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Sen. Nelson To Push Raytheon Cleanup

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By GALINA TISHCHENKO News Channel 8

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - People living in the Azalea neighborhood got promises of help from the federal government and the state Legislature on Monday in their efforts to deal with groundwater contamination from the Raytheon plant site.

Officials, including U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, spoke to about 100 people at the Azalea Community Center, where residents also learned that Azalea Elementary School has been added to a list of buildings to be tested for signs of indoor air pollution.

"If I get the federal Environmental Protection Agency involved, things can get done quicker and they can get done in a more comprehensive, coordinated way," the Florida Democrat said.

Azalea residents say government officials failed to inform them about possible contamination of their irrigation wells 15 years ago and didn't try to fix the problem when they first learned about it.

"This could have been stopped in the bud when it was still on Raytheon's property," said Annette Kraut, who has lived in the area for almost 19 years.

State Sen. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, who attended the meeting at Nelson's invitation, promised the notification problem will be addressed by the Legislature.

"Next session will not pass without us doing legislation that will create a better notification system so this will not happen again," he said.

Deborah Getzoff, southwest district director at the state Department of Environmental Protection, says the department will put more effort into resolving the problem.

"I think what we have to do is work very hard through this cleanup process," she said.

Nelson said federal participation will help speed the cleanup and health assessments, and ease citizen concerns about the pollution.

"They want something done," he said. "That's why I am here."

According to Raytheon and health department risk assessments, there is no immediate danger in using groundwater for irrigation purposes.

Testing has shown traces of chemicals in dozens of irrigation wells, and 13 of those wells exceed the state limits for groundwater contamination.

The source of the pollution was a defense plant later acquired by Raytheon Network Centric Systems.

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