EPA to meet one-on-one with W. Chicago residents

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials will be meeting privately this week with West Chicago residents concerned their homes may still contain residual thorium contamination.

Members of an EPA-hired consulting firm will be at Warrenville city hall from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday interviewing residents living on or near the site of the former Kerr-McGee Co. factory.

Warrenville residents interested in voicing concerns about the ongoing cleanup of the West Branch of the DuPage River and Cress Creek also will have a chance to speak to officials during those two days.

The factory was responsible for distributing the radioactive material throughout West Chicago, which led to two federally supervised cleanups in the 1980s and 1990s.

"Basically, we want to find out the best way to get the word out to the community" about the status of the testing efforts, said Sandra Vasquez, an EPA contractor involved in organizing this week's interviews.

EPA officials have been testing more than 30 homes since April to determine whether any residual thorium still exists on the properties surrounding the old factory site.

Barbara Magel, an attorney representing West Chicago on the thorium testing efforts, said EPA officials have completed surface scans on 23 homes and have begun testing underground at 12 properties.

"Based on that work, (EPA officials) have found very little in terms of finding even an elevated reading," Magel said. "There have been some slightly elevated readings, but those aren't necessarily related to thorium."

Two or three properties have had elevated readings which necessitated further soil testing, Magel said.

Among the homes slated for more testing for thorium is that of Sandy Riess.

Riess and her husband moved out of their home last September after radioactive levels 300 times above what's considered safe were discovered on her property. Tronox, the successor to Kerr-McGee, has been paying for some of the family's living expenses.

More than 200 locations on the Riess property have been bored down to five feet to scan for radiation and soil samples.

Riess said EPA officials have scanned most of the interior of her home and plan on digging into her basement to do further testing.

"It's going to disrupt the structure of the home," Riess said Monday. "They need to retest every house out here."

Riess and 18 homeowners within a two-block radius of her property received lowered property tax assessments earlier this year.

Many of the homes had their assessments lowered 25 percent. Riess, meanwhile, had her property's assessment lowered by 90 percent of its value.

"My taxes being reduced by 90 percent pretty much says my house is worthless," she said.

Residents hoping to schedule a meeting with an EPA official in Warrenville this week are asked to call Sandra Vasquez at (773) 693-3800, or e-mail her at sandra.vasquez@ch2m.com.