Saturday, June 30, 2007

Long Island Residents Were Never Told about the Huge Toxic Plume Under Their Homes

June 29, 2007 - Dozens of residents and officials expressed shock and outrage Thursday night at the magnitude of a KeySpan-owned toxic utility gas-plant site in Hempstead and what they saw as the failure of the state to alert them to the dangers and clean it up.

At a sometimes raucous meeting at Adelphi University, residents from the villages of Hempstead and Garden City lambasted state officials for failing to expedite the cleanup of a site that has spawned a 4,000-foot-long plume through a residential area and created potential exposure pathways to homes, apartments, parks and office buildings. Despite residents' skepticism, officials said they were aware of no direct exposure to the toxins that presented a human health threat.

Dawn Anderson, a real estate agent whose home sits dead center on the plume, said the first she'd even heard about the site was on a TV broadcast Thursday, despite living in her home for 36 years. "Finding this out today was very distressing," she said, noting that she had survived breast cancer and is raising a 16-year-old son in the home.

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The Terrible Plight of Mission Texas

June 29, 2007 - For decades this community has been plagued by cancer and birth defects, a trail of human suffering that residents are convinced stems from the pesticide-processing plant that operated in the neighborhood from 1950 to 1972. Since the facility closed, attempts to remove toxic residues and compensate residents have repeatedly foundered.

As the bus set forth at 5:30 a.m. on May 2, residents hoped this time would be different. They were traveling to Austin to ask lawmakers for a resolution encouraging the Texas Supreme Court to decide a case that has languished since 1999. The mass toxic tort is against Hayes-Sammons Chemical Co. and a slew of other big firms affiliated with the processing facility and a large warehouse a half-mile away. Federal and state environmental agencies have found significant contamination at both sites, but a jury has yet to hear arguments in the case while the court works through legal technicalities. In the meantime, plaintiffs have died waiting for the trial.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Years later, chemical plant neighbors in Georgia find closure

June 26, 2007 - hirteen years after the state shut down Linden Chemicals and Plastics for alleged environmental pollution, justice may finally be arriving for neighbors who once lived near the site.

The lingering taint from the plant made it impossible for people like Linda and Bo Miller to sell.

They were among about 200 plaintiffs who joined in a civil lawsuit against the company that ended with a $25 million out-of-court settlement.
Last week, the Millers got a check for $101,000.

The payout is the final chapter in the Miller's saga related to the now-shuttered plant on Ross Road, just north of the city line. Bo Miller worked at the Linden Chemicals and Plastics plant for 34 years, from 1955 to 1989. For nearly as long, they've lived in the same house just two miles from the plant site, on Shore Drive along Yellow Bluff Creek.

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Arsenic contamination in Florida wells

June 26, 2007 - TAMPA - Unhealthy levels of arsenic have been found in a dozen scattered drinking water wells in the Lithia area of eastern Hillsborough County.

State environmental authorities are providing the owners of the affected wells with alternative water supplies. Although arsenic levels in the wells are above federal water quality standards, state officials say there is no reason for alarm.

"I think the arsenic numbers, the kind of exposure we're talking about, is not enough to cause an immediate health impact," said Bill Kutash, an official with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Southwest District.

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Monday, June 25, 2007

Arsenic contamination in groundwater may be cause of elevated cancer rates in Buck county, PA

June 24, 2007 - For years, discussions about the arsenic in the groundwater of Central and Upper Bucks have focused on what a hassle new, stricter EPA standards were and how much it was going to cost local water suppliers to remove it.

The word “cancer” was hardly ever mentioned. But arsenic in drinking water does cause cancer.

“We now have strong evidence that it causes bladder cancer, it causes skin cancer, it causes lung cancer, and there is suggestive evidence that it causes kidney cancer,” said Dr. Kenneth Cantor, of the National Cancer Institute, one of the nation's foremost researchers into the links between environmental contaminants and cancer.

Another unsettling fact also has gone unmentioned:

Bucks County has a significantly higher rate of bladder cancer than expected — about 23 percent higher for men and 27 percent higher for women, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

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Mississippi residents fear carcinogen in soil despite cleanup

June 24, 2007 - More than 13,000 tons of soil containing the carcinogen creosote have been removed from a southeast Hattiesburg neighborhood, but residents have a lingering fear that the pollutant is still in their soil.

And their persistent pleas to City Hall caused a tumultuous last week in city government, leaving officials promising to conduct a new round of testing in the neighborhood.

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Friday, June 22, 2007

South Carolina Lags in Leaking Tank Cleanup

June 22, 2007 - South Carolina state lawmakers this year agreed to spend $5 million more on cleaning pollution caused by leaking underground gasoline tanks.

But federal regulators say that's only a fraction of what's needed to clean an estimated 3,200 sites statewide.

The leaking tanks can pollute wells and about $1 million state residents get their water from groundwater.

The state gets about $17 million a year from gas taxes for the work. But regulators say twice that much is needed to clean the sites.

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State officials knew about lead contamination in Alabama community for three years before telling residents

June 22, 2007 - Concerns about lead contamination surfaced after officials with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency began knocking on doors, asking Lincoln residents who live around the First Avenue Park area if they could take soil samples from their yards.

Apparently, soil samples collected more than three years ago by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management showed high levels of lead and other metals in foundry sand scattered inside and outside the abandoned Lincoln Metals Corporation/Heartland Faucet site at 248 Foundry Lane.

Even though documents obtained by The Daily Home show that ADEM knew more than three years ago that there were high levels of lead contamination in the small Lincoln community, it failed to notify residents in that community or Lincoln city officials about the piles of hazardous waste.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Greensboro, North Carolina Park Closed Due to Soil and Ground Water Contamination

June 20, 2007 - GREENSBORO -- One of Greensboro's four regional parks, 119-acre Barber Park, is closed while officials figure out what to do about newly uncovered soil and ground water contamination.

Workers discovered an odor while grading for new construction. The soil in question was set aside and covered with plastic. Samples found toxins in soil and groundwater, including hydrocarbons and heavy metals like lead and mercury"

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Interview with Dr. Michael Gros, a victim of water contamination at US Marine base

June 20, 2007 - For more than 30 years, residents of Camp Lejeune, a US Marine Corps base in North Carolina, were exposed to contaminated water. From 1957 to 1987, Marines/Naval personnel, family members and civilians drank and used water containing toxic levels of industrial solvents, although the military knew in late 1980 or early 1981 that at least one of the base’s water treatment plants was polluted.

The contaminants, TCE (trichloroethylene) and PCE (tetrachloroethelene, also called perchloroethylene), are both labeled probable carcinogens by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1985, when 10 water wells were eventually shut down, TCE levels recorded in one well were nearly 4,000 times the level considered safe.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Rhode Island Neighborhood Trapped by Pollution

June 19, 2007 - TIVERTON — Imagine living in a place where you can’t plant a flower, dig a garden, sell your house or let your children play outside, where hidden toxins darken the soil and a summer breeze carries the fear of airborne particles infiltrating your lungs.

This is Gail Corvello’s nightmare, and it unfolds every day in a neighborhood that looks like any other to an outsider, with tidy homes and lawns sloping down to Mount Hope Bay.

Yesterday morning, Corvello stood outside her Bay Street house, which doubles as a daycare center, and ushered four young children, ages 2 through 5, outside into the brilliant sunshine.

It was nearly five years ago that construction crews installing a sewer line on Bay Street dug up the telltale blue soil that would change the lives of Corvello and some 250 people in this working-class slice of North Tiverton, just beyond the Fall River line.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Dutchess County NY residents debate well testing laws

June 17, 2007 - Fishkill -- Residents in southern Dutchess County seem to have concerns about the recent well-testing laws their towns have proposed. Some say they agree with the concept but see flaws, while others are just worried about economic fallout.

Residents complained about the mechanism used to implement mandatory well-testing – requiring it to be conducted prior to any home being sold.

Joe Pettinella, an East Fishkill resident and president of the Dutchess County Association of Realtors, also claimed that this “will cause significant hardship to buyer and seller at a time of physical, mental, and emotional vulnerability,” and moved that it be made mandatory for all homes, not just ones in transition of sale.

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Residents concerned that Habitat for Humanity development in Florida may have been built on contaminated land

June 17, 2007 - When Habitat for Humanity built the Fairway Oaks development here seven years ago, Mary Zeigler thought, “This is a blessing.” In just 17 days, an army of 10,000 volunteers, including former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, built 85 low-cost houses, one of the nonprofit group’s biggest “blitz build” projects.

Seven years later, Ms. Zeigler is one of more than 50 Fairway Oaks homeowners who have problems with their houses and say they fear that the blitz construction was shoddy and that their land, adjacent to two former town dumps, is unstable or contaminated.

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Upscale Florida condo built on former Superfund site

The developers of this massive residential development say there is nothing to fear, but many neighbors and local activists say there is no way to be sure.

June 16, 2007 - By location alone, Biscayne Landing seems a developer's dream.

Nearly 200 open, bayside acres. Sweeping ocean views. State park on one side, university campus on the other. Close to downtown Miami and the glamour of South Beach.

Except it's on top of a dump.

Biscayne Landing's high-end condos and shops are rising atop the old Munisport landfill, which spent 17 years on the list of the nation's most polluted places. Now the first trickle of a projected 15,000 people are moving into what ranks as one of the largest residential projects ever planned on a former Superfund site.

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

80 Michigan families impacted by ground and water contamination from nearby landfill

June 15, 2007 - Drinking water out of a five-gallon jug has become a way of life for Peggy Richardson.

That’s been the case for the Town of Pines resident for the past three years, as she and around 80 other town residents await the day when they’ll be hooked up to city water.

Richardson, 55, said she hopes that day comes soon, as she’s tired of washing her fruits and vegetables with the jugs of water that arrive at her home every two weeks.

However, what she heard at a meeting Thursday, in which residents were updated on the testing of groundwater and soil for contaminants from a nearby coal ash landfill, wasn’t cause for much optimism.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Over 1 million Americans in toxic chemical's path

June 14, 2007 - According to EPA studies sited by the daily green between 1 and 4 million Americans live within 1 mile of a toxic superfund site where the primary contaminant is tetrachloroethylene.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Thousands of Marines and their families exposed to toxins for years from drinking water on base

June 13, 2003 - Some 75,000 Marines and their families at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were exposed to toxic tap water that may have caused cancer and birth defects, a federal health official testified Tuesday.

Results of a new study of the base's water were released Tuesday, the same day lawmakers heard emotional testimony from families who were affected by the water, which contained 40 times the amount of toxins considered safe by today's standards.

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New Hampshire residents shocked and dismayed by contamination near their homes

June 13, 2007 - Steven Silva stared at the N.H. Department of Transportation Bailey Bridge Yard directly across the street from his 1 Pasture Drive home.

The father of a 3-week-old baby girl, Silva said he was shocked and dismayed at the news of the massive lead paint dumping so close to the home he built only three years ago.

Although his was not one of eight families notified about the contamination, Silva said he needs to learn more about what lies so near his home. He is especially concerned about airborne particles and groundwater contamination.

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Alabama state officials new about contamination 3 years ago, but nobody told residents

June 13, 2007 - The man shook his head in disbelief when he learned that state officials knew three years ago that piles of hazardous material were just a few hundred feet from his home.

“They should have informed us about that,” said Sidney Fomby Jr., 61, of Lincoln. “They should have let the whole city of Lincoln know. My grandkids have played down by it.”

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Oregon officials expand testing for toxic fumes rising into homes from contaminated groundwater

June 13, 2007 - The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced plans to expand a toxic fumes testing program to include 30 more residents in Eugene's Trainsong neighborhood.

The agency had earlier found fumes rising up in the crawl spaces of eight nearby homes from a hazardous industrial solvent in the groundwater.

Many members of the neighborhood wanted testing but dozens of nearby homes will remain untested. The DEQ said further testing could be warranted based on the results of the 30 homes.

The groundwater was fouled by a century of spills of industrial degreaser at the railyard along the northern boundary of the neighborhood. A broad plume of the contaminated groundwater persists under homes in the Trainsong and River Road neighborhoods.

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Mississippi Residents Protest Ground Contamination

June 12, 2007 - A group of about 30 southeast Hattiesburg residents converged this morning to protest outside the Mississippi Center for Legal Services office where Hattiesburg School Board President Sam Buchanan works.

The residents, who are embroiled in a battle over creosote contamination on the 16th Section land they rent from the school district, said the school district failed to notify them of the environmental contamination although the district was involved in a lawsuit for more than 10 years.

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Work begins on 40 Massachusetts homes to protect residents from contamination

June 8, 2007 - Ashland - Federal officials have started installing equipment in about 40 homes to protect residents from potentially harmful vapors caused by contamination from the long-closed Nyanza dye company.

These homes sit on or near a three-quarter-mile long plume of groundwater contaminated by the old Nyanza factory, which operated from 1917 to 1978, according to the EPA. Several commercial buildings also are affected by the pollution.

An EPA risk assessment announced last year found that people who breathe air contaminated by the vapors from Nyanza for 30 years may have an increased risk of developing cancer.

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Friday, June 8, 2007

18 Sick Illinois Residents Sue Over Groundwater Contamination

June 7, 2007 - rene Suchor felt sick to her stomach seven years ago and hurried to the bathroom of her McCullom Lake home.

She made it to the kitchen before she started throwing up blood, and her husband called an ambulance after finding her passed out from blood loss. Doctors diagnosed her with advanced cirrhosis, but could not determine a cause – Suchor does not drink, and has never contracted hepatitis, the two most common causes.

Seven years and a liver transplant later, Suchor, 69, now blames groundwater contamination from three Ringwood manufacturers that a Philadelphia attorney has sued on behalf of 17 other people.

But her lawsuit, filed Thursday in a Philadelphia court, is unique among the 18 filed against the manufacturers. The other lawsuits are from people who claim that they contracted brain and nerve cancers from contaminated groundwater.

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North Carolina Residents Confused and Concerned Over Water Contamination

June 7, 2007 - DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) -- Managers at the water company that services about 130,000 customers in Davidson, Forsyth and Randolph counties spent much of Thursday responding to customers confused over reports of drinking water contaminated by lead.

"I thought we had good water all along, and then 'bam,' all of a sudden, you don't know what you got," said Tony Barnes, who gets his water from Davidson Water.

On Wednesday, FOX8 reported that over the past several months, elevated levels of lead were discovered in several homes in the county as well as West Davidson High School.

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Thursday, June 7, 2007

NY Bill Forces Landlords to Disclose Pollution

June 7, 2007 - State lawmakers on Wednesday again passed a bill that would require landlords leasing polluted property to disclose the property's status to prospective tenants.

A similar measure was vetoed by Gov. George E. Pataki in August.

The bill's authors, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, and Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton, expect Gov. Eliot Spitzer to sign it.

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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

10 Million Gallons of Toxic Gunk Oozing Up From Brooklyn Aquifer

June 5, 2007 - To see the extent of the problem, imagine a viscous tar-colored blob stretching amoebalike through the Earth. It starts where Meeker Avenue hits Newtown Creek, seeping out into the waterway. From there it extends south and steadily deeper under the Brooklyn soil, reaching a depth of about 40 feet. It’s contained from below by the groundwater in the Brooklyn-Queens aquifer: The oil is repelled by the water, so the muck “floats” on top. Like the Blob in the eponymous Steve McQueen movie, it keeps changing shape and moving—bulging south beyond the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, slithering north toward Greenpoint Avenue, ballooning west to at least Monitor Street. This black lagoon fills the nooks and crannies in the gravel, sand, and silt that characterize the soil of the area, pooling in pockets that range from just centimeters thick to natural vats that are 25 feet deep. The contaminated zone encompasses at least 55 acres of northern Brooklyn—an area roughly the size of Tribeca.

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Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Home Inspection Firm Offers Environmental Reports

June 5, 2007 - Consumers preparing to buy or sell a home, as well as existing homeowners, now have the opportunity to conduct an even more thorough inspection of a property that will help them protect their health and investment. Accurate Inspections, Inc. a premier provider of home inspection services in New Jersey, announces it now offers the EDR Neighborhood Environmental Report™ among its home inspection services. Developed exclusively for home buyers and sellers, the EDR Neighborhood Environmental Report™ identifies potential environmental risks such as leaking underground tanks, landfills and toxic waste sites on or near a property that may threaten a family's health or the value of their investment.

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Contaminated wells in Oregon

June 4, 2007 - State water officials are making house calls to rural well users this spring as part of a plan to clean up groundwater contamination in the southern Willamette Valley.

Though a relative newcomer to the area, Marla McClean welcomed a checkup of her well water last week by Department of Environmental Quality hydrogeologist Audrey Eldridge and water sampling technician Michael Tichenor. McClean and her husband moved to their home on nearly an acre of land along Beacon Drive, north of Santa Clara, from Winnemucca, Nev., in late 2005.

"The water was so badly contaminated in some hot spots there that the water from some wells was undrinkable," she said. "Ours was not, but we still participated in the monitoring."

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How to find out if the home you are considering buying was once a meth lab

June 1, 2007 - According to some estimates, 85 percent of the meth production in the United States occurs in California. And every year meth producers turn thousands of homes into dangerous contamination zones.

"The problem is that for every pound of meth, 5 pounds of toxic waste are produced," said Joe McGurck, spokesperson of Environmental Data Resources, a company that offers environmental reports based on public databases. "These guys aren't good guys, they aren't taking it down to the toxic waste dump. They're dumping it in the backyard."

So what's a homeowner, landlord or property manager to do? "A lot of companies run criminal background checks," says Tanforan, although his company currently does not. "But there's no real way to screen for this kind of thing."

The state also maintains a database of discovered meth labs from all drug enforcement agencies that which potential homeowners can search, but if homeowners are interested in both their home and their neighbors, ordering an Environmental Data Resources report may prove easier and more edifying (because it explains the data and searches within an one-eighth of a mile of a given property.

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Sunday, June 3, 2007

Could Your Home be a Former Meth Lab?

June 2, 2007 - When she bought her west side Sioux City home last year, Kayla Mobley wanted it to be a place where her foster children and those who attend her day care could play safely.

No one told her a methamphetamine lab was found in that house less than two years earlier. By law, no one had to.

"After we moved in, the neighbors were telling my kids that this used to be a drug house, but I didn't know what to think," Mobley said.

She was given proof of the fact when she was approached by a Journal reporter, who found her address at 1311 W. Sixth St. on the Drug Enforcement Agency's National Clandestine Laboratory Register.

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