State and CTS reach deal on polluted site; activists not happy

The abandoned CTS of Asheville site

Word came today that North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources have reached a voluntary clean-up deal at the contaminated CTS of Asheville site. This is a step that limits CTS to paying no more than $3 million for the cleanup -- and it's one that environmental activists and residents of the area have long opposed. They're not happy. My report's below.

State will pursue deal with CTS on polluted site; activists angered:

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources will pursue voluntary re-mediation on the contaminated CTS of Asheville site. Local activists have attacked the move, asserting it will leave taxpayers paying for the cleanup and slow any action.

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The Mills Gap Road site, and parts of the surrounding area, are contaminated with TCE, a carcinogenic industrial chemical linked to cancer. The agreement stipulates that CTS will submit a plan for cleaning the site after DENR finishes its assessment.

However, the plan has drawn considerable ire from activists and residents of the area, who have long announced, loudly and publicly, their opposition to such a move.

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“We’ve been against this since day one,” Dave Ogren, a member of the CTS Monitoring Council established by the county, told Xpress. “We’ve opposed it, and we’ve sought answers. We haven’t gotten them. We haven’t gotten answers from anyone. It seems like this is the outcome they [DENR] wanted in the first place.”

Particularly of concern to Ogren and fellow activists is the fact that under voluntary re-mediation, CTS can’t be forced to pay for more than $3 million of the cleanup, an amount he says won’t come close to clearing the toxins from the area.

“Three million doesn’t clean it up,” he asserts. “That leaves the state holding the bag. The state’s out of money. That means the taxpayers of Buncombe County will be left footing the bill—and given the state of the county, that means that it won’t get done in time.”

Groundwater contamination, by its nature, spreads, Ogren added, and the longer a full cleanup is delayed, the more damage will be done.

Comments

[Jenny Bo.]

This is so much more important than any damn tea party, but where are the protesters for a real cause??