Pompton Lakes Toxic Plume Residents Urge EPA to Reject Dupont Request To Weaken Vapor Cleanup Standards

The below letter was written by Citizens for a Clean Pompton Lakes (CCPL) with the help of Edison Wetlands Association (EWA)  to urge EPA to reject Dupont’s request to weaken vapor intrusion standards.

For details on the Dupont request, see this and this.

If EPA agrees to Dupont’s request, the underground “plume” of volatile organic chemical contamination – by known carcinogens – that continues to poison people’s homes will arbitrarily shrink and the number of impacted homes (currently about 450) and people considered exposed will shrink as well.

This means that more people will be unknowingly exposed to cancer causing industrial chemicals in their homes. There is no “safe” level of exposure to carcinogens – no “threshold” below which no risks are posed.

It also means that fewer homes will qualify for vapor mitigation systems. And future home purchasers or renters will be unaware of contamination and unknowing purchase or rent contaminated homes.

That is outrageous and totally unacceptable – as the folks in Pompton Lakes make very clear:

August 6, 2014

Ms. Judith Enck

Region 2 Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway

New York, NY 10007-1866

RE:     Formal Public Hearing Request,

           Raising Vapor Intrusion Screening Levels,

           Pompton Lakes DuPont Public Works 2008 Work Plan,

           Pompton Lakes, New Jersey                                              

Dear Administrator Enck:

As you know, DuPont has requested a change in the Vapor Intrusion Screening Levels (VISL) in the DuPont/Pompton Lakes Works 2008 Work Plan. Specifically, they have requested that TCE be raised from 1ug/m3 to 2ug/m3 for indoor air testing and 11ug/m3 to 27 ug/m3 for sub-slab testing. As well as PCE to be raised from 1 ug/m3 to 9 ug/m3 for indoor air testing and 16 ug/m3 to 470 ug/m3 for sub-slab testing.  Now, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is considering this request without the required public notice, hearing, and input from the community.

Trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) are each listed in the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR) as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”.  USEPA’s own documents read that TCE is “highly likely to produce cancer in humans” and that PCE is a “likely human carcinogen.”  Studies linking exposure to these toxins to non-cancerous effects such as neurological, kidney, lung, and other damages are just as alarming.  Doubling the “acceptable” levels of TCE and increasing PCE’s levels 9xs for sub-slab and 27xs for indoor is unacceptable.

Since becoming involved with this site, USEPA has repeatedly asked the citizens of Pompton Lakes who live in the plume to trust them, and they promised to earn that trust. They also promised that VISL levels would remain the same, and yet this has proved to be another empty promise.

Despite USEPA calling the vapor mitigation program here an “interim remedial measure” under RCRA, the situation in Pompton Lakes has been ongoing since 2008 – long past even the most generous definition of “interim.” Any substantive change to the vapor intrusion work plan triggers a formal RCRA permit modification procedure and cannot be implemented via informal interim remedial measures. Since this site is being cleaned up under a RCRA PERMIT, EPA must comply with the RCRA PERMIT PROCEDURES.

Now we know that this threat is not short-term and we know that “ an actual…release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituent” has posed this threat, then why is USEPA still calling our plan “interim”? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that our systems have done nothing to solve the root problem.  They are only a Band-Aid intended to give us some small degree of protection until the USEPA, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and DuPont find a way to permanently remove the contaminants. And what price do the homeowners pay for this “protection”? Decreased home values are attributed to the glaring red flag implied by these systems that we were encouraged to have installed. In short, if we can find a buyer interested in living under the threat of continuous exposure to toxic waste, the selling price would be considerably less than a similar home without these systems.

By raising these levels, is it true that you now implying that these systems may never have been necessary to begin with?

USEPA is hiding behind terminology in order to avoid involving the public in any meaningful way. USEPA’s “open public meetings” are orchestrated, patronizing, and absurd. For example, repeating the same information each time from the beginning without having anything new to report is not fooling anyone. Furthermore, USEPA has continued to violate the good faith that we citizens have so patiently bestowed by issuing vague, optimistic promises, overseeing numerous failed pilot studies, minimizing reports of contaminants found in our schools, blaming homeowners for contaminants found in our homes, working to negotiate a more palatable deal with DuPont after they walked away from the lake cleanup, and ignoring concerns of our community over another “pilot study” i.e., the horizontal well plan and the potential flooding that it may bring.

USEPA should be protecting us, not negotiating with the polluter. DuPont has simply done the bare minimum to keep government agencies off their back for the last twenty-five years and avoided their responsibility to the community they have endangered. If the USEPA truly wants to regain the trust of our beleaguered community, they need to keep their promises and make DuPont do what’s right. They need to protect the people they are charged to protect by rejecting DuPont’s request.

Therefore, USEPA must become transparent on this important issue and make DuPont’s written request public immediately. We formally request an open public hearing with a stenographer that allows the public to comment on raising the contaminant levels in the DuPont / Pompton Lakes Work site 2008 Work Plan.  We want answers, and we have the legal right to be involved.

Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.  We look forward to receiving a formal response that addresses the issues outlined in this letter.  If you have any questions, we can be reached directly at info@pomptonlakescag.org or via phone at 973-979-4392.

Respectfully,

Pompton Lakes Community Advisory Group (PLCAG), P.O. Box 4

Pompton Lakes, NJ  07442 (phone contact:  973-979-4392)

Helen Martens

Karen Dean

Ruth Paez

Joseph Intintola, Jr.

Dana Patterson

Cheryl Rubino

Lisa Riggiola