The Green Scene: A leaking well highlights continued CTS contaminat­ion

Two grade-school boys playing in Becky Robinson‘s yard on April 24 discovered that an old well on the property was leaking. It hadn’t been used since 1999, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that it was contaminated by trichloroethylene, one of many chemicals used at the former CTS electroplating plant on Mills Gap Road […]

Buncombe Commission­ers

Sheriff’s Office reports increased calls for service, decreased response time County still working on reinstating zoning Tensions ran high at the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ April 21 meeting. Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources were there to talk about ongoing efforts to clean up […]

The Green Scene

Not enough, say residents frustrated by a proposed agreement with CTS Corp. for cleaning up contamination at its former Mills Gap Road manufacturing site. A 1987 North Carolina law caps participating companies’ liability in such cleanups at that amount. Contained? Fences don’t prevent toxic vapors—produced by the suspected carcinogen trichloroethylene—from reaching residents living near the […]

State to pursue deal with CTS on contaminat­ed site; activists angered

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources have proposed a voluntary company cleanup deal on the contaminated former CTS of Asheville site. Local activists have attacked the move, saying it will delay any action and ultimately leave taxpayers paying for the cleanup. Toxic: The former CTS of Asheville site is heavily contaminated. CTS and […]

Fail-safe? A short history of the CTS contaminat­ion

CTS of Asheville shut down more than two decades ago, but for some former employees and neighbors of the electroplating facility, the memories haven’t faded. Under the surface: The shell of the former CTS of Asheville plant on Mills Gap Road, which is considered a hazardous-waste site due to trichloroethylene concentrations in ground water. contemporary […]