From: | Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> |
Date: | Tue, 11 Jul 2017 18:04:38 -0700 (PDT) |
Reply: | cpeo-brownfields |
Subject: | [CPEO-BIF] "Superfund sites and the vestige of the Silicon Valley manufacturing era" |
IN PLAIN SITE Superfund sites and the vestige of the Silicon Valley manufacturing era SILICON VALLEY AND SUPERFUND SITES Silicon Valley got its name from the manufacturing era that began in the early 1960s and lasted into the 1980s, when factories located in Santa Clara County produced microchips and semiconductors with extensive use of acids and solvents such as Trychorethylene (TCE). After being used, these chemicals were stored in underground tanks. In the early '80s, high rates of cancer and birth defects were detected in Silicon Valley and studies linked these to the chemicals leaking from many of the underground tanks, which had contaminated the soil and the ground water. Of the 96 sites inspected at the time 75 presented leaks. In 1980 the U.S. Congress created the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a new program managed by the Environmental Protection Agency, charged with identifying and cleaning up highly toxic sites, or Superfunds, across the Country. When clean up began in Silicon Valley, 29 Superfund sites were identified, based on the Hazard Ranking System and placed on the National Priority List (NPL) of Superfund Sites. The Superfund clean up that started in the '80s included removal of the underground tanks and contaminated soil. Treatment of the ground water also began and continues on many sites to this day. As sites have been deemed clean they are removed from the NPL and no longer considered Superfund sites. … For Federica Armstrong’s photographic essay, the entire introduction, and audio interviews, see https://www.inplainsite.net -- Lenny Siegel Executive Director Center for Public Environmental Oversight a project of the Pacific Studies Center P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042 Voice/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 | |
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