Dredging Blamed for Groundwater Woes in Maryland

By: Nathan Lamb

A dumping site formerly used to maintain a key canal between Baltimore and Philadelphia has contaminated drinking water in a Maryland community, according to this report in the Cecil Daily Whig.

A recently published U.S. Geological Survey concluded there’s “overwhelming evidence” the old Pearce Creek dredging disposal site in Earleville contaminated groundwater at the property and neighboring parcels.

The disposal site closed in 1992, but the study found concentrations of beryllium, arsenic, cadmium and thallium that exceed health advisories from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Also mentioned were high levels of sulfate, iron, chloride and low pH in the groundwater. The disposal site operated for 55 years, closing after neighbors on private wells complained about poor water quality.

The two-year study evaluated 35 wells at the disposal site and another 15 in the nearby West View Shores community. The majority of contaminants were found at the disposal site, but two residential wells contained high levels of beryllium, which can cause internal lesions.

The disposal site was operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A Corps spokesperson acknowledged the dredging was a “contributing factor” on the water quality, adding that the outcome was unexpected and previous water studies were inconclusive.

The Corps has been advocating reactivation of the disposal site as a cost-effective tool in maintaining the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which saves roughly 300 miles of sea jaunts between Baltimore to Philadelphia.

The Corps is proposing new containment measures at the Pearce Creek disposal site and has offered to drill new wells for the impacted neighbors. That proposal has already come under fire from at least some neighbors, who say that doesn’t address existing contaminants.

Earlville is off the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay, roughly 70 miles east of Baltimore.

Coal Ash Spill Ruled Negligent

By: Duane Craig


Hundreds of property owners who have taken the Tennessee Valley Authority to court over the 2008 spill of contaminated sludge near Kingston, Tenn., were pleased with a judge’s opinion that TVA is liable for damages stemming from the spill, according to this report.

Still, many admit they will never recover what they lost and that any settlements will not change the damage that’s been done. The spill released 5 million cubic yards of ash that was being stored in a containment pond. The material contained all the by-products released from the burning of coal, including “arsenic, boron, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and other metals.” The sludge flowed into a river and contaminated land all along its course, ultimately making the waterway unsafe for many of the uses residents previously enjoyed. After more than $1.2 billion has been spent on the cleanup, there remains more to do. A half million cubic yards of ash have settled onto the river bottom where it will simply remain, potentially be capped, or be removed.

TVA had claimed there was nothing it could have done to prevent the failure since there were things beyond its ability to control that precipitated the catastrophe. The judge, however, called into question the utility’s handling of the ash, writing that it did not follow its own procedures, policies and practices which caused it to miss the warning signs of impending failure. By not recognizing those signs the utility failed to take actions that could have prevented the disaster.
To date, the utility has purchased 180 of the affected properties and settled 200 other claims. Still, there is a case load involving more than 800 plaintiffs in the court system.

The Environmental Protection Agency published a list of the coal ash surface impoundments that have high hazard ratings. The list is published to help local responders and community officials adequately plan for other such disasters. As of April 2012 the agency had identified 676 places where coal ash is being stored and found 45 of those to be highly hazardous.

States with the heaviest concentrations of these ticking time bombs include Arizona, North Carolina and Ohio. Arizona’s problems are located in Cochise and Joseph City while North Carolina’s problems are more widespread at Spencer, Eden, Terrell, Belmont, Walnut Cove, Arden and Mount Holly. Ohio has potential spills in Brilliant, Cheshire and Waterford. Kentucky also has its share of troubled impoundments including Harrodsburg, Ghent, Louisa and Louisville.

Other states with troubled coal ash impoundments include Montana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia.

Western Mines Continue Poisoning Water Supplies

By: Duane Craig
Colorado’s watershed continues being poisoned by the state’s mining legacy, according to this article. Abandoned mines so far have impaired 1,300 miles of the state’s streams and the headwaters of 40 percent of the Western rivers.
The toxic sludge flowing from just one of the more notoriously contaminating mines, the Penn Mine, released “186 pounds of cadmium, 4,496 pounds of copper, 21,529 pounds of manganese, 21 pounds of lead and 39,896 pounds of zinc in a single year.” That contamination left two waterways largely devoid of aquatic life. The solutions are complex and challenging, and whatever ones are chosen it will still be decades before the natural world and water supplies can begin to recover. Read the entire, in-depth story at the link above.

Cleanup Plans Adjusted at Montana Superfund Site

By: Duane Craig

In September soils testing begins in Black Eagle, Montana, at the new Superfund site called ACM Smelter and Refinery. The site was just added to the Superfund program in March 2011.

Heavy metals found in residential properties

According to a Great Falls Tribune article heavy metals have been found in some residential yards so the testing will begin with 90 properties. The investigation will be looking for lead, arsenic and cadmium, and other heavy metals. Later on, the investigation will focus on the places where refinery operations took place, and places where waste was dumped, including the Missouri River. Great Falls is right across the Missouri River from the site.

Some cleanup related to the site was supposed to happen earlier this year but didn't because it was decided the higher priority would be cleanups where people live. The earlier planned cleanup was supposed to be along an abandoned rail line that was used to run waste down to the river for disposal. That cleanup was delayed so it wouldn't interfere with reconstruction plans for Smelter Avenue.
This site has a long and colorful history including a celebratory story about the smokestack that provided much of the soil contamination in the area. The smelter and refinery operated from 1893 to the early 1970s, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's website.

CT Well Contamination Woes

October 10, 2010 - A resurgence of a long-standing neighborhood contamination problem has forced several Harwinton Avenue residents to abandon their wells for drinking water, and neighbors are calling for a water line as a long-term solution.

Wells at nine homes tested positive for contaminants including lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium after the Department of Environmental Protection sampled them earlier this year. Dismayed at the prospect of a future of state-supplied bottled water and water filters, residents attended a meeting with the mayor and representatives of the DEP and the Torrington Area Health District late last month.

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Westlawn, MA Residents Learn of Contamination

September 24, 2010 - Contaminants at the Parker Street waste site extend onto the Westlawn housing development but pose no imminent hazard to people who live there, environmental and health officials told residents at a meeting at Keith Middle School Thursday night.

But as Jacqueline Torres sat, confused, after the brief presentation, she illustrated a problem that's much easier to spot: officials who say people are in no immediate danger and residents who don't feel safe.

"Like any other parent, I'm worried — worried and concerned," said the mother of three, who said she has a 21-year-old daughter at Westlawn in remission from cancer of the lymph nodes. "She went through so much with the cancer, I don't want her to get sick because of any other reason."

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Church in New Bedford, MA seeks answers about pollution

June 23, 2009 - City testing in New Bedford, MA around a church has found sharply elevated levels of toxic chemicals, including PCBs, benzopyrene compounds, cadmium chromium, lead and others.

The church is part of extensive development that exists on the 101-acre site that was formerly the Parker Street dump. Besides the new middle school, the land includes the adjacent high school and athletic fields, and an entire residential neighborhood.


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A toxic wasteland at Ormond Beach in Southern California

May 28, 2009 - According to the EPA, a poisonous alphabet soup of elevated levels of aluminum, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, magnesium, manganese, nickel, thorium, and zinc is leeching into both underlying groundwater and sediments in the Oxnard Industrial Drain.

In 2007 a warning was issued to residents that elevated levels of radiation were coming from the fenced-off property.

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Extent of contamination worries neighbors in Massachusetts town

May 21, 2008 - MANCHESTER — Six months after a family found heavy metals in the soil at their Pine Street home, neighbors are concerned that the extent of contamination of the property remains unknown.

And they're also worried because there's no schedule yet for the testing and cleanup of the site, which authorities believe to be an area where the town regularly dumped and burned trash in the 1950s.

Last fall David and Julie Gesner moved out of their yellow two-story Colonial at 156 Pine St. after discovering high levels of lead, arsenic, chromium and cadmium in the soil when they investigated local rumors that their property had been the site of a landfill where garbage and debris were routinely burned.

The Gesners notified the state Department of Environmental Protection and last month the agency ordered a cleanup of the site, including testing to determine the extent of contamination. The town, as well as the Gesners and Manchester resident Michael Bresnahan, who sold them the house, were all named as parties potentially responsible for the cleanup.

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