Scofieldtown toxins create compost concerns

The only question I have for Paula Eytel is does the carpet match the drapes?

Cool.

Test the compost - immediately.

Even if Ms. Eytel does happen to discover toxins in her soil, she is going to have a very difficult time proving that these materials originated from the fine organic compost that the City graciously provided to her at no charge whatsoever and at her own request.

The City's legal team has determined that Ms. Eytel's property at 14 River Ridge Court is located directly behind the Stamford Sunoco service station at 316 Long Ridge Road. This latter property is at a slightly higher elevation than Ms. Eytel's property, which would allow any toxic material dumped behind the service station in the distant past to have leached into Ms. Eytel's soil long ago. Therefore, any claims of damages due to toxic contamination will be summarily denied.

Case dismissed.

All this attention is focused away from the most likely impact areas. Follow Poorhouse Brook. If I lived south of the dump and were on artesian well water, I'd be doing plenty of testing, and often.

I recently heard that there's a high cancer rate in the area surrounding the Scofield dump. The homes in this area use well water, which might be contaminated with the toxins buried at the dump. Even if you cap it from the top, the toxins will leach from under into the ground water supply. Why doesn't The Advocate report this potential Love Canal right in our own town???

i, too, am concerned about the PCBs in the ground and downstream from poorhouse brook (a childhood play site of mine).

i hope this leads other stamfordites to think not only about toxins outside the home - but those inside the home as well.

do you use windex? ammonia of any kind? commercial cleaners? plug-in air fresheners? scotchguard?

just as we have to question what's in the compost from the scofield facility, we also have to question what we bring into our homes and the industries we support with our dollars. don't assume it's safe just because it's on the shelf in the home cleaning section at stop & shop or at turn of river or anywhere else.

creampie surprise wrote:

The only question I have for Paula Eytel is does the carpet match the drapes?

Hey Creampie, Maybe Paula has hardwood floors and no carpet.........

Concerned Stamforite wrote:

I recently heard that there's a high cancer rate in the area surrounding the Scofield dump. The homes in this area use well water, which might be contaminated with the toxins buried at the dump. Even if you cap it from the top, the toxins will leach from under into the ground water supply. Why doesn't The Advocate report this potential Love Canal right in our own town???

One good question to repeat freuently until answered!

Another? Why the closing delay?

Remember, there were NO controls on the dump. Aside from PCPs, one might well expect a spectrum of other dangerous compounds and chemicals, heavy metals, and contaminated petroleum-based products to be in Poorhouse Brook and the surrounding water table. There's been plenty of time for leaching.

I just took a look at the Stamford Watershed Map on the City's Environmental Protection Board's website (SEE LINK BELOW)-- The location of the dump in relation to the Poorhouse Brook Watershed is very disturbing. Be sure to zoom in on that area of the map.

http://cityofstamford.org/filestorage/25/52/1...

Vox Pop wrote:

<quoted text>
One good question to repeat freuently until answered!
Another? Why the closing delay?
Remember, there were NO controls on the dump. Aside from PCPs, one might well expect a spectrum of other dangerous compounds and chemicals, heavy metals, and contaminated petroleum-based products to be in Poorhouse Brook and the surrounding water table. There's been plenty of time for leaching.

The heck with the leaching worry for the moment. Hasnt it occured to anyone yet that certain organic compounds volatilize (i.e. the vapors draft up) through the soil? Thats why people who live next to TCE dumps often monitor the soil with vapor wells. Lets just say I wouldn't eat from that compost.

Also, They have a good point that the leaves from the roadside are probably contaminated anyway with petroleum and heavy metals from the the asphalt and rubber tires.

Vox Pop wrote:

<quoted text>
Aside from PCPs, one might well expect a spectrum of other dangerous compounds and chemicals,.

PCPs might explain the Government Center's behaviors. But PCBs explains the three headed frogs.

They are covering the issue up in more ways than one.
Yup. A regular LOVE CANAL.
Ben Barnes should be FIRED!

creampie surprise wrote:

The only question I have for Paula Eytel is does the carpet match the drapes?

Perhaps Love Canal is closer than you think!

Frijoles wrote:

<quoted text>
PCPs might explain the Government Center's behaviors. But PCBs explains the three headed frogs.

Mea culpa. Then again, perhaps we were both right!

I have no recollection of high volatiles up there.
That honor is reserved - to date - for Kosciusco Park, behind the Pitney-Bowes HQ. The underground fire burned there for over a year, in spite of 24/7 hosing down by the FD. Just think of all the goodies that dumped into the harbor!
The notion of "earth" as a "cap" is a cruel joke.
Witness the Raybestos heritage in Stratford, and a lot of them had more than just soil as a cover.
There's one way to deal with it. Dig it up, incinerate it in an elecrtic arc, then bury it.

Vox Pop wrote:

<quoted text>
Mea culpa. Then again, perhaps we were both right!
I have no recollection of high volatiles up there.
That honor is reserved - to date - for Kosciusco Park, behind the Pitney-Bowes HQ. The underground fire burned there for over a year, in spite of 24/7 hosing down by the FD. Just think of all the goodies that dumped into the harbor!
The notion of "earth" as a "cap" is a cruel joke.
Witness the Raybestos heritage in Stratford, and a lot of them had more than just soil as a cover.
There's one way to deal with it. Dig it up, incinerate it in an elecrtic arc, then bury it.

Stratford is a good example. Many of the houses there have vapor monitoring and some even have vapor filtering. The Home Depot and the theatre accros the street are both built over a plastic cap, and they have monitoring wells as well. Depot is not allowed to sell butane on the premise, as the DEP fears that an explosion would disasterous, nor are they allowed to install landscaping unless it is mounded above grade. Only nonresidential uses are allowed (i.e. Commercial only) as the DEP fears long term exposure. As if the sales workers exposure is ok. All of this with a cap. While in Stamford, they knowingly allowed composting. Brilliant.

O.K. this is only anecdotal evidence. About 4-5 years ago I reseeded some spots on my lawn. I bought some bags of topsoil but because I was cheap I also got some "top"soil from the downtown recycling center.
The end result was, that I had nice grass growing with the bought topsoil and almost none with the recycling center soil.
Never used the stuff from the recycling center again.

Concerned Stamfordite wrote:

I just took a look at the Stamford Watershed Map on the City's Environmental Protection Board's website (SEE LINK BELOW)-- The location of the dump in relation to the Poorhouse Brook Watershed is very disturbing. Be sure to zoom in on that area of the map.
http://cityofstamford.org/filestorage/25/52/1...

Where does the Poorhouse Brook Watershed enter into the Rippowam River Watershed?

Vox Pop wrote:

<quoted text>

I have no recollection of high volatiles up there.
That honor is reserved - to date - for Kosciusco Park, behind the Pitney-Bowes HQ. The underground fire burned there for over a year, in spite of 24/7 hosing down by the FD.

Vox, when was this?