Nobody is on any nerves, no matter how hard you try, Steve.
I recently had to bag a real estate deal because petroleum products were found in the well water, so I'm a bit sensitive to the issue. But like I said, I also understand that OTS pesticides
may not be better. I haven't researched what is sold to get rid of fire ants, but I do know that the EPA has cracked down heavily on those products in recent years so I'd
bet it's safer that gasoline or diesel. FWIW, the well water we tested with petroleum was 8 parts per million. Seems low, but the state standard for acceptable? Zero. The owner said our test was flawed as we "probably" didn't run enough water through the system first and it had sat with little use, blah blah blah. He did all that (probably ran a few thousand gallons out, knowing him) and then got "about half" what we got in our test. I said thanks, but no thanks, as while this was commercial property it was in an unzoned area with residential neighbors and I wasn't going to get stuck with unhappy neighbors now wanting ME to clean up the aquifer. I can't imagine how painful that is.
Yes, I believe they had dumped oil and fuel on the ground behind the building in this case and likely more than a cup or two, but still. I'm also jaded from a previous deal where I bought an old farm house and some land. The previous owner had been in the hardware store business at one time, and when they closed they just stuffed what was left of the inventory in the basement. I actually had a Phase 1 environmental inspection done, but the inspector didn't do his complete job and decided to skip the basement. He took pictures into the basement from the door and said it was an "outbuilding" which wasn't covered by his inspection but should be looked at. His scope of work clearly stated he should do that entire structure and he didn't, which won me some money back in the lawsuit later.
Why was there a lawsuit? 40 year old cans of Ortho *something* (which is supposed to be a BIG clue to these guys something is wrong and they were clearly visible IN HIS PICTURES from the doorway, let alone where he could have easily got to). What's worse is further in we found cans of AGENT ORANGE. It cost close to $30k to have that stuff professionally cleaned up and properly disposed of. If you think asbestos cleanup is bad, that's nothing compared to THIS stuff. *sigh*
So while I might be a republican for the most part, I'm fairly jaded on these environmental issues.
--Donnie
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