More Midland County Texas residents worried about chromium in water

September 25, 2009 - Midland County residents living near properties with chromium contaminated water wells said at a TCEQ open house meeting Thursday they fear it’s only a matter of time before they too are dealing with the toxic substance in their water.

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2 Wyoming chemical sites to get fresh look by Department of Environmental Quality

September 24, 2009 - CASPER, Wyo. - Casper is home to two sites of chemical contamination that will be re-examined this fall after more than a decade without testing.

Meredith said DEQ officials are aware of two perchloroethylene plumes in north Casper and downtown that officials have merged into a single orphan site.

Perchloroethylene is a chemical common to cleaning solvents, often used by machine shops to clean tools and by dry cleaning services.

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Scofieldtown dump in Connecticut yields 'unintended consequences'

September 25, 2009 - The story of the old Scofieldtown dump is the story of environmentalism in America. It begins with generations of ignorance and neglect. It ends with health concerns and taxpayers funding a cleanup.

Stamford officials now are scrambling to install $2 million in waterlines to 60 homes with wells threatened by contamination from the landfill. The number of homes could rise as test results come in.

12 wells have tested positive for the carcinogens chlordane and dieldrin.


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Minnesota Residents Speak Out Against 3M Incinerator

September 24, 2009 - Cottage Grove Environmental Task Force members heard that message often Wednesday during an emotional forum held to gather public input on the 3M Co. proposal to begin burning non-3M hazardous waste at its corporate incinerator in Cottage Grove.

Nearly 50 residents joined the task force, local elected officials and 3M representatives at the meeting, and most who spoke made clear their views to the volunteer group studying 3M’s proposed amendments to its Minnesota Pollution Control Agency permits that govern the four-decade-old hazardous waste incinerator.

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Private Wells In Connecticut Contaminated

September 24, 2009 - Twelve private wells in Stamford, Connecticut tested positive for contamination and will be outfitted by the state DEP with charcoal water filters, and the city promised the same setup for any resident up to three houses away who requests it.

The trouble began last fall when an EPA study identified unsafe level of contaminants, including banned pesticides from the '70's, in the soil under Scofield Park in northern Stamford.

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Erin Brockovich goes after Shell Oil in Carson California

September 22, 2009 - Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has agreed to pursue litigation against Shell Oil Co. for contaminating a Carson housing tract.

Shell recently discovered elevated levels of methane and benzene underneath the Carousel neighborhood. The contamination has been traced to underground oil tanks the company operated on the site until the 1960s.

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Clyde families want cancer cluster maps

September 21, 2009 - We have new information now about the Clyde childhood cancer cluster.

At least a couple of the families involved with the study say the Ohio Department of Health is refusing to release a detailed map of where the cancer cases have popped up.

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EPA to recheck Ohio neighborhood contamination

September 20, 2009 - Even though the last test of her house two years ago showed no problems, Karen Reeder still worries about a contaminated plume of groundwater that is moving underground.

In 2003, ground water beneath the Behr facility, 1600 Webster St., was found to be contaminated with trichloroethene, or TCE, a solvent linked to health problems. By 2006, a contaminated ground water plume was determined to be moving south-southwest into the nearby neighborhood.

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Clean Water Laws Neglected, Leaving US Residents Paying Price

September 18, 2009- Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater - polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals - caused painful rashes. Many of his brother's teeth were capped to replace enamel that had been eaten away.

Neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.

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Exxon Discovers Gas Contamination in VA.

September 18, 2009- Great Falls resident Robb Watters said he was distraught to learn from a neighbor, rather than official sources, that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was testing wells in his neighborhood off Innsbruck Avenue for possible gasoline contamination.

After the nearby Exxon station found traces of gasoline constituents on its property, Exxon and the DEQ "decided to quietly start testing neighborhoods" in the surrounding area, Watters said. And when his wife called the DEQ, he said, "She was told, ‘You need to make an adult decision on whether to drink your water.’"

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Meeting Held on Former NY Weapons Site

September 18, 2009- About 60 people gathered in the Lewiston Senior Center on Wednesday night for a public meeting about the ongoing investigation of environmental contamination on former federal weapons sites in Lewiston and Porter.

The 7,500-acre site was purchased by the federal government in the early 1940s to construct an explosives plant manufacturing trinitrotoluene, or TNT. It had other uses once the TNT plant closed nine months after it opened. The storage site, a 191-acre area, includes a 10-acre cell that holds radiological waste.

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Closed Landfill Still A Problem for Water in Virgina Subdivision

September 10 - Although the Hidden Lane Landfill in Loudoun County has been officially closed for decades, its presence still affects the neighboring communities. Residents in the nearby Broad Run Farm subdivision have detected a chemical called trichloroethylene, or TCE, in their water.

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Community in Nebraska Deals with Nitrate in Drinking Water

September 10 - Residents of a peaceful place where children play tucked away in Sarpy County can't drink the water. That's the order the state slapped on the owner of the Sands Mobile Home Park after toxic levels of nitrate were found in the drinking water. Nitrate at unsafe levels can cause serious illness and even death in babies under the age of six months.

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Groundwater Contamination May Force Town in Michigan to Forbid Well Use in Affected Area

September 15, 2009 - Groundwater under part of Ludington’s north side has been contaminated with heavy metals — including hexavalent chromium — for decades, but an estimated dozen households there still have water wells and people still use that water for watering their lawns. Exposure to hexavalent chromium can cause health problems.

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Drinking Water Found Contaminated in New Hampshire Neighborhood

September 9, 2009 - Five-gallon jugs of spring water were on nearly every doorstep of the Windmere housing development yesterday. The water is being delivered courtesy of the state due to drinking water contamination that may be linked to the nearby Mottolo Pig Farm Superfund site.

During recent testing on residential drinking wells, 10 showed levels of arsenic that exceed the recommended level for drinking water. Two others tested above the limit for TCE, trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent commonly used in dry cleaning.

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Water Contamination in Pennsylvania Neighborhood

September 9, 2009 - State officials are investigating a possible hazardous chemical contamination in Nockamixon. Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection is looking into elevated levels of trichloroethylene, commonly called TCE, in drinking wells near Route 412 and Route 611.

Agency scientists began testing wells at 16 homes along routes 412 and 611 last month and are awaiting completed questionnaires from those homeowners before further testing, said DEP spokeswoman Lynda Rebarchak. The DEP is working to investigate the contamination's severity, how far it has spread and whether there is an active pollution source.

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500 Homes And Stores To Be Built On Denver Landfill

September 8, 2009 - A former “Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site”– labeled as such in Air Force Installation Documents – will become home to International Risk Group’s (IRG) upcoming Lowry Vista housing and retail development.

IRG, a Littleton-based corporation with multiple subsidiaries, deals in the remediation and redevelopment of “brownfields,” an Environmental Protection Agency term for land “with the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.”

“We’re pursuing a General Development Plan (GDP) on the site,” says Marcus Pachner of The Pachner Company, an IRG consultant. “We just re-submitted the second GDP about three months ago and in early October we’ll start the rezoning process. It’s full speed ahead now.”

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Texas Homeowners Affected by Contamination to See Lower Property Evaluations

September 3, 2009 - MIDLAND COUNTY - A small victory for some Midland county residents dealing with contaminated well water.

Their property values are being lowered by 25% because of the chromium problem.

13 people filed appeals with the Midland Central Appraisal District to get those values reduced after a round of tests showed the dangerous chemical at more than 50 times the acceptable federal level.

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Illinois launches private water well testing program

September 3, 2009 - Illinois Environmental Protection Agency director Doug Scott and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) director Dr. Damon T. Arnold today announced the launch of the Safe Well Water Initiative 2009 to increase private well owner awareness of the need and responsibility for regular testing of drinking water.

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Pesticide test results galvanize neighbors in Stamford, Connecticut

September 4, 2009 - The latest revelation that some private wells near Scofieldtown Park are contaminated with toxic pesticides levels has galvanized the neighborhood to action.

This summer, the city and state launched tests of private wells in the area in response to a federal study showing unsafe levels of contaminants in soil within the park, a site used as a landfill from the 1930s until the early 1970s.

Most, if not all, homes in the immediate vicinity are not connected to water lines and use private water wells. The city found two pesticides on Hannahs Road and Very Merry Road that are above levels that the state deems may be harmful to human health.

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Groundwater Causing Sickness in North Carolina Town

September 1, 2009 - Residents living within 200-300 yards of Moog Components Group say that even though they are now hooked up to city water, they still suffer from hazardous chemicals in the ground.

After it rains, a dark grey to white substance comes out of the ground into puddles of water, sometimes bubbling. “I would like to see them be truthful with us instead of lying or telling us what we want to hear,” one resident said. “I would like to see them buy our property or remove the dirt.”

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Soil Contamination Ruins Dream Home for Pennsylvania Man

September 2, 2009 - Terry Russitano thought he found his dream home when he moved into a house on Water Street in Shoemakersville seven years ago. There was a backyard bordered by a cornfield and plenty of space for his daughter, Madison, to play.

But within a year, a contractor digging a septic tank hit what he thought was an oil line. Shortly after the black dust settled, the contractor found a mound of battery casings.The discovery triggered a series of environmental, legal and medical problems for Russitano, who says he can't sell the home, and Madison, 8, who continues to suffer ill effects of lead poisoning from playing in the yard.

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Gainesville, Florida Residents Frustated With Superfund Cleanup Progress

September 1, 2009 - Residents in Gainesville, Florida who live wet of the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site remain concerned after environmental officials updated the status of remediation efforts and plans. They were informed in May that soil samples in the neighborhood exceeded the state standards for the cancer-causing compound dioxin.

"I also would never have purchased my home if it had been disclosed to me that my home was in a Superfund area," said one resident.

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