Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) in East Chicago, Indiana
This site was last updated on January 21, 2003.
For contact information: Citizens for a Clean Environment.
For quick access to ACTUAL AIR MONITORING DATA click here.
MEDIAN AIR MONITORING DATA (CDF-2)
The CDF (read
TOXIC WASTE DUMP) is a project by the Army Corps of Engineers and the East
Chicago Water Management Board. The ostensible reason for the CDF is that
the Army Corps plans to dredge Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal--the single most
polluted site on the entire Great Lakes System--so as to keep all the sediments
from continuing to pollute Lake Michigan, and then they will transfer the
dredged sediments into the CDF, which the Army Corps will construct.
It sounds noble and that it would be a major environmental
cleanup.
In reality, it is an environmental disaster.
Before discussing the impact of the Project on the city of East Chicago, Indiana, however, it is necessary to talk about the environmental racism embodied in this Project: this Project disproportionately
effects people of color who overwhelmingly comprise the population of the city.
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE POPULATION: East Chicago is a city whose population is overwhelmingly people of color. According to the 2000 US Census, of the 32,414 people living in East
Chicago:
- 16,728 (51.6%) are Latino
- 11,405 (35.2%) are African-American
- 349 (1.1%) are other people of color
- 3,922 (12.1%) are white
Total percentage of population in East Chicago that are people of color: 87.9%.
As you read the following information, please keep the demographic information presented above in your mind.
THE CDF: The
planned site for the CDF is within 800 yards of two schools, East Chicago Central High School and Westside Junior High School! The Army and
the Water Management Board have decided to locate the CDF on a brownfield site, which is an
unremediated site that was formerly an Atlantic Richfield oil refinery. The Army's own air monitoring data shows--even before building has commenced!--that this site is currently spewing KNOWN CARCINOGENS (cancer-causing
agents) into the air, and which is being detected at ABOVE ACCEPTABLE LIMITS at Central High. (They are not even monitoring the air at Westside Jr. High, and while there is almost no mention of the nearby location of
Central High in any of their planning/project documents, there is no mention at all of Westside!)
The Army's complete report--so you can see the original data--can be accessed at: http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/topics/IHC/Eci-Site/Air-Mon-Report02.htm.
Hazardous chemical findings at the East Chicago High School air monitoring site--extracted from the Army's own data--have been selected and are reported below.
SPECIFIC FINDINGS from the linked US Army Corps of
Engineers' Air Monitoring Data:
| Chemical (common name in bold; class of
chemical in plain type) |
Health Effects (Recognized Effects in bold) |
Reporting Limit |
Median amount (i.e., mid-range of all reports:
half are lower, half are higher) detected at East Chicago High School Between
November 2001-July 2002 |
| Benzene (a volatile organic compound or VOC) |
Recognized Carcinogen, Recognized
Developmental Toxicant, & Recognized Reproductive Toxicant |
.20 ppb (parts per billion) |
.28 ppb |
| Toluene (VOC) |
Recognized Developmental Toxicant |
.30 ppb |
.44 ppb |
| m-Xylene & p-Xylene (VOC) |
Suspected Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicant;
Suspected Developmental Toxicant; Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver
Toxicant; Suspected Immunotoxicant; Suspected Kidney Toxicant; Suspected
Neurotoxicant; Suspected Reproductive Toxicant; Suspected Respiratory
Toxicant; Suspected Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant. |
.50 ppb |
.51 ppb |
| Fluorene (a polyaromatic hydrocarbon
or PAH) |
Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant |
1.2 - 4.6 (ng/scm) |
4.03 |
| Naphthalene (PAH) |
Recognized Carcinogen; Suspected
Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicant; Suspected Developmental Toxicant;
Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant; Suspected Kidney Toxicant;
Suspected Neurotoxicant; Suspected Respiratory Toxicant; Suspected Skin or
Sense Organ Toxicant |
4.5 - 9.1 (ng/scm) |
57.20 |
| Phenanthrene (PAH) |
Suspected Respiratory Toxicant; Suspected
Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant |
1.2 - 4.6 (ng/scm) |
7.19 |
| PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) |
Recognized Carcinogen; Recognized
Developmental Toxicant; Suspected Endocrine Toxicant; Suspected
Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant; Suspected Immunotoxicant; Suspected
Neurotoxicant; Suspected Reproductive Toxicant; Suspected Respiratory
Toxicant; Suspected Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant |
PCB 8: 2.25-4.56 pg/scm
PCB 18: 2.25-4.56 pg/scm
PCB 28: 2.25-4.56 pg/scm
PCB 31: 2.25-4.46 pg/scm
|
15.55
9.20
5.90
6.36
|
| Barium (Metal) |
Suspected Developmental Toxicant; Suspected
Neurotoxicant; Suspected Respiratory Toxicant |
.55 - .82 ng/scm |
23.00 |
| Chromium (Metal) |
Suspected Carcinogen; Suspected
Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant; Suspected Kidney Toxicant; Suspected
Respiratory Toxicant; Suspected Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant |
1.1 - 1.6 ng/scm |
2.5 |
| Lead (Metal) |
Recognized Carcinogen; Recognized
Developmental Toxicant; Recognized Reproductive Toxicant; Suspected
Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicant; Suspected Endocrine Toxicant;
Suspected Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant; Suspected
Immunotoxicant; Suspected Kidney Toxicant; Suspected Neurotoxicant;
Suspected Respiratory Toxicant; Suspected Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant |
.55 - .82 ng/scm |
7.8 |
Sources: The chemicals chosen were found to have reached the threshold ("reporting limit") by which they could be measured in a laboratory, and were each reported at East Chicago
Central High School--thus they are only a portion of the Army's complete data report. Measurements included here were reported by the Army Corps of Engineers Air Monitoring Program at the East Chicago
(IN) High School air monitoring site.
Reaching this threshold, however, does not mean that it is necessarily dangerous to human health, as was suggested prior to January 21, 2003: danger depends on a number of factors, such as specific chemical, amount of exposure,
type of exposure (through breathing, drinking, eating, skin contact, etc.) That being said, however, The Calumet Project believes that any reading above the reporting limit should be of serious concern, and should be
investigated for possible effects on human health by professional chemists, toxicologists and epidemiologists. This warning is intensified for those data that are multiples of the high end of the reporting limit: see
especially PCB-8 (3+ times over reporting limit), naphthalene (6+ times), lead (+9 times), and barium (23+ times),
The complete data set, from which these data were extracted, can be accessed by
hitting the link immediately above this table; selected data was chosen by Kim
Scipes (Executive Director of The Calumet Project) on December 12, 2002.
VOC, PAH and PCB data collected from November 2001-July 2002.
Total Suspended Particulates of the Metals based on data collected
from April 2002-July 2002.
Health Effects data was NOT provided by the US Army Corps of
Engineers nor the East Chicago Water Management Board--in fact, they don't seem
eager for this material to get out to the public. However, this material
was included in (and taken from) US PIRG (Public Information Research Group)
Education Fund's excellent report of October 17, 2002: IN GROSS
VIOLATION: HOW POLLUTERS ARE FLOODING AMERICA'S WATERWAYS WITH TOXIC
CHEMICALS. This entire report (covering the entire United States and
Puerto Rico) can be found at: http://www.uspirg.org/uspirg.asp?id2=8258&id3=USPIRG&.
In addition to the threat to the public health suggested above, there are a
few other problems with this project, and information concerning this project will continue being updated and expanded over time, so you should check back periodically to discover the latest developments:
(1) The dredging will NOT clean up all of the sediments in the
Harbor and Ship Canal, as the Army only plans to dredge down to navigable
depths, not down to the clean sand which is needed. In other words,
current plans will dredge some material and remove it, but much will remain and
it will be stirred up POLLUTING LAKE MICHIGAN WORSE THAN IF THE SENTIMENTS WERE
LEFT IN PLACE.
(2) The Army wants to use a mechanical dredging method that is
far inferior to a hydraulic method, meaning that as those sediments that are
being removed are removed, they will be spread around, again, into the Lake.
(3) The CDF is supposed to be built on this unremediated
brownfield site that used to be an oil refinery, and which has never been
cleaned up. The Army has no idea of what is in that ground. At a
November 21, 2002 meeting of the East Chicago Water Management Board, the Army
reported that they had been carrying out trenching around the proposed CDF site
so as to try to determine what is in that ground. After trenching around
three-quarters of the site--they did not report the width of the trench, but
they said they were going down 15 feet--the Army reported that they had found
over 1200 different pipes of all different widths and lengths, and that they had
no idea of what was in each one. Accordingly, workers have to take
precautions with each pipe they open. They still found at least two pipes
with toxic materials contained within. In response to a question, the
Army admitted they had not told the school administrations that they had found
hazardous materials at the site, and it's questionable that any evacuation plan
has been developed should such be necessary.
(4) The proposed CDF is so large that it will hold an
amount equivalent to that of FIVE WRIGLEY FIELDS (!), and it is not expected to
be closed for 30 years!
(5) The plan is an economic boondoggle. The total
cost of the Project--dredging and construction/maintenance of the CDF itself is
projected to be $116,100,000. According to the contract between the Army
Corps of Engineers and the East Chicago Waterway Management Board (WMB), the WMB
must pay 25% of all direct dredging and construction costs, and 100% of any
costs other than direct costs. However, 25% of $116 million is $29
million. (This is in a city where the School Board is having to come up
with $21 million just to keep the schools operating.) In the contract, the
WMB's financial contribution to the Project is $47,300,000.
For more information and/or to get involved fighting this project, please contact:
