BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 10, 2016) — What was and still is buried in the dirt at the building site of the new Taconic High School? THE PLANET alone has not been afraid to explore, and we have been on top of this story since we first broke it last year.

The code-breaking clue came in a one-line entry from the countless pages of propaganda posted by the School Building Needs Commission to get the public at-large behind the project. No one picked up on it until April 2015, when THE PLANET sat down with the bonding documents related to this needless project.

One of three enormous piles of mysterious material located at the THS building site. What’s under the tarp? (PLANET VALENTI STAFF PHOTOS BY “FLASH” FILLUPS OF THE SECRET SQUADRON).

From the reams of material, we found a one-line entry that read:

1. Hazardous Waste Containment & Disposal (i.e. Polychlorinated Biphenyl [PCBs] and contaminated soils).” [NOTE: Edited to correct grammatical and stylistic errors].

We wrote 16 months ago, “Are we the only ones for whom this line triggers fire alarms? Removal and disposal of PCBs can cost large and small fortunes.”

City officials ignored our attempts to get more information. Undaunted, shortly after construction began, THE PLANET found our moles at the site. In the business, we call them “sources.” Our spies from The Secret Squadron confirmed what we uncovered by uncovering what the city and nature had deposited in the land. Mom Nat planted rock ledge and lots of it. Officials have been working hard to minimize the extent of that rocky problem, but one of the workers likened the ledge to “a buried Gibraltar.”

That’s bad enough, of course, but what about the xenobiosis? The word refers to human-made contaminants, especially industrial toxins. You may have noticed that The “New” Boring Broadsheet only covered this after our series of articles revealing the extent of the problems lurking in the soil (and water and air) at the THS building site. They have otherwise obeyed their displeased masters and ignored one of the biggest stories of this or any other year.

Mini ‘Hill 78-2’ at the THS building site. Rumors are flying about the deadly materials being unearthed, but officials aren’t talking.

THE PLANET, on the other hand, continues to dig. Here’s what we have learned since we last posted on this story. Sources say:

1. Almost all the “bad stuff” coming out of the ground has been the result of “waste disposal over a number of years.” Virtually all appears to be industrial waste. GE, anyone?
2. Analysis shows excessive presence of PCBs. THE PLANET links this to a soothing line from 1999 during the published aftermath of the GE-Pittsfield Consent Agreement, that there was “no on-site disposal of drums, capacitors, equipment … or asbestos.” Use logic: If that’s the case, the “ bad stuff” had to be trucked elsewhere. Last year a GE retiree told THE PLANET he transported truckloads of “barrels and other junk” to the area in question off Valentine Road.
3. Analysis of soil samples showed “unacceptably high subsurface levels of PCBs and other contaminants [consistent with toxic materials] “identified in the Consent Agreement”
4. What “other” materials? Pentachlorophenol, dioxin, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, barium, methylene chloride, vinyl chloride, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, lead, tetrachloroethene, selenium, and thalliummethylene chloride.
5. 

   The third pile. It’s strictly off limits. THE PLANET won’t say how we got this photo. We can say that “security” at the site wasn’t pleased … which pleased us enormously for being able to show you what officials want to keep hidden. So much for the Veddy Full of Himself Important Person who gloated to THE PLANET that we couldn’t get photos of the site. We won a steak dinner, but the VIP is a chiseler. We will prefer to go hungry, full of our triumph.

   Finally, we learned that as of July 30, there were three enormous, mini-Hill 78s at the site. (SEE PHOTOS) The piles were covered in tarps. No one would speak about what was under the pretty blue covering. The tarps strongly indicates toxins. The piles have likely been treated to keep dust down, with the tarps serving that purpose while doubling to hide what’s underneath.

It is incumbent upon officials, now, to tell the truth about what’s going on at the THS site. In the meantime, THE PLANET advises anyone going there to wear a mask or a filtering device. This includes construction workers and soon students and staff, who will be returning for the new school year.

We have a sinking feeling that what’s in the air, water, and soil there doesn’t “bring good things to life.”

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“I prefer not to.” — Bartleby

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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