Summary for Friday February 12th

Today, we looked at the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (aka the Superfund act of 1980). We started with a look at the two events that were largely responsible for spurring the grassroots movements that eventually resulted in passing of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1972) and the Clean Water Act (1977)- namely, the 1969 Santa Barbra (CA) oil spill and the 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River (Cleveland, OH). Likewise, the Superfund Act of 1980 followed public outcry over the higher rates of birth defects and miscarriages for the inhabitants of Love Canal, a community in Niagara, NY that was built over top of a toxic waste dump. You should be able to describe, at a very basic level, how the Superfund program works, the three goals of the Superfund Act and the relative success of the act in achieving these goals. You should also be familiar with the following: SARA (1986), NPL, proposed, final, and deleted sites, and be able to name our nations most prolific polluter.

We then looked through the instructions for your homework for this weekend. I look forward to reading what you all find.

We finished with a look at the Velsicol Chemical Corp. Superfund Site in St. Louis (MI), the closest Superfund site to my home of Deerfield Township. You should be able to describe the Velsicol site with regard to the following:

1. What is your hometown?

Mount Pleasant, MI

2A. What is the name of the Superfund site that is closest to your hometown?

Velsicol Chemical Corp. Superfund Site

2B. What is the location (city and state) of the site?

St. Louis, MI

2C. How many miles away is it?

about 20 miles

2D. What is the Internet address for the main homepage for this site at EPA.gov?

http://www.epa.gov/region5superfund/npl/michigan/MID000722439.htm

3. How would you describe the owner or former owner of this site?

H. Industrial- chemical

4. Briefly describe the type of activities that led to the pollution at this site. For instance- if it is an industrial site, what is/was being manufactured? if it is a mine, what is/was being mined?

The former owner of the site was a chemical manufacture that produced DDT (a biocide) polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) (a fire retardant sold under the name FireMaster), hexabromobenzene (HBB) (another fire retardant), and various other chemicals (particularly a cattle feed additive called NutriMaster)

5. Does the contamination at this site involve a leaking underground storage tank (UST)?

B. No

6. List the contaminant(s) of concern that have been identified at this site.

DDT
chlorobenzene
carbon tetrachloride
trichloroethylene (TCE)
polybrominated biphenyl (PBB)
hexabromobenzene (HBB)
copper
chromium
zinc
magnesium

7. Why are these contaminants dangerous to humans and/or to the environment? (list the contaminant and then list the heath/environmental concerns)

DDT- Diabetes, developmental and reproductive toxicity, possible carcinogen, persistent, bio accumulating, environmental pollutant linked to egg-shell thinning
chlorobenzene- Liver or kidney problems
carbon tetrachloride- Liver problems; increased risk of cancer
trichloroethylene (TCE)- Liver problems; increased risk of cancer
polybrominated biphenyl (PBB)- nausea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, joint pain, lethargy, skin problems, weight loss, skin disorders, nervous and immune systems effects, liver, kidneys, and thyroid gland dysfunction, early menarche, possible carcinogen
hexabromobenzene (HBB)- Increased liver-to-body weight ratio; increased liver porphyrins (in lab rats)
copper- Short term exposure: Gastrointestinal distress- Long term exposure: Liver or kidney damage
chromium- Allergic dermatitis

8. What are the potential pathways for the contaminants at this site and local water resources? Is the site near a body of surface water? Is is up river or uphill from a populated area?

The site is located in a small town on the Pine River. The river has a no consumption advisory for all species and the spread of contaminants from this site via the river have been well-documented. Groundwater well for the town of St. Louis contain extremely rare chemicals that are only created during the manufacturing of DDT demonstrating the effective travel of contaminants from this site via groundwater as well.

9. What has been done/is being done/has been proposed to "clean up" the site or limit the further spread of the contaminants at this site into local ground or surface water?

An initial round of mitigation involved the construction of an impermeable cap over the site to prevent infiltration of precipitation and a slurry wall to detour the movement of groundwater through the site. After initial mitigation proved to be ineffective, contaminated soil had to be removed from the site. This involved dewatering of the Pine River.

10. What was the/is the estimated clean-up cost associated with this site?

The State of Michigan sued Velsicol and Farm Bureau Services, Inc. for $119 million to cover costs incurred by the state in destroying ~2,000,000 PBB-contaminated farm animals over a five-year period. Estimated cost of clean-up is $400 million

11. Pretend that you have to provide a sound bite for the main stream media around this site. Summarize the information that you have learned in no more that three sentences using language and concepts that could be understood by someone who reads at an 8th grade level.

In 1973, the Velsicol Chemical Corporation shipped several thousand pounds of PBB mislabeled as a nutritional feed additive for livestock that led to the eventual culling of 2 million farm animals over five years. The subsequent investigation into the St. Louis, MI plant revealed massive amounts of pollution including DDT, chlorobenzene, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene (TCE), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), hexabromobenzene (HBB), copper, and chromium (levels of DDT in the soil at site measured up to 32,000ppm and 222 tons of DDT were removed from the site). The area has been so effectively polluted that the Pine River downstream from the site has Michigan's only fish consumption advisory for all species; cleanup costs are estimated at $400 million dollars.

OK, so maybe my sentences where a little bit long. Hopefully, you all can do better.

12. Before this assignment, had you heard of this site?

This site is locally famous for the accidental packaging of FireMaster flame retardant in NutriMaster bags which were then distributed throughout the state. This was perhaps the largest livestock culling in US history and this sort of thing tends to get people's attention. It was also the inspiration for the fictional movie Bitter Harvest. Most people, however, do not know about the additional pollution at the site. Even many of the people who drink the polluted municipal well water are unaware of the site.

The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.

Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.