Resident Farinda O’Steen Rejects USEPA/Beazer East Coverup: Shame on you EPA!
31 MayScott Miller, Remedial Project Manager Superfund Remedial Branch USEPA Region 4 Atlanta Federal Center 61 Forsyth Street Atlanta, GA 30303 May 30, 2013 Dear Mr. Miller, As I told you in person when you came to my door earlier this month, you do not have my permission to enter my property; neither does Beazer East, Inc./Koppers Inc., Tetra Tech, Mactec (AMEC), Kestrel Ecological Services, or anyone working for Beazer East, Inc./Koppers, Inc., US EPA, FL DOH or FL DEP for soil sampling or any activity that’s part of the shameful “off-site soil remedial action”. As you already very well know, on my property I have already replaced up to four feet of toxic soil with clean soil several times trying to protect my family- and my soil continues to test extremely high in dioxin, arsenic, PAHs and other Koppers chemicals. My house is still making me and my family sick, and your six inches to one foot of clean soil won’t do me or anybody else any good. Stay off of my property. I am not taking part in EPA’s and Beazer East’s so-called “off-site soil remediation”. Mr. Roy Geiersbach and other neighbors have had twenty to forty feet of toxic soil replaced with clean soils and two years later, the new soil tested was every bit as contaminated as the old soils, even worse. EPA and Beazer East know this, and know that your soil cover-up won’t help any of us residents. Koppers contamination has taken my surviving family members’ health and peace of mind away forever. We have suffered too much for too long to suffer this outrageous sham too, and will not take part in any of the soil scraping and cover-up that you are trying to force on us innocent residents when you should be giving us permanent relocation out of homes that are killing us. Your “remediation” doesn’t do a thing to move our families out of our dangerous homes. Shame on you, EPA! Tell your contractors: NO employee of Beazer East, Inc./Koppers Inc., Mactec (AMEC), Tetra Tech, Kestrel Ecological Services, US EPA, FL DOH or FL DEP may trespass on my property at any time. This also applies to any employees of Alachua County or the City of Gainesville trespassing my property at any time for any activities connected to the “off-site soil remediation” in Stephen Foster Neighborhood. My surviving family members and I don’t want to be entombed here- we want out of this toxic neighborhood! Farinda O’Steen
Spread the Word, Come on Out and Raise your Voice: Koppers Consent Decree Added to March 7th City Commission Meeting Agenda
6 MarResidents have been notified that the City of Gainesville is adding EPA’s Proposed Consent Decree/”Cleanup Plan” for Koppers to the agenda for tomorrow evening’s Commission meeting (Thursday, March 7th). The modified agenda with this addition will be posted on the city website this afternoon. This meeting presents a new chance to urge city commissioners to reject US EPA’s coverup plan that is non-protective of our drinking water and our families!
No Arsenic- No Dioxin- No PAHs!
Dig it up- Clean it up- and Take it away!!!
Our children need a Real Cleanup- not a Coverup!!!
Unpublished Response to Inaccuracies in 02/06/13 Alligator Article
4 MarBecause the Koppers article printed in the Florida Independent Alligator on 02/06/13 contained several inaccurate statements, Sandra Watts Kennedy submitted a letter addressing these inaccuracies to the Alligator on 02/18/13. As of 03/04/13, the Alligator has not printed her letter, so koppersgainesville is posting it here:
Hundreds of afflicted residents are taking Koppers and Beazer East to court with scientific proof that levels of arsenic, dioxins and PAHs inside our homes are drastically higher than ACEPD and GRU staff asserted at Santa Fe College’s recent panel discussion on the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site.
Dr. Mousa’s memory is creative concerning local government involvement in closing Koppers. He should review videos from numerous commission meetings showing citizens testifying to illnesses and deaths from Koppers toxic exposure and begging our elected officials to close down the site. It was only after residents produced documents proving that the City and GRU were among Koppers best customers and therefore abetting Koppers’ ongoing contamination, that we convinced the City to stop doing business with the polluter. Public outcry ultimately closed the plant.
If water contamination is the primary concern, why does our local government support EPA’s “cleanup plan” that contains no remedial action to stop the downward migration of contamination into the aquifer and continues to compromise our drinking water?
Stephen Foster Elementary School is not “several miles north” of the toxic site: it is only 1/3 mile away from the Site, and yes, our children there are at risk.
Regarding the related art show, families of Koppers victims are offended by the lavishing of grants for greenwashing projects when there is so much pain and suffering in our community. A better use of these funds would be to move the most severely afflicted residents out of harm’s way.