How do you best deal with a sleeping toxic giant? Do you tuck him in and give him warm milk, hoping he won’t stress your bedframe too much or fall through the floor? I shall stop extending this metaphor and be more direct.
Many property owners within the Meeker Plume, a Superfund site, are not getting their property tested. There have been volunteers who have reported that some can get downright nasty when approached with simple information about the testing or the Meeker Plume. They don’t want to know. They don’t want to test.
Like most problems that you hope will go away if you ignore them, they usually get worse. This most likely would be the case when you are dealing with contaminants such as: tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE), cis-1,2-dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride in the ground that may turn into vapors that can enter the buildings where people live and work.
The testing is free. No worries there.
If they find anything then there is a small cost of the electricity that will run the fan in the small unit that directs the vapors outdoors, which solves the problem.
However, vapors that are allowed to go undetected will negatively diminish the health of people and animals that come into contact with them.
Which choice is scarier?
To learn more the Meeker CAG will be meeting on Wednesday, April 9 from 6 p.m.–8 p.m. at 2 Kingsland Avenue.
The Environmental Protection Agency will share information about the vapor intrusion testing process and other topics.
The Greenline 