that most industrial users of TCE in the U.S. have phased it out. At least, that's the case here in Silicon Valley

Read more. Thanks to CPEO for this tip.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald (GA):

The state Environmental Protection Division will hold public meetings on pollution permits for Athens' top two industrial air polluters over the next month.

At the first meeting, EPD scientists and officials of Nakanishi Manufacturing near Winterville will discuss that company's application to extend its permit. The meeting is scheduled for Monday at W.R. Coile Middle School, in sight of the Nakanishi plant at nearby 1225 Voyles Road.

[...]

Nakanishi, which manufactures machine bearings, filed for an extension of its existing air quality permit, and is not asking for permission to increase its pollution output.

The EPD does not hold information meetings on all air quality permit applications, but scheduled Monday's public meeting because environmental regulators are working on a mandatory five-year review of the permit and because someone in the public requested the meeting - specifically, Micah's Mission, a faith-based group focused on environmental effects on children's health.

Nakanishi released 111,462 pounds of trichloroethylene, or TCE, in 2003, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's annual Toxic Release Inventory, compared to about 102,000 pounds in 2000 and 130,000 in 2002. TCE, a cancer-causing chemical used as a degreaser, is one of several dozen chemicals the federal government requires be tracked as "toxic" air pollutants.

Read the full story.

...to keep people safer from TCE, please encourage them to contact:



Jody Milanese (millaneese) in Congresswoman Sue Kelly's office at 202-225-5441

From Online-Athens (free reg req'd):

The state Environmental Protection Division will hold a public hearing on an Athens company's request to renew its air-quality permit. No date has been set for the hearing or a possible public forum on the application, filed by Nakanishi Manufacturing Corp.

The 1225 Voyles Road facility, near Coile Middle School, is not asking to increase its emissions limits, according to records filed with the EPD.

The EPD does not conduct public hearings on all air-quality permits, but does when members of the public request a hearing.

The existing permit allows the Nakanishi plant, which makes machine bearings, to emit up to 100 tons a year of volatile organic compounds and up to 100 tons a year of trichloroethylene, a cancer-causing chemical used as a degreaser. Actual emissions of the chemicals are closer to 75 tons a year for each chemical class, according to the company.

The company's overall emissions of "hazardous air pollutants" rose from 102,000 pounds in 2000 to 130,000 pounds in 2002, the most recent data posted on the state's annual Toxic Release Inventory.

More from the GAO Report, as promised. Please bear in mind:

· 85% of the sites below were discovered 15 yrs ago or more
· over 60% of the potentially eligible sites and over 35% of all sites below report no clean-up activities

---
Table IV.1: Sites Classified as Awaiting an NPL Decision in Each State, by Eligibility for Listing and Status of Cleanup Progress
+
Table VI.1: State Officials’ Assessments of States’ Financial Capabilities to Clean Up Potentially Eligible Sites

State	Number of sites classified as awaiting an NPL decision	Number of sites unlikely to become eligible for the NPL	Number of potentially eligible sites with some cleanup activities	Number of potentially eligible sites with no reported cleanup activities	Number of sites for which no surveys were received	State officials’ assessment of state’s financial capability to clean up potentially eligible sites
Alabama	25	10	7	8	0	Very poor
Alaska	28	14	8	6	0	Excellent
Arizona	34	16	10	8	0	Excellent
Arkansas	4	3	0	1	0	Good
California	a 189	64	51	74	0	Fair
Colorado	30	12	10	6	2	Very poor
Connecticut	290	74	98	118	0	Poor
Delaware	1	1	0	0	0	Excellent
District of Columbia	a 1	0	0	1	0
Florida	269	74	85	110	0	Fair
Georgia	74	39	8	27	0	Poor
Guam	2	2	0	0	0
Hawaii	17	12	4	1	0	Fair
Idaho	16	5	5	6	0	*
Illinois	207	95	43	69	0	Fair
Indiana	54	21	15	18	0	Very poor
Iowa	33	29	4	0	0	Very poor
Kansas	37	28	4	5	0	Very poor
Kentucky	20	15	2	3	0	Good
Louisiana	10	6	4	0	0	Poor
Maine	56	28	17	11	0	Poor
Maryland	20	8	4	8	0	Other b
Massachusetts	a 201	11	19	171	0	Fair
Michigan	50	22	18	10	0	Excellent
Midway Island	1	1	0	0	0
Minnesota	17	6	6	5	0	Good
Mississippi	9	4	1	2	2	Very poor
Missouri	91	73	7	11	0	*
Montana	11	2	7	2	0	Very poor
Navajo Nation	14	0	0	14	0
Nebraska	a 36	16	4	15	1	Very poor
Nevada	12	8	3	1	0	Poor
New Hampshire	42	24	9	9	0	Poor
New Jersey	172	60	49	63	0	Good
New Mexico	15	7	6	2	0	Very poor
New York	a 192	135	15	41	1	*
North Carolina	57	18	21	18	0	Poor
North Dakota	4	2	1	1	0	Poor
Northern Mariana Islands	1	0	1	0	0
Ohio	79	25	23	31	0	Very poor
Oklahoma	7	4	1	2	0	Very poor
Oregon	29	7	6	16	0	Fair
Pennsylvania	73	35	18	20	0	Excellent
Puerto Rico	16	3	4	9	0
Rhode Island	121	14	23	84	0	Poor
South Carolina	45	32	8	5	0	Good
South Dakota	8	6	2	0	0	Other b
Tennessee	102	51	19	32	0	Poor
Texas	21	18	1	2	0	Poor
Utah	48	17	8	16	7	*
Vermont	30	16	5	9	0	Poor
Virginia	22	8	2	12	0	*
Washington	28	11	8	9	0	Fair
West Virginia	11	7	4	0	0	Other b
Wisconsin	53	34	8	11	0	Excellent
Wyoming	1	1	0	0	0
Total	3,036	1,234	686	1,103	13

a California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Nebraska did not respond to surveys. For these states, the data in table IV.1 are based on EPA’s survey responses alone and, for that reason, may be less reliable than for states having responses from both EPA and states. New York provided responses to only a few questions in our survey.

b “Other” indicates that the respondent was uncertain about the state’s financial capability.

* State officials in Idaho, New York, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming declined to participate in [the] telephone survey.