Rachel’s News #77, May 16, 1988
The Superfund program is in trouble. The massive federal program to clean up old dump sites is costing billions but is not achieving its goals, according to Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, project director for a study of Superfund being conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), an arm of the U.S. Congress.
The OTA “SUPERFUND IMPLEMENTATION STUDY” will be released next month. Dr. Hirschhorn says the goal of the study is “to understand whether there is a coherent, efficient, and effective national strategy for cleaning up contaminated sites.” He told Congress, “We have disturbing information to report…. Large amounts of money are being spent, and in too many cases little protection of public health and the environment is being obtained.”
Superfund is a federal program to clean up old toxic dump sites. The program is run by EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). In 1986 Congress set cleanup goals for the program, embodying them in the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) which requires “eliminating contamination from soil and groundwater expeditiously, effectively, permanently, and without transferring risk from one community to another.”
SARA clearly spelled out that EPA is supposed to use “permanent” cleanup methods “to the maximum extent practicable.” The law clearly intended to steer EPA away from its usual practice of digging up wastes at one leaking landfill and burying them in another landfill which would eventually begin to leak, a practise Dr. Hirschhorn calls “a shell game.” SARA was also clearly intended to prevent the EPA from relying on “containment” of wastes at existing sites; containment involves digging deep trenches in the ground around landfills and filling the trenches with wet clay (so-called “slurry walls”). Containment may also involve placing a clay cap over a landfill, to act as an umbrella to keep rain out, to reduce the likelihood that toxic wastes will be carried off-site by water. Obviously “containment” methods are not permanent remedies for toxic wastes–they simply put off the day when off-site contamination will occur, thus passing today’s problem on to our children.
Dr. Hirschhorn testified that by 1991 more than $10 billion will have been spent by the Superfund program. However, in 1987 (latest year for which data are available) 42% of remedial actions approved by EPA involved land disposal and containment, not permanent cleanup. Incineration-a permanent remedy–was approved in 19% of cases. Chemical solidification and stabilization was approved in 10%; however, as Dr. Hirschhorn told Congress, chemical solidification and stabilization “have not been proved to detoxify or destroy hazardous substances.”
To request a copy of the forthcoming OTA study, contact Dr. Hirschhorn at Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Washington, DC 20510-8025; phone (202) 228-6361. –Peter Montague
COURT CONVICTS MAN OF ‘KNOWING ENDANGERMENT’ IN DUMPING TOXICS
A Valley Stream, NY, man has been found guilty in federal court of “knowing endangerment”–knowingly placing another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury by illegally disposing of a hazardous waste. This is the first conviction of an individual for violating Sec. 3008e, the “knowing endangerment” clause of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The crime carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Albert Tumin of Valley Stream was convicted April 13 in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn; no date has been set for sentencing.
Mr. Tumin was convicted of having dumped three 55-gallon drums of ethyl ether (a highly flammable substance) in a vacant lot located in a densely-populated residential area of Rockaway, NY. Mr. Tumin had been under police surveillance from the time he purchased the chemical, which is sometimes used in the manufacture of illegal drugs. Assistant District Attorney Roger Marzulla of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) said DOJ “expects that this case will have an important deterrent effect on those who purposefully dump hazardous wastes in a fashion that endangers innocent people.”
For further information contact Public Affairs Office, DOJ, Room 1216, Ninth St. and Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Wash., DC 20530; phone (202) 633-1017. –Peter Montague
PHYSICIANS REPORT MENTAL HARM FROM ORGANIC SOLVENT EXPOSURE
Four physicians writing in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY have reported three clinical studies of patients who developed “recurrent symptoms that are indistinguishable from panic attacks” as a result of exposure to organic chemical solvents.
Panic attacks are a medically defined condition involving combinations of the following symptoms: confusion, disorientation, lightheadedness, cold sweats, dry mouth, palpitations of the heart, difficulty breathing, tremors, fatigue, lethargy, muscle cramps, chest tightness, weakness, and fear of dying. In each of the three reported cases, the panic attacks first began when the individuals were exposed to solvents on the job; the solvents involved were such things as methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, paint thinner and paint fumes.
After the initial attack, these individuals each reported subsequent attacks brought on by odors of common organic compounds like paints and gasoline. The subsequent panic attacks occurred with increasing intensity and became progressively disabling. However, within a few months in each case the attacks had ceased. The report makes the point that these panic attacks brought on by exposure to organic solvents were not dose-related.
These are examples of “ecological illness”–individual responses, perhaps something like an allergic reaction, to the presence of exotic synthetic chemicals in the environment. As exposure of the general public to chemicals increases, more such individual medical problems must be anticipated.
See Stephen R. Dager and others, “Panic Disorder Precipitated by Exposure to Organic Solvents in the Work Place,” AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, Vol. 144 (August, 1987), pgs. 1056-1058. Reprints available from Dr. Dager, ZA-99, Harborview Medical Center, 325 9th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104; phone (206) 223-3000. –Peter Montague
Descriptor terms: solvents; studies; findings; mental health; panic disorders; occupational safety and health; ecological illness; health; health statistics; wri; western research institute; groundwater; lasers; monitoring; sara; studies; findings; epa; joel hirschhorn; ota; congress; remedial action; trenches; landfilling; incineration; solidification; toxicity; investigations; trials; ny; enforcement; illegal dumping; hazardous waste; rcra; albert tumin; ethyl ether; roger marzulla; doj;
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Rachel’s News was published by Environmental Research Foundation (E.R.F.) from 1986 to 2009. All together, 1000 issues appeared. Unless otherwise noted, they were written by Peter Montague.
Over the years the name of the publication changed slightly, starting as “Hazardous Waste News,” then “Rachel’s Hazardous Waste News,” then “Rachel’s Environment & Health News” and finally “Rachel’s Democracy & Health News.” In this archive, we have simply used “Rachel’s News.”
E.R.F. changed its location over the years from Princeton, N.J., to Washington, D.C. to Annapolis, Md. and finally to New Brunswick, N.J.
To contact E.R.F. or Peter Montague, send email to pm8525@gmail.com.
