Neighbors react to probe

By John Henderer, The Chronicle, 10-6-99

Neighbors of an investigation into tainted groundwater south of Chehalis expressed surprise, outrage and apparent indifference to learn workers have unearthed more than 60 barrels of toxic chemicals across the road.

Ermilo and Maria Nuñez said they knew little about the discovery on property visible from their front window.

A neighbor, Joanie Linder, showed them Friday's Chronicle which displayed photographs of barrels caked in or oozing oily, black sludge. But they said they had not read anything about it or heard from government officials.

Linder expressed surprise neighbors have not shared her concerns over the contamination.

''Nobody seems upset about this,'' she said, explaining one neighbor ''was making it sound like I was just crazy and making it up.''

The state Department of Ecology, which is overseeing the property owner's investigation, announced the discovery Thursday.

A contractor for S.C. Breen Construction Co., the landowner, pointed to a second contamination source just south on Hamilton Road from its intersection with Labree Road.

Preliminary indications seem to indicate the buried barrels were not a major contributor to the groundwater contamination, said project manager Bill Halbert of GeoEngineers Inc., Tacoma.

Breen Construction hired GeoEngineers to search for the contamination source as authorized by Ecology in a July 22 order signed by Harvey Breen, company vice president.

Harvey Breen has declined interview requests. His Centralia lawyer, Larry Fagerness, did not return a phone call for comment Tuesday.

Groundwater flow patterns suggest contamination from the barrels buried on Breen Construction's property would have gone away from neighboring homes, Halbert said.

''We feel there's more investigation (needed),'' he said.

GeoEngineers unearthed 55-gallon drums containing suspected and known cancer-causing chemicals such as vinyl chloride, methylene chloride, benzene, trichloroethylene, and perchloroethylene.

Ecology discovered concentrations exceeding federally set safe drinking water standards for each of the chemicals in watery solutions at the top of the barrels.

After identifying three barrels beneath the building with radar and magnetic tests, GeoEngineers extracted the barrels by going inside a Bulldog Trailer Manufacturing building on the site and digging through the floor.

Breen Construction formerly operated a surplus store at the site and allegedly accumulated a variety of chemicals the business could not sell.

The discovery upset Linder, who already had expressed concerns about her childrens' health.

''I am very shocked at 60 drums being found,'' she said. ''I'm also upset at Ecology for letting this go for six years.''

The state environmental agency has methodically investigated the contamination since learning of it in 1993, when a business tested for a new well nearby.

Drilling numerous test wells, Ecology pinpointed one of two area contamination sources to property owned by Breen Construction at the intersection of Labree and Hamilton roads.

The property sits adjacent to Larry and Kathy Thurman's home, where investigators have found the highest levels of perchloroethylene well-water contamination in the state.

The state has since provided a water-filtering system to the Thurmans, who have four children.

Kathy Thurman said Tuesday she had not heard anything about the discovery and did not want to talk about it.

''They don't tell me anything,'' she said. ''I don't want to know anything right now.''

Linder's youngest boy, Lisandro Nuñez, 2, experienced various health maladies, including what she termed ''diarrhea explosions'' which ''smelled like rotting flesh.''

The child suffered lesions and scarring on his buttocks, once landing in the hospital dehydrated with pneumonia.

''His body was constantly trying to get itself flushed out,'' Linder said.

Although Ecology paid for the family to be examined by a Seattle toxicologist earlier this year, Linder questioned the review. The health experts merely weighed and measured her children, taking their blood pressure and the like - but no blood tests, she said.

She later took her boy to a naturopathic doctor in Oregon, who provided bentonite, a clay-like material, and other products which have helped cleanse the boy's system, Linder said.

''He's 100 percent better,'' she said, adding later, ''It's going to take a while for him to recuperate.''

Tests have shown perchloroethylene contamination in Linder's well - which sits farther away from the dump site from the Thurman's - to be near federally determined safe drinking water levels.

But Linder said a University of Washington toxicologist told her any PCE contamination can be dangerous.

''Why don't we have some kind of a town council meeting about this?'' Linder queried. ''Am I the only one upset?''

She wondered aloud whether her neighbors understand potential dangers.

Speaking in her native Spanish, Maria Nuñez said her family of four has not experienced major health problems since moving to the mobile home on Labree Road late in 1993.

''They say the water here doesn't have problems,'' she said.

The landlord switched the home to another well, possibly a deeper one, where contamination has not been found in such high concentrations.

Nonetheless, the family purchases bottled water for drinking, but they continue to use well water to bathe and wash clothes. The couple has two children, Kenny, 5, and Hernan, 2, who appear to be growing normally.

The eldest child, however, has had problems with his teeth and had to have two of them pulled, his mother said.

Her dentist suggested the water may be causing his problems, she said.

Nuñez acknowledged feeling afraid when she learned of groundwater contamination shortly after moving to the home.

She was pregnant at the time.

John Henderer covers 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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