Pollution fouls Florida aquifer

December 15, 2008 - An investigation into a plume of cancer-causing chemicals under 30 blocks of downtown Orlando shows it is one of the state's most serious toxic messes and probably the hardest to clean up.

Investigators, who are nearly finished with their probe, have traced the pollution to a long-defunct refinery that for 70 years heated coal to manufacture a synthetic version of natural gas for lights, stoves and heating.

Hazardous waste left by the former plant in the Callahan neighborhood on West Robinson Street isn't thought to pose any immediate threat to existing drinking-water wells even though much of the contamination penetrated to an extraordinary depth.

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Neglected Toxic Waste Plume Worries Neighborhood

March 27, 2008 - A toxic plume of industrial waste discovered by workers building the Pinellas Trail 17 years ago is now coursing through groundwater under Abel's Azalea neighborhood, beneath parks, playgrounds and hundreds of homes, according to samples drawn from test wells.

There are hundreds of private irrigation wells within the area of possible contamination. However, neither the state Department of Environmental Protection nor Raytheon Network Centric Systems has alerted homeowners to the south, even though they have known for three years that the plume is migrating toward that neighborhood.

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New report details health risks from contamination in Tallevast, Florida

March 24, 2008 - Folks who live in Tallevast already know the contamination from the former American Beryllium plant poisoned the ground water and long term use of the water for drinking, or bathing or cooking can theoretically lead to an increased risk for cancer. And for many years, people in the neighborhood have used their wells as their primary source of water.

In 2004 when the Manatee County Health Department tested those wells and found toxic chemicals in most of them, the wells were closed. Everybody here's been on public water ever since.

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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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Health alert issued for neighbors of Florida Superfund site

January 18, 2008 - The Escambia County Health Department has issued a precautionary health advisory for individuals who may live or work near the Escambia Treating Company Superfund site at 3910 N. Palafox St.

Soil excavation and clean-up are taking place and that digging may produce dust particles and release odors.

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Mulberry Florida residents sue corporations over neighborhood contamination

November 17, 2007 - The residents of Fuller Heights, a Mulberry community whose wells have been contaminated with toxins including arsenic and radium, are suing six companies that own or manage property bordering them.

They have named CSX, Purina, Mosaic/Cargill, Kaiser, KC Industries and Environmental Risk Solutions in the lawsuit, alleging that the companies produced the toxins that have soaked into the groundwater and contaminated their wells.

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Fuller Heights Florida residents file suit against major corporations for contamination

November 17, 2007 - The residents of Fuller Heights, a Mulberry community whose wells have been contaminated with toxins including arsenic and radium, are suing six companies that own or manage property bordering them.

They have named CSX, Purina, Mosaic/Cargill, Kaiser, KC Industries and Environmental Risk Solutions in the lawsuit, alleging that the companies produced the toxins that have soaked into the groundwater and contaminated their wells.

Some in the community have developed health problems because of the contamination, according to a lawyer for the residents.

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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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Tallevast, Florida residents want cleanup delayed

November 3, 2007 - Residents of this polluted community want a defense contractor to suspend cleanup-related activities at a former beryllium plant, saying they fear the work could be causing health problems.

But state environmental and health officials and Lockheed Martin Corp. said there's no link between the work and resident complaints of headaches, nausea and burning nostrils and throats.

Lockheed recently installed two extraction wells at the former Loral American Beryllium plant at 1600 Tallevast Road. The wells, and two others, are part of an intermediate cleanup of decades-old contamination directly beneath the facility.

The contamination also extends into the surrounding neighborhood. Lockheed, through its prior acquisition of Loral, owned the plant when the contamination was discovered in 2000 and thus is responsible for the cleanup.

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Plan to relocate entire town of Tallevast Florida due to underground plume of toxic waste

October 28, 2007 - TALLEVAST --Rep. Bill Galvano has sent Lockheed Martin Corp. a detailed plan to relocate the entire town of Tallevast, which now sits atop an underground plume of toxic waste that covers the village and more than 200 acres.

"We need to move these people away from the contamination," Galvano said. "The more that is known about the contamination and what is required in addressing the cleanup, the easier it is to see the big picture."

For Robin Darville, who suffered another migraine Friday as crews dug more monitoring wells in front of Mount Tabor church, relocation is past due.

"Why is it taking so long?" Darville asked as she tried to control the seizures that were causing her arms to shake.

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Arsenic plagues water wells in Florida

September 23, 2007 - Marie Whitney just set up a 5-gallon water dispenser in her Batten Road home. She had to; she just found out that the water she and her family have been drinking for years is laced with arsenic.

The toxic metal in the water is likely a vestige of days gone by when farmers and ranchers would use it indiscriminately to ward off insects. Today, it means the 47-year-old's household of five adults and two children can't drink or cook with what comes out of the tap.

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Residents to sue Fort Lauderdale over polluted soil

August 14, 2007 - Homeowners in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood have decided to sue the city over contaminated soil caused by an old municipal incinerator that operated in the community some 50 years ago.

The group from the Durrs neighborhood has hired Miami lawyer Reginald Clyne, who filed a notice of intent to sue the city on behalf of six residents.

The city has known about the contaminated soil for at least 10 years, Clyne said.

''They are going to ignore it for as long as they can,'' Clyne said. ``But the longer they ignore it, the worse it will get.''

But Mayor Jim Naugle questions whether the contamination -- which may have come from the old Lincoln Park incinerator -- is the city's fault.

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Florida city to be sued over toxic contamination in neighborhood

August 10, 2007 - Coral Gables attorney Reginald Clyne has notified Mayor Jim Naugle and Florida’s chief financial officer that he intends to sue the city over toxic chemicals found in the Durrs neighborhood.

“I have put the city on notice that I represent some of the residents,” Clyne told the Broward Times about the July 25 letter, which the city received on Aug. 1. Clyne copied the letter to Louise Caro, an environmental specialist and attorney with Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. Legal Aid has been assisting Durrs residents in an effort to get more tests done and to have the entire area cleaned up. Now, Caro said, Legal Aid is partnering with Clyne in the proposed lawsuit against the city.

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

The incinerator spewed ash from burned garbage into the air. Residents who lived there at the time said they saw the ash fall on their yards and automobiles as if it were snow.

Today, state and federal health officials have found high levels of toxic chemicals, including arsenic, lead and dioxin, on the site. But no study has ever conclusively linked the toxins with the incinerator. Clyne, however, blames the incinerator for the toxins in the neighborhood.

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Fort Lauderdale residents get no answers on neighborhood contamination

August 9, 2007 - After hearing all the bureaucrats and gobbledygook, Kerline Jeanmary's question was straightforward: What is Fort Lauderdale going to do about contaminated soil found around homes near an old city incinerator?

Residents who live near Lincoln Park, in northwest Fort Lauderdale, got no clear answers at a town hall meeting on Tuesday.

The incinerator has been gone for 50 years, but the pollutants it spewed — such as arsenic, dioxins and lead — apparently still remain in the Durrs neighborhood.

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Health officials tell residents in Fort Lauderdale Neighborhood not to pick vegetables from their gardens or let kids play in their yards

August 8, 2007 - A few dozen residents from a neighborhood off Sistrunk Boulevard aired their concerns Tuesday about potentially unsafe levels of dioxins, arsenic and other chemicals state health officials recently found in their yards.

''Our children have suffered this catastrophic burden,'' said resident Leola McCoy. ``I hope we get some results.''

The concerns from McCoy and her neighbors at the Mizell Center, 1409 NW Sixth St., come months after state health officials released a report documenting the discovery of the contaminants in the Durrs neighborhood. Health officials told the residents not to pluck vegetables from their gardens or let kids play in their yards.

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Florida Family Sickened for Years by Underground Toxic Contamination

July 17, 2007 - The 72-year-old production-line worker who recently lost her job is about to lose her home, which is right next to the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant, source of a 200-acre plume of underground toxic contamination.

Last week, Alston learned state health officials have finally confirmed a link between her polluted well, which is just 5 feet from the beryllium company's fence, and an increased risk for cancer.

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Federal government trying to move 55 families from a Pensacola neighborhood contaminated with toxic pollutants

July 17, 2007 - A year after federal efforts began to move 55 families from a Pensacola neighborhood contaminated with toxic pollutants, only six families have accepted offers to sell their homes.

Negotiations are nearing an end to close on four additional properties in Clarinda Triangle, a neighborhood of five blocks sandwiched between Palafox Street and Pace Boulevard, and Clarinda Lane and Loretta Street.

"We grew up here," said resident Tiffany Nickson, 26. "Everybody knows everybody, and most everyone is related. We don't want to leave."

Some 200 residents live in the community across from the Escambia Treating Co. Superfund site.

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Arsenic-tainted residential wells in Florida

July 8, 2007 - PRING LAKE - Nobody disputes certain facts about arsenic, said Renee Holcomb, who lives on Batten Road in Spring Lake.

It is a toxic metal that can occur naturally in the soil. Farmers once sprayed it in orange groves to kill fungi and nematodes. Ranchers throughout Florida regularly filled 3, 400 "dipping vats" with arsenic solution to kill ticks on cattle.

"Arsenic is everywhere," Holcomb said.

Though the state Department of Environmental Protection does not agree with this last statement, a recent round of testing has found 12 contaminated wells, many of them near the intersection of Batten and Powell roads.

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Arsenic contamination in Florida wells

June 26, 2007 - TAMPA - Unhealthy levels of arsenic have been found in a dozen scattered drinking water wells in the Lithia area of eastern Hillsborough County.

State environmental authorities are providing the owners of the affected wells with alternative water supplies. Although arsenic levels in the wells are above federal water quality standards, state officials say there is no reason for alarm.

"I think the arsenic numbers, the kind of exposure we're talking about, is not enough to cause an immediate health impact," said Bill Kutash, an official with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Southwest District.

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