Tomorrow is Earth Day.  We should all be planting trees and thanking our planet for giving us a home.  Most of us love our homes and want to have gardens, flowers and trees for beauty and peace.  Well, so do I.  I have a lovely home in upstate New York in the Catskill area. Sadly, in 1998 there was a chemical spill on the parcel of land that borders mine.  The Environmental Protection Agency was eventually consulted by out wonderful Congressman, Maurice Hinchey and the site was put on the Superfund List.  Now this spill was not major… like Love Canal or some of the other horrible ones you’ve heard of. Over the years many positive things were done.  That is until recently…

I took some time off after some traveling and stayed home last week to rest.   What greeted me was like a documentary film on deforestation.  The project manager of this site sat right in my living room in February and said nothing about clearing every single tree from the site.  Last week, when I started screaming to every official I could think of , I found out many dreadful things that the EPA does when you’re not watching.  The Environmental “Protection” Agency basically wants to clear every tree from this site for expediency, nothing more.  They say they need to level the place because the backhoes can’t dig around the trees.  Basically, they don’t want to hire workers to shovel around them.  The trees behind my home provide a wind break for my home and others and assist in flood prevention, which is a problem in the entire area.  The EPA just started clearing without telling me or any of the neighbors.  The town or county officials were not consulted.  There was no environmental impact statement given to us.  There was no landscape architect’s report. In fact, there was no landscape architect.  A landscape architect provides information about  problems for the surrounding properties.  No one has told us where the test wells are or given us a groundwater report in years. No one has told us or the town about any plan for drainage.  Also, nothing about a new wind break.   They said that they are going to dig up all the contaminated soil and put it in a landfill on the site.  The site is right next to a large creek, which borders my property also.  This is part of the NY watershed.  So basically overnight my property is now at tremendous risk of increased problems with flooding and wind damage.  A friend of mine who is a civil engineer and has worked on other Superfund sites was appalled at the entire situation, especially the trees and the landfill by a large creek.  No wonder cancer is so common now!

Now, there are many people involved and some of the remaining trees have a 2 week reprieve while they “study” the issue.

I am writing this article for many publications, especially the Baby Boomers who have owned their homes for many years.  Please know your rights if the EPA comes along.  They will send in a nice man who basically tells you nothing…a lot of odd terminology that sounds reasonable.  Realize – they have no interest in protecting your property at all.

Look at the before and after pictures and remember, this could be your home someday.

If anyone is or knows  a good environmental law firm that works “pro bono” and is willing to sue the EPA, please contact me  at kbpurcell@aol.com.

To your continued good health,