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EPA GIVES $50,000 GRANT TO GROUP MONITORING UC DAVIS CLEANUP

Release Date: 2/8/2001
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, (415)744-2201

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently renewed a  $50,000 grant to a Davis community group to promote public involvement in cleanup activities at the university's LEHR Superfund Site.

     The Davis South Campus Superfund Oversight Committee grant will fund a technical advisor who will review and comment on technical documents and provide information to the public on the ongoing cleanup at the 15-acre LEHR (Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research) Site, which is about 1.5 miles south of the main campus.  The EPA awarded the Davis South Campus Superfund Oversight Committee its first $50,000 grant in 1995, and then renewed it in 1997.

     The LEHR/Old Campus Landfill Site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities list in May 1994 because of contaminants in the groundwater.  The Department of Energy and UC Davis have installed groundwater monitoring wells to track a chloroform-contaminated groundwater plume migrating northeast from the site. Private, domestic and irrigation wells in the vicinity are also monitored quarterly.

     From the 1950s until the mid 1980s, LEHR was the site of studies primarily funded by DOE on the long-term health effects of low-level radiation on laboratory animals. Site investigations  have found soil and groundwater contamination from chemical and radioactive wastes resulting from the disposal of laboratory and campus waste on-site. Also on the site are three inactive landfill areas that were used for disposal of UC Davis campus wastes.

     As part of the decontamination and decommissioning of the facility, DOE has removed over 100 drums of radioactive bioparts, 40,000 gallons of radioactive waste sludge, and several radioactive sources including a contaminated tanker trailer.  The agency has also demolished a former waste treatment facility, and decontaminated and surveyed four buildings with radioactive contamination.

     The technical assistance grant program was established in 1986 to help communities become more active participants in the Superfund process. The grant allows citizens to hire independent technical experts   such as toxicologists, chemists and biologists to help them interpret complex technical information and site hazards related to cleanups at federal Superfund sites.

     People interested in learning more about the technical assistance grant to the Davis South Campus Superfund Oversight Committee should contact Julie Roth at 530/753-9446.