Former employees of CTS Corp., based in Elkhart, Indiana, have described on videotape the company’s handling of hazardous wastes at its facility on Mills Gap Road in North Carolina. Their descriptions have been taken into account while residents there wait for an Environmental Protection Agency decision declaring the contaminated site near Asheville as a Superfund site.
TCE Soil & Water Contamination "motherload"
It is claimed there is a “mother lode” of contamination in the soil and it got there partly because of CTS’s alleged disposal habits that included an effluent-drainage system and buried storage drums. State records also show there is a discrepancy between the amount of hazardous substances delivered to the facility and those taken away for proper disposal. CTS operated the plant from 1959 to 1986 and most of the land has since been owned by Mills Gap Road Associates with a 45 acre parcel currently owned by Biltmore Group.
At the center of the contamination is trichloroethylene (TCE), used in degreasing and electroplating at CTS’ splant, and that has been found in the groundwater at extremely high levels. Some residents who have been drinking the contaminated water for 10 years or more have a variety of illnesses. TCE when inhaled or ingested can cause severe liver damage.
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