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.

More . . .

Nevada residents Taking Chemical Cleanup Into Their Own Hands

October 17, 2008 - It's a potentially dangerous chemical living right underneath dozens of homes, and so far no one responsible has cleaned it up. For years, Eyewitness News has been following the case of that plume in the Paradise Palms neighborhood. Friday, neighbors decided to take control of the fight.

The state says there are chemicals in the groundwater that could cause liver and kidney damage. The neighbors say their property values have bottomed out and the people responsible are either nowhere to be found, or they're pointing fingers at everyone else.

"You can't smell it, you can't touch it, you can't taste it, you can't feel it," said Pete Voggenthaler.

He's talking about perchloroethylene, or PCE, the human-created chemical that has seeped into the groundwater for at least eight years. Once it evaporates it becomes a vapor that get inside people's homes, and it got there from Al Phillips Cleaners, now bankrupt and bulldozed.

More . . .

Dry cleaner chemicals linked to huge contamination plume under Las Vegas homes

September 29, 2008 - A massive plume of pollution under acres of homes, roads and a golf course in central Las Vegas is the worst of 28 sites in the valley contaminated by the same chemical.

The gas-like mass of perchloroethylene, PCE, also known as tetrachloroethylene, or TCE, is emblematic of the intersection of older, less regulated Vegas — indeed, the entire nation — with a world of science that discovers dangers in commonplace practices of years past.

The chemical is widely used for metal degreasing as well as for dry cleaning fabrics. Inhalation of its fumes can cause neurological, liver and kidney problems, according to the EPA. Studies have found that prolonged exposure increases the risk of cancer. The EPA is currently reassessing its potential carcinogenicity.

More . . .

More Nevada drinking water wells found to be contaminated

September 4, 2007 - Three more private drinking-water wells in the Tahoe Meadows subdivision were found to contain tetrachloroethylene (PCE) on Monday.

Five parts per billion is the drinking water standard for PCE, a chemical component found in dry-cleaning products and a potential health hazard. One of the three wells contained 8.6 parts per billion PCE.

Another one of the three wells with water containing PCE was also found to have freon levels falling within the range considered safe to drink, according to Chuck Curtis, supervising engineer with the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. The colorless, nonflammable liquid is used as a coolant in commercial and industrial air conditioners.

More . . .

Nevada neighborhood to be tested for vapor intrusion

September 3, 2007 - People who live just east of the Boulevard Mall are learning that an underground chemical leak might have contaminated the air inside their homes.

First and foremost, state environmental officials want to emphasize that there is no immediate health threat to anyone who works or lives near the Boulevard Mall and that the actions they are taking now are strictly precautionary.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection says the owner of a former dry cleaning company once located in the Maryland Square shopping center notified officials that there had been a chemical leak on site about two years ago.

The chemical, known as perchloroethylene, or PCE, or PERC, is a degreasing chemical used in the dry cleaning process and many common household cleaning products.

The state says immediate testing back then revealed the chemical had made its way into the shallow groundwater below the Boulevard Mall, and a neighborhood just east of the mall where nearly 150 homeowners currently live.

More . . .

Leukemia in Fallon, NV

I recently found a great public health blog called Angry Toxicologist. Below is a posting that should be of particular interest to Contaminated Nation readers.

Why is there so much leukemia in Fallon, NV?
By AngryToxicologist May 15, 2007

The city of Fallon (pop. 7,536) is in Churchill County, NV. It is surrounded by melon and alfalfa fields, a Naval Air Station, and two tungsten refining operations. It also has a lot of childhood leukemia.

More . . .