[CPEO-BIF] Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Superfund site

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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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