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Bill Calls For Notice Of Contamination Like Raytheon's

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: January 15, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - State Sen. Charlie Justice said no one should face the kind of surprise that hit neighbors of the Raytheon defense plant last year when they learned a toxic plume of industrial waste had been spreading beneath them for years.

Justice has filed a bill that would require the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to notify people about this kind of contamination within 60 days after the state learns of it. Notice would go to property owners within a mile of contaminated land.

In Raytheon's case, DEP waited 17 years before spreading the word, and only then after News Channel 8 reported them.

State records show both DEP and Raytheon knew as long ago as 1999 that the toxic plume was migrating into the neighborhood. The company is in the final stages of assessing the problem but has made little progress toward cleanup.

Justice's proposal, Senate Bill 114, would also require notifying parents and teachers if a school is within a mile radius of a contaminated site. In the Raytheon case, that would have included Azalea Elementary School.

If passed by the state lawmakers, the notification law would take effect July 1. The next session of the Legislature opens March 3.

Currently, Florida law only requires notification of property owners who are directly affected by pollution. In the Raytheon case, the DEP notified the city of St. Petersburg when test wells drilled into city-owned streets revealed cancer-causing chemicals under the surface.

Subsequent tests revealed those same chemicals had contaminated dozens of residential irrigation wells around those same locations.

The DEP and Raytheon say no one is at risk from the underground plume or contaminated well water as long as they are not drinking it.

Lawyers for homeowners who are suing Raytheon disagree and say new tests show that chemicals from the Raytheon plume are vaporizing into nearby homes.

Tonight, the DEP will hold a community forum to discuss Raytheon's final assessment report and to answer any questions residents have.

The forum is 6:30 p.m. at Azalea Middle School, 7855 22nd Ave. N., St. Petersburg.

It is free and open to the public.

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603.

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