TWO SUPERFUND SITES
AND AN EPA REVERSAL
Dayton, Ohio and Muskego, Wisconsin have reared up their heads to gain Waste Management Inc.'s (WMI) attention. Both have had Superfund sites that citizens believe are getting improper attention. Dayton won an EPA reversal and Muskego is suing WMI.
On January 2, 2001 two Muskego neighbors of the 56-acre landfill, closed since 1980, sued WMX and 14 other businesses for failing to stop groundwater, air and soil to be "fouled by a series of contaminants, including the carcinogen vinyl chloride," reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Ten other residents are considering entering the lawsuit before the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Attorney Stephen E. Kravit stated that the toxins could contaminate the municipal water supply. "Without a doubt, the range of this pollution affects more than the two sets of plaintiffs. ... We don't have any evidence to suggest that the municipal water supply is affected but it is heading in that direction," Kravit reported.
Waste Management denies any damage. They claim to have spent $12 million to protect the community. But University of Michigan Professor of Internal Medicine Joseph P. Lynch III disagrees. "I strongly believe that exposure to the contaminated landfill is a direct cause of the high incidence of cancers, liver and lung disorders in your environment. Continued exposure would place you and others at grave risk," stated Lynch.
In Dayton, WMI's
Valleycrest landfill has become Dayton's public issue number one! WMI, General
Motors and NCR gained approval from the new Bush EPA to stop the cleanup
of over 25,000 contaminated drums. But the EPA reversed its decision and the cleanup continues! A citizen action won.
First, Congressman Tony Hall and Mayoral candidate
Rhine McLin publicly supported the citizens who recently picketed NCR and
GM. Then present Republican Mayor Mike Turner supported continued cleanup and even met with President Bush and EPA Director Christine Whitman. Even the Dayton Daily News supported cleanup continuation. (See Semion op ed column) This citizen, media and bipartisan effort reversed the EPA and the corporate efforts of WMI, GM and NCR.
The EPA found in 1986 groundwater and soil samples with elevated levels of
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs). Valleycrest neighbors face cancer and the city faces the contamination
of its water supply from the valley's sole source aquifer. For more information
see the EPA and the Ohio Citizen sites.
Second update 4/28/01