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Some residents who live around Moffett Federal Airfield near Mountain View, Calif., say they are scared. Others say they’re not worried at all.
Depending on whom you talk to, the Environmental Protection Agency’s findings of higher than expected levels of TCE in the air and in the groundwater near the Mountain View property is either a cause for big concern or no big deal.
But one thing is certain. Everyone is talking about the new test results from the EPA showing a presence of toxic chemicals in the air and in the groundwater in and around the Middlefield, Ellis, Whisman (or M-E-W) Superfund site.
According to the EPA, the underground Superfund site include a wide variety of toxic chemicals including PCE and vinyl chloride, chemicals left over from the budding semi-conductor industry that got its start in the buildings along Middlefield and Whisman Roads and Ellis Street.
The chemical of most concern and most quantity in the toxic underground plume is a chemical called trichloroethylene, known as TCE. It's a cleaning solvent once commonly used by the military and the budding semi-conducting industry 30 years ago.
The EPA says that TCE is a toxic solvent that causes cancer in people and heart deformities in unborn babies. According to EPA experts the toxic plume has been lurking underground for decades ever since nascent semi-conductor companies apparently dumped or allowed TCE and other chemicals to leak into the ground.
According to EPA officials the United States military also used TCE to clean airplanes and vehicles during that same time period.
The plume extends from under the runway at Moffett Field a mile and a half south and west under Highway 101 and past Middlefield Road. To the north it goes to Whisman Road and south to just past Ellis Street.
The plume of mostly TCE is believed by EPA investigators to be about a half-mile wide at its widest point.
After NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit began asking questions in April 2012 about possible health effects of the TCE plumes, the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) opened its own probe.
After exhaustive research and analysis of three decades worth of health data, California’s state cancer registry announced that it found a higher than expected number of people living in neighborhood surrounding the M-E-W Superfund site who had contracted a group of cancers the registry’s scientists call non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The higher than expected incidence of these cancers occurred during the years 1996 to 2005.
NBC Bay Area
Now the EPA admits that until recently it had somehow missed some “hot spots” of higher than acceptable levels of TCE in groundwater and in the air in several homes and more than 20 commercial buildings in the area. Two of the hotspots were found by EPA investigators along Evandale Avenue outside the original plume area.
That concerns some residents who live on that road. Residents like Theresa Larrieu, who has lived in a home along Evandale with her family for a quarter century. Larrieu said that the family always knew the M-E-W Superfund was nearby but figured it didn’t directly affect them since it wasn’t right next door. The Superfund site was far enough away, Larrieu thought, to be present but not an impact on her family’s health or life. Now, with these new EPA test results, the TCE plumes appears to actually be right next door and it may even be under Larrieu’s home. The EPA has conducted air, water and soil tests in and around the home but the results have not come back as of this writing.
Larrieu says she's worried and is holding her breath waiting on the results of those air and water sample tests the EPA took from her home. “Scared. Nervous. Worried. Very worried,” Larrieu said when asked to describe her emotions. “(There’s) way more suspense than I need in my life.”
“Your first thought is your health, is this affecting us is this affecting other neighbors that I know had health issues,” said Larrieu.
The EPA shares Larrieu’s concerns and M-E-W Superfund Site manager Alana Lee emphasizes they are working hard to address and clean up the mess. “We cleaned up over 5 1/4 billion gallons of contaminated water and over 110,000 pounds of toxic contaminant,” said Lee.
But Lee also said that the EPA also missed these hot spots of TCE both in groundwater and in the air inside some buildings along Evandale Avenue including two homes outside the original plume area.
“The concentration (found there) is very high,” said Lee, “A very high concentration.”
How high?
According to documents from test results, the highest TCE levels that the EPA measured in ground water in the area reached 130,000 parts per billion. The EPA considers anything over 5 parts per billion unsafe.
In the commercial buildings nearby, including two now occupied by Google, EPA tests found TCE in the air at levels 26 times higher than the level considered by the EPA to be acceptable and safe.
“Once we found these concentrations, which were a surprise, we took immediate action,” said Lee.
EPA
Bruce Panchal’s home is one of the two houses located on Evandale where the EPA found high levels of TCE. The companies responsible for the toxic chemical cleanup installed a series of four pipes in and around his home to ventilate the toxic TCE fumes leeching from the ground away from the house’s interior to the outside.
Even so Panchal said he’s not worried. “They found a high concentration and with the system it pumps out all the fumes so it safe,” said Panchal.
Panchal and his family have lived in his home along Evandale for 45 years. He said he worked for the budding semi-conductor businesses that got their start in his neighborhood. He even said he handled the chemicals now in question and dumped them in the ground back then.
Despite the new contraptions now pumping air away from the inside of his house, he says he isn’t worried about his or his family’s health. “I’m living proof that they have an issue with the fumes but it is not death defying or a detriment to your health,” said Panchal.
EPA officials said they also found high levels of TCE in more than twenty different commercial buildings between Whisman Road and Ellis Street. Included among those buildings are two new office complexes for Google employees where, the EPA says, renovations and construction allowed higher than expected levels of TCE to leech from the ground through the buildings’ concrete slabs and into the air inside.
It is in some of these buildings where EPA investigators found levels of TCE vapors in the interior air that were as much as 26 times higher than acceptable safe levels with air conditioning systems off.
The EPA says it has systems in place in and around those buildings to keep vapors outside.
Google tells us they take this matter seriously and they’ve already taken measures to ensure that the buildings and the work area is safe.
Theresa Larrieu worries that it may be too late to keep her family from feeling the health effects of this toxic plume. She wonders how long they may have been exposed to these vapors and chemicals that went undetected until recently.
“It is scary,” said Larrieu. “I’m very scared. I have children. I have grandchildren.”
Larrieu also remains concerned that not even the EPA can say how long the fumes have been leeching into the neighborhood or how long she and her family have unknowingly been exposed.
When we asked the EPA if they knew exactly how long have these newly discovered TCE hot spots had been there the EPA’s Superfund Site manager Alana Lee said, “We don’t know.”
When we asked whether the toxic chemicals migrate underground or traveled down Evandale Avenue or whether those chemicals had been lurking there underground along with the rest of the toxic plume for decades, Lee had the same answer. “We don’t know.”
The EPA said it will take decades more to clean up this toxic mess.
Leave a Comment:
I'm curious to know what was done to the violators to help clean up this mess, or is this just another hit to the taxpayer? I would also like to know if safeguards are now in place to avoid things like this happening in the future. Do we need to pay more attention to enforcement, or are we sure this can't happen again?
The responsible parties (corporations included) are always sued and have to contribute. Everyone involved will sue their insurance companies and monies will be paid, including the city and state carriers. You'd be surprised to find out how much money - hundreds of millions even - will be collected in the end that goes towards cleaning up sites like this. Most likely the dumping going on at this site was going on way before people even knew the effects of most of these chemicals. Yes, there are things being done to make sure this won't happen again, especially since this is in California. There are actually a lot of people who care about stuff like this, and get things done to make sure that people don't have to live around these chemicals. Like I said, especially in California. Everyone makes fun of California, but spending money on environmental stuff is a priority. A lot of people don't know things like this unless you worked around it. Google "California Superfund Sites." There is some hope.
When owners of facilities are identified, a long and ardueous process, state and fed legals persue them for costs associated with the remediation. Safeguards in the form of using less hazardous substances are being practiced. Regulation and monitoring of disposal practices have been on going; we cannot guarantee similar practices will stop, people chase profit, not community/environmental responsibility.
Thanks Lola. That does help. I wonder what it would take for a reporter to cover that story?
Actually lolo43, many of the companies responsible for dumping these harmful chemicals into the ground have since collapsed or have gone bankrupt, who do you sue when the company no longer exists? I am not sure if that is the case for this particular site, but I have seen this many, many times around the U.S. at other Superfund sites.
We will be paying for this type of cleanup for many years to come, but many of these chemicals are now banned so it should not happen as much as it did in the past. People could still skirt these rules illegally of course, but we won't have corporations dumping thousands of gallons of this stuff into our streams and groundwater supplies.
Take a minute and google TCE history and marvel at how companies would dump this stuff with no regard to the effects it had on our environment. The world was definitely a different place 50-60 years ago.
The companies usually declare bankruptcy and then its on the taxpayers. Its the American way.
Why do they call it SuperFund?
They have already cleaned up 5.4 billion gallons of bad water. Then they took that and dumped it in the desert 40 miles east.
Wouldn't it just be cheaper to move all the people out of that area and fence it off?
Blutowski,
It might be cheaper to just fence off the places where homes or business buildings are being contaminated.
But the contaminated ground water will flow outside the immediate area and make more problems. So it has to be pumped up and treated to remove the TCE.
At least we still have an Environmental Protection Agency to regulate, monitor and clean up sites like this. What scares the hell out of me as when Republican/Tea Party politicians say as soon as they get the chance they will eliminate the EPA.
If they have their way we can all look forward to seeing rivers burn and babies dying from strange diseases just like the good old days of the fifties, sixties and seventies.... Oh how quickly we forget.
We must kick these stuck in the mud dinosaurs out of Washington in 2014. It's ether that or we will all end up suffering because of their ignorance and greed.
Capitalism only works when it is closely regulated; otherwise we all end up paying to clean up the mess of greedy people that take reckless short cuts just so they can make MORE MONEY!!!!!! I see people every day defending this kind of unbridled greedy. Perhaps those people should ask themselves: Is it worth the price we, our children and future generations all end up paying?
First off, have you checked to see if any violations of the laws in effect at that time were committed. We now have laws against such things but those laws have not always been in place. We learn as we go and hopefully, we learn from our past mistakes so we can change the future.
Isn't there some kind of virus that we can send to CandieKismya$$?
You can pay now to clean it up, or you can pay the price, a hell of a lot more, later. By then, it's too late ...you and your family members and neighbors are dying of cancer.
Polluting the world we live in has a long term price, and such industrial contamination assures you won't live long to survive it -- but not until you've racked up catastrophic medical bills for your surviving family and for the taxpayers to handle the burden.
But don't worry...if the right-wing get their way and manage to get rid of the E.P.A. and repeal Obamacare, then you won't have to worry about any affordable access to healthcare, no more unbiased and official environmental monitoring, and no more serious cleanup programs to help you and your entire town survive tomorrow, anyway.
After all, "privatize the profits and socialize the losses," right? (sarcasm)
LOLO43, not true. They very often get away with it. they own the gov. they own the courts. Case in point. A case in Massachusetts where two major companies, Beatrice and Grace pretty Much paid their way out of responsibility by stacking the deck , or should I say, the Courts. John Travolta starred in a true life movie of those events. called "A Civil Action". The real life lawyer spent every penny he had trying to get justice. That lawyer went on to fight for people in a cancer cluster in New Jersey.
We have the best Judge's in America that Money can buy.
If you hang around the Rocky Mountain Arsenal or Rocky Flats in Denver long-enough you too will understand that the Federal cleanup process is futile.
My expectation is that the same thing goes for damn near any Federal Superfund site, as it is far less expensive for the involved companies to amortize the cost of cleanup over the lives and physical environment of all of the affected citizens rather than actually comply with the law in the first place, just as the responsibility for major banking mishaps are far less expensive when nobody is ever charged with a crime too!
Yes, the old lady and I have been drinking, and no, I'm not kidding either!
You greenies are just as much at fault as the semiconductor plants. I used to work at a semiconductor plant which made and still makes parts for solar panels. It used 5 million gallons of fresh water per DAY to rinse toxic hydrofluoric acid from the silicon parts. Hydrofluoric is the only acid known that can eat through a glass container. That water comes directly from the municipal water supply that feeds the city. Nobody knows where that contaminiated water goes. It was kept secret from us.
Humans create waste. Even organics dumped into a landfill create dangerous byproducts that need to be monitored and dealt with, things such as methane gas which occurs naturally in our air but is explosive in the underground environment of an improperly vented landfill - even this otherwise innocuous element can be lethally dangerous.
Every component in the consumer's computer participating in this discussion is manufactured, and we can be assured that those processes have created dangerous byproducts that need to be monitored for public safety. Every process of modern life is touched by chemistry and production. But the fact is that there are thousands of dedicated individuals across this great country who are dedicated to identifying toxic and dangerous substances and byproducts created by this technologically advanced society and strive for the remediation of groundwater, soil and air from the pollutants that manufacturing and research spill into the environment.
The infusion of these sensational "memes" into the minds of otherwise intelligent and rational beings by the news media are designed to invoke fear, and do not solve any of our environmental issues. Education, on the other hand, is an effective instrument against ignorance and fear. Don't get mad, why not become part of the solution - study environmental science and become a knowledgeable consumer and labor for our environment.
In the seventies, I worked in Redwood City at a circuit shop, where we used hot Trichlor in a heated tank, to clean our screens that we printed with. I swear we were loaded all the time! The fumes were terribly strong.
As Blutowski said in a different thread...
"What a bunch of non news type stories. Isn't there any real news today on NBC?
I predict 2 more gun stories. 2 more blame republican stories, one gay story and nothing on a budget or unemployment. I'm heading over to Yahoo news."
Of course, that's why NBC is finishing dead least in Feb sweeps month.... and why they came in dead last in the most recent poll of most trusted news networks. But that's ok, NBC, keep up the biased coverage. I'm enjoying your real-life remake of the titanic.
Capitalism, lie, cheat, steal, pollute for money and then let someone else clean up the mess later.
Military base = capitalism ????????
Semiconductors = capitalism.
It's the liberal way. Base faults on those you hate. It's funny though, Brian is using his computer (made by a company formed due to capitalism) to talk about it.
And the fact that you got 5 up votes just speaks more about imbeciles who like talking points than anything else.
"no more filbert", Why don't move your home or apartment from wherever you are now and relocate to a home near those areas, "Middlefield and Whisman Roads and Ellis Street" in Mountainview, CA? See if you could do that and then you can call others an imbecile.
BrianB-2641029's point is that fierce defenders and practitioners of capitalism in general follow the mantra, "privatize the profits and socialize the losses."
Now Brian has 9 and you Filbert have 2. Maybe this will point out to you that this problem goes beyond politics.
"It's the liberal way." Are you suggesting that there are no conservatives that hate polluters. I've wondered about that myself.
"Base faults on those you hate." You don't have to have hate corporate capitalism to hate polluters. There are probably a few companies out there who do the right thing even if it cuts into their profit margin. Those who do pollute, do it for the sole purpose of making more money.
Don't fall into the trap of evaluating the comments based solely on the number who approve of the comments. Note that a conservative has only to submit a bigoted, racist insult toward President Obama to garner a large number of "up" votes.
Sorry Don. Doesn't that depend somewhat on how boring a day it is over at Faux?
It isn't liberals twisting the words it's just liberals repeating what those on the right say. When Romney said we needed to cut back on regulations and allow business to prosper and just have government get out of the way repeating what he said isn't twisting it. I imagine Brian would still have his computer even if the chemicals used to make it were properly disposed of.
Military base=socialism. We all pay for the military.
The fact is that MOST companies fully realize the dangers of the chemicals they use in their production and/or operations. MOST of those companies then take responsibility and handle those chemicals responsibly... even BEFORE the EPA get involved.
The problem is with the few that chase money first and don't do the responsible thing until told do so... after it's too late. By the time the EPA is locked in to the dangers of specific chemicals, much of the damage is done. They MUST rely on the research of the very company that may be in early violation.
This has more to say about and is more dependent on the morality of business leaders than anything else... and I define "business" loosely in that it doesn't much matter whether it's a government or free market "business".
Bankruptcy doesn't necessarily protect those that made irresponsible decisions, regardless of corporate protections... especially if specific negligence and the results of that negligence can be proved.
This is a case where the threat of huge lawsuits and tough legislation and enforcement is actually working.
Does O'Baggercare cover radiation poison? Carma? That's what you get for voting for O'Loser!!!
lee
So much brilliance on the right.
And 98% savage on the left!!!
whole area should be condemned and left to revert back to wilderness... give it 50 to 100 years...
TCE and other chlorinated solvents are persistant when released into subsurface waters. Making the detection and cleanup of these chemicals more difficult is that they are sinkers, not floaters like most fuel hydrocarbons. Dry cleaning facilities generate hugh plumes in a similar fashion. Extended characterization and cleanups are often associated with these types of solvent plumes.
It's great that we are aware of things like this and efforts are being made to correct the problem. However, we also need to remember that the risks from pollutants like this are far less than the risks from smoking, drinking and obesity which are much more preventable.
You'd better check into health risks associated with exposure to chlorinated solvents, TCE and PCE can degrade into vinyl chloride which is more poisionous than the initial chemical. Granted the habits you mentioned are bad, but those exposed make the choice, contaminated groundwater does not discriminate as to who is exposed.
In reference to the first comment on the polluter's liability, the federal Superfund law has provisions to identify the responsible parties and to require them to foot the bill for the clean-up. Since this is a reactively new Superfund site one might assume that this in fact is the case. Again this all depends on how aggressive EPA Region 9 was on taking enforcement action. Historically, EPA OSC's (on scene coordinator's) did not pay much attention to identifying responsible parties and subsequently the federal government footed much of the bill for Superfund clean-ups. That is why the original billion or so dollars generated in a now expired tax on the petro-chemical industry vanished. EPA was not interested in either finding the responsible parties or in cost recovery. Coupled with lax Congressional oversight....the taxpayer is now stuck footing the bill.
As for the numerous violations of other environmental laws, both federal and state this article does not address if anyone was held accountable. With Moffett Field being a former military installation and TCE the cleaning chemical of choice for the military one would suspect that they could be a primary responsible party. Every try to enforce environmental laws against DOD? Good luck.
All this "good news" is from your friendly former EPA employee who joined that agency with the naive assumption that in doing so he could make a difference. Ahhhh the wisdom of age.
Environmental remediation project are active at every DoD base, EVERY ONE. You friendly environmental consultant working at military facilities.
I've worked at most everywhere with everyone,,big companies and gov. all have their skelitons they have,and during pushes of progress anytime we turned anything to E.P.A. they start sdouting,naw they would'nt or some grandfather bull@!$%#,past crimes don't make it legal or ethical,I drilled well at sites tthat I know have become a conveniat place to pour hazmat materials,at least 2 in spokae,Don' trust anyone,After wortking 3 years at Hanford,nope.
"Better Living through Chemistry" ???
Again, why save the world from asteroids? It may be the only way to clean up what we have created.
First, 5 ppb (parts per billion) is the drinking water standard for TCE not the "unsafe" level. Anything over 5 ppb TCE is not safe for drinking water. Also, TCE and PCE (perchloroethylene) are common degreasers that were used in metal degreasing in the plating and coating industries and in dry cleaning (still to this day), not primarily the semiconductor and defense industries. Even some gun cleaning solutions are made with TCE. The people who write these stories should at least have a rudimentary knowledge of this stuff or stop writing about it.
Dan,
You're statement that "Even some gun cleaning solutions are made with TCE." implies that some are still made using TCE. Is that true or should it have been "were made"?
I would be surprise to learn that materials containing TCE are still sold.
So basically the article is saying we the general public are screwed because theres really no way to know if a home we may want to purchase is indeed safe, the site the home was built on may have been used for dumping, burying or otherwise used for the wrong purpose and there isn't a perfect way to have it tested to insure a person health.
The government even missed many areas that had super high levels of this TCE and other areas tested were off on the amount of TCE in the air around the homes and offices to the point that they are unsafe as well. What happens to the people who have a home that's affected and then work at one of the offices that is affected and they just now are finding out about this whole mess? Wow, off the charts messed up and there isn't any amount of money that can make up for loss of your life.
If this problem had been dealt with back when it was found out maybe just maybe it would have been about half cleaned up by now but NO, will just talk about it while the site grows daily, more people are affected, and the costs to clean it all up properly go up. Then once its all said and figured out on what to do to clean it up someone will come up with a new method of testing and find out the site is even bigger. Good luck with all that.
Many call for dismantling of the EPA. It has become an almost worthless agency in regards to it's original purpose. It's had its teeth pulled.
You won't see many fines levied against those who poison our soil, water and air. The executives in charge of the EPA would be shooting themselves in the foot.
Someone earlier posted that " but many of these chemicals are now banned so it should not happen as much as it did in the past" I beg to differ. There are literally thousands of new chemicals produced every year. Whether they're safe or not is not the first item they test for. Is it useful? Let's use it. Then if it's deemed necessary they'll do some testing to see how dangerous it is.
Does anybody know how much longer Love Canal will be uninhabitable?
Thank you for your very biased and uninformative rant.
Don from Cali?
Biased? Unabashedly! Pray tell. Did you already know all that or are you attempting to speak for everyone who might care to read it? Watdafuque?
Before you get too POed I've agreed with most every post you've ever made. We're of a like mind.
Boy the "baby boomer" generation sure did screw this place up, we can only hope that Generation X can fix the mess they have left.
Dear Roger. Before you bash the baby-boomers remember the only reason you're on the internet is because we invented it. And addition, your cell phones, electronic games, and everything that uses a computer chip was created by baby-boomers. All I here from Generation X is whining and complaining. If you want to help, do something about it.
That's funny John. Not disagreeing, but it reminds me that us baby-boomers (when we were young) used to blame all our problems on the generation before us. The ones that gave us transistor radios, color TVs and Quadrophonic stereos
Ignorant, uninformed people always blame others. Even when they are a complete failure in life because of poor choices they made, it's always someone else's fault. Roger, I hope you're just trolling, because if you're not, will your generations children blame you and your generation for their failures, or are they being taught personal responsibility?
Yeah cell phones could have been invented without polluting drinking water thanks. Besides the all might be fun to use and handy, but hardly required to live. Now water and air on the other hand we can't live without. So great you made some great toys, shame we wont get to play with them as long.
So how exactly is it the next generations failing that yours allowed all this crap dumped into the environment. And is still fighting hard to keep doing it, with every ounce of political power they can muster.
so by inventing all these things you think you have done Generation X some justice? on the contrary. Your generation has polluted EVERYTHING around us to make those toys, those toys have taken away from the manufacturing working people in America, the internet will become Americas demise. I find that the baby boomers are selfish, self righteous and downright greedy. So don't say your generation created these things for US, you created these things because your generation is lazy and dependant on prescription drugs to survive. WE (Generation X) WILL fix what your generation has destroyed, I'm kinda glad the downturn in the economy has caused so much turmoil for your generations finances, now get out of the way and let US do our job.
Humans... the only species on the planet with the sheer determination to head straight into extinction and will gladly take all other species with them. Sped and fed by the cost and profit margins of doing business
PRober only the greedy humans will try to destroy everything, there ARE still some decent caring humans on this planet. Unfortunately the corrupted seem to prevail in the USA. It is time for the decent folks to rise up and put a STOP to the nonsense that has been going on for decades now! First order of business is to get rid of scumbag lawyers and doctors who seem to make all the calls in this country. If that were to happen everything else will fall like dominos (like frivulous lawsuits, insurance companies, unions, corrupted politicians...etc.
Roger - Your comments are typical of the attitude of so many today - and you have the gall to call baby boomers self righteous and selfish? That's a laugh. You seem to caught up in your own self righteous pov and the over-inflated value of your own opinions to actually take a look at the facts. The big rise of industrial processing and the dumping of the chemicals used in the processes started in the 40's and 50's. Baby boomers weren't born until starting around the mid 40's and lasting until the beginning of the 60's. I doubt if many of us were able to achieve the status of corporate CEO's responsible for the policies of dumping these pollutants before we even got out of diapers or grade school. The oldest baby boomer would have been in his 30's in 1980 - still to young to have much weight in corporate affairs.
In fact, we baby boomers were the ones who fueled the rise of the first large-scale environmental movement in the 70's. We even had our own symbols: Flag 1, Flag 2, Patch. We were inspired by commercials such as these: Crying Indian, Tennessee Trash, People Start Pollution, Give a Hoot, Deadliest Animals, and many more. It was a time of the first Earth Day and the founding of Green Peace and Earth First. It was the dramatic rise in numbers provided by baby boomers in support for environmental issues that caused the government to create the EPA in the first place; and it was this rise that started the Superfund cleanup program around the time that Gen-X'ers were still young. Support for environmental issues by baby boomers also led to legislation that curbed acid rain, ozone depletion, vehicle emission reductions, and smog reduction programs - as well as the passing of the Endangered Species Act and the ban on whaling. In the 70's and 80's there was a huge uptick in the number of International laws and organizations tasked with helping wildlife and the environment. The concept of recycling lost a lot of urgency in the years of abundance after WWII (when baby boomers were still babies); it picked up again in the 70's as the baby boomers were coming of age. The 60's and 70's were a time of much activism that fueled protests about war, civil rights, environmentalism, etc.; and filled humanitarian organizations such as the Peace Corps, Doctor's Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, etc. We did much. The current "green" movement owes it's very prominence to the foundational principles established by the large support of the environmental ideas made popular in the 70's. We also instituted many regulations curbing corporate excesses. And if you think that it is only the "Youth" who elected president Obama, you are sadly mistaken. 50% of the baby boomer vote went for Obama in 2008; and since there are still more older voters than younger voters, that means a significant proportion of his support came from baby boomers.
All I here from the younger generations is whining and complaining - what was done to them. Complaints' but very little action. The baby boomers passed the torch of activism to a new generation - and that generation did pitifully little with it. It is the grandchildren of the baby boomers who are again starting to pick up the baton. The "Occupy" movements are largely made up of people under 35 (64%) - the late Gen-X, and the Generation Y and beyond crowd; with 20% of the activists being over 45 (baby boomers and very early Gen-X'ers); and only 16% being from the core Gen-X group. Given that the Gen-X group has done so little to date, I don't hold out much hope for them doing very much in the future.
This is laughable beyond belief! History shows the baby boomer generation as being anything but lazy, and suggesting that our past accomplishments were somehow driven by our current need for medications is simply ridiculous. So what will be YOUR excuse for using the medications when you reach retirement age?
If you want to change the world, you have to do more than talk the talk - you have to walk the walk! The baby boomers did just that; the Gen-X'ers - not so much. You can talk big; but, big talk accomplishes very little, and that is all I have so far seen coming from the Gen-Xers. I have lost faith in the Gen-X and much of the Gen-Y group; My hope is now on the late and post millennial crowds. I hope that they'll don the mantel of activism like their grandparents and great-grandparents, the baby boomers, did - exactly what their parents failed so miserably to do.
This is no different than here in Colorado where mining companies were allowed to strip mine the sides of mountains on public lands. Do they restore it when they are done? Of course not. Remember, these lands do not belong to the corporations; they are called "public" because they belong to us all. And what do the citizens get? You go to the mountains and get to see a stripped natural landscape with rumble all over. It's not a Rightwing or Leftwing thing. The corporations that make millions doing this should have to clean it up when there done. What do the corporations say: "We're providing jobs, at least temporarily." However, most of the workers license plates are from other states.
John Colorado,
The specific mess in California seems to have been made by the US Air Force.
The article said the air force was also not solely.
I moved to Colorado in the late 70s. Everyone said "You should put in an application at Rocky Flats. If you can get a job there you've got it made." I said I didn't want to work with Plutonium and people laughed at me like I was crazy. I bring that up because I wondered:
What's that place like now? (I know I could just look it up, but I like to know what people think.)
When one of Panchals family dies from the poison he admitted dumping in the ground and defending it, I hope he lives a very long life where everyday he is faced with the truth that he played a role.
Your TEAGAGGER GOP KOCH brother fed morons in the House and Senate wants to free big business, and defund the EPA, and what do you have???>
More Times Beach MO. More Pitcher OK, More Sherman Williams Coffeyville KS, More BP Oil in the Gulf. The Army Ammunition Plant Parsons KS. Centralia, PA and the underground coal fire that has now been burning for over 45 years. But getting rid of the EPA isn't enough for the KOCHSUCKERS, they want to get rid of OSHA, Workers Comp, and limit workers recovery through limiting law suits. You morons go ahead and give the TEAGAGGERS free rein and you'll all be living in superfund areas.
CLEAN-UP ENDS IN TIMES BEACH
http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/26/times.beach/times.beach/index.htm
Your TEAGAGGER GOP KOCH brother fed morons in the House and Senate wants to free big business, and defund the EPA, and what do you have???>
More Times Beach MO. More Pitcher OK, More Sherman Williams Coffeyville KS, More BP Oil in the Gulf. The Army Ammunition Plant Parsons KS. Centralia, PA and the underground coal fire that has now been burning for over 45 years. But getting rid of the EPA isn't enough for the KOCHSUCKERS, they want to get rid of OSHA, Workers Comp, and limit workers recovery through limiting law suits. You morons go ahead and give the TEAGAGGERS free rein and you'll all be living in superfund areas.
CLEAN-UP ENDS IN TIMES BEACH
http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/26/times.beach/times.beach/index.htm
And the EPA will have even less if we hit Oblahblah's sequester....
gumby, the sequestation has allready occured in your mind. Dont worry those of use who employ ethics in our work practices will keep covering your tail.
When I read all these rants about the Tea Party & GOP being blamed for everything under the sun that people can't deal with, makes me think maybe I should consider giving them my support in the next election, as an Independent voter. I like the part of your post about freeing big business; if that happens, more jobs for Americans.
Jobs wont do you any good without clean water to drink or air to breath.
I work for the EPA in the Superfund program in the Region II EPA office. FYI all you California Liberals who voted for Obama and have your tax, and tax and tax and tax, and spend Liberal congresspeople, Congress has has cut EPA's Superfund budget by 30%, and more in some regions, our travel money is practically non-existent, and the concept of OT is gone, so we're doing less with less and sitting around the office more and more. We are most likely going into furlough status by May or June (16 days off without pay) so don't expect your Superfund sites to get cleaned up for another 4 years until Your Anointed One is out of offce and we get some sanity back in our governement!
And you'll have even less if we hit Oblahblah's sequester....
This is because of Obama's Sequester!!! We are now in the actual process of fundamental transformation!
And how would this be fixed by the Republicans who want to close the EPA entirely. Because after all corporations would never pollute to save a few bucks
even the elitist won't escape. soon to be coming your way , too. and you thought only the poor and poorer should live in those tasty sites... it's everywhere, it's everywhere. curse of the nation
I have cleaned up a TCE site or two, and the Moffett Plume is no big deal.
The process is to remove the free product with skimming pumps and to augment the existing bacteria to deal with the low levels of TCE.
The Devil's Workshop that I worked at is one big Superfund Site.
The nuclear facility Superfund Sites are the worst. Rocky Flats takes the record for a difficult site to clean up.
I almost thought Devil's Workshop was an actual site, but I suppose is an euphemism.
That said, are they even "done" with Rocky Flats, or is it just mission accomplished?
how long will it be, before some company, some government, some radical, comes up with some virus, some chemical ? some new altered vegetable? or some other synthetic substance, that actually causes a virus, or a flu, or a symptom, that will really kill the human species?
careful in them laboratories,,,
EPA is in bed with the polluting industries for decades. Revolving door for ambitious personel. Fornification with major industrial polluters. Political pressure to look the other way. The EPA has become a cover, a taxpayer funded shill for the polluters.
When investigators asked EPA's Lee how much and how long has the TCE plume lurched underground, Lee's respond is the same: I don't know. When asked how did the EPA missed and failed to report the several "hot spots," Lee's answer is the same: I don't know.
He knew. And he still knows.
Love Canal. BP oil spill in the Gulf. Bernie Madoff. Financial meltdown. Fast and Furious. WMD. Etc. All these events show the government is lying, deceiving and ripping off the people. And the American people are so gullible still believing the Federal government is government of the people, for the people, by the people.
Fools are expendable.
I just love the part where they said:
Either it can Kill Ya or it won't... No Need to worry tho, How stupid is that?
Looks like the FEMA camps will be opening sooner then planned... Have to have some reason to heard the sheep to the pen... Ya got Chemical here and then in WASHINGTON ya have Nuk Leak in 6 Tanks...
Wonder how long before HLS strats the round-up.
Well, lets see now. There was Love Canal, W.R Grace, PG&E for real headliners, and then about 800 others that never made the national news. Essentially any place there was a factory or mill for a few decades is polluted beyond redemption. Oh sure, dig it up, fill it in, cover it over, but there's no taking back what already entered the water table and below.
If history has shown anything, the companies involved bankrupted and ran at the first sign of trouble, the real owners are buried under layers of corporations and will claim they knew nothing about the dumping if found. The Military rarely ever gets held accountable for anything -- sort of like suing part of the Gov't in Fed'l court to get the Gov't to clean it up -- and it'd take ten more years before a decision is reached.
In short, best of luck with all that, Mr & Mrs Citizen.