for more information:
Jason Groenewold (801) 364-5110
Mick Harrison (859) 321-1586
Craig Williams (859) 986-7565
for immediate release: Wednesday, October 25, 2000
The second round of laboratory results on the pile of Army munitions
casings and ton containers dumped off of I-80 and 7200 West show
a mixture of chemicals and heavy metals that citizen groups call
"alarming." Detectable levels of lead, arsenic, chromium
and other toxic organic compounds, some well over EPA regulatory
limits, were present.
Samples from the munitions casings and containers were taken by
Trina Allen, the former hazardous waste manager at the Tooele,
Utah chemical weapons incinerator who blew the whistle in 1997.
Last month Allen discovered the pile of munitions, which were
once filled with deadly nerve agent then were processed at the
Tooele incinerator, as she was driving into Salt Lake City over
the Labor Day weekend.
"The second lab results now show total levels of lead over
236,000 parts per million (ppm), which means theoretical levels
that could leach into the groundwater are over 11,800 ppm,"
said Allen. According to Allen, the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) maximum allowable limit for lead is 5 ppm. She also said
that according to the total waste analysis and sampling data for
the munitions casings, the leachate concentrations for Chromium
and Arsenic also exceed EPA's allowable limits. "It's disturbing
to me that Dennis Downs, Director of the Utah Division of Solid
and Hazardous Waste (DSHW), is going around saying that "you
would have to eat handfuls of this material for it to cause harm.'"
Allen said that an EPA representative, when provided with the
newspaper article in which Mr. Downs was quoted, was "astounded
by the remarks."
Since the samples were taken, Golden Eagle Refinery, Inc. (AKA
Valley Oil, Inc and Maple Oil, Inc)., the company contracted by
the Army to handle the munitions casings, has filed a lawsuit
against three individuals, a grassroots citizens group, and a
local TV station claiming trespass. The defendants filed their
response this week to Golden Eagle's claims that the sediments
which were taken are personal property. Golden Eagle is seeking
at least $30,000 from the defendants, which includes punitive
damages.
Meanwhile, Golden Eagle's environmental track record itself is
not clean. As recently as August of this year, the Utah DSHW issued
Golden Eagle a Notice of Violation for, among other things: falsified
dates on analytical reports; falsified flash point certification;
falsified inventory reports; withholding of records during an
audit; failure to adhere to analysis plans, and; failure to maintain
delivery manifests. No fines have yet been levied against the
company for these violations.
"To me, the only reason this lawsuit was filed was to try
and intimidate citizens and get us to back off from acting in
the public interest," said Jason Groenewold, Director of
the local Families Against Incinerator Risk (FAIR). Both Groenewold
and FAIR are named in the Golden Eagle lawsuit. "The state
legislature may want to reconsider passing anti-SLAPP suit legislation
to protect citizens from such absurd lawsuits." Groenewold
said a "SLAPP" suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation) is defined as a meritless suit brought by private
interests to deter common citizens from exercising their political
or legal rights or reporting things like violations of law. He
said the purpose of such suits is not to win them, but to intimidate
opponents.
On a related note, the Army has suddenly requested temporary authorization
to "use additional treatment steps and waste management options"
on certain chemical agent contaminated ton containers. The Army
claims to have recently found two such ton containers which contain
"high concentrations of heavy metals [including mercury]."
The request also notes that, "the [Tooele incinerator] suspects
that many other ton containers may have similar problems."
"The public has every right to question the safety of the
munitions pile on I-80 since the Army has found high heavy metals
concentrations in its ton containers," said environmental
lawyer Mick Harrison. "Wastes from the Tooele incinerator
are being shipped around the country to places like Geneva Steel,
with levels of lead which alone are dangerous to human health
and the environment. The wastes sitting near I-80 need to be contained
and cleaned up immediately, and these improper practices need
to be stopped."
Lead is one of the most thoroughly tested heavy metals. It has
been proven to cause learning disorders and brain damage in children.
Lead has been banned from use in household paints and gasoline
for decades because of its toxic effects on human health. Similar
affects have been found for mercury exposure.
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