[CPEO-BIF] New York checks for vapors

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Long Island
State Checking Dozens of Sites for Hidden Contaminants

By JOHN RATHER
New York Times
February 5, 2006

WITH satellite photographs all over the Internet, images of Long Island 
as seen from above are only a few mouse clicks away. Views beneath the 
Island's surface and a clear picture of what may be seeping up and down 
are not so easy to come by.

The need for a better view of what is going on below ground has assumed 
new urgency in New York as environmental officials move to evaluate the 
threat of volatile chemical vapors rising into homes and businesses from 
contaminated soil and water — some at sites the state said had already 
been cleaned up.

The potential for contamination is far worse than state environmental 
officials previously believed, and homes could be at risk from vapors 
that can migrate from industrial and commercial sites where contaminants 
were dumped or spilled years or even decades ago. The chemicals most 
commonly found in the volatile vapors have been linked to health 
problems that include cancer, organ damage and birth defects, a state 
assemblyman's report says.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/05lifume.html

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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