CONTAMINANTS SET FOR BURIAL; WORKERS DIG HOLE IN AREA OF CANCER STUDY.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Workers are digging a pit to store lead-contaminated soil from a defunct DEFUNCT. A term used for one that is deceased or dead. In some acts of assembly in Pennsylvania, such deceased person is called a decedent. (q.v.) metal recovery and junkyard operation that was investigated as part of a cancer cluster cancer cluster Epidemiology A cancer that occurs in a group of people living or working in a geographically defined region who may share one or more environmental factors–eg, DES, and a characteristic lesion–eg, vaginal adenoCA, in common. See Clusters. study that began 11 years ago. A contractor for the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control is digging a pit to store 1,800 cubic yards of lead-contaminated soil at the Silver Queen Junkyard, located just east of the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. at United Street and Silver Queen Road. The state has budgeted $289,000 for the work, which is expected to be completed in about five weeks, said Danny Domingo, project manager for the department. Tests at the junkyard detected lead contamination ranging from 95.7 parts per million parts per million mg/kg or ml/l; see ppm. to 361,000 parts per million. The state-recommended cleanup level for lead is between 500 parts per million and 600 parts per million. ``It (the contamination) averages about two to six inches deep,'' Domingo said. ``The deepest is about 16 to 18 inches.'' The 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. soil is in a five-acre section of the 20-acre site. The contaminated area has been fenced off and has been coated with a polymer spray to keep the contamination from blowing away. The pit will be 160 feet long and 76 feet wide and about eight feet deep. The pit will be lined with a heavy gauge plastic liner and will be capped with concrete, Domingo said. The state will seek a deed restriction to limit the future use of the property to industrial uses. In other such deed restrictions, property owners can use the capped areas for buildings provided they do not damage the concrete cap. State officials said whenever possible they try to get the property owners or those responsible for the contamination to pay for the cleanup. However, in this case taxpayers are picking up the tab because it is questionable as to whether the state would be able to collect any money from the owner, Avedick Agajanian, who is 87 years old and has health problems. Agajanian operated a junkyard and metal recovery operation at the site from 1963 until it went out of business in 1970. In the operation, Agajanian recovered lead from car batteries. In 1988, the Toxic Substances Control department began investigating the site as part of a state investigation into a cluster of eight childhood cancer cases that occurred in nearby Rosamond between 1975 and 1984. A cause for the cancer was never determined, but the investigation found soil at several sites in Rosamond and Mojave contaminated by toxic chemicals Any chemical which, through its chemical action on life processes, can cause death, temporary incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans or animals. This includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced such as dioxin dioxin Aromatic compound, any of a group of contaminants produced in making herbicides (e.g., Agent Orange), disinfectants, and other agents. Their basic chemical structure consists of two benzene rings connected by a pair of oxygen atoms; when substituents on the rings are , lead and other heavy metals heavy metals, n.pl metallic compounds, such as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and nickel. Exposure to these metals has been linked to immune, kidney, and neurotic disorders. . CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) State officials inspect the cleanup at the Silver Queen Junkyard. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion