1 Parramore polluted site is finally getting cleaned

After waiting almost three decades, workers finally began removing dirt from an extremely polluted site in Parramore.

Heavy equipment is now excavating the former Orlando Gasification Plant site at the corner of Terry Avenue and Robinson Street, in the shadow of downtown Orlando.

From 1887 to 1960, a factory on that site converted coal to gas for use in stoves and lamps. The site has been so polluted by byproducts from that process that it was put on the “Superfund alternative  list”.

Around the country, federal officials have declared dangerous toxic locations as Superfund sites and put them on the National Priority List to get federal funds for the cleanup.

The situation in Parramore is not unusual, as a 2016 article in Fortune magazine reported, if you are a person of color and poor, you’re likely to live near a toxic waste site.

As reported by the Orlando Weekly in 2011, a federal scientist in 1988 collected soil and ground water samples showing the site is contaminated with a witches brew of poisons and toxic, cancer-causing chemicals, such as arsenic, lead, benzene, nickel and many others.

Today, most people know that site as the Orlando home of TECO – People’s Gas. It sits adjacent to other industrial operations, single-family homes, apartments, and the popular Callahan Neighborhood Center.

As a federal Department of Health and Human Services report explained: “Over time, the plant polluted on-site soil and ground water. In 1960, after natural gas came to the city, the owners closed and took down the plant. Since then, groundwater pollution has spread to almost a mile northeast of the site.”

That report noted: “Residents of the neighborhood near the former Orlando Gasification Plant hazardous waste site are concerned about the health risk from the contaminated drinking water; the site’s potential contribution to asthma; and the health risk from dust, vapors and smells as a result of exposed subsurface soil and groundwater that may arise during future EPA remedial actions.

“The Orlando Utilities Commission provides drinking water for properties near the site. The closest well field to the site is approximately 1 mile northeast of the facility. The OUC has sampled these wells on a quarterly basis and has not detected site-specific contaminants of concern. In addition, EPA emphasized that all proposed clean-up plans would include procedures to protect public health during any cleanup.”

The work is expected to continue for several months. The excavation site is fenced off and signs have been posted to protect the public.

Residents remain concerned because the historically African-American community is dotted with other pollution hit spots. The neighborhood is also bracketed by the Interstate 4 and State Road 408 highways and all the air pollution they cause.

Poor health conditions in the area were spotlighted earlier this year by a Huffington Post expose.

Residents have been asking Orlando City Hall and others to conduct a scientific study of residents to determine if they are being harmed by environmental pollution of the ground and air.

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