[CPEO-MEF] Editorial about dioxane at Tallevast (FL) site

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[The new analyte discussed in this editorial - 1,4, dioxane - is a
common co-contaminant with TCE. There are now commercially available,
competitively priced treatment systems for destroying it along with TCE.
In fact, vendors of such treatment systems are among those reminding
site managers to test for dioxane. - LS]


Just the truth
Level with Tallevast pollution victims

Editorial
Bradenton Herald (FL)
April 20, 2005

"Just when you think it can't get any worse, it gets worse."

That opinion by community leader Wanda Washington sums up the situation
in Tallevast, struggling to deal with an underground pollution crisis of
unknown proportions.

The scale of the pollution plume that is known is frightening enough:
131 acres, more than 21/2 times larger than the previous estimate Feb.
1. The affected area now covers much of the Tallevast community and has
reached into industrial areas to the southeast and northwest. The area
affected by the pollution, emanating from the former American Beryllium
Co. plant in Tallevast, was widened after state Department of
Environmental Protection crews added a test for dioxane to their
well-drilling operation around the plant. Previous tests were only for
trichloroethylene, or TCE, a carcinogenic solvent.

One wonders why it took until now to test for dioxane - or other
possible chemicals. Wouldn't it be cheaper to check all potential
pollutants at once rather than going back to previous drilling sites?
This drip-drip-drip process of discovering and releasing bad news leaves
affected residents uneasy. But it fits a pattern of withholding vital
information until it suits regulators' interest. The very existence of a
pollution threat was withheld from residents for almost four years. It's
no wonder that Washington and members of the community group FOCUS are
suspicious of almost everything they're being told.

...

For the entire editorial, see
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/opinion/11437534.htm

-- 


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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