Re: [CPEO-MEF] Microbe Can Eat Toxic Waste Underground

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

The following response was posted by Louis B. Fournier
<starcompany@erols.com>
________________________________________________________________

RE:  Article:  "Microbe can eat toxic waste underground" by Chris Kahn,
AP, July 2, 2003

I'm not sure why this particular article was placed on the CPEO
list-server unless it was to demonstrate how technically far behind and
uninformed the writer for the AP is.  In situ bioremediation is the most
widely-utilized soil and groundwater remediation technology in the world
today and thousands of technical articles and case histories have been
published.
Vinyl chloride is one of the easiest contaminants to degrade/clean-up
and is routinely done so under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

The paragraph:  "Other microbes that eat toxic waste have been
discovered over the years and are used in some limited fashion to clean
up contaminated sites.  However, this is the first one found that
thrives on vinyl chloride underground." is completely wrong on several
counts.

Is the purpose of this article to attempt to portray that remediation
technology has not existed and is just now being discovered?  If so, it
is doing a lie, a distortion, and a dis-service to CPEO readers, AP
readers, and the general public.

Louis B. Fournier, Ph.D.
STAR Environmental, Inc.
10 Wilmington-West Chester Pike
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
Phone:  610-558-2121
Web:  http://www.angelfire.com/biz/horizontalwells

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~