Raleigh Mayor Sends Letter To EPA Demanding Clean-Up Response

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker has sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demanding action to clean up a facility that is polluting local bodies of water.

Read Mayor Charles Meeker's 2-Page Letter To EPA: Page

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During the 1960s and 1970s, dangerous cancer-causing chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were dumped at the old Ward Transformer site near Highway 70. Years later, those chemicals reached Lake Crabtree and some surrounding waterways, making the fish a danger to people who eat them.

Years later, the waterways are still not clean. On Thursday, the EPA came to town, listened to concerns, but made no promises about when the clean-up would take place.

On Friday, Meeker fired off a heated letter to the EPA, demanding action on four fronts within 30 days.

First, clean-up must begin at the Ward site. Second, the site's stormwater system must be fixed to keep more PCBs from leaking into waterways. Third, close and clean contaminated ditches near the site. Finally, Meeker wants the EPA to test sediment in the contaminated waterways and have a clean-up plan if necessary.

Meeker said he wants an answer from the EPA within 10 days.