CTS Corp. has launched its own website, millsgaprealfacts.com, to “inform [the public and] dispel misleading information, rumor, innuendo and outright falsehoods that some people in the community have disseminated and published and which have been republished time and time again on local media.”
On the homepage of the site, CTS — the company which owned and operated an electroplating operation on Mills Gap Road from 1959-1986 — says it’s “committed to effectively, efficiently and ethically addressing the site conditions at the property known as the Mills Gap Road Site or the CTS of Asheville site.”
In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the property a Superfund site. Residents have complained about the site for decades, reporting contaminated wells and a host of health problems (see Mountain Xpress’ 2007 story, “Fail Safe? A Short History of the CTS Contamination,” by Rebecca Bowe). State and federal tests at the site documented high concentrations of trichloroethylene, a chemical used in electroplating operations but declared in recent years by the EPA to be linked to cancer and a variety of health issues. CTS cites a 2010 state health study that didn’t report a clear link between cancer cases near the site, and the company says that no local homeowners drank contaminated water attributed to the site.
Mountain Xpress and other media have reported that several families unknowingly drank from contaminated wells for a decade or more.
On the millsgaprealfacts.com site, CTS also attributes “significant delays” of cleanup on “various community factions [with] endless critiquing of standard, scientifically valid and effective work,” as well as “essential safeguards … built into the investigation and remediation process.” The company says it is addressing groundwater contamination, has removed “more than 6,600 pounds of TCE” through a vapor-extraction process at contaminated streams and “will continue to investigate and cleanup the site in accordance with the agreements between EPA and CTS.”
For more about the Superfund site on Mills Gap Road, visit these links:
The EPA’s “CTS of Asheville” site
The N.C. Department of Environmental & Natural Resources site
Mountain Xpress stories and posts about the CTS site
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