[CPEO-BIF] CTS still trying to remove Asheville, North Carolina site from NPL

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Investigative Report: CTS Update

WLOS TV-13 News (Asheville, NC)
February 3, 2014

The cleanup of a toxic superfund site in South Asheville may be in  
jeopardy. CTS Corporation is challenging the USEPA in Federal court,  
hoping to get the site taken off the National Priorities list. EPA  
officials say if CTS wins this case then the state will be in charge  
of the Asheville site but the state already has a backlog of toxic  
sites and a limited budget. That means any sort of cleanup at the CTS  
site could either take many more years to complete, or there may be  
no cleanup at all.

For nearly three decades, CTS in Asheville used toxic chemicals like  
TCE to degrease electrical components they manufactured. Since  
closing the plant in 1986, high levels of TCE have been found in the  
soil and drinking water of nearby residents. Dot Rice lives right  
next door to the CTS site and says, "My family's been sick and we're  
reminded of it every day."

In 2012, after five attempts, the EPA placed the CTS site on the  
National Priorities List - or NPL. The NPL is designed to fast track  
the cleanup of sites that pose an "imminent endangerment" to people  
and the environment and it allows the EPA to force the contaminator  
to pay for a cleanup. In 2004, the EPA listed CTS as a “Potentially  
Responsible Party” but not even three months after the site was  
placed on the NPL in 2012, CTS filed an appeal in federal court,  
demanding the site be removed from the NPL.

...

For the entire story, see
http://www.wlos.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/ 
wlos_investigative-report-cts-update-14980.shtml

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org