9/27/2024 - US EPA Releases Five Year Report for Triple Site

In early October, the US EPA released the Five Year Report for the Superfund sites making up the "Triple Site" in Sunnyvale, California - including my Apple office. The report also includes my public comment!

The 5 Year Reports are written by US Army Corps of Engineers & they usually have more backbone then US EPA. US Army included my concerns about "tenants in commercial buildings with existing vapor intrusion mitigation systems that have failed to maintain or damaged the systems."

Army's technical summary of the status of the Superfund sites:

• Is the remedy functioning as intended?
  
  • No.
• Are the exposure & toxicity assumptions still valid?
  
  • No
• Is there new info about clean-up issues?
  
  • Yes. One of the tenants started dumping toxic waste into the sewer.

Apparently the environmental consultant for Philips confided in USACE that they have been bullied by two of the neighbors saying they are "difficult to work with" and "paved over" their groundwater monitoring wells. Well T8A is -> Apple Computer, of course.

USACE advised EPA *4* times that Apple needs to do continuous monitoring of the vapor intrusion controls (Apple prob said 'we're done forever now'). The Army also ignored Apple's parkour-esque VI testing "plans" from 2021, and only reported the 2022+ QA plans approved by US EPA.

US Army notes a few times that Apple & NGC need to test the outdoor air at my office to see if their plume is gassing the neighborhood. In 2019, EPA discovered the outdoor air had high TCE. The shallow toxic plumes may be evaporating into the air & poisoning the community. Cool.

You can read the report here. [link]