A panel discussed the politics and history of Gainesville’s Cabot-Koppers Superfund site Tuesday afternoon during a public meeting at Santa Fe College.
The Democracy Commitment at Santa Fe College and the Sustainable Santa Fe Committee hosted the event that about 25 people attended in the SFC Fine Arts Hall lobby.
The panel consisted of Donna Waller, a SFC political science professor; John Mousa, environmental programs manager for the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department; and Rick Hutton, supervising utility engineer for Gainesville Regional Utilities.
Vilma Fuentes, SFC assistant vice president of academic affairs, moderated the discussion, which explained how wood-treating chemicals contaminated the soil and groundwater on the site, which is north of Northwest 23rd Avenue.
Waller, who moved to Gainesville in 1980, talked about living close to the site and how the contamination affected her neighborhood.
Mousa and Hutton gave a presentation of the pollution around the site and discussed cleanup plans, estimated at $90 million.
The panel also talked about how activism throughout the community, with the help of local government, led to the closing of the facilities.
“We’re fortunate that we have commitment from our local government to be able to remediate this situation because most communities in the U.S. aren’t able to have that commitment,” Mousa said.
The panel discussion concluded with a Q-and-A session with the audience. One person asked about the spread of water contamination, and another asked if students at Stephen Foster Elementary School, situated several miles northwest of the site, were at risk.
Mousa said the primary concern is the water contamination, not pollution spreading through the air.
On Friday, SFC will host a related art exhibit, “Region 4: Transformation through Imagination,” in the M147 Santa Fe Art Gallery on campus.
The exhibit is free to the public and will end March 28.
