By Gary White
The Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger

Published: Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
LAKELAND, Fla. | They have been called “Poisoned Patriots,” and no one is sure exactly how many of them are out there.

Their numbers include former Marines, their wives, children and civilian employees at Camp Lejeune, the sprawling United States Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, N.C. They drank, showered and bathed in water contaminated by chemical compounds with unpronounceable names, chemicals that have been linked to cancers.

The Marine Corps has acknowledged that water supplies at Camp Lejeune were tainted with dangerous compounds between 1957 and 1987. Following orders from Congress, the Marine Corps has taken steps to inform the hundreds of thousands potentially affected.

But many ex-Marines and former Camp Lejeune residents are far from satisfied. Activists, including former Winter Haven resident Mike Partain, have sifted through reams of documents, challenging minute details of the Marine Corps’ version of events at Camp Lejeune.

They say the contamination was far more widespread than the Marine Corps has admitted. They accuse the leadership at Camp Lejeune of ignoring repeated warnings about hazardous drinking water for years before it took action. They charge the Marine Corps with deliberately withholding crucial information and misleading investigators.

“Trying to get the truth out of the USMC is akin to nailing Jell-o to the wall,” Partain said. “As we unravel lie after lie, the USMC simply changes their story.”

Camp Lejeune represents the worst contamination of a public water system in United States history, according to Congressional testimony by scientists. The maximum level of toxins was more than five times the highest measured at Woburn, Mass., in the case detailed in the book and movie “A Civil Action.” In that case, a leukemia cluster was traced to contamination of water supplies resulting from improper disposal of industrial solvents.

One contaminant at Camp Lejeune was measured at 1,400 parts per billion in water from a faucet at the base hospital where Partain was born. That is 280 times the current allowable limit, though the government had not established limits for the chemical compound at the time.

An estimated 700,000 to 1 million people lived or worked at Camp Lejeune during the period of water contamination.

Marine Corps officials say the base leadership followed all pollution regulations of the era. They say investigations by federal agencies absolve the base leadership and the Corps of any intentional wrongdoing.

Advocates push for wider investigations, support legal actions against the Marine Corps and lobby for Congressional action to assure medical care for those with health claims.

Many Floridians exposed

More than 161,000 people have joined an official online registry for former Camp Lejeune residents and employees created in 2008. Floridians compose more than 14,000 of that total, second only to North Carolina.

Those Floridians include Kim Ann Callan of Lakeland. Callan, the daughter of an ex-Marine, was conceived at Camp Lejeune and lived there for the first nine months of her life.

Callan, 52, was treated for malignant melanoma a few years ago and was diagnosed in July with leukemia.

“It’s not just me,” Callan said. “Everyone in my immediate family that was associated with even a short period of time on the base has significant medical issues.”

Carla Morris of Auburndale is convinced that impure water at Camp Lejeune is to blame for her mother’s death from a rare gastric cancer in 2006 at age 69. Cora Hoffman worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Camp Lejeune’s Naval Hospital from 1966 through 1976 and again in the 1990s.

Morris, 45, said she has investigated her mother’s ancestry and found no other examples of cancer.

“I sat there … and watched my mother beg the doctor to cut her stomach out,” Morris said. “I’m mad as hell. I don’t know any other way to put it. That was my mama. Like I told my husband, she was only 69. That’s not old. My mom’s mom lived to be 92 years old.”

Partain, 42, was diagnosed with male breast cancer, an extremely rare condition, in 2007. He underwent a modified mastectomy, with the removal of one lymph node, and endured chemotherapy.

Partain said he has found 66 other men connected to Camp Lejeune who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Partain, the son and grandson of Marine Corps officers, was born in the base hospital at Camp Lejeune, where his father, Warren Partain of Winter Haven, was stationed, and the family resided in base housing during the first 13 months of Mike’s life. Partain said Camp Lejeune had been little more to him than a name on a birth certificate until he first learned about the water contamination through a CNN report in 2007.

It is almost impossible to determine clear causation for cancer and other diseases, said Dr. John Kiluk, a breast cancer specialist at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. But Kiluk said some of the male breast cancer cases in men with ties to Camp Lejeune are unusual.

Kiluk said the lifetime risk for a man to develop breast cancer is one in 1,000. Kiluk said he has treated about 20 men for breast cancer, and some — he wouldn’t give an exact number — have connections to Camp Lejeune.

The average age of diagnosis is 70. Partain was just 39 when he was diagnosed.

Kiluk said most men who develop breast cancer have a family history of female breast cancer. Partain said he knows of no breast cancer in his family.

“I think the thing that’s surprising in meeting a few of these gentlemen is some of them fall outside of that normal description,” Kiluk said. “Some are very young. When you’re very young with a very rare disease combined with no family history, it just makes you wonder what’s going on.”

Partain has testified twice about Camp Lejeune before Congressional committees. He has been interviewed for a film documentary about Camp Lejeune scheduled for release next year.

“I would like very much to have never been born at Camp Lejeune and never set foot in that place,” Partain said. “Who in their right mind would go overseas and fight for this country knowing that their family was being poisoned at home? These people left their families on this base and other bases across the country thinking they’re safe, and in reality they were in just as much danger as the guys overseas being shot at. That’s the betrayal part.”

Focus on fuel leaks

The saga of toxic water at Camp Lejeune is a complicated one covering decades and involving questions about military orders, federal pollution regulations and emerging knowledge about the dangers of certain chemical compounds.

Investigations have focused on four contaminants: trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene and vinyl chloride (VC). The Environmental Protection Agency lists all four as known or suspected carcinogens, meaning they can cause cancer in humans.

TCE and PCE are both solvents. TCE is commonly used as an engine degreaser and PCE is used in dry cleaning. Investigations have traced some of the contamination at Camp Lejeune to two private dry cleaners adjacent to the base.

Benzene, an ingredient in motor fuels, has been linked to leukemia and other diseases. Vinyl chloride, which arises from the breakdown of TCE and PCE, can affect the heart, liver and immune system.

Partain and other activists have uncovered a history of fuel leaking from underground tanks at Hadnot Point Fuel Farm, constructed in the early 1940s. Recently discovered documents estimate the amount of fuel lost at between 400,000 gallons and 1.1 million gallons.

“Imagine taking a freighter and dumping (the contents) in the ground,” Partain said. “That’s what they did at Hadnot Point Fuel Farm. The Marine Corps has known this since 1996.”

First Lt. Gregory A. Wolf, a spokesman for the Marine Corps based at the Pentagon, said the Marines aren’t sure how much fuel leaked at Hadnot Point. He said 1.1 million gallons is the upper end of an estimate from a 1996 draft document.

The Marine Corps says the first clear evidence of contamination in drinking-water wells at Camp Lejeune came in 1984, after which it promptly closed down those wells.

Partain and others argue that Camp Lejeune’s leaders should have acted much earlier, noting volatile organic compounds were detected in water systems in 1980.

Documents posted on the “Forgotten” website show repeated warnings from 1980 onward, first from Army chemists and later from employees with a private company hired to analyze the water. One, written by U.S. Army Lab Services Chief William Neal in 1981, reads, “Water highly contaminated with other chlorinated hydrocarbons (solvents)!”

Camp Lejeune officials ordered testing of water systems located near a landfill in the lightly populated Rifle Range area in 1980. Water-supply wells at Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace, where thousands lived and worked, were not tested until 1984. Wolf, the Marine Corps spokesman, said wells were not tested there earlier because “sources of contamination … had not yet been identified.”

Partain makes the analogy to the average person learning that the water coming out of his kitchen faucet contains harmful chemicals.

“A reasonable person would go and find the source,” he said. “The Marine Corps claims it didn’t know the source for 4½ years. In the court system that’s called negligence.”

As the Marine Corps has repeatedly pointed out, the federal government did not set safe standards for the contaminants detected at Camp Lejeune until 1989, meaning the Marines were not required to take action before then.

Activists deride that stance as legally correct but irresponsible. Partain points to historical documents setting standards for drinking water at Department of Navy facilities, including Camp Lejeune. A 1963 order defines pollution as “the presence of any foreign substance (organic, inorganic, radiological or biological) in water which tends to degrade its quality so as to constitute a hazard …”

Another order from 1974 described organic solvents in drinking water as hazardous.

“Where is the due diligence?” Partain asked. “Do you have to have a (federal) regulation to say it’s hazardous? If they were following their own orders, they could have prevented all this contamination going back to 1963.”

Investigations, skepticism

Several federal agencies have investigated the issue. The Environmental Protection Agency in 1989 added Camp Lejeune to Superfund, a program that designated federal money for the cleanup of major hazardous waste sites. That remediation project is expected to last for decades.

As part of the Superfund process, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 1997 issued a public health assessment that said Camp Lejeune residents faced little or no risk from drinking and using water at Camp Lejeune. Last year, though, the agency withdrew the assessment, saying it was flawed by inaccuracies and the failure to consider the presence of benzene in the water.

The EPA and the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, found no evidence of improper actions by Camp Lejeune’s leadership or the Marine Corps.

Partain and other activists, though, are highly critical of those reports. They say the investigations missed key documents and didn’t review historical regulations on water quality from the Department of the Navy, which oversees the Marine Corps.

An EPA investigator told a Congressional committee in 2007 that he recommended that charges be filed but was overruled by the Department of Justice, which is defending the Marine Corps for any tort claims filed in relation to Camp Lejeune. Partain also dismissed the results of an investigation by a Marine Corps Commandant Blue Ribbon Panel released in 2004 as tainted by a conflict of interest.

The National Research Council, a federal scientific agency, released a report in 2009 finding no conclusive link between water contamination at Camp Lejeune and diseases. In October, the director of the ATSDR released a letter criticizing the NRC report as flawed and incomplete.

The ATSDR is compiling a new assessment of water quality at Camp Lejeune that is scheduled for release late in 2011.

Advocates say the Marine Corps has withheld crucial information from investigators. As one example, Partain said a sub-contractor to the ATSDR last year accidentally found an undisclosed web portal operated by the Department of the Navy that yielded new details about Camp Lejeune.

Another activist, Jerry Ensminger of North Carolina, said the Marine Corps is unable to produce crucial documents that were the basis for the original ATSDR public health assessment from 1997.

“They mysteriously got lost,” Ensminger said of the documents. “I said, ‘For God’s sake, how can you stand behind an official public document for which you can’t even produce the supporting documents you created it from?’ ”

The Marine Corps insists it has cooperated with all investigations.

“The Marine Corps’ primary goal is to get answers for our Marines and their families,” said Wolf, the Marine Corps spokesman. “We have proactively preserved and forthrightly provided relevant documents and information to the scientific community and the public.”

Marine feels betrayed

Ensminger, a retired Marine Corps drill sergeant, ranks as probably the most prominent Camp Lejeune activist. Ensminger’s daughter, Janey, died of leukemia in 1985 at age 9.

“Anybody who has a child who’s been diagnosed with a catastrophic, long-term illness, once you get over the initial shock the first natural thing for a parent to do is start wondering why,” Ensminger said. “I was no different from anybody else. … I never thought I’d get an answer. I never dreamed I would.”

After seeing a TV news report in 1997, Ensminger said he began calling the environmental management department at Camp Lejeune and was assured the water contamination had been small and posed no health threat. As more details emerged, partly through Freedom of Information Act requests by other activists, Ensminger became convinced the military had deliberately understated the problem.

Ensminger, a co-creator of the “Forgotten” website, now devotes most of his waking hours to research about Camp Lejeune. He said he and other former Marines feel betrayed by what they see as deceit on behalf of the Marine Corps’ leaders.

“I trained over 2,000 new Marines at Parris Island,” Ensminger said. “I instilled in those young people our core values, our saying, ‘Semper Fidelis,’ which means ‘always faithful,’ and our slogan, ‘We take care of our own,’ and I can tell you without any doubt that no one is more disillusioned by the misconduct of the leadership both past and present of the United States Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy than I am.”

Partain was never a Marine, but his father — Warren Partain of Winter Haven — was.

“My dad had a bunch of sayings,” Mike Partain said. “One of them was, ‘Character is defined by what you do when nobody’s looking.’ The Marine Corps has known about this. They’ve known the extent of the contamination, and instead of doing the right thing and taking care of their people they turned their backs on us and left us out there to die. That goes against everything about the Marine Corps.”

Morris, the Auburndale woman whose mother died of gastric cancer, applauds the efforts of Partain and other advocates but doubts the military leadership will admit to what she sees as its culpability in the water contamination at Camp Lejeune.

“The first thing I told Mike (Partain) was, ‘They can come here and offer me every penny in the world; it ain’t going to change the fact that my mama’s gone,’ ” Morris said. “Money’s not going to bring my mama back to me, but if getting the story out reaches someone who doesn’t know about it and makes them find out something conclusive, then I’m all for it.”

Callan, the Lakeland woman with leukemia, also expressed anger at the government’s handling of the issue.

“It makes me absolutely sick that our government asks men and women who serve to fight for our country and then they don’t have our backs,” Callan said. “People are not necessarily looking for, ‘Here’s a check to make good all the trauma you’ve gone through.’ I don’t want that. I want accountability for the past and future. … I in no way think money cures that, but an admission or an apology for putting people through something that didn’t have to happen — that’s justice to me.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com

Randy White, upper left, with his daughters Kristen, center, and Angie, son Brandon and ex-wife Debra Cross.

Family calls on Congress for help

Thursday, 18 Nov 2010

Roby Chavez
roby.chavez@foxtv.com
By ROBY CHAVEZ/myfoxdc

FREDERICK, Md. – The recent death of another person in the family closely connected to the ongoing cancer cluster investigation near Fort Detrick has turned personal loss into rage.

Debra Cross, the ex-wife of local activist Randy White, died Friday night after battling stage four renal cell carcinoma for months.

Many people in Frederick blame a soaring number of cancer cases on the Army post’s track record of testing dangerous chemicals.

Last month, the Maryland Department of Health declared there was no cancer cluster.

The latest victim’s family is at the center of that fight for Frederick families. On Wednesday, they are sending an emotional message to Congress.

“I collapsed on the floor because it was a replay of what I had just been through two years ago with my daughter in this exact funeral home,” said Randy White, as he grieved at a Frederick Funeral Home.

White’s daughter, Kristen Renee, died of brain cancer two years ago. Now his ex-wife has died too.

“The people in Frederick need to be aware that there is a serial killer in the back yard,” he said.

White has spent $220,000 on his own independent research and testing to investigate contamination. He says it found high levels of chemicals in the ground and water.

With another death in his family, he’s making an urgent plea.

“I’m calling on Senator Barbara Mikulski and Senator [Ben] Cardin to get behind this. They need to get behind this because the people of Frederick need to be aware of what’s happening in their own backyard,” said White.

That backyard, Fort Detrick, used to be the place where White’s children used to play.

Fort Detrick officials have already admitted to testing Agent Orange and nerve gas in the past.

For the two surviving White children, the death of their mother brings sadness and fear about their own young lives. Angie has already had benign stomach cancer.

“Me and my brother live in fear if we’re going to be next. I wish I could say she died a peaceful death. It was horrific,” said Angie Pieper, Cross’ daughter.

“She couldn’t walk. We had to carry her and take care of her physically. She deteriorated. She couldn’t eat. Slowly we watched. The hardest thing I had to face besides my sister’s death,” said Brandon White, as he described his mother’s last days.

White painfully recalled his ex-wife’s dying words just days ago.

“She told me don’t quit. She looked at me and said you fight. Don’t let any other families go through the pain we’ve been through. It’s why I’m doing it,” said White as he wiped away tears.

White says by his count, his wife is the fourth person in 21 days with ties to Fort Detrick to die of cancer in Frederick.

Fort Detrick maintains it is still collecting information and reviewing government records. It is also working with the health department on its ongoing study.

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Kristen Renee Foundation

Will Steele was diagnosed earlier this year with a rare form of cancer that has no cure. He has the love and support of his family: (from left) 6-year-old Paige, 3-year-old Liam, 5-year-old Emma and his wife, Kerri.

By Jessica Rush, jrush@acnpapers.com
Published: Monday, November 15, 2010

Will Steele, 34, of Frisco was diagnosed in February this year with desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT), an aggressive sarcoma (cancer of the soft tissue and/or bone) so rare that the Texas Cancer Registry only reports between three and eight cases a year statewide. And yet, 20-year-old Joffrey Swieczkowski, who lives about a mile away from the Steele family, received a DSRCT cancer diagnosis in September.

The coincidences continue.

Two local girls in high school also have rare forms of cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma. DSRCT is a combination of both Ewing’s sarcoma and Wilms’ tumor. One of the girls lives in the same neighborhood, Plantation Resort, as the Steele family.

Submitted Photo: From left: Joffrey Swieczkowski stands with his older brother, Hudson, and younger brother, Stefan. Joffrey was diagnosed with the same rare form of cancer that Will Steele has, and they live within a mile of each other.

Dr. Jon Trent is an associate professor of medicine at MD Anderson’s Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology in Houston. He said both DSRCT and Ewing’s are very rare diseases. There are only a few hundred cases in the United States every year.

“Where there are four rare cancers in a small area, you could be concerned about an environmental exposure,” Trent said. “It certainly could be due to really bad luck and chance, but it’s highly unlikely.”

It is very difficult to find out what causes rare cancers, because there are not enough cases to study, he said.

“Presumably, there is some kind of genetic event, whether that is due to something in the environment or a mistake internally in the cell,” Trent said.

The Texas Cancer Registry’s website defines a cancer cluster as the occurrence of a greater-than-expected number of cases within a group of people, a geographic area or a period of time. Christine Mann, assistant press officer for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said it would be difficult for the state to evaluate if the Frisco residents are indeed a part of a cancer cluster.

“There’s no statistical data on that cancer in Collin County,” Mann said.

The records, which go back to 2001, show no cases of DSRCT in the geographic region. Mann said recent diagnoses from this year would not yet be updated in the cancer registry and that there is little known about the possible environmental factors that could cause or precipitate growth for this type of cancer.

Still, Steele and Swieczkowski were both healthy before their sudden health problems. Steele, an athlete since middle school, was a semi-professional runner, often running between eight and 10 miles a day.

“We were really surprised by his diagnosis,” his wife, Kerri, said. “He rode his bike to work every day.”

The father of three found a lump in January of this year that eventually led to the discovery of more tumors.

“His entire abdominal cavity, organs and lymph nodes were all full of tumors,” Kerri said.

Doctors told the Steele family that Will had from a year to 18 months left to live.

Swieczkowski’s diagnosis came as a similar surprise. His mother, Rebecca, noticed her son becoming extremely fatigued throughout the summer. He worked on changing his diet and adding exercise, but then stomach pains surfaced. Joffrey was misdiagnosed several times before DSRCT was confirmed.

“That’s what’s so unusual – he was so completely healthy, living and eating,” Rebecca said. “He never smoked or did drugs or alcohol. You have no hints at all. We don’t really have cancers in our family at all.”

Joffrey was also active outdoors. As a former marching band member at Centennial High School, he practiced in the school’s parking lot, and Rebecca said he spent most of his weekends over at two friends’ houses in Plantation Resort.

The families have not yet been able to get together at the same time to discuss possible commonalities as they focus on chemotherapy treatments and its side effects, but Rebecca is anxious with questions.

“What was in the soil?” she asked. “Last winter we had lots and lots of rain and more snow that broke records. You just don’t know what really triggers it, but they were all outside in this area.”

The families speculated that Exide Technologies, a battery-recyling plant about five miles north and west of Plantation Resort, could have contributed to the environmental catalyst. Historically, wastewater from Exide’s facility used to be discharged to the then-operating Stewart Creek wastewater treatment plant. The wastewater contained certain concentrations of lead and cadmium, known human carcinogens, which Exide officials said could have ended up in the sludge-drying beds of the treatment plant.

However, topographical maps of the city show that water near the plant would flow in the southwest direction, away from Plantation Resort. City officials said the prevailing winds blow northeast of the plant, which does not put Plantation Resort in its direct path.

Last Saturday, more than 250 other runners joined together in the Frisco Trails community to raise money for the Steele family and help out with the onslaught of medical bills. Wim Schalken of The Trails Runners helped organize Will’s Run after neighbor Kathy Dann approached the running group.

“This is so close to home, and we realize that this could happen to any of us,” Schalken said. “It’s like the typical Frisco family, and it just makes you humble. You have to appreciate every day that you have.”

Visit willsrun.com for information.

See article online

Salon Magazine
Laura Miller

The shocking story of how industry and government poisoned and then abandoned the Navajo Nation

In the summer of 1979, an earthen dam over the town of Church Rock, New Mexico, broke, flooding the arroyo below and then the bed of the Rio Puerco (an intermittent stream) on the southern border of the Navajo Nation. It was a small flood, but a dangerous one. It burned the feet of a boy who stepped into it, and caused sheep and crops along the banks to drop dead. That’s because the pond it came from had been used by a nearby uranium mine to store the tailings (residue) of its excavations — the water kept the radioactive dust from blowing away. The 93 million gallons of contaminated water that poured into the Rio Puerco remains the largest accidental release of radioactive material in U.S. history, bigger than the notorious Three Mile Island reactor meltdown that occurred 14 weeks later.

The Church Rock flood is only one incident among many in the “slow-motion disaster” investigative journalist Judy Pasternak comprehensively recounts in her chilling new book, “Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed.” Based on a prize-winning four-part series she wrote for the Los Angeles Times, “Yellow Dirt” begins during World War II, when secretive government surveyors first appeared on the remote reservation, supposedly looking for deposits of an ore called vanadium, used to strengthen steel needed for the war effort. Uranium was the real prize, and after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the ramping up of the Cold War, the American demand for the radioactive substance boomed.

The Navajo Nation and the area around it contained some of the richest deposits of uranium ore in the world, and certainly the most conveniently located. For about a decade, various corporations and government agencies reaped 1.4 million tons of uranium ore from the Monument Valley region alone; Pasternak makes a single mine there, known as Monument No. 2, her primary focus. The mining operations were relatively rudimentary, and by ordination of the tribal government, worked almost entirely by Navajo men. Even the cheapest and most elementary safety practices, such as wetting down blast areas to keep the miners from breathing toxic dust, were neglected in the rush to satisfy the Atomic Energy Commission’s insatiable appetite for uranium.

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
BY ERIN PATRICIA GRIFFITHS
COMMUNITY NEWS (GARFIELD EDITION)

Garfield, NJ–The State Department of Health and Senior Services has determined that 16 out of 160 homes tested in Garfield for toxic levels of hexavalent chromium do in fact have contaminated dust in the basements.

The department will be holding a special community meeting in Garfield City Hall on May 20 at 7 p.m. for all those affected and any residents in the city with concerns about the recent report.

City Manager Tom Duch announced the newly discovered public health risk at the council meeting last night. All 16 affected property owners have been notified of the hexavalent chromium contamination.

The homes or properties that have been affected will need further remediation, said Duch.

According to a press release issued by the State Department of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been testing homes and properties within the city and requested a health consultation after conducting an investigation into groundwater infiltration. More than 250 homes within Garfield have been tested and inspected to date.

The homes that have been tested are in the area around the E.C. Electroplating Company in the city, according to the Department of Health. The company, located on Clark Street, had an incident in 1983 in which more than 3,600 gallons of chromium plating solution was discharged from a storage tank and contaminated the groundwater in the surrounding neighborhood.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was out again over the last couple of weekends and they’ve been going through the neighborhoods and they’ve been kind of expanding the region, looking into homes that border that particular area,” said Duch.

Contamination within a home occurs when infiltrated groundwater seeps into a basement, evaporates and then leaves contaminated residue behind. Residents in the affected area are a risk for exposure if they have touched contaminated surfaces and then swallowed dust on their hands or food, according to the press release.

Some health risks to residents that are associated with exposure to hexavalent chromium include lung and other cancers, irritation to the nose lining, asthma, respiratory problems, skin rashes, stomach and small intestine irritation, ulcers and anemia.

“It is unconscionable that the chromium pollution in Garfield has gone on for so long putting a community at risk. The failure of the government to step in after knowing about the problem for so many years just shows how broken the system is,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

The EPA as well as the Department of Health and Senior Services will continue to study the city and test for hexavalant chromium contamination. Any residents with questions or concerns are encouraged to attend the community meeting Thursday night.

“We are committed to working with the community, answering their questions and providing additional health information, and we will support EPA’s and ATSDR’s (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) efforts to address chromium contamination in Garfield,” said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Dr. Poonam Alaigh.

E-mail: griffithse@northjersey.com

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School Principal Leon Muhammad shows NDCA science advisor Zoe Kelman the superfund site next to the playground.

NDCA representatives visited the Bayview neighborhood in South San Francisco last week, receiving a tour of the area affected by the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard superfund site. The community has several specific requests:

1. The Navy should clean up the remaining contaminated sites, and not just cap them.

This is especially important given the risk that an earthquake will cause the harbor fill under the superfund site to dissolve in a process known as liquefaction Unsteady Ground: Lennar, liquefaction and other related meltdownsSF Bay Guardian, 12/31/2008.

2. Construction should be stopped until it is shown that the clean-up will be conducted in a manner that ensures the safety of the schoolchildren and nearby residents.

3. Health testing and bio-monitoring should be conducted to assess if the children and residents have already suffered health impacts from this site.

4. Homes and schools should be tested for contamination associated with the superfund site.

5. Long term health monitoring should be provided to the community because some associated health effects can have long latency periods before the onset of disease.

Other Resources

ARC Ecology’s “Community Window on the Hunters Point Shipyard” with multiple maps, descriptions of contaminants found on various parcels, and links to clean-up documents.

EPA page on Hunter’s Point

Greenaction’s page on Hunters Point

Beyond Toxic: Pollution in Bayview Hunters Point photo journal page.

Industrial Pollution Health Hazards

Men’s Health
By: Melody Petersen
Photographs by: Christopher LaMarca

On an Indian reserve in Canada, girls rule the day-care centers, the playgrounds, the sports teams. The reason: For the past 15 years, fewer and fewer boys are being born. It may be the leading edge of a chemically induced crisis that could make men an endangered species

“When you drive through here, pay attention to your body,” says Ronald Plain, a member of the Anishinabek tribe that lives on the Aamjiwnaang reserve. He’s showing me where his people live. “Your lips might tingle. Your fingertips might go numb.”

Welcome to Chemical Valley, the industrial region around Sarnia, in southern Ontario.

As we pass mile after mile of sprawling industrial plants, towering smokestacks, freighter-size tanks, and labyrinthine pipes connecting it all, the odors seem to change at each factory. One has the rotten-egg smell of sulfur. Another reeks of diesel fuel. Yet another has the nose-wrinkling redolence of cooked cabbage. Orange flames jet from the forest of smoke-stacks, evidence of the incineration of volatile gases that accumulate as oil is refined and chemicals are processed. The whine of machinery is constant, punctuated from time to time by blaring emergency sirens.

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 Advocates Call for Swift Action in Response to Community
Concerns of Disease Clusters

         October 30, 2008 – San Diego, California – Former U.S. Surgeon
General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders joined activists last night in kicking off
a campaign geared toward raising awareness and more effective response
to disease clusters in the country. Matt Wilhelm of the San Diego
Chargers and his wife, Vanessa as well as Steve Altman, President of
Qualcomm and his wife Lisa joined and aided the organization to raise
more than $25,000 towards this vital and emerging cause.

         A “disease cluster” is an unexpectedly large number of cases of
the same or similar diseases in a geographic area over a defined period
of time. The environment plays an important role in human development
and health. All populations are not created equal when it comes to
their ability to withstand environmental insults without serious health
consequences. It is well documented that exposure to toxic chemicals
can have a devastating impact on the fetus or on infants during
developmental “windows of vulnerability” when cells are dividing
rapidly.

         The campaign, “No Disease Clusters Anymore,” was spearheaded by
the nonprofit organization, the National Disease Clusters Alliance.

         Other speakers included Trevor Smith, a youth advocate for NDCA
and brain cancer survivor; and Dee Lewis, Executive Director of NDCA who
led the battle to uncover the environmental causes of the disease
cluster in the Calvine-Florin community in Sacramento.

         According to Lewis, “government resources, capacity, protocols,
and methodology have all been found inadequate for assisting
communities that are confronting a known or suspected
environmentally-related disease cluster.”

         Every year, residents request investigations into more than
1,000 suspected cancer clusters.  In 2002, a suspected cluster was
identified outside of San Diego. Valley Center residents have
documented 14 cases of childhood cancer between 1997 and 2002. Parents
believed there may be a link in the cases, with most of the children
affected living in the same general area.

According to Trevor Smith, NDCA Youth Ambassador (former San Diego
resident) of the McCall, Idaho suspected cancer cluster,” Cancer is
like a pebble dropped into still water – the effect ripples through
your life, your family, and your community.”

About NDCA

NDCA promotes vibrant, healthy communities through empowerment and
supportive partnerships. NDCA was formed out of the urgent need to
identify and respond to emerging disease clusters. NDCA is comprised of
agency, staff, nonprofit organizations, community activists,
scientists, and academia.

DATE: September 13, 2008
TIME: 11:00 A.M.
WHERE: The walk will start at St. Luke’s MSTI, Boise, Idaho.
The walk will proceed down Idaho Street to Capitol
ending at the steps of Boise City Hall, where a brief
ceremony will conclude the walk.

Sometimes the greatest distance
traveled is accomplished in just a few
steps. After Trevor Smith’s surgery for
brain cancer in November, 2002, at the
age of thirteen he couldn’t even get
out of bed. When he fi nally took his
fi rst steps, it was with someone holding
onto him. During his chemotherapy
and radiation treatments he became
too weak to stand up. When he took
his fi rst steps again, his balance was
impaired and he had a limp (A side eff
of chemotherapy). Facing a change
new school during his treatments, he
told not to do it; the kids would laugh
at him because he “walked funny.” But he went to the new school
anyway, deciding that if he could face up to cancer, he could face
to a few kids who might make fun of him.
Trevor Smith is a survivor. At the age of eighteen, he has become
forceful voice for the children of Idaho who are suff ering from cancer.
Trevor, and all the other childhood cancer patients who will be
alongside him at the second annual Trevor’s Trek on Saturday,
September 13, 2008, invite you to: Walk a Mile in Our Shoes.
TREVOR SMITH

“A FEW STEPS CAN TURN INTO A MILE.
A MILE CAN BECOME A MILESTONE
BY RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF
THE ALARMING RISE OF CHILDHOOD
CANCER IN IDAHO.”

Website Registration:
www.idahowish.org
Fax Registration:
208-342-8878
Voice Registration:
208-345-9474
Mail Registration:
Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Idaho
4355 Emerald Street, Suite 280
Boise ID 83706

Plans nixed for BP asphalt plant
(http://www.post-trib.com/1129553,asphalt.article)

August 27, 2008

By GITTE LAASBY Post-Tribune staff writer

HAMMOND — BP Whiting has scrapped its plans for an asphalt plant in Hammond.

In a letter to the city of Hammond, the refinery has withdrawn its petition for conditional use and developmental variance for a property at 1304 129th St. across from the Lost Marsh Golf Course.

“At this point, BP has exercised its right to withdraw its petitions that are currently before the Hammond board,” BP spokesman Tom Keilman told the Post-Tribune Wednesday morning.

He said BP is considering whether and where to build another plant.

“We’re currently reviewing our options in terms of the asphalt operations,” he said.

Keilman acknowledged that the city of Hammond had a number of conditions for granting the petition, including requirements to monitor emissions, but he would not comment on whether requirements had anything with BP canceling its plans.

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. said he felt he had no choice but to put conditions on granting the request because the asphalt plant would harm the community.

“We didn’t really support it. I support the expansion but the part of moving the asphalt plant to where they wanted in Hammond, we didn’t like it,” McDermott Jr. said. “There was a lot of concern about the health issues. There’s been studies that this can cause cancer clusters in the neighborhood around it. It doesn’t make sense you take that and move it closer to a neighborhood. I didn’t want that to be my legacy if I found out 20 years from now that kids got sick.”

The zoning issue was on the agenda of tonight’s meeting of the Hammond board of zoning appeals.

For more details, read tomorrow’s Post-Tribune.

Contact Gitte Laasby at 648-2183 or glaasby@post-trib.com. Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.

08/30/2008
Opinions flow freely at speakout on well testing
Mid-Hudson News Network

POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County residents at a hearing this week argued the two sides of the latest effort to mandate the testing of private wells.
Advertisement

“Targeted testing is not scientific, it is Russian roulette,” Hopewell Junction resident Nancy Foster said during the speakout session on Thursday. “In our community, we have houses that sit side by side, one with contamination and one without. Unsuspecting homeowners deserve to be protected.”

Foster lives on Creamery Road, near the Hopewell Precision EPA Superfund site where chemicals were dumped several decades ago, contaminating several wells in the area.

The new well-testing bill – approved by the county Legislation but facing a possible veto by County Executive William Steinhaus – would mandate the testing of any private well in the county at the time of property’s sale. The seller would incur the cost of the test, estimated at around $600.

The public hearing was required by county law before Steinhaus can take action on the bill. But Steinhaus wasn’t at the meeting to offer his own comments on the issue, and his absence angered many who attended.

Another Creamery Road resident, Anne Kover, argued that if a similar law had been passed 20 years ago, before the chemical TCE, was found in her well, her teenage son wouldn’t have the neurological disorders from which he suffers.

Her son, Matthew Kover, 18, also spoke at the hearing.

“My mom knows there are some things I can and can’t do,” he said, struggling to get his words out.

“If you pass this bill,” he said, as if speaking to Steinhaus, “there won’t be other kids like me.”

Comments against the bill also were made at the hearing.

“There is no scientific basis for this law. This is not helping those who aren’t selling homes,” said East Fishkill resident Joseph Petinella.

LaGrange resident James Hanson said residents shouldn’t be saying “the sky is falling when it’s not.”

Hanson said science “should be the dictating force here, not emotion, not passion. If we have an issue, then we need to address it.”

Hanson also said that if homeowners are concerned about their wells, they can have them tested on their own.

“I think it’s incumbent upon you, if you have this fear, to take this upon yourselves,” he said. “This is not supposed to be a mandated item.”

Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008

Magnitude of TCE dumping eludes MB, agency says

Tests for toxin weren’t required

By David Wren – The Sun News

Myrtle Beach officials probably will never know how much trichloroethylene AVX Corp. dumped into the city’s sewer system because regulators did not require testing for the toxic chemical until after the dumping had occurred, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“It is possible that Myrtle Beach’s wastewater treatment plant would not have noticed any TCE [trichloroethylene] coming into the system,” DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said last week.

“TCE and [similar] volatile organic compounds were not required tests for wastewater systems by federal or state regulations in the mid-1990s,” he said.

The health risks associated with TCE have become better known over the past decade, and the EPA says exposure to the chemical has been linked with cancer and other illnesses.

State and federal regulators now require testing for TCE and similar chemicals at wastewater treatment plants.

AVX executives have not responded to requests for comment by The Sun News and have not discussed the issue with city officials.

Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea said last week the city does not know if any TCE made its way into the sewer system. The city still is looking for any records that would indicate whether contamination occurred, he said.

Electronics manufacturer AVX illegally dumped groundwater laced with TCE, an industrial degreaser, into the sewer at its 17th Avenue South facility from at least 1985 to 1996, according to a consent order the company signed with DHEC in 1996.

The earliest test for TCE that the city can find is from May 2000 – at least 15 years after AVX started dumping the water into the sewer.

That test, and subsequent tests, have not shown any contamination beyond what the Environmental Protection Agency considers a safe level.

TCE evaporates quickly, and Berry said it is possible that any contamination that discharged into the city’s wastewater treatment plant would have broken down during an aeration process at the facility.

The fact that no tests were done, however, means little can be known for certain about TCE in the city’s sewer system during the 1980s and 90s, state and city officials say.

Kruea said the city plans to test groundwater at property it owns near AVX to see if there is any TCE contamination there. Those tests will be done in the coming weeks.

DHEC also ordered AVX to conduct air-sampling tests at some sites where TCE has been found in groundwater. Results of those tests could be known as early as this week, Berry said.

DHEC also has ordered tests for several parts of Withers Swash, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, to determine TCE levels there.

While any past contamination probably would be limited to the city’s sewer system, environmental experts say it is possible – although unlikely – that TCE could have made its way into drinking water in the early to mid-1980s.

The city used deep-water wells for its drinking water supply until a municipal water treatment plant went online in 1987. One of those wells is on land adjacent to AVX’s facility on 17th Avenue South. Another is on 13th Avenue South, where TCE contamination was found in shallow groundwater.

TCE, which is heavier than water, sinks to the bottom of aquifers and forms large pools called plumes. It can take decades to treat and clean contaminated groundwater.

Depending on an area’s geography and well construction, TCE in shallow groundwater can migrate to deeper wells used for drinking water, according to Lenny Siegel, an EPA consultant and TCE expert.

The drinking water wells in Myrtle Beach are located between 400 feet and 600 feet below the ground’s surface. That is far deeper than the contaminated groundwater, which is located about 40 feet below the surface.

In between those two depths is the Pee Dee formation, which is a muddy aquitard that keeps TCE from sinking.

Geologists say the only way TCE could have gotten into the city’s drinking water is if one of the deep-water wells located near shallow contamination was poorly grouted, and the toxic chemical went down the annular space between the well’s casing and borehole wall.

Kruea said the city has not had any problems with the wells or the piping and called TCE intrusion “highly unlikely.”

Myrtle Beach has capped most of the 31 deep-water wells it previously used, including the one at 13th Avenue South. The city still has nine deep-water wells available for emergencies. One of those emergency wells is near AVX at 17th Avenue South.

“Obviously, given the current information, we would not use water from that well in an emergency situation,” Kruea said.

AVX learned it had high levels of TCE contamination in groundwater at its property as early as 1991, but did not tell state regulators or city officials about the problem until 14 years later.

TCE contamination now has migrated from AVX to groundwater in a 10-block section of Myrtle Beach, environmental tests show. The contamination is not in the city’s drinking water.

Myrtle Beach officials did not learn about the sewer dumping and contamination problems until recently, when the issues were brought to the public’s attention through a series of reports in The Sun News.

DHEC last month narrowed the area where TCE contamination exists to a 10-block parcel north of AVX, sandwiched between Beaver Road and Kings Highway.

Environmental tests last year showed TCE levels as high as 19,200 parts per billion on land near AVX. The EPA has set the safe level at five parts per billion.

A part per billion is a measurement that would be equal to about one penny in $10 million or one minute in 2,000 years.

Environmental tests on AVX property in the 1990s showed very high levels of TCE and similar chemicals in the groundwater – as much as 711,000 parts per billion.

AVX tried to secretly clean up the TCE by installing nine wells on its property between 1985 to 1987, according to the consent order. Those wells pumped contaminated groundwater into non-contact cooling towers. Such towers usually are used by manufacturers to cool equipment, but they also can be a low-cost way to treat contaminated groundwater.

AVX installed additional wells in 1991 and 1992 for those purposes, according to the consent order.

After the water left the cooling towers, it was discharged into the city’s sewer system, according to the consent order.

DHEC officials said last month that AVX’s treatment plan was only marginally effective.

The agency worked with the manufacturer to improve cleanup efforts after AVX signed the consent order.

That consent order said AVX violated the state’s pollution control and water quality laws. The manufacturer did not admit to any wrongdoing. AVX paid a $7,000 fine as part of the consent order.

The consent order says AVX also secretly excavated and removed contaminated soil from its property between 1981 and 1995. Some of that soil was spread out on the AVX site so the TCE would evaporate.

The trenches that were created by soil excavation also were left exposed on AVX property so TCE and other chemicals would evaporate, according to the consent order.

An adjacent property owner, Horry Land Co., accused AVX in a lawsuit filed late last year of dumping some of the contaminated soil on its property. AVX denies the allegation in court filings.

Horry Land wants AVX to pay $5.4 million for the damaged property. A tentative trial date has been set for late this year.

AVX also is facing a class-action suit filed by Surfside Beach lawyer Gene Connell on behalf of people who own property near the manufacturing facility.

Connell says the contamination has ruined property values, and he wants AVX to pay the fair-market value for all of the land where TCE exists in groundwater.

AVX denies the allegations and has asked a judge to dismiss the case.

No court date has been set in that case.

News for Release: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007
 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

W.R. Grace to Pay Toward Cleanup of Hazardous Waste Sites

Contact: Roxanne Smith, (202) 564-4355 / smith.roxanne@epa.gov


(Washington, D.C. – Dec. 20, 2007)  W.R. Grace has agreed to a $34 million bankruptcy settlement for cleanup costs at 32 Superfund sites across the country, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice announced today. This action settles a bankruptcy claim brought by the federal government to recover money for site cleanup.

“Bankruptcy is not a safe haven to avoid environmental responsibilities,” said Catherine McCabe, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA will keep pursuing companies who pollute the environment.”

“This settlement will make money available to substantially help the cleanup of many Superfund sites around the country,” said Ronald J. Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement is a good outcome for both the taxpayers and the environment.”

The federal government determined that the company contributed to the contamination at the sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly referred to as Superfund. The settlement will be used to reimburse EPA for past costs and to pay for future costs associated with cleaning up at hazardous waste sites in 18 states. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

W.R. Grace and 61 affiliated companies filed for bankruptcy in April 2001. In March 2003, EPA filed claims against the company to recover past and future cleanup costs. EPA will be able to pursue its claim once the bankruptcy court confirms a reorganization plan with the company.

W.R. Grace is a global supplier of specialty chemicals. The company has corporate headquarters in Columbia, Md. and employees in nearly 40 countries.

The settlement agreement will be lodged in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and is subject to court approval after a 30-day public comment period. 

Superfund site names and locations:
                                                                                   
Acton Plant Site, Acton, Mass.
Amber Oil (Eco-Tech) Site, Milwaukee, Wis.                                           
Aqua Tech Site, Greer, S.C.
Cambridge Plant Site, Cambridge, Mass.                                                
Casmalia Resources Site, Santa Barbara, Calif.                                      
Central Chemical Site, Hagerstown, Md.                                     
Galaxy/Spectron Site, Elkton, Md.                                                         
Green River Site, Maceo, Ky.                                                                 
Harrington Tools Site, Glendale, Calif.                                                     
Intermountain Insulation Site, Salt Lake City, Utah                                   
IWI Site, Summit, Ill.                                                                             
Li Tungsten Site, Glen Cove, N.Y.                                                          
Malone Services Co. Site, Texas County, Texas                          
N-Forcer Site, Dearborn, Mich.                                                               
Operating Industries Site, Monterey Park, Calif.               
R&H Oil/Tropicana Site, San Antonio, Texas                                           
RAMP Industries Site, Denver, Colo.                                                       
Reclamation Oil Site, Detroit, Mich.                                                        
Robinson Insulation Site, Minot, N.D.                                                      
Solvents Recovery Service of New England Site, Southington, Conn.         
Vermiculite Intermountain Site, Salt Lake City, Utah                                
Vermiculite Northwest Site, Spokane, Wash.                                          
Wauconda Sand and Gravel Superfund Site Wauconda, Ill.                       
Watson Johnson Landfill Site, Richland Township, Pa.
Wells G&H Site, Woburn, Mass.
Western Minerals Processing Site, Denver, Colo.                        
Western Minerals Products Site, Minneapolis, Minn.                                
Zonolite Co./W.R. Grace Site, Ellwood City, Pa.
Zonolite Co./Grace Site, Hamilton Township, N.J.            
Zonolite Co./W.R. Grace Site, New Castle, Pa.   
Zonolite Co./W.R. Grace Site, Prince George’s County, Md.
Zonolite Co./W.R. Grace Site, Wilder, Ky.
           
More information on the W.R. Grace bankruptcy settlement:  http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/cleanup/cercla/grace-global.html


More information on Cleanup Enforcement: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/cleanup

 
Help EPA protect our nation’s land, air and water by reporting violations: http://www.epa.gov/tips

Air study results are inconclusive

By SCOTT STREATER

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Mon, Dec. 10, 2007

A long-awaited study of air pollution in Midlothian found levels of potentially dangerous benzene, arsenic, lead and other toxic chemicals at levels that exceed the most conservative health screening limits and “could be interpreted as posing a public health hazard.”

But state and federal health officials nonetheless concluded that more study is needed before saying “the extent of the public health hazard posed by air contaminants in Midlothian,” according to the report, obtained by the Star-Telegram.

The health consultation, which is set to be released Tuesday, found huge gaps in air monitoring and health-screening data and recommended that the state collect more air samples and research toxicology literature to further assess potential health risks. The draft report will be open for public comment beginning Tuesday, before final recommendations are made.

“We found that the majority of the risks associated with exposure to the chemicals analyzed in this health consultation were low,” according to the 128-page report. “However, we are classifying this site as an Indeterminate Public Health Hazard because further information is needed.”

The study was at the request of Midlothian residents, some of whom were disappointed by the vague findings.

The report does not name the individual sources responsible for pollution, nor does it guarantee recommendations will be followed. Its vague conclusions are likely to fan debate over whether state regulators need to crack down on industrial polluters in Ellis County, southeast of Fort Worth.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever have all of the answers,” said Midlothian Mayor Boyce Whatley, who had not seen the study late Sunday. “I would hope that the studies, if they are ever conclusive, show there are no long-term health effects because of the industrial emissions out here. But as a mayor and as a resident, certainly I want as much information as possible, and if there are additional studies that have to be done, I would favor those.”

So does Sal Mier and his wife, Grace, who spearheaded a petition signed by 371 residents that prompted federal health officials in July 2005 to study pollution in the city.

Mier, who until retiring in 1994 managed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s five-state regional office in Dallas, said he just wants answers, and was disappointed. He has lined up a group of national and regional scientists to review the study and ensure that researchers used the latest peer-reviewed methodology.

“It’s not that we’re pushing for a negative outcome, but in arriving at this decision we’re not sure the most current science was factored in,” he said.

MIDLOTHIAN HEALTH ASSESSMENT

The study

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Texas Department of State Health Services agreed in 2005 to investigate whether air pollution in Midlothian is making people there sick. The study was undertaken after 371 Midlothian residents petitioned the federal agency to investigate the issue. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has no regulatory power and can only make recommendations.

Data gaps

A key component of the report is that it highlights gaps in data on a number of industrial pollutants, such as dioxins — a group of chemical compounds known to cause cancer. Because the state does not routinely collect air data for dioxins, and the consultation is based mostly on historical air sampling from state air monitors, the researchers could not address the issue even though it was one of the main concerns of the petitioners. They also could not evaluate asthma, immune system deficiencies and other health problems for the same reason. What’s more, researchers reported there are no health-based screening levels for 87 of the 113 contaminants the researchers measured. “Additional information is needed to determine the public health significance of these contaminants,” they reported.

Why it’s important

The study is expected to prompt additional research and will likely renew debate over whether regulation of Ellis County industrial polluters should be stepped up. Midlothian’s three cement plants — Holcim, Ash Grove and TXI Operations — and Chaparral Steel are among the largest industrial polluters in North Texas.

Contaminants of concern

These are some of the chemicals measured at high levels in the air in Midlothian:

Arsenic: No longer produced in the U.S., it has been used as a wood preservative and in pesticides; it is a known human carcinogen.

Lead: A metal, it is linked to behavioral and developmental disorders, and it can damage the lungs and kidney in adults and children. It is listed as a possible carcinogen.

Benzene: A highly flammable liquid used primarily to make other chemicals that are used to make products such as Styrofoam, dyes, detergents, drugs and pesticides.

1,2-Dichloroethane: A synthetic liquid most commonly used to make vinyl chloride, it is listed by the federal government as a probable human carcinogen.

For more information

The study is scheduled to be available Tuesday on the Texas Department of State Health Services Web site, www.dshs.state.tx.us/epitox/midlothian/midlothian.shtml

SCOTT STREATER, 817-390-7657
sstreater@star-telegram.com

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/350738.html

Scientist: Chemical may be more toxic than officials think

By Tim Damos

–

A toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemical dumped at a Baraboo Army Ammunition Plant years ago could be more dangerous than federal and state officials think, one scientist warns.

Wisconsin might become the first state to set groundwater standards for certain forms of a chemical known as DNT that was used by the Army to manufacture explosives. Army officials say state regulators are being overly cautious, and a local environmental group says Wisconsin is on the right track.

“Hopefully, (the Army) can be adult about this and recognize there is a problem that resulted from their activities,” said Dr. Peter deFur, a scientific consultant hired by the nonprofit group Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. “They should clean up after themselves.”

The Badger Army Ammunition Plant south of Baraboo was operational during conflicts from World War II through the Vietnam War. Clean-up efforts at the 7,000-acre plant, built in 1942, have been under way since the Army said the plant would no longer be needed in 1995.

DNT attacks the cardiovascular, nervous and reproductive systems and can cause headaches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and chest pain, according to a state toxicologist’s report. Some studies suggest it may cause cancer.

DNR reports show that all forms of the chemical have been found in groundwater from the base of the Baraboo bluffs to Prairie du Sac.

The state has a groundwater standard for two forms of DNT, which guide the Army’s clean-up efforts. The other four forms — which aren’t regulated — only made up a small portion of what was used to make explosives. But they have been found in greater proportions in monitoring wells in and around Badger, suggesting they aren’t breaking down as quickly as the regulated types of DNT, deFur said.

“The more toxic forms are the ones that hang around the longest,” he said.

In May, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources asked state public health specialists to set temporary guidelines for the four unregulated forms of DNT, for which there are no state or federal standards.

A state toxicologist suggested the DNR limit the total concentration of all six forms of DNT to .05 parts per billion, which would be stricter than current standards. The DNR accepted the findings and set an interim drinking water health advisory.

An Army toxicologist disagreed with the state’s findings, saying there hasn’t been enough research on the unregulated forms of DNT to justify a health advisory.

“That’s a hollow argument, in my estimation,” deFur said. “Because it claims ignorance is an excuse for not protecting people.”

There’s no telling what DNT might do to small children, deFur said, because the data just isn’t available.

Army toxicologist Emily May LaFiandra directed the News Republic’s questions to an Army spokeswoman.

“We are advising our client, Badger, that we believe more studies need to be done to reach a clear scientific answer about human health effects (of the unregulated forms of DNT),” U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion & Preventive Medicine spokeswoman and public affairs officer Lyn Kukral said in an e-mail. “However, we are recognizing that the responsibility for determining a standard and enacting it belongs to the state of Wisconsin.”

The Army toxicologist used old data to reach her conclusion, deFur said, and the state should set even tougher standards than the interim advisory they have now.

Kukral didn’t respond specifically to deFur’s comments, which also were sent to state public health officials on behalf of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger.

The DNR is beginning the process of setting a permanent groundwater standard for all forms of DNT. It will seek input from interested parties before setting a standard that will be approved by state lawmakers.

If a standard is set next year, it could influence other states to do the same, said Laura Olah, director of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. That could mean more headaches for Army officials trying to get sites deemed clean.

She said the action taken by the DNR is the result of unusually strict groundwater testing around the plant.

“Badger is the only plant we know of that’s testing the four less-common forms of DNT,” she said. “Unfortunately, Badger is just one of the Army plants that has this contamination.”

http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/259764

Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

E12629 Weigand’s Bay South

Merrimac, WI  53561

(608)643-3124

Email: info@cswab.org

Website: www.cswab.org

How safe is water from the tap?

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Although chemical pollutants had tainted parts of Southern California groundwater, the drinking water is free of solvents.

By Mary Beckman, Special to The Times
December 3, 2007

FOR years before the mid-1980s, groundwater in parts of Southern California was contaminated with toxic solvents, yet the federal body responsible for tracking this didn’t investigate the potential health threat to people who were drinking contaminated tap water. A congressional committee is now investigating why that neglect occurred.

Here’s a closer look at what scientists know about the main solvents of concern and their health effects.

Drinking water safety

Trichloroethylene (TCE) and the related compound tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE or PERC), are industrial solvents still used to clean up grease and to dry-clean clothes. For a long time, their use was unregulated and many companies across the nation disposed of them in such a way that they leached into drinking water sources.

In 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency started a Superfund project to clean up a variety of chemical pollutants. The effort includes getting the perpetrators of improper TCE and PCE disposal, many of them defense contractors, to help remove the worst of the contamination across the country.

What problems do these closely related solvents cause?

Scientists know that TCE can cause cancer — usually of the kidneys, liver and lungs — at high doses. They have concluded this from studies on animals that were given contaminated water to drink, as well as from people exposed to TCE through their work or through contaminated drinking water.

They don’t yet understand how TCE causes cancer: Researchers studying the question say the process is pretty complicated, and the jury is still out on the exact mechanism.

Peter Preuss, director of the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment, says that TCE breaks down into several different components, some of which are carcinogenic. “There are maybe three to five routes by which TCE might induce cancer,” he says.

But the cancer data are from animal and humans subjected to high doses of TCE. To understand what might happen at lower doses found in the environment, researchers have to extrapolate.

“There’s a fair amount of uncertainty,” Preuss says. And the kinds of new experiments that are needed to determine whether the levels found in Southern California water led to cancer are difficult to do. Preuss is leading an effort to determine what health effects the TCE might have had over the years by examining all the available, published data.

What about PCE?

Some of the best data on the health effects of these solvents come from Marines based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from November 1957 through February 1987. Those who lived in the base’s Tarawa Terrace family housing units drank water contaminated with PCE from a dry-cleaning operation near the water source.

Researchers with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry — a group within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerned with toxic chemicals — estimate that in 1985 the PCE in groundwater was at a concentration of approximately 800-1500 parts per billion. That’s far above the 5 ppb limit the EPA considers safe.

Over time, PCE breaks down into TCE; the researchers estimated that levels of TCE, which is subject to the same 5-ppb limit as PCE, were as high as 100 ppb.

The Marines drank considerably less of the solvents than were present in the groundwater, however. The water coming out of the water treatment plant contained about 200 ppb of PCE and up to 15 ppb of TCE.

The Camp Lejeune study found that older mothers (35 and older) and mothers who had a history of miscarriages generally gave birth to lower-weight babies than unexposed women. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is continuing to look at possible birth defects and childhood cancers linked to the exposures.

Should Southern Californians be drinking bottled water?

Researchers and the EPA say there’s no need, because even with the contamination, people in Southern California are drinking solvent-free water.

Not all water sources in the L.A. area are contaminated. Also, although not all of the groundwater in regions of concern in the L.A. area have been treated to contain less than the federal limit of 5 parts per billion, what comes out of your tap is not the same as what’s in the groundwater.

The treatment systems that clean up water before it reaches people’s faucets clear out the TCE, says EPA Superfund project manager David Stensby, who oversees water treatment in one of the Superfund sites, in Glendale.

The first treatment consists of blowing air through the water. Because TCE is volatile, it catches a ride on the air, and that removes about 98% of the TCE.

The water then flows through activated carbon filters, which removes the remaining solvent. Because the carbon filters can fill up just like carbon filters on home water filtration systems can, the water is checked at various points in the process to make sure there is no TCE.

“Our performance standard is zero, not at the end of the pipe, but before the last carbon filter,” Stensby says. He adds that the TCE-filled air also goes through carbon filters before it is released: “The TCE is captured one way or another.”

The groundwater being treated this way wasn’t being used before treatment. The EPA treatment systems were put in place when cities wanted to use the water from a contaminated source.

In parts of the L.A. area not covered by the Superfund effort, water is subject to the equally strict standards set out by the California Department of Public Health.

November 24, 2007 at 06:55:35 Toxics Tour Planned to Highlight Environmental Racism by Robert Bullard     Page 1 of 1 page(s) http://www.opednews.com

National Campaign to Spotlight the Deadly Mix of Toxic Racism and TCE Contamination on an African American Family

NASHVILLE, TN, November 23, 2007 – On Thursday, November 29, a coalition of national leaders, representing environmental justice, civil rights, scientists, women’s health, academia, faith-based and religious groups, legal, and elected officials, including congressional staffers, from around the country will meet at Nashville’s Fisk University and board a bus for Dickson, a small town located about 35 miles to the west.   

The national leaders will travel to Dickson and participate in the “Take Back Black Health Toxics Tour” and see for themselves in real time a slam-dunk, in-your-face case of environmental racism.  The tour is sponsored by the National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN), Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University (EJRC), Race Relation Institute at Fisk University   (RRI), Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University (DSCEJ), Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ), and  WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Inc.
(WEACT).  

The tour will highlight the devastating impact of toxic contamination on a black family.  Tour organizers hope to raise awareness and for national leaders to put pressure on Congress to make the elimination of environmental hazards in low-income and people of color communities a national priority issue in the upcoming elections.   Continue Reading »

Montco site found to be tainted by TCE

Former V.A. Saverese plant contains likely carcinogen, DEP says. Hearing scheduled on proposed cleanup.

By Kelly Martin | Special to The Morning Call

November 22, 2007

A former electroplating plant in Montgomery County is contaminated with a likely cancer-causing agent, the state Department of Environmental Protection has announced.Soil at the V.A. Saverese Plating Co. plant at 1400 Spring Valley Road, Upper Hanover Township, has been found to contain trichloroethylene, or TCE, the DEP said last week in a news release. The colorless liquid also was found in a nearby residential well.

The state has proposed cleaning up the site but will give the public an opportunity to comment on and ask questions about the project. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. next Thursday at the Upper Hanover Municipal Building, 1704 Pillsbury Road.

DEP officials will be available at 6:30 p.m. to answer questions about the cleanup. Continue Reading »