2005 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 25 Feb 2005 02:42:17 -0000
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Superfund site
 
Occidental shutdown scares residents' group
The Alliance for a Clean Environment says the EPA has not moved the cleanup fast enough.


By Bonnie L. Cook
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
February 24, 2005

With the shuttering of Occidental Chemical Corp.'s plant in Lower Pottsgrove weeks away, some residents and workers disagree with federal agents on how tainted the Superfund site still is and how to secure it for the future.

The 260-acre property, bounded on three sides by the Schuylkill, has been under oversight by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the cleanup of dangerous chemical contaminants since 1989.

But a Stowe-based citizens' group, the Alliance for a Clean Environment (ACE), says that the EPA hasn't moved fast enough and that residents will be without recourse once the company leaves April 30.

The agency has not provided "the aggressive oversight and enforcement it needs to get this site cleaned up effectively," ACE consultant Henry S. Cole said.

The EPA insists that it has moved quickly to carry out its legal mandate and that cleanup measures in place are working. "I can understand people's frustration, and I know they're wondering why this is going on still," said Wendy M. Jastremski, EPA community coordinator. "No one has ignored this situation - it's just a long process."

When OxyChem closes down, Miller Springs Remediation Management Inc., a Lexington, Ky.-based environmental subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., will assume responsibility for the cleanup.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/10975463.htm?1c

--
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
http://www.cpeo.org


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