Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
U.S. Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, continues to fight the good fight over the Stauffer Superfund site in North Pinellas, even after residents have justifiably become discouraged and given up.
Bilirakis recently asked that an objective third party be hired to oversee remediation work at the massively contaminated vacant property in northwest Pinellas County. Bilirakis noted that residents don't trust either Stauffer or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do the job right.
The EPA told Bilirakis that it already plans to hire a third party.
That's good, but don't expect North Pinellas residents to stand up and cheer. Who will this third party be? Residents learned long ago that sometimes when officials involved with the Stauffer case pat heads and say they will take care of the public, they are really looking out for their own best interest.
Local newspapers used to be filled with stories about North Pinellas residents' battles with the federal government over cleanup of the 130-acre Stauffer site, which borders the Anclote River, a protected Florida waterway. A phosphorus processing plant had operated on the property from 1947 to 1981, leaving behind contamination by around 30 hazardous substances, including asbestos, heavy metals and radioactive elements.
Residents wanted the site excavated and the contaminated dirt hauled away. Stauffer and the EPA wanted the dirt left there forever, piled up into a mound, sealed at the bottom by a concrete slab and covered with a water-tight cap.
It was a David vs. Goliath story, and though David won some important battles - millions of dollars worth of extra tests the government should have ordered in the beginning, exposure of the potential weaknesses of the mound-and-cap method and health tests for former Stauffer workers - David appears to have lost the battle over how the site will be cleaned up. The EPA has settled on the mound-and-cap method, arguing that the method is safe and that excavating and hauling away the toxic dirt not only would be prohibitively expensive, but could expose more people to the contaminants.
Pinellas and Pasco residents have one more opportunity to affect the cleanup, and just as Bilirakis has kept trying, they should too. Until July 23 the U.S. Justice Department is accepting comments on the proposed mound-and-cap cleanup of the Stauffer site. Residents can send their comments to Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20044-7611. Letters should reference U.S. vs Stauffer Management Co. LLC and Bayer CropScience Inc., D.J. Ref. 90-11-2-1227/3.
Why write letters, if the government is going to do what it wanted to do in the first place? Though residents may not be able to change the cleanup method at this point, they may be able to affect the selection of a third party to oversee the project and demand regular communication with the public during the cleanup.
State and Pinellas County environmental agencies should be granted a voice in the choice of the third-party overseer. Local residents do not and should not trust Stauffer and the EPA to make that decision alone, given their history in Pinellas.
Residents also can insist that Stauffer be required to meet with residents several times before the cleanup begins and regularly during the cleanup so they can get answers about every detail of the work.
The remedial work at the Stauffer site could be hazardous for nearby residents. They can't afford to give up the fight now.