After PCB, Tanapag resident now want dioxin probed

The Tanapag Action Group has asked the Division of Environmental Quality to assess dioxin soil contamination in the village to determine the extent of health problems in has caused in the village.

In a letter to DEQ Director Ignacio V. Cabrera, Tanapag Action Group leader Juan I. Tenorio requested the environment agency to release the 1991 soil sampling results which revealed extensive dioxin contamination in soil.

Mr. Tenorio made the recommendation in view of the planned release of blood test results in connection with the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination among residents.

Although the Commonwealth Health Center has yet to reveal the results, Mr. Tenorio said it is just proper that the health evaluation include an analysis of the dioxin contamination.

During a community meeting held last month in the village, CHC staff had informed residents that those who have less than 20 parts per billion PCB exposure would be referred to the hospital for further health evaluation.

Mr. Tenorio said residents have assumed this to mean that the people may have been suffering other health problems which are not just PCB-related but also caused by other chemical contamination.

Tanapag residents have asked the Department of Public Health to facilitate the assessment of PCB blood test results which has been delayed for several months. The community is also asking federal agencies to consider relocating residents who are living in contaminated areas in the village.

This developed as excavation of contaminated soil in Cemetery 2 will temporarily stop to allow the local people to observe All Souls Day. The cemetery has been opened after the contractor has removed a huge chunk of PCB-contaminated soil in the area.

Cleanup of some 18 PCB-contaminated sites in the village which have been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps, will also be carried out by the contractor, Environmental Chemical Corp.

The U.S. Army Corps will install a groundwater well in Cemetery 2 early next year to collect samples of groundwater for testing in connection with polychlorinated biphenyl contamination.

Although both the Army Corps and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintain that the groundwater is not contaminated with PCB, the concerns raised by residents of Tanapag village prompted them to conduct a thorough groundwater investigation.

Groundwater to be collected will be analyzed in a laboratory in the U.S. mainland.

An administrative order issued by EPA Region IX to the US Department of Army last month specified the need for investigation of groundwater at the site.

Groundwater in the village has not been fully investigated since early findings during the Army’s remediation efforts in 1992 but results of samples taken reveal that PCB contamination range from .002 to .009 ppm while the maximum contaminant level for PCB in drinking water is 0.0005 mg/l.