The Acreage Cancer Study

Hi Everyone,

Today's blog will be short and sweet due to some computer problems, but we apologize for the delay.

We hope you were able to tune into the Dr. Oz show yesterday. The show was great. If you were unable to see the show, we will post video online shortly.

In addition to the show, the Dr. Oz website has posted some great information about cancer clusters. Below is a short blurb and a link to view the full article.

We hope you have a great day!

Dr. Oz Article:

Identifying Cancer Clusters

One of the first questions people faced with a cancer diagnosis askis, "What caused this?", especially when it strikes young children whodon't typically get cancer. Sometimes you learn why; a DNA defect couldforeshadow certain types of colon cancer for instance, or an unhealthybehavior such as smoking jacked up your risk. But it could also besomething lurking in the environment, a carcinogen that has entered thewater supply, soil or the air where we live, work, play or attendschool.

Government agencies track the number and type of cancers thattypically occur, so they have a pretty good idea of what to expect in agiven group of people every year. So when the number of cancerdiagnoses in a community creeps up inexplicably, a red flag goes up anda cancer cluster is suspected.

But before the government gets wind of this suspicion, it has to bereported. And that is usually the result of a hunch: A mother learnsher son has a rare brain tumor and a few miles cross-town she hearsthere is another case; or coworkers at a plant are struck down with thesame rare cancer.

While an up in cancer cases could be a random occurrence, it mayalso be caused by an outside source. Getting to that source takes aperceptive eye, coupled with the tenacity of a group of people, theexpertise of medical professionals, and the willingness of governmentagencies to intervene and investigate it fully.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Palm Beach County requests more information on fill used in The Acreage

By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:56 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Palm Beach County Commissioners are drafting a letter to county health officials to request more information about material used as fill on residential properties in The Acreage and how it is produced and monitored.

Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson said Tuesday he will send the letter this week to County Health Director Alina Alonso.The action by commissioners was spurred by a Palm Beach Post story Sunday in which Acreage residents complained about the content of the fill and what they saw as inadequate monitoring by health officials.

"We want to get more information," Aaronson said. "We want to know what is being thrown into that fill. We have to decide if greater restrictions are needed."

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

Today is the big day. The Dr. Oz show will air it's Acreage special today on Channel 5, WPTV at 3:00 p.m. in West Palm Beach. The show airs at 10 a.m. on Channel 10 in Broward and Miami/Dade. If you cannot tune in, fear not, we will post video of the show on the website for your convenience.

The Acreage is now receiving national attention! Our hope is that this attention will only help this community receive answers to its growing list of questions.

To view a preview of the Dr. Oz show, Click Here.

Also, to check out Dr. Oz on Fox News, Click Here.

Below are several articles of interest for you to review.

Have a great day.

Deal to Save Everglades May Help Sugar Firm

By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and DAMIEN CAVE

Published: March 7, 2010

When Gov. Charlie Crist announced Florida’s $1.75 billion plan to save the Everglades by buying out a major landowner, United States Sugar, he declared that the deal would be remembered as a public acquisition “as monumental as the creation of the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

Standing amid the marshes at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in June 2008, Mr. Crist said, “I can envision no better gift to theEverglades, the people of Florida and the people of America — as we as our planet — than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration.”

Nearly two years later, the governor’s ambitious plan to reclaim the river of grass, as the famed wetlands are known, is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar.

The proposal was downsized only five months after it was announced. By April 2009, amid the deepening recession, the state said it could afford to purchase only 72,800 acres of United States Sugar’s land, for $536 million. The company would stay in business and the state would retain the option of buying the remaining 107,000 acres at a future date.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Region's sewer: Grand Cal faces long recuperation Water quality better, but dredging toxic sediment required

March 8, 2010

BY GITTE LAASBY

GARY-- The Grand Calumet River has the most problems of any river in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Cleanup has progressed slowly since the river was designated as one of the nation's worst in 1987.

Locals say it could take several decades before the river is restored to its pre-industrial state and can be a source of recreation for region residents, but several proposals are in the works.

Historically, industry and municipalities in the region used the river as a sewer for their waste. For about a century, steel mills and treatment plants have spewed untold amounts of heavy metals, pesticides, bacteria and pollutants that can cause cancer in humans into the river.

Today, elevated levels of mercury, lead, cadmium and polychlorinated biphenyls lie buried in the Grand Cal to a depth of up to 11.5 feet below ground surface, according to the EPA. The river also has problems with oil and grease and too little oxygen. EPA estimates that the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal contain 5 million to 10 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment up to 20 feet deep.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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This Information Brought To You By The CDC:

Ground Water Awareness Week

Clean water is one of the world's most precious resources. Peopleuse water every day for a variety of reasons, such as drinking,bathing, recreation, agriculture, cooling, and industry. Although waterplays an essential role in every person's life, many individuals arenot aware that much of their water comes from the ground in the form ofground water. National Ground Water Awareness Week, an annual observance sponsoredby the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), is March 7-13, 2010.The focus of this week is to stress the importance of yearly watertesting and well maintenance. This year NGWA is asking people to payparticular attention to their well caps by proclaiming March 9th"National Inspect-Your-Well-Cap-Day" to encourage well owners to dothis simple, yet essential, inspection (1).

Ground Water Contamination

Groundwater is water that is located below the surface of the earth in spacesbetween rock and soil. Ground water supplies water to wells and springsand is a substantial source of water used in the United States. Thirtypercent of all available freshwater comes from ground water (2), which supplies a significant amount of water to community water systems and private wells (3).

Protecting ground water sources from contamination is an importantpriority for countries throughout the world, including the UnitedStates. Most of the time, ground water sources in the United States aresafe to use and not a cause for worry. However, ground water sourcescan become contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites, andchemicals that can lead to sickness and disease.

Ground water contaminants sometimes occur naturally in theenvironment (for example, arsenic and radon), but are more often theresult of human activities. These activities include incorrect use offertilizers and pesticides, poorly constructed or maintained septicsystems, septic systems located too close to drinking water sources,improper disposal or storage of wastes, and chemical spills atindustrial sites (4).

For more information, Click Here.

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Residents Scared by Local Cancer Study

March 8, 2010

Chicago Tribune

By Jared S. Hopkins

Like many residents of Crestwood, Frank Caldario has been worried about the water he drank for years without knowing it was contaminated.

Caldario’s concerns, however, were heightened when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year.

The 30-year-old office worker said surgeons removed a gumball-size tumor and about 40 percent of his right kidney.

“I can’t help but wonder if what happened to me had something to do with the water,” said Caldario, who doesn’t smoke and has lived in Crestwood since 1993.

“It’s just unreal for someone my age to get that,” he said.

After the state released a report Friday that found toxic chemicals in Crestwood’s drinking water could have contributed to elevated cancer rates in the village, residents said they were worried about their families’ health, the impact on their property values and footing the bill to defend public officials who may be responsible.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a nice weekend. Now, it is back to work!

Reminder: Don't forget to tune in tomorrow, March 9th at 3:00 on WPTV in West Palm Beach for the Dr. Oz show. The Acreage will be a featured topic on the show. For a pre-view, Click Here.

Below are several articles for you to review. Enjoy!

Palm Beach County commissioner Santamaria criticized for not attending cancer cluster meeting

By George BennettPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:35 p.m. Sunday, March 7, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria's decision to skip a meeting here on Acreage cancer concerns could emerge as an issue if he seeks reelection this year.

Santamaria opted not to trek to the state Capitol after Gov. Charlie Crist's office denied his request for a face-to-face meeting with the guv to discuss higher-than-normal childhood cancer rates in The Acreage in Santamaria's district.

With Santamaria back home, Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson and other five other local elected officials met Wednesday with Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros, Environmental Protection Director Mike Sole and top Crist aides.

Indian Trail Improvement District President Michelle Damone, who attended the meeting, said Santamaria "should have been here. It was disappointing."

Damone, a Democrat, says she's thinking of running for fellow Dem Santamaria's seat. She says Santamaria has "neglected" The Acreage.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Anxiety in The Acreage over demolition fill with little public safety monitoring

By John Lantigua

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:50 p.m. Sunday, March 7, 2010

THE ACREAGE — For years, Joe Gagne worried about the fill he saw dumped on properties around his in The Acreage.

Aveteran of the solid waste disposal business, Gagne would stop his carand run his fingers through the material being hauled in, dump truckafter dump truck. Used to build up low-lying properties, it was mostlysoil. But in it he found nails, screws, wallboard, wood, plastic,glass, insulation and Styrofoam.

Gagne knew the fill came largely from demolition and construction sites, and he had concerns. But thestuff didn't appear to be doing any harm and he didn't make waves.

Then last year he learned that an unusual number of local children had been diagnosed with brain tumors. Gagne, who has a 13-year-old daughter, attended a public meeting. While most residents voiced concerns about the well water, he raised his fears about the fill.

"At first I kept my mouth shut," he says, "but now it's gotten personal."

He wasn't alone. At another meeting, surveyor Ken Osborne, also of The Acreage, held up a plastic bag brimming with fill.

"I own a tractor and a neighbor who bought this fill hired me to spread it for him," Osborne later said. "After a while the tractor got a flat tire. I fixed it and it got another flat tire. I got out and started running my hands through this stuff and it was full of all kinds of junk. At one point I found a crushed hypodermic needle.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA frac'ing study welcomed in Garfield County 

John Colson

Glenwood Springs correspondent

Aspen, CO Colorado

Sunday, March 7, 2010

GARFIELD COUNTY — Oil and gas industry supporters and critics alike say they welcome an impending federal study of the chemicals that go into the controversial mixture known as “frac'ing, fluids,” although for somewhat different reasons.

Industry critics believe the study will show that chemicals from the procedure already have contaminated some drinking water supplies, and that the practice should be regulated by federal agencies.

Industry supporters, on the other hand, hope the study will confirm what they've been saying for years — that frac'ing (pronounced fracking) poses no hazards to human health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to take a closer look atthe use of chemicals in the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or frac'ing, which involves the injection of massive amounts of mostly water and sand deep into well bores to free up the oil and gas.

Oil and gas industry experts say the process is critical to tapping intodeeply buried and tightly locked deposits of hydrocarbons, which heat  homes, run engines and are used in countless other ways by modern humanity. And, they say, there has never been proof presented that frac'ing caused groundwater contamination.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

It is finally Friday. Thank goodness! In celebration of the end of this fine week, today's post will be nice and short. As always, if more information arises regarding the Acreage, we will post it right here for your convenience.

Below are several articles of interest for your reading pleasure. We hope you enjoy them.

Have a great weekend!

Health officials, authors of University of West Florida cancer cluster study to meet

By Mitra MalekPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 2:00 p.m. Friday, March 5, 2010

State and federal health officials plan to meet Wednesday with theauthors of a recently published study that contends a childhood braincancer cluster spans most of southern Florida.

The meeting, inTallahassee, will discuss confidential health information and won't be open to the public, Florida Department of Health Spokeswoman Susan Smith said today.

State health officials have declined to discussthe study to date. One of its authors said this week that the state health department hadn't contacted his team since it released an onlineversion of its findings in January.

Smith earlier this week had offered limited comments on the report, saying its data analysis methods are "relatively new and untested" and that "independent researchers will use this report to identify areas that require additional study using more traditional methods to verify the university's hypothesis."

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Should FL believe new map?

By Cynthia Washam

3/4/2010 © Health News Florida

A new study by a team of North Florida researchers that suggests an elevated risk of pediatric cancer in two large swaths of Florida isdrawing skepticism from many epidemiologists.

One of the two zones, which takes up most of the lower third of thestate, has a risk 52 percent higher than that in most of the state, theresearchers said. A risk zone in the north of the state is somewhatweaker, they said.

“We’re very concerned about what’s going on in our state,” said co-author Chatchawin Assanasen, pediatric hematologist/oncologist with the Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research in Pensacola.“Clusters of this size are unusual.”

The results, which appeared Jan. 6 in the online version of the medical journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer, are just too unusual to give many epidemiologists confidence in them.

One who tried to replicate the study and couldn’t is epidemiologist Jill MacKinnon, director of the Florida Cancer Data System at the University of Miami. Her program has a contract with the Department of Health (DOH) to collect data on all cancer cases in Florida.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Experts: Study showing high cancer rates across southern Florida doesn't debunk Acreage cluster

By Mitra MalekPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 8:05 a.m. Friday, March 5, 2010

A study that identifies the bottom third of Florida as a massive brain cancer cluster has set off a firestorm among Acreage residents worried about their community's reputation.

They insist the report, which surfaced on the Internet last month, is proof that cancer isn't a problem solely for their central Palm Beach County community, where health officials last month declared a cluster of cases among children and teenagers.

They have besieged state legislators, health officials and anyone else who could change the local designation or spread word of the report.

But in interviews, the study's authors say their findings don't discredit the state's cluster designation in The Acreage.

What's more, The Acreage's cluster is part of what's pushing up rates throughout southern Florida in the new study, said Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist and professor of environmental health at Boston University.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Health officials in 1980s warned of health hazards in Acreage 

March 04, 2010 8:07 PM

Al Pefley  

Tonight, an I-Team Investigation reveals there was possible ground contamination discovered years ago in the Acreage.

It happened long before the pediatric cancer cluster was ever confirmed.

A new report shows state health officials likely knew about environmental contamination in the Acreage decades ago.

We just got our hands on a report that shows authorities knew there was a problem.

They were asking about contamination then, and they are asking about it today.

 The report is dated October 1988.

And it basically says investigators determined that Pratt andWhitney, located just miles from the Acreage, had contaminants thatposed a human health threat. This week, health officials are takingsoil samples, looking for the cause of the Acreage cancer cluster.

But this report points the finger at Pratt and Whitney as one possible source.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Death by Study  Scientists keep fighting to explain high instances of childhood leukemia in Sierra Vista—even as the government has given up

By Tim Vanderpool

It's late in the day, and I'm on the phone with Pat Durkit. We have never met. But immediately I know this: She's one of those people whose steadfast pleasantness is actually brute resistance, a refusal to accept just how hideous the world can become.

Consider the details: In 2001, Durkit's granddaughter, Jessica, then 2 years old, was diagnosed with leukemia. In 2004, Jessica'shalf-sister in Phoenix, Kellie, was given the same diagnosis.

Their father and Pat's son, Dale Durkit, a heavy-equipment operatoron Sierra Vista's Fort Huachuca Army base, grew obsessed with finding acause for the disease. There is a reason for this: By then, at least 12Sierra Vista children had developed the ugly affliction that ravages their fledging blood and bone marrow. (See "Cancer Wars," Feb. 12,2004, and "For the Kids," May 18, 2006.)

Since then, the cluster continues, with one case in 2006 and another a year later. Four years ago, after much prodding, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined Arizona's Department of Health Services to investigate the cancer cluster.

Government scientists came up with nothing. Many people were not surprised by this. Disappointed? Yes, bitterly so. But not surprised.

In the spring of 2007, Dale was picking up railroad ties at work. One tumbled onto his hand and shin. He didn't even turn in workers'compensation papers; it was just a scrape. But the scrape grew infected, and the infection spun out of control.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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NH says Conn. River tritium levels undetectable

March 4, 2010

MONTPELIER, Vt.—New Hampshire authorities say water samples taken from the Connecticut River near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant show no detectable levels of  tritium, the radioactive isotope leaking from Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Martin Luther King School opens in Trenton after cancer-causing soil delayed opening for years

Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010

By L.A. PARKER

TRENTON — Local leaders joined  kids yesterday to cut the ribbon on the $68 million new Martin Luther King Jr. School, a project delayed for years by the need to remove 36,000 pounds of dangerous soil used as fill at the site.

Some of the neighborhood activists who protested about the soil fiasco five years ago applauded at the ceremony, which was hosted by Mayor Doug Palmer and several of the King School’s best and brightest youngsters.

Situated at Southard Street and Brunswick Avenue, the school opens to 700 students on Monday. In addition to a modern cafeteria, the school has art and music rooms, two science labs, two computer labs, atelevision studio, a gymnasium and a media center.

Superintendent of Schools Rodney Lofton praised those who mounted a protest after the potentially cancer-causing soil was found on the site early in the construction.

“It took an entire community to step forward and say, ‘You know what. We’re not going to accept what some people say we should accept,’” said Lofton. “They stood up for the brightest and best students this city has to offer.”

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

We hope you are having a nice week; luckily it is almost coming to a close. This post will be short and sweet. Below are a few articles of interest for you to review. We hope you enjoy them!

Have a great day.

State promises office in Acreage, more testing to deal with cancer cluster

By George Bennett Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:25 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — Top Florida officials today pledged more testing and better communication — including the opening of a storefront information center — as they try to determine a reason for higher-than-normal levels of childhood cancer in The Acreage.

Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros told Palm Beach County leaders that the state will open a walk-in office this month at a Publix shopping center on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road for residents to get information and ask questions. The office will include an administrative assistant and a nurse trained in epidemiology.

Viamonte Ros, who heads the Florida Department of Health, also said she has enlisted the help ofthe federal Centers for Disease Control, the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.

"We want the best minds on this and the best information possible," she said.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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New soil, water testing for The Acreage

Reported by: Tim Malloy

Email: tmalloy@wptv.com

Last Update: 7:08 pm

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL-- The State Department of Environmental Protection will take 150 new soil samples in The Acreage and take 50 new water samples in homes in the area where a cancer cluster was detected.

It's the kind of accelerated investigation the community has been demanding.

In attendance at a Tallahassee meeting with the Florida's Surgeon General and representatives of Governor Charlie Crist and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, was Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson who said, "I'm not worried about the tax base I'm really worried about people. I want them to be able to sleep at night."

Local officials, long impatient for good news came out the meeting pleased. "The state surgeon general seems to be on point and we're really moving the testing along," said St. Rep. Joe Abruzzo of District 85.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Cancer scare stalling home sales in The Acreage

March 03, 2010 By: Polyana da Costa

Steven Thibodeau

About four years after Steven Thibodeau built his dream house in the quiet Acreage community in western Palm Beach County, he suffered a seizure and was rushed to a hospital. He learned he had a brain tumor and needed immediate surgery.

At the time, he didn’t think his cancer was an environmental issue, but as area residents began questioning the high number of cancer cases in the community, the father of three daughters age 2, 4 and 15 quickly put his house up for sale.

Health officials recently confirmed the existence of a cancer cluster, whichThibodeau said is within a 5-mile radius of his house. Its cause isunknown.

Thibodeau was asking $379,000 for his house last year. Knowing he’d have a tough time selling in an already distressed market and not wanting to damage his 820 credit score, he contacted his lenders to work out a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure.

But Thibodeau said his lenders said that a “natural calamity,” such as a high concentration of cancer cases in an area, did not warrant a short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure and said he should apply for a mortgage modification.

Instead, last month, Thibodeau moved out of the Acreage home he’d lived in for seven years and is renting a place in Wellington. “Wouldn’t you do the same?” Thibodeau asked, noting that his home is four lots away from a house were a child who was also stricken with cancer lives.

“This is a situation you don’t want to be in. My children come first. My wife comes first.”

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA adds Brooklyn canal to Superfund list

Mar 2, 2010 4:47 PM (23 hrs ago)

By DAVID B. CARUSO, AP

NEW YORK (Map, News) - For at least 120 years, New York City officials have been promising to do something about the oily, smelly mess that is Brooklyn's Gowanus canal.

Now, federal authorities will see if they can do a better job of cleaning up one of the city's most polluted waterways.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday named the Gowanusas a Superfund site, a distinction that allows the government to go after polluters and force them to pay for the canal's restoration. The EPA has said the cleanup could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The agency made the designation over the objections of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had criticized the federal program as too slow and preferred analternative plan in which the city would supervise the cleanup itself.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA Proposes to Add Dewey Loeffel Landfill to Federal Superfund List; Major PCB Problem Continues to Affect Rensselaer County Communities

Release date: 03/02/2010

Contact Information: Kristen Skopeck (518) 747-4389, skopeck.kristen@epa.gov

(New York, NY) The U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) today announced that it is proposing to add theDewey Loeffel Landfill in Rensselaer County, NY, to its SuperfundNational Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites.The landfill is contaminated with hazardous substances, includingpotentially cancer-causing PCBs. Building on the cleanup work that hasalready been done by the New York State Department of EnvironmentalConservation (NYSDEC), EPA will conduct an evaluation of thecontamination and develop a plan to clean it up. The Dewey LoeffelLandfill site, located in southern Rensselaer County approximately fourmiles northeast of the Village of Nassau, consists of an area wherehazardous waste was dumped in the past and nearby water bodies thathave also become contaminated by pollutants that have migrated from thesite. EPA is inviting the public to comment on the proposed addition ofthe landfill to the Superfund list.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA adds 2 Ill. sites to Superfund priorities list

BY KAREN HAWKINS and JIM SUHR; Associated Press Writers

Published: 03/03/1012:47 pm

CHICAGO – The Environmental Protection Agency has added a cluster of waste-disposal sites in Chicago and a former copper smelter in southern Illinois to its list of Superfund locations, allowing the government to go after polluters and force them to pay up for cleanup.

The 87-acre Lake Calumet Cluster in Chicago and the former Chemetco smelterin Madison County near St. Louis were among 10 the EPA added this week to its Superfund National Priorities List. The listing will enable the EPA to continue its investigation into the contamination's extent and pinpoint the best way to deal with it.

The Lake Calumet Cluster, made up of four separate parcels on Chicago's southeast side, is surrounded by wetlands, landfills and railroad tracks. The cluster site was also wetlands before industrial and chemical waste and steel millslag were dumped there from the 1940s to the 1970s, leaving behind a host of contaminants including arsenic, cyanide and benzene.

"A lot of this contamination was created before there was an EPA, state or federal," said Maggie Carson, spokeswoman for Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

"It's been an issue for literally decades," she said.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

Below are a few articles of interest for you to review. Please feel free to share your comments on the Forum.

Have a great day.

TV's 'Dr. Oz' set to air program with Acreage cancer cluster families

By Mitra MalekPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 9:13 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, 2010

THE ACREAGE — A nationally syndicated television program plans to feature The Acreage's ongoing cancer cluster investigation during an episode airing March 9.

The Dr.Oz Show is expected to devote half of its one-hour program to discussing the childhood brain cancer cluster, said Jennifer Dunsford, who prompted Florida's Department of Health to launch the cluster study last summer.

Dunsford and her husband, Greg, flew to New York to film the segment early last week, and a film crew shot footage near the couple's home on Friday, Dunsford said.

The Dunsords' son, Garrett, had a brain tumor removed in 2008 as a 5-year-old.

"They're going to show footage of Garrett," Dunsford said. "It just gives you tiny glimpse of what our battle has been."

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Santamaria blames scaled-back Crist meeting for skipping Tallahassee lobbying trip

By Andy Reid 

March 2, 2010 

PalmBeach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria blamed a perceived slight  by Gov. Charlie Crist for keeping him away from the county’s lobbying trip to Tallahassee this week.

Santamaria has been a past critic of county commissioners spending taxpayers’ money to travel to Tallahassee for meetings and receptions with lawmakers, especially since the county already invests in a team of lobbyists.

Santamaria, however, was going to make an exception and join in on this year’s trip to get a meeting with the governor to discuss The Acreage cancer cluster.

Santamaria’s western district includes The Acreage and he thought he had arranged to meet with the governor to discuss getting more state money to help pay for the response to the cluster.

Santamaria wants the state to help pay for residents to switch from well water to county water lines.

But after planning to travel to Tallahassee, Santamaria said he was told that Crist was busy and the county contingent would instead meet with representatives of the governor’s office. The possibility that Crist would “drop in” on the meeting for a few minutes was not worth the trip, considering other county representatives would already be there, Santamaria said.

“It was basically an insult,” Santamaria said about not getting a full-fledged sit-down with the governor.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Crestwood outrage

5:21 p.m. CST, February 24, 2010

It was astonishing enough that village officials in Crestwood mixed carcinogen-contaminated well water with lake water and supplied it to their citizens for nearly two decades … and didn't tell them.

Now the town's leaders are making the citizens foot the bill for high-priced lawyers who have been hired to shield those leaders from lawsuits.

Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne found that Crestwood paid more than $1million last year to lawyers who represent former Mayor Chester Stranczek; his son, Mayor Robert Stranczek; Crestwood's chief water official; and the village. Nine lawsuits have been filed over the tainted water.

There are about 11,000 residents of Crestwood. Soevery adult and child got to fork over close to 100 bucks last year toprotect officials who gave them bad water.

Make that 100-bucks-a-person-and-counting. The lawyers are collecting up to $500 an hour, more than double the $180-an-hour standard discount rate for attorneys handling municipal work.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA posts Web page to track contamination at Lake and Lathrop

Official federal response now detailed online

By BILL DWYER

As the village of River Forest begins to solicit bids for redevelopment of a corner at Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue, the U.S. EPA is reporting that measured chemical contamination from a dry cleaner there has increased by more than 3,200 percent in the past eight years.

The report, which is posted on a new informational Web page for the U.S. EPA, also suggests the contamination may have migrated north across Lake Street onto St.Luke's Parish School property.

The Web page is at www.epaosc.org/RiverForestCleaners.

It was posted by Brad Benning, the clean-up coordinator the U.S. EPA's regional office has assigned to this case. Benning, who is with the Chicago office's Emergency Response Branch, will be updating this page as federal attention to the work continues.

In a Jan. 13 letter to Benning, Mark D. Johnson, a scientist with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that sub-slab samples (those taken from below basement levels) suggest that site contaminants have migrated from River Forest Drycleaners to areas under the buildings housing MyGym Children's Fitness Center and St. Luke's school. According to U.S. EPA conclusions, that migration has likely occurred northward through sand formations and eastward along utility pipes.

Johnson, a senior environmental health scientist for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, writes that "groundwater monitoring wells show perc concentrations increasing from 340 ppb to 11,000 ppb from 2001 to 2009. Some soil saturation for perc is at 940,000 ppb."

The abbreviation "ppb" stands for parts per billion.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Raytheon estimates 78 years for pollution cleanup

By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: March 1, 2010

ST. PETERSBURG - Homeowners surrounding the now-shuttered Raytheon defense plant may not live long enough to see their neighborhood rid of the industrial pollution that's been creeping under parks, playgrounds and homes for decades.

In a new report, Raytheon's environmental consultant Arcadis says it will take as long as 78 years to cleanup the last of an underground mess that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has known about since 1991.

Neighbors were already angry when the company said last year it would take more than 25 years to clean up the toxic waste plume that has polluted dozes of irrigation wells in their neighborhood.

"Some people are so frightened and disgusted they've literally walked away from their homes and their mortgages," said Dominic Griesi, president of the Azalea Homeowners Association.

Griesi is one of the litigants in a federal class action lawsuit filed against Raytheon.

"I don't think any of us are going to be around in 78 years," he said.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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EPA revisits planned cleanup zone near Glenwood Middle School

Finds school stands next to storage area for contaminated soil

By Mark Wilson Posted March 1, 2010

Officials are rethinking plans to use a vacant lot next to Glenwood Middle School to temporarily store contaminated soil that will be removed from Evansville's Jacobsville Superfund Site.

The soil is contaminated with lead and arsenic to the extent that they warrant a $5 million federally funded cleanup effort over seen by the Environmental Protection Agency. Limiting exposure of children to the lead-contaminated soils has been cited as a primary reason for the cleanup.

About 350 properties are being targeted for the cleanup, which begins this month. An emergency cleanup of 83 of the highest contaminated yards in 2007-2008 produced about 4,000 tons of soil.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

The Dr. Oz show will be featuring the Acreage as a topic on their show on March 9th, so please mark your calendars. For residents of West Palm Beach, the show will air at 3:00 p.m. on Channel 5, WPTV. For residents in Miami/Dade, the show will air at 10:00 a.m. on Channel 10, WPLG. For those of you who will not be home to watch the show, we will be post the episode online for you to watch later.

Below are a few articles of interest for you to review. As new information arises regarding the Acreage, we will post it right here for your convenience.

Have a great day.

JUST IN: Another Clyde son diagnosed with cancer

Monday, March 1, 2010 12:53 PM EST

The Clyde community is again rallying behind a young person recently diagnosed with cancer.

Jacob"Bubba" Andrews, 20, a 2008 Clyde graduate well-known for his congenial nature and achievement in football, wresting and baseball, is battling a form of brain cancer.

For more information about the Clyde cancer cluster, Click Here.

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Board weighs 
its options with 
McCullom Lake

By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@nwherald.com

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler is trying to determine whether to pursue further investigation of the McCullom Lake brain cancer cluster.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the latest agency to conclude that area cancer rates as reported through 2006 are not above average. That was the year that three former McCullom Lake next-door neighbors with brain cancer sued two Ringwood manufacturers for allegedly causing their illnesses through decades of air and groundwater pollution.

There are 30 lawsuits as of today, alleging that manufacturers Rohmand Haas and Modine Manufacturing – which settled in 2008 – caused brain and pituitary cancers in McCullom Lake and the neighboring Lakeland Park subdivision in McHenry. The question that Koehler has asked himself and fellow County Board members is a valid one: Where does one go beyond the CDC?

“You can’t really go any higher, and with all due respect to everyone involved here, we know that if we could have gotten better data, we could have done a lot more,” Koehler, R-Crystal Lake, said.

But board member Tina Hill, R-Woodstock, disagrees. She does not want an investigation as to whether a cancer cluster exists – to her, the answer is yes. She grew up in Lakeland Park and the plaintiffs include her older sister and three of her childhood friends.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Air Force cleanup targets private water wells

By George Brennan gbrennan@capecodonline.com

February 26, 2010

FALMOUTH— The Air Force is reaching out to North Falmouth and Cataumet neighborhoods to determine whether any private wells are being used fordrinking water or irrigation that have yet to be identified, a spokesman said yesterday.

Over the past two years, the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, which is overseeing part of the massive cleanup of groundwater at theMassachusetts Military Reservation, has sent mailings and made phone calls to nearly 500 property owners.

About 20 percent of the property owners have yet to respond, which is the  focus of the upcoming outreach effort, said Doug Karson, community involvement leader for the Air Force.

The underground contamination plumes, which are in areas identified by theAir Force as Landfill One and Chemical Spill 23, are contaminated with solvents up to seven times higher than allowed under drinking water standards. Most of the homes in the area are on public drinking water supplies, though Karson said two property owners identified in the  outreach effort get their water from private wells.

The Air Force is offering tests to make sure those wells are safe, he said.

Evaluating the existence of private wells is required by a 2007 order of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The Air Force has until  September to report on its efforts to locate wells in the area, Karson said.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Pollution rates rise as rulings hamper EPASome businesses declare law no longer applies to them, regulators say

By Charles Duhigg and Janet Robertupdated

5:46 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 1, 2010

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.

As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.

The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a great weekend. As we all await the results from the most recent round of testing, we encourage everyone to keep sharing their ideas and concerns. As many of you have posted on the Forums, there could be many different causes for these cancers. It is true that more than one factor may be contributing to the higher than normal rate of pediatric brain and central nervous system cancers within the Acreage. Despite this hurdle, we will continue to push for answers that can provide families with the answers they so desire.

Below are a few articles of interest from other communities who have dealt with contamination issues. Sometimes looking back is a good way to look forward.

As more news arises, we will post it right here for your convenience.

Have a great Monday!

Toxic towns: People of Mossville 'are like an experiment'

By David S. Martin, CNN Medical Senior Producer

February 26, 2010 8:49 a.m. EST

Westlake, Louisiana (CNN) -- Gather current and former Mossville, Louisiana, residents in a room and you're likely to hear a litany of health problems and a list of friends and relatives who died young.

"I got cancer. My dad had cancer. In fact, he died of cancer. It's a lot of people in this area who died of cancer," says Herman Singleton Jr., 51, who also lost two uncles and an aunt to cancer.

Singleton and many others in this predominantly African-American community in southwest Louisiana suspect the 14chemical plants nearby have played a role in the cancer and other diseases they say have ravaged the area.

For decades, Mossville residents have complained about their health problems to industry, and to state and federal agencies. Now with a new Environmental Protection Agency administrator outspoken about her commitment to environmental justice, expectations are growing.

"I'm pretty hopeful now," say Debra Ramirez, 55, who grew up inMossville and who lost a sister at 45 of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease. "I do see her trying to do the right thing."

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Love Canal

Love Canal is probably the country's most notorious and infamous hazardous waste site. It wasn't the first. It wasn't the worst. But it did grab headlines, draw attention, and stimulate scientists,industrial leaders, politicians, government officials, and grassroots activists.

The Love Canal neighborhood is in the southeast section of the La Salle area of Niagara Falls, New York. William T.Love, an 1890's visionary and entrepreneur, sought to develop a planned industrial community, Model City, in the area. Waters from the Niagara River were to be routed around the Niagara escarpment (the other famousattraction of the region, Niagara Falls) to produce cheap hydroelectric power.

Model City never happened, but work on the canal to transport waters from the Niagara River did. In 1942, Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation purchased the site of the Love Canal. Between 1942 and 1953 Hooker Chemical disposed of about 22,000 tons of mixed chemical wastes into the Love Canal. Shortly after Hooker ceased use of the site, the land was sold to the Niagara Falls School Board for a price of $1.00. In 1955, the 99th Street Elementary School was constructed on the Love Canal property and opened its doors to students. Subsequent development of the area would see hundreds of families take up residence in the suburban, blue-collar neighborhood of the Love Canal.

Unusually heavy rain and snowfalls in1975 and 1976 provided high groundwater levels in the Love Canal area. Portions of the Hooker landfill subsided, 55-gallon drums surfaced, ponds and other surface water area became contaminated, basements began to ooze an oily residue, and noxious chemical odors permeated the area. Physical evidence of chemical corrosion of sump pumps and infiltration of basement cinderblock walls was apparent. Subsequent studies by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry would reveal a laundry list of 421 chemical records for air, water, and soil samples in andaround the Love Canal area.

To view more, Click Here.

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Cheshire, Ohio

It's a pretty strange occurrence for an entire town to be wiped off the map in the span of two or three years. That's whatmakes the case of this Gallia County hamlet so note worthy. Cheshire, a town located just upriver from Point Pleasant, WV (where the infamous Mothman was sighted in the late 1960s), is in the process of becoming Ohio's latest ghost town. Instead of a flood or a hurricane or hard times, what's wiping out this little town is energy giant American Electric Power, which operates the massive James M. Gavin coal-fueled power plant just a few hundred feet away from the city limits sign.

In order to understand the whole story, you have to go back a few years and take a look at the long legal struggle the citizens of Cheshire engaged in with AEP--a landmark case in environmental law which made national headlines with its unusual outcome.

The buyout of Cheshire happened in the spring of 2002, after the years-long court battle between the town's citizens, who hired Washington attorneys to represent them, and AEP. For many years blue sulfuric clouds have escaped from the numerous smokestacks at the Gavin plant and passed over the village, causing problems ranging from a sooty residue on houses to milky chemical fogs. White droplets from the plant sometimes fall from the sky when the wind is right. Some of this came from AEP's attempts to remedy other contamination problems; anhydrous ammonia was used to clean the smokestacks' exhaust, but the side effects of this process included those sulfurous clouds that caused eye and skin irritation, as well as headaches, sore throats, and some lovely white burn marks on the lips and tongue. The final straw for Cheshire residents was a report commissioned by AEP itself that found that the local schools would have had about six minutes to evacuate in the event of an an hydrous ammonia tank leak.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Centralia, PA

The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia

Written by Alan Bellows on 29 March 2006

Thereis a small town in Pennsylvania called Ashland where Route 61’snorthbound traffic is temporarily branched onto a short detour. Exactly what the detour is circumventing is not immediately clear to travelers, however few passers-by pay it any mind… a detour is nothing unusual. But anyone who ignores the detour and ventures along the original route 61 highway will soon encounter an abrupt and unexplained road closure. Beyond it lies a town filled with overgrown streets,smoldering earth, and ominous warning signs. It is the remains of the borough of Centralia.

Centralia, Pennsylvania was never a particularly large community, but it was once a lively and industrial place. At its peak the coal mining town was home to 2,761 souls, but today the population of its cemeteries far outnumbers that of its living residents. The series of events which led to the community’s demise– slowly diminishing its numbers to less than a dozen– began about forty-four years ago.

In 1962, workers set a heap of trash ablaze in an abandoned mine pit which was used as the borough’s landfill. The burning of excess trash was a common practice, yet at that particular time and place there existed a dangerous condition: an exposed vein of anthracite coal. The highly flammable mineral was unexpectedly ignited by the trash fire, prompting a quick effort to put it out. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but unbeknownst to the fire fighters, the coal continued to burn underground. Over the following weeks it rapidly migrated into the surrounding coal mines and beneath the town, causing great concern.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Times Beach, MO

Along Route 66 you now see one of Missouri’s newest state parks – the Route 66 State Park. However, this park has an interesting past, as it was once the former site of a resort community on the Meramec River called Times Beach.

Founded in 1925 as a summer resort, investors sold lots for $67.50. Focusing primarily on St. Louis residents, the investors touted the potential for summer homes just 17 miles away from downtown St. Louis. However, it was not to be. The depression was soon upon them and gas rationing following World War II dashed all hopes for a summer resort. The town eventually developed into a lower-middle class city. Prone to flooding, many of the town’s first buildings were built on stilts.

The Route 66 State Park near Eureka, Missouri was once the site of Times Beach. Kathy Weiser, September, 2004.

Inthe early 1970s the town could not afford to pave its many dirt roadstreets and was plagued with a dust problem. To solve the dilemma, thecity hired waste hauler Russell Bliss to oil the roads in the town. Forfour years between 1972 and 1976, Bliss sprayed waste oil on the roads.

Blisshad first used the technique of spraying waste oil to control dust inhorse stables. When, in 1971, spraying resulted in the death of 62horses, the stable owner automatically suspected Bliss of contaminatingthe stables. However, Bliss assured them that it was simple engine oilthat he was spraying.

What the city and the stable owners didn’t know is that  Bliss had subcontracted to haul waste for the Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company (NEPACCO) who operated a facility in Verona, Missouri. During the Vietnam War, this facility had been a producer of Agent Orange and the waste clay and water removed from the plant contained levels of dioxin some 2,000 time higher than the dioxin content in Agent Orange. Bliss would later claim he was unaware that the waste contained dioxin. In the meantime, he was spraying the dirt roads of Times Beach, as well as area horse stables, with the lethal material.

As horses continued to die at area stables, the owners contacted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention who began an investigation in 1979. When a NEPACCO employee confessed that the company handled dioxin, the government sued NEPACCO in 1980.

The EPA began to visit Times Beach in 1982, taking samples and tests that identified dangerous levels of dioxin in Times Beach soil. In December, 1982, the Meramec River flooded, further spreading the contamination of the town and other areas. Soon, panic spread through the town and every illness and animal death was attributed to dioxin. President Ronald Reagan formed a dioxin task force to study the effects of the chemical and in early 1983; the EPA announced the town’s buyout for $32 million dollars.

To view more information, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

This is a rare Saturday post to bring two interesting articles. We hope you enjoy them.

Have a great weekend!

Acreage cancer lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney dismissed, may be refiled

By Mitra MalekPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 2:32 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

THE ACREAGE — A federal lawsuit claiming that Pratt & Whitney caused a brain cancer cluster in The Acreage has been voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs.

The four households who filed the class-action lawsuit against the defense contractor submitted their notice of voluntary dismissal on Feb. 17.

On Feb. 18, U.S. District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp ordered the case closed and dismissed without prejudice. That means another lawsuit can be filed based on the same claim.

The complaint, filed by West PalmBeach attorney Craig Zobel on Feb. 10, alleged that pollution from Pratt & Whitney's Beeline Highway operation is responsible for the cluster and for plummeting home values in The Acreage, a semi-rural community in central Palm Beach County.

The claim didn't say that any of the plaintiffs had become ill, nor did it offer evidence of a link between Pratt & Whitney and the cluster.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Other cancer clusters in South Florida?

Reported by: Tim Malloy

Last Update: 6:11 pm

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL-- Researched at the University West Florida, endorsed by the respected Nemours Center For Childhood Cancer Research,the mapping of child cancer from 2000-2007 encompassed  the entire state.

The Acreage shows up as the tip of the iceberg of a broad cancer concerns in South Florida, according to one of the authors ofthe report, Professor Raid Amin, of the Department of Math and Statistics at the University of West Florida.

"The Acreage is not the worst case," he says. "It appears on the map Broward County is included... and there is one cluster that is huge."

Dr. William Lauda of Florida Atlantic University says the orange and red overlays on South Florida over an otherwise concern free map of the state is troubling.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Local elected leaders to meet with Crist's top aides on Acreage cancer cluster

Mitra Malek Posted:  02/26/2010 6:29 PM

Top members of Gov. Charlie Crist's staff are expected to meet with the county commission chairman and two local state legislators in  Tallahassee next week to discuss The Acreage's unsolved cancer cluster.

The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, is part of an ongoing conversation that elected officials and health and environmental agencies at all levels of government have been having about how to uncover what has caused an elevated number of childhood brain tumors and cancers in the semi-rural community.

Early this month the state Department of Health said that five pediatric cases had occurred from 2000 through 2007 among The Acreage's estimated 39,000 residents, when only two to three should have occurred. They also found four of those cases in girls, when only one to two would be normal.

State health officials initially said that they didn't plan to look for a cause, likening it to a blind search, but within  days Crist pledged to tap federal help and marshal the state's resources in order to get to the bottom of the issue.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

Today is a short post intended to provide you with a few recent articles regarding the Acreage.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Psychiatrist weighs in on 'cancer cluster'

Reported by: Tim Malloy

Last Update: 2/25 4:51 pm

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL- It's a long way to The Acreage from the hallowed halls of Harvard University, but one of the top psychiatrists teaching at the prestigious school says, the pain being felt in that community is as universal as it is heartbreaking.

"Right at the top is the loss or the potential loss of a child," says Harvard professor and psychiatrist, Gregory Fricchione, MD.

Palm Beach philanthropists Michelle and Howard Kessler hosted a question and answer session at their home involving 8 psychiatrists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Santamaria Seeks Fed Help On Acreage Water

Ron Bukley -- 2/26/2010

Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria has directed county staff to explore obtaining federal assistance for residents of The Acreage who want to get their homes hooked up to a municipal water system.

Santamaria also called for further testing to root out the cause of a cancer cluster in The Acreage.

The comments came at a Tuesday, Feb. 23 meeting where commissioners were getting an update from Palm Beach County Legislative Affairs DirectorTodd Bonlarron.

Bonlarron reported that he has been working with Florida’s congressional delegation and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.),who has taken an active role in trying to find federal relief for The Acreage.

“I feel there are similarities between what’s happening in The Acreage and a hurricane disaster, whether it’s Katrina or Hurricane Andrew,” Santamaria said. “It’s a disaster area, and it’seven worse in that there’s so much uncertainty.”

Only more testing can find the answer, he stressed.

“It’s either a statistical aberration or for real,” Santamaria said. “And in my opinion, just testing 50 wells out of 10,000 or 15,000 wells outthere is not enough.”

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Nelson: Cancer Investigation Moving Forward

Carol Porter -- 2/26/2010

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is hopeful that the cause of the cancer cluster in The Acreage can be found soon.

Nelson,speaking at the Palm Beach Forum Club on Thursday, Feb. 18, said he was sympathetic with the residents’ frustration over how long the search is taking to find a cause for the higher incidence of brain cancer inyoung women and children in The Acreage.

He said he was hopeful the process would be speeded up now that the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention are involved.

“The residents are very frustrated because the research has been very slow,” Nelson said. “I hope now that by the activation of the extensive research of the U.S. government, we can get to the bottom of this. The people are rightly concerned. They do not know which way to chart their future.”

Nelson’s remarks also focused on the economy, unemployment and healthcare reform.

Nelson said there is a great deal of frustration in Congress about the legislative process and the partisanship that has stalled work on issues such as healthcare reform and job creation. He cited the recent resignation of Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh as an example of this frustration.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

As many of you already know, the Acreage cancer cluster will be a featured topic on the Dr. Oz show. The show will air within the next two weeks on WPTV - Channel 5 at 3:00 in West Palm Beach. The show airs at 10 a.m. in Broward and Miami/Dade.

For information about Dr. Oz, Click Here and Here.

To view a short clip from WPTV about the Dr. Oz show, Click Here.

Below are a few articles from other communities regarding contamination.

We hope you have a great day.

Uranium in the Grand Canyon: USGS Report Examines Impacts of Mining At Stake: 1 Million Acres that Could Help Fuel a U.S. Nuclear Energy Revival

by Dave Levitan - Feb 24th, 2010

The dramatic potential for a meltdown and the dilemma posed by spent fuel tend to dominate discussions of nuclear power’s drawbacks, making it easy to forget the front end of that equation: uranium mining.

The United States imports the bulk of its nuclear fuel, but there arelarge deposits of uranium, mostly in the western part of the country, that could be mined. A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey looks at one such parcel of land in the Grand Canyon watershed area. It suggests that previous mining activity in the region has not resulted in serious contamination of soil or groundwater, but environmental groups and others are still trying to halt what they fear could become a huge upsurge in uranium mining activity.

The study focused on an area covering about 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon — including land within a few miles of the Colorado River — where the Department of the Interior enacted a land segregation order in July 2009. That order started a two-year period during which the DOI will assess the impacts of extracting the resource and will eventually decide whether or not to "withdraw" the land from consideration for mining under the Mining Law of 1872; that withdrawal would last 20 years.

Roger Clark, the air and energy program director at the environmental group GrandCanyon Trust, said that commercial interest in uranium mining swung in the last decade when the price of the fuel shot from around $5 per pound to over $100 until settling recently to just below $50.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Coal Ash Waste Contamination Study - 31 New Water Pollution CasesSites found in 14 states, significantly increasing pressure on OMB to release delayed EPA rule

February 24, 2010

Washington, DC -- Thecase for the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to stopsitting on a delayed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coal-ashsite contamination rule is even stronger than it first appeared to be,according to a major new reportfrom the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and Earth justice. The analysis by EIP and Earthjustice identifies 31 additional coal-ash contamination sites in 14 states, which, when added to the 70 in the EPA's justification for the pending rule, brings the total of coal-fired power plant waste storage sites with poisoned water to 101.

With data showing arsenic and other toxic metal levels in contaminated water at some coal-ash disposal sites at up to 1,450 times federally permissible levels, the EIP/Earthjustice report identifies 31coal-ash waste sites where groundwater, wetlands, creeks, or rivershave been polluted with "wastes (that) contain some of the earth's most deadly pollutants, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, selenium, andother toxic metals that can cause cancer and neurological harm (inhumans) or poison fish."  The 31 sites are located in the following 14states: Delaware (1); Florida (3); Illinois (1); Indiana (2); Maryland(1); Michigan (1); Montana (1); Nevada (1); New Mexico (1); NorthCarolina (6); Pennsylvania (6); South Carolina (3); Tennessee (2); andWest Virginia (2).  

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Scofieldtown water mitigation moving forward

Posted on 02/24/2010

STAMFORD

By TOM EVANS

Hour Staff Writer

With a city contract nearing with the University of Connecticut to conduct a study on the contamination of well water, Scofield town residents appear to be heading toward a long-term solution to the problem.

But Yossi Stern, a resident of the affected area and co-chairman of theScofieldtown Area Remediation Task Force, wants to be sure the study is not limited to the banned pesticides chlordane and dieldrin -- the original sources of contamination that were found in dozens of wells in North Stamford.

"It's a complicated issue, with a number of things to be considered, "Stern said. "I think we, at the beginning of the (task force's involvement), still had a debate about what the study should look for. Now it's only pesticides, but (the study) should not preclude heavy metals and volatile organic compounds."

Stern said that including heavy metals and VOCs in the proposed study by Gary Robbins, professor of geology at UConn, would keep costs down.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Lessons to be learned from Bruce Power contamination

Workers may have long wait for results

Section:  News Post Date:  24/02/2010, 09:47

By Josh Howald

Early testing indicates that while no workers will be adversely affected from the alpha radiation contamination at Bruce Power, there are lessons to be learned from the situation.

That point was hammered home by the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Michael Binder, at a CNSC Public Hearing held in Ottawa Thursday morning.

Binder and the board questioned why Bruce Power would not have learned from a similar situation that occurred at the Point LePreau Nuclear Generating Station less than two years ago.

It also came out that as many as 583people may have had contact with alpha radiation in the vault of BruceA, Unit 1. A total of 195 people are being tested for alpha radiation contamination.

Bruce Power staff was on hand to askthe CNSC to give testing accreditation to at least one American nuclearfacility to speed up the testing process. Right now, the only Canadiansite qualified to test for alpha radiation is in Chalk River – and the process is slow.

Representing Bruce Power at the hearing was Norm Sawyer, executive vice-president of Bruce A; Frank Saunders, vice president of nuclear oversight regulatory affairs; and Maureen McQueen, manager of radiation protection programs.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

It is Wednesday, which means the week is almost over. Today will be another short post to provide you with a few articles that may be of interest to you.

We hope you have a great day.

Nurse, doctor organize support group for cancer cluster victims

Jason Parsley

jeparsley@tribune.com 

February 24, 2010

When Acreage resident and radiation oncology nurse Cathy DeStefano attended a public meeting two weeks ago addressing the cancer cluster she was so upset by the things she heard that she knew she needed to reach out to the community.

"I thought [the meeting] was ridiculous. They did not alleviate people's fears whatsoever. If anything they caused more frustration," she said."I could feel the tension. I could hear it. I heard the sobs behind me.It was horrible. It made people more nervous because they didn't haveany answers whatsoever."

State health officials held the meeting Feb. 9 after The Acreage was designated a cancer cluster the week before. At first health officials said they didn't plan to search for an environmental cause and would instead focus their efforts on awareness. By the end of that week though politicians at all levels voiced their support for further testing and the health department agreed.

After the public meeting DeStefano decided to start her own support group for the families suffering through this ordeal.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Senator Bill Nelson speaks at Forum Club in West Palm Beach on Thursday, February 18

February 23, 5:29 PMPalm Beach County Democrat ExaminerCarol Porter

Senator Bill Nelson was the keynote speaker at the Forum Club’s February 18 luncheon at the Kravis Center. Nelson spoke about a number of issues, including the Acreage’s cancer cluster, the economy,unemployment, health care and also about what was going to happen with the space program in Central Florida. Nelson also spent some time talking with reporters outside the Kravis Center before taking part in the luncheon, and following the luncheon, he also interacted with members of the public and officials at his office opening in downtown West Palm Beach.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Brooksville residents' fight against a landfill in their neighborhood could prove futile

By Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist

In Print: Sunday, February 21, 2010

Paige Cool and Alison Walter are putting up a great fight against alandfill planned for their rural neighborhood east of Brooksville. The letter of opposition they sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection is well written and footnoted like a doctoral dissertation.

More than 300 names are copied on their e-mails, which have been arriving with such inbox-jamming regularity that I'd call them spam if they weren't so informative.

For example, I learned that construction and demolition debris landfills such as the one planned for their neighborhood are not as harmless as commonly believed and can contaminate the groundwater with arsenic and other toxins.

Cooland Walter recently walked with me to the 26-acre landfill site and convinced me the project is out of place in a neighborhood of small horse farms on the southern edge of the Croom Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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CCPDC confirms water contamination

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

By Josh Woods Staff Writer

EOG Resources has corrected a water contamination issue that occurred near S.B. Elliott State Park. Clearfield County Planning and Development Commission Director Jodi Brennan provided a brief synopsis of the oil and gas issue in a director's update to CCPDC and the press at last night's meeting.

Brennan's update says she was contacted by state Department of Environmental Protection North Central Office Water Quality Specialist John Ryder, who confirmed EOG has cooperated to resolve a notice of violation. Ryder confirmed contamination occurred and was traced back to a particular well on the Punxsutawney Hunting Club property operated by EOG in late August. DEP found elevated parameters such as chloride and magnesium, and a second notice of violation was issued due to a spill of fracing fluids.

"The first violation was due to a leaky liner from a pit used to store drill cuttings. The company was required to put in two shallow wells upgradient and down gradient of the well in question to monitor water quality," wrote Brennan. "The contaminated springs are starting to return to normal, although contamination still exists.

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Hi Everyone,

Below are a few articles of interest for you to review. Please make sure you check the Forums to read and share opinions regarding the Acreage cancer cluster.

For those of you who were unable to catch WPTV's Cancer Cluster special on Sunday, we have posted the video online. To view the video, Click Here.

Have a great day.

Cancer cluster's impact on Acreage property values can't yet be quantified, but it's not good

By Kimberly Miller

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 11:44 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010

Lured by big chunks of land and reasonable prices, Octavio Martinez brought his family to The Acreage in 2003.

He built a home over on 44th Place, and paid it off.

But now, he's considering a move.

While he was an early doubter of the cancer scare that swept the semi-rural community beginning last summer, the "cluster" label that came lastweek made it all too real.

He's concerned about his 13-year-old daughter's health and his property values. In that order, to be clear.

"Anyone coming here from anywhere with kids, unless they are practically insane, is not going to purchase property in The Acreage," Martinez said. "Our properties are basically worthless."

The Palm BeachCounty Property Appraiser's Office has just begun its 2010 property analysis. John Thomas, the property appraiser's director of residentia appraisal services, said it's too soon to tell how the label will affect values in the 110-square-mile Acreage.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Could toxins from plantation trees be causing cancer cluster, oyster deaths in Tasmania?

Jeremy Hance

mongabay.com

February 22, 2010

A local medical doctor, a marine ecologist, and oyster farmers are raising an alarm that a nearby monoculture plantation of Eucalyptus nitens may be poisoning local water reserves, leading to rare cancers and highoyster mortality in Tasmania. However, the toxin is not from pesticides, as originally expected, but appears to originate from the trees themselves.

"The toxin is actually coming from the monoculture trees," Scammell said on Australian news show, Today.

Bleaney, marine biologist Marcus Scammell, and a group of oyster farmers paid out of their own pockets to have the water in question tested for toxins in the St. Helen's area of Tasmania.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Another cancer case for ABC Brisbane

COURTNEY TRENWITH

February 22, 2010

Another woman who worked at the ABC's formerQueensland headquarters has been diagnosed with breast cancer, threeyears after the office was abandoned due to health fears.

ABCRadio has confirmed the diagnosis, believed to be the 18th case ofbreast cancer among employees who worked at the studios in Toowong,west of Brisbane, between 1994 and 2006.

The ABC said in a statement today the national broadcaster was saddened by the news of the latest case.

''It will offer full support to the former employee as it has with all those who worked at the Toowong site and were diagnosed with breast cancer," a spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said the ABC's response to the issue continued to be guided by an independent panel of experts.

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EPA official says no evidence states aren't properly regulating hydraulic fracturing, but enviros launching new assaults anyway

By: Mark Tapscott

Editorial Page Editor

02/20/10 2:23 PM EST

You've probably never heard of either hydraulic fracturing or SteveHeare, but odds are good that you will soon be hearing a lot in theMainstream Media about both of them.

Hydraulic fracturing - aka "hydro fracking" - is an old technologyused for six decades in places like Oklahoma and Texas to get to oiland natural gas deposits that would otherwise be unreachable byinjecting water into adjoining rock formations.

Hydraulic fracturing is also now being used extensively in New Yorkand Pennsylvania to tap into one of the world's largest natural gasdeposits, the Marcellus Shale.

Estimates of as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas makethe Marcellus Shale, which also extends into Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky,Virginia and West Virginia, an invaluable natural resource that couldmake genuine energy independence a reality for the U.S.

To view the full article, Click Here.

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a nice weekend. Now, it's back to work as usual. Today's post will be nice and short - below are a few articles regarding contamination from other communities that we found interesting, and we hope you do too.

As more news from the Acreage breaks, we will post it right here.

Have a great day!

Navy agrees to study impact of Camp Lejeune's toxic water

Published Fri, Feb 19, 2010 06:28 PM

By BARBARA BARRETT - McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- The Navy has agreed to pay $1.53 million for a mortality study that could show a linkage between toxic water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the deaths of Marines and their family members who lived there over a 30-year period.

Some estimates are that during that time, as many as 1 million people were exposed to well water at the base that contained trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride.

The chemicals were dumped into storm drains, leaked from fuel tanks or were buried in pits across the base. They seeped through the ground water and into wells that fed the base areas of Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Navy agrees to fund toxic water study at NC base

By KEVIN MAURER

The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- The Navy has agreed after months of fighting to fund a study into thehealth effects of past water pollution at Camp Lejeune on Marines.

TheDepartment of the Navy said in a letter Thursday to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that it will pay more than$1.5 million for the work. The study will look at whether there arehigher mortality rates for Marines who served at the base during theyears the water was contaminated.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Friday.

North Carolina Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan had urged the Navy tofund the study. The two lawmakers were behind legislation passed by theSenate in September preventing the military from dismissing claimsrelated to water contamination before studies are completed.

"I am pleased the Navy has listened and is taking this crucial step. The findings will help bring answers to our Lejeune families who deserve closure on this issue," said Hagan, who wrote the legislation.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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United Technologies

by Phil Mattera

Brief company history: 

UnitedTechnologies began with the commitment of Frederick Rentschler tomaking better airplane engines. While serving in the Army Signal Corpsduring the First World War, Rentschler ended up inspecting engines atthe pioneering Wright-Martin Aircraft Co. (later Wright Aeronautical).He stayed on after the war and eventually worked his way up to thepresidency. He grew frustrated, however, with the preoccupation of thecompany's directors with short-term profitability, so in 1924 heresigned and set out to form a company of his own to build powerfulair-cooled engines of a type that the U.S. Navy wanted.

Rentschler was able to achieve his goal with the help of Edward Deeds, a businessfriend of his father, and George Mead, chief of engineering at Wright.Deeds was chairman of machine tool company Niles Bement Pond, whichowned a Connecticut gun company called Pratt & Whitney. Established in 1860, P&W had prospered making arms for the Union Army duringthe Civil War. The two founders, Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney (acousin of Eli Whitney), went on to become international arms merchants,but by 1901 they were getting old and decided to sell out to Niles.

The new owner pushed P&W to focus on making machine tools formanufacturing weapons rather than the weapons themselves. This strategypaid off, and by the First World War P&W was an important militarycontractor. After the armistice, however, the company lost most of itsbusiness and was looking for new ventures. Deeds persuaded his fellowNiles board members (who included Rentschler's brother Gordon, thepresident of the company) that Rentschler's engine plan made perfectsense for P&W.

Environment and product safety: 

UTCand its subsidiaries have paid tens of millions of dollars in fines andother penalties in environment cases in the United States over the pasttwo decades.

During the 1980s, UTC came under federal scrutiny for its handlingof polychlorinated biphenyls, which are suspected carcinogens. In late1989 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a complaint againstthe company alleging various violations of PCB regulations; two years later the company agreed to pay $730,000 to settle the charges.

In 1991 UTC was the target of the largest criminal fine ever leviedto date for a hazardous waste violation. In response to charges brought by the EPA, the company agreed to plead guilty to six felony violationsand pay a fine of $3 million in connection with illegal dumping oftoxic wastes at the Sikorsky Aircraft operation in Stratford, Connecticut. The EPA's complaint included the charge that the in-house environmental officer called attention to the dumping—which involved oil, transmission fluid, and industrial solvents—in 1982, but the company did nothing to correct the situation.

In 1993 the EPA and the Department of Justice fined UTC $5.3 million for a series of abuses and handling and discharging hazardous wastes.The company also agreed to undergo extensive environmental audits through the end of the decade.

In 2005 the EPA reached a settlement with Carrier Corp. and UTC under which the companies promised to spend $27.8 million to help cleanup groundwater contamination at the San Gabriel Valley Superfund site in Southern California.

In 2007 Hamilton Sundstrand pleaded guilty to two felony violationsof the federal Clean Water Act and to pay $12 million in penalties fordumping contaminated wastewater into the Farmington River in Connecticut.

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Hi Everyone,

This is just a quick post to provide you with a recent news article from the Palm Beach Post. When reading this article, take into consideration that the cancer cluster in the Acreage involves only children. Some of which were under 5 years old and lived in the area their whole lives when diagnosed with brain tumors. In addition, we are all aware that finding the exact cause of a cancer cluster is difficult and can take years, however, this understanding doesn't change the fact that the mothers of these children will not rest until a cause is found. This community deserves answers and we are all glad these government agencies are doing tests in an effort to learn more. Hopefully we will have more answers soon.

Have a great weekend.

In Tallahassee, CDC official cautions that cause of Acreage cancer cluster may not be found

By Stacey SingerPalm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 8:33 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — A cause of Palm Beach County's Acreage cancer cluster might never be found, representatives from the CDC cautioned as they met with state health experts inTallahassee on Friday, but obvious environmental hazards can and should be addressed, he said.

"Cancer clusters are fraught with difficulty," said Dr. Michael McGeehin, director of the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects at the CDC in Atlanta.

With most clusters, the numbers of people sickened are often too small, froma statistical perspective, to make scientifically meaningful conclusions, McGeehin said during a break in the day long meeting withabout a dozen state health and environmental staff assigned to the Acreage problem. Palm Beach County health officials dialed in by phone.

Cancer can take a decade or more to appear in someone after achemical or other environmental exposure, making it exceptionally difficult to pinpoint what caused the cancer, he said.

"Plus, the United States is a mobile society," said McGeehin, an environmentalepidemiologist. "Many people are constantly moving in and out. All ofthis leads to a great deal of difficulty."

To view the full article, Click Here.