LOS ANGELES - The federal EPAhas added the B.F. Goodrich site in western San Bernardino County to the Superfund National Priorities List, the federal program that cleans up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
Since the 1940's, the B.F. Goodrich site has been used to store, test and manufacture munitions, rocket motors, and pyrotechnics by the government and businesses, according to an Environmental Protection Agency announcement Wednesday.
" The area's groundwater is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchlorate, forcing the closure of public drinking water supply wells in the communities of Rialto and Colton," the EPA added.
Placing B.F. Goodrich to the Superfund list gives the EPA the essential tools to clean up the site, according to Keith Takata, director of the EPA's regional Superfund program.
The EPA proposed adding B.F. Goodrich to the Superfund National Priorities List in 2008.
Since 2002, the EPA and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board have worked to investigate and clean up the B.F. Goodrich site. IFour years later, in 2006, investigation and cleanup efforts stalled when the potentially responsible parties presented legal challenges to state cleanup efforts. The EPA has since spent over $3 million to complete required soil and groundwater testing before the actual cleanup can begin. The EPA expects to release a plan to begin cleanup at a portion of the site later this year, the agency added.
TCE is a metal cleaning solvent, and drinking or breathing high levels of it may cause damage to the nervous system, liver and lungs. Perchlorate is an ingredient in solid rocket propellant and many pyrotechnics, and may affect the thyroid gland, according to the EPA.
For more information on the BF Goodrich Superfund site, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/bfgoodrich
For the Federal Register notice and supporting documents, visit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm
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Joe Segura, a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper, has covered Gotham City, er Long Beach, for 34 years. During his very, very long -- endless -- tenure, he's covered almost every beat, and he was the main writer for BeachWeek, which focused on life and lifestyles of the shoreline communities from downtown Long Beach to the Huntington Beach pier.
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