State
Eastern Heights put on EPA clean up list
Grenada Star
Residents of Eastern Heights Subdivision got a strict promise from Environmental Protection Agency officials that they will be included in a massive cleanup effort.
Approximately 300 people, mostly residents from the subdivision, were on hand at the Lewis Johnson Senior Citizens Complex Tuesday night to be informed of the EPA’s Superfund Division pertaining to the proposed listing of the Rockwell International Wheel and Trim on the Superfund National Priorities List.
Present at the meeting were EPA Superfund representatives as well as personnel with the Mississippi Department for Environmental Quality.
The large majority of the crowd got an answer they were seeking when EPA Superfund Director Franklin Hill took the floor.
“Eastern Heights is included in this process,” Hill said. “People matter and human health is the primary focus of the Superfund.”
On Dec. 29, a treatment system intended to reduce elevated levels of TCE inside the manufacturing building at the facility was restarted under an EPA removal action. Removal actions are short-term responses intended to protect people from risks associated with contaminated sites.
The treatment system will operate with EPA oversight and monitoring.
At the meeting, officials said the EPA will require the facility to submit a sampling plan for the system in order to ensure the system is performing and that workers and residents of Eastern Heights are protected while the system operates.
Adding the site to the National Priorities List will allow EPA to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all the risks to public health and the environment, and take the necessary cleanup actions.
“This is a lot of work and we would like to see boots on the ground pretty soon,” Franklin said. “Possibly 30 to 45 days I’d like to have a team here. I want to be quick and send a message to the responsible parties to get busy.”
Community Response
After introductions of personnel and summary of how Superfund works those in the audience were given a chance to speak to EPA officials. Residents of Eastern Heights expressed their concern about the slow process since first meeting with state and federal officials two years ago.
“For years there’s been a serial killer in our neighborhood,” Said Eastern Heights resident James Harris. “While we’ve waited for a speedy response from you guys, folks are getting sick and dying.”
Long time Eastern Heights residents FrankRimmer said he’s heard everything from barrier walls to large trucks and digging holes through foundation of homes. Rimmer said it all sounds like explainations.
“We’ve heard a lot from these agencies I the past few years,” Rimmer said. “One barrier wall was built at a nearby lagoon, and I walked down there only to see the water was full of dead fish. There’s now talks of clean up around the plant, but they need to take care of this neighborhood first. Every household in this one spot has been affected.”
Shay Harris, who grew up in the neighborhood, was the first to raise her hand and seek an answer for the contaminants.
“I want you to assure us that Eastern Heights will be included on the priorities list,” Harris said. “We don’t think that the EPA is being forthright with us. There’s so many families that’s been through so much. Cancers of the liver and kidneys of people that don’t even drink.”
Twenty-plus year resident Darrell Hubbard told EPA officials that he’s considered leaving Eastern Heights, but there was nowhere to turn.
“I want to leave, but I can’t sell my property,” Hubbard said. “No one in their right mind would buy property that’s sitting in a contaminated area.”
When asked by local businessman Jeff Johnson “just how long does the cleanup take?,” Franklin told the audience projects have taken as few as five years to complete, to as many as 25 years.
“The majority of residents out there are 55 years or older, they don’t have that kind of time,” Hubbard said. “Some are in their 80’s, how much time do you think they have?”
City, federal and legal response
On Monday night, at the Grenada City Council’s special called meeting, a vote was passed on a resolution to include Eastern Heights Subdivision in the Superfund Program.
Ward Five City Councilman Joshua Hughes made the motion which was seconded by Ward Three Councilman Lewis Johnson. The vote passed 6-0 with Ward Four Councilman Ernest Hargrove being absent from the meeting.
At the public meeting Grenada City Manager Trey Baker said they would like to see action on the new boundaries.
“We need to see enforcement mechanisms,” Baker said. “None of these residents put the contaminants there and we need to see results as soon as possible. To the Eastern Heights residents, just hang in there.”
Attorney William Liston III, who represents some 50 homeowners in a federal lawsuit against Meritor Inc., which formerly did business in Grenada as Rockwell International Corporation, and Textron, Inc., said the public meeting was very informative and gave residents a clearer look at the situation.
“We heard a lot more at this meeting,” Liston said. “The EPA officials here seemed genuinely concerned about the well-being of these residents.”
Liston said he expects trials in Northern District Court to begin later this year.
Reginald Moore, field representative for Congressman Bennie Thompson, read an extended letter from Thompson calling for the including of Eastern Heights to the Superfund.
“Failure to do so will be met with public outrage,” the letter read.
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