An environmental investigator working with Erin Brockovich has come to a similar conclusion reached by federal investigators, that the chemical spill from a 1970 train derailment doesn’t appear to be the smoking gun in the strange illness affecting teenage Le Roy girls.
The trichloroethene (TCE) plume migrating from the 1970 Lehigh Valley Railroad train derailment has not moved toward the Le Roy Junior-Senior High School, according to preliminary test results on three private wells tested by investigator Bob Bowcock.
“This is good news,” Bowcock stated in a news release. “It is one of the many areas we are investigating where we are able to reprioritize so we can focus our attention and resources on other environmental concerns.”
Bowcock re-emphasized that his investigation still is looking at multiple environmental concerns, including the natural gas wells on the school grounds, fill material used at the school, the routine complaints of fumes or odors in the school vent system, the storm water system and sports field biological and chemical concerns.
In 1970, the derailed train spilled more than 30,000 gallons of industrial solvent TCE about 3 1/2 miles from the school.
On Wednesday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced that a sampling of 80 of the roughly 240 barrels found the contents to be nonhazardous.
Also, experts say TCE exposure does not cause the types of symptoms exhibited in the Le Roy students.
In a related development this weekend, some basketball games in Le Roy have been canceled, after parents of Catholic Youth Organization players from the Rochester area did not want their children playing there.
“All regular Le Roy Central School District games will be played as scheduled,” the school district announced in a statement. “Unfortunately, some games not involving Le Roy schools that were scheduled to be played at private organizations in the Village of Le Roy have been canceled.”
School officials emphasized again that the school is safe and that there is absolutely no reason to keep students from events there.
