A Ghent reader with a pertinent professional background offers this explanation for why test results may never tell us what went up in the air from the TCI fire on Wednesday in Ghent:
The problem with air sampling is it must be done during the event. There’s no possibility that Monday’s sampling will show any VOC presence unless there are leaking vats (and it sounds like they were all incinerated).
Volatile organic compounds are just that: they volatilize, or evaporate and become airborne, in sunlight. Dioxins, furans, and PCBs will disappear with wind. Residuals can be found in soil, in much less quantity than what was in the air, but there’s not much chance of finding high soil levels after Sunday’s upcoming rain. Wipe samples on windowsills will also be dispersed by Monday. It’s only on internal sills where windows were left open that high levels might be found, and I expect they’ve all been cleaned by diligent parents.
This delay is all very purposeful on the State and Federal officials’ part. NYS DEC has lost more than 1/3 of its employees over the past 5 to 10 years and I think their ability to respond to these kinds of disasters are largely diminished, as is their ability to frequently inspect high-hazard facilities.
On another PCB front, Barry Commoner’s team at CBNS of Queens College discovered 5 years ago that PCBs volatilize even from water as in the Hudson River. His scientists collected samples from trees to within 2 miles of the Hudson River’s PCB spill and found quantifiable PCBs in samples as far as 2 miles (the closer samples had far higher quantities).
For TCI, this means any transformer, or barrel of oil which used to house PCBs which was not in sealed containment [could have] been volatilizing for all nearby residents, and especially employees, to breathe the entire length of TCI’s operations here.
This disaster is so depressing. I hope we can keep this disaster from being swept under the rug. I personally am still having trouble breathing, and my heart palpitations persist. I live in the part of Ghent which was supposedly unaffected by this plume.
