http://digital.vpr.net/post/toxic-utility-pole-treatment-threatensstate-drinking-water-supplies#stream/0
Toxic Utility Pole Treatment
Threatens State Drinking
Water Supplies
By TAYLOR DOBBS • AUG 8
, 2014
The state’s utility regulators are about to launch an investigation into the use
of a toxic chemical on utility poles around the state. Utilities have been using
the chemical – fully aware of its risks – for years with permission from state
regulators.
As early as the 1950s, power and telephone companies were putting poles in
the ground that were coated in Pentachlorophenol – or PCP.
Like many treatments in use back then – lead paint and asbestos, for
example - the PCP was found to be toxic to humans.
But unlike those toxins, PCP was never banned from use. The Environmental
Protection Agency restricted the chemical in 1987, but regulated
manufacturers are still allowed to use it on utility poles.
Now, after a Monkton family noticed a visible sheen on their drinking water,
and a distinct smell, the state is looking into whether use of PCP needs to be
more strictly regulated.
When PCP levels get above the state’s recognized “level of concern,” things
can get ugly.
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“There are short-term and long-term exposures from this and short-term
exposures can be skin, eye irritation,” said Lori Cragin, who studies
environmental health risks for the state. “In addition there can be things like
tremors and seizures which you see with many pesticides that are above a
level of concern, and then, there are cancers that have been associated with
it.”
Cragin said there hadn’t been any health problems in Vermont because of
PCP, but a few families have dealt with drinking water contamination in the
past five years.
The Vermont Public Service Board is launching an investigation into the use
of PCP by utilities after the Vermont Gas Systems pipeline had to be put on
hold in areas near power lines.
The Agency of Natural Resources voiced concerns to the company that soil
disturbed by construction could release PCP into nearby water supplies.
“In the limited information that we have, it has been shallow drinking water
supplies and work going on near it that we’ve seen [PCP],” Cragin said.
The most recent contamination, which happened after the Vermont Electric
Power Company replaced a pole near a Monkton well, caused serious
problems in the resident’s water supply.
The company helped the family drill a new well and did extensive testing on
the property.
VELCO’s Tim Follensbee said at a community meeting Thursday that
residents who can’t smell the chemical in their water are usually in the clear.
“It may not be a cure-all,” Follensbee said, “but from what I understand,
generally if there’s [PCP] contamination in a water supply you should be able
to smell it.”
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But officials warn that there is a detection gap – a level of PCP that is
undetectable by taste or smell but still harmful.
Residents with concerns can buy tests from the state to check their water
supply.
The Public Service Board investigation kicks off next Thursday.
The board will look into common practices in the state and see what can be
done to reduce health risks from PCP.
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) for
PCP in drinking water is 0.001 milligrams per liter. The odor threshold for PCP in water is
0.857 milligrams per liter at 30°C (86°F). A PCP concentration in drinking water could be
above the MCL but below the odor threshold, thus the odor property is not necessarily
protective."
Therefore, by the time you can smell it, you have 850 times the allowable limit. There may
be other co-contaminants that a homeowner might smell, however, including creosote or
other petroleum-based solvents that are used as carriers for the PCP.
http://vtdigger.org/2014/06/09/pipeline-opponents-warn-watercontamination/
PIPELINE OPPONENTS WARN OF WATER
CONTAMINATION
JUN. 9, 2014, 7:49 PM BY JOHN HERRICK
PIPELINE OPPONENTS WARN OF WATER
CONTAMINATION
JUN. 9, 2014, 7:49 PM BY JOHN HERRICK 21 COMMENTS
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Pipeline opponents rallied outside the Public Service Board offices in Montpelier on
Monday to urge state regulators to delay the construction of the pipeline extension until
water contamination issues are addressed. Photo by John Herrick/VTDigger
Opponents of a proposed natural gas pipeline extension through Addison County want
to see the project put on hold until concerns over water contamination are addressed.
The environmental group Rising Tide Vermont rallied outside the Public Service Board
offices in Montpelier on Monday to pressure state regulators to delay the construction of
the pipeline extension until these concerns are considered.
Jonathan Shapiro, an organizer with Rising Tide, said the group is asking for the state
“to suspend pipeline construction until there can be adequate soil testing along the
proposed route.”
The wood preservative used to treat utility poles, pentachlorophenol (PCP), has already
appeared in one Monkton resident’s water well. The state’s transmission utility, Vermont
Electric Power Co. (VELCO), notified the residents and is replacing the well.
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But pipeline opponents say more of this “hazardous” chemical is lodged in the soil along
the transmission line corridor where about 20 miles of the pipeline is to be buried. By
trenching the pipeline here, Rising Tide and several landowners say the chemical will be
released into water supplies.
Vermont Gas plans to begin construction of its 41-mile pipeline extension this month.
The company is waiting for two permits before it begins construction.
Company spokesman Steve Wark said the issue was not addressed in the state permit
it received last year to begin the project.
“Of course regulators will look at this and we will as well,” Wark said. “We want to make
sure that we are being a good neighbor.”
He said the company is trenching its pipeline along the edges of VELCO’s right-of-way.
He said the company would pay for any water quality damages resulting from the
construction of the pipeline.
Monkton resident Selina Peyser, a landowner along the proposed route, submitted a
letter to the state last month requesting that it investigate the issue of water
contamination. She said she has not received a response.
“Are we going to chance getting ill?” said Peyser, a cancer survivor. “I would just like to
get at least some precautionary response from them.”
Peyser went to the Public Service Board’s offices on Monday to speak in person about
the issue. A representative from the board said the health department could address her
concerns.
“They ducked,” she said. “That’s why I’m sending this letter to the public health
department.”
Rising Tide said the state continues to ignore the issue.
“Nobody is actually addressing their concerns,” Shapiro said. “They are choosing not to
exercise this power even though they know this is an issue.”
PCP is often used to treat utility poles. The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services found the chemical can cause fevers, difficulty breathing, and liver and other
organ damage. The Environmental Protection Agency found that PCP is a “probable”
cancer-causing agent.
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VELCO vice president Kerrick Johnson said the company has tested all the
groundwater supplies that intersect with existing infrastructure to ensure they are not
contaminated as part of the company’s maintenance work within the corridor.
Rising Tide has been opposing the pipeline because Vermont Gas sources some of
their gas from the process of fracking, which they say causes environmental destruction
and emits the potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane.
“We have this responsibility to communities in Alberta, whose land and communities are
being destroyed by fracking infrastructure, homeowners and farmers in Addison County,
whose land is being threatened by eminent domain and whose groundwater is being
threatened by PCPs,” Shapiro said.
“We have a responsibility for all of them to make sure this pipeline does not go forward,”
Shapiro said.
He also said the Shumlin administration’s support for the pipeline is hypocritical
because the state has banned the process of fracking.
Vermont Gas estimates that natural gas emits 23 percent less greenhouse gases than
coal.The company’s report does not state how much of its gas comes from fracking.
The company hired the consulting firm ICF International to conduct the analysis. The
firm has previously worked for TransCanada, the prospective builder of the controversial
Keystone XL pipeline.
Vermont Gas is waiting for permits from Agency of Natural Resources and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers before it begins construction.
http://www.vermontbiz.com/news/july/psb-halts-vermont-gas-pipeline-along-velco-route
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PSB halts Vermont Gas pipeline along
VELCO route
inShare5
Sat, 07/26/2014 - 8:44pm --
Related Company:
Vermont Gas Systems Inc
by John Herrick vtdigger.org (link is external)The Vermont Public Service
Board late Friday ordered Vermont Gas to halt construction of its natural gas
pipeline extension along certain sections of the proposed route until the company
submits a soil management plan.
Pipeline opponents say construction in the VELCO transmission line corridor will
release a “hazardous” chemical lodged in the soil. The wood preservative used to
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treat utility poles, pentachlorophenol (PCP), has already appeared in one Monkton
resident’s water well(link is external) near the pipeline route.
About 20 miles of the company’s proposed pipeline extension through Addison
County is located in the VELCO corridor. The company has begun staging
construction for the 41-mile project to connect its service areas in Chittenden and
Franklin counties to Middlebury.
Vermont Gas said it is drafting a soil management plan with the Agency of Natural
Resources, according to a company filing with the board this week. The board said
until the plan is complete, Vermont Gas cannot dig in the transmission corridor.
The company can continue construction outside the corridor.
Vermont Gas received a certificate of public good to build the project in
December. The company plans to build another pipeline from Middlebury to
Ticonderoga, New York, and eventually to Rutland. These plans still need state
and federal approval.
Vermont Gas officials were unavailable for comment when this story was
published.
PHOTO: The gas pipeline under construction in Williston. Vermont Business
Magazine.
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