One year later, what’s happening at Griffin Park?

It’s difficult to believe that it has been more than a year since we asked the state of Maine and the city of Bangor to find out what smells so bad in Griffin Park. It seems like yesterday that we had to call the fire department to investigate the overpowering fumes coming from Birch Stream, and began to identify health symptoms that we all have in common.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much more now about our health or the environment we’re raising our children in than we did 12 months ago.

When the Department of Environmental Protection tested our stream last June, they detected more than 20 different chemicals in the sediment and surface water, including heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-VOCs. Many of these contaminants were detected in trace levels, but some exceeded the guidelines. For example, one test showed benzo(a)pyrene exceeded the EPA’s preliminary remediation goal by 50 times; according to the EPA, long-term exposure to this chemical can cause reproductive and developmental defects and cancer. Another test detected benzidine at more than eight parts per billion, which is a known carcinogen that is no longer produced or used in the United States.

We don’t know how these chemicals react with one another, how safe it is for our kids to play in our back yards or near the stream, or what the state or the city plans to do to clean up Birch Stream for good.

Residents at Griffin Park also have grave concerns about whether the air we breathe inside and outside of our homes is safe. Over the years, there have been many cases of mold in our apartments. In the past, the Bangor Housing Authority has asked us to clean the mold ourselves, but it always returns because of poor ventilation systems in the units. Many schools and other buildings are being torn down because toxic mold is making people sick, and we know that different molds can impact people differently. Don’t we deserve a mold-free environment?

Recently, the Bangor Housing Authority conducted an indoor air-quality assessment of our apartments. They neglected, however, to test the black soot that builds up on our walls and windows, and they didn’t take any actual air samples to find out what we are breathing every day. How can we be sure that this “assessment” will be accurate or thorough enough?

Many nights in Griffin Park, the diesel exhaust and odors from airplane traffic at Bangor International Airport and the Air National Guard, along with the nearby highway traffic, are unbearable. We have asked state and city officials to test the air we’re breathing, but so far we haven’t seen any response to these requests.

Many of our health symptoms are consistent with problems associated with poor air quality – including chronic respiratory infections, nosebleeds, asthma, raw sore throats and migraine headaches. One 4-year-old boy at Griffin Park has had migraines several times a week. We still don’t know what is causing these health problems.

In our lease agreements, the Bangor Housing Authority agreed to take responsibility for maintaining our homes in safe and sanitary conditions, make all necessary repairs, and move us if the conditions are deemed to be a hazard to our safety. If we have spent years exposed to evaporating de-icing chemicals and a toxic cocktail of other chemicals from the airport, diesel particulates and toxic mold, should the Bangor Housing Authority not take action to protect our health?

We have learned that it is virtually impossible to determine whether our health problems are connected to the conditions we’re living in without exposure information. What this means is that the investigation the state Bureau of Health is doing into our health symptoms may not be able to tell us anything about why we’re sick unless we know what we’ve been exposed to and breathing in Griffin Park.

So, we’re asking one question: Why won’t they do legitimate assessment of the air inside and outside our homes? Unless the Bangor Housing Authority will test the air we are breathing, we will never know the reasons for our illnesses. We will never know if this really is a safe place for our children to grow and play.

The bottom line is that we have a right to a toxic-free environment in which to raise our families. We have waited more than a year, and we still have no idea what we are being exposed to in our air and water, and whether Griffin Park is really a safe environment in which to live. The Bangor Housing Authority should be as concerned about this as we are, but so far they have only made us more discouraged. Don’t they have a responsibility to do any better where their tenants are concerned?

Ann Birmingham and Gina Pratt are residents of Griffin Park and co-founders of Griffin Park Citizens Against the Toxic Stream, a local citizens’ group.