Pennsylvania Citizens, Officials Ask EPA for Asbestos Removal

Officials from the state of Pennsylvania, including US Senator Arlen Specter, have responded with bi-partisan support to a citizen petition to have dangerous materials, including asbestos, removed from one of the state's waste disposal sites. The petition, with well over two thousand signatures, came in response to an announced plan by the US Environmental Protection Agency to cover the asbestos with dirt and gravel rather than removing it and cleaning the site.

The BoRit site covers several acres in Montgomery County northwest of Philadelphia. One concern with the site is that it sits on a bank of Wissahickon Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River that flows through Philadelphia. Recent rainstorms have raised concerns among area residents that groundwater and creek water supplies may have been contaminated or may carry the risk of future contamination.

Senator Specter addressed these concerns in a letter to Joyce Frank, Acting Associate Administrator of the EPA's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations. In the letter, Specter said, "It is my understanding that EPA is in the process of shipping dirt to the BoRit site. My constituents are understandably concerned that this dirt will be used to cap the site and have advised me that previous capping attempts have not been successful." The senator also advised that the EPA "give strong consideration to removal, destruction and/or recycling of this waste."

Pennsylvania's state elected officials also notified the EPA of their support for the idea of asbestos removal at the site. Republican State Senator Stewart Greenleaf also sent a letter to Ms. Frank similar in tone and meaning to that of Senator Specter. In his letter, Greenleaf said, "On behalf of the nearly 2,000 community members who have signed a petition supporting removal, treatment and/or recycling of the asbestos pile in Ambler, I ask for full remediation of the site, which includes the removal and recycling of asbestos."

Democratic State Representative Rick Taylor also wrote to Ms. Frank. His letter, in part, said, "The dirt capping option will not effectively protect the citizenry and does not seem to be a long-term solution to a problem which directly affects citizens in [Rep. Taylor's District and] Montgomery County."

Democratic State Representative Michael Gerber also joined in with a letter to Ms. Frank. In his letter, he mentioned not only his concern for the welfare of his constituents who live in the area; he also stated that his own residence sits less than two miles from the BoRit site.

In late June, the BoRit site received a shipment of 6,300 cubic yards of fill material, with another 7,700 cubic yards coming in the near future. The total volume of 14,000 cubic yards is expected to help with the remediation process as well as to reinforce nearby creek banks to prevent asbestos runoff. Whether the material will be used to fill the spaces left after asbestos removal or to cap the existing piles has yet to be determined.

The EPA coordinator for the BoRit site, Francisco Cruz, stated that the process of exploring potential remediation solutions for the site would start this autumn. Once a solution is determined, any steps to clean up the site and use the fill material could still take several years to start.

Sources: Noristown Times Herald, Montgomery News

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