A new $75 million campus dedicated to “environmental themes” has been named for former Vice President Al Gore (and Rachel Carson who championed environmentalists’ campaign against the use of DDT, a chemical used to fight off malaria-carrying mosquitos). The Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences is scheduled to open its doors for a new school year on September 13, but classes may be delayed unless excavation crews can successfully remove and replace toxic dirt on the premises. The LA Times reports: 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. Groundwater about 45 feet below the surface remains contaminated but also poses no risk, officials said...It will be toxic in more ways than one.
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