DRAFT 09/02/2009
Scenario: Soil Problems
Outline:
A Lab Building is demolished
Soil removed and deposited elsewhere
School is built on location
Soil under new school is tested and determined to be hazardous
Regulators inquire and investigate as a result of complaints. Some are not friendly. Others are
reasonable
Text (to read at training):
Using $150 million from a wealthy donor, a UC campus is replacing an outdated 1930’s-era
laboratory with a new state of the art research facility. The project involves demolishing the old
building, excavating 20,000 yd3 of soil for one subsurface levels (to accommodate large magnetic
imaging equipment), then constructing the new building.
After the campus building is demolished, the contractor begins excavating, hauling the soil to a
nearby soil recycling facility. The soil is stockpiled at the recycling facility for two months, then
transported by another contractor to a site being developed for a new charter elementary school
about 20 miles east of the University in a wealthy suburb. The soil is initially stockpiled at the
school project and covered with tarps. Part of the soil is then used to create mounds for
landscaping while the remaining soil is used to build up the grade underneath what will become
the foundation for the lower grades (kindergarten through third grade) classrooms.
The elementary school project, including all buildings and landscaping, is completed over the
summer in time for the fall semester. Two months after school starts the elementary school’s
facility maintenance crew notices distressed vegetation throughout most of the landscape areas –
grass is yellow and patchy, and new trees are failing to thrive.
Initially the maintenance crew believes this is an irrigation problem but upon investigation they
determine that the irrigation system is functioning properly. At this point, the sixth grade science
teacher, who was formerly an environmental consultant, recommends that the school District hire
an environmental firm to sample the soil.
The District then hires an environmental consultant to conduct preliminary soil testing. Based on
the consultant’s initial tests, the consultants recommend a more comprehensive site
characterization. The site characterization reveals that the soil throughout the site is
contaminated with mercury, PCBs, and an assortment of organic solvents. Of the 45 samples
collected by the consultant, three are found to contain contamination at levels exceeding state
and federal hazardous waste criteria. Two of the solvents are listed carcinogens.
Word of the test results spreads quickly to teachers, District administrators, and parents. Under
pressure from parents and the PTA, the school is immediately closed, and classes are relocated
to makeshift temporary classrooms in trailers located at the school District’s corporate yard.
The environmental consultant, believing it is under obligation to handle the District’s regulatory
affairs, contacts the state Department of Toxics Substances Control, or DTSC. Upon
investigation, DTSC traces the source of the contaminated soil back to the University’s new lab
building project, and that the contamination likely occurred from of improper dumping of
chemicals down lab drains combined with a badly deteriorated piping and sewer system, both
inside of, and underneath the building.
The parents, many of whom are now agitated and very angry, contact KFKD, the local network
television news station. The news station immediately picks up the story, sending a live news
crew out to the now-fenced-off school to interview parents and District administrators. The story
airs that night on the local broadcast news. Based on the strong public response to this report, it
is picked up the next day by the network and broadcast on the national evening news two days
later and garners high ratings.
Some of the parents, noticing what they believe to be symptoms of illness in their children, bring
them in to visit their pediatrician. A large and growing group of parents, now believing that both
the University and the School District has harmed their children, retain legal counsel to explore
filing a class action lawsuit.
And this is where our scenario leaves off…
Questions for groups of 5-8:
1. You are a group of parents of children who attend the school. What are your concerns
and questions? What are your emotions?
2. You are the Campus Environmental Protection Team and EH&S Office, How do you
respond to the situation and allegations?
3. You are a local TV station reporting crew. Write and deliver a TV News report on the
situation.
4. You are the University’s Public Relations Team. Prepare a press release from the
University’s perspective. Who do you consult? How do you attempt to manage risk?
5. You are the Campus Environmental Protection Team and EH&S Office. How do you
handle the inquiries form the media?
6. You are the Campus Environmental Protection Team and EH&S Office. How do you
manage the relationships with regulators and other parties?
7. What kinds of programs and processes should be in place in order to prevent this kind of
event from occurring in the future? Who needs to be involved on the campus, off the
campus?
8. What records need to be kept and why?