2004 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 1 Jul 2004 22:18:36 -0000
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: Colorado TCE standards
 
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submitted by Don Holmstrom <dholmstrom@denverlabor.org>

SMOKING GUN DOCUMENTS SHOW DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BOWING TO POLLUTER PRESSURE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 29, 2004

Colorado Health Department Internal E-mails
Document Industry Pressure to reverse TCE decision

Copies of e-mails and memos obtained from a Colorado Open Records Act
search show in detail how the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment first made a policy decision to use the most updated and
scientifically accurate testing guidelines and standards to measure and
clean up a toxic contaminant called TCE -- but then pressure from
lawyers representing developers caused them to reverse themselves.

The e-mails and memos  show that industry attorneys Norm Higley and
Brent Anderson contacted the Colorado Department of Health a month after
the department had made its policy change to use updated TCE standards.
Higley, who represents polluters in Colorado Springs and Anderson, who
is a former President and Corporate Counsel for CHEROKEE (the developer
currently in charge of cleaning up GATES RUBBER FACTORY) pressured the
Health Department to renege on their May 23rd policy decision to use
updated TCE standards. The Colorado Department of Health had already
made that policy decision public in a memo to the Colorado Department of
Transportation, The Denver Department of Environmental Health, the
Tri-County Health Department and the EPA.

Not only did the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
withdraw its May, 2003 policy because of Higley's and Anderson's
pressure, the documents attached below further demonstrate that the
Department is working with these attorneys to develop a new policy,
which would apply the updated standards for testing, but NOT REQUIRE
CLEAN-UP UNTIL A LEVEL 100 TIMES WORSE WAS REACHED! (test at .016
levels, don't take action until 1.6 levels!)

Members of a group called Campaign for Responsible Development, a
coalition of environmental, labor, and women's advocacy groups said the
action was: "A textbook case for how money and politics prevail over
science at the Colorado Health Department." [quote by Don Holmstrom,
Denver Area Labor Federation and member of Coalition for Responsible
Development. 303-477-6111 x20.] National experts, like Devra Davis, PhD,
MPh, author of "When Smoke Ran Like Water,"  says the science behind the
updated standards for TCE is solid, and this is just another instance of
how politics is influencing what should solely be a health issue. (You
can contact Dr. Davis at: 202-544-7731 cell 202-487-7731, or by email at
devradavis@comcast.net. A full description of her publications, awards,
appointments, etc. can be viewed at www.whensmokeranlikewater.com.  

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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