‘No option but to fight.’ Tallevast residents question contamination cleanup efforts

It’s been a long, hard fight for Tallevast residents as they seek to put their community right after the 2000 discovery of an underground plume of contamination covering more than 200 acres.

Even though property owner Lockheed Martin discovered beryllium and other dangerous contaminants in the soil when it put the property up for sale, Tallevast residents weren’t informed until 2003.

The pollution was traced to a former Loral American Beryllium Company plant. Lockheed Martin assumed ownership of the property at 1600 Tallevast Road in 1996 and shut down the plant the same year.

In 2005, Lockheed Martin reported to Manatee County commissioners that it had determined the extent of the plume and that it proposed a remediation program to clean up the contaminated groundwater.

That did not sit well with the commissioners, who demanded that Lockheed relocate residents from the historic Black community. Many residents were still using groundwater for drinking, cooking and bathing.

“Lockheed Martin needs to step up to its corporate responsibility and move these people out of the community,” former Manatee County Commissioner Amy Stein said in 2005. “Anything short of that is totally irresponsible.”

Despite the commission’s insistence on the relocation of Tallevast residents, it did not happen.

“Yes, we do have that option,” Bill Kutash, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s project director for the Tallevast cleanup, said of a possible relocation in 2005.

“But it is fairly extreme and has never happened in Florida,” Katash added.

In 2008, Lockheed, paid the motel bills for 244 Tallevast residents for about one month, while buildings were removed from the former beryllium plant.

In 2010, both Lockheed and residents confirmed a settlement had been reached in a lawsuit brought by 270 Tallevast residents. Neither side has ever commented on the terms of the settlement.

In late 2013, Lockheed started treating the groundwater with its remediation plant and a system of more than 100 wells. Once contaminants are removed, the treated water is released into the county sewer system.

Not a solution

Ten years after the start of Lockheed’s remediation efforts, there is a growing feeling of discontent among Tallevast residents, who say that the cleanup effort has failed and that the plume has actually grown.

Moreover, much of Tallevast continues to be without a connection to sanitary sewer, while big business expands onto former farm land with little communication with residents.

In addition, Tallevast residents say officials at Lockheed Martin, Manatee County Government and the Florida DEP are unresponsive to their questions and concerns.

In an Oct. 21, 2022, letter to Tallevast’s nonprofit FOCUS group (Family-Oriented Community United Strong), RES Florida Consulting offered concerns on Lockheed’s plume stability analysis report.

Assessments of the plume have shown that it is “much larger than initially defined and accepted,” RES reported.

“Over time, data collected through Lockheed Martin’s remedial action effectiveness monitoring confirmed our concern that the plume was not delineated but also that it was not being contained and recovered by the approved remediation system. Valuable time was lost as the plume continued to spread unaffected by the remediation system,” RES said.

The RES report concluded by saying: “We note that due to the social and economic detriment suffered by the community by the widespread migration of the contamination plume, we feel that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection should provide a higher degree of scrutiny to ensure the rights of all the protected parties and the public are met and protected.”

Jeanne Zokovitch Paben, an attorney for FOCUS, said that the withdrawal of groundwater for treatment also had an unintended consequence.

“It has now also been shown that this massive artificial groundwater withdrawal is exacerbating geologic depressions within the community on private properties,” Paben wrote in a Jan. 28, 2023, letter to the DEP.

“Although FDEP is under resourced, we are hard pressed to believe that FDEP staff does not understand how such massive artificial fluctuations in the groundwater could be causing destabilization of the surface. Nonetheless, FOCUS, on its own, engaged in a study of this and this research supports the hypothesis that the artificial groundwater withdrawal is destabilizing the ground surface,” Paben wrote.

The Bradenton Herald reached out to Lockheed Martin and asked about the spread of the plume and status of the cleanup.

“We have a longstanding commitment to conducting groundwater remediation at the former American Beryllium Company facility in accordance with all applicable federal and state requirements. We remain committed to meeting all applicable public health and environmental standards,” Lockheed said in an email.

“All remediation activities are subject to the review and approval of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Any further inquiries should be addressed to the FDEP,” Lockheed said.

The Herald also reached out to the FDEP, but the agency did not provide a statement by deadline.

The lack of sewer in Tallevast

Due to the groundwater contamination problem, FOCUS co-executive directors Laura Ward and Wanda Washington say that it’s important that all Tallevast residences be connected to the county sewer system.

Currently, residences west of the railroad tracks that run through Tallevast are connected to the sewer. Residences to the east of the tracks, however, have not been connected.

FOCUS conducted its own sewer survey of Tallevast residents after the results of a previous survey by Manatee County Government showed little support for the improvements.

“Based on the results of this survey, it is clear that the residents of Tallevast desire and deserve to have Manatee County follow through with its multiple promises of bringing sewer infrastructure including covering the connection fees,” Paben wrote to commissioners.

“As Manatee County itself recognized more than 40 years ago, even prior to knowing about the increased concern of contaminated shallow groundwater from ABC (American Beryllium Company), this is a critical threat to the health and safety of all area residents which must be rectified. We look forward to working with you to achieve this,” Paben wrote.

To date, county officials have not responded to inquiries about Tallevast sewer from Paben or the Bradenton Herald.

Encroaching growth

While Tallevast struggles with a massive contamination problem, it sees its quiet, rural lifestyle disappearing with big-time growth.

Amazon opened a 321,244-square-foot distribution center on 55 acres at 2200 Tallevast Road in 2021, and Tallevast residents say the truck traffic never ends.

In addition, United Natural Foods, Inc. announced in August that it was breaking ground on a new distribution center within the SRQ Logistics Center, a 300-acre master-planned business park south of Tallevast Road.

Tallevast was founded in the late 1800s by the children of formerly enslaved people and migrant workers.

Now, residents see the control of their destiny slipping away.

“We’re sitting ducks now. They have taken over the community,” Laura Ward said. “We are disturbed by all the building around us, the truck traffic and the air traffic. We don’t have a place to be relocated to.”

Adds Wanda Washington: “The county commission is the No. 1 complaint for me. They are allowing these people to come in and run over us.”

Stay or fight?

Relocation of the Tallevast community didn’t happen after the plume of contamination was discovered nearly a quarter century ago.

And it doesn’t look like it will happen now, said Paben.

FOCUS is in the midst of a visioning process and plans to take the concept to the Manatee County Commission.

A reimagined, revitalized Tallevast community could see new residences added, a county park, a community center and more.

A way forward for Tallevast and better lines of communication with county government, Lockheed and DEP could go a long way to a better future, Ward and Washington said.

“It feels like we’re still at ground zero, Washington said. “If we had a relationship, it could clear up a lot of things. There is no option but to fight.”

The Bradenton Herald reached out to County Administrator Charlie Bishop and Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahn, who represents the Tallevast area, for comment on the Tallevast situation. Neither county official responded immediately to the Herald’s request for comment.