[CPEO-BIF] North Carolina dry cleaning sites

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Monday map time: Find a contaminated dry cleaning site near you

By Lisa Sorg 
Progressive Pulse (NC)
September 26, 2016

There is nothing “dry” about dry cleaning, and little that’s clean about it, either. Statewide, an estimated 1,500 dry cleaners – both operating and defunct  –  have potentially contaminated the water, dirt and/or air with toxic solvents.

PERC, or perchloroethylene [1], is the solvent most widely used at dry cleaners. Your clothes are essentially bathed in it. (You’ll never look at those velvet pants the  same way again.)

The Environmental Protection Agency classifies PERC as a likely carcinogen [2], and it can damage the brain and nervous system.  (Isn’t taffeta looking less attractive by the minute?)

PERC can leak and spill from dry cleaning containers, or in less savory circumstances, be intentionally dumped. Whatever the cause, the effect is contaminated indoor air, dirt and groundwater, the latter of which can trespass well beyond the original property.

...

For the entire article, see
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2016/09/26/monday-map-time-find-a-contaminated-dry-cleaning-site-near-you/print/

--

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/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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