American Beryllium pollution "lost in shuffle"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Tallevast warnings were lost in shuffle

DANA SANCHEZ and KEVIN O'HORAN
Bradenton Herald (FL)
May  21, 2004

TALLEVAST - Groundwater pollution from the former American Beryllium Co.
plant was reported to Manatee County's Environmental Management
Department in early 2000, three years before nearby residents were
informed, Lockheed Martin Corp. asserts.

Dan Batrack, project manager for Tetra Tech, the engineering firm that
found contamination at the plant, said reports of contamination were
sent to the county before and after the discovery of a sump pump leak at
the plant in 2001.

The claim brought a blunt denial by the county's top environmental
administrator, as well as a sharp rebuke on how many reports or
communications actually have made it to the county from Lockheed or the
company's consultant, Tetra Tech Inc.

"If they sent them, I don't know what happened to them," said Karen
Collins-Fleming, director of Manatee's environmental unit.

"What I have in my files is what I listed in my agenda package to the
board (Tuesday)," she added, referencing a list that covers four
documents - two letters and two reports.

The flap over reports and reporting is the latest in a line of
miscommunications between the company, the county and the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that oversees
pollution cleanup projects in the state.

Crews working for Lockheed initially reported finding pollutants at the
site in January 2000, slightly more than three years after the aerospace
giant bought the plant and others like it around the country in a $9
billion purchase of Loral Corp.'s defense and satellite holdings.

More interested in other Loral sites, Lockheed immediately closed the
Manatee plant at 1600 Tallevast Road and put it on the market. When WPI
Interconnect Products Inc. agreed to buy the facility, Lockheed agreed
to test for contamination - and clean any found.

And they found it. Petroleum in soil at the site, and beryllium,
chromium, trichloroethylene and others in groundwater there.

...

for the entire article, see
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/8718109.htm

-- 


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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