[CPEO-MEF] TCE in Moffett military housing area

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Mountain View Voice, Friday, November 22, 2002 

TCE found in military homes, but unhealthy levels may be prevalent
outside, too 

By Justin Scheck 

After high levels of TCE were found beneath two military housing sites
adjacent to Moffett Field, environmental advocates called for the Navy
to test air inside houses to see whether gases were migrating from
groundwater into residents' homes. After initially balking at the
request -- and after the Voice published a story about similar
contamination entering homes in areas around the country -- the Navy
agreed to perform the tests. 

But now that the results are in, there are more questions than answers.
Using new data that show TCE to be far more toxic than initially
thought, EPA has lowered the levels of the chemical it says are safe for
people to breathe. And a number of the Moffett housing units have TCE
levels far in excess of this number (one empty condo showed a reading
more than 250 times higher than the safe level for the most at-risk
residents; a playground had TCE gas at 100 times the safe limit). 

But according to EPA toxicologist Stan Smucker, these results don't
necessarily mean that TCE is entering the homes from the ground; more
disturbingly, the concentrations of TCE found in the homes are not that
different from the amount of the chemical found in outdoor air around
the area. 

...

For the entire story, see http://www.mv-voice.com/thisweek/2002_11_22.moffett.html

See also http://www.mv-voice.com/home.html and scroll down to "Chemical
Risks" for related articles in the same issue.

-- 


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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