Senate Committee Passes Pollution Notice Bill Tied To Raytheon

A bill requiring broader public notice about pollution, sparked by contamination of neighborhoods near the St. Petersburg Raytheon plant, passed a key state Senate committee this morning.

The Environmental Committee approved the legislation, which would expand notification requirements to people living within 1,000 feet of any contaminated area. State law now requires notice to the county administrator and people with contamination on their property.

State Sen. Charlie Justice said city residents waited 17 years to learn about a groundwater contamination plume affecting two apartment complexes, three neighborhoods, community parks and schools, and he doesn't want that to happen again.

"If we had the kind of notification standards I propose in this bill, the situation in St. Petersburg would not have grown to the level of putting people's health, property values and trust at risk," Justice, a St. Petersburg Democrat, said in a statement.

The Department of Environmental Protection first became aware in 1991 that cancer- causing industrial waste from a defense plant site now owned by the Raytheon Co. was leaking underground.

In the case of Raytheon, consultants found toxins under city streets, but failed to notify residents who don't live on those streets because state law didn't require it.

Subsequent tests revealed some of them have toxins under their property.

Raytheon has begun a limited "pump and treat" cleanup under its property and is working on a long-term plan to cleanse the groundwater under surrounding properties.

The leak started when another company owned the property, at 1501 72nst St. N. Raytheon accepted liability under a state "consent order" when it purchased the land in 1995.

Many people in surrounding neighborhoods didn't learn about the spreading plume until News Channel 8 reported in March on how the waste had migrated under homes, parks and playgrounds more than half a mile away.

A review of state records revealed that Raytheon and the DEP knew chemicals were moving offsite as early as 1999.

After those reports, Raytheon tested hundreds of private irrigation wells and discovered dozens of them were contaminated with chemicals that leaked from the plant site decades ago and continue to spread through the groundwater.