First, I will emphasize, again, that the interior of the site has NEVER been tested for VOCs until this most recent set of tests, which are now up to 17 test wells. You’re not adding to what was done previously, since there was nothing done previously. You can’t count the wells along the pipeline, since no military personnel would ever dump toxic waste on top of a pipeline. And the test wells at the site’s perimeter, almost all of which had detectable levels of toxic VOCs were not in the interior. So, you really have 17 wells covering 40 acres.
Unfortunately, we won’t know what toxic waste lurks beneath the buildings, since there has never been testing under the buildings, and without drilling through the concrete foundations or tunneling under them, we won’t ever know. So, what happens if there are detectable VOCs in those test wells around the buildings? You would have to also test under the buildings to see if the concentrations are increasing or decreasing in order to find the source. So, what will you do in that case? Do you have a plan?
Regarding the final work plan, Annie Brown was nice enough to send it to me when I requested it. Remarkably, it states that the DTSC had ordered IUSD to perform a second set of soil-gas tests 3 weeks after the first set, to see if the results changed with time, as required by the March 2nd letter. Here is PlaceWorks’s devilish response:
“The District would like to comply with this request however we did not see in the March 2nd letter the request to sample three weeks after the original. The three week schedule has serious repercussions on the scheduled completion of the high school and will impact”
[then a list of impacts follows]
PlaceWorks continues: “The DTSC indicated that they did not want to impede the opening of the school but requiring the resampling of the probes with a 3 week delay will impede the opening of the school.”
Does this not sound like a rationale to evade the March 2nd orders? Your consultant, PlaceWorks, thinks it’s more important to open the school on schedule… than to make certain the school is safe before opening.
I also requested the lab reports, which were prepared weeks ago. But, I was told that the lab reports will only be provided with the final report some time during the last half of May, and besides, IUSD doesn’t have them. Why are they being kept secret? Is it bad news?
BTW, the work plan also mentioned that school staff is scheduled to move in, in JUNE!
Superintendent Walker, at the March 22nd meeting stated: “we would like to have 100% confidence that this site is safe,” which elicited a hearty round of applause. Are those lofty words just an empty slogan to pacify an aroused public, since all we see is the ongoing dodging and deception.
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