"Locals, Activists Slam EPA Proposal To Clean Georgia Superfund Site"

"Federal agency reports community of slave descendants on nearby island exposed to pollution from site"

"BRUNSWICK, Georgia — An Environmental Protection Agency proposal to clean up an 801-acre Superfund site in Brunswick, Georgia has come under scrutiny, with activists saying it is insufficient to protect locals already exposed to pollution — including a small Geechee community of Creole-speaking descendants of slaves on Sapelo Island, 25 miles from the site.

Honeywell International, which purchased the site in 1998 after LCP Chemical filed for bankruptcy, reports that 225,000 tons of contaminated soil and material and 13 acres of contaminated marshland have been removed from the area. However, unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, lead and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) remain present.

The EPA’s 1994 target action for total PCB levels on the site was 25 parts per million (ppm). A 2014 public health assessment of the site by federal public health organization the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) found that six half-acre grids exceeded this concentration and 36 half-acre grids had PCB concentrations of 1 to 24 ppm."

Claire Goforth reports for Aljazeera America January 12, 2015.