A father of one of the teenage girls who's been affected by an illness that's causing Tourette-like outbursts took photos Tuesday of the activity he witnessed near the site of a 1970 train derailment in Le Roy, N.Y.
The father, who didn't want to be identified, reported the following:
“Another truck came in -- Paragon Environmental Construction -- They came in…. and they inspected the barrels, lifted some of the lids, went in the back to the other barrels back there that you can't see -- kicked a few of them. Then another car came in, and then they started unloading coolers. I believe they unloaded over 15 coolers. They put them inside the construction trailer and then they packed up and left. The toxins are leaking out of the barrels. They're just open and nobody cares. This is it. This is why my daughter is sick. I know it is. What scares me is there is no cure.”
It was the first time Erin Brockovich associate and environmental investigator Bob Bowcock had seen the photos, when they were shown on HLN’s Dr. Drew Tuesday night.
“It plays on what I talked about last night," he said. "Apparently somebody at EPA dropped the ball or EPA -- the institution -- dropped the ball in not physically supervising the site."
The Environmental Protection Agency released this statement earlier in the week:
"The EPA is aware of the parents and community's concerns and we are working closely with the school district and all of the involved state agencies to give them information related to the Lehigh Valley Derailment Superfund site about 4 miles from the school.
While EPA is gathering information about actions that took place at the Lehigh site before the site became a federal Superfund site, we do not believe pollution from either site is impacted the school. As we gather all of the facts, we will keep the community, our state partners and the school district up to date. In addition, there is another Superfund site about 10 miles east of the school that EPA also believes has no impact on the school."
On Tuesday, the EPA added:
"At this point, we are still gathering some information and don't have anything to add to what we said yesterday. The one new item is that we are sampling drums as a first step to moving them off the site. Once we have that data we will share it."
*Note -- HLN cannot confirm Paragon Environmental Construction is affiliated with the EPA.
After viewing the photos in the video above, do you think enough is being done? Let us know in the comments section.
To follow every update in this developing story, don't miss "Dr. Drew" weeknights at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on HLN and follow on Twitter @DrDrewHLN.
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