State limiting tests at site residents link to cancer cases

MATT HUGHES

mhughes@timesleader.com

The state Department of Environmental Protection is analyzing water samples collected at an alleged dump some have linked to a purported cancer cluster in , but it will not test environmental conditions at the Butler Mine Tunnel.

DEP Secretary Michael Krancer on Tuesday responded to state Sen. John Yudichak’s request that DEP conduct its own soil, water and air sampling at the Butler Mine Tunnel, a federal Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup site that passes below Pittston and drains into the Susquehanna River.

Krancer said DEP reviewed 20 years of data from the Butler Mine Tunnel and reached the same conclusion as the EPA, that the tunnel does not pose a public health threat.

Millions of gallons of oil and chemicals illegally dumped into a borehole that indirectly drains into the tunnel in the 1970s twice spewed into the river in 1979 and again after heavy rains in 1985, prompting the EPA to monitor the site and install measures to capture potential future spills.

Earlier this year, Carroll Street resident Chuck Menichini and his family began investigating the prevalence of cancer in their neighborhood. They believe there is a cancer cluster around Carroll and Mill streets and want the EPA, DEP or other agencies to investigate.

DEP also investigated allegations that Stauffer Point, a former park at the end of Carroll Street, was once a dump and could be linked to disease in the surrounding area. Some residents of the area, the Menichinis among them, claim the area was either a municipal landfill or a site of illegal dumping in the 1960s and that water pours from the site down Carroll Street when it rains.

Krancer said DEP’s records do not indicate that there was ever a municipal landfill at Stauffer Point and that aerial photographs taken of the area in the 1930s, ’50s, late ’60s, early ’70s and within the last decade show no signs the area was used as a dump.

DEP inspected the site June 7 but could not collect surface water samples because no water was flowing that day, Krancer said. Yudichak said DEP returned to the site July 5 to collect new water samples and that the department is awaiting test results.

Any future action by DEP rests on the results of those tests.

“Unless additional information becomes available indicating a historic use of the property that may have environmental concerns, no analytical testing, beyond the surface water sampling described above, appears necessary at this time,” Krancer said in his letter.

Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, said he was pleased with DEP’s efforts and the results of its investigation so far, even if they didn’t yield the smoking gun some may have hoped for.

“Hearing that there are no contaminants at the site, at the Butler Mine Tunnel and that other site, may not be good news for some who were looking for a definitive answer to why there are elevated rates of cancer there,” Yudichak said Friday, “but I’m pleased to find out that indeed there was not contamination there.”

It wasn’t good news for the Menichini family.

“This is a sad day for the people of this area who are still sick, suffering and dying a slow death. Or the people who are family members of the sick that can’t afford to keep their homes because they depend on the person who is sick to provide a living for them,” said Chris Menichini, Chuck’s son.

Chris Menichini said he cannot understand why no government agency has agreed to perform additional testing of the Butler Mine Tunnel, and feels he may need to pay a third party to perform the testing he feels is warranted by the data he has collected about cancer in his neighborhood.

“I don’t understand how they can say that five cases of brain cancer within one block is normal, or ‘to be expected,’” he said.

Yudichak said the investigation into Stauffer Point began with suggestions from Pittston residents, and he said the department will continue to respond to community concerns and better coordinate with other state and federal agencies in the future.

Krancer said in his letter DEP is drafting a memorandum of understanding that will provide a framework for DEP and the state Department of Health to better coordinate their response to suspected disease clusters in Pennsylvania.

Yudichak has also introduced a bill, now under consideration by the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, that is targeted at better coordinating the state’s response to alleged disease clusters. Among other measures, the bill would create a disease and cancer cluster response team to respond to investigate and report about suspected disease clusters submitted by state residents.