PA town beset by cancer was the site of 1970's illegal hazmat dumping

When Chris and Chuck Menichini alerted the media about the high instances of cancer in their Pittston, PA neighborhood this April, news outlets had to include a history lesson within their news story, to inform out-of-towners and those too young to remember the story of the polluted Butler Mine Tunnel.

On July 29, 1979, an oil slick appeared on the nearby Susquehanna River, thanks to hazardous chemicals that the Hudson Oil Refining Corporation in New Jersey had been illegally dumping into a four-inch borehole 3 and 1/2 miles from the outlet of the tunnel near a truck service garage on interstate  Route 315. The borehole drained into the Butler Mine system.

According to The Sunday Dispatch, in the 1970s, “Hudson dumped between 1.5 and 2.7 million gallons of oil, liquid cyanide and carcinogenic petrochemicals into the borehole.”

Chuck Menichini was diagnosed in February lymphoma. His doctor told him that his form of lymphoma—large B-cell lymphoma—is usually due to exposure to chemicals like benzene. And he is not the only Pittston resident suffering from cancers associated with chemical exposure. In fact, he is not the only resident of his neighborhood suffering from cancers associated with chemical exposure.

His son Chris told the Dispatch in April, “That we know of, 21 have cancer or have died of it in the past six to seven years. And this is just in 15 to 20 homes on Mill and Carroll.”

PA Congressman Lou Barletta wrote to the EPA to ask them to perform more testing in response to the Menichinis' concerns, and to the town's concerns at large. The EPA's reply—that they would not further investigate the Superfund cleanup site—prompted Congressman Barletta's statement:

“I was surprised to hear an EPA official basically tell the residents of the Carroll/Mill neighborhood that they would not conduct soil and water testing to find answers. It is absolutely the EPA’s job, and I’m going to make sure that job is done. The residents are scared, and they deserve answers and peace of mind.”

Sites linked to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Route_315

http://www.timesleader.com/pittstondispatch/news/EPA
__The_Butler_didn_rsquo_t_do_it_05-28-2011.html

http://www.weitzlux.com/benzene-leukemia_1962449.html

http://www.weitzlux.com/environmental-pollutants_1962448.html

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