Environmental regulators tell parents “we believe your kids are safe”!
HRI holds forum on Hill 78 /Hill 71
DPH says no PCBs on air filters yet filters given to an independent lab test positive
On Monday Dec. 12 The Housatonic River Initiative held a forum on PCBs and Your Health. Over 120 people attended the event at the Pittsfield Athenaeum. Dr. David Carpenter presented results of his recently published study of hazardous waste sites in New York State. He also discussed results of air filters HRI obtained from the intakes at the controversial Allendale Elementary School.
The growing mound of PCBs at General Electric’s high level dumps known as “hill 78″ and “area 71″ has teachers and neighbors very upset. They maintain that dust blowing off of the dumpsite has been blowing around students during playground sessions and coating the insides of their homes and cars. These concerns as well as concerns of inadequate monitoring has pushed the EPA, Mass. DEP, and the Mass. Department of Public Health into further testing.
The controversy has arisen as the DPH inside air testing of the filters showed no detectable levels of PCBs. The filters HRI took to the state of the art PCB lab at the State University of New York showed opposite results. Dr.David Carpenter has run this lab for years. Both filters tested at SUNY had levels of PCBs at .12 Parts pr million and .14 parts per million. It is well known that congener specific testing for PCBs is much more sophisticated than the method the DPH’s contracted lab was able to perform. Congener testing is more costly. A new meeting is scheduled on January 5th at the Berkshire Athenaeum at 5:30 to discuss the results.
In a moment of transparency the DPH, the city, the school administration, teachers, school employees, and HRI agreed to save the next batch of filters and to split samples. All of the filters were removed secretly from the school the weekend they were supposed to be shared for sampling. The school administration and the city leaders declared it was a mistake! The state Department of Public health has never offered to shared the filters with the public since. So much for transparency!
about Dr. David Carpenter
Dr. David Carpenter is an internationally recognized expert in PCBs and public health. He is a neurotoxicologist and professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Toxicology in the School of Public Health at State University of New York, Albany. He has worked successfully with many communities across the country to help them assess the degree of human exposure to a range of contaminants, including vast experience with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).
Dr. Carpenter has been an editorial advisor to many scientific journals, hosted a 170 station syndicated Public Health Radio Show, and former Chair of the School of Public Health at SUNY Albany. Prior to joining the University at Albany, Dr. Carpenter was a Research Physician at the Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research. Dr. Carpenter received his M.D. at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He has 220 publications, 37 reviews and book chapters and 12 other publications to his credit.
“how can city leaders allow two large toxic dumps next to an elementary school?” - Dr. Lois Gibbs
Lois Gibbs, known as the mother of Love Canal and founder and executive director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) also spoke. She has been at the forefront of the environmental movement in the United States for over two decades. Her organization is currently conducting a “Be Safe” in schools campaign. In 1978 Gibbs, a housewife with two young children, became concerned about reports of chemical waste in her neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York.
She wondered if her children’s unusual health problems and those of her neighbors were connected to their exposure to leaking chemical waste. Gibbs later discovered that her neighborhood sat on top of 21,000 tons of buried chemical waste, the now infamous Love Canal. She is the recipient of an honorary Doctorate from SUNY at Cortland, New York, the 1990 Goldman Environmental Prize, the 1998 Heinz Award, and the 1999 John Gardner Leadership Award from Independent Sector. The evening was Co-sponsored by the Berkshire Environmental Action Team and the Housatonic Environmental Action League.
more about Hill 78
To learn about Hill 78:
read our Summer 1999 newsletter
and also go to our photo gallery
and look at the Allendale section.
Tags: 4 Comments
4 responses so far ↓
I have lived in the Berks for 10 years and have read about Hill 78 in Pittsfield countless times. I was shocked a few weeks ago when I saw an ariel shot of Hill 78 on front page of the Eagle. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blue tarps and tires while driving on Merrill road. I finally took a drive through this nice little neighborhood and found the school, then followed the “blue” in the background and parked. Unbelievable. Seriously, where is the friggin’ outrage? Wow.
Hi Roberto
Hill 78 is an outrage. On the other side of the power plant is another high level PCB dump. Hill 78 has no liner and is totally exposed to Pittsfield groundwater. The nearby aquifer has tested positive for PCBs.
Tim, thanks for your response and great job on the site. I can’t wait for the Spring to come so I can take my kids to the school and play. Seriously… why is the city of Pittsfield allowing this to continue? I know that is a sit down discussion and it’s all about politics and $$$, but I’ll take the short answer. I am going to retire soon and take up this cause with you full time.
jj If you go to HRI newsletter you will find more on Hill 78
http://www.housatonic-river.com/summer99.php