Published: April 12, 2006
Pensacola residents aren’t strangers to environmental threats. The city is the home of several Environmental Protection Agency Superfund sites, and as the Pensacola News Journal reported in 2005, it is also home to three of the 226 Superfund sites nationwide that are still polluting groundwater.
One of these, the Escambia Treating Company site on Palafox Street, has received a little belated publicity lately.
Since the 1997 evacuation of more 500 nearby residents, areas near the site have received little attention. A mound of contaminated soil, covered with a tarp, still sits at the site.
But that’s not what drew attention to it, unfortunately. A little over a month ago, Sand Castle daycare opened a mere couple hundred feet from it.
The owner was not stopped by the city at any stage in the licensing process. She and the previous owner believe that there is no problem with the daycare’s proximity to the site because they’re not “turning the children outside and letting them eat dirt.”
In the meantime, officials have been unable to find data regarding the daycare’s land or groundwater. More importantly, there is no conclusive data yet on the extent of the toxic site’s contamination, which could easily saturate the air, land and water surrounding the daycare.
Why officials even let the plan for this daycare go through is a mystery. But when children get sick, Pensacola will once again enjoy national exposure as a polluted city whose local government does nothing to protect its residents.