Letter from Mike Baker, COPA,
to Judge Foster
5 August 1998
U.S. District Court Room 277 U.S. Courthouse
46 E. Ohio Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster
Re: Case IP 83-9-C-D/F
Dear Judge Foster,
During the last year most of the involved citizens concerning
the PCB issue have been participating in the Citizens Information
Committee meetings. We have been keeping an open mind concerning
the new direction the PCB cleanup has been taking.
COPA has continued to hire well-known specialists in hydro-geology,
human health risks and PCB remediation so that the community
can better understand the implication of what is being proposed.
We continue to believe all consent decree parties are looking
out for the interest of their particular entity rather than the
citizens as a whole. Our only voice is in correspondence to the
court and via the CIC meeting video's submitted to the court
by EPA.
In short, most of us feel the Winston Thomas cleanup is progressing
well and will be protective of the environment and human health.
The same goes for the past cleanup at the West Side of Clear
Creek. EPA has been timelier in providing documents to the public
and has taken many of our concerns into consideration at some
sites. What has been proposed at Neal's Dump and Bennett's Quarry
also seems reasonable since it meets the original objectives
of the consent decree, which is total excavation. Lemon Lane
and to some degree Neal's Landfill are of a totally different
nature.
I have enclosed a letter to the editor, which should run in
the Herald Times this Friday the 7th. There is total agreement
on this position and the reasons behind it by every CIC non-Consent
Decree party member. That such a diverse group could come to
total agreement says a lot.
We sincerely plead with the court to not allow a less than
sufficient cleanup at Lemon Lane and Neal's Landfill. The consent
decree with all its problems is supported by technical and health
documents supporting total excavation, just like at Neal's Dump,
Winston Thomas, and Bennett's, the only obvious difference is
in the cost to Westinghouse (CBS). This is not a health, environmental
or responsible reason and should not take precedence.
The Bloomington community has paid a very high price because
of careless and known violations of law and ethics by CBS. The
real health cost to Bloomington and surrounding communities will
not be known for years. Scientific evidence now shows the health
damages to the environment are much more far reaching than ever
before believed and even the outdated medical knowledge of 1984
was enough for all parties to agree to total excavation.
My father was a doctor for fifty years. How would he treat
someone with cancer? He would have all known cancer removed if
it was possible and had not spread to the extent removal would
offer little help to the patient. The cancer at Lemon Lane is
known but is spreading because of lack of action. This malpractice
can be corrected by total removal and post-operative treatment.
CBS has the money, deserves to pay the price, and could have
this accomplished starting tomorrow. It is the right thing to
do.
We also ask that you immediately authorize EPA to start water
capture and treatment at Lemon Lane and Neal's Landfill so that
others do not continue to be infected with this problem. All
the governmental parties are in agreement on this, it should
have been done twenty years ago and only the court seems to be
holding up this action. Water treatment will be required no matter
what the final action is and while we wait, the PCBs continue
to spread throughout the southern part of the state for no good
reason. The risk to our children and wildlife is too great. Surely
by now, the court has seen how convoluted CBS's actions have
been and continue to be. The governmental parties may be ill
prepared to fight the proper legal battles against this giant,
the technical issues may be to complicated, and the dollars large
but we hope the court will do what is right, however difficult.
Sincerely,
Mike Baker
COPA |
