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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > September > 20 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: EPA is McCook Field neighbors’ only hope
If the U.S. EPA becomes your friend, you have a big problem.
That’s the bad news for Dayton’s McCook Field neighborhood. Some 400 families and businesses have groundwater under their property that contains, or could contain, a chemical solvent that produces dangerous vapors that can get trapped in their homes and buildings.
The property owners have been dealing with the threat — believed to have resulted from spills, leaks or dumping at an old Chrysler plant — for upward of three years.
Recently, the EPA gave the mostly low-income neighbors a lot of what they’ve been demanding. Two hundred homes already have vapor extraction systems, installed to suck out trichloroethylene or TCE vapors.
But some 200 other properties didn’t have alarming readings when they were tested previously, or they weren’t tested at all because, back then, they were deemed to be outside of the threatened area.
The problem, though, is that groundwater and chemical contamination move. The fear — make that, assumption — is that conditions have changed and the pollution is spreading in some form or fashion.
So there’s going to be another round of testing, to make sure people aren’t breathing nasty stuff.
This might sound like a logical thing to do. But until BVOCAL, a neighborhood group that formed in response to the problem, and Dayton’s aggressive Environmental Advisory Board made a fuss, the new testing wasn’t planned.
Picture the level of attention any middle-class, suburban neighborhood would be getting if 400 property owners were worried about the air in their homes and businesses; furious about what has happened to their real estate values; and frantic about the fact that a school in the neighborhood had to be closed because of harmful vapors.
Welcome to McCook’s nightmare.
The mess isn’t going to be fixed soon, but here are some reasons to pay attention to it — because of the lessons that can be learned and how patently unfair some things are:
— The U.S. EPA’s division of labor — between the people who handle environmental emergencies such as this and those who oversee permanent cleanups — doesn’t optimize the chance to fix problems quickly.
There are interim actions that can be taken now — without waiting for a detailed permanent cleanup plan that will take years to produce — that can protect public health, maybe save money. Putting in more interceptor wells to capture and treat contaminated water, for example, is something the city of Dayton wants. Removing dirt that’s known to be contaminated also is proactive.
Some decisions shouldn’t have to wait on an extensive study.
— Behr Dayton Thermal Products, in many ways, is taking the fall for Chrysler in this expensive mess. The TCE contamination probably occurred before Behr became the property owner.
In light of Chrysler’s bankruptcy and dicey financial position, getting much money out of it for the cleanup is as likely as getting blood out of a turnip.
Maybe Behr didn’t do its homework when it bought the factory, maybe it didn’t protect itself against this sort of thing in its real estate contract. But Behr is not the bad guy.
Meanwhile, the fact that Chrysler can’t really be held accountable is yet another way that Dayton is absorbing the fallout from the collapse of the auto industry.
— BVOCAL and especially neighborhood activist Jerry Bowling could be the subject of a movie. They’ve hounded public officials and educated themselves about topics lay people should not have to understand.
— The city’s Environmental Advisory Board is a competent and important check on the federal and state EPAs. Its members are serious people doing important volunteer work that protects people and neighborhoods and the region’s water supply.
The TCE plume — which the feds have designated to be among the worst environmental messes in the country — is about 1,600 feet from one of the wellfields that supplies the region’s drinking water. The contamination is moving away from, not toward, the wellfield. But, under drought conditions, the flow could change. The last time that happened was in the 1980s.
There are checks in place to discover contamination before it could get to any wells, but the bigger point is that this is sensitive territory, and anything that can be done now to anticipate problems later is smart.
The U.S. EPA has good people on this problem. But they’re most effective if the community stays on them. Unfortunately, lots of communities are finding they need the EPA to be their friend.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Auto industry, City of Dayton, Columns, Ellen Belcher
Comments
By Jerry Bowling III
September 20, 2009 8:23 PM | Link to this
The residents of the McCook Field neighborhood did not ask for this issue to be part of our daily lives. It entered our lives in a manner similiar to the way that the TCE vapors entered our homes and businesses (slowly, but having an impact). Yes, in so many ways, the USEPA may be our only hope. However, over the course of this campaign, and yes it is a campaign, it has and will take the efforts of BVOCAL (Behr VOC Area Leaders), the residents of McCook Field, and all of our various supporters to address this serious issue. It is important to acknowledge the role that Behr - Dayton Thermal Products is now playing in Phase III of the emergency action. Behr is our neighbor and part of our community. Hopefully, their efforts, and that of the USEPA, will continue until the community is safe, and the clean-up has been completed. Until then, the residents of the McCook Field neighborhood must be vocal. The most immediate way to make a difference is to sign new access agreements to allow Behr and the USEPA access into our homes and businesses for inspections of vapor mitigation systems, and for first time testing or retesting. Regardless of anyone’s concerns, emotions, or reasons not to provide access, it is the best thing that we can do for our well being.By Matthew
September 21, 2009 9:50 AM | Link to this
Ellen is right that this is a class issue - there’s no way this would have happened to people in the suburbs! I’m relieved to hear the EPA is starting to take this issue seriouslyBy LindaLee
September 22, 2009 6:28 PM | Link to this
Not a single word about lawyers. That’s odd in a situation like this. They need to be taking advantage of the situation.