Migration of contamination from the sources in OU 2 into Salt Fork Creek is the primary concern. Although each of these sources potentially contaminates the creek via runoff and drainage ditches, the migration of contamination from Landfills 1 and 2 is the most critical threat for four reasons: (1) Salt Fork Creek runs directly between the two landfills, (2) the ground water table (Wisconsinan till) in some areas of the landfills is as shallow as 1 foot below ground surface, (3) ground water in the Wisconsinan till flows into Salt Fork Creek, and (4) leachate has been observed seeping from the banks of Salt Fork Creek near Landfills 1 and 2. Sample analytical results also indicate migration of hazardous substances from Landfills 1 and 2 into Salt Fork Creek. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) collected sediment samples along Salt Fork Creek and analyzed the samples for semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC) and metals. A sediment sample collected directly downstream of Landfills 1 and 2 contained bis(2 ethylhexyl)phthalate, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and lead concentrations at elevated levels. During excavation of test pits in Landfills 1 and 2, volatile organic compounds, SVOCs, dioxins and furans, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, and metals were detected in the soil and/or groundwater/leachate in Landfills 1 and 2. Only PAHs and lead were detected in sediment samples of Salt Fork Creek at elevated levels and in the soil and groundwater/leachate samples in Landfills 1 and 2. A sediment sample, collected by IEPA directly upstream of OU 2, did not contain lead at elevated levels or PAHs; therefore, Landfills 1 and 2 are considered to be sources of PAH and lead contamination in Salt Fork Creek.Contamination of Salt Fork Creek is of primary concern, because fishing activities have been documented in the creek between Landfills 1 and 2. In addition, wetlands are present along approximately one mile of Salt Fork Creek; these wetlands lie within 15 miles of Landfills 1 and 2. ********************************************************************************
**********************************************************Pentagon blocks EPA; Deadly solvent still threatens millionshttp://www.storiesthatmatter.org/index.php...15&Itemid=1 LA Times: Pentagon blocks EPA; Deadly solvent still threatens millions Written by Mike Magner Wednesday, 29 March 2006
The Pentagon and the EPA are locked in a multi-billion-dollar struggle unseen by the public until today over the danger to millions of Americans posed by a deadly carcinogen called TCE that saturated the country during decades when it was thought benign.
Most Americans knew little about TCE or the war within the United States government over how to deal with it, even though it’s the most common water contaminant and one of the most insidious air pollutants in the nation. That started to change today when the Los Angeles Times exposed the high-stakes conflict raging since 2001, when the EPA declared in a little-noticed draft study that TCE is far more poisonous than previously believed. [update: Two stories, one on victims of TCE, and one on TCE problems in California, ran on March 30th, 2006.]
The stories beginning today by Times reporter Ralph Vartabedian were developed from information initially provided by the Natural Resources News Service. The stories set the stage for a broader national debate on how much cleanup is needed at thousands of military and industrial sites contaminated with TCE.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, first entered the lexicon in the 1990s through the book and movie “A Civil Action,” about a Massachusetts town poisoned by illegal dumping of the chemical. W.R. Grace, owner of a manufacturing plant where the TCE was discovered, eventually settled a lawsuit filed by leukemia victims for $8 million, but the company admitted no wrongdoing.
TCE has been used since the 1920s as a cleaning solvent and degreaser, especially for industrial equipment and aircraft parts. On military bases, it has been used to hose down planes, tanks, trucks and other machinery, often draining off into streams or groundwater.
Today there are thousands of sites, including about 1,400 in the Department of Defense, with soils or water contaminated by TCE. And many locations, especially those with porous ground that allows vapors to seep upward, have small but steady levels of TCE in the air, particularly inside buildings.
In the ‘70s TCE was determined to be a possible carcinogen and in 1989 the EPA set a drinking water limit of 5 parts per billion. Studies continued, and in 2001 the EPA issued a draft assessment saying TCE is highly toxic in both air and water, with effects ranging from dizziness, headaches, numbness and weakness to birth defects, developmental problems, leukemia and other types of cancer.
Experts interpreted the EPA report to mean EPA would have to tighten its drinking water limit to 1 ppb – adding billions of dollars to cleanup liability – and that even aquifers not used for drinking water may need remediation if they release TCE vapors, which would add more billions to future costs.
Industries and the Department of Defense howled, saying EPA scientists made unfounded assumptions and speculative estimates in assessing TCE’s risks. Consultants were paid millions of dollars to dissect the EPA report and develop their own studies questioning the links between TCE and various illnesses.
Confronted with competing scientific claims, a White House task force with representatives from EPA, DOD and other federal agencies decided to ask the National Academy of Sciences to referee the dispute. A committee of experts appointed by the Academy has been analyzing the EPA report and other TCE studies since September 2004, and is expected to issue a report this spring.
The stakes are high. The DOD says it expects to spend about $5 billion just to meet the old drinking water standard of 5 ppb at its sites contaminated with TCE. Those costs would double if the standard is tightened to 1 ppb, and untold billions more would be needed if all sites must be cleaned up to eliminate TCE vapors that filter up into homes, the DOD says.
On the other side of the equation are thousands of people who believe their families have been poisoned by TCE from military and industrial sites. Until the toxicity debate is settled, their claims are very difficult to prove.
Vartabedian’s story today documents how a largely Latino neighborhood near the now-closed Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio is kept in legal limbo, with a lawsuit claiming the DOD is responsible for their health and property damages undermined by the lack of a clear statement of TCE risks from EPA.
Until today, one of the best known examples of TCE contamination was Marine base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where water supplies were contaminated with TCE for decades. Marines stationed there during the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, many who have lost family members to birth defects or cancer, say their wives and children were exposed. These problems were documented in a Washington Post story by Manuel Roig-Franzia and Catherine Skipp on January 28, 2004.
One of the unfortunate results of the current disagreements between EPA and DOD is that these mostly retired Marines are left to wonder whether past cases of birth defects or leukemia in their families were caused by the exposure.
And at hundreds of other military sites, both active and closed, that are known to be contaminated with TCE, nearby residents can only wait for scientists and bureaucrats to reach agreement before they can assess the safety of their homes and neighborhoods.
(If you’re interested in the debate on TCE, you would also want to read a December 29, 2005 story developed by Natural Resources News Service for the Wall Street Journal’s Peter Waldman on DOD’s challenging EPA’s risk assessment for perchlorate, a toxic ingredient of rocket fuel. A link will be provided shortly.)
Among the worst DOD problems with TCE, based on government records and media reports compiled by the Natural Resources News Service, are:
ALABAMA
Anniston Army Depot (active) - A stream contaminated with TCE is now being cleaned up by the Army and the city.
Williams Gateway (closed) - Air Force scrapped cleanup because cancer risk is estimated at more than 1 in 10,000, but EPA says TCE levels are rising.
Camp Pendleton (active) - Added to Superfund list in 1989; some TCE-contaminated soils were removed in ‘90s, but studies of other contaminated areas continue.
March Air Reserve Base (active) - Added to Superfund in 1989; cleanup is ongoing, but not expected to be completed until 2021.
Edwards AFB (active) - High levels of TCE found in parts of aquifer; Air Force testing a biological cleanup process that uses dried whey.
Vandenberg AFB (active) - System to treat both TCE and perchlorate installed in 2003.
Travis AFB (active) - Superfund site in 1989; groundwater treatment is ongoing.
Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base (active) - Groundwater contaminated, but much of cleanup complete.
El Toro Marine Air Station (closed) - Land sold to developer last year and cleanup is under way.
Mountain View Naval Air Station (closed) - Former Navy base now used by NASA and a number of neighboring Silicon Valley plants have contaminated groundwater with TCE and state has done vapor testing that found some problems.
Ford Ord (closed) - TCE in shallow aquifer is migrating toward homes, posing a possible vapor threat, but DOD says clay barrier will keep it out of drinking water.
McClellan AFB (closed) - 160 different contaminated sites, many with TCE.
San Bernadino Engineering Depot (closed) - Army agreed last year to pay $75 million to clean up contaminated aquifer.
Tustin Marine Corps Air Station (closed) - School district that acquired former AF property from city says it was unloaded without cleanup, threatening minority students.
Castle AFB (closed) - GAO said in January that $150 million was needed to cleanup underground contamination spread over 2,777 acres.
Norton AFB (closed) - TCE found in base wells near San Bernardino.
George AFB (closed) - Most cleaned up in the ‘90s, but still some remaining issues.
Mather AFB (closed) - Several dozen homes affected.
Groton Naval Submarine Based (active) - On latest list for closure, but state says the site is a toxic wasteland and that the Navy is trying to avoid full cleanup.
Stratford Army Engine Plant (closed) - Site considered key to city’s economic revival, but most buildings are permeated with TCE vapors.
Lowry AFB (closed) - An $82 million cleanup is under way, but local redevelopment authority wants to take control from AF because of continuing disputes over funding. Plans call for mix of businesses and 4,500 homes by 2009, but some existing neighborhoods have been concerned about TCE vapors.
Air Force Plant PJKS (closed) - Former missile site contaminated a creek in the ‘80s.
Dover AFB (active) - TCE spills cleaned up in ‘90s with innovative bioremediation.
Robins AFB (active) - Base groundwater contaminated.
Chanute AFB (closed) - Soil vapors discovered last year.
Sunflower Army Depot (closed) - Once eyed by the Shawnee, then considered as site for a Wizard of Oz theme park, now being evaluated by developers selected by the county, but Army has still not cleaned up the site.
Schilling AFB (closed) - Now the site of a municipal airport in Salina, Kan. A consulting firm recently concluded that the Army Corps overestimated how long it would take TCE to reach the city’s water supply. The Corps had estimated 75 years, but the new study says it could be only eight years.
Aberdeen Proving Grounds (active) - TCE found in two wells in 1991.
Massachusetts Military Reservation (active) - Cleanup of TCE plume at Cape Cod facility is under way, but months behind schedule.
Otis Air National Guard (active) - On latest closure list; part of Massachusetts Military Reservation (above).
South Weymouth Naval Air Station (closed) - Navy has been trying to shift cleanup responsibility to new developer.
Needham (closed) - Former Nike missile site.
Twin Cities Ammo Dump (closed) - Arden Hills, near Minneapolis, hopes to buy 455 acres of the site for development, but EPA and state say vapor intrusion may be a problem. The DOD says it’s a non-issue because the development would be non-residential.
Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant (closed) - EPA says Army is failing to meet cleanup standards.
Fallon Naval Air Station (active) - Cancer cluster found in ‘97, but cause is undetermined.
NEW JERSEY
Thomas W. Trefts Director of The Unified Veterans Coalition
[*]Trenton BOMARC site (closed) - Plume discovered 17 years ago is now moving off old missile site.
NORTH CAROLINA
[*]Camp Lejeune (active) - TCE contaminated the base’s drinking water from at least the ‘60s until 1985, and an agency in the Centers for Disease Control has found more than 100 cases of childhood leukemia and birth defects in families who lived at the base in that time period. Investigation continues and many ex-Marines have filed damage claims with the military court.
OHIO
[*]Wright-Patterson AFB (active) - Base wells closed.
[*]Marion Army Depot (closed) - A new high school and middle school were opened last year after a nurse eight years ago discovered more than a dozen cancer cases among recent graduates. Cleanup of the old site is nearing completion.
OKLAHOMA
[*]Tinker AFB (active) - Some base wells closed.
PENNSYLVANIA
[*]Letterkenny Army Depot (active) - A Superfund site now under redevelopment, but cleanup incomplete.
SOUTH CAROLINA
[*]Shaw AFB (active) - TCE was discovered in groundwater in 1989, and is about half cleaned up, but new homes near the base are finding their wells are contaminated.
SOUTH DAKOTA
[*]Ellsworth AFB (active) - On latest closure list, but $60 million cleanup is incomplete.
TENNESSEE
[*]Arnold AFB (active) - Class action suit seeking $2.5 billion filed in 2000 but later dismissed without prejudice because it didn’t meet certain requirements under Superfund law. AF now suing Coffee County for landfill cleanup.
TEXAS
[*]Kelly AFB (closed) - Residents near base in San Antonio have sued for property damages from TCE in shallow aquifer, but attorneys say health claims will be hard to make until EPA decides toxicity.
UTAH
[*]Hill AFB (active) - State has tested hundreds of nearby homes for vapors, and is wrapping up a cancer study.
WASHINGTON
[*]Fairchild AFB (active) - Shallow aquifer with TCE.
[*]Fort Lewis (active) - TCE below logistics center.
[*]Larson AFB (closed) - City of Moses Lake suing DOD for AF contamination from ’42 to ’66.
WISCONSIN
[*]Badger Army Ammunition Plant (active) - Army acknowledges that families drank TCE-contaminated water for 15 years at levels 15 times safe limit.
WYOMING
[*]Warren AFB (active) - 13 old Atlas missile sites contaminated with TCE. Cheyenne bought a 17,000-acre ranch from AF for $5.9 million in 2003 to supplement city water supplies, and is now dealing with cleanup issues.
Question
allan
Hello Tanya, I used to have the pdf files for EPA / Jet Fuel Dumping, Contamination at Chanute. Here's some quick links I found you might explore. http://www.stormingmedia.us/72/7238/A723862.html http://www.safie.hq.af.mil/shared/media/do...-080211-020.pdf http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/land...0024157#threats http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/superfund/...nual-report.pdf http://www.epa.gov/region5superfund/npl/il...L1570024157.htm
Threats and Contaminants
Migration of contamination from the sources in OU 2 into Salt Fork Creek is the primary concern. Although each of these sources potentially contaminates the creek via runoff and drainage ditches, the migration of contamination from Landfills 1 and 2 is the most critical threat for four reasons: (1) Salt Fork Creek runs directly between the two landfills, (2) the ground water table (Wisconsinan till) in some areas of the landfills is as shallow as 1 foot below ground surface, (3) ground water in the Wisconsinan till flows into Salt Fork Creek, and (4) leachate has been observed seeping from the banks of Salt Fork Creek near Landfills 1 and 2. Sample analytical results also indicate migration of hazardous substances from Landfills 1 and 2 into Salt Fork Creek. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) collected sediment samples along Salt Fork Creek and analyzed the samples for semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC) and metals. A sediment sample collected directly downstream of Landfills 1 and 2 contained bis(2 ethylhexyl)phthalate, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and lead concentrations at elevated levels. During excavation of test pits in Landfills 1 and 2, volatile organic compounds, SVOCs, dioxins and furans, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, and metals were detected in the soil and/or groundwater/leachate in Landfills 1 and 2. Only PAHs and lead were detected in sediment samples of Salt Fork Creek at elevated levels and in the soil and groundwater/leachate samples in Landfills 1 and 2. A sediment sample, collected by IEPA directly upstream of OU 2, did not contain lead at elevated levels or PAHs; therefore, Landfills 1 and 2 are considered to be sources of PAH and lead contamination in Salt Fork Creek.Contamination of Salt Fork Creek is of primary concern, because fishing activities have been documented in the creek between Landfills 1 and 2. In addition, wetlands are present along approximately one mile of Salt Fork Creek; these wetlands lie within 15 miles of Landfills 1 and 2. ********************************************************************************
**********************************************************Pentagon blocks EPA; Deadly solvent still threatens millions http://www.storiesthatmatter.org/index.php...15&Itemid=1 LA Times: Pentagon blocks EPA; Deadly solvent still threatens millions
Written by Mike Magner Wednesday, 29 March 2006
The Pentagon and the EPA are locked in a multi-billion-dollar struggle unseen by the public until today over the danger to millions of Americans posed by a deadly carcinogen called TCE that saturated the country during decades when it was thought benign.
Most Americans knew little about TCE or the war within the United States government over how to deal with it, even though it’s the most common water contaminant and one of the most insidious air pollutants in the nation. That started to change today when the Los Angeles Times exposed the high-stakes conflict raging since 2001, when the EPA declared in a little-noticed draft study that TCE is far more poisonous than previously believed. [update: Two stories, one on victims of TCE, and one on TCE problems in California, ran on March 30th, 2006.]
The stories beginning today by Times reporter Ralph Vartabedian were developed from information initially provided by the Natural Resources News Service. The stories set the stage for a broader national debate on how much cleanup is needed at thousands of military and industrial sites contaminated with TCE.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, first entered the lexicon in the 1990s through the book and movie “A Civil Action,” about a Massachusetts town poisoned by illegal dumping of the chemical. W.R. Grace, owner of a manufacturing plant where the TCE was discovered, eventually settled a lawsuit filed by leukemia victims for $8 million, but the company admitted no wrongdoing.
TCE has been used since the 1920s as a cleaning solvent and degreaser, especially for industrial equipment and aircraft parts. On military bases, it has been used to hose down planes, tanks, trucks and other machinery, often draining off into streams or groundwater.
Today there are thousands of sites, including about 1,400 in the Department of Defense, with soils or water contaminated by TCE. And many locations, especially those with porous ground that allows vapors to seep upward, have small but steady levels of TCE in the air, particularly inside buildings.
In the ‘70s TCE was determined to be a possible carcinogen and in 1989 the EPA set a drinking water limit of 5 parts per billion. Studies continued, and in 2001 the EPA issued a draft assessment saying TCE is highly toxic in both air and water, with effects ranging from dizziness, headaches, numbness and weakness to birth defects, developmental problems, leukemia and other types of cancer.
Experts interpreted the EPA report to mean EPA would have to tighten its drinking water limit to 1 ppb – adding billions of dollars to cleanup liability – and that even aquifers not used for drinking water may need remediation if they release TCE vapors, which would add more billions to future costs.
Industries and the Department of Defense howled, saying EPA scientists made unfounded assumptions and speculative estimates in assessing TCE’s risks. Consultants were paid millions of dollars to dissect the EPA report and develop their own studies questioning the links between TCE and various illnesses.
Confronted with competing scientific claims, a White House task force with representatives from EPA, DOD and other federal agencies decided to ask the National Academy of Sciences to referee the dispute. A committee of experts appointed by the Academy has been analyzing the EPA report and other TCE studies since September 2004, and is expected to issue a report this spring.
The stakes are high. The DOD says it expects to spend about $5 billion just to meet the old drinking water standard of 5 ppb at its sites contaminated with TCE. Those costs would double if the standard is tightened to 1 ppb, and untold billions more would be needed if all sites must be cleaned up to eliminate TCE vapors that filter up into homes, the DOD says.
On the other side of the equation are thousands of people who believe their families have been poisoned by TCE from military and industrial sites. Until the toxicity debate is settled, their claims are very difficult to prove.
Vartabedian’s story today documents how a largely Latino neighborhood near the now-closed Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio is kept in legal limbo, with a lawsuit claiming the DOD is responsible for their health and property damages undermined by the lack of a clear statement of TCE risks from EPA.
Until today, one of the best known examples of TCE contamination was Marine base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where water supplies were contaminated with TCE for decades. Marines stationed there during the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, many who have lost family members to birth defects or cancer, say their wives and children were exposed. These problems were documented in a Washington Post story by Manuel Roig-Franzia and Catherine Skipp on January 28, 2004.
One of the unfortunate results of the current disagreements between EPA and DOD is that these mostly retired Marines are left to wonder whether past cases of birth defects or leukemia in their families were caused by the exposure.
And at hundreds of other military sites, both active and closed, that are known to be contaminated with TCE, nearby residents can only wait for scientists and bureaucrats to reach agreement before they can assess the safety of their homes and neighborhoods.
(If you’re interested in the debate on TCE, you would also want to read a December 29, 2005 story developed by Natural Resources News Service for the Wall Street Journal’s Peter Waldman on DOD’s challenging EPA’s risk assessment for perchlorate, a toxic ingredient of rocket fuel. A link will be provided shortly.)
Among the worst DOD problems with TCE, based on government records and media reports compiled by the Natural Resources News Service, are:
ALABAMA
NEW JERSEY
Thomas W. Trefts Director of The Unified Veterans Coalition
http://xsorbit27.com/users5/unifiedveteran...ition/index.php
[*]Trenton BOMARC site (closed) - Plume discovered 17 years ago is now moving off old missile site.
NORTH CAROLINA
[*]Camp Lejeune (active) - TCE contaminated the base’s drinking water from at least the ‘60s until 1985, and an agency in the Centers for Disease Control has found more than 100 cases of childhood leukemia and birth defects in families who lived at the base in that time period. Investigation continues and many ex-Marines have filed damage claims with the military court.
OHIO
[*]Wright-Patterson AFB (active) - Base wells closed.
[*]Marion Army Depot (closed) - A new high school and middle school were opened last year after a nurse eight years ago discovered more than a dozen cancer cases among recent graduates. Cleanup of the old site is nearing completion.
OKLAHOMA
[*]Tinker AFB (active) - Some base wells closed.
PENNSYLVANIA
[*]Letterkenny Army Depot (active) - A Superfund site now under redevelopment, but cleanup incomplete.
SOUTH CAROLINA
[*]Shaw AFB (active) - TCE was discovered in groundwater in 1989, and is about half cleaned up, but new homes near the base are finding their wells are contaminated.
SOUTH DAKOTA
[*]Ellsworth AFB (active) - On latest closure list, but $60 million cleanup is incomplete.
TENNESSEE
[*]Arnold AFB (active) - Class action suit seeking $2.5 billion filed in 2000 but later dismissed without prejudice because it didn’t meet certain requirements under Superfund law. AF now suing Coffee County for landfill cleanup.
TEXAS
[*]Kelly AFB (closed) - Residents near base in San Antonio have sued for property damages from TCE in shallow aquifer, but attorneys say health claims will be hard to make until EPA decides toxicity.
UTAH
[*]Hill AFB (active) - State has tested hundreds of nearby homes for vapors, and is wrapping up a cancer study.
WASHINGTON
[*]Fairchild AFB (active) - Shallow aquifer with TCE.
[*]Fort Lewis (active) - TCE below logistics center.
[*]Larson AFB (closed) - City of Moses Lake suing DOD for AF contamination from ’42 to ’66.
WISCONSIN
[*]Badger Army Ammunition Plant (active) - Army acknowledges that families drank TCE-contaminated water for 15 years at levels 15 times safe limit.
WYOMING
[*]Warren AFB (active) - 13 old Atlas missile sites contaminated with TCE. Cheyenne bought a 17,000-acre ranch from AF for $5.9 million in 2003 to supplement city water supplies, and is now dealing with cleanup issues.
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