Toxins Found At Energizer Site, Search Expanded To Neighborhoods
Bennington, Vt. - A neighborhood search for toxins including tetrachloroethene [also known as PCE or Perc] and trichloroethylene [TCE] is underway as a result of toxin discovery last year on the Energizer Battery Manufacturing Inc. property, said state Department of Environmental Conservation Site Manager Michael Smith, who is also a hydrologist.Speaking today, Smith said that soil and groundwater testing will be done at specific sites along Maple, Spring, Park, Gage, and Division streets, and groundwater testing will be done on-site at a mobile laboratory. There will be soil sample evaluations at an off-site laboratory as well, he said.
Smith said there are no plans at this point to test for the toxic chemicals at the Mount Anthony Union High School, which is on Park Street.
The high school is believed to be too far away from any potential contamination, Smith said.
"There is no school around the area where they are going," Smith said today.
Energizer Deemed "Proactive" By State Officials
Smith said that company officials were upgrading solvent containment protocols at the site when contamination was discovered. The matter was appropriately reported to state officials and the company has acted in a responsible manner, Smith said.
"I would say they are being very proactive at this point," Smith said."We are working with them in a cooperative fashion. They are acting very responsibly."
TCE Still used At Site
Energizer facility manager Jeff Schroeder defined the situation as a "release" rather than a spill and emphasized that the discovery was made during a company-initiated improvement effort.
"It's not been a spill, per se, I think it would be described as a release," he said.
PCE hasn't been used at the facility since 1990, Schroeder said, but he said that the company does still use TCE.
If toxins have impacted neighborhoods and at what levels is unknown at this point, Schroeder said.
"I can't speculate about that," he said. "That's why we expanded the search. The key thing is we are being proactive."
Energizer prides itself on being environmentally responsible, and Schroeder reiterated that the situation was uncovered during a company endeavor to improve containment at the site.
No remediation efforts are underway at the Energizer facility, Schroeder said and added that company officials do not yet know if any remediation will be necessary.
"At this point, we haven't begun remediation efforts," he said. "We don't know if we need remediation. We are working closely and cooperatively with the state on this."
If remediation is ordered,the company will likely be required to submit a detailed remediation plan to the state, Smith said. Test results from the upcoming neighborhood testing will determine what additional steps may be necessary.
The Environmental Resources Management of New England firm is working with Energizer on the matter. The Bennington Energizer site is the lone company site to manufacture miniature batteries for hearing assistance devices.
PCE
PCE is identified as a manufactured chemical used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing.
According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry web site, exposure to very high concentrations of PCE can cause dizziness, headaches, sleepiness, confusion, nausea, difficulty speaking and walking, and in some cases, unconsciousness and death.
"It evaporates easily into the air and has a sharp, sweet odor," states the ATSDR web site.
The chemical is considered extremely mobile in groundwater and is toxic at low levels, according to the site.The federal Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level for PCE in drinking water is 0.005 milligrams PCE per liter of water.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration limits PCE exposure of 100 ppm for an eight-hour workday over a 40 hour work week, according to the ATSDR site.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends that PCE be handles as a potential carcinogen [cancer-causing agent] and recommends that workplace air levels be kept as low as possible, according to the web site.
TCE
TCE is a colorless liquid that may be used as a solvent for cleaning metal parts, according to the ATSDR web site.
"Drinking or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may cause nervous system effects, liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma, and possibly death," according to the site information.
TCE may be found in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluid, and spot removers.
TCE has been found in underground water sources and surface waters as a result of manufacture, use, and disposal of the chemical. According to the ATSDR information "trichloroethylene dissolves a little in water but it can remain in groundwater for a long time."
Human exposure to the chemical may occur through breathing TCE-impacted shower water vapors, drinking or swimming in water contaminated with the chemical, contact with chemical-contaminated soil, or skin contact that results from use of products that contain the chemical.
The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level for TCE in drinking water at 0.005 milligrams per liter or five parts TCE per billion parts water. The EPA also developed regulations for handling and disposing of TCE.
OSHA has set an exposure limit of 100 parts of TCE per million parts of air [100 ppm] for an eight hour workday over a 40-hour work week, according to the web site information.