"Superfund" Site Continues to Raise Concerns with Verona Citizens, Part 2
November 9, 2022
BCP Industrials, Inc. sits on an approximate 180 acre site in Verona.
Adriana Keeton
This is part two of a series. Part one can be found in last week's issue of the Advertiser.
After ProPublica's analysis was released, Verona City Mayor Joseph Heck started asking questions and demanded government agencies look into the toxic air pollution and increased cancer risk within the city.
"I started doing my own research and I contacted the EPA with my concerns." said Mayor Heck. "We're a small town and to hear about these chemicals and what they are doing, its just not normal to sit and talk about chemicals like that here. I didn't even know what Ethylene Oxide was."
Ethylene Oxide, the chemical in question, is a known carcinogenic to humans by inhalation route of exposure. Evidence in humans indicate that exposure to the chemical increases not only the risk of Lymphoid Cancer, but Breast Cancer in females.
After Heck demanded officials look into the BCP facility, the Department of Health and Senior Services launched a cancer study in March of this year and the data released just a few months later confirmed what Heck and citizens of the community had already suspected. Between 1999 and 2018, seventeen individuals were diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in the 65769 zip code, which has a population of 2,979.
According to an EPA inspection report, EPA Compliance Inspector Lorenzo Sena, along with two other EPA compliance officers, arrived at the facility on June 7, unannounced, for inspection to determine if the facility was in compliance with the Clean Air Act and to investigate a spill of over 1,200 pounds of ethylene oxide which occurred while an ethylene oxide railcar was being emptied into storage tanks on a north loading platform in April of this year. The inspection report showed sixteen deficiencies were found over the two days EPA compliance inspectors were at the facility. This inspection raised even more concerns and other agencies started paying attention to the Superfund site and how the facility deficiencies could be affecting employees and citizens in the community.
Mayor Heck has made it his mission to stay on top of the situation. He lost his partner and mother to his children, Crystal Payne, in September to cancer and stated, "I will do what I need to do to not see another person be lost to cancer."
He credits ProPublica's media exposure for shining a spotlight on the facility and it's practices.
Within the last few months, the EPA has brought in three air quality monitors, which are placed by the BCP Industrial, Inc. Facility, on 3rd Street by Verona City Hall, and on the Verona School property. They have also incorporated an air monitoring mobile unit which drives around the city once a week that picks up levels of ethylene oxide in the air.
This is an ongoing investigation and another community meeting has been set for December.
This is part two of a series. Part one can be found in last week's issue of the Advertiser.
After ProPublica's analysis was released, Verona City Mayor Joseph Heck started asking questions and demanded government agencies look into the toxic air pollution and increased cancer risk within the city.
"I started doing my own research and I contacted the EPA with my concerns." said Mayor Heck. "We're a small town and to hear about these chemicals and what they are doing, its just not normal to sit and talk about chemicals like that here. I didn't even know what Ethylene Oxide was."
Ethylene Oxide, the chemical in question, is a known carcinogenic to humans by inhalation route of exposure. Evidence in humans indicate that exposure to the chemical increases not only the risk of Lymphoid Cancer, but Breast Cancer in females.
After Heck demanded officials look into the BCP facility, the Department of Health and Senior Services launched a cancer study in March of this year and the data released just a few months later confirmed what Heck and citizens of the community had already suspected. Between 1999 and 2018, seventeen individuals were diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in the 65769 zip code, which has a population of 2,979.
According to an EPA inspection report, EPA Compliance Inspector Lorenzo Sena, along with two other EPA compliance officers, arrived at the facility on June 7, unannounced, for inspection to determine if the facility was in compliance with the Clean Air Act and to investigate a spill of over 1,200 pounds of ethylene oxide which occurred while an ethylene oxide railcar was being emptied into storage tanks on a north loading platform in April of this year. The inspection report showed sixteen deficiencies were found over the two days EPA compliance inspectors were at the facility. This inspection raised even more concerns and other agencies started paying attention to the Superfund site and how the facility deficiencies could be affecting employees and citizens in the community.
Mayor Heck has made it his mission to stay on top of the situation. He lost his partner and mother to his children, Crystal Payne, in September to cancer and stated, "I will do what I need to do to not see another person be lost to cancer."
He credits ProPublica's media exposure for shining a spotlight on the facility and it's practices.
Within the last few months, the EPA has brought in three air quality monitors, which are placed by the BCP Industrial, Inc. Facility, on 3rd Street by Verona City Hall, and on the Verona School property. They have also incorporated an air monitoring mobile unit which drives around the city once a week that picks up levels of ethylene oxide in the air.
This is an ongoing investigation and another community meeting has been set for December.
