The Health and Safety Hygienist for the school district has stated Today red flags would be flying all over the place, it s a former industrial site . The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reports several petroleum tanks were buried beneath the school and have caused a petroleum pollution problem in nearby soil and a pond. Currently, DEC is pumping oxygen into the ground to break down the fuel oil problem. Soil and air test results have revealed high levels of volatile organic compounds and other cancer causing chemicals, yet the State Department of Health claims children are not exposed to levels of concern. Despite plans to locate children in another high school if testing revealed a problem, the School District has made the decision to keep the school open with all athletic fields off limits to students and the public.
Parents see no alternative but to close the school.
Tucson, Arizona - Tucsonians for a Clean Environment Many of those who attended Sunnyside Elementary and Junior High Schools, in the 1950s and later, developed cancers and leukemia. The schools serve a primarily Mexican-American population in Tucson s Southside. By 1981, wells in the area serving these schools, as well as many of the pupils homes, were shut down because of industrial contamination. Residents formed Tucsonians for a Clean Environment, and won local support for environmental justice activities, including a health program for people contaminated by TCE at the El Pueblo Clinic. Yet today in Tucson s Southside another generation is facing a toxic threat in their schools from a military contractor.