Health: Carcinogens, Two Schools and EPA Action at Monterey Park Landfill

Many thanks to Richard Winton for his outstanding article on the Operating Industries dump (April 28). I was outraged to learn that the EPA has known for years that the controls were not working properly, and the flares were not burning hot enough.

This condition allows cancer-causing contaminants to be released into the air.

By the end of the summer, the EPA promises some protection, and by 1997 new controls will be put in. That is not only reprehensible, it is unacceptable. It should also be criminal.

Schurr High School is within 1,000 feet of the dump, and Wilcox Elementary School is close by. Did the EPA or CURE Inc. notify the schools that the air was deadly? Did they try to protect the students and staff? The EPA and CURE Inc. and New Cure Inc. have jeopardized the health and safety of every man, woman, child and pet in parts of Montebello and southern Monterey Park.

We can only conclude that John Wise, deputy regional administrator for the EPA, must bear the responsibility for the short-term health problems residents have been experiencing. He must also bear responsibility for any long-term health problems residents will develop. His inaction and insensitivity is unforgivable. We have all been breathing cancer-causing contaminants.

It appears that the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t protecting anyone, and CURE Inc. and New Cure Inc. haven’t cured anything.

PHYLLIS RABINS

Monterey Park