Contaminated school named after environmentalist Al Gore!

LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia - September 7, 2010 - Al Gore has had some tough breaks - like losing the presidency after getting more votes than the other guy - but the noted environmentalist achieved a singular honor last week, becoming the first vice president to have a Los Angeles school named after him.

And, fittingly, the school will be devoted to environmental themes.

But as in the 2000 election, there's a catch. Critics say the campus' location poses a long-term health risk to students and staff.
 
School district officials insist that the Arlington Heights property is clean and safe; and they've pledged to check vapor monitors and groundwater wells to make sure.

The $75.5-million Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences will open September 13 for about 675 students.

"Renaming this terribly contaminated school after famous environmental advocates is an affront to the great work that these individuals have done to protect the public's health from harm," an environmental coalition wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Unified School District. Making sure the school is safe "would be an even better way to honor their contribution to society."

Construction crews were working at the campus up to the Labor Day weekend, replacing toxic soil with clean fill. All told, workers removed dirt from two 3,800-square-foot plots to a depth of 45 feet, space enough to hold a four-story building. The soil had contained more than a dozen underground storage tanks serving light industrial businesses.

Additional contamination may have come from the underground tanks of an adjacent gas station. A barrier will stretch 45 feet down from ground level to limit future possible fuel leakage.

An oil well operates across the street, but officials said they've found no associated risks. Like many local campuses, this school also sits above an oil field, but no oil field-related methane has been detected.

Groundwater about 45 feet below the surface remains contaminated but also poses no risk, officials said.

Everything's under control after the $4-million cleanup, said John Sterritt, the school system's chief safety officer.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the site is safe, and if there are any changes, our monitoring or our existing processes will detect it and we'll react to that," Sterritt said. "We really go out of our way to make sure these properties are safe."

Officials contend the district has made huge strides since environmental concerns stalled the Belmont Learning Complex, which has since opened as the Roybal Learning Center. In addition, new schools now fall under the review of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.