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County may beef up pollution tests

Its former public works site and nearby property would be tested.

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published March 14, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Nearly a year has passed since the Hernando County Commission stood on its former public works depot in South Brooksville and offered its renewed promise to clean it up.

Today, the County Commission faces another milestone. The commissioners have been asked to approve $352,000 for new tests. If they do it, that puts the cost of the latest round of testing at more than $1-million.

That means the county will have spent as much since August 2005 as it did during the first 14 years of the slow-moving cleanup.

The money will pay for testing of the site, neighboring yards and a Bethune Street drainage ditch that residents say channeled polluted runoff through their neighborhood.

The county will also hire a new consultant - its fifth since contamination was first noted in 1991.

County Administrator Gary Kuhl said the county still has faith in Creative Environmental Solutions of Brooksville, hired by the county in fall 2005. But the firm needs some assistance drafting its reports to the satisfaction of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Kuhl said.

"We're hoping this will beef us up a little bit in that area," Kuhl said.

Pamala Vazquez, DEP spokeswoman, said problems with the county's last report created delays. "We just want clear, concise reports," she said.

The latest round of testing comes at the urging of DEP and the state Department of Health. DEP sent its questions to the county Feb. 16. The county has 60 days to respond.

Al Gray, environmental health director for the county Health Department, said his agency asked for testing in the yards around the W Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard site. Unlike DEP, his agency can't force the county to do the tests, but Kuhl was receptive to the department's request, Gray said. He stressed that there is no immediate health threat to residents.

The county bought the site in the predominantly black neighborhood in 1955, and slowly expanded its public works depot there until it abandoned the site in 2003. At its peak, the site housed paint, paint thinner, solvents, gasoline, diesel fuel and pesticides. Through leaks and sloppy handling, many of those chemicals spilled into the dirt and groundwater.

Two county employees first noted contamination in 1991. But for the next 14 years, cleanup efforts repeatedly stalled. At the same time, county officials assured neighbors - some of whom live within 50 feet of the site - that contaminants hadn't moved into their yards. However, recent tests found at least one back yard with lead and arsenic above state limits.

In August 2005, the county faced a threat of fines from the DEP and increasing outrage from neighborhood activists. In April 2006, the St. Petersburg Times published a report detailing years of unnecessary delays.

Since then, the county has been working to get a handle on how far the contamination has spread. Once that is outlined, the county will begin its cleanup.

Kuhl said the county continues to make the cleanup a priority. "We have tried every way we know to be timely and to be responsive."

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352754-6127.

[Last modified March 13, 2007, 23:06:34]