[CPEO-BIF] "Toxic cleanup begins at Le Roy [NY] site — 45 years later"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Toxic cleanup begins at Le Roy site — 45 years later

by Steve Orr,
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)
May 5, 2015


Hey, here's progress — a sizable cleanup action has begun at the site of a notorious chemical spill south of Rochester.

And it only took 45 years to get off the ground.

The spill, which occurred during a train derailment in December 1970, deposited roughly 30,000 gallons of toxic solvents into the soil and groundwater of rural Le Roy, Genesee County.

The history of the government response to the spill - one of the largest trichloroethylene releases on record in New York state - has a torturous one filled with long, long delays and missteps.

Two of them stand out: Crews who responded to the derailment used a fire hose to "wash away" the spilled TCE, which simply pushed it into in the groundwater and caused it to spread quickly to nearby drinking-water wells.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/05/05/belated-toxic-spill-cleanup-begins/26933719/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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