ITHACA — Toxic chemicals now seeping down Ithaca's South Hill also drained into Cayuga Inlet, according to documents obtained by The Ithaca Journal.

ITHACA — Another set of soil tests from near the former Ithaca Gun factory site show levels of lead contamination that can pose a health risk to humans.

The tests were made by a Cornell University student earlier this spring. The student's tests follow similar findings of high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium in soils tests made two weeks ago in that area by The Ithaca Journal and Toxics Targeting of Ithaca.

ITHACA — Lead and arsenic contamination found on City of Ithaca property test at concentrations that could pose a risk to human health.

Soil analyses from the property adjacent to the former Ithaca Gun Factory show levels of lead contamination as high as 184,000 parts per million. Arsenic was found in concentrations of 2,210 parts per million. Both
concentrations are well above federal and state guidelines.

ITHACA — It didn't take long for Jim Kellogg to realize he wasn't keen on using toxic chemicals to run his dry
cleaning business.

When using perc, or perchloroethylene, a common dry cleaning solvent, Kellogg could only have certified employees operate his machines, had to fill out reams of paperwork for state officials and there was a persistent chemical smell. Not to mention that perc can cause damage to the nervous system, affect reproductive organs and is considered a likely human carcinogen.

ITHACA — While the Department of Environmental Conservation investigates a potential state superfund site on North Meadow Street, less than two blocks away another site with the same type of contamination was identified this summer.

ITHACA — Audrey Whyte isn't worried — yet.

She knows it's not great that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently tested her home for toxic chemicals. Yet, the daycare center she operates from her house on North Meadow Street is doing fine, and she has plenty of friends who stop by regularly.

Outside her pale green home, surrounded by a bright menagerie of toys, conversation is about the toddlers driving plastic cars, the upcoming women's conference she's organizing and errands to run — not carcinogens.

ITHACA - State officials acknowledged Thursday that they need to "fix" their handling of the contaminated former Morse Chain site and their communications with affected residents.

Speaking at a public hearing on the infiltration of toxic vapors into indoor air, G. Anders Carlson, director of the Division of Environmental Health Investigation for the state Department of Health, cited the need for more effective dialogue with neighbors and a more aggressive approach to pursuing remediation of the site.

ITHACA -- Documents recently filed at the Tompkins County Public Library indicate that Emerson Power Transmission is adding two groundwater monitoring wells to the initially planned seven when construction begins next week.

ITHACA -- Another possible source of contamination has been found on the site of the former Morse Chain plant.

Fifty-five-gallon drum barrels labeled as containers for methyl chloroform, a form of tricholorethane or TCE, are
rusted out and littering the hillside below Emerson Power Transmission, which bought the property in 1983.

ITHACA -- An air of cautious optimism has settled on South Hill after some residents received results of home air pollution tests.

The homes are all in an area potentially affected by pollution from the former Morse Chain factory on Danby Road and were tested by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, starting in September.

Of the 44 homes where air was analyzed, about a dozen received letters detailing the DEC findings, according to Mary Jane Peachey, Region 7 engineer for the DEC.