By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE
August 16, 2008 10:03 pm
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Several property owners near Pfizer Inc. face more than water-damaged furniture or mold in walls from early June floods, but also potential contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in soil on their property.
The chemicals were flushed out when flooding caused a dam to breach at a former disposal lagoon at Pfizer Inc. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management took soil samples on 11 parcels, several along Jordan Creek, just west of Hultz Road, behind Richland Manor subdivision.
“We are expecting there to be remediation in areas along the creek. Based on preliminary results, we believe additional sampling should be done along additional areas of Jordan Creek, also,” said Amy Hartsock, a spokeswoman for IDEM.
“We have not commented to residents specifically on levels found in soil samples because our technical staff members are in the process of completing their final review and summary, however we have told residents that regulations require cleanup to one part per million, unless a risk-based approval is granted by IDEM and EPA,” Hartsock said.
A risk-base approval, Hartsock said, is a review that looks at use of the land, the potential exposure and duration of exposure, “different factors to determine if another clean-up standard would be appropriate and adequately protective.”
Initial soil tests from IDEM were made based on computer modeling and drainage maps that indicated the most likely area for sediments from the breached lagoon to be deposited by floodwaters, Hartsock said.
As further testing is done, IDEM will contact additional property owners “in that area for permission to access their property and to explain what we are doing,” Hartsock said.
Tests have been made on 11 parcels, with some of the 10 property owners saying they are waiting to see written test results to determine what they will do next.
The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the United States in 1977 because of studies showing a number of serious health effects related to exposure to them. PCBs have been used in coolants and lubricants in electrical, heat transfer and hydraulic equipment; as plasticizers that provided flexibility in paints, plastics and rubber products; in pigments, dyes and carbonless copy paper; and other uses.
LaNetta Alexander, environmental epidemiology director for the Indiana State Department of Health, said PCBs are not very soluble in water, but strongly adhere to soil and sediment. “There is not really a health hazard in terms of exposure, unless there is some intense handling of the soil or physically ingesting that soil,” Alexander said.
“Just avoiding contact with the contaminated soil will minimize any risk of health concerns. Walking [on land] is not an issue, because it adheres to the soil and is not very volatile, it will not be an issue from inhalation. The biggest concern is from skin contact or if you ingest the soil,” she said.
Ingesting soil could be a hazard for children playing. “If they are playing and wipe their hands off, that is fine, but if they are making mud pies and eat them, that is different,” she said.
Alexander said if landowners are not certain that their property will be part of IDEM’s investigation, “it is best not to disturb the soil. PCBs, while they have not been manufactured for several decades, they do still exist in the environment because they are very sturdy compounds and persistent in nature,” she said.
“That is why you will see advisories on fish, such as carp or catfish. We have advisories for certain water bodies [nationwide] in certain areas where there may had been historical concentration levels of PCBs,” she said.
While Keith Penman does not have property that was contaminated, he lives on Curry Drive near where the waters surged when a dam collapsed on Pfizer’s property. Jordan Creek already was swollen from floodwaters, he said, but not near what it became when Pfizer’s lagoon dam breached.
“When the water came out, it went from 40 yards wide to 150 yards wide, and went three feet over the top of [bared wire] fences” along Jordan Creek, he said.
“It looked like rolling asphalt — the water was light gray and black colored,” he said.
Penman said he has “argued” with Pfizer officials before over water seeping from wastewater ponds. Penman said he was told by company workers that any seepage was from groundwater, “but groundwater goes down in a drought,” Penman said.
Penman said he once trapped muskrats for Pfizer after a lagoon dam was damaged by the animals. He said the trapped animals he caught had abnormal clear spots on their fur. Penman rented a plane to fly over Pfizer’s site shortly after the June 7 flood to take photographs to see how the lagoons had been drained.
Earlier this week, Dorothy M. McLaughlin sat on the porch of her home on Hultz Road. About 10 feet away, the home’s concrete block foundation lay collapsed inward, as it did around much of the home.
McLaughlin, who since the flood has been living with her son in Rosedale, wanted to visit the home, not only to collect any stray mail, but as a way to spend just a short moment on her 79th birthday.
“I want some kind of compensation,” she said. “I like living here and prefer to have this cleaned up and let me live here again. I have lived here for about 52 years; 15 years in this house,” she said.
She had sold some of her nearby property to others after the death of her husband in 1990.
On June 7, McLaughlin remembers hearing “an awful noise” about 5:30 a.m. “I’ve had several trees fall on my house in the past, and I thought that was what had happened. I checked all the rooms and there was no damage. I went to the back door and opened it and water was already at the top of the step and coming into the house,” she said.
She used a land-line telephone to call 911 twice and her daughter once before the line went out, as water began seeping in through the floor. “It smelled like Pfizer. I know that smell. I’ve lived here more than 50 years and know that smell,” McLaughlin said.
She then waded through about 21⁄2 feet of water to put her dining room chairs on a table. She put two couch cushions on a chair by a window and waved a flashlight in case someone was trying to see here.
McLaughlin watched her door to see how fast water was rising. “The current of the water was so swift, I could not open the door. It took my propane tank. It’s across the street” and in some woods, she said.
Just when she wondered how she would get out of her house, the water started to recede.
“The water went down about as fast as it went up,” she said. “It wasn’t very long. I could get out on the deck by about 8:30 a.m.”
“The first thing my son said when he came here was something about the smell. He said, ‘That’s Pfizer’s smell and it is stronger then ever.’ I said to him, how can it be stronger with all the water we’ve had?”
McLaughlin said state officials told her and other neighbors “there is too much PCBs in the soil,” she said. “IDEM is supposed to meet with us about it.”
Don Archambeault, who lives adjacent to McLaughlin across Jordan Creek, walked along the bank of the creek, while McLaughlin sat on her porch. He looked at several small flags, marking where IDEM took soil tests. Archambeault said he was told by an IDEM official that PCB levels were significant, “but that means nothing. Verbal means nothing. I want to wait until I get the written report, something in writing” before taking any action.
Archambeault and his wife hired a person to assess where their property was affected, as well as an attorney in the event their property values are impacted.
A bridge over Jordan Creek to their property has been damaged and cannot support vehicles and must be replaced, Archambeault said. He had called IDEM in June, concerned about floodwaters affecting his water well. Tests from IDEM show their well water does not contain PCBs.
Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers said the company will work with IDEM and EPA to develop a plan for soil remediation, where needed, and “implement that as quickly as possible. Pfizer’s history is to take its environmental responsibility and the health of neighbors very seriously,” he said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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