ITHACA -- Emerson Power Transmission will conduct a third phase of testing in 32 homes that were tested for trichloroethene, or TCE, and perchloroethene, or PERC, it announced Wednesday night at a public meeting.

Sixteen of those homes will be re-tested; the other half are a set of new homes north of Hillview Place along South Hill Terrace and East Spencer Street. The testing will take place in October.

Results from the first two phases of indoor air investigation and soil vapor investigation were presented at the meeting, which was attended by about 30 South Hill residents. The New York State Department of Health and Department of Environmental Conservation were present at the meeting to answer questions and provide information on the investigation of contaminants in South Hill homes. The test results showed that no new mitigation systems needed to be installed in any of the 54 homes tested.

Timothy Weber, a South Hill resident, attended Wednesday's meeting and asked several questions about testing in his neighborhood and non-site-related compounds. He said he was satisfied with the continuing dialogue between residents and Emerson Power Transmission.

"I felt it was good to touch base with the DOH, DEC and Emerson," he said.

Second phase testing results showed 23 of 54 homes tested had neither PERC nor TCE. Of those homes, 17 had traces of PERC detected inside and four had traces of TCE detected inside. Eight homes had both PERC and TCE detected inside, according to test results.

Phase one testing showed that 11 out of 43 homes failed to show traces of site-related chemicals. Twenty-one of 43 showed one detection of a site related chemical. Ten homes showed two potentially site-related chemicals. One home had three potentially site-related chemicals.

Residents came equipped with many questions about the possible effects of exposure to the contaminants. Suggestions on developing an epidemiology study of the residents of South Hill were posed.

Research Scientist Karolina Schabses, of the Department of Health, said conducting an epidemiology study would not necessarily provide answers to residents about chronic impacts the contaminants may have because of the difficulty in tracing past activities on the former Morse Chain site, which Emerson bought in 1983 from Borg-Warner Corporation.

Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, said more should be done to resolve possible contamination issues in the South Hill area and beyond. Hang suggested the DEC conduct testing to homes throughout the area until no traces of contaminants can be found.

Homes are offered mitigation systems where testing shows traces of contaminants. Mary Jane Peachey, a regional manager for the DEC, said homes first had to be tested.

"We don't want to put the cart before the horse and pick the remedy before the investigation," she said.

Emerson said it will install three additional groundwater monitoring wells at the southern end of South Cayuga Street. They also plan to install eight additional soil vapor test locations west of the current test area to determine whether soil vapors are threatening to the area and if they contain volatile organic hydrocarbons.

Emerson will also conduct a vapor point survey in South Albany, Park, Wood and Hyres Streets. An electrical resistivity survey will also be conducted by Emerson later this year to identify where volatile organic hydrocarbons may settle in more porous areas of the bedrock.

Contact: djeanbap@ithacajournal.com

Originally published Thursday, June 23, 2005