A preliminary report commissioned by the agency and completed in March said it had, but there was no evidence that it had affected groundwater or the drinking water wells in the surrounding neighborhood. Mayor Joseph Tricarico pointed out the agency's contractor had not dug deeper than 8 inches, so the effect below is unknown. That's not fast enough, residents said, calmly but firmly. Shaw offered to circulate a petition to make the residents' sentiments known that the agency should look for a new storage site. Other residents expressed concern about how well prepared the depot and township were for a fire emergency.
Mercury vapor is extremely toxic and readily absorbed.
He also said firefighters have the foam substance needed to extinguish a mercury-based fire. The state Department of Environmental Protection, which is charged with enforcing air emission permits obtained by the company, does not routinely perform the type of comprehensive air samples that would have revealed the pollution. Roche officials, who had the air tests done in late summer, disclosed last week that the company had released excessive levels of chloroform, toluene and methanol for as long as three years. The emissions were not considered high enough to cause a health threat, according to a risk-assessment study done in late summer by Environmental Resources Management, a Pennsylvania firm Roche hired after discovering its emissions problem. It's the type of emissions violation that's not immediately discernible.