Parents Worried Over Contamination At NJ School

April 9, 2010- With police escort, students from the Wilson Avenue Elementary School had to walk from the high school they've been at temporarily to their own building, which was closed after environmental crews found high levels of benzine and petroleum inside.

Asked what the walk was like, 5th grader Carmen Pagan answered "Really hot and exhausting." Her mother isn't so upset about the five-block walk. She, along with other parents were worried about the chemicals discovered inside their kids' school in Ironbound Section of Newark. "It's scary. There's a lot of rumors going on that it's very hazardous," said mother Melissa Lopes.

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EPA declares health emergency in Montana

July 3, 2009 - Health officials say as many as 200 people have died and another 1,000 residents – nearly 50 percent of the population of this small city -- have been sickened by asbestos-related illnesses.

Last month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared a public health emergency in Libby and the surrounding area as a result of contamination created by asbestos mining in the region during the last century, and announced it will spend about $130 million to clean up the contamination and provide medical care in the region.

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Texas residents blame health problems on nearby Asarco plant, landfill

July 3, 2009 - Could pollution be the cause of health problems in Sunland Park?

Many residents suspect that it is.

They consider the Asarco smelter in El Paso and the Camino Real landfill in Sunland Park to be the major sources of contamination in their community.

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The federal agency charged with protecting the public near toxic pollution sites often obscures or overlooks potential health hazards

March 11, 2009 - The federal agency charged with protecting the public near toxic pollution sites often obscures or overlooks potential health hazards, uses inadequate analysis and fails to zero in on toxic culprits, congressional investigators and scientists say.

A House investigative report says officials from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry "deny, delay, minimize, trivialize or ignore legitimate health concerns."

"Time and time again ATSDR appears to avoid clearly and directly confronting the most obvious toxic culprits that harm the health of local communities throughout the nation," said the report from the House Science and Technology investigations and oversight subcommittee.

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Montana asbestos trial opens

February 23, 2009 -

A federal prosecutor told jurors Monday that W.R. Grace & Co. knew for years that its products posed serious health hazards to residents of Libby, Mont., but the company hid the risks from workers and government regulators.

In opening statements at a major environmental crime trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean said the company and its executives conspired to keep those hazards a secret.

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Nearly 30 years later, a Texas wood-treatment facility continues to stain surrounding neighborhood

April 18, 2008 - Dennis Davis’ uncle died in his arms on New Year’s morning in 2005. Cancer had eaten away Don Hightower’s face. “He had lost his nose and the upper part of his mouth,” Davis said.

Davis began a door-to-door inquiry into the health of his community of Somerville. He discovered that almost every household in this sleepy railroad village of roughly 1,700 people, situated about halfway between Austin and Houston, was coping with premature death, cancer or birth defects.

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"Fly ash" may be contaminating residents' water in Chesapeake Virginia

April 7, 2008 - There are major environmental health concerns in Chesapeake. Residents' fears stem from the new Battlefield Golf Course.

The 217-acre course is made with more than 1.5-million tons of "fly ash" which is the by-product left behind when coal is burned to make electricity. It contains heavy metals like arsenic, lead and uranium.

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Neighbors sue over rail yard pollution in Montana

February 15, 2008 - hirty-two neighbors have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway over rail yard pollution they say has contaminated and devalued their properties.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 24 in Lewis and Clark County District Court, alleges that BNSF is responsible for contaminating their yards and homes with diesel fuel, lead and other toxic substances by failing to contain and control hazardous materials at the Helena fueling station.

Many of the plaintiffs live or own property within a few hundred yards of the BNSF fueling station where, the suit alleges, the company dumped thousands of gallons of hazardous contaminants onto the ground. Those contaminants then migrated onto and under the plaintiffs' property, placing their "health, welfare and property values," in "serious jeopardy," according to the suit.

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EPA report details risks to Billings Montana residents who live above polluted groundwater

November 6, 2007 - Polluted groundwater beneath a Billings neighborhood poses long-term risks to residents living above it, but the immediate risks can be mitigated fairly easily, according to Environmental Protection Agency officials.

The 140-acre underground plume southwest of downtown contains four "contaminants of concern," including PCE, known formally as perchloroethylene, a solvent used in dry cleaning and other industrial practices, according to an EPA health risk assessment of the site.

The biggest concern is that the pollutants in the contaminated groundwater are converting to vapor and migrating up through the soil and into homes, where they might be inhaled.

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California officials cite contamination health hazard in Berkeley

September 11, 2007 - Hazardous metals and chemicals at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station pose potential threats to the health of children who play in its marshland and workers who dig in its soil, state scientists have concluded.

Their findings are contained in a 99-page report by the California Department of Public Health conducted at the request of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).

According to the report, public health hazards do exist for children and teenagers who play regularly in West Stege Marsh, where toxic metals and the organic compound PCB are present in groundwater and soil sediments. Because of the risks, marsh access should remain restricted.

Maintenance workers who regularly dig in contaminated soils also face a variety of risks and should wear respiratory protection equipment during their work.

The report also identified two areas where health hazards were described as indeterminate, pending further investigation.

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