In an I.B.M. Village, Fears of Air and Water Pollution
March 15, 2004
By SAMME CHITTUM - NY Times
ENDICOTT, N.Y. - This village, best known as the birthplace
of I.B.M., has an unusual look these days. Venting systems,
with white plastic tubing that runs from basements to
roofs, sprout from 377 houses and businesses.
Many houses are for sale, but there are few buyers.
"This area is taboo now," said Tim Davis, who lives on Monroe
Avenue. "And it's going to stay that way."
Mr. Davis lives in what residents call "the plume" - 320
acres encompassing the downtown and stretching across the
village, all of which were polluted by industrial toxic
substances. The chemicals contaminated soil and leached
into groundwater. And they continue to produce vapors that
waft into hundreds of basements.
Occurring over decades, the pollution is traceable at least
in part to I.B.M., which used common solvents in its
circuit board assembly.
The venting systems were all paid for by I.B.M., which two
decades ago employed 12,000 workers in Endicott, just west
of Binghamton. Now 1,700 collect I.B.M. paychecks here.
Still, residents say they feel trapped in virtually
unsalable homes, where they fear the prolonged effects of
the vapors on the health of their families.
"Your house acts as a kind of chimney" for the vapors,
which have tested positive for the contaminant
trichloroethene, or TCE, said Alan Turnbull, 69, who in
2002 created the Residents Action Group of Endicott, also
known as R.A.G.E., after his wife, Donna Turnbull, 57, was
found to have throat cancer. Ms. Turnbull does not smoke,
and she used to exercise regularly in her finished
basement. Now, she rarely ventures down the basement
stairs.
That the TCE found in Endicott, a suspected carcinogen, has
been measured at very low levels is scant comfort to those
worried about more than two decades of exposure. "Oh, sure,
we're scared to death," said Ms. Turnbull, who has lived in
her Cleveland Avenue home for 21 years. "We know the
chemicals are dangerous, but we don't know how dangerous or
the long-term effects."
Results of air quality tests from homes in 2002 prompted
the state environmental officials to announce in January
that the Endicott pollution was more serious than
previously believed.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation said it
would upgrade Endicott's status from Class 4 - meaning that
the pollution source is no longer a problem, but is still
being monitored - to Class 2 - a significant threat to the
environment or health. The reclassification, backed by
United States Representative Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat
who represents the area, was a victory for citizen groups.
Despite the change, state health officials cannot say
whether air or water pollution in Endicott has actually
caused any health problems.
Village officials say tests show that the water is safe to
drink.
And the venting systems are effective, according to Michael
Fraser, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental
Conservation.
Still, many residents remain pessimistic.
"This is going to become a dead town, no doubt about it,"
said Matt Latessa, 62, who owns a house in the plume and a
men's hair salon on Monroe Avenue. Aging business owners
such as Mr. Latessa, who wants to move to Florida, and
families that bought starter homes in the plume feel
trapped.
"We're being held hostage," he said.
Along with for-sale signs on front lawns, the venting
systems, which emit a humming sound, have become a fact of
life. Mr. Davis's house on Monroe Avenue, in the heart of
the plume, is one of those that is vented.
"If you noticed, there's a Remax sign in front of my home,"
said Mr. Davis, who is troubled by persistent eye
irritation. "I put it there instantly" after learning of
the vapor problem, he said, but he added that he has had no
offers for the house.
Mr. Fraser said vapor intrusion was one of the factors that
made the Endicott situation unique.
"In past years, the guidance provided to regulatory
agencies indicated that established cleanup levels were
also protective for indoor air," Mr. Fraser said. "Advances
in science and technology have recently shown that vapor
intrusion concerns can accompany TCE-contaminated
groundwater at very low levels."
For more than two decades, I.B.M. used liquid cleaning
agents in its circuit board assembly operation. A
half-dozen spills and leaks, including a documented 1979
leak of 4,100 gallons from an underground tank, left behind
volatile organic compounds in the town's soil and aquifer.
Trace elements of volatile organic compounds have been
found in the city's drinking water , but the levels are
within regulatory limits
To date, I.B.M.'s former campus has been identified by the
Department of Environmental Conservation as the major
source of pollution, Mr. Fraser said. However, the state
agency has also traced some contaminants to a local dry
cleaner and is seeking out other polluters.
Since 1980, I.B.M. has pumped out 78,000 gallons of
chemicals, including trichloroethane, trichloroethene,
Freon, benzene and perchloroethene. The village is now
dotted with 342 wells, paid for by I.B.M., that monitor or
extract groundwater.
I.B.M. has already spent "tens of millions" and has pledged
to work with the village, said a company spokesman, Todd
Martin.
"We are going to proceed through this project as a partner
with the community and other stakeholders," Mr. Martin
said.
Before I.B.M. installed the venting systems early last
year, "we met one on one with residents at their kitchen
tables. We want to connect with people," said Mr. Martin.
Opinion is divided on whether I.B.M., which sold all its
Endicott real estate but leases land for its operations
there, remains a good neighbor or has become a disengaged
corporate parent. Endicott never served as I.B.M.
headquarters, but is called the company birthplace because
that is the site of the first plant.
"There are two I.B.M.'s," Mr. Turnbull said. "In their
early days, their philosophy was to take the best care of
their employees." By the 80's, he said, "a new I.B.M. came
forward. That's the one that cares about the bottom line."
The village's mayor maintains that working with I.B.M. is
the best way forward.
"I say, thank God I.B.M. is here to take care of this mess,
" Mayor Joan Hickey Pulse said. Residents should not lose
sight of the fact that spills and leaks were accidental,
she said. "I feel I.B.M. will spend any amount of money to
clean this up."
The mayor also rejects the notion that Endicott is on the
ropes. "We're not going to put up gates and say Endicott is
closed," she said. "Endicott is not going to go away."
Citizens continue to pack monthly forums held by the
Department of Environmental Conservation and the State
Department of Health. Among other things, the community has
reached an agreement with the State Department of Health
and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry to conduct a study profiling the health of
villagers and looking at cancer cases and other illnesses.
Cancer comprises a complex range of diseases with varying
triggers, including old age. Connecting individual cases to
environmental exposure is problematic, a fact acknowledged
by Bernadette Patrick, who helped organize Citizens Acting
to Restore Endicott's Environment.
Ms. Patrick said she has never been "a save-the-planet kind
of person." But that changed after her daughter, Nicole
Brinsko, was found to have Hodgkin's lymphoma at 17, which
announced itself with a large swelling on her neck.
"My daughter was conceived, born and raised in the plume on
Tracy Street," Ms. Patrick said.
She began to ask questions after she contacted another
mother whose teenage daughter also grew up on Tracy Street
and who developed bone cancer. Nicole is now in college and
is growing a head of baby-fine black hair.
"Having cancer when you are 17 and wearing a wig to the
senior prom is not normal," she said. "The whole situation
isn't normal."
Another Tracy Street resident, Patrick Campbell, 38, has
testicular cancer and is H.I.V. positive. He blames the
village air and drinking water for his fragile health.
"I'll be lucky to make it to 40," he said. He said other
families on Tracy Street have packed up and left. "I call
it Emptycott," Mr. Campbell said.
Today I.B.M.'s once impressive campus has a deserted look.
But people have not forgotten the good old days.
"In the 60's and 70's, I.B.M. took care of the area," said
Edward Blaine, a Deacon at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in
downtown Endicott and a member of R.A.G.E. "We had things
other communities didn't have: weekly concerts, the
carousel and the golf course. We went from being a great
place to raise a family to where we are today. Now that
choice has a dark side to it."
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