With a plan to start cleaning toxic groundwater contamination caused by AVX Corp. at least a year away, residents living near the Myrtle Beach manufacturer met Tuesday to protest a permit that would let the electronics maker emit hazardous air pollutants in the same neighborhood.
About 50 people attending a Bent Oak Estates neighborhood watch meeting told officials with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control that they no longer trust the state or AVX to protect the environment near their homes.
AVX officials were invited to the meeting, but none attended.
“AVX has been deceitful in the past,” said Lois Weatherford, a Bent Oak Estates resident who organized Tuesday’s meeting. “Who can trust them now?”
Weatherford was referring to groundwater contamination that AVX secretly tried to clean for 14 years before finally reporting it to DHEC in 1995 after the cleanup efforts failed.
DHEC then failed to tell residents and city officials that the groundwater pollution had spread to nearby neighborhoods until late last year, after The Sun News reported on the issue.
Linda Tarte said several people bought homes near AVX “while they kept their mouths shut, and now they want to pollute some more.”
AVX has applied for a permit to emit toxic chemicals into the air at its 17th Avenue South headquarters.
Among those chemicals is toluene, an industrial solvent that can cause brain and central nervous damage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The permit, which is required for a new manufacturing process the electronics maker wants to install, is being reviewed by DHEC. Elizabeth Basil, director of engineering services for DHEC’s Bureau of Air Quality, told residents that state law requires the agency to issue a permit for the pollution if AVX meets certain requirements, such as ensuring pollution is minimized and providing regular monitoring and reports to regulators.
That angered some residents, who questioned why a state environmental agency would allow unwanted pollution in a residential area that also is near tourism businesses and the beach.
“I don’t trust DHEC,” said Deborah Bashand, a Bent Oak Estates resident. “There are a lot of people who are upset about this.”
DHEC officials said their hands are tied by state laws that favor businesses in environmental issues, and they urged residents to lobby their legislators for change.
“The best thing to do is what you’re doing right now, which is a public outcry,” said Larry Ragsdale, DHEC’s regional director. Cleanup plans fuzzy
The permit application comes about a year after state regulators discovered that groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene has migrated from AVX’s land to a roughly 10-block area north of the manufacturer.
The contamination is the result of decades’ worth of trichloroethylene, or TCE, leaks and dumping at AVX’s headquarters, according to DHEC documents.
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