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The Walt Disney Co. has been sued by several groups of plaintiffs for dumping wastewater and contaminating Polliwog Park and the surrounding area with Chromium 6, TCE, and PCE.

As their attorneys shuffle between four similar lawsuits that allege the Walt Disney Co. has for decades contaminated groundwater with cancer-causing chromium 6 and other toxic chemicals, stories of ill health from the plaintiffs are beginning to emerge.

In the latest lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Sacramento-based firm Kershaw Cutter & Ratinoff LLP on behalf of 16 people with strong ties to the Rancho District, the plaintiffs claim Disney dumped wastewater contaminated with hexavalent chromium from its on-site cooling systems down the centerline of Parkside Avenue, toward Parish Place and across Riverside Drive into the so-called Polliwog, an 11-acre parcel near the studio’s Imagineering facilities.

“The water, without warning, would rush down like a flood,” said resident Bob Bell, who in 1945 paid $25,000 for his home at the corner of Parkside Avenue. “Water hopped the curb and flooded the streets for hours on end.”

The contamination was recently brought to light by Environmental World Watch, a party to one of the lawsuits. EWW claims that Disney has dumped air cooling water and the chemicals into curbside drains every day for the past 21 years.

Plaintiffs are seeking compensation for property damage caused by the contamination. No word yet whether any personal injury claims have been filed.

Recently, the Dayton Daily News (OH) reported the Behr Dayton Thermal Products Plant has been proposed to EPA's National Priority List (NPL) for clean-up:

Groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the Behr Dayton Thermal Products Plant is severe enough to merit putting it on the National Priority List of the U.S. EPA's Superfund program, federal officials said.

The list represents the highest level of urgency for cleanups in the nation.

If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves later this year, an effort to cleanup groundwater at the site would rank among five others in Montgomery County on the National Priority List.

There are 22 active Superfund sites in the county where work is being planned or is under way.

Priority sites are considered the worst in the nation in terms of hazard and are eligible for cleanup using Superfund Trust money. The Behr project is still in the investigational stages, which typically can take two years and cost millions, officials said.

So far, the contamination has led to the closure of McGuffey Elementary School, 1032 Webster St., and the installation of air evacuation systems in 100 homes affected by indoor air fumes from the groundwater, which is tainted with the degreaser trichloroethylene — TCE — and other organic chemicals.

It's unknown when the school will reopen. A handful of homes that have dirt basements still have indoor air contamination slightly above strict exposure levels. In the Superfund program, those responsible for the contamination fund the cleanup.

According to documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News, federal investigators believe four industrial businesses could share responsibility: Gem City Chemicals Inc., Aramark Uniform Services, Chrysler, and Behr Dayton Thermal Products.

Aramark didn't return a call for comment. Gem City declined comment.

In a follow-up article, the Daily News also reports that a survey of local cancer incidence is planned:

Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County is launching a cancer incidence survey among residents near the Behr Dayton Thermal Products plant, where groundwater pollution has prompted regulatory action to address indoor air quality.

Mark Case, director of environmental health for the agency, said Monday, March 10, that the survey could take up to a year and is being conducted with the Ohio Department of Health.

The survey will examine medical records and compare cancer levels in the neighborhood with overall cancer levels in the county, state and nation, he said. "By comparison, you get a sense whether something is out of line or not," Case said.

The Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System will be tapped for data, he noted. All diagnosed cancer cases in Ohio are supposed to be reported to the system. The area will include the census tract of the Behr plant and residential neighborhoods where 100 or so indoor air vapor abatement systems have been installed.

A similar survey was performed in 2005 in Kettering neighborhoods near the former Gentile Air Force Station. Residents of the Wiles Creek neighborhood there complained about pollution from the former Defense Electronics Supply Center. The survey found no abnormalities.

Case acknowledged that a cancer survey could have some limitations.

"We don't know how long the vapors have been in people's homes," he said.

The exact chronology of Behr plant pollution is unclear. Former plant owner Chrysler has said it discovered TCE, or trichloroethylene, contamination in 1996, but it wasn't until Ohio EPA tests in 2006 that hazards to homes were suspected.

Cancer can develop over decades and take the form of many different types of tumors, Case said. In its Ninth Report on Carcinogens, the federal National Toxicology Program determined that TCE is "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." The International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that TCE is "probably carcinogenic to humans," according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

In a related development, a community outreach survey sponsored by the Environmental Sustainability Research Group at the University of Dayton will examine health problems in the area. A public meeting on the survey could occur in April, a spokeswoman said.

After finding cause for concern in previous tests, the St. Louis Park (MN) vapor intrusion investigation expands:

Expanding the search for potentially hazardous vapors in homes and businesses in St. Louis Park, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it will add about 50 properties to its study area on both sides of Hwy. 7 near Wooddale Avenue.

[...]

The main chemicals of concern, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, have been used for decades as industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry-cleaning fluids and seeped into the groundwater under St. Louis Park. Long-term exposure to them at certain levels has been linked to cancer, liver disease and other problems, according to state health officials.

[...]

EPA officials will go door-to-door this Saturday to explain the situation to those living in the expanded study area, and to seek their permission to take air samples. The testing involves drilling a small hole in the basement and inserting a 2-foot probe about the width of a pencil.

The initial study area contained about 270 homes and businesses, and the EPA received permission from owners to test vapors beneath 214 of the buildings. Of that number, 32 homes and eight commercial buildings were found to have enough contamination to justify more testing to check air in different rooms and for longer periods of time.

Read more here.

We wanted to alert readers to a free online tool that allows ordinary folks to create custom Google maps. With it, users can easily plug-in street addresses, lat. and long. coordinates, or can navigate visually to a location by hand, and can add the digital equivalent of push-pins and labels. Though Map Builder is technically still in beta, we've recently used it and fell in love.

After free registration, users can create their very own, custom Google maps without having to know any code. Well, almost - if you want to add a map to your website, you will need to know how and where to copy/paste the code (all generated for you by Map Builder), but that's about all.

We thought this was the perfect tool for activists, community representatives, or anyone who would like to communicate visually about contamination. Whether marking the location of contaminated water wells, plume boundaries, vapor intrusion detects, or disease occurrences, nearly every contaminated community can benefit from a custom map. Plus, we can't tell you how many frustrated web-searchers have ended up at the TCE Blog in search of a contamination map, only to find the particular map they seek does not exist online at all.

We used Map Builder to create the following 2 simple maps as examples:

• 17 EPA-identified contamination sites in Cheshire, CT
• Map of select toxic migration as of 1985 in Cheshire, CT

(For more context on these maps, see this post at The Cheshire Town Post)

Our only negative experience with Map Builder so far is with the map editing interface: It's a little clunky when you start, but once you get used to it, it is a breeze.

Check out Map Builder. And consider making maps! If you do create and post them, please let us know.

Over the weekend, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY) reported extremely high levels of TCE in soil and groundwater in Gates, NY:

After a four-year investigation, the DEC found high levels of trichloroethene (TCE) in soil and groundwater at Buell Automatics, 381 Buell Road. A toxic volatile organic compound used as a solvent in dry cleaning and removal of grease, trichloroethene in large amounts can cause health symptoms similar to those of alcohol intoxication, beginning with headache, dizziness, cardiac arrhythmias and liver and kidney problems.

The tainted groundwater flowed 200 feet southwest, toward the Comfort Inn, 395 Buell Road, the report said. DEC officials performed a vapor intrusion analysis near and around the hotel. The site is not near a residential area.

[...]

DEC officials conducted investigations between March 2002 and September 2006 to evaluate geologic and groundwater conditions on- and off-site. The investigation included sampling and chemical soil analysis from more than 60 soil borings, 19 groundwater wells and indoor air from buildings at three adjacent properties.

The DEC testing showed TCE levels for the soil at 820 parts per million and groundwater at 15 parts per million, both much higher than standard numbers.

Read the full story here.

According to the Star Tribune (MN):

[EPA w]orkers are testing the air inside 40 homes and businesses in St. Louis Park after chemical vapors were discovered in the soil under their basements, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

Those properties were among more than 200 homes and businesses that were checked for potential risk from underground solvent contamination.

[...]

Each of the 40 properties will be visited by a mobile lab, [EPA's "on-scene coordinator, Sonia] Vega said. Technicians are going room to room in the homes, using special hoses to pump air into the lab to see whether the vapors are present in high concentrations. They will also leave 24-hour sampling canisters in each building to test the air in the basement and first-floor levels.

The main chemicals of concern, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, have been used for decades as industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry-cleaning fluids. Long-term exposure to them at certain levels has been linked to cancer, liver problems and other adverse health effects, according to state health officials.

[...]

The properties being tested are on both sides of Hwy. 7 near Wooddale Avenue. By last week, workers had pulled air samples from beneath the basement floors of 184 residences and 29 commercial or industrial buildings.

Vega said the vapors measured beneath the 32 homes and eight commercial buildings ranged from slightly above health guidelines to more than twice what is considered safe. The buildings with the higher vapor concentrations in their soils were clustered, Vega said, but she could not provide more details until the test results are completed and mapped.

Read the full story here. In a previous article, the Star Tribune posted a map of the evaluation area:



See below for the Star Tribune's previous coverage of this story:

• Jan. 28: Solvent fume testing begins in St. Louis Park
• Dec. 14: Testing for vapors has St. Louis Park on edge

Ok, well, not exactly. But we realized our old link to the map is no longer active. And we noticed lots of people arriving here while looking for a map of the plume/contamination area.

For now, this'll have to do. It's a map of the location of the offending IBM facility provided by NYS DEC:



Click the link or the pic for a better version at the source. If we find a better map, we'll update it here.

Chris Francescani of ABC News's tough-sounding Law and Justice Unit reported Thursday on the FUDS clean-up project. FUDS stands for Formerly Used Military Defense Sites:

In 1986, when the Department of Defense established the FUDS program, the Army was charged with going back through all available military records to determine when and where the D.O.D. caused contamination, via unexploded munitions, or chemical contamination through the use of compounds now known to be carcinogens, such as trichloroethylene, known as TCE, which was widely used to degrease fighter jets and missiles during the Cold War.

More than 9,000 sites were identified, according to Addison D. 'Tad' Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for environment, safety and occupational health. He said that at least 2,700 sites around the country have been identified as needing a cleanup...

While much of the article focuses on the impact of unexploded munitions, a portion of it addresses TCE:

Another problem the military faces is detecting chemical contamination. Sites that were tested and rendered safe 20 years ago are being revisited, in light of more advanced scientific information.

[...]

"[I]n the past 10 to 15 years, TCE was found to be a carcinogen, so TCE is now very much a priority,'' [Davis] said.

(Yeah, yeah we know. TCE has been a known poison for decades, but this is not the time to quibble with the man's sense of history. He agrees its remediation is a priority, that's what matters here.)

How did all this happen? So glad you asked:

"How it happened is very simple," said Candice [a.k.a. "Candy"] Walters, a spokeswoman for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which has been tasked by the Department of Defense with surveying and cleaning up the sites.

"Since the American Revolution on forward, the U.S. military has trained it's troops to fights wars. And part of that training is training with live ammunition,'' which, Walters said, included firing ranges, aerial bombing, and even cannon practice.

The military bought, rented or leased thousands of stateside properties over the years, she added.

"At the end of the wars, there wasn't a need to have the [military training] installations anymore, so they closed them down and either gave them back to the property owner, or back to the state or county.

"They did what was environmentally acceptable at the time, which was, they dug a patch and buried them,'' Walters said. "They'd sweep up what they could see on the ground, and collect and dispose of them underground.

"What they tried to do when they gave back the land was to say that, in some cases, there could be unexploded ordnances underground. But much of this was farmland, forests, places where no one ever thought people would ever build a housing project there."

We have been saying for some time that states must follow in New York's and New Jersey's footsteps and re-open old, previously-thought-closed site investigations to account for landscape-changing knowledge (like our evolving understanding of vapor intrusion risk). Nice to see the military at least taking steps in this direction.

Read the full ABC report here. For an interactive map to find the closest FUDS site to your hometown, click here.

There's a decades-old plume of TCE and PCE in Chico, CA that migrated nearly two-miles from its source and has contaminated residents' well water for years:

The Skyway plume was discovered when area residents asked for wells to be tested because they were concerned a nearby tank farm might be leaking petroleum-based contaminants into their groundwater. Instead, unacceptable levels of chlorinated solvents were found and traced back to an operation that manufactured aluminum shower enclosures on Speedway Avenue from 1962 until 1976.

Preliminary tests revealed the contamination extends about two miles from its origin, flowing under Skyway and Cessna avenues and ending along Hegan Avenue near the Chico State University farm. [see map]

Just this week, ABB, the company being "held responsible for clean-up costs," agreed to pay for 63 residential hook-ups to the water system run by California Water Service Company (a.k.a. Cal Water). Meanwhile, the investigation into the overall size of the plume continues.

The East Valley Tribune (AZ) has a link to this helpful map of the affected service area (click the image to enlarge):

The Sarasota Herald Tribune (FL) posted this excellent graphic of the Tallevast clean-up (includes map, geohydrological layers, explanation of pump and treat, and more). Unfortunately, the accompanying news is less excellent:

Cleaning up the majority of the polluted ground water in Tallevast could take 30 years, and getting it all could take a century, Lockheed Martin officials say. But some experts fear that the Tallevast pollution will never be cleaned up completely.

Read more.

Thanks to CPEO for this tip:

Neighbors in Cortlandville found out Tuesday night that the government is going to help them stay safe from a dangerous chemical. Trichloroethene, or TCE, has been in the water table for years in Cortlandville. It was used as a degreaser at the old Smith Corona typewriter factory. The problem went unchecked for years before new regulations were enforced. TCE is associated with nerve, kidney, and liver damage.

TCE vapors have been rising into homes through the soil. At a public meeting Tuesday night, Department of Environmental Conservation showed new test results, showing the contaminated area [see map] hasn't moved much from where it has been for years.

Read the full story here. For more information, see DEC's Former Smith Corona Facility Fact Sheet.

Lastly, for the record, TCE is associated with more than just nerve, kidney, and liver damage. It has been associated with numerous types of cancer and birth defects. It has been associated with immune system changes as well as cardiac and neurological problems. It has plagued exposed communities across the country. See here for all of our posts related to TCE's Health Effects.

(For a larger, readable version of the map, click on it. Then click on it once more) Key to the map:

• Black arrows point to EPA ID'd hazardous waste sites.
  
  
• Green circles represent areas around the sites where toxic plume migration may have occurred and where vapor intrusion may be a concern (Note: Obviously toxins don't spread in perfect circles. This is not intended to portray the exact migration of Cheshire's plumes.)
  
  
• Red numbered circles represent areas where cancer reports rec'd through Cancerincheshire.com appear most greatly concentrated.

The Ithaca Journal (NY) reports:

Cornell University sent the 2005 Annual Report Executive Summary [PDF, 24K] for the Chemical and Radiation Disposal Sites. Highlights for the radiation site include: areal extent of the paradioxane plume was significantly smaller than in 2003; no radionuclides or volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected in groundwater above limits; one surface water sample was positive for paradioxane; and the groundwater recovery system pumped 3.7 million gallons during the year. Highlights for the chemical waste site include: the area of the VOC plume remained stable with trichloroethylene (TCE) detected above 5ug/l in 7of the 21 monitoring wells; low levels of TCE detected in surface water on airport property; and 2.3 million gallons of groundwater pumped from the disposal site and 10.6 million gallons from the plume control system. The Groundwater Treatment Plant processed the nearly 16 million gallons to the discharge limits with the exception of dissolved iron and generated 1.25 tons of spent activated carbon and bag filters.

The former Radiation Disposal Site (RDS) and former Chemical Disposal Site (CDS), located just north of the Tompkins County Airport.


The two former disposal sites are located one-third of a mile apart, just north of Tompkins County Airport. The shaded areas indicate where the groundwater is believed to be contaminated by chemicals migrating from the sites.

This map was published recently in the Sacramento Bee (click picture for slightly larger version):

According to the paper, "The migrating plume of contaminated groundwater found responsible [for] deaths and illnesses in a recently settled case has spread considerably. Aerojet's cleanup efforts, however, have sharply reduced the concentration of pollutants."

We're starting to wonder, what the heck is really going on in Woodbridge/Irvine? Amidst concerns about cancer and other maladies associated with TCE exposure and reports that certain entities/authorities may not be leveling with the locals, Toxnews.org recently tells readers:

ToxNews has received emails from Woodbridge homeowners wanting more info about how a now former resident got out from under his home which was located in the contamination area. When we contacted the man who previously disclosed how he was able to successfully get out from under his Woodbridge house to see if we could release his email address, he said, "Tell homeowners to talk with their bank and advise them their realtor failed to disclose the existence of the contamination prior to the sale."

They have also recently added a new detailed close-up map of the contamination plume/area (click here for a much better version - warning: will take you away from this site):

Note: We've added Toxnews.org to our blogroll (to the right). See their latest news section for regular updates. For readers coming here from Toxnews, welcome. Please let us know if there's anything you need.

Or should we say plumes? The following picture has been made available on the web by the Salina Journal. Click map to enlarge.

The Bradenton Herald (FL) has posted a link to this plume map of the Tallevast contamination (click image to enlarge, or here to download as PDF for better detail):

Through the magic of Google and Photoshop, we have overlayed street labels so you can get a better sense of the location (click image to enlarge):

We've noticed over the past year that many people arrive at this blog while looking for maps of contamination areas and underground plumes within various TCE-contaminated communities. As such, we've added Maps as a topic category (see list of categories in LEFT-hand sidebar).

If you have any plume maps you'd like to make available, know where we can link to current contamination maps, or are looking for a specific map that you can't find, please don't hesitate to let us know.

...is here thanks to the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

From Toxnews.org, which is providing daily updates of the contamination situation that has residents alarmed. Still no word on the prospect of vapor risk.

[Download PDF map]

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will soon begin the clean-up of TCE and PCE contamination beneath the old Oliver's Cleaners building at 300 E. Seventh St.

Update: The Tucson Citizen is also carrying this story and includes a pretty picture of the contamination area:

A recent LA Times story about heavy TCE contamination in Southern California mentioned groundwater contamination in Irvine related to the former El Toro Marine base. We've also mentioned the Irvine TCE contamination in the past.

What we didn't realize was that this plume stretches under a reasonably populated area of Irvine. The map we've seen shows an elementary school, apartments, recreation facilities, and more sitting over the plume. So we wonder: Is the TCE plume a current danger to the population? Has vapor intrusion into buildings been explored and ruled out?

TCE readings (groundwater) from the plume have been as high as 140 ppb to 160 ppb*. The plume stretches approximately three miles and covers a total area of 2900 acres. ATSDR conducted a public health assessment in 1993, eventually declaring "At this time, exposure to carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, TCE, PCE, and nitrates-N detected in regional groundwater through incidental ingestion, dermal absorption, and/or inhalation of volatilized contaminants at current levels detected does not represent a public health hazard."

Fast forward about 13 years, and it appears not everyone is so comfortable with the ATSDR's convenient conclusions. Toxnews.org, a recently launched website focused on the Woodbridge/Irvine contamination, pulls no punches: "You and your family may be in danger because of a cancer causing plume of TCE from the El Toro Base that's under your homes, apartments, schools, etc. now!" Check their site for more information, including maps of the contamination area and what appears to be near daily breaking news. For some additional graphics of the TCE plume, have a look at Dissent the Blog.

As always, we'll try to keep you posted.

* EPA's 2002 Vapor Intrusion Guidance recommends taking action to rule out vapor intrusion when TCE levels in groundwater exceed 5 ppb.

Health officials have previously stated that:

While polluted groundwater has migrated off the hazardous testing facility and beneath surrounding homes, it does not appear to be reaching the homes themselves.

In stark contrast, yesterday's Press Enterprise (CA) reported:

Three homeowners near Wyle Labs who sought their own tests for pollution found indoor contamination in a neighborhood that state regulators earlier dismissed as being of little health concern.

Lawyers representing Wyle-area homeowners in a class-action lawsuit against home builders Western Pacific submitted the tests to Riverside County Superior Court this week in an effort to prove that contamination from the former hazardous testing facility is hurting property values in the Hidden Valley neighborhood south of Wyle.

[...]

Until now, officials with the Department of Toxic Substances Control have been focusing their efforts to track the toxic plume in the neighborhood northwest of Wyle. The latest findings could warrant further testing around homes and schools south of Wyle, residents said.

They conducted three indoor air tests and two outdoor tests — at a total of four sites — along El Paso, near a creek that runs into the neighborhood from Wyle Labs. The tests results showed amounts of the chemical solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE — a solvent used to degrease motor parts — the main pollutant found at and around the Wyle property. Air samples also included more dangerous chemicals that result when TCE breaks down, including vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. The pollutants were found at levels that exceed the state's human health screening levels, said Matt Hagemann, the consultant who oversaw the tests. Contamination that reaches the state's screening level can trigger further scrutiny or cleanup.

Hagemann said the findings are preliminary and should be reviewed by the state.

"Everywhere we tested, we found something," said Tony Lanza, attorney for the Hidden Valley neighbors. "It confirms what we've long suspected, which is that contamination has migrated into the Hidden Valley community, which is something the defendants have denied for years. The homebuyers, many of whom have young families, had a right to know about the contamination at Wyle before they bought their homes."

Here's the latest map of the situation:

See the full story here (free reg req'd)