Public can take behind-the-scenes toxins tour Public can take behind-the-scenes toxins tour (April 16, 2004)

Experts will show how TCE is treated

By Grace Rauh

Residents tracking the cleanup of groundwater contamination in northeast Mountain View might find it difficult to visualize the cancer-causing solvent trichloroethene (TCE) being removed from the earth.

But they can gain a clearer image next week when Northeast Mountain View Advisory Council (NMAC) members and other interested individuals get a close look at cleanup facilities. NMAC and the public are invited to take a special tour highlighting the complex systems and extraction methods used to remove toxins locally.

"We'll see a bunch of pipes and equipment and machinery, and it will be explained to us," said Ed Schlosser, an NMAC board member. The tour came to fruition after several members of the advisory council expressed interest in seeing firsthand the systems discussed at the group's monthly meetings.

"It wasn't my idea, but when I heard it I thought, 'Hey, that's a good idea,'" Schlosser said. "We hope the technical tour guides will be able to answer any questions that we have."

The tour will be held on April 21 at 5:15 p.m., prior to the regular NMAC meeting, and will begin in the Nokia parking lot at 313 Fairchild Dr. It will include visits to the groundwater treatment systems at the former Fairchild Semiconductor plant and Raytheon. Alana Lee, project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency, will be on hand to answer questions in addition to experts who will explain how TCE is treated and extracted at the two locations.

The NMAC meeting will be held at the Adobe Building on the corner of Central Expressway and Moffet Boulevard at 7:15 p.m. Sign-up is required before the April 19 deadline. For more information, visit NMAC's new Web site at www.nmac.whisman.net or contact EPA community involvement coordinator David Cooper at (415) 972-3237 or cooper.david@epa.gov.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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