October 13th, 2005
Sent Via Fax 1 page + 1 page attachment
Mr. Steve Johnson – US EPA Administrator
Washington, D.C.
Dear Administrator Johnson:
We are requesting your personal attention to this urgent matter. Given the voluminous information we have accumulated over the last three years, we are increasingly concerned that our site, Uniontown Industrial Excess Landfill, and the “Science Advisory Board” (SAB) were both wrongly used in 1993 by a certain faction within US EPA to overtly undermine and ultimately dismiss US EPA Research and Development’s attempts to change national policy to stop the filtering of water samples.
Former Administrator Reilly, at Tom Grumbly’s recommendation, instigated the use of the SAB at Uniontown after back to back readings of man-made radiation were invalidated in 1990. But the probe Grumbly envisioned did not take place. Rather, new members were hand- picked and the “charge” dramatically altered. The public was told Uniontown IEL would be used “generically” instead, as the test case for the rest of the nation where radioactivity might be suspected. The SAB then was given the task of deciding if the Finished Drinking Water 900 Method was appropriate. What we didn’t know then that we know now, is that behind the scenes, R& D was fighting to stop the filtering that was inherently allowed within this same 900 Method. Although the SAB’s executive summary concluded the method was… “appropriate and adequate to detect…radionuclides that might be expected based on experience at at sites that are contaminated with the most common radionuclides, this all important caveat regarding “common” vs. man-made radiation was then inexplicably ignored. It is clear that once man-made isotopes, especially when the highly “particle reactive” Plutonium is an issue, the SAB report should have been declared null and void. Of course, this did not happen.
Now that we have come to believe our case was used to thwart R & D’s scientists’ attempts to change national policy to stop the filtering, we are writing you to ask that you correct this serious injustice by once again using IEL, but this time, for the right reasons! We are requesting that Ken Lovelace and Ron Wilhelm of US EPA be given full authority, funding and whatever other tools that they need to finally carry out the national policy change to stop the use of the Finished Drinking Water 900 (modified) on UNtreated water samples across the country, citing the abuses identified at Uniontown as a basic rationale for this policy change. NOTE: Please find enclosed a letter that was sent to Region 5 today related to this issue. We would also appreciate your direct intervention, ,in the meantime, to allow CCLT experts to collect water samples this month from the two wells specified.
Yours truly,
Chris Borello – President – CONCERNED CITIZENS OF LAKE TWP./IEL
Cc: Congressionals, Dr. Bill Hirzy, OEPA , SAB, CHEJ, POGO, AFSC, media, public