Contaminated groundwater site neighbors want EPA to test indoor air

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By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer Updated 2:21 AM Thursday, July 9, 2009

Neighbors in the vicinity of the Behr Dayton Thermal Products plant want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to commit to regular testing of indoor household air as planning continues for the clean-up of a contaminated groundwater plume.

Neighbors have collected 500 postcards to urge the federal agency to retest hundreds of homes in the area affected by the plume, which contains trichloroethylene, or TCE. The chemical solvent leaked into the ground at the plant, 1600 Webster St., over a period or years. The Superfund site is on the EPA’s National Priorities List.

The neighbors, who have formed a group called BVOCAL, will unlea

sh a short YouTube video called “This is Our Neighborhood,” Thursday, July 8, to make their point, said Jerry Bowling of the McCook Neighborhood Association.

Ellis Jacobs, an attorney for BVOCAL, said indications are that the plume is moving and that concentrations of the chemical that affect individual homes are changing as the plume travels. A Nov. 19 letter from the city of Dayton’s Environmental Advisory Board to the U.S. EPA also endorses retesting for the same reason.

Homes previously found to contain unhealthy levels of contamination have received air evacuation systems to remove hazards. Jacobs said not all potentially contaminated homes have received such systems for various reasons, including owners who didn’t grant investigators access.

Stacey Coburn, the U.S. EPA’s project manager for the site, said the agency hasn’t ruled out retesting. She said she doesn’t believe that anyone’s health is at risk from the plume.

Retesting, she said, is “a significant effort. We are considering it and considering how we will study the vapor plume and figure out how to remediate it.”

The study to best determine a clean-up plan could take years to complete, she noted.

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