For nearly 30 years, the CTS of Asheville Superfund site has been a source of physical and social toxicity for the surrounding community. With remedial efforts to address the source of contamination finally underway, residents, activists and others reflect on the triumphs and tribulations of the decades-long battle for a clean-up and accountability.
With the EPA set to implement a new remediation strategy at the CTS of Asheville Superfund site this year, some residents and public officials are cautiously hopeful that the long-standing issues might finally be addressed. Others continue to lobby federal authorities to hold the EPA accountable for past missteps and speed up the remediation process.
The struggle to clean up the long-shuttered CTS manufacturing site on Mills Gap Road in South Asheville continues this Tuesday evening, July 29, with a town hall meeting organized by one of the community groups involved in the case — the POWER Action Group.
From the EPA Headquarters: EPA Releases Final Risk Assessment on Trichloroethylene (TCE) Agency begins process to address potential human health risks WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a final risk assessment for trichloroethylene (TCE). The assessment identified health risks from TCE exposures to consumers using spray aerosol degreasers and spray fixatives. It […]
The U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals has ruled in favor of 23 local citizens pressing to get CTS Corp. to clean up the contaminated site on Mills Gap Road in south Asheville and compensate affected homeowners.
Lee Ann Smith’s and Tate MacQueen’s methods may differ, but their aim is the same: help their south Buncombe friends, families and neighbors obtain clean air and water. (photo of Gabe Dunsmith and Lee Ann Smith by Bill Rhodes)
I think it’s only fair and just to actually look at the facts that escaped Mr. Ramsey in his letter in the Oct. 5 Xpress [“Don Yelton, Problem Solvent”]. I am an environmental-systems engineer with a concentration in water-quality management. I have a master’s degree in environmental-systems engineering from Clemson University and a master’s degree […]
Thanks for keeping the community updated on the tragedy in slow motion happening at CTS [“Going Green,” Sept. 21 Xpress]. Don Yelton, a conservative talk-show host and political aspirant, brings up an interesting, yet straightforward scientific question: Will demolishing the building widen the scope of the already terrible industrial pollution on Mills Gap Road? Considering […]
On Thursday, April 14, Environmental Protection Agency officials hosted another in a long series of community meetings about the contaminated CTS site in south Asheville. Just a few weeks ago, the EPA had announced that the vacant Mills Gap Road property was being proposed for the National Priorities List (aka the Superfund program). But with a final decision not coming till September, the EPA convened the April 14 meeting to report what resources are available to local residents. Photo by Katie Damien.
Photo by Jonathan Welch
Residents who live near the contaminated former CTS facility on Mills Gap Road have waited for years for cleanup, and as the time draws closer for EPA’s review of the site for inclusion on the National Priorities List (which would place it among the most severely contaminated sites in the U.S.), residents have decided to wait no longer. A group of 16 individuals and families filed suit against the Elkhart, Ind.-based corporation yesterday in federal court. Complainants include Tate MacQueen, spokesperson with the advocacy group Citizen’s Monitoring Council, which has worked to get the issue noticed and addressed, and Lee Ann Smith, whose young sons were treated for cancer after they were exposed to high levels of contaminants in a stream flowing from the CTS property near their home.
The CTS/Mills Gap Road property just moved one step closer to being named a Superfund site: Today, Sept. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it’s “moving forward” with the process to add the former electroplating plant to its National Priorities List of hazardous-waste sites.
Officials declared that the CTS-contamination study had found no new imminent threats, only to be met by poignant responses from area residents, some of whom have had their wells capped, others who have health problems that they perceive to be related to the contamination, and many of whom are raising children. Residents pointed to such daily realities, to which the study’s author responded, “We work with the information we have. That’s reality.”
