Some elevator shafts at Huron Campus to be tested for TCE

The Press & Sun-Bulletin
By Tom Wilber - Staff Writer • March 23, 2009

ENDICOTT - Tests planned within the next few weeks at the Huron Campus will help answer the persistent question of whether elevator shafts provide a pathway for TCE exposure to workers. The state Department of Environmental Conservation's plans the testing. New data indicate that trichloroethylene (TCE) has seeped into bedrock below the microelectronics plant on North Street in Endicott. Labor advocates say the presence of TCE in the bedrock, and traces documented indoors, make tests necessary.
Lori Severino, speaking for the DEC, said no date as been scheduled, but she expects air samples to be collected from elevator shafts in Building 18 in early April or before.
About 4,000 people work on the campus, including employees of Endicott Interconnect, IBM Corp. and other businesses.
In a public meeting last month, DEC geologist William Wertz reviewed tests by IBM that showed elevator shafts were a conduit for TCE that had pooled into a bedrock formation more than 200 feet below the buildings.
DEC officials are working with IBM to find alternatives to clean pollution, under Building 18 and dozens of other buildings, which in some instances is 1,500 times greater than allowable guidelines. Huron purchased the campus in 2002, but IBM remains responsible for the cleanup of TCE and other chemicals migrating from beneath the plant into nearby neighborhoods.
TCE is heavier than water, so it sinks through water tables. It also tends to create fumes that rise and collect in buildings.
IBM spokesman Michael Maloney said the geology and physical characteristics of the elevators could allow TCE to go down but not up into buildings. IBM and DEC officials have cited data that shows TCE levels in Building 18 are relatively low, suggesting the elevators are not significant contributors to the problem.
Labor advocate Rick White said TCE traces documented indoors, when considered with high concentrations found under the building, should be a warning sign. White is an organizer with Alliance@IBM CWA Local 1701, a unit of the Communication Workers of America.

At least two freight elevators in Building 18 will be tested, White said after a telephone call with Wertz.
DEC officials agreed to test air in the elevator cars and are considering White's request to also test air in the shafts.
"In my opinion, I'm giving these guys an opportunity to cover their ass," White said. "We really need to know what's coming in those shafts. Over time, it could get worse. If you don't test you won't know whether things are getting worse."
Indoor air samples at 36 buildings collected in 2005 - the last time the air was tested by the state - ranged from 0 to 17 micrograms per cubic meter in some areas that were occupied. Although that exceeds the state indoor air guideline of 5, it carries a "low" health risk to people chronically exposed to them, the state Department of Health says. That means state health officials do "not expect to be able to associate health effects" from exposure.
Levels reached 250 micrograms per cubic meter in a crawl space below Building 18 and 56 micrograms per cubic meter in a basement "tank room" in the same building. Those areas generally are unoccupied.
Researchers plan to cross- reference IBM personnel records with cancer and death records kept by state and federal government agencies to track the fate of more than 28,000 people who worked at the plant for at least a year since the early 1960s. The landmark study, the first of its kind in the microelectronics business, will likely take several years.