The Environmental Protection Agency is studying four pollutants that have leached into the soil near the airport in Earlysville, J Reynolds Hutchins writes in the Daily Progress. The Avionics Specialties plant is the source of the trouble, though the EPA has found that the toxins (including a carcinogen) are the fault of Teledyne, who ran an aerospace-related plant on the site from 1954–1992. Teledyne has refused to take responsibility, but the EPA is going to force them to. There are months of study ahead for the EPA, sure to be followed by years of cleanup.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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This pollution was common knowledge years ago – long before Walnut Hill was developed. That the government has dragged their feet this long in even STARTING to clean it up is ridiculous.
@JMRL
Who was the developer of the affected properties? (I don’t know.)
Did the developers know the properties were affected? When did they know it? Did they disclose this hazard to buyers? Did they developers take efforts to conceal the contamination?
Should the buyers — initial and subsequent – have known the dangers?
So many questions.
Link to a perhaps similar situation elsewhere in the County:
http://www.readthehook.com/107511/27-years-later-greenwood-superfund-site-moves
I don’t remember who the developer was, but the fact that the Teledyne plant was contaminating groundwater in the area was well-known way before the development went in. A friend whose husband worked there in the mid-80s to about 2000 said it was one reason there wasn’t development in and around the plant.