Citizen Concerns

During the March 16th and July 11th meetings, TOSC staff members, including Dr. Shu-Guang Li and Dr. Miles Khire, met with Oregon area citizens to discuss TOSC’s mission and services, as well as community interest in working with TOSC. During these discussions, the residents expressed a variety of concerns about the ESOI site. The concerns fo-cused on promoting community understanding of the site investigation, the risks posed by the site (both to public health and the environment) and options for developing and carrying out remedies for the contamination. The following questions/concerns were expressed, and provide a basis for developing educational and technical assistance services that TOSC may provide.

1. What contaminants have been found at the ESOI site and where have they been found? What media (soils, groundwater, sediments) have been affected? How do we know that information (i.e., what site characterization work has been con-ducted)? How reliable is that information?

2. Will the implementation of the RFI Work Plan, as it is written, lead to a complete characterization of the site? Is the Work Plan, and the phased approach for carrying out the work at the site, a good starting point for a full assessment of the contamination?

3. Why has the Corrective Action testing found contamination when the RCRA wells monitored since 1987 supposedly showed nothing?

4. The Toledo drinking water intake lines run through the ESOI site and waste has been found in proximity to the lines. Is there a risk of contamination of drinking water from the operation of the ESOI facility (irrespective of whether there is offsite contamination)?

5. What ecological and human health impacts (if any) may have resulted (and may continue to result) from the ESOI site? What do the documents say on these issues?

6. How can the community better understand risk assessment, including toxicity assessment and exposure assessment?

7. Can TOSC summarize key documents to help the community understand them?

8. The site has greatly differing geology and affected media, including unpredictable horizontal and vertical migration caused by bedrock fractures, varves, sand seams, pebbles, etc. How does the geology affect contaminant movement? What challenges for containing contaminant migration might the ESOI site present?

9. TOSC was asked to provide education and discussion services on the different corrective action options, including how the technologies/remedies operate, the remedies’ applicability to the ESOI site, the benefits and shortfalls of different remedies, what will be left in the future under each option, and possible alternative options. Are there innovative remedies that should be considered? (This is an issue that can be addressed more thoroughly following the “phased” investigation of the site.)

10. What are the cleanup standards for the site’s primary contaminants? What regulations give rise to the standards? State vs. Federal? Treaty impacts? Conflict of laws? Were the standards chosen properly?

11. How will we know if the remedies are working? How long will they take to carry out? What will be the performance standards? What monitoring will take place? If the remediation is not working, what next?

12. Are there similar sites that citizens might examine for lessons in understanding the ESOI site?

13. What economic and cultural impacts might the site and its cleanup have on the City of Oregon and the surrounding community? What is the status of the closure? How are the perpetual and closure funds being used? Are funds that should be used for closure being redirected to corrective action? Will there be money to pay for corrective action? Who will pay if the company cannot?

Other sections of the TOSC Outreach Plan:

• Summary of the Outreach Plan
• Introduction
• Site background
• ESOI facility arrangement
• Current status of the project
• Citizen concerns
• TOSC services
• Additional activities