The cancer-causing chemicals afflicting Chollas Creek

S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on this episode of KPBS Midday Edition. Residents in the Joyous Creek community have been living alongside cancer causing chemicals for years. So who's responsible for that? We'll have answers. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So for years , residents in the Choi's Creek community have been living alongside two cancer causing chemicals. A state order warns about the dangers of these chemicals , which are used in aerospace manufacturing. But some residents are only now learning about the contamination. I'm here with Philip Salata. He's an environment and energy reporter with eNews source. Philip , welcome.

S2: Nice to be here , Jade.

S1: Thanks for being here. How did you first come across this story?

S2: Well , in this period , since we've been doing a lot of reporting in the Tijuana River valley. We spent a lot of time out in the community speaking with folks and just kind of being around , to be honest. To put it simply , and this actually came from an anonymous tip. This is something that some folks have known about , but most of the community has not. And the tip basically referred me to a February order from the state , the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. And that order basically outlines this situation. Um , which is a long story of contamination that started all the way in the 50s. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. Um , I guess the big question is , why weren't people notified of this and how did this contamination get there? But , um , first tell me which areas in Choice Creek are affected by this contamination.

S2: So we're talking specifically. There's a seven acre parcel. Most of it is based where Market Creek Plaza is. That's an area south of the 94 off Euclid , where currently there is a food for less and a shopping complex with businesses and some food establishments , as well as an apartment complex called Euclid Terrace that's just behind that food for less. But actually , as testing reveals and and the order shows , is that they're going to have to do more tests to figure out if actually the parcel is much larger and if the contamination has reached groundwater.

S1: Well , so they're not even sure how widespread this contamination is. How did these chemicals end up in the community in the first place?

S2: So in the 50s , there was a aerospace manufacturing factory there run by Fleet Aerospace Langley. And for , you know , several decades that facility was functioning there. And in the 90s they started to look into some kind of contamination issues. But in the end , the state decided that there was no further action necessary to investigate or mitigate any hazardous substances.

S1: Why was there a manufacturing facility like this? Near homes and grocery stores and a neighborhood?

S2: Well , at that point there wasn't a grocery store. But I think we can , you know , point to the history of redlining. And , I mean , this is a predominantly black and brown community that has been historically underserved. And so you had , you know , industrial areas building up in close to residential areas. And so I think this phenomenon is , you know , it's quite shocking when you see the quick turnaround after the state determines that there's no , uh , no further action necessary to , to clean anything up. And then just a couple of years later in 2000 , is when this project to build a grocery store and a kind of community center for for residents in the neighborhood , that all came to fruition , and that was a real need. Also , I think very important to say is that , uh , a grocery store was one of the main requests from residents. There's not a main grocery like a major grocery store in the area. It's an area where there's not a lot of access to that kind of fresh produce. So there's this irony , right , that that , uh , the place that is producing or that is selling the food and the fresh produce to the people there is actually the place that is potentially , well , that is contaminated and that and we'll have to find out more in terms of how these chemicals have been impacting folks.

S1: From every angle. It's it's neglect and neglect and neglect , um , from , from the state and , and , and our local governments. It seems now , you dug through a state order that indicates that Market Creek Plaza knew about this since at least 2019. What came with that?

S2: Well , right. So what it seems that the Market Creek Plaza management found out about the contamination in 2019 and also tests in 2020 , and management currently says that it's due to Covid 19. A change of a CEO , also a change in leadership that made this this three year delay. Eventually , three years later. They did voluntarily tell the state what's going on. And then they entered into a kind of voluntary agreement with the state to clean up this , this contamination.

S1: So tell us more about the two chemicals that were found. How can they impact human health?

S2: So yes , TCE and PCE , they are basically chemicals that are used as solvents to dissolve , like to decrease medical metals in manufacturing. And they're highly cancerous. So PCE can cause liver , bladder and kidney cancer or multiple myeloma non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. TCE causes reproductive toxicity , including congenital birth defects , spontaneous abortions , meaning miscarriages , and also could have small birth weights in children or low sperm count in men. So yeah , quite serious issues.

S1: And the are there cancer clusters. I mean what how has this impacted the health of folks who live around there at this point , or is that still being investigated?

S2: I think this is something that is needing to be investigated. Right. So I spoke with residents who have been living in the Euclid Terrace Apartments , who had to be moved out of units that were contaminated , and they were moved to other units , so that supposedly now Euclid , the state says Euclid Terrace has been able to clean those apartments where they're living from 90 to 99%. The Market Creek Plaza folks say they've been able to clear the food for less about 40 to 80% , with some mitigation measures over these last two years. But the point is that we don't know the extent of the contamination. And this is there's a process that goes on when the chemical is in the Earth , where it basically turns into a gaseous form and it starts to rise through the Earth and into the ventilation systems of these buildings. So that's , you know , still occurring. There's an experimental technology they're working on at Market Creek Plaza to potentially suppress and kind of pressure that chemical down , to not let it seep up into the systems. That's not yet something that has been built or that's also at Euclid Terrace , not something they've figured out quite yet how to , to , to , to do , to manifest. So , I mean , I spoke with residents who are living above apartments that were vacated who are saying , if this stuff is flowing up , you know , am I am I next?

S1: And so at this point , what you're what I'm hearing is that efforts to mitigate this contamination are not sufficient and that it's still there.

S2: The state says the work is ongoing and there's more work to do , and there are more tests to be done to understand the breadth and depth of the contamination.

S1: Do you , in covering the environment and when you compare this situation to other situations , Are the wheels moving fast enough? In terms of getting this these studies done and determining how widespread the contamination is so that the proper mitigation efforts can be put in place.

S2: Studies are being done. They're being done quarterly at the the food for less specifically. But I think there's a major missing link here , which is the community engagement aspect of this. There have for certain now been many years where people have not known about this issue and have been living in it , and have been walking past sliding doors with warning signs on them that are moving out of their way , and they're walking into these spaces that have been contaminated and they've been doing that for years. So , you know , people need to know what is going on so they can also have the choice of or if they're able to make that choice , because that is a place that where people shop and may not be able to make that choice. But if they are able , the community outreach efforts are highly needed.

S1: Yeah , yeah. No , no question about that. But that still doesn't negate what the state and in even county is supposed to do in a situation like this. Speaking of the County of the County of San Diego has since made some clarifications since you first posted the story. Tell me about that.

S2: Well , there there was apparently an error in the state order that speaking specifically about this period in the early 90s when the county was interacting with the fleet and or Magellan , now it's called the Magellan , the company to determine the company was trying to determine whether there was contamination. The county at one point , basically the company asked to pass the , let's say , the regulatory baton to the state. So the the county was not know was no longer a part of those efforts and was not in charge ever of any cleanup efforts. What was going on during that time , basically was the company was trying to figure out whether there was contamination or not , and then the state determined that there was no contamination or cleanup necessary. Hmm.

S1: I mean , you describe what's happened here as , you know , a legacy of toxic space in a neighborhood that's historically been underreported on. How do you see that legacy continuing to play out today? And what do you mean by that legacy of toxic space?

S2: This is a neighborhood that has had to live next to a facility like that , that we've already known for a long time is using , was using toxic chemicals. I mean , these are chemicals that are now in contention to be banned altogether. And the pressures on a community like that with little resources specifically , these were resources such as the sustenance , meaning really where you eat , where you get your food from your home , where you live and and your , your , your place of safety. If that is being infiltrated by these kind of chemicals and years and years and years of that not being either told to you and that you not being informed about it , not being able to make choices about how are you going to take care of yourself , your body and your family. I mean , that is literally the epitome of a toxic space , a legacy of toxic space. And again , we are talking about a black and brown community in San Diego. And so residents were saying to me , if this was happening south north of El Cajon Boulevard , this would have already been resolved. And right. This is the repeating story. I mean , this is the story as well , with the Tijuana River pollution crisis , the same , the same kinds of incantations we hear from people. If this were going on north of us , in a community that is not predominantly black and black and brown , it wouldn't be the case.

S1: And tell me about why it wouldn't be the case , because there are laws in place , right? Zoning laws? There are. I mean , tell me about that. Right?

S2: Right? I mean , so I mean , with redlining , you had a communities that were , you know , racially segregated basically , and folks Being forced to buy homes only in specific places that were also often zoned next to industrial centers or in manufacturing areas. And that's. That we see that throughout South San Diego. We we see that in the national city area. And so much of my reporting has focused on these communities because this legacy continues. And till today , we're fighting the the impacts of that. And even as you know , a situation like this , again , another situation hidden in plain sight , it's there , but it's not being talked about.

S1: How can residents find out if they've been affected by this contamination?

S2: Well , this is a tricky part. I mean , I think , for example , if you're actually working in that food for less , I mean , there are tests that you can you can have tests done to see how this chemical has accumulated. It is the case , though , that it can dissipate over time. So as I reached out to to doctors , they're saying people need to be able to reach out to their health care providers and be tested for. I mean , I understand there are folks that have cancer in in that Euclid Terrace apartment. Is it directly linked to the chemicals? We don't know yet , but people should be able to trace must trace their health in the sense.

S1: All right. I've been speaking with Philip Salata , environment and energy reporter for eNews source. We'll link to his full story on our website , kpbs.org. Philip , thank you very much for your reporting and for coming here today.

S2: So happy to be here.

S1: That's our show for today.

S3: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.