Asheville Citizen-Times
SKYLAND - U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr, as well as Rep. Heath Shuler, sent a letter today to the Environmental Protection Agency pushing it to aggressively clean up the former CTS site on Mills Gap Road.
The letter calls on the Region IV administrator of the EPA to work with the local community on steps for immediate cleanup of the site.
The Superfund site has been proposed for inclusion on a list of the nation's most environmentally contaminated sites, which could lead to a more extensive investigation and cleanup at the site.
In the meantime, Hagan, Burr and Shuler are urging the EPA to take the strongest possible immediate action to stop the contamination from spreading.
The delegation also requested that the EPA provide municipal water to residents with wells that are at risk of exposure to contaminants associated with the site.
They also asked the EPA for a site cleanup timeline.
The EPA has been investigating contamination at and around the plant since 1990 and spent at least $1 million there.
High levels of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, were discovered in drinking water wells near the plant in 1999. Contamination since has shown up in a handful of other drinking water wells surrounding the site.
TCE was used in manufacturing industrial switches and resistors at the site from 1952-86.
If it's listed on the National Priorities List, the CTS site will join about 1,290 other contaminated sites across the country, including 35 in North Carolina and six in Western North Carolina.
