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News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

February 5, 2010

Higher levels of radiation in Pines

   Alicia Ebaugh Staff Writer

PINES - Residents here may be exposed to higher than normal levels of radiation because of coal ash spread around the town, a study of radioactive materials in the area has found.

 

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

February 5, 2010

At least 3 seeps found in Yard 520 landfill

   Alicia Ebaugh Staff Writer

PINES - At least three seeps, or openings in the cap covering the former Yard 520 landfill, have been recorded by federal and state environmental officials. The seeps allow water and coal ash from underneath the caps to escape, letting contamination out with them, said Paul Kysel, vice president of People in Need of Environmental Safety.

 

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

December 21, 2009

Non-profit group upset scientists still not paid Disagreement involves PINES, utility, contractor

   Alicia Ebaugh Staff Writer

PINES - Scientists on behalf of Pines residents who examined groundwater pollution caused by coal ash in the town are still owed more than $86,000 for their work, but the companies who would be responsible for the bill say they won't pay it. Northern Indiana Public Service Co., Brown Inc. and its subsidiaries who are paying for the investigation into the pollution at the Pines' Superfund Alternative site say the work was done outside of the agreement it signed with People in Need of Environmental Safety, a resident group formed to track the groundwater issue.

 

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

December 20, 2009

'It's still in the ground' Pines residents still not certain of coal ash effects

   Alicia Ebaugh Staff Writer

The Pines groundwater plume, as it's called by the Environmental Protection Agency, was designated a Superfund Alternative site in 2003. The contaminated groundwater is thought to be creeping north from the town toward Lake Michigan. Now Pines' future - and maybe even that of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore - rests on the outcome of an investigation into the risks the residents and land face from coal ash pollution and what can be done to correct them.

 

 

CIRCLE OF BLUE WATER NEWS

July 20, 2009

Coal Ash: Town's Toxic Water Embodies National Challenge

   Text, Video, and Images by Aaron Jaffe, Map by Yiruo Zhao, Circle of Blue

TOWN OF PINES, Ind. - Peggy Richardson was still in high school nearly 40 years ago when trucks began dumping the ash from a nearby coal-fired power plant in this working-class community 50 miles east of Chicago. Like the other 800 residents, she and her family never considered whether there was a risk when a heap of ash - known here as Yard 520 - steadily grew into a mountain of coal wastes a half-mile long and four stories tall, higher than any building in town.

 

The Virginian-Pilot (Chesapeake, Virginia)

October 17, 2008

Indiana town to Chesapeake: Fly-ash battle will not be easy

   Robert McCabe, The Virginian-Pilot

Jan Nona watched and carefully recorded what happened to her hometown when fly ash contaminated the water supply. Dangerous things came out of the wells. Regulators arrived. Legal fights began. Eight years passed. And the fly ash remains. That is why she thinks she knows what will happen in Chesapeake, even though she lives about 850 miles away and has only driven through Virginia once.

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

May 5, 2006

More water testing planned for Pines

   Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch

Environmental officials hope to begin sampling ground water, soil and sediment in Pines - part of an ongoing remedial investigation surrounding contaminated water.  During a Thursday meeting at the Michigan City Public Library, Tim Drexler of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chicago office, explained the purpose and the process of the study.  It likely will begin this month in an area bounded on the north by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (some testing will be completed in the Lakeshore), on the south in an area just below Old Chicago road, on the west by Brown Road on the West and County Line Road on the East.

 

 

NIPSCO responds to the News Dispatch story on Pines Elementary School

January 6, 2006

Page 1

The story, written by Deborah Sederberg, asserts: "Groundwater at the school, as it is in much of the Town of Pines, has been contaminated with some elements of fly ash, deposited years ago in a nearby landfill." This statement is erroneous.

Page 2

the November 14 story in the News Dispatch is inaccurate in that the story incorrectly portrays groundwater constituent levels at the Pine Elementary School as being caused by past disposal operations, when in fact the USGS study concluded the levels were naturally occurring.

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

November 14, 2005

If they choose to build new schools

   Deborah Sederberg The News-Dispatch.

For several years, the board of Michigan City Area Schools has been wrestling with water concerns at Pine Elementary School.  Groundwater at the school, as it is in much of the town of Pines, has been contaminated with some elements of fly ash, deposited years ago in a nearby landfill.  For about a year, the Environmental Protection Agency provided bottled water to the school, something the school corporation does now.  It would cost at least $750,000 - perhaps as much as $1 million - to bring city water to Pine Elementary School.

 

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

August 30, 2004

Pine School options mulled

   Deborah Sederberg The News-Dispatch

Fate of water issue depends on future of current building.  Whether city water will be at Pine Elementary School depends on whether it will remain open at its present site.  Last spring, the Michigan City Area Schools' elementary-facilities committee recommended the school be rebuilt, either at its present site, 1594 N. Porter County Road 500 East, or elsewhere.  Pine is the only MCAS building in Porter County. Students living in a portion of Pine Township in Porter County attend the Michigan City school, while those in other parts of the township attend school in the Duneland district.  Since last April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been providing bottled drinking water to the school, just as it has to the occupants of several area homes because some wells are contaminated with various substances, including boron, manganese, arsenic and lead.

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

April 7, 2004

Agencies' views differ about water quality at Pine School

   Jason Miller The News-Dispatch

The decision to provide students at Pine Elementary School with bottled water late last week was reached despite differences between two federal agencies about how much contamination is deemed acceptable for children.  Tim Drexler, remedial projects manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday the EPA decided to provide the school with bottled water after molybdenum readings in ground water at the school registered .8 of a point above EPA safety standards.  Current EPA standards for children say 10.8 parts per billion of the chemical are too much for children to be exposed to. The agency's safety level is 10 parts per billion. Molybdenum poisoning in humans can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems and nervous disorders.

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

April 3, 2004

EPA to provide bottled water to school

   Dave Hawk and Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch

PINE TOWNSHIP - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will begin providing bottled drinking water to Pine Elementary School.  The measure is a precaution because tests showed an elevated level of a metallic substance in the school's well water, said Fred LaBorn, Michigan City Area Schools interim superintendent.  LaBorn said he was told Ken Theisen, EPA on-scene coordinator in The Pines, went to the school Friday morning to notify school officials that beginning Monday the EPA would furnish bottled water.  The EPA will bear the cost for one year, LaBorn said he was told. He wasn't sure what happens after that, but it's possible the school system may have to cover the cost of continued bottled water.

 

 

News-Dispatch, The (Michigan City, IN)

February 19, 2004

Group drops landfill fight

   Jason Miller The News-Dispatch

THE PINES -- When Brown Inc. officially closed the north section of its Yard 520 Landfill here last year, the move didn't stop contaminants from leaching into the town's groundwater.  So when the company decided to close the landfill's southern section by the same method, environmental activists in the town objected.  On Monday, however, People In Need of Environmental Safety (P.I.N.E.S.) gave up its fight to change the closure method because, representatives say, it could no longer wage an uphill battle.  "This has just gone on and on and we can't do it anymore," P.I.N.E.S. member Jan Nona said Wednesday. "It's another little merry-go-round for us."

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

November 20, 2003

Pines group seeks help from Kernan

THE PINES -- People in Need of Environmental Safety, a group concerned with water quality in The Pines, has sent a letter to Gov. Joe Kernan asking him for help in closing the Yard 520 Landfill in a way that will prevent contamination from escaping the site.  Jan Nona, a member of P.I.N.E.S., said the present closure plan that's soon to be approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management does not require adequate long-term monitoring, or a slurry wall to stop the flow of contamination, or require cleanup of already contaminated groundwater and surface water.  Nona said at stake is the environmental health not only of The Pines, but also of Beverly Shores, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Lake Michigan.

 

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

February 7, 2002

State wants EPA help with Pines cleanup

   Jeff Tucker

The discovery of nine contaminated wells in The Pines has prompted state regulators to ask for federal assistance in a long-term cleanup of the town's ground water.  The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has requested the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency add The Pines to its National Priorities List for possible remediation though the federal Superfund program.

 

News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

December 1, 2000

Pines wells fail federal standards

   Kathy Ceperich

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has confirmed that four wells belonging to residents in The Pines do not meet federal drinking-water standards.  The residents involved have been notified, said Mark Jaworski, IDEM site investigation project manager. The wells are within a few blocks and are east of Indiana 520.  Three of the wells tested high for Volatile Organic Compounds (V.O.C.s) and one tested positive for arsenic.

 

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