TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Azalea Neighborhood Residents Discuss Toxic Underground Plume

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK DOUGLAS, News Channel 8

Published: April 10, 2008

Updated: 04/10/2008 09:05 pm

ST. PETERSBURG – More than 100 homeowners gathered in the Azalea neighborhood tonight with dozens of questions about a toxic-waste plume that they recently found out is moving under their neighborhood.

The residents want to know whether the contamination poses a threat to their health or the value of their homes.

Chris Nidel, an environmental lawyer and chemical engineer from Washington, D.C., told them both outcomes are possible.

Nidel and his New York associate Joel Rubenstein handed out client agreements as a first step toward possible litigation with the Raytheon company, which owns the nearby defense plant from which the pollution started moving three years ago.

Many of the homeowners found out about the contamination from an investigation by News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune that was broadcast and published two weeks ago.

The news investigation revealed that a groundwater plume containing such chemicals as vinyl chloride, TCE and dioxane has been moving under the neighborhood for at least three years.

Neither Raytheon nor the Florida Department of Environmental protection notified homeowners even though a number of residents have irrigation wells that experts say are at risk of contamination by the tainted groundwater.

Raytheon has been under a consent order from DEP since 1995 to determine the extent of the problem. They are still assessing how deep and how far the pollution has spread.

The state expects the company to have a final assessment ready by the end of May.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT