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EPA orders Tucson chrome plater to sample soil for chromium contamination

Release Date: 9/21/2004
Contact Information: Lisa Fasano, (415) 947-4307

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today ordered a Tucson chrome-plating shop to sample soil for possible chromium contamination.  During a March 2003 inspection, the EPA discovered that Ideal Custom Plating, located at 937 South 6th Ave., had drums of waste sitting in several inches of chromium-tainted wastewater, and determined that the hazardous waste may have entered soils surrounding the storage area.  The company will have to clean up the soil if sufficient levels of chromium contamination are found in the samples.  Potential release of chromium-contaminated wastewater may present a substantial hazard to human health and the environment.  Health effects from chromium exposure can include asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses, stomach upsets and ulcers, convulsions, kidney and liver damage, skin rashes and lung cancer.
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