The article about about trichloroethylene contamination from the old CTS plant [“Fail-Safe?: Hazardous-waste Site Falls Through Regulatory Cracks,” July 11] is ominously reminiscent of the tragic leukemia deaths of children in Woburn, Mass., in the ‘50s and ‘60s, as chronicled in Jonathan Harr’s 1995 book, A Civil Action.
The Woburn clusters of leukemia cases were traced to groundwater contamination by TCE that emanated from two industrial plants, a W.R. Grace Company chemical operation and a Beatrice Foods leather tannery.
It appears that the TCE discharge from the CTS plant has been—and continues to be—treated as of little consequence by almost all concerned. Will our regulatory and enforcement agencies not learn from such recent history as Woburn’s?
— Bob Gunn
Black Mountain
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