DEP Invoice or Financial Record, September 30, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Environmentalists pash PERC cleanup By JACOB PALMATEER dilate sti^ matter Environmental activists called on Gov. George E. Altfaough PERC has not been shown to cause cancer Pataki and the Legislature to refinance the State in humans, die laboratory tests have raised enough con­ Superfund to clean up dry cleaners that are suspected of cern among researchers to have use of the chemical reg­ poisoning New York State’s aquifers. ulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, The New York Public Interest Research Group and EPA has set the maximum level of PERC contamination Citizens’ Envirorunental Coalition hand delivered a let­ in drinking water at .005 milligrams per liter. ter to Pataki warning of the dangers of a chemical used In^addition, anyone who wishes to use PERC in the in the dry cleaning process. workplace in New York State must first be trained and At a follow-up press conference in the Legislative certified by the DEC. — Office Building on Tuesday, Mike Livermore, an In the letter, the environmental environmental associate of NYPIRG, explained that activists highlighted the steps they the chemical perchloroethylene [PERC] is known to believe need to be taken to protect the cause liver and kidney damage and is a suspected car­ cinogen. According to Livermore, the chemical easily groundwater of New York State. They passes through topsoil and can quickly be absorbed suggested that a new, inclusive study into groundwater thereby posing a threat to local should be conducted of dry cleaning water supplies. sites to replace the partial study conduct­ According to the letter sent to Pataki, PERC is a dan­ ed earlier this year by the DEC. , gerous health problem on Long Island because of “an The activists explained that cleanup environmentally fragile aquifer system that underlies much of Nassau and Suffolk counties.” Livermore also standards must be maintained and that pointed out that an independent survey of dry cleaners the DEC must honor its current regula­ conducted by NYPIRG showed that long Island had a tions that call for full environmental higher concentration than the rest of the state. He point­ ^restoiation;—-—- ------------- —__ ed out that a'previous survey of New York State con­ ducted by the Department of Environmental Conservation had failed to count any on Long Island. Speculating about why the DEC survey left out Long Island, Livermore said, ‘Tt’s a big piece of the state with a lot of dry cleaners.” Hours after the environmentalists pleaded their cases, state lawmakers passed bills to fund the Superfund pro­ gram and to fund construction programs at SUNY cam­ puses. Pataki ordered the special session last week to deal with those issues. The lawmakers waited for hours to act while Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver debated other budget issues that went unresolved. In a fact sheet released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1997, exposure to high levels of PERC are said to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and death. Skin irritation may also occur after prolonged contact with the chemical. These symptoms most often occur in work environments where PERC is commonly used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing. PERC has also been shown to cause liver and kidney tumors in laboratory animals. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends that the chemical be treated as a potential carcinogen. Li isicrhve “You can’t inject humans with PERC to see what happens,” Livermore said. “It is just not known how al] chemicals affect humans.”

q-iooi NYC-WTC_000152359