‘It’s not just everyday house dust’: Expert testifies as effort continues to halt implosion of boiler house in Springdale

A toxicologist and a safety consultant were the latest two individuals to testify in the injunction case where 16 Springdale residents are seeking to block an implosion of the boiler house at the former Cheswick Generating Station.

S. Thomas Dydek, a Texas-based toxicologist, and Jon Pina, a consultant with Evergreen Environmental Health and Safety Inc., were called to testify by attorneys representing the Springdale residents in Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John T. McVay Jr.’s courtroom in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The residents allege that the June 2 implosion of two chimneys at the generating station caused harm to their properties, health and the community, and that an implosion of the boiler house would cause additional harm.

The injunction was filed Sept. 15. The boiler house was scheduled to be imploded Sept. 22 but was postponed because of the litigation.

Dydek wrote a toxicology report in August. In it, he reviewed reports from testing done at Brittni and Travis Bair’s home at 233 Pittsburgh St., and Daniel Garrigan’s home at 243 Pittsburgh St. No asbestos was recorded in the sample testing done at the homes, Dydek testified.

But levels of arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury were detected in indoor dust sampling from the Bairs’ home. Those metals, along with selenium and silver, were found in Garrigan’s home, Dydek testified.

Attorney Janice Savinis, who represents the residents, pointed to language in Dydek’s report that said: “To a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the toxic-metal-containing dust which blew onto the properties of and into the two houses at 233 and 243 Pittsburgh St. in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and other nearby properties represents a health risk to the occupants of those residents and properties.”

Dydek recommended neither the Bairs nor Garrigan attempt to clean inside or outside their homes without the supervision of a trained environmental professional.

“It’s not just everyday house dust that needs to be cleaned up,” he said.

Defense attorneys are expected to question Dydek when the hearing resumes Tuesday.

Pina identified himself as a certified safety professional and as having a more than 40-year career, having “worn many hats” in the safety, health and environmental industry. He said he has testified as an expert witness in many cases, for plaintiffs and defendants.

He said a demolition of the boiler house by mechanical means, such as a pulldown with cables, is safer than an implosion using explosives because there would be no projectiles and less dust would be stirred.

“For those two reasons, I would vote to use mechanical,” Pina said.

Pina said his experience includes working at demolition sites such as USX Duquesne Works; USX McKeesport National Tube Works; LTV Aliquippa Coke; LTV Donner-Hanna Coke in Buffalo, N.Y.; LTV Cleveland Coke; and the Fike Chemical Superfund Site in Nitro, W.Va. He also participated in a site visit of the Springdale power plant with attorneys Oct. 24.

Defense attorneys, however, argued Pina is neither a demolition expert nor an engineer. They said times have changed since Pina was involved in demolition work and noted representatives from Controlled Demolition Inc. testified earlier in the case that the only and best way to take down the boiler house was through implosion.

Defense attorneys also brought up a 2012 case in New Jersey’s federal court in which Pina testified, but his testimony was stricken from the record for being “uninformed” and “not based on a reliable method.” Pina said he was unaware of that happening.