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Regulators order TCE polluter near SLO airport to remediate

May 19, 2019

By KAREN VELIE

After a lengthy investigation, the water board has determined the source of toxic levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) found in groundwater near the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, according to a remediation order. TCE is an industrial solvent linked to liver and kidney damage and childhood leukemia. [Cal Coast Times]

On May 3, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board sent a cleanup, abatement, and water replacement order to the current and former owners and operators of 4665 Thread Lane.

For more than 50 years, Noll Inc. has operated a machine shop on the property and used industrial solvents. The water board’s list of dischargers includes Herman Noll, Gwendolyn Noll, Janice Long, John Noll, Janice Noll, Noll Inc., and Noll Properties.

In 2015, the San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health found TCE in six of 10 wells tested in the Buckley Road area. Of those, four wells had levels of TCE above the accepted threshold. Futher testing found an additional nine contaminated wells in the area of Buckley Road, east of Davenport Creek Road, Evans Road, and Thread Lane.

Last year, groundwater tests at 4665 Thread Road detected an elevated TCE concentration of 783 micrograms per liter, or 156 times higher than EPA standards for drinking water.

In its order, the water board is directing the dischargers to provide their neighbors with replacement water and to remediate “the effects of discharges of wastes, including TCE and associated volatile organic compounds that have been discharged to soil and groundwater at 4665 Thread Lane.”

The water board has scheduled a public meeting at their offices at 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, in San Luis Obispo for May 21, to discuss the cleanup and abatement order.


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As a kid growing up I worked at a service station from age 9 …till teenager .Every night usually we sprayed down the islands and service bays with caustic soap and water all that spilled oil, gasoline ,and battery acid etc soaked thru the cracks in cement and asphalt and went down the curb etc …. Well low and behold when Chevron and other name brands were shut down and torn out throughout SLO County for contaminants where do ya think it came from it wasn’t leaking storage tanks


0

TCE was used in gasoline in the early days. . The military used that area big time .. Plus fuel was stored in that area which contained TCE


-1

Trich is a nasty solvent. If it is coming from these businesses, the owners should be in jail. I don’t care what era you’re from, who would think it’s okay to dump chemicals on the ground?


1

TCE is not a combustion product of leaded gasoline.


14

Leaded Aviation fuel being burned by small planes .. Is like crop dusting the entire area around SLO COUNTY AIRPORT with by-products of leaded gasoline .The airport was used by the military from 1939 to 1945


-12

The SLO COUNTY AIRPORT is the TCE contributor …Not NOLL INC. but the county is going to blame the business owner instead ….Just like when they went after the junkyards on Tank Farm Road …Even though their was oil derricks through out that whole area and union oil had storage tanks also ….HMM sounds like Avila Beach all over again


-2

Have you read the actual reports on the investigation? Not much question as to where it’s coming from, and it isn’t the airport.


11

Is the “investigation” as fake as APCD “science”?


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