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By School Message

Schools - No Vapor Risk Found

Dec. 5, 2007 Update:
High School and Central Community Center show no vapor intrusion risk
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) have received preliminary results on sampling done to determine the presence of volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors below the St. Louis Park High School and Central Community Center – which includes Park Spanish Immersion School. The testing shows that no vapors were present in the soil beneath either structure that would negatively affect indoor air quality. Of the 12 samples analyzed, 6 were free of the chemicals of concern and the remaining samples were well below levels of concern.

The two properties were tested on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 by MPCA contractors, as part of an ongoing investigation to determine the extent and any potential risks from underground chemical vapors. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin testing private properties in the identified study area in mid-January.

''The MPCA and MDH recognized the importance of testing the school and community center early and expedited the test results in an effort to ease concerns regarding the health and well-being of students,'' said MPCA Commissioner Brad Moore.



By SLP update

Vapors may be seeping into SLP

The EPA is concerned that hazardous vapors from groundwater could be wafting into schools and homes in St. Louis Park.
By Tom Meersman and Jenna Ross, Star Tribune
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to test St. Louis Park High School and about 270 homes, businesses and other buildings nearby for potentially hazardous vapors seeping in from underground.
If it finds problems, the EPA will use Superfund money to correct them, city officials said.
''We don't see an imminent public health threat at this time,'' said Brad Moore, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency commissioner. The EPA said in a press release that so far, it has seen ''no evidence that the vapors are getting into buildings at this time.''
However, the agency wants to check properties on both sides of Hwy. 7 near Wooddale Avenue, where two sets of soil borings earlier this year detected vapors in soil, Moore said.
The study was prompted by the discovery of compounds used as solvents and degreasers in shallow groundwater and soil in the suburb just west of Minneapolis. The substances, known as volatile organic compounds, do not affect drinking water supplies that are much deeper, state pollution authorities said.
But their vapors could rise through soil into buildings through basements and foundation cracks. It's the sort of contamination problem outlined earlier this year in a Star Tribune series that described 20 significant plumes of tainted groundwater underlying 35 metro-area communities.
Officials did not want to speculate on what would happen if elevated levels of chemicals were found, but they compared the potential contamination to radon, where homes with elevated concentrations of the gas can have their basements ventilated to solve the problem. Ed Pelto, owner of Ed's Heating and Air Inc. in Woodbury, said that it typically costs $1,300 to $2,500 for homeowners to vent basements so radon does not accumulate.
When asked whether parents should be concerned, school district spokeswoman Amy Parnell said: ''To be honest, we need answers to those questions as well.'' High school Principal Rob Metz said that the district is preparing to send a letter to all parents in the next day or two.
The study, which would begin in mid-January, and ask for cooperation because the EPA needs permission to enter homes and conduct the tests.
Charlie Gebien with the EPA's emergency response unit said that owners will not be charged for the air sampling and will be informed of the results. ''There would be borings conducted in the basement to determine if there are any vapors in the sub-slab area, and then that would be combined with indoor sampling of the air in the residence,'' Gebien said.
The EPA is testing indoor air for similar chemicals in the Dayton, Ohio, area, officials said, but on a smaller scale. ''The whole issue of soil vapor intrusion is really an emerging one,'' Moore said.
St. Louis Park residents Charles and Carmella Anderson said they're willing to endure drilling in their basement, and trust that the city will handle the study and any fixes as successfully as it cleaned up a nearby industrial site years ago. ''St. Louis Park has always been tough with this kind of stuff,'' Charles said.
The vapors found in St. Louis Park are from several compounds, including vinyl chloride, tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. They are commonly used in industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry-cleaning fluids, and some have no detectable odor at low levels.
''The EPA will cover the cost of this remediation for homeowners, so it's important that you allow the testing at this time,'' Hoffman wrote.
meersman@startribune.com • 612-673-7388 jross@startribune.com • 612-673-7168


By Star Trib Article

SLP/EPA to test for chemical vap

12/04/2007 11:17 PM
The study announced Tuesday follows the discovery of chemical compounds in shallow groundwater and vapors in some soil samples in the western Twin Cities suburb.
Authorities said they don't know whether the vapors are moving up through the soil and into the buildings through basements or foundation cracks, but they want to check all of them in two areas near the intersection of Minnesota 7 and Wooddale Avenue to find out. A pair of local public meetings has been scheduled for next week to provide more information and to begin getting the required permission from property owners.
''The cooperating agencies wish to assure you there is no evidence suggesting an imminent health risk to occupants, but the potential vapor intrusion problem needs to be checked out,'' the letter said.
Besides the EPA, the city of St. Louis Park, the Minnesota Health Department and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are participating in the study.
Because city water is pulled from deeper aquifers, drinking water supplies aren't affected, authorities said.
The chemical compounds found so far - perchlorethylene, trichloroethylene and others - were commonly used in industrial degreasers, metal cleaners and dry cleaning
fluids. A breakdown product, vinyl chloride, also was found.
Breathing low levels of the compounds - which often have no detectible odors - for long periods can aggravate such health problems as asthma, according to Jim Kelly, health assessor for the health department.
''We don't really know if anyone is being exposed at this point,'' Kelly stressed.
MPCA Commissioner Brad Moore said the upcoming cold-weather period is a good time to make the checks for the chemicals, widely referred to as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.
''Homes are closed up,'' Moore said. ''If there are going to be problems related to VOCs, this is when you would expect to see those problems.''
Already, two schools - St. Louis Park High School and Park Spanish Immersion School in the Central Community Center - have been tested. Those results should be available soon.
Most of the properties in the study zone are residential. But about 20 percent are made up of city, commercial or industrial properties.
Authorities still haven't determined the source or sources of contamination. But Doug Wetzstein, the MPCA's Superfund unit supervisor, predicted more than one or two would be found. The affected area, he said, had or still has dozens of businesses that can be considered possibilities.
The MPCA was first alerted to the problem in April 2004 when the city of Edina sought help in identifying a source of vinyl chloride contamination in a municipal well that has since been closed.
After various studies and modeling, the trail eventually led to St. Louis Park, where soil borings were done at 26 sites. In a second study to determine the area of contamination, 79 samples were taken.
Wetzstein said the EPA will take the lead role in all further testing. But before taking the air and soil-vapor samples, scheduled for mid-January, it will need permission from property owners.
EPA officials said they will conduct air and soil sampling by boring small holes in basement or crawl-space floors to collect vapor samples, a process that takes about 45 minutes. The holes will be filled when the sampling, done at no cost to owners, is completed.
If any building vapor problems are found, Kelly said, routine venting techniques should solve them easily.
Residents and business owners also can contact EPA community involvement coordinator Cheryl Allen at 1-800-621-8431, ext. 36196, on weekdays or at allen.cheryl@epa.gov.
Dennis Lien can be reached at dlien@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5588.

By Pioneer Press Article