Angry West Chicago residents seek answers from EPA

Officials who have known for five years about possible buried radioactive thorium contamination on up to 100 West Chicago properties faced the public for the first time Tuesday.

At a meeting called to discuss the issue, a dozen frustrated homeowners grilled federal Environmental Protection Agency officials about why their homes may need to be dug up for the third time in three decades.

The owners of 96 residential properties were invited to the gathering, which included representatives from the city and Tronox, the current incarnation of the company responsible for the contamination.

"Would any of you switch your home for ours?" said Gerdy McShane, whose parents, Doroteo and Paula Garza, have lived near the former Kerr-McGee plant for 40 years. "I don't think you would. Would you want to live through this again?"

After the residual contamination issue came to light in a May Daily Herald story, EPA representatives acknowledged that a city consultant had brought up the possible problem in 2002. Although exposure to thorium can cause cancer, the agency didn't notify homeowners of the possibility.

"As long as nobody did any digging, there's no current exposure," EPA Project Manager Becky Frey said at the Tuesday meeting. "There should have been no health risk."

Businessman Jim Oberweis, a former U.S. Senate candidate who is running to replace U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert in the 14th Congressional District, attended the meeting and asked Frey how far down the possible contamination may be buried. She responded that it may be as shallow as 6 inches.

"That's not very reassuring," Oberweis muttered.

While the agency was always intending to address the situation, more pressing work took priority, Frey said. For the last six months, the EPA has been working with the city to create a plan to deal with the problem.

The first step was digging through records to identify properties that might have to be retested. That work resulted in the EPA pin-pointing 41 properties that may need to have deep soil samples tested in early 2008.

Residents will pay nothing for the additional work, Frey said. McShane pointed out, though, that Tronox likely won't pay to relocate residents during the possible cleanup.

"We're not going to allow elderly people to live there while there's a cleanup," she said.

The agency will also test and, in some cases, retest the basement of the 41 properties.

EPA staff is reviewing the records of hundreds of West Chicago properties to identify those that didn't have basements tested.

This summer thorium contamination was found in a basement, causing more than 300 times the radiation considered safe.