Recently, the Dayton Daily News (OH) reported the Behr Dayton Thermal Products Plant has been proposed to EPA's National Priority List (NPL) for clean-up:

Groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the Behr Dayton Thermal Products Plant is severe enough to merit putting it on the National Priority List of the U.S. EPA's Superfund program, federal officials said.

The list represents the highest level of urgency for cleanups in the nation.

If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves later this year, an effort to cleanup groundwater at the site would rank among five others in Montgomery County on the National Priority List.

There are 22 active Superfund sites in the county where work is being planned or is under way.

Priority sites are considered the worst in the nation in terms of hazard and are eligible for cleanup using Superfund Trust money. The Behr project is still in the investigational stages, which typically can take two years and cost millions, officials said.

So far, the contamination has led to the closure of McGuffey Elementary School, 1032 Webster St., and the installation of air evacuation systems in 100 homes affected by indoor air fumes from the groundwater, which is tainted with the degreaser trichloroethylene — TCE — and other organic chemicals.

It's unknown when the school will reopen. A handful of homes that have dirt basements still have indoor air contamination slightly above strict exposure levels. In the Superfund program, those responsible for the contamination fund the cleanup.

According to documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News, federal investigators believe four industrial businesses could share responsibility: Gem City Chemicals Inc., Aramark Uniform Services, Chrysler, and Behr Dayton Thermal Products.

Aramark didn't return a call for comment. Gem City declined comment.

In a follow-up article, the Daily News also reports that a survey of local cancer incidence is planned:

Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County is launching a cancer incidence survey among residents near the Behr Dayton Thermal Products plant, where groundwater pollution has prompted regulatory action to address indoor air quality.

Mark Case, director of environmental health for the agency, said Monday, March 10, that the survey could take up to a year and is being conducted with the Ohio Department of Health.

The survey will examine medical records and compare cancer levels in the neighborhood with overall cancer levels in the county, state and nation, he said. "By comparison, you get a sense whether something is out of line or not," Case said.

The Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System will be tapped for data, he noted. All diagnosed cancer cases in Ohio are supposed to be reported to the system. The area will include the census tract of the Behr plant and residential neighborhoods where 100 or so indoor air vapor abatement systems have been installed.

A similar survey was performed in 2005 in Kettering neighborhoods near the former Gentile Air Force Station. Residents of the Wiles Creek neighborhood there complained about pollution from the former Defense Electronics Supply Center. The survey found no abnormalities.

Case acknowledged that a cancer survey could have some limitations.

"We don't know how long the vapors have been in people's homes," he said.

The exact chronology of Behr plant pollution is unclear. Former plant owner Chrysler has said it discovered TCE, or trichloroethylene, contamination in 1996, but it wasn't until Ohio EPA tests in 2006 that hazards to homes were suspected.

Cancer can develop over decades and take the form of many different types of tumors, Case said. In its Ninth Report on Carcinogens, the federal National Toxicology Program determined that TCE is "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." The International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that TCE is "probably carcinogenic to humans," according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

In a related development, a community outreach survey sponsored by the Environmental Sustainability Research Group at the University of Dayton will examine health problems in the area. A public meeting on the survey could occur in April, a spokeswoman said.