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NC State uses flawed report to duck responsibility for illnesses & deaths of Poe Hall occupants
CCAEJ Newsletter Issue 2024-01 (Carpenter-Geosyntec)
Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice
June 13, 2024
On June 3, N.C. State University released the second phase of the Poe Hall testing report conducted by external consulting firm Geosyntec. Geosyntec was engaged by corporate law firm Kilpatrick, Townsend, & Stockton LLP. Kilpatrick partners Todd Roessler and Joseph Dowdy are also currently defending the University against Poe Hall-related litigation and attempting to block access for any other entities to conduct environmental testing in Poe Hall.
Chancellor Woodson and Provost Arden want you to believe that Poe Hall was never a major health concern. They want you to believe that Poe Hall can be “remediated” and re-opened without the University being held to account for a toxic work and educational environment. They want you to believe their story, one which only benefits the University’s bottom line and does not reflect the truth.
Geosyntec Report is “Grossly Inadequate”
Dr. David Carpenter, public health physician, professor and expert on the human health harms of PCBs, contests the Geosyntec report and the University’s false claims that Poe Hall has been minimally harmful to the people who worked and studied there.
“I find this Geosyntec report to be grossly inadequate and just wrong in almost every aspect. However, even it shows air levels of PCBs that are of great concern. Clearly Poe Hall is very highly contaminated and in my judgment poses a serious risk to the health of people who have been there.”
Chancellor Woodson claims that this inadequate report means “we now have a comprehensive understanding of the building environment” and he intends to “expedite” the re-opening of Poe Hall, potentially exposing additional staff, faculty, and students to the same environment which has already caused serious health complications and cancers for hundreds of people.
“Geosyntec reports that the only PCB in Poe Hall is Aroclor 1262. This is simply not believable. Aroclor 1262 was only 0.9% of PCBs that were ever manufactured according to Monsanto documents, and it has not been identified as a significant factor in any other building to my knowledge. The usual Aroclors found in building materials are 1242, 1254 and 1260. The most likely reason they report Aroclor 1262 is that, using this flawed analytic method, there has been volatilization of lower chlorinated congeners over time, leaving behind the more highly chlorinated congeners characteristic of Aroclor 1262.”
The N.C. State University Administration (including Provost Arden in faculty senate sessions) has previously suggested that the detection of Aroclor 1262 is "good news", since it is believed to be less toxic than other Aroclors. Yet Dr. David Carpenter indicates that 1262 was likely left behind when other, more toxic, Aroclors were converted into vapor inside Poe Hall. Geosyntec has measured and reported a very small residue of a much greater and more dangerous contamination.
Reports of Aroclor 1262 in air is absolute nonsense, because the higher chlorinated congeners have extremely limited ability to volatilize. However this result may reflect a very dangerous situation, as if the finding of Aroclor 1262 in air it almost certainly in bound to particulates … this indicates a very serious problem, since you are blowing around highly contaminated particulates that can go deep into the lung.
We, the N.C. State community, refuse to accept the presence of PCBs and other toxic chemicals on our campus. The Geosyntec report is flawed, implausible, and it cannot be used as the basis for the University’s next steps for Poe Hall. Thorough testing by an independent qualified external consultant must be done to provide answers for the hundreds of people who are currently battling cancer and other life-altering health problems because of the toxic environment of Poe Hall – and to ensure that no further harm is done to members of the NC State community.
What can you do?
Sign on to our petition demanding that Chancellor Woodson and other University administrators are held accountable for PCBs and other toxins on our campus
Follow the Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice on Instagram
Share this newsletter broadly! N.C. State University Administration wants you to buy their story to protect their own interests. Share the truth to protect the people in our Campus Community.