Soil Tests Show Dioxins at Site of Former Watertown, MA Arsenal

July 2, 2010 - A consulting firm has released soil tests that show the extent of contamination on nearly 12 acres that were once part of the former Watertown Arsenal.

The results indicate the presence of cancer-causing dioxins and other soil contaminants, but have not yet been analyzed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, said project manager Ellen Iorio.

Iorio said that the results of the testing by MACTEC were expected, but it was impossible to be sure which industrial activities caused the contamination.

"We knew there’d be dioxins there, and we weren’t surprised by our findings," she said. "Watertown is an urban area with a lot going on."

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Gainesville, Florida Residents Frustated With Superfund Cleanup Progress

September 1, 2009 - Residents in Gainesville, Florida who live wet of the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site remain concerned after environmental officials updated the status of remediation efforts and plans. They were informed in May that soil samples in the neighborhood exceeded the state standards for the cancer-causing compound dioxin.

"I also would never have purchased my home if it had been disclosed to me that my home was in a Superfund area," said one resident.

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You Want To Build A School Where in Florida?

March 13, 2009

CBS4 I-Team has uncovered -- plans to try and build a school right next to what was a toxic waste site. In fact, it was so contamined, it made the government's list of Superfund sites in need of clean-up. The government says it cleaned up the landfill and capped it, but it's what happened next that has shocked some residents there.

"Poison, poison," replied Fort Lauderdale resident Claude Marquez. A poison -- the mention of which makes 85-year-old Claude Marquez shudder. Dioxin -- it's his neighbor.

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New toxin discovered in S. Seattle neighborhood

September 12, 2008 -

SEATTLE - Another dangerous toxin has shown up in a section of Seattle's South Park neighborhood that is already a Superfund site because of PCB contaimination.

Agencies believe the asphalt company that once operated there, called the Malarky Asphalt Company, contaminated the soil before it shut down.

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Highly toxic dioxins found in dirt in Seattle neighborhood

September 12, 2008 - A polluted corner of the South Park neighborhood long known to harbor cancer-causing PCBs also is contaminated with highly toxic dioxins, test results revealed on Thursday.

City officials fanned out Thursday night to inform residents of the new findings, saying that while they don't believe the dioxins pose an immediate health threat, the readings exceed a government-set cleanup level.

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Dow, EPA agree on plan to clean up 11 homes in Michigan

July 15, 2008 - Within weeks, officials at Midland's Dow Chemical Co. hope to begin cleanup of a riverside Saginaw neighborhood that showed "uncharacteristically high levels" of dioxin contamination.

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Dow Chemical ordered to clean up area in Michigan near its headquarters

May 28, 2008 - Federal officials Wednesday ordered Dow Chemical to clean up high levels of dioxin recently discovered in homes and yards in a Saginaw, Mich., neighborhood downstream from the company's world headquarters.

Preliminary results from tests conducted in March by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found dioxin levels in household dust and outdoor soil that were well above the federal cleanup standard.

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10 Homes to Be Cleaned of High Levels of Dioxin

May 29, 2008 - The yards and insides of 10 homes along the dioxin-plagued Tittabawassee River must be cleaned up after testing showed high levels of the toxin in the soil outside and the dust inside the homes, state and federal environmental agencies said Wednesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Quality were meeting with Dow Chemical Co. to determine how the cleanup will proceed. The EPA said it planned to issue an order for an immediate cleanup.

Most, if not all, of the 10 houses already had a simplified cleanup by Dow, the source of the contaminants, in 2005 and 2006, said Bob McCann, spokesman for the DEQ. They were among 230 houses in the river's floodplain where bare soil was covered and carpets and ducts cleaned to minimize possible dioxin contamination.

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EPA tests residential soil for dioxin along Tittabawassee River in Michigan

April 4, 2008 - Catherine A. Faunce and John K. Brown live 10 houses apart on Riverside Drive, a private road straddling the Tittabawassee River and the focus of a new chapter in the dioxin dispute.

Both their properties have undergone various tests by several agencies over the years. Scientists, government agencies and corporations alike have prodded their land.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the latest to enter the fray.

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Residents of Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood advised to avoid all contact with dirt and dust

February 22, 2008 - Great post on Enviroblog about Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood contaminated with Dioxin.

Read the post here.

Dioxin contamination in soil of Ft Lauderdale neighborhood

February 22, 2008 - Environmental consultant Frank Estok did not have encouraging news as he toured the Ft Lauderdale neighborhood of Durrs with CBS4 News Chief Investigative reporter Michele Gillen. He knew what was hidden in the soil beneath their feet.

Durrs is the kind of neighborhood where a child scribbles her name in the soil, too young to understand that tests have turned up so many toxins and chemicals in ground beneath the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, that the State recommends avoiding any contact with dirt or dust there.

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Suit against Dow for contamination should be class action, Michigan court says

January 26, 2008 - A citizen lawsuit alleging damages caused by contamination from Dow Chemical Co. should become a class action, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a decision released Friday.

Those who sued the chemical giant claim that dioxin from Dow's Midland plant got into the Tittabawassee River and contaminated their properties, reducing home values and making homes hard to sell.

The lawsuit seeks to cover anyone who lives in the 100-year floodplain, which could be as many as 2,000 people, the court said.

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Dioxin contamination in Michigan's Saginaw river may be highest ever recorded

November 23, 2007 - A top government scientist says a toxic ''hot spot'' found in the Saginaw River near Wickes Park in Saginaw could represent the highest level of dioxin contamination ever recorded in the nation's river and lake systems.

As Midland's Dow Chemical Co. prepares to clean up the site next week, officials continue to debate the level of danger it represents.

''There may be more surprises out there,'' said Milton Clark, senior health and science adviser at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chicago branch. ''I'd be surprised if there's not more surprises out there.''

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Discovery of high levels of dioxin in Michigan river have local residents worried that outdoor activities put them at risk

November 23, 2007 - The chemical, dumped into the Tittabawassee River by Dow Chemical Co. a century ago, had been discovered in other parts of the streams but never in this quantity, a federal agency said.

Not even close.

Larson worries about the health of his four daughters as he wonders whether this is the price Michigan residents pay for the state's industrial past.

"My daughters were raised out there," said the autoworker, 50, who lives 300 yards from the latest hot spot. "I'm worried for their children."

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115 residents and businesses file lawsuit against city for soil contamination in Fort Lauderdale Florida

November 16, 2007 - Durrs is a predominantly black, lower-income community that is a mix of single-family homes and subsidized rental complexes. The lawsuit seeks testing, health monitoring, compensation, damages and attorneys fees for the plaintiffs.

The city operated a garbage incinerator in the Durrs neighborhood, located north of Sistrunk Boulevard and east of Interstate 95, from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s.

The incinerator churned out ash from burned garbage and other materials, and spewed it into the air during that period, sometimes for 24 hours a day. Residents who lived there can recall how the ash fell like snow, covering their yards, clothing, homes and cars.

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