BUSWAY SITES FACE CLEANUP HIGH LEVELS OF LEAD AND ARSENIC FOUND IN SOIL.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer Hazardous arsenic and lead have been found at two spots along the new Orange Line route, prompting a state-supervised cleanup - but it will not delay construction of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. busway, MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. officials said Friday. The contamination - the result of more than 100 years of railroading rail·road·ing n. The construction or operation of railroads. Noun 1. railroading - the activity of designing and constructing and operating railroads rail technology on the land - was discovered by workers conducting pre-construction surveys. Work has been suspended at the two locations along Victory Boulevard Victory Boulevard is a major thoroughfare on Staten Island, measuring approximately 8.0 miles (12.87 km) and stretching from the west shore community of Travis to the upper east shore communities of St. George and Tompkinsville. at Topham Street and near Drake Place until the tainted soil is replaced. ``We expected some sort of contamination out there,'' said Rick Thorpe Rick Thorpe is a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly in the province of British Columbia, Canada. He represents the riding of Okanagan-Westside, and has been an MLA since 1996. , chief project management officer on the busway. ``We want to make sure the community knows there's no issue out there affecting them.'' State toxics officials said the contamination levels were quite high, with arsenic some 50 times higher than typically allowed and lead 1.5 times higher than acceptable. However, this kind of heavy metal contamination isn't transmitted through the soil and doesn't become airborne, so it doesn't pose a risk unless people come in direct contact with it. ``By making sure no kids get into the soil and nobody touches the soil, we'll be OK,'' said Sara Amir, chief of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, cleanup operations with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The agency monitors exposure to hazardous, radioactive, and toxic wastes in addition to enforcement of compliance by individual businesses, . Thorpe said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working with the state agency to remove the tainted soil, take it to the proper landfill and fill in the area with clean soil. In recent weeks, MTA contractors have been testing soil every 1,000 feet along the 14-mile busway route. About 750 samples were collected and the results of some 200 tests returned. Of those, 14 registered some contamination but only two exceeded the state's safety limit. A sample taken at Topham Street and Victory Boulevard registered lead at 1,110 parts per million parts per million mg/kg or ml/l; see ppm. . State regulators usually require lead be cleaned up to 700 ppm for commercial sites, Amir said. The sample taken near Drake Place and Victory Boulevard had arsenic at 546 parts per million. Arsenic is generally required to be cleaned up to 9 to 11 ppm. Both contaminants should be easy to remove and clean up, Amir said. MTA contractors have built about 10 percent of the busway through the Valley and hope to begin paving some areas of the route soon. Contractors will work on other stretches of the route until these two contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. spots are cleared, Thorpe said. The MTA bought the old railroad line in 1991 as is. The agency discovered and cleaned up similar contamination during Gold Line construction. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): map Map: CONTAMINATED AREAS Daily News |
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