Serious questions about the quality of science at EPA are raised in a new report (click here for the press release and where to get a copy of the report) from the state of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
According to the report, cancer cases among residents in communities around three radioactive Superfund sites in Essex and Camden counties during 1979-1991 are no greater than the average number of cases reported in other parts of the state.
This is at great variance with EPA risk estimates used to justify evacuating residents on an emergency basis from their homes and imposing a $250 million cleanup on the area.
Between 1916 and 1926, the U.S. Radium corporation operated a factory in West Orange, NJ where radium was painted on clock faces. Radioactive waste from the factory was used to fill about 210 acres of low-lying areas in Essex and Camden counties. Residential development occurred over the filled areas.
After the contamination was "discovered" in the early 1980s, the area came under the jurisdiction of the EPA Superfund program. EPA forced residents out while the area was cleaned up.
In 1990, EPA estimated it would cost between $250 million to $348 million to clean the areas. To justify this cleanup, EPA estimated that residents faced up to a 36 percent added increase in lifetime lung cancer risk -- more than four times the lung cancer risk of a lifetime heavy smoker.
Although the cancers predicted by the EPA never materialized, the expensive cleanup has.
The New York Times reported in 1996 about the cleanup: "There are those who wonder whether the money was worth it."
That question has now been answered.
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