BREAKING NEWS, MORE DRINKING WATER WELLS CONTAMINATED!

Today (November 2009) I got a letter from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Waste Management. I was informed that my well, at 283 Dowdy Lane is now definitely contaminated with Chloromethane, also known as methyl chloride. Chloromethane is used in the production of butyll rubber, an essential component ingredient in MRT production at the Goodyear Danville tire plant. My late Fathers well, about 100 yards on the other side of the dump, is contaminated with PCE, a degreaser used in Goodyear in the banburies years ago. My well is less than 2oo yards from one of the illegal dumps that First Piedmont created in the late 60's and early 70's. Barrels contaning banbury slurry, a petroleum liquid of low quality because it was contaminated with degreasers, (among other things), were dumped into a gully and bulldozed. Many barrels were busted, and this is how the water table was poisoned. We still have barrels washing out of the ground now, long after rusting out and spilling their poison into the soil and water. When the liquid seeps out of the dump, it goes directly into Pumpkin Creek, then through South Danville, right through several childrens playgrounds. Then it reaches it the Dan River, where it goes East towards South Boston. Make no mistake, the cleanup plan that FPC agreed to called for ALL BARRELS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE SITE. PERIOD. That is not the case, I can show someone in 5 minutes where barrels were left in the ground, left to rust out and dump their poison into our water supply. This is not acceptable. No one with any common sense would want their family to drink such poison, and I treasure my children and their health more than my own life.

The levels of the poisonous chemicals are not above the gov'ts standard for household use (YET). Two years ago, they weren't there at all. So things are getting worse, and quickly. Any level of poison is too much for someone to drink, and I have 2 children, two wonderful young daughters who mean the world to me. How much poison would you like to drink? This is a carcinogenic chemical, there is nothing good about it.


The responsible parties need to go ahead and do the responsible thing: take responsibility. I do not accept the statement that they cleaned it up per gov'ts rules. ALL BARRELS WERE TO BE REMOVED, AND ALL SOLIDS COVERED WITH SEVERAL FEET OF A CLAY CAP. We now have barrels washing up, rusted into pieces. That in itself proves the cleanup was a fraud. And there are solids weighing thousands of pounds in the woods now, never have been buried.

This disaster is not going away. Once the levels reach above the gov'ts standards for safe drinking, I will have no choice but to take this to the courts. I do not want that to happen, but if it does it will not be my fault. IGNORING THIS DISASTER, THIS CRIMINAL DISASTER, WILL NOT MAKE IT GO AWAY. It is of both responsible companies best interest, both GT & R and FPC, to commence with dialogue with me before this has to go to the courts. I am not an unreasonable man. Not at all.

If the cleanup had been handled correctly, we would not have this problem. Yet there are still methods of mediating this. I highly suggest FPC and GYT to man up and begin the process. If they are responsible environmental corporations, they will. Their silence is not making them look very good at all.

Randy Dowdy, 283 Dowdy Lane, Providence NC. bryantfarmdrumdump.blogspot.com