The Acreage Cancer Study

Hi Everyone,

As many of you know, the soil results have been released to homeowners. We will be posting the Dunsford report as soon as we can upload it all online. Once we have the report ready to go, we will be posting it on the Forum for you to see.

Reminder: there will be no Blog postings next week. For up to date information, please visit the Forums.

Below are several articles that may be of interest to you. We hope you enjoy them.

Have a great day!

State tests find some hazards in Acreage soil, but DEP doesn't say if they're linked to cancer cluster

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

July 21, 2010

THE ACREAGE — State environmental officials have posted results of soil contamination sampling, the last phase of environmental tests that Acreage residents have been waiting for to help tease out whether pollution could have contributed to a childhood brain cancer cluster in their community.

State officials said they expect to release more detailed information in coming weeks, along with posting a guide on the Internet to explain how to interpret the results.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Acreage homes 'safe for families,' state environmental official says as soil tests find no link to cancer cluster

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

July 21, 2010

THE ACREAGE — After more than a year of a government investigation that cost at least a quarter-million dollars, Acreage residents don’t have anything to blame for their community’s cancer cluster — and they might never have a culprit.

The last in a series of state-run environmental tests has confirmed that contamination doesn’t appear to be linked to the semi-rural community’s elevated rate of childhood brain tumors.

Results from recent soil tests show no significant pollution and no contaminants known to be linked to brain cancer, state officials said today.

“We were quite relieved,” said Mary Jean Yon, director of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Waste Management. “We feel comfortable drawing a general conclusion that residential property in The Acreage is safe for families to enjoy activities outside.”

But the question of what — if anything — caused the spike remains.

Richard Cotromano, whose elementary-school-age daughter was diagnosed with an optic glioma in 2004, learned that his soil had no contamination.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Port Clinton residents worry about possible cancer cluster

By Sarah Weber

Less than 20 miles from where the Ohio Department of Health verifieda childhood cancer cluster in Sandusky County, Port Clinton residentsare wondering if they’re living in a cancer cluster of their own. 

Maria Claus Konoff, 43, of Ottawa Hills, graduated from Port Clinton High School in 1985. 

Since then, she said half her class has either been diagnosed with cancer, or has a family member with the disease. 

Her own diagnosis of thyroid cancer inspired her to look into whattoxic remnants of Port Clinton’s industrial past might be lurking inthe soil or water. 

She poured through land holdings records, looked at reports on old industrial dumping sites and called for help from the Center forHealth, Environment and Justice. 

“I don’t know what’s there, I just know the ground is not safe,” Konoff said at a meeting Wednesday night at Our Guest Inn in Port Clinton.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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Penn State staffer discusses water risk with gas drilling
By Liz Hayes

Valley News Dispatch

July 21, 2010

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP — A Penn State educator advised people living near Marcellus shale natural gas wells to have their drinking water tested before drilling starts.

Dana Rizzo, a water quality expert from the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Westmoreland County, Tuesday spoke of the possible impact drilling could have on water sources.

Rizzo said there are several ways in which the deep Marcellus wells could pollute water, but it's what could happen above ground that worries her the most.

"My biggest concern is spills on the surface," Rizzo said.

She said surface spills occur much closer to drinking water sources than much of the drilling activity.

Surface spills can occur when drillers use trucks to haul water and chemicals to and from well sites and when impoundment ponds leak.

Marcellus drilling relies heavily on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

To view the full article, Click Here.

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'Fracking': EPA Takes New Look At Natural Gas Drilling And Possible Water Contamination

By Marc Levy and Mary Esch

Huffington Post

July 20, 2010

HARRISBURG, Pa. — So vast is the wealth of natural gas locked into dense rock deep beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio that some geologists estimate it's enough to supply the entire East Coast for 50 years.

But freeing it requires a powerful drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," using millions of gallons of water brewed with toxic chemicals, that some fear could pollute water above and below ground and deplete aquifers.

As gas drillers swarm to this lucrative Marcellus Shale region and blast into other shale reserves around the country, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking a new look at the controversial fracking technique,currently exempt from federal regulation. The $1.9 million study comes as the nation reels from the Deepwater Horizon environmental and economic disaster playing out in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil and gas industry steadfastly defends the process as having been proven safe over many years as well as necessary to keep the nation on a path to energy independence.

Studies have "consistently shown that the risks are managed, it's safe, it's a technology that's essential ... it's also a technology that's well-regulated," said Lee Fuller, director of the industry coalition Energy In Depth.

"A fair study," Fuller added, "will show that the procedures that are there now are highly effective and do not need to be altered – the federal government does not need to be there."

To view the full article, Click Here.