Sierra Club Bucks County Group
Meetings at Churchville Nature CenterEvery 2nd Thursday - 7 PM to 9 PM
Directions: ChurchvilleNatureCenter.org
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News AdvisoryPlease Note: In keeping with Sierra Club policy, this website does not endorse candidates for Sierra Club office on the Group, Chapter, or National level. This website is a forum for policy discussion and debate among those truly concerned with protection of the environment. Opinions expressed herein are those of their authors and may or may not reflect Sierra Club policy.DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP - Sierra Club marked Earth Day with a release of critical comments on the PA Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP's) cleanup plan for the hazardous site on Edison-Furlong Road near Route 263. Afterwards, Sierra Club members spoke with residents in the immediate area to provide them with Sierra Club's conclusions regarding the cleanup plan. "DEP uses the term 'cleanup' while in fact what they are planning is simply to cap the contaminated area with a plastic sheet and pave it over." said Anna Smith, the Conservation Chair of the Bucks County Sierra Club and Hazardous Waste Chair of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club. "They say that the trichloroethylene (TCE) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is not expected to move significantly over the years, yet DEP's own Final Feasibility Study, written by their contractor, states "…the potential still exists for migration of contaminants into groundwater from the contaminated soil and the establishment of new exposure routes." For years TCE has been known to cause cancer as well as respiratory, liver and lung damage, but in December 2002 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the results of research that concluded that TCE was 5 to 65 times as toxic as previously thought, with pregnant women being most at risk. However, responding to a question from Sierra Club at the March 30, 2004 hearing in Doylestown Township, DEP said they had no plans to change the exposure standard used to determine cleanup requirements. Sierra Club is also very concerned with the threat of vapors leaking through and around the cap, including into occupied buildings. At the hearing DEP stated that while the cap methodology had never been used in Pennsylvania for such cleanup purpose, there was no cause for concern because the VOCs would not vaporize into the air . Sierra Club considers this position to be inconsistent with TCE experience and recent concern elsewhere. A major concern of Sierra Club is the process used to get public input. "DEP says that the final evaluation criterion to be used in determining the cleanup methodology is community acceptance", said George Emmons, a member of the Sierra Club's evaluation team, "but the term should be 'knowledgeable community acceptance.' The process being used does not provide the community with either the information needed for debate nor the opportunity to debate." At the hearing, the remarks in the question and answer session were not permitted on the record, so will not be used by DEP in reaching its final cleanup decision. "Sierra Club and others will be providing written testimony to DEP", said Emmons, "but there does not appear to be a plan to make use of this additional public input with a public debate put on the legal record. The community's decision can be no better than the community's information, and without this information 'community acceptance' is merely words." Up to Top |