According the EPIC, the dioxin that caused the deaths of four mill workers (whose families won a wrongful death suit) at the Simpson mill in Arcata in 1998, may have been banned for years but it was still in the groundwater around the Schimbdbauer mill in 2002 and may still be there. Epic reported in a Summer 2002 article that “Penta contamination is documented at six additional locations around Humboldt Bay, and eleven others are unconfirmed but probably also contaminated. The chemical is found at exceedingly high levels at many of these sites, such as Schmidbauer Lumber in “Eureka, where it has been detected in the groundwater at 9,600 parts per billion (ppb). The legal limit for penta is 1ppb.” The papers we uploaded on EPA violations under Evergreen (called exceedances), bring up important questions. As you can see, the quantity of carcinogens dumped or emitted, by the hundreds of thousands, far beyond legal limits, was staggering. For instance, in the first day reported, 04/30/2006, the number of gallons discharged in excess of 1,000 but not cleaned up was 416, 799,000. What is in the soil and groundwater around the mill? Has it been tested? Are there plans to clean it up?
4 Comments
10/20/2009 06:41:30 am
Thanks to all the bloggers that got the word out about the clean air needed for all of us. The many chronically ill and disabled people who live here; children and the elderly also need clean air.
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10/20/2009 11:05:51 am
Why isnt this guy being forced to clean up this site? Is there some loophole here that says if you werent the owner when it GOT contaminated, then you arent responsible? How can this be happening in a place as progressive as Humboldt COunty? This needs further investigation!
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Heidi Nelkie
10/20/2009 03:20:39 pm
Hey Leila,
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10/20/2009 11:28:26 pm
A complete environmental assessment of the property is available at the NCRWQCB. There are monitoring wells all over the property. The polluters of the property were GP & LP. The other three operators, who are all bankrupt, were likely not big contributors. In any case, the Samoa site will be cleaned up. FYI, I provided Pete Nichols a complete environmental assessment and he attended a meeting with me and LP. You might think about being helpful. It would be a more productive use of your time.
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AuthorWe live here in West Eureka have been victims of Evergreen Pulp's pollution. Now Freshwater Pulp wants to start it up again. We would like to know your thoughts and experiences with this. Now that Freshwater is not going to reopen, we are concerned about the massive quantity of contaminants that have been dumped on the site. These sites usually leak into adjacent areas and people live 750 yards from the point of maximum impact, the most polluted point, a Hot spot. We are also concerned that the Marina center site be properly cleaned up and will continue to discuss other local issues here. However, we will not let the mill issue rest until we actually see the smokestacks go down and the site is cleaned up. Archives
June 2019
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