How many more children must die of cancer here in Dutchess because our county's Health Dept. won't inform the public with the information they know about groundwater contamination across the county?...
Time for a reality check on the "Dutchess Cares" hype now inundating our airwaves-- and askingonce again for our County Executive and our county's Health Department to addinformation to their website about specific MTBE contamination across our countythat they've been well aware of for a while now through their regular testingof public wells...
Our airwaves and newspapers are now inundated with messages from ourCounty Executive and the Dutchess County Health Department about how 'DutchessCares'-- yet our County Executive and our county's Health Department stillrefuse to adequately inform the public with the information they know about groundwater contamination throughout the county-- including serious MTBE contamination foundby the county itself in eight towns across Dutchess this year alone. This informationfrom testing of public wells should be put up online at the county's websitewithout further delay. How many more children need to die of cancer from MTBE herein Dutchess before this happens?...
[See comments just below from Hyde Park's Colleen Berrian (from neighborhoodof Greenbush) on this-- from the "Hidden Poison" series of articles onMTBE contamination of water that the Albany Times-Union did back in April-- it's still online at http://www.timesunion.com/ (click on "SpecialReports").]
This is from "No Easy Fix for $25B Problem" (part of the series above):
"Residents in Greenbush, which lies downhill from several gas stations, found out they had an MTBE problem in late 2000. Greenbush residents share the same complaint of most impacted communities: Authorities were slow to notify residents they had a problem, even after one well tested with 700 parts per billion MTBE.
Greenbush resident Colleen Berrian is convinced MTBE made her neighbors sick. Without prompting, she runs through a list: `'A lady a few houses down died of bone cancer. A 17-year-old boy died of a brain tumor. A 4-year-old had a tumor. Another couple on Greenbush Drive both died of cancer. Many pets in the neighborhood have died of cancers. Another boy had leukemia. Up on Bircher Avenue, across 9G, there were a lot of cancers up there. I know a gal who grew up there who said that several people in her family all had brain cancers.'' No health study has been done in Greenbush."
"Arguing that MTBE does not cause cancer is like saying that cigarettes don'tcause cancer. There is absolutely no question that MTBE causes cancer."-- Dr. Myron A. Mehlman, Ph.D. (former head toxicologist for Mobil Oil Corp. and current Mount Sinai School of Medicine faculty member)["Ex-Mobil Man: MTBE Causes Cancer" [7/30/00 Exeter News-letter]
See:
"Well Test Bill Faces Hearings" by David Paulsen
Three more sources of information:
1. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/cleanh2O
2. Debra Hall's http://www.hopewell-junction-citizens-for-clean-water.org/
3. http://www.toxicstargeting.com/
Curious, isn't it, how the same Republicans in our county governmentwho profess to care about the cost of well-testing refuse to see the merits of resolution I submitted over two years ago suggesting that our county sue oil companies for MTBE contamination across Dutchess (as Suffolk County, Nassau County, Village of Pawling, Town of Wappinger, eighteen other municipalities across NY, and a total of 157 different communities across the country have done already-- some succussfully-- Santa Monica; South Lake Tahoe Public Utility District; see http://www.ewg.org/reports/oilandwater/lawsuits.php ...
See below information I've received through Freedom of Information Act request from our county's Health Department about extensive MTBE contamination well over 10 ppb (ten parts per billion) of our county'sgroundwater found this year in eight towns across the county...
This information from our county's Health Department is in stark contrast topublic statements from Dutchess County Health Department officials about how such contamination of our county's groundwater is "isolated"(!)--and abouthow county residents needn't worry about MTBE contamination of water becauseit was banned from being put into gasoline as of January 1, 2004(!)...
Even Dutchess County Department of Health (DCDOH) Environmental Director Steve Capowski and Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority Director ThomasLeGrand themselves have made public statements this year about how highly water-soluble MTBE is-- and how quickly it moves through the ground to contaminate drinking water...
Note as well-- the rule of thumb, generally, has been a measurement of a minimum of 5 ppb MTBE for a filter from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in contaminated neighborhoods like Greenbush in Hyde Park; the listbelow only reflects DCDOH well measurements over 10 parts per billion (ppb)...
Finally, it should also be noted that I'm fairly convinced that all of the businessesbelow where DCDOH has found MTBE contamination have been giving their customers clean drinking water-- bottled or otherwise; his primary concern is thatwith MTBE, more often than not, "when there's smoke there's fire"--my concern is for residences and other establishments nearby in those neighborhoods-- especially given public statements made just this year by Capowskiand LeGrand on how quickly MTBE travels underground...
Without further ado, this below is information I FOIA'd from DCDOH thisfall on MTBE contamination found throughout the county this year-- long after MTBE was banned from being put into our gasoline on January 1, 2004:
[this particular well-test list is what should be put online at DCDOH site withoutfurther delay!]
Beekman:
Clove Valley Deli & Cafe 1/25/06 57 ppb MTBE contamination
East Fishkill:
Archway Plaza 3/27/06 330ppb MTBE contamination
Blue Hill Mind & Body 4/6/06 409 ppb MTBE contamination
Brettview Acres Water Company 9/26/05 12 ppb MTBE contamination
Gulf & Snack Shop 4/18/06 450 ppb MTBE contamination
Fishkill
Potluck 2/3/06 40 ppb MTBE contamination
Hyde Park
Darrows Mobile Park 4/26/06 26 ppb MTBE contamination
LaGrange
Cinnamon Tree Day Care Center 1/17/06 16 ppb MTBE contamination
Pleasant Valley
Gasland Pleasant Valley 3/14/06 39 ppb MTBE contamination
Pleasant Valley Chestnut Mart 4/21/06 40 ppb MTBE contamination
Rudy's Market II 7/26/05 20 ppb MTBE contamination
Rhinebeck
F & D Mart, Inc. 12/13/05 24 ppb MTBE contamination
Stanford
Cobble Pond Farms 3/21/06 14 ppb MTBE contamination
Wappinger
7-11 Convenient Food Store 3/7/06 47 ppb MTBE contamination
Associated Aircraft Group 1/20/05 28 ppb MTBE contamination
Creek Side Plaza 3/15/06 170 ppb MTBE contamination
New Hackensack Plaza 10/11/05 29 ppb MTBE contamination
Rt. 376 Gulf 3/28/06 270 ppb MTBE contamination
Washington
Mabbettsville Convenience Store 3/21/05 66 ppb MTBE contamination
Mabbettsville Dairy Cream 6/2/05 21 ppb MTBE contamination
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Recall this list of more than three dozen different stores, restaurants, and other entities across Dutchess County who have had wells that tested at overthe level of 10 parts per billion MTBE at some point over the last several years, according to Steve Capowski, Director of Environmental Health for the Dutchess CountyHealth Department (the same source for the information above):
Rhinebeck:
Getty Rt. 9/9G-- 6/04...55 ppbF & D Mart Inc.-- 9/02...200 ppb
Amenia:
Wassaic TDDSO-- 8/01...11 ppb
Beekman:
Beekman Square Diner-- 12/02...24 ppb
Clove Valley Deli & Cafe-- 12/02....180 ppb
Sunoco Food Market-- 7/01...16 ppb
East Fishkill:
Archway Plaza-- 5/03...490 ppb
East Fishkill Realty, LLC-- 8/03...37 ppb
Gulf & Snack Shop--1/02...5600 ppb
Jake's Tex Mex 6/03...627 ppb
Fishkill:
Convenient Deli Mart-- 10/03...307 ppb
Potluck-- 7/03...73 ppb
Hyde Park:
Citgo Food Mart-- 7/02...55 ppb
Country Plaza DC-- 11/01...12 ppb
Crum Elbow Apartments-- 3/04...39 ppb
Darrows Mobile Park-- 4/04...59 ppb
Dutchess Co. Auto/Consumer-- 12/01...20 ppb
Georgie O's Restaurant-- 12/03...15 ppb
Hidden Brook Estates-- 6/03...54 ppb
Hidden Plaza (Bell Copier)-- 12/03...24 ppb
St. Peter's School-- 2/02...18 ppb
TNT Furniture Strippers-- 7/03...30 ppb
Touch of Naples-- 5/04...12 ppb
LaGrange:
Cinnamon Tree Day Care Center-- 7/01...58 ppb
Merchants Associates-- 2/03...130 ppb
Page Industrial Park-- 5/01...21 ppb
Rt. 55 Mart, Inc.-- 6/04...110 ppb
Pleasant Valley:
Ennis Parc-- 8/04...14 ppb
Family Circle Plaza-- 10/02...20 ppb
Four Brothers Pizza-- 9/02...10 ppb
Gasland Pleasant Valley-- 2/04...36 ppb
Pleasant Valley Chestnut Mart-- 6/04...130 ppb
Rudy's Market II-- 5/03...56 ppb
Stanford:
Cobble Pond Farms-- 2/02...584 ppb
Wappinger:
7-11 Convenient Food Store-- 5/01...35 ppb
Creek Side Plaza-- 12/02...1600 ppb
Dutchess Medical Arts Building-- 7/04...23 ppb
New Hackensack Plaza-- 3/04...31 ppb
Rt. 376 Gulf-- 3/04...690 ppb
Stoetzel Mobile Home Park-- 7/01...23 ppb
Washington:
Mabbettsville Convenience Store-- 3/04...160 ppb
Mabbettsville Dairy Cream-- 6/04...27 ppb
Tuxis Real Estate LLC-- 4/04...200 ppb
Joel Tyner
County Legislator
Clinton/Rhinebeck
876-2488
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