A City of Gainesville and Alachua County joint hearing gives citizens and community leaders the opportunity to object to the Federal Government's proposed clean up plan for the Cabot-Koppers superfund site in the heart of Northwest Gainesville.
They say the solution is to scrape all the contaminated soil around the site into a mound about the size of a football field and then to inject a chemical called Remox into the ground to oxidize with the toxic chemicals already present. The goal is to stabilize the mass, thus preventing contamination of the aquifer.
Remox is a Permanganate containing Arsenic and Mercury, among other hazardous elements. We found out today that it has already been tested on the site in a smaller dose in 2008, with results some said are inconclusive and others said are very troubling.
David Pais said, "It could further contaminate ground water, with toxic levels of metals and noxious fumes." Pais has lived in the area for 15 years and serves on the Protect Gainesville's Citizens technical advisory committee. He said that he only found out about the Remox test by digging through public records and that the use of Remox in the clean-up is much like the use of chemical dispersant in the Gulf oil spill.
He said, "It's like, out of sight, out of mind...but we don't want to take that chance with the health and safety of our drinking water."
Chris Bird, Director of Alachua County Environmental Protection said that his department knew about the tests that the State EPA allowed Beazer East to conduct back in 2008, but that he has no reason to believe that the Remox test was detrimental to Gainesville's ground water.
Bird said, "In terms of the scale of what they did, we're not really concerned that they did damage to the aquifer or anything like that, we just don't think it works."
Despite the disagreement over the impact of the Remox test, everyone I spoke to emphasized that the decision the Environmental Protection Agency will make is incredibly important. Bird said, "We're all getting tired of this, we'd like to see it cleaned up and done with, but ....it's important...the decision the EPA makes at this point is gonna be a decision that goes into the next century, the 22nd century and so it's really important for them to get it right."
That's why community groups, city and county officials have gathered tonight to organize a response to the EPA's proposal. They hope they to get the right results for Gainesville's future. We'll keep you updated as the October 15th deadline approaches. A City of Gainesville and Alachua County joint hearing gives citizens and community leaders the opportunity to object to the Federal Government's proposed clean up plan for the Cabot-Koppers superfund site in the heart of Northwest Gainesville.
They say the solution is to scrape all the contaminated soil around the site into a mound about the size of a football field and then to inject a chemical called Remox into the ground to oxidize with the toxic chemicals already present. The goal is to stabilize the mass, thus preventing contamination of the aquifer.
Remox is a Permanganate containing Arsenic and Mercury, among other hazardous elements. We found out today that it has already been tested on the site in a smaller dose in 2008, with results some said are inconclusive and others said are very troubling.
David Pais said, "It could further contaminate ground water, with toxic levels of metals and noxious fumes." Pais has lived in the area for 15 years and serves on the Protect Gainesville's Citizens technical advisory committee. He said that he only found out about the Remox test by digging through public records and that the use of Remox in the clean-up is much like the use of chemical dispersant in the Gulf oil spill.
He said, "It's like, out of sight, out of mind...but we don't want to take that chance with the health and safety of our drinking water."
Chris Bird, Director of Alachua County Environmental Protection said that his department knew about the tests that the State EPA allowed Beazer East to conduct back in 2008, but that he has no reason to believe that the Remox test was detrimental to Gainesville's ground water.
Bird said, "In terms of the scale of what they did, we're not really concerned that they did damage to the aquifer or anything like that, we just don't think it works."
Despite the disagreement over the impact of the Remox test, everyone I spoke to emphasized that the decision the EPA will make is incredibly important. Bird said, "We're all getting tired of this, we'd like to see it cleaned up and done with, but ....it's important...the decision the EPA makes at this point is gonna be a decision that goes into the next century, the 22nd century and so it's really important for them to get it right."
That's why community groups, city and county officials gathered tonight to organize a response to the EPA's proposal in hopes of getting the right results for Gainesville's future. We'll keep you updated as the October 15th deadline approaches.