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Hot spots double at compound

There's no immediate health threat at the former fleet maintenance compound, the county's environmental consultant says.

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published February 17, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Contamination is wider spread than originally thought at Hernando County's former fleet maintenance compound on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the latest report by the county's environmental consultant.

The number of polluted "hot spots" found at the 5-acre site has more than doubled since Creative Environmental Solutions of Brooksville took over assessment of the site in October.

One test on the southern property line found arsenic at more than twice the allowable residential limit, raising the possibility that the county will have to extend testing into neighboring yards. The latest battery of tests also found benzene, lead and other contaminants above limits set by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Despite the new finds, there is no immediate health threat to area residents, many of whom live within 15 to 20 feet of the site, the county's consultant said.

"It's not horribly contaminated. There's still no freaky or scary stuff out there," said George Foster, president of Creative Environmental Solutions.

Some of the worst contamination is buried below ground, where it presents no immediate risk because local residents drink city water and not water drawn from nearby wells, Foster explained.

Foster said tests in neighboring yards to the south and southeast of the site may be called for, although he has not completed the report or made recommendations. Foster submitted the draft report, which does not include the full run of test results, to the state DEP on Wednesday.

The county has long maintained that contamination never moved off site. Gregg Sutton, assistant Hernando County engineer, said he preferred not to comment on the possibility of off-site testing until the DEP reviewed Foster's report.

"It's premature until we get the actual DEP comments and direction and feedback," Sutton said. "I don't like to speculate."

Foster's report included a detailed history that outlines the county's use of the site since it was purchased in 1955.

Over the past 30 years, the site housed the county's Department of Public Works, including its truck maintenance facilities, road striping and road repair operations, pesticide crews and refueling stations.

Chemicals stored at the site included the solvent toluene, lead paint, pesticides, asphalt and other petroleum products, such as diesel fuel and gasoline.

Foster's interviews with county staffers also discovered that the county may have once stored drums of arsenic at the site, which was used to combat hoof and mouth disease in cattle, according to the report.

The site is surrounded by a predominantly African-American residential community.

The county abandoned the Department of Public Works compound in 2003 and moved to its new location on E Jefferson Street.

The county first began investigating contamination at the site as early as 1992.

In the early 1990s, the county's first consultant confirmed solvent contamination.

Then, in 1998, the county discovered additional petroleum contamination.

The site was parsed out into 14 contaminated hot spots, known as areas of concern.

Foster's investigation brought the total to 31. So far, cleanup and assessment of the site have cost the county more than $1-million.

The latest discoveries will likely raise the cost, Sutton said, but he did not yet have an estimate.

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.

[Last modified February 17, 2006, 02:15:35]