Buried drums toxic threat

[Joanne98]

Subdivision, Warren County water source nearby
BY JESSICA BROWN | [e-mail]
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/NEWS01/312270023/-1/CINCI


HAMILTON TWP. – An emergency $1 million hazardous waste cleanup is under way here next to a new senior-living subdivision, the Little Miami bike path and the drinking water source of more than 40,000 Warren County residents.

On a secluded spot of wooded, vacant land overlooking the Little Miami River, environmental cleanup crews hired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are working with air-toxin monitors mounted in the cabs of their backhoes. They’re digging into a hill overlooking the river to remove more than 1,300 drums of paint and solvent buried there at least 20 years ago.

Their goal: Remove the barrels before their toxic contents seep into Warren County’s drinking water.


So far, it hasn’t, officials say.

But since October, the EPA has spent about $500,000 and still has hundreds of barrels yet to remove. The partially filled 55-gallon drums were buried there, state officials say, by a now-defunct Sharonville metal manufacturing company. The cleanup is about 60 percent complete and is expected to cost $1 million before it concludes in February.

The contamination includes trichloroethylene, a metal-cleaning solvent that when found in high-enough doses in drinking water could cause nervous system damage, liver and lung damage, and irregular heartbeats. Some studies say long-term exposure could cause cancer. Soil tests also document elevated levels of chromium, lead, toluene and xylene in the paint waste – all of which can be harmful to human health.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/NEWS01/312270023/-1/CINCI

I think this is a red district. I wonder if their willing to vote Dem in 2008 over this.

[flyarm]

1. CALL * ..CALL CHENEY...WE FINALLY FOUND WMD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! N/T

[Joanne98]

2. LOL

[KT2000]

5. That is great!

And that is what needs to be on signs surrounding toxic waste sites and dumping grounds.

[BeatleBoot]

3. What Was The Name of The Metal Manufacturing Company?

[Joanne98]

4. I don't know they didn't say...

I tried to look it up but I couldn't find it. Sorry.

[Ezlivin]

6. It's easy running a business when you can pollute like hell then just leave

After all, it's easier asking for forgiveness than asking for permission.

If businesses had to bear the true cost of environmental impact many of them would immediately go bankrupt.

What other environmental time bombs have been left behind by corporations?

[eppur_se_muova]

7. TCE ... this was the solvent involved in the case described in "A Civil Action".

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts19.html

HIGHLIGHTS: Trichloroethylene is a colorless liquid which is used as a solvent for cleaning metal parts. Drinking or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may cause nervous system effects, liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and possibly death. Trichloroethylene has been found in at least 852 of the 1,430 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).