HAFB residents worry about soil, mold

Hill Air Force Base residents on the base's southwest side are already concerned about elevated levels of a potential carcinogen in their soil, and to make matters worse, some neighbors now wonder if mold is making them sick.

Polychlorinated biphenyls were discovered last February in the soil of three areas of the neighborhood known as Area F, located on the southwest portion of the base — an area with about 100 homes. So far, PCBs have been discovered at 21 homes, five of which will likely need the soil removed.

The discovery has prompted more testing, which is planned to continue until the base has a complete picture of where contamination exists in that neighborhood.

Officials now are investigating mold complaints.

The PCBs may have come from leaking transformers in a storage yard, which no longer exists and part of which is where homes now sit.

The PCBs have been found mostly in concentrations below what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set for levels at which federally-required cleanup must begin.

The base is already in the midst of cleaning up trichloroethylene, or TCE, contamination from solvents that were dumped on the base from the 1930s until the 1970s. TCE and PCBs are both potential carcinogens.

The TCE at Hill has contaminated a shallow aquifer in seven cities surrounding the base, which was added to the EPA's National Priorities List and designated as a Superfund site in 1987.

Meanwhile, preliminary results from the second phase of PCB sampling came back recently, and one area had PCB concentrations of 270 parts per million, which is a small concentration, but well over the levels established for cleanup.

No one lives in that duplex, said PCB project manager Jason Dalpias.

One unit has been vacant for some time, and the resident in the other unit left the Air Force for an unrelated matter shortly before test results came back, he said.

That duplex will remain vacant until the soil is cleaned up, Dalpias said.

Tests for Tech Sgt. Kenny Hawley's home revealed that his yard has PCB concentrations of 1.4 to 1.9 parts per million. That means more testing, Hawley said, adding that the base may have to clean up the soil there, too. Removing soil is the EPA's generally accepted method for remediation.

"All they're going to do is take the dirt that's contaminated and replace it with clean dirt," Hawley said.