[CPEO-MEF] Natick Labs (MA) PCB dispute

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Army urges no cleanup of lake

By Jon Brodkin
Metrowest Daily News (MA)
April 6, 2005


NATICK -- The U.S. Army wants to avoid a $2 million cleanup of toxic
chemicals the Natick Labs released into Lake Cochituate despite
objections from a high-ranking town official and a community activist
who accuse the Army of using insufficient research to downplay health
risks. 
     
Elevated levels of PCBs, a probable human carcinogen, have been found in
sediment and fish in Cochituate, raising concerns about the lake's
ecology and human health. The PCB contamination has been linked to
Natick Labs' activities, including a transformer explosion in the 1980s
and nearly 50 years worth of stormwater runoff from chemical storage
areas. 
     
A new Army analysis suggests the risk is minimal, a contention the Army
is using to justify its opinion that a cleanup is unnecessary. 
     
But the risk assessment is being challenged by Bob Bois, Natick's
conservation agent and environmental compliance officer, and Marco
Kaltofen, an environmental scientist who is co-chairman of the
Restoration Advisory Board, a committee that helps oversee the Natick
Labs Superfund cleanup. Both men said they are submitting comments to
the Environmental Protection Agency criticizing the Army's analysis. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=95083
-- 


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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