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San Mateo County Times August 19, 2000  See Also San Mateo County Times, 3/14/00 San Mateo County Times, 1/27/00 San Mateo County Times, 1/26/00 San Mateo County Times, 1/20/00 San Mateo County Times, 1/5/00 San Mateo County Times, 12/14/99 For more information, contact:
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Dirt Removal Delayed Near Midway By
Laura Linden Residents say they weren't given enough notice DALY CITY -- State environmental officials put off a plan to remove several tons of toxic soil from a Pacific Gas & Electric service center Friday after residents from adjacent Midway Village expressed fears they would be exposed to pollution. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control asked PG&E to halt the project for at least a week after receiving 10 to 15 complaints from residents in the last few days, said department spokesman Ron Baker. Residents of the public housing project objected to news that, starting Monday, 40 trucks filled with contaminated dirt would be hauled out of the PG&E yard each day for two weeks. They have long maintained they are suffering a variety of mysterious illnesses which they believe are caused by the very pollution with which the soil is laced. "I'm concerned but I feel so helpless. There's this toxic taste in my mouth and nausea," said 50-year-old Midway Village resident Rozena Jackson, who said she received notice of the project from the DTSC in the mail Friday. The dirt stems from a drainage project spanning the PG&E property off Geneva Avenue and nearby Bayshore Park. Since the excavation work began nine months ago, residents have staged several angry protests over the handling of the soil. They fear that the dirt is blowing into the housing complex area and they are breathing it in. Bradley Angel of Greenaction said that since contamination has been a long-running issue, his group and the residents should have been notified much earlier. He said his group never received notice. "I was at a meeting with top officials from the DTSC in mid-July and nothing was said about it," Angel said, adding that his group would protest again if the soil removal project resumed without residents' approval. "We think this is a callus disregard for the residents," he said. Baker responded that his agency noticed nearby residents through the mail as it does with every remediation project. But, he said, "I don't think special phone calls to Bradley Angel are needed every time something occurs at the (PG&E) site." Sitting in two-story-high piles on the PG&E lot, the soil contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a carcinogen stemming from when PG&E used coal to manufacture gas on the site 100 years ago. Baker said his department delayed the project to give residents a chance to comment on how it is handled. He said he didn't know if there would be a meeting with residents or individual phone calls. "Basically, we think this (the removal of the soil) is a good thing as opposed to being a bad thing," Baker said. After controversy over the drainage project spurred press coverage earlier this year, the DTSC agreed to test the soil throughout Midway Village for contamination. The work took place earlier this summer; the results are due next month.
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