By John Henderer,The Chronicle, 1/27/99
Chemicals buried at property formerly owned by S.C. Breen Construction Inc., Chehalis, are responsible for the highest levels of one kind of groundwater contamination ever found in the state, according to the state Department of Ecology.
During a weekend in the early 1980s, a variety of "unmarketable" chemicals in 55 gallon drums and other containers "disappeared" at Breen's property at the same time that someone excavated a large pit and covered it, said David Jansen, Ecology Toxics Cleanup Program manager, in a Jan. 20 letter to Virginia Breen, president of Breen Construction.
State officials plan to send a family that lives near the contamination to a Seattle hospital for testing because members have been experiencing health reactions.
The alleged dump site now sits under a Bulldog Trailer Manufacturing building at 151 Labree Road, south of Chehalis.
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Labree Road
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The same day, the same problem, a different site:
Centralia approves early work to remove contaminated water By James Geluso, The Chronicle, 1/27/99 The Centralia City Council Tuesday approved a contract for preliminary engineering work on a project to remove contaminated groundwater from the Fords Prairie area. The contract was for $92,277, but the cost of the project will eventually include $1.31 million for Centralia, said Utilities Director Dick Southworth. That money will be used to build a groundwater treatment facility. The state is picking up 75 percent of the $5.25 million project's cost. The project is needed to remove perchloro-ethylene, which was deposited in the groundwater by a dry cleaner in the Trailer Village area years ago, Southworth said. The contract approved Monday calls for analysis of engineering alternatives to be done by Economic and Engineering Services Inc., who also did the hydrogeologic analysis. Construction of the treatment facility is slated to begin in April 2000. The council also approved a $222,473 contract to produce an environmental impact statement for improvements to the city's wastewater treatment plant. |
Ecology based its information on "numerous interviews" with residents, along with groundwater sampling from the area. Field tests indicate there may be multiple source locations.
State health officials became concerned groundwater contamination in 1993. Area tests have shown contamination levels of perchloro-ethylene, a probable causing agent, as high as 3,740 parts per on in 1997. The federal drinking water maximum standard is 5 parts per billion.
Perchloro-ethylene can cause dizziness, sea, headaches, and damage to the nerves, liver and kidneys.
Ecology wrote Breen to notify her she has been identified as a potentially liable party under the Model Toxics Control Act. As such, Breen could be responsible for the state's costs of investigating and treating the problem, and for future treatment.
Since 1996, Ecology has spent about $200,000 on contractors investigating the problem, Jansen said in an interview. The agency had not yet calculated its staff costs invested.
State officials have provided bottled water to people who used well water drawn from the contaminated area.
One family with children had been using water stored in large rubber "bladders." Ecology later installed a home treatment system for the family, the only one of its kind in the state, Jansen said. This costs about $5,000 a year to operate.
"Frankly, we did it because the pollution numbers were so high," he said. "The treatment system's quite effective. We've replaced their water supply entirely."
Another family near the edge of the contamination plume, also with children, has been experiencing health reactions, and will be taken to a Seattle hospital for examination.
Jansen declined to elaborate on the family's symptoms.
Ecology will attempt to clean up the problem, containing the contamination either by targeting "hot spots," or by stopping the spread of a contamination plume in the groundwater.
The agency is considering using a new air-stripping cleanup technology developed by Xerox. But accomplishing a "wholesale plume cleanup" is usually impractical, Jansen said.
A cleanup could include removing the Bulldog building and excavating for the alleged dump site.
"At this point I don't rule out anything," Jansen said.
Breen was given 30 days to comment on the notice, and was invited to identify any other people who may be potentially liable for the "release" of contents at the site.
Tuesday afternoon, Breen said she knows nothing about the Ecology notice, although it was supposed to have been delivered to her business by certified mail.
Her attorney, Larry Fagerness, Centralia, declined to comment on the news as well.
"I haven't seen anything yet" Fagerness said this morning. "I know there was some testing done."
John Henderer Cover county government and environmental issues for the Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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