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San Mateo County Times June 14, 2001  For more information, contact:
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More Toxic Dirt to Leave Midway Environmental officials propose plan to residents
By
Christine Louie DALY CITY -- State environmental officials have announced plans to haul away additional dirt surrounding the city's Midway Village public housing complex, despite claims months earlier that the soil poses no public health threat. The plans were proposed at a public meeting Wednesday before a dozen community members, some of them Midway Village residents, who said the plans were a "cover-up, not a clean-up" of soil they believe is linked to their persistent coughs, rashes, nosebleeds and cancers. The soil, residents believe, contains residual chemicals from coal processing conducted by a gas manufacturing plant more than a century ago. Tests of soil sampled last June showed that certain areas around the 138-unit complex contained elevated levels of carcinogenic toxins, but officials at the state Department of Toxic Substance Control have maintained those levels are not a health risk to the complex's residents. But on Wednesday, DTSC officials said they want to remove about 3,000 cubic yards of soil found to contain levels of PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They also want to remove up to five feet of dirt from landscaped areas around the complex. The department's decision to remove the soil, said Barbara Cook, branch chief at DTSC's Berkeley office, was due to revised base levels used to determine toxic contamination. The top 2 feet of soil, or 13,000 cubic yards, from the adjacent Bayshore Park also will be removed and replaced with at least two feet of clean soil. The DTSC is also recommending sampling additional soil around two buildings in the complex, which during the last batch of tests showed slightly raised PAH levels. If those results still show levels of toxins, more soil will be removed to "increase the buffer between the residents and the underlying contamination," according to proposals. Residents who live near the excavation sites will need to be temporarily relocated, Cook said. The work will take up to 13 weeks and likely commence in late summer, she said, adding the San Mateo County Office of Housing will be responsible for finding homes for the residents during this time. The excavation will mark the second time since 1994 the state has removed toxic soil around the complex and replaced it with clean dirt. But some residents said the underground toxins could eventually surface within the topsoil. Others worried that children around the complex, especially those at its day-care center, would be exposed to the dirt during the excavation. Residents pleaded with officials to relocate the tenants and provide them with compensation for years of medical bills. Simply removing the dirt won't solve the problem, they said. Lula Bishop, who attributes her back ailments to years of living around the contaminated soil, said she was opposed to the excavation because it would affect her recovery from back surgery scheduled around the time of the dig. "I'm asking you to put our health first, because we are literally dying," she said. "I go from one medical emergency to the next." Bradley Angel, a spokesperson for Greenaction, an environmental advocacy group, accused the department of misleading residents about the presence and severity of the toxins and urged the officials to think of the "mental stress" residents endured. "The people have been listening to your misinformation for years," he said. But Cook said after the meeting that the DTSC hasn't received any documentation that would confirm a connection between the residents' illnesses and the soil.
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