On Nov. 17 EDCO accidentally released 35 gallons of toxichydraulic fluid onto my property when the hydraulic fluid coupling onit's garbage truck ruptured. The fluid arced up into the air, wasaerosolized, and a 9 MPH wind blew it all over our mature landscaping, our home, and the rest of our 2.5 Acres.
My mother wasoutside and inhaled the aerosolized chemicals. She immediately couldnot breath. Prior to this toxic release she suffered from emphysemawhich, at the time, was controlled with an occasional puff of aninhaler.
I inhaled it, got it on my face, and on my legs whenI stepped into puddles of it and it splashed on my skin. Troika, mymother's service dog walked in puddles of it too.
EDCO refusedto clean up this chemical contamination and restore our property towhat it had been before this toxic release. When we insisted that theyclean it up we were told to "Have our Homeowners Insurance clean it upfor us." I don't believe that any Homeowners Insurance covers ToxicSpills, certainly ours didn't.
We were advised by The WaterQuality Control Board that we were being exposed to neurotoxins, andpetroleum hydrocarbons. We were advised by a retired toxicologist thathydraulic fluid should be put on the Toxic Substances Control List andsoon. Not only did it contain petroleum hydrocarbons but heavy metalsas well. Further he told us that there was not one petroleumhydrocarbon in existence that was not carcinogenic.
The WaterQuality Control Board provided EDCO with the same information that theyhad given us and told them to clean up the contamination down to below20mg/kg of soil, and to test the well water for possible contamination. EDCO NEVER did any of the requested cleanup or testing. At that timethe contamination measured 70,000mg/kg of soil.
At the time ofthe release EDCO first tried to blame us for what happened. We did notaccept that. They then lied blatantly to us and advised us that thesechemicals couldn't possibly hurt us at all.
I called ourveterinarian to make sure that the animals wouldn't be harmed. Sheimmediately told me to keep our dogs away from the chemicals and thefumes because they were not only toxic but would kill our dogs. Iimmediately got Troika into the bathtub and bathed her to get thechemicals off of her.
I kept checking on my mother. I had buther on the bed and given her a strong dose of albuterol from anebulizer we had purchased during the 2003 fire when we had smokedamage and she had breathing problems. She was still gasping, but didnot want me to call an ambulance. She had been a nurse all my life andI trusted her judgment.
I called and tried to reach my mother'spulmonary doctor. She was away on vacation and I asked for whoever wascovering for her to please call me right away. That we had a medicalemergency. Then I called HAZMAT, it was approximately 1 1/2 hoursafter the release had occurred.
HAZMAT advised me to treatthe release like it was gasoline. I had no idea what that meant andtold the man so. When I asked him did that mean we should vacate thepremises. He would only repeat "Treat it like gasoline.", and thenhung up.
Finally 4 hours after the toxic release the EDCOSupervisor, Lupe Ruiz, showed up. He to tried to make this somehow ourfault. I did not accept that and he finally gave up trying to blame anoverweight dumpster as the problem. Especially since the truck driver, Jesus, had never even gotten his blades into the sides of the dumpsterto lift it.
I asked him how they were going to clean this messup? He told me he had a cleanup crew on the way. Six 55-65' tallcottonwood trees were saturated with the chemicals from 15' off theground all the way down to the watering basin, which was now full ofhydraulic fluid. All six trees were the same and 34' wide brick patiowas saturated where the fluid had arced all the way across and left thebottom of a 50 gallon waterer holding 2 inches of hydraulic fluid.
Soilthat was a wonderful tan colored sandy loam now looked like graphite. The fruit trees were soaked from top to bottom, the vegetables Mom hadplanted were saturated, the other landscaping near the house wascovered in it. The back of the house and the roof were clearly coveredwith it, and our new stamped concrete patio immediately behind thehouse was so covered I almost slipped and fell several times.
Finallywhen the hydraulic fluid had finished soaking into the ground thecleanup crew arrived. Four men who looked to be of Hispanic originwearing street clothes. There were no protective suits, no masks, nogloves, no booties to cover their shoes. Now I was worried. This didnot look like a cleanup crew should. These looked like janitors.
Bynow my throat was raw from being out in the contaminated air. Youcould see particles of the fluid still floating in the air. Thecleanup crew pulled some shovels and rakes out of their pickup truckand went to work. They began to rake the gray soil back and forthmixing it with any soil that might be clean underneath until the twowere inseparable.
I rushed up to one of the "cleaners" and toldhim to stop. How were they going to remove the contaminated soil bymixing it up with the clean. The man looked at me as if he couldn'tunderstand what I was saying. Lupe Ruiz came over and spoke to him inSpanish and the man went back to raking. Then Lupe asked me what wasthe problem? I told him that I wanted all of the contaminated soilremoved. I wanted all of this hydraulic fluid off of our property. We grew our own fruits and vegetables organically and were about toapply for organic certification. They had to get this stuff off of ourproperty or we wouldn't get our certification.
He told me thatthey would get it cleaned up not to worry. I told him I was veryworried about our tree. Not just the fruit trees but the Cottonwoodsthat had been
mature when we moved there in 1989. How were theygoing to get the hydraulic fluid off the trunk and from around theroots. He assured me that they could powerwash it off the trunks andjust dig the soil out from around the roots.
I went back intothe house to check on Mom. Troika was in the bedroom keeping hercompany, and ready to come and get me if I was needed. Mom wasslightly improved, but I gave her an additional albuterol sulfatetreatment, and then went to call the San Diego Master Gardner.
Thenews wasn't good. She advised me that we would NOT receive our organiccertification for at least three years after this toxic release hadbeen cleaned up, and she also told me NOT to eat any of the produce. Fruit or vegetable.
Lupe Ruiz again told me not to worry aboutmy mother, my dogs, my horses. This stuff couldn't possibly hurt us itwas just mineral oil. I told him our vet did not agree with him. Hetold me our vet didn't know what she was talking about.
Stillhadn't heard from the doctor so I called again. He was still doingrounds but would get the message when he finished. Great.
Iwarned Lupe Ruiz that they really needed to get all of this off theproperty. That we were in a very high groundwater area. We had hitwater at 20 feet when we put in our well, and another neighbor had hitwater at 5 feet. The entire valley is on the same aquifer and if thisstuff got into our well it would contaminate the entire valley's watersupply.
Valley Center is an agricultural area. Orange Groves, Avocado Groves, and various other farming endeavors. We were not theonly property farming organically. We had thousands of compostingworms. Using the manure from our horses we made worm castings, whichwe used to fertilize our fruits and vegetables. 2005 was our firstyear to try planting rare organic garlics. They were a big hit withfriends, family and several chefs. We had plans once we had ourorganic certification to turn one acre of our property over to farmingrare garlics.
EDCO cleaned like that until 4PM and went home forthe day. They came back the next day, Saturday, and cleaned a littlemore. They tried taking the dirt out from around one of the trees. They found out that they couldn't do it that way.
Then they left and refused to come back. EDCO told us to have our Homeowners Insurance clean it up for us.
Thebottom line is that we tried to refinance our home in order to cleanthe property up only to find out that no one would give us a lone withthe contamination on the property. We couldn't sell it because norealtor would list it. Mom could not breath more and more. Shedeveloped other problems, incontinence, diarrhea, muscle weakness, ataxia, partial paralysis, headaches, brain fog, dementia. She began toneed a walker to get around, then she had to use a wheelchair untilfinally she became so weak she was bedbound.
Just before she hadto go into a wheelchair her pulmonary doctor ordered us off of theproperty for two weeks to see if that would help Mom. What promptedthat? Chevron refused to give the doctor the chemical composition ofthe hydraulic fluid we had been exposed to. The only information theywould give us was that this stuff does NOT dissipate. It has to beremoved.
So we moved into a hotel for two weeks. At the end ofwhich we had to go back home because there simply was no money left, but before we went home Mom's doctor had her do a five minute walkingtest. Mom went from being able to walk from the bed to the closet athome, approximately 4 feet, before she had to sit down because she wasout of breath to being able to walk for five minutes and then she onlystopped because her legs were tired.
My improvement, my facecleared up. Within two days of being exposed to these chemicals Ideveloped a chronic dermatitis. A terrible rash all over my face. Open sores in my armpits, and I don't use deodorant. I was incontinent, and had short term memory problems.
Two weeks away from those chemicals made an incredible difference for both Mom and me.
Brokewe were forced to move back into the house. If I opened a window tolet air in I would have to call an ambulance to take Mom to thehospital. She could NOT be left alone. I think she had to go to thehospital in the ambulance perhaps 20 times before she died. Then therewere the times I took her in the car.
When she went to thehospital so did I. I stayed with her day and night. Even the shorttrips I had to make home to toilet the dogs and feed the horses exposedher to incompetence. An example, I came back from taking care of theanimals only to find a nurse about to give Mom a shot of insulin. Itold her NO she was not, she insisted that she had to because Mom wasdiabetic. We argued for five minutes while I patiently explained thatmy mother had never been diabetic a day in her life. The nurse readthe chart and then decided that it was just the strong dose ofsalmeterol that had caused it. They had given her 160mg in theemergency room and were giving her the same in hospital 6 times a day. She'd been overdosed.
I am disabled but we needed money and Iwas more than willing to try going back to work. However, I couldn'ttry to return to work because Mom couldn't be left alone. Not even forten minutes. I couldn't afford a nurse to sit with her so I could tryworking, and we couldn't refinance the property in order to bring inenough money either to clean it up with or move our household to arental property.
Worse yet EDCO spent all their time lying to us. First it was that they would continue the cleanup. Then they weren't.
Thenthey provided us with an MSDS sheet (Manufacturers Safety Data Sheet). The bible on what to do if you have a release. Health issuesassociated with exposure, etc. When I pointed out to them that thissheet was dated 1989, and surely they had made a mistake. I was toldby Garth Nogalez, the Director of Maintenance who handed me this MSDSsheet, that it was the current sheet. The government only made Chevronissue a new MSDS if they changed the formulation and Chevron hadn'tchanged it so this sheet had remained current.
This 1989 MSDSsheet practically said that you could eat it, drink it, bath in it, andinhale it and this hydraulic fluid shouldn't harm you. As it turns outthat was NOT the current MSDS sheet. The most recent change to theformulation was in 2005. There probably were other changes between1989 and 2005 as well.
The most current sheet, dated clearly stated that all the chemical components of this hydraulic fluidwere on the Toxic Substances Control List. It also clearly stated thatif breathing problems occurred the patient should be removed to cleanair and seen by a doctor, further chronic health issues might occur orexisting health issues might be exacerbated by direct exposure to thefluid. Quite different from the information EDCO had intentionallygiven us. Finally the current 2005 MSDS sheet advised the receiver todestroy any other/older MSDS sheets as no longer accurate and thereforeunreliable.By law every time EDCO received a shipment of HydraulicFluid they also received the most current MSDS sheet. It was not byaccident that they gave us a very outdated MSDS sheet.
Then, having been advised that the information was crucial to mymother's healthcare and treatment, EDCO promised to provide us with a chemical analysisof what we were exposed to in exchange for being allowed to enter andtest on our property. We allowed them access. Then they refused toshare any information whatsoever. When they did they did NOT provideus with the chemical analysis.
EDCOadvised our attorney that they had never asked the lab to do any suchanalysis. They may not have, but then why not share the informationthat they had obtained from the lab immediately. Why hold it for thebetter part of a year unless there was incriminating information ofsome sort there. They held the information just long enough for thelab to have purged it's records.
If EDCO had really wanted tohelp the doctors who were trying to save my mother all they had to dowas give them the chemical analysis of the hydraulic fluid we had beenexposed to. That would have enabled Mom's doctors to know what she hadbeen exposed to, and what they were treating her for exactly. EDCOdidn't have to come to our property again to do that if they had trulyforgotten to ask for that chemical analysis that they had promised. There were 55 gallon drums of that same hydraulic fluid sitting inEDCO's maintenance yard. If they had truly had any concern about mymothers health all they had to do was have some of that analyzed, andgive the findings to my mother's doctors.
In truth EDCO knew itshould have removed us and all of our animals from the contaminatedpremises until they had cleaned it up properly.
We have beensuing EDCO over the contamination of our property since Feb.. Weare still suing. EDCO portrays itself as an environmentally sensitivewaste removal and recycling business. If that were truly the case wewould not still be suing them 34 months after this toxic releasehappened and was NEVER cleaned up.
I remain convinced that thefollowing health issues and damage to our property have been causeddirectly by our exposure to this Toxic Release:
(6) 57'-65' tall Cottonwood trees which were mature when we moved onto this property in 1989 are now dead.
(1) 20' Leland Cypress has died.
(3) Fig trees have died.
(2) Peach trees died back to the root stock making them unsuitable as fruit trees.
(2) 15' Purple Jacarandas died back to the root stock, and are now non-flowering shrubs. Useless as landscaping.
(all) The vegetables died, and we have not planted any more
(1000's) of composting worms are dead. They live in the top 6-8" of soil. None have been seen since the Toxic Release.
(1) Irish bred Throughbred Stallion, previously undiagnosed with cancer, developed cancer after exposure to the toxic release and had to be putdown in Aug..
(1) Holsteiner Broodmare, previouslyundiagnosed with cancer, has developed cancer. She has not been bredsince the Toxic Release and is the last of her bloodline in the U.S. Possibly the world. We could not risk what the affects of thesechemicals might be on her foals.
(1) Appaloosa pleasure mare haslost approximately 300 pounds since her exposure to the toxic release. Our vet hopes that it's her teeth not cancer. The equine dentist saysit's not her teeth. She has yet to be actually diagnosed with cancer.
(1) Holsteiner filly, who was a yearling when the toxic release occurred, has developed a previously undiagnosed chronic dermatitis since thetoxic release. It's not an allergy to flies since it never goes away. Even when it's not fly season.
(1) Dog has developed lumps whichshe did not have prior to the Toxic Release. Troika is the only dogthat actually walked in the hydraulic fluid. We took all of the dogsto the dog park to toilet for seven months after the toxic release whenwe had to allow them back out where the release had happened, because Ijust became too exhausted taking care of Mom 24 hours a day and drivingdogs back and forth twice a day to the dog park. It took 3.5-4 hourstwice a day just to walk the four dogs.
(4) In the last sixmonths all four of the dogs have been throwing up. I haven't changedtheir food or water. There is no apparent reason that I can discernother than the presence of the chemicals on the property, and that theyare exposed to them everytime they go out the back door.
(1) Icurrently have various health issues I feel are directly attributableto the chemicals being on my skin for 24 hours. I had been assured byEDCO that they couldn't harm me and I had my mother, horses, and dogsto take care of. I just didn't have time to jump in the tub and bath. I have chronic dermatitis on my face. I continue to have places on mybody that the chemicals touched that have been itching now for morethan 34 months. I am incontinent, which I wasn't before being exposedto these chemicals, and I have short term memory issues that I did nothave prior to being exposed to these chemicals.
With the horsesdeveloping cancers, with Troika developing lymphomas I decided that Ishould be tested. I'm seeing my doctor next week and he will have thelab run an AMAS test on me to see if I too have developed cancer as anoffshoot of my exposure to these chemicals too. I've never beendiagnosed with cancer, but... Well.
(1) Most of all my motherhas died from the health issues her exposure to these chemicalscaused. She died here at home. A place she had loved and came tohate. A place that she had landscaped with her own hands. She hatedseeing her trees and plants die from their exposure to the chemicals. When she died her health issues read like a list of problems you canhave with exposure to neurotoxins. The EPA has a 320 page report abouthydraulic fluid with neurotoxins, and their effect on the human body. I found out about that two weeks after Mom died.
My mother'sdoctors just didn't know what they were fighting, what they weretreating her for. None of them knew anything about the effects oftoxic chemicals on the human body.
The last member of myfamily died in my arms on March 22. She had been a RegisteredNurse, a Public Health Nurse, a Visiting Nurse, a champion for civiland human rights, she had written a grant (and gotten the programfunded by Kaiser for $440,000.00 it's first year) for a children'sproject named "Children Having Children", all my life anytime a familymember went to the hospital Mom was there watching over them, she satby my sister's bedside when she died of cancer, she gave CPR to myfather as he lay dying in their bed, she took care of me and theanimals and the household after my second surgery in Oct.. Whileshe lay dying in her hospital bed in our family room she and I workedon the concept and how we would implement a new children's project Shewas a great woman, a great mother, and a great humanitarian. Sheshould not have had to die like this. I held her in my arms while shewent home not just because I loved her, but because she was so weak shecould not hold her head up any longer, and because she loved me shewanted to be able to look at me one last time.
Why didn't I get help from a government agency?
Well, I called HAZMAT and they did absolutely nothing. They didn't even notethat I had called that day. EDCO, who is obligated by law to do so, never called HAZMAT to report the release.
I called the EPA andthey did absolutely nothing except to finally tell me that there areenvironmental clinics that the EPA can refer me to (at no cost to me ofcourse), and that these clinics are staffed by doctors who areconversant with toxic chemicals and how to treat health issuesassociated with exposure to toxic chemicals. Of course had they givenme this information the first three times I called perhaps Mom wouldstill be alive. I wasn't given this information until a month after mymother had died.
I finally learned that there was a CaliforniaDept. Of Toxic Substances Control from the California office of theEPA. It is the Dept. Of Toxic Substances Control's job to inspect anddetermine if a home, property, or business is habitable after a toxicrelease.
If the finding is that the property is not suitable forhuman or animal habitation until cleaned up, and the homeowners cannotafford to rehome their household then the Dept. Will do so at no costto the homeowners until their property is again habitable.
Icalled the California Dept. Of Toxic Substances Control, and so farMary Misemer has yet to even return my calls or emails. Guess they arenot interested in helping either.
The Remediation of my propertyhas been estimated at $176,000.00. Then there will have to be testingto see if it has actually been cleaned up, and if a Certificate ofClean can be issued. If not than the remediation will cost more untilwe have obtained a Certificate of Clean.
The actual Restorationof my property is in excess of $675,000.00. There may be an additionalfee for moving the leach field, which probably will be compromisedduring the remediation process, and replumbing the house. It isentirely possible that a new leach field cannot be laid on the propertyat all and so it may no longer be habitable.
However, the roofmust be replaced, the heatpump must be replaced, the doors and windowsmust be replaced, the rear stamped concrete patio must be replaced, the rear of the house must be sandblasted to clean the chemicals off, the whole house must be painted, the irrigation must be replaced, theelectrical lines and water lines must be run back down to the barn, grass must be planted, all the dead and damaged trees both landscapingand fruit must be replaced, the brick patio relaid and the electricaloutlets and lighting and water spigots replaced, the bull pen must bereplaced, the jumps for the horses must be replaced, the garlic bed mustbe replaced, and all of our personal possessions that were contaminatedby the toxic release and EDCO removed from our property while promisingto reimburse us at replacement cost
(and of course only reimbursing us for 1/2 the cost.) must now be replaced.
Weand our possessions must be moved to a new residence to live while theproperty is remediated and restored. The horses will have to be movedto a boarding facility with a trainer and housed there during theremediation and restoration as well. There is more but I think thatyou get the idea. Just moving the horses and boarding them for a monthcosts over $20,000.00. There's a reason for keeping 14 horses athome. It's much cheaper.
There is a great deal moreinformation. I have copies of the letters we wrote to EDCO asking andbegging for their help. EDCO never answered any of the letters. EDCOrefused to put us in touch with it's Insurance Company. EDCO finallyhad an Insurance Adjuster get in touch with us to negotiate a lesserpayment to us for our personal possessions. We never agreed to anysuch lowering of the replacement cost, and that apparently was all shehad been hired to do. We never heard from her again.
EDCO, apparently, believed that we would just take all of this bad treatmentand go away, that we would not insist that they do the right thing. EDCO is wrong I will NOT go away. I will NEVER give up. There is anold African saying. When you have angered an African woman then youwill find that you have struck a rock.
EDCO has found it's rock.
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