June | 2013 | Koppers Superfund Gainesville, Florida

Archive | June, 2013

GAINESVILLE RESIDENTS REJECT FRAUDULENT SOIL TEST RESULTS

19 Jun

We the victims of Koppers Gainesville, one of the Nation’s oldest and most toxic Superfund Sites, outright reject AMEC’s soil sampling due to these facts:

Trees absorb contaminants from adjacent soils, thereby lowering the toxin levels in those soils. Stephen Foster Neighborhood residents saw employees of AMEC- also known as MACTEC- break soil collection protocol by taking samples from soil immediately next to tree-trunks. And, in the months prior to soil collection, residents saw new soil added to several properties where soil samples were later collected.

Worse, many residents witnessed AMEC employees diluting soil samples. They were seen performing the following actions:

1.    Placing clean soil from a potting soil bag into a stainless steel mixing bowl
2.    Collecting a small scraping of soil from a resident’s yard using a trowel
3.    Adding the collected soil to the clean potting soil in the mixing bowl
4.    Very vigorously mixing the two soils
5.    Placing some of the resulting soil mixture into a sample jar
6.    And pouring the remaining soil mixture onto the ground. Homeowners witnessing this   action called neighborhood representatives and asked them to come out to see for themselves. The representatives that responded also witnessed these actions.

AMEC employees were seen repeating this process at properties throughout the neighborhood. Their tampering renders Beazer East’s soil testing inadmissible. We do not accept Beazer East’s fraudulent test results. Our families need out of the dioxin, PAH, arsenic contaminated homes that are making us sick.

Willingness to accept counterfeit test results and Beazer East & EPA’s “raw deal” for Gainesville families is inhumane. Decades of collusion and negligence at every level of government has allowed Gainesville to become a Toxic City.

Susan Fairforest

Beazer East & EPA: Keeping Gainesville Toxic with a Little Help from AMEC

19 Jun

The United States has recovered more than 19 million from AMEC in damages and penalties to settle litigation regarding fraud, false claims and kickbacks on Federal contracts in Sacramento, San Francisco, St. Louis and New Jersey.

At the World Trade Center, AMEC destroyed very important evidence during the clean-up. This and the tampering witnessed by many residents in our neighborhood render AMEC’s soils test results false and unacceptable and Un-American. Why are we entrusting the health and the lives of Gainesville’s children to AMEC?

The “Raw Deal” as acknowledged by this Commission earlier this year really gives us a toxic waste dump. Dumping additional toxic residential soil on top of the already contaminated superfund site allows creosote, and other Koppers chemicals to continue to contaminate our drinking water, the Floridan Aquifer.

Removing one foot of polluted soil and entombing residents in toxic homes does nothing to protect families. Officials already know that in some homes two to four feet and even twenty to forty feet of toxic soil have already been replaced with clean soil, only to find out later that the replacement soil is just as contaminated as the original soil.

According to Beazer East employee Mitch Brourman, this clean-up is “the best clean-up ever in the nation”. No, EPA and Beazer East, this is NOT “the best clean-up ever” and it is NOT protective of Gainesville residents and our city. This is nothing more than a criminal cover-up that is Keeping Gainesville Toxic. We need and want out of our toxic homes!

Residents want to thank Todd Chase: he is the only City Commissioner that fully understood the implications of accepting this cover-up/raw deal. We are grateful to him for voting against it. This Raw Deal will forever stamp Gainesville with the stigma of Toxic City.

Ron Hodill

Tags: abc news, ACEPD, ai, air, al, Alachua County, Alachua County Health Department, alligator, amec, arsenic, associated press, ATSDR, Bank of America, basketball, Beatles, Beazer East, bill nelson, birth defects, Brutal Strudel, cabot koppers, Cancer, Carol Estates, chemical contamination, City of Gainesville, cleanup plan, climate, coast to coast, colbert report, college board, college insight, college majors 101, college navigator, collusion, consent decree, copper, coppers, Cornel West, corporate crime, daily show, daycare, dioxins, Dioxinville, drinking water, Eagles, entertainment tonight, environmental justice, epa corruption, Erin Brockovich, falsified test results, Family, Fannie Mae, farmer's market, Florida Gators, Florida State Road 441, floridan aquifer, football, Freddie Mac, free range chickens, gacar, Gainesville, Gainesville High School, gainesville realtors association, Gainesville Regional Airport, gardening, gator growl, gator nation, gator stomp, Gators, global warming, Green Peace, harassment, Heartbreakers, hexavalent chromium, Hippodrome Theatre, Howard Bishop, JP Morgan Chase, Karen Silkwood, Koppers, koppers class action, koppers gainesville, Koppers/ Beazer East, Less Than Jake, loans, Love Canal, Main Street, miscarriage, ms, nascar, NE 23rd Ave, Oak View, obama, organic, PAH, parks and recreation, Paynes Prairie, poisoned places, raw deal, real estate, relocation, Sacrifice Zones, Santa Fe College, Shands, Sister Hazel, slurry walls, State Road 441, Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster Elementary School, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, Tavis Smiley, test koppers, Times Beach, toxic Gainesville, toxic scorecard, University Ave, Waldo Road, Walmart, Wards, washington post, water, weather, Wells Fargo

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Sandra Watts Kennedy on AMEC’s Canadian Scandal

14 Jun

City of Gainesville Commission Meeting

June 6, 2013

AMEC engineers and scientists hired to do environmental assessment for the Raven Coal Corporation in Port Alberni Canada falsified data about the Alberni Airshed, not once but twice.

When AMEC published their final assessment of air pollutant concentrations in the Alberni Airshed, they claimed that DIOXIN levels in the airshed were well below the safe level standard for air quality set by the Canadian Government and the World Health Organization. But AMEC was not aware that the Canadian Government monitors the Alberni Airshed for air pollutant concentrations.

The Canadian Government’s reports confirmed major DIOXIN air pollution in Port Alberni, contrary to AMEC’s air quality report. Investigation into AMEC’s actions in Port Alberni proved that AMEC never collected any air quality data in the Alberni Airshed- their report was composed of false test results invented to meet the needs of their client.

AMEC’s fraudulent report included a map illustrating the locations of monitoring towers they claimed to have used for several years to collect their Alberni Airshed data. Upon investigation it was established that these monitoring stations never existed.

It is said that one can tell a lot about a person’s character by the company they keep. AMEC is criminally fraudulent. Why does Beazer East keep using them in Gainesville? And why has Beazer East repeatedly lied to residents about rehiring AMEC under another name? Why is EPA allowing use of AMEC-derived data when the lives of Gainesville’s children are at risk?

This farce is costing lives in Gainesville! We reject AMEC’s sham test results and all aspects of the Beazer East/EPA coverup! Our families want out of our dioxin-contaminated homes while we’re still alive!

Tags: 13th Street, 2 miles, abc news, ACEPD, air, al, Alachua County, Alachua County Health Department, alligator, AP, arsenic, associated press, ATSDR, basketball, be, Beatles, Beazer East, birth defects, Brutal Strudel, cabot koppers, Cancer, cappex, Carol Estates, chemical contamination, coast to coast, colbert report, college board, college majors 101, college navigator, collusion, Cornel West, corporate crime, corruption, creosote, daily show, daycare, Debra Heights, dioxins, Dioxinville, Duck Pond, Eagles, eggs, environment, environmental justice, epa, Erin Brockovich, Family, Fannie Mae, farmer's market, FL DOH, Florida, Florida Gators, Florida State Road 441, floridan aquifer, football, Freddie Mac, free range chickens, gacar, Gainesville, gainesville realtors association, Gainesville Regional Airport, gardening, gator growl, gator nation, gator stomp, Gators, global warming, Green Peace, harassment, Heartbreakers, hexavalent chromium, Hippodrome Theatre, Homes, houses, Howard Bishop, JP Morgan Chase, Julia Roberts, Karen Silkwood, Koppers, koppers class action, koppers gainesville, Koppers/ Beazer East, la times, Less Than Jake, Lois Gibbs, Love Canal, Main Street, miscarriage, ms, msnbc, nascar, NE 23rd Ave, ny times, Oak View, organic, PAH, parks and recreation, poisoned places, Poverty Tour, project on student debt, real estate, redevelopment, Sacrifice Zones, schoolguides, Sister Hazel, slurry walls, soil, State Road 441, Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster Elementary School, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, superfund, Tavis Smiley, test, test koppers, Times Beach, Tom Petty, toxic city, toxic Gainesville, toxic scorecard, UF, University Ave, Waldo Road, Walmart, Wards, washington post, water, Wells Fargo, yes, zinch

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Stephen Foster Resident Martha Miller On AMEC’s Fraudulent History

14 Jun

City of Gainesville Commission Meeting

June 6, 2013

AMEC (Beazer East’s environmental consultant for Gainesville’s Koppers Superfund Site) is a huge British-owned corporation like BP that is notoriously corrupt and has faced indictments from countries all over the world. For example:

1. In 2008 Great Britain’s Serious Fraud Office fined AMEC five million pounds for falsifying records and other related ethics violations.

2. In South Africa, AMEC was named in a bribery/kickback scandal involving contracts on the Lesotho Dam Project.

3. AMEC carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed Chalillo Dam in Belize, and has been accused of burying the scientific analysis of the dam’s impact on wildlife that concluded the project would cause significant and irreversible loss of biological diversity.

Geologists characterize AMEC’s Environmental Impact Assessment as “gravely flawed and so filled with errors so as to render it useless as a document for engineers to use in the design and the construction of the proposed dam.” They go on to state “The mistakes made by AMEC in the geological mapping of the Chalillo site would get a failing mark in an introductory geology class”.

4. Likewise, University of Florida scientists found AMEC’s assumptions and models regarding health risks associated with Koppers Superfund Site to be so flawed that they recommended to Florida DEP that AMEC’s data should not be used at all.

Given AMEC’s worldwide reputation for unethical conduct and unreliable work, continuing to use their falsified data to drive our remedial action is a major mistake that will forever impact the reputation of our city. More importantly, Gainesville families will continue to sicken and die in toxic homes. We want out of this toxic city. We don’t want to die in beautiful but toxic homes- We reject this RAW DEAL!

Tags: 13th Street, 2 miles, abc news, ACEPD, ai, air, al, Alachua County, Alachua County Health Department, alligator, arsenic, associated press, ATSDR, Bank of America, basketball, Beatles, Brutal Strudel, buyout, buyouts, cabot koppers, Cancer, cappex, Carol Estates, center for public integrity, chemical contamination, city commissioners, City of Gainesville, climate, cnn, co, coast to coast, colbert report, college board, college insight, college majors 101, college navigator, college results online, collusion, consent decree, Cornel West, corruption, creosote, daily show, daycare, Debra Heights, dioxins, drinking water, Duck Pond, Eagles, eggs, entertainment tonight, epa, epa corruption, Family, Fannie Mae, FL DOH, Florida, Florida Gators, Florida State Road 441, floridan aquifer, football, foreclosures, fox news, Freddie Mac, free range chickens, gacar, Gainesville, Gainesville High School, gainesville realtors association, Gainesville Regional Airport, gainesville sun, gardening, Gators, global warming, Green Peace, Heartbreakers, hexavalent chromium, Hippodrome Theatre, Hogtown, Homes, houses gainesville, Howard Bishop, Koppers, koppers class action, koppers gainesville, Less Than Jake, Main Street, miscarriage, ms, msnbc, NE 23rd Ave, Oak View, obama, PAH, parks and recreation, Paynes Prairie, Phillips Center tickets, poisoned places, real estate, relocation, Rolling Stones, Santa Fe College, schoolguides, Sister Hazel, slurry walls, soil, Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster Elementary School, Stephen Foster Neighborhood Association, superfund, test koppers, Tom Petty, UF, University Ave, Waldo Road, Walmart, Wards, water, weather, Wells Fargo, wow, yes

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers, Uncategorized

Rally in support of a REAL clean-up for Gainesville

10 Jun

Come to a rally in support of a REAL clean-up for Gainesville and the protection of our water source from Koppers/ Beazer East. Mon June 10th, 2013 from 4:45-5:45 at the Steven Foster Elem School. Then, if you like, you can participate in the health department’s presentation at the school from 6pm to 8pm.

Tags: Florida, Gainesville, Koppers/ Beazer East

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Categories Beazer East, Death, EPA Corruption, Florida, Gainesville, Koppers

Another Family Rejects Beazer East/EPA’s Dangerous and Disingenuous “off-site soil remedial action”

4 Jun

Scott Miller, Remedial Project Manager

Superfund Remedial Branch

USEPA Region 4

Atlanta Federal Center

61 Forsyth Street

Atlanta, GA 30303

May 15, 2013

Mr. Miller et al,

We still do not grant access to our property, parcel 08409-000-000, to Beazer East, Inc./Koppers Inc., Tetra Tech, MACTEC (AMEC), Kestrel Ecological Services, or any other entities or individuals working on behalf of Beazer East, Inc., US EPA, FL DOH or FL DEP for soil sampling or any other activity related to the dangerous and disingenuous “off-site soil remedial action”.

Let us again plainly state that we are not participating in any phase of EPA’s and Beazer East’s “off-site soil remediation”. As you well know, in our neighborhood it has been repeatedly illustrated that clean replacement soils quickly become as contaminated as the replaced soils, sometimes even more contaminated. Further, your “remediation” fails to address the greater, more immediate danger posed to our families by the dioxin-saturated interiors of our homes.

We refuse to participate in your purely cosmetic psychological exercise designed to deceive residents into the false belief that our homes and gardens will no longer be a serious toxic threat to our families. This includes any and all phases of the soil scraping and cover-up that you are trying to force on innocent residents in lieu of providing the real protective action that our suffering community needs and deserves.

Please inform your contractors: NO employee of Tetra Tech, MACTEC (AMEC), Kestrel Ecological Services, Beazer East, Inc./Koppers Inc., US EPA, FL DOH or FL DEP may trespass our property at any time without both our explicit permission and our actual physical presence while you are there. This prohibition also applies to any employees of Alachua County or the City of Gainesville intending to trespass our property for any activities connected to the “off-site soil remediation” in Stephen Foster Neighborhood.

Please contact attorney Stephen Murakami, as instructed in this email which you received on July 6, 2012:

Dear Mr. Miller:

I believe my client has made it abundantly clear by her unequivocal instructions and notice set forth in her message, that she does not wish to participate in any additional soil or dust sampling conducted by you or any of your agents or contractors. In the future, should you require any information pertaining to the Kennedy’s property, kindly contact me in advance of any attempt to secure the Kennedy’s permission or authorization to enter upon their property for any purpose.

Sincerely,

Stephen David Murakami, Esq.

Attorney at Law

Please reply to our email so that we know that you understand its contents.

Sincerely,

Sandra Watts Kennedy and Kevin Kennedy

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