Monday, November 23, 2009

TCE confirmed in Illinois communities’ water supplies

November 23, 2009 - Trichloroethylene (TCE) is in the raw source water and finished water supplies of at least three Illinois communities, according to November 20 news releases from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.


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EPA: Uranium from polluted mine in Nevada wells

November 21, 2009 - For almost a decade, people who make their homes in this rural community in the Mason Valley 65 miles southeast of Reno have blamed that enormous abandoned mine for the high levels of uranium in their water wells.

They say they have been met by a stone wall from state regulators, local politicians and the huge oil company that inherited the toxic site — British Petroleum. Those interests have insisted uranium naturally occurs in the region's soil and there's no way to prove that a half-century of processing metals at the former Anaconda pit mine is responsible for the contamination.

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Northeast Pa. residents sue Houston-based natural gas driller over polluted water wells

November 20, 2009 - At a news conference Friday to announce the suit, residents described an ordeal that began shortly after Cabot started drilling near their homes. The water that came out of their faucets suddenly became cloudy and discolored, and it smelled and tasted foul.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Groundwater Contamination in Illinois Neighborhood

November 13, 2009 - An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency official said Thursday during a meeting with concerned citizens in downtown Algonquin that the groundwater directly beneath him was contaminated.

Gary King, a remediation manager with IDOT, told neighbors that his department is looking to test the gas trapped in the soil on their property to see whether that contamination could have seeped into their homes and businesses.

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Pennsylvania Developer Builds on TCE

November 18, 2009 - The lone homeowner in a townhouse development once known as The Sanctuary said he doesn’t want anyone else to fall victim as he did, and he wants to know who in Wright Township is responsible for making that protection happen.

Nick La Rosa, who owns and lives in the only completed house in the development that has since been renamed Whispering Ridge, brought his concerns before the regular meeting of the township planning commission Tuesday night.

“There is TCE (trichloroethylene) in the underground water, and there is no question (the developers) knew it,” La Rosa said. “Who in Wright Township protects the interests of the residents?”

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Cancer cluster has Ohio families concerned

November 9, 2009 - Several families in Sandusky County, Ohio, said they want government officials to take action regarding a suspected cancer cluster in their area.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer said Monday nearly 20 people in the area of Clyde, Ohio, have been diagnosed with cancer since 2001 and some area residents want to know why.

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Contamination at Searcy Homes in Alabama concerns public housing resident

November 8, 2009 - Federal agents last year told Duane Straughter to stop digging in the community garden. And they warned him against tracking dirt into his home.

"They said the highest concern was around my house," said Straughter, who lives in the Searcy Homes housing development near the old railroad depot in downtown Huntsville. "They said, 'Dust your feet. Leave your shoes outside if possible.' "

The soil under his apartment building, and six others around him, contains heavy metals and a mix of fuel byproducts at levels above state and federal guidelines. However, while federal agents first spoke with residents last fall, they had cause for suspicion for the last seven years.

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Pennsylvania lawsuit says drilling polluted water

November 9, 2009 - A Pennsylvania landowner is suing an energy company for polluting his soil and water in an attempt to link a natural gas drilling technique with environmental contamination.

Water tests at three locations by gas wells on Zimmermann's property -- one is 1,500 feet (460 metres) from his home -- found seven potentially carcinogenic chemicals above "screening levels" set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as warranting further investigation.

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Study planned to measure dry-cleaning fluid vapor levels in Montana homes

November 5, 2009 - The city of Bozeman and CVS Pharmacy plan to study whether vapors of a dry-cleaning fluid suspected of causing cancer have migrated from a Superfund site at the Hastings shopping center into nearby homes.

But city officials and environmental experts say residents shouldn't be alarmed about the indoor air tests for PCE, also known as perc. The study is part of ongoing testing at the West Main Street site.

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Illinois residents hope new tests find no contamination

November 5, 2009 - In the woods east of his house, Dan Topik can hear the thump, thump, thump of a giant drill burrowing into the ground.

An environmental testing firm has pounded earth for days, churning the soil and grinding rocks in search of something Topik prays does not exist: contaminants buried long ago by infamous polluter Russell Bliss.

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Monday, November 2, 2009

Badly tainted groundwater irks residents in Indiana

October 30, 2009 - Manganese, sulfur and iron in the groundwater have residents in the Prairie Creek Run neighborhood asking for a connection to Elkhart’s public system, according to an October 28 article in local newspaper The Elkhart Truth.

The square-mile neighborhood, referred to in the article as “an island with water problems,” was known for years as the lower income Sawmill District. The neighborhood is close to industrial activity to the north.

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