{"id":8305,"date":"2014-04-01T14:15:58","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T18:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=8305"},"modified":"2014-04-01T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T18:17:08","slug":"children-dying-mothers-crying-silentdisaster-accuses-state-of-hiding-true-health-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/children-dying-mothers-crying-silentdisaster-accuses-state-of-hiding-true-health-risks.html","title":{"rendered":"Children dying, mothers crying: Silentdisaster accuses state of hiding true health risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nSeen on\r\n\r\nSilentdisaster.org’s facebook page<\/a>.\r\nThe \r\nEPA and GA-EPD meeting last November<\/a>\r\nand later test results did not satisfy them.\r\nWastewater from that Waycross contamination\r\n\r\nwas shipped to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County<\/a>,\r\nadding to\r\n\r\nthe other toxic materials in that landfill<\/a>.\r\n-jsq\r\n

\r\n

\r\nPDF<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nApril 1, 2014\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBy: Silentdisaster.org, a citizens group in Waycross, Georgia\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nTesting conducted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division\r\n(EPD) have left residents frustrated and angry. Many children are\r\nsick and have died from being poisoned by toxic chemicals and\r\nresidents who live, week-to-week on small budgets, are spending\r\ntheir own money to do testing because they don’t trust government\r\nofficials who are paid \u0098to protect the people and keep them safe’.\r\nThey should be spending their money on feeding their families and\r\ngetting well. The lack of honesty in the EPD’s reports is a disgrace\r\nto our community and our State.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nNewly released environmental testing results from the Georgia EPD on\r\n3 water wells and 3 soil samples from Waycross residents taken\r\nJanuary 27-28, 2014 reveal chemicals present but lack\r\nappropriateness and honesty. The GA EPD refused to test many of the\r\nmetals and chemicals of concern to residents. Instead, they tested\r\nfor Volatile (VOC) chemicals and Semi-Volatile (SVOC) chemicals such\r\nas Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many of these chemical\r\ncause cancer and were reportedly found at the CSX and Atlanta Gas &\r\nLight (AGL) sites. However, according the Center for Health and\r\nEnvironmental Justice (CHEJ) the EPD used high “Reporting\r\nLimits” (RL) some 50 times above the federal \u0098Maximum\r\nContaminant Level (MCL) or the known \u0098cancer’ limits on these\r\nchemicals. Because of this, this testing did not identify many\r\ncontaminants in the soil or water. This became obvious when\r\nresidents sent split samples provided by GA EPD to a 3rd party lab\r\nwho confirmed the presence of toxic chemicals not identified by the\r\nGA EPD’s testing. These split samples found highly cancer causing\r\nchemical benzo(a)pyrene among other deadly PAHs at levels above\r\nacceptable cancer risk levels and above federal clean-up levels.\r\nAdditionally, after reviewing the High Reporting levels,\r\nSilentdisaster.org requested the Raw Data from the GA EPD tests\r\nwhich revealed the GA EPD knew many toxic chemicals that were\r\nreported as “Non-Detect” on the reports sent to\r\nresidents were actually present. The Raw Data included such\r\nchemicals as Trichloroethylene (TCE) which CSX reported\r\ncontaminating groundwater and Semi-Volatiles in a well near the\r\nRuskin School area which both CSX and AGL reported releasing to\r\ngroundwater. Other testing, such as recent draft report from the US\r\nEPA revealed high concentrations of these PAH’s in and around\r\nditches and the creek\/canal system of Waycross. The Georgia EPD\r\nissued letters to the residents stating their drinking water and\r\nsoil was “safe” despite using high Reporting Levels that\r\nexceeded federal “safe” standards.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThis is another slap in the face for local residents who for the\r\nlast 10 years have been upset at the high number of cancers and\r\nneurological diseases in the area. Past efforts included reaching\r\nout to the State of Georgia’s Health Department which residents\r\nconsidered a joke and unfruitful.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nInitially frustrated by the state’s reluctance to do testing,\r\ncitizens began testing themselves and found Benzo(a)anthracene ,\r\nanother cancer causing PAH substance in the creek that runs through\r\nthe heart of the City of Waycross to the Satilla River. Residents\r\nfirst suspected the now closed federally monitored EPA Superfund\r\nSite in Waycross called Seven Out because EPA documents showed these\r\nchemicals present in the ground at the site. However, according to\r\nthe EPA the toxic chemicals found in the ground at the Seven Out\r\nSuperfund Site which is adjacent to CSX could not have come from the\r\nactually superfund site which only had small quantities of these\r\nchemicals in the tanks or on reported manifest. This led members of\r\nthe Silentdisaster.org on a search for the true source of the\r\nchemicals. Residents soon found that these same toxin among other\r\nPAH’s were present in high quantities from contamination that seeped\r\ninto the groundwater by GA EPD monitored CSX and AGL. In response to\r\nover 150 family members of sick or deceased people and over 2400\r\nother concerned local citizens, the Federal EPA and the GA EPD\r\nagreed to test the area. The Federal EPA tested in the canal around\r\nMary St. Park and ditches around the old Seven Out Superfund Site\r\nand found the same cancer causing chemicals that residents found but\r\nadditionally found the more toxic Benzo(a)pyrene.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMost recently, after considerable pressure, The GA EPD has responded\r\nto pressure over the high Reporting Limits by re-testing the well\r\nlocations with Reporting Limits that would meet the US EPA’s Maximum\r\nContamination Limits but are not to include Reporting Limits that\r\nencompass Cancer Risk Limits. Additionally, they did not re-test the\r\nsoil locations. Silentdisaster.org believes this matter is urgent\r\nand warrants tests that include Reporting Limits for cancer and\r\nneurological problems as well as immediate re-testing of the soil.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe citizens of this community expect the State to “serve and\r\nprotect the people of this community” rather than the special\r\ninterest of big business. Silentdisaster.org members have requested\r\na meeting with the Directors of the EPA, the EPD, and the State\r\nAttorney’s office to express our concerns over the lack of honesty\r\nand irresponsible oversight of CSX and AGL. The lack of oversight\r\nand the failure to properly monitor clean- up efforts have led to\r\ncontaminated property and escalating health problems in our area. To\r\ndate we have not been granted these meetings.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nSilentdisaster.org<\/a> and the citizen’s Facebook page\r\n\r\n‘South Georgia’s secret killer’<\/a>\r\nis a local citizens group concerned with the on-going\r\nenvironmental toxins that are causing health problems in our\r\ncommunity and are committed to efforts that will remove residents\r\nfrom contaminated area if desired, compel the clean-up of affected\r\nproperties by companies polluting, and call for adequate medical\r\nresources and information that would assist in the restoration of\r\nthe health of residents affected by these toxic chemicals. For more\r\ninformation contact Joan Tibor McNeal at 912-281-689 or Nihlia\r\nGriffin at 912-288-4668.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seen on Silentdisaster.org’s facebook page. The EPA and GA-EPD meeting last November and later test results did not satisfy them. Wastewater from that Waycross contamination was shipped to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County, adding to the other toxic materials in that landfill. -jsq PDF FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2014 By: Silentdisaster.org, a […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[50,8,2,41,73],"tags":[7549,8722,292,8701,8699,8718,8702,12,7,8731,6917,7286,6916,6,2597],"class_list":["post-8305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epa","category-georgia","category-government","category-health-care","category-safety","tag-csc","tag-epa","tag-ga-epd","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-health-care","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-safety","tag-seven-out","tag-silentdisaster","tag-superfund","tag-valdosta","tag-waycross"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-29X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8305"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8308,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8305\/revisions\/8308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}