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Lawsuit: Raytheon Plume Bigger Than State Claims

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: January 9, 2009

Updated: 01/09/2009 10:20 am

ST. PETERSBURG - An underground plume of industrial chemicals ihas spread farther than previously thought and is contaminating the air inside homes, according to new filings in a federal class-action lawsuit.

The findings come from two experts working for homeowners in the Azalea area who are suing defense contractor Raytheon, owner of the plant from which the chemicals are flowing.

The new reports are at odds with earlier findings from Raytheon and state health officials who say there is no health risk to residents from the plume. The company estimates the spread of the plume at about a half mile around the plant site.

One expert for the plaintiffs, Philip Bedient of Rice University in Houston, said in the court filings this week that the plume is actually one mile long by 1.7 miles wide.

Compared with previous reports by Raytheon's consultant, Arcadis, "a much larger zone of contamination exists," Bedient wrote in his report.

Bedient is chairman of the Environmental Science and Engineering Department at Rice and is working with attorneys for the homeowners.

The plume area identified by Bedient contains about 889 parcels of land, 91 percent of them single-family homes, according to a report in the court file by homeowners' real estate consultant John A. Kilpatrick.

Bedient based his analysis on data previously collected by Arcadis and on 29 new sampling locations tested by Fugro Consultants, which is working for the homeowners.

Bedient attributes the discrepancy in findings to different methods of measuring chemical waste from the Raytheon site. Fugro, essentially, was using a finer measuring stick than Arcadis, he said in the report.

Bedient also concluded the pollution problem has been growing largely unchecked for years, despite the state's 18-year involvement in the case.

"The results from 2008 clearly show that the plume is continuing to expand and it is clearly not being controlled. …in other words, the experimental remediation schemes have been a dismal failure to date at this site."

The plume has contaminated dozens of residential irrigation wells in the area.

A second expert working for the homeowners reached what may be an even more alarming conclusion: New tests show "vapor intrusion" of a harmful chemical called trichloroethylene, or TCE, in a number of homes over the plume.

In court records, David L MacIntosh, who teaches environmental management at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., said data collected from homes in the plume area "indicate a complete vapor intrusion pathway, similar to one found for buildings on-site at the Raytheon facility."

MacIntosh based his findings on soil gas tested under concrete foundations and indoor air samples taken last August at a dozen homes near Raytheon. The report does not include addresses.

MacIntosh said the intrusion can occur through "cracks, utility penetrations and other openings" in the foundations of buildings above contaminated soil and groundwater, such as the Raytheon plume.

The Florida Department of Health tested indoor air quality during the summer at the BrandyWine Apartments next to Raytheon. Inside several homes, the state found elevated levels of the chemical 1,2 dichloroethane, or DCA, one of the cancer-causing compounds known to exist in the plume.

State health department experts concluded there was no connection between the contamination and the plume.

In November, one of the lawyers suing Raytheon took issue with the heath department conclusion about the BrandyWine air tests.

"I know they tested for vapor intrusion on Raytheon's own property and they confirmed they found it there, so to think it's going to be a different situation 100 yards to the east is silly," McWilliams said.

A final report on the health department testing is pending, but state experts say none of the residents at BrandyWine are in any imminent danger.

Contacted this week, Raytheon reiterated its policy of declining to comment on pending litigation.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing Raytheon's assessment f the plume, a last step before the company submits a cleanup program for state approval.

A department spokeswoman said any new information, such as the findings of MacIntosh and Bedient, could contribute to this review. All previous testing was done by environmental consultants working for Raytheon and was reviewed by the state.

"If an interested party brings us technical data, we'd be fools to turn away that information," said the spokeswoman, Pamala Vazquez.

The Department of Environmental Protection will host a community meeting 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Azalea Middle School about Raytheon's final assessment report and to answer questions.

Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 709-2753.

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