Ringwood sets meeting to discuss results of well tests
JAN BARRY
RINGWOOD - A community meeting is set for Tuesday for neighbors of a Mobil station at Alta Vista and Skyline drives, at which state environmental officials are to discuss results of well tests for MTBE, a gasoline additive suspected of causing cancer.
The 7:30 p.m. meeting at Borough Hall was set up by officials in response to questions by residents at a recent Borough Council meeting. Three residents of a new housing development on Deer Trail Court raised concerns about possible pollution of their wells, which are near the gas station.
The concerns were raised after the state Department of Environmental Protection found elevated levels of methyl tertiary-butyl, or MTBE, in a nearby well at the Ringwood Shopping Center. That level rose to 160 parts per billion in August from an initial reading of 108 ppb in September 2001, said Fred Mumford, a DEP spokesman. New Jersey's safety standard for MTBE is 70 ppb.
A carbon filter was installed on the shopping center well to remove the chemical, said Mumford.
Levels below the state standard for safe consumption also were found in other wells, he said. One of the affected wells serves the Ringwood Ambulance Corps building on Alta Vista Drive. As a precaution, a sign was put up in the building warning against drinking the water, said borough officials.
MTBE, designed to reduce emissions from gasoline-powered engines, is a potential human carcinogen, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Even minute levels can taint drinking water, leaving a bitter taste and turpentine-like odor, the EPA found.
Borough officials say they are as nearly in the dark about the extent of the MTBE pollution as the residents are.
"One of our concerns is that we're not quite in the loop," said Health Officer Chris Chapman, who helped set up the meeting with state officials. Chapman said he has not seen the results of the most recent well tests ordered by the DEP.
A DEP inspection last December found cracks in devices at the Mobil station that were designed to contain gasoline spills. The agency ordered the owner, Tosco Corp. - a subsidiary of Houston-based Conoco Phillips - to sample nearby potable wells and sink test wells. A contractor pumped contaminated groundwater from the station site.
Despite a dramatic drop in MTBE readings at the shopping center well, those readings rose again in August to more than twice the state standard, the DEP noted in a summary provided to The Record. Additional monitoring wells were ordered drilled to determine the extent of the underground pollution plume.
Because of the holiday weekend, a Conoco Phillips spokesman was out of the office and unavailable to comment.
MTBE is a key ingredient in gasoline reformulated to meet federal clean-air standards. However, a California jury earlier this year found its risk to groundwater outweighs any benefit and held Tosco, Shell, and Texaco Inc. responsible for tainting a number of drinking water wells around Lake Tahoe.
California has ordered the chemical to be phased out of gasoline by January 2004, to be replaced by corn-based ethanol. New Jersey has not acted to ban the chemical, but did get EPA approval to reduce MTBE in gasoline during winter months, when higher levels were used to help reduce unhealthy smog in the state's urban areas.
Jan Barry's e-mail address is barry@northjersey.com
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