Out of sight, out of mind: Carcinogenic chemical (TCE) spreads beneath Michigan town

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/tce-plume

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Out of sight, out of mind: Carcinogenic chemical spreads beneath Michigan town[/font]
[font size=3] When state and federal environmental officials visited the tucked-away town of Mancelona, Mich., 15 years ago, their presence surprised local residents. “My heart and most of my life has been spent here in Antrim County,” said Gary Knapp, a long-time resident. “And I knew nothing of its environmental problems.” While removing metal contamination from local groundwater, officials had stumbled upon one of the nation’s largest plumes of an industrial solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE. Drinking-water wells tap into this aquifer, so the state asked the town’s help in preventing the chemical from flowing out of people’s taps. “People were helpless, frustrated and angry,” said Knapp, who was recruited by the state to start a regional water authority. Fifteen years later, the underground plume of the carcinogenic chemical is now six miles long and continues to grow. Over the past decade, new wells have been built and millions of dollars have been spent to ensure the 1,390 residents of Mancelona – known for its deer-hunting contests and bass festivals – aren’t drinking toxic water. But the TCE swirling beneath this remote, low-income town continues to vex state officials and residents as it creeps toward new wells that Knapp and others dug to replace tainted ones. The plume is another industrial scar in Michigan – one that is seemingly not going away. “There’s no silver bullet to take care of this thing,” said Scott Kendzierski, director of environmental health services at the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. “It’s just a monster.” Used in large volumes by an array of industries, TCE is one of the most widespread contaminants in U.S. water supplies. Its use has declined substantially over the past 15 years but widespread contamination remains.

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The plume – now polluting 13 trillion gallons of groundwater – is advancing northwest at a rate of about 300 feet per year. It has reached the Cedar River, which flows to a chain of lakes that wash into Lake Michigan.

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[hunter]

1. I used to work with that crap and other horrible solvents.

They gave us gloves that wouldn't dissolve in it and told us it was harmless. (I already had a latex allergy.)

It was one of the few jobs I've quit.

And I used to be pretty damned tolerant. I didn't quit radioactive iodine assays, or bosses who played "Country-Western" music and counted the Styrofoam peanuts we used...

[gtar100]

2. Reminds me that the whole key to selling fracking is "out of sight, out of mind".

That and making sure it's done in somebody else’s backyard.

[PuffedMica]

3. Chemical pollution is one of the hidden causes for American jobs going to China

From the article it says:

Workers dumped it near the building when they were done with it, according to officials with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Then our Government stepped in and put a stop to such practices. Rather than clean up their operations, industry just moved to China where they could continue to dump chemicals out behind the factory and skip the cost of pollution control.

We should not accept any product from overseas that is not manufactured to our environmental standards. It is a crime for Americans to buy cheap consumer goods where the by products are poisoning the Earth. After all, it may be in China, but it is on the same planet where we live too.