Report on cleanup of Lang Station site expected soon

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State officials who issued a work order for the final cleanup of a long-standing contaminated site on the banks of the Santa Clara River at Lang Station are expected to issue a statement on the final report.

The work order requiring further testing of soil gas and groundwater on the 64 acre-site at 1250 Lang Station Road, east of State Route 14 off Soledad Canyon Road was issued June 24, 2015, to the Los Angeles-based AECOM Corporation, the company contracted to do the cleanup.

The work was expected to take one year to complete, according to a copy of the work order obtained by The Signal: “All work under this work order shall be completed by June 30, 2016.”

Russ Edmunston, spokesman for the Department of Toxic Substances Control, told The Signal Monday he expects to have soon updates on the work order to share with The Signal.

“I will get back to you as soon as I can,” he said Monday.

Phone calls placed with officials at AECOM were not returned Monday.

Work required by the state includes testing the air to see that meets state air quality standards set by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The work also requires testing of the soil’s gas and the site’s groundwater.

State officials pointed out that Benzene and vinyl chloride are “essentially non detectable” in soil vapor but that residual levels are still present in soil vapor probes at two locations on the site. As well, low levels of ethylbenzene and naphthalene were detected in third vapor probe on site.

 Benzene is a hydrocarbon and a natural component of crude oil. It increases the risk of cancer and other illnesses, and is also a notorious cause of bone marrow failure, according to the study, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine.

Vinyl chloride is a petrochemical. According to public health reports published in 1930, it was disclosed that exposure of test animals to just a single short-term high dose of vinyl chloride caused liver damage.

About 33 years ago, officials with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control learned of hazardous chemicals contaminating the Santa Clara River at the Lubrication Company of America site, at Lang Station.

The cleanup of air, soil and water is nearing completion with DTSC officials having recently ordered one last sampling to be done on the site.

As noted in their work order issued in June 2015, DTSC officials expressed a concern that some of the nasty chemicals on the property these past three decades might end up in the surface water.

 

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