[CPEO-BIF] New York's 421 sites

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[This article serves as a reminder that the discussion on this list
about vapor intrusion responsibility is not merely a theoretical
discussion. How New York resolves the debate will impact the health
and/or economic situation of a lot of people. - LS]

IN A SEEP OF TROUBLE 

By SAM SMITH 
New York Post
February 13, 2005

In a stunning miscalculation, 421 contaminated sites across the state -
including 14 in the city - designated safe by environmental officials
are now feared to be leaching deadly chemicals into schools, homes and
other buildings nearby. 

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is now launching a
mammoth effort to retest the sites, re-clean them if necessary, and
inform residents if toxins have breached their homes and schools. 

The faulty calculations, which originated at the federal level, led
state officials to believe it was more difficult for chemical vapors to
move through soil and into buildings than it actually is. 

"The models applied in the past under-predicted the potential that
[toxins] could emerge and get into indoor spaces," said DEC Commissioner
for Air and Waste Management Carl Johnson. 

In addition, new toxicity information has shown two chemicals -
trichloroethene, or TCE, and tetrachloroethene, or PERC - were more
dangerous than previously thought. 

This means that for thousands of people around the state, their risk of
everything from respiratory ailments to cancer has just become more
extreme. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/39855.htm


-- 


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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