BY ERIN ROKITA
MARKET TOO!
W EEKEND S PECIAL
“Newman’s” Fresh Fish
in Papa’s Beer batter
Toxic Trainyards
W INE & B EER T ASTING
Spill fumes in crawlspaces worry residents
6-8pm
This Friday wines from
High Pass w/Dan McNally
T
he Oregon Public Health Division an-
nounced last week that toxic vapors
collecting in the crawlspaces of some
residential homes near an underground rail-
road pollution plume represent a health haz-
ard.
“Action is needed to prevent future expo-
sure to residents in these homes,” said state
epidemiologist Jae Douglas. Douglas pre-
pared a report on the toxic hazard for the state
Superfund Health Investigation and
Education Program (SHINE).
Douglas recommended that homes near
the tracks in northwest Eugene with higher
levels of volatile organic compound (VOC)
vapors install ventilation systems or vapor
barriers. Exposure to small amounts of one
VOC called trichloroethylene (TCE) can lead
to short-term effects such as dizziness,
headaches, lung irritation and poor concen-
tration. Long-term exposure to TCE and
tetrachloroethylene (PCE) may lead to liver
and kidney damage.
Despite the possible health hazard, Greg
Aitken, the Department of Environmental
Quality’s (DEQ) cleanup manager for the
railroad site told concerned residents at a re-
cent meeting that it could not afford to test
every home at risk. “The answer is no. I’ll be
honest with you,” he said.
Aitken said the railyard pollution is largely
cleaned up and DEQ is now focused on envi-
ronmental restoration in neighborhoods close
to the area. “It’s a complicated site,” Aitken
said. “We’ve been studying it for 14 years.”
When asked to estimate the project’s end, he
said “final cleanup is years away.”
Railroad neighbors at the meeting ex-
pressed concerns about the extended cleanup
schedule and the non-availability of free test-
ing to affected homes. A citizen questioned
whether a conflict of interest could exist in
having Union Pacific fund the railyard con-
tamination study since state-funded testing
may have yielded results sooner.
Some residents also pointed out that
homes in the contaminated areas built over
concrete foundations as opposed to crawl-
spaces were not tested at all.
State Rep. Chris Edwards of Eugene, who
attended the meeting, emphasized that infor-
mation needs to be provided to landowners as
well as tenants about groundwater contami-
nation and hazardous fumes in crawlspaces.
Later tenants in residential areas with high
VOC concentrations may not know the risks
of drinking well water or the potentially haz-
ardous fumes in the crawlspaces, and “that’s
kind of creepy,” Edwards said. He would like
to see state officials devise a programmed
way to maintain contact with tenants.
One attendee suggested mailing letters to
renters and tenants as a possible solution.
Since the mid 1990s, the Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) along with the Oregon Toxics
Alliance (OTA) have monitored the environ-
mental impact and health risks posed to rail-
yard workers and nearby residents as a result
of Union Pacific Railroad operations near the
River Road and Trainsong neighborhoods.
For decades, “drips, spills and operating
practices associated with use and disposal of
creosote, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), heavy metals, and volatile organic
chlorinated solvents (VOCs), contaminated
the soil and groundwater at the railyard”
stated the SHINE report. “This contamina-
tion migrated into the groundwater off-site in
the neighborhoods adjacent to the railyard.”
This led to concern about the potential health
effects of exposure to contaminants.
SHINE’s Douglas said exposure to con-
taminated well water in the River Road
neighborhood does not pose a health risk as
long as residents do not drink the water.
Residents can continue to use well water to
irrigate gardens and wash cars and outdoor
surfaces. “Use your municipal water to
drink,” she said.
Douglas said she does not “think there’s a
reason to be fearful.” Based on exposure to
the highest levels of TCE and PCE detected,
SHINE’s report indicated that cancer rates
would theoretically increase to about seven
additional cases per 1,000 persons exposed
over a lifetime. Median concentrations indi-
cated an overall cancer increase of about
three in 10,000. Exposure to well water, as
long as it is not ingested, poses no cancer risk.
But resident Patty Burkart pointed out that
health risks are also cumulative. “None of us
live in laboratory conditions,” she said.
“Pollutants can potentiate each other.” She
expressed concern that current data does not
consider the cumulative effect of being ex-
posed to multiple contaminants. She said,
“things acting together can create more prob-
lems than when isolated.”
Some neighborhoods near the railyard are
also exposed to high levels of airborne pollu-
tants from the J.H. Baxter wood treatment
plant.
To read the health report and
comment on the investigation, visit the
www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/shine/uprsite.sht
ml website. SHINE invites public comment
through June 27.
ew
Friday & Saturday nights
S UNDAY B REAKFAST
Banana Nut Bread
French Toast & Mimosa’s
Until 3pm
And now Draft Beer to go!!!
Quarts & Half Gallons
OPEN 7am–11pm • 365
Mo’St. Cafe
1123 Monroe St.
342-8158
14th Annual “KLCC in Bloom” Garden Tour
A Summer Stroll on College Hill
Sunday, June 24
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
$10 in advance • $13 day of tour
For ticket information
www.klcc.org
or call 463-6000
TO BENEFIT KLCC 89.7 FM
Live Music • Massage Chairs • Rain or Shine!
A Service of Lane Community College
JUNE 7, 2007 13