‘Mt. Dioxin’s’ Neighbors Feel Threatened : Florida: The 40-foot-high wall of contaminated soil was excavated more than a year ago and left to sit. Nearby residents complain of breathing problems, rashes and cancer.

Behind a chain-link fence, where someone hung a hand-lettered banner reading, “MT. DIOXIN,” sits a 40-foot-high wall of contaminated soil covered with gray plastic.

Surrounded by homes and businesses in the middle of Pensacola, the mound marks the site of a defunct plant where wooden utility and foundation poles were treated with creosote for 58 years, until the plant closed in 1982.

Dioxin and other toxic chemicals, suspected of causing cancer, were dumped or leaked there.

Residents, some living only a couple of hundred feet away, contend the excavation of contaminated soil in 1992 compounded health problems they suspect were caused by the pollution. And they wonder why the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t finished the cleanup.

“It looks like we are stuck with it,” said David Stallworth, who lives two blocks away. “That’s why we are trying to get relocated.”

But federal officials insist there is no immediate public health threat, so evacuations aren’t warranted.

Stallworth blamed the excavation for aggravating his bronchial condition, but no health assessment has been conducted to verify whether the pollution is responsible for breathing problems, rashes, cancer and other complaints of residents.

EPA excavated to a depth of 45 feet and fenced the site. For more than a year, enough dirt to fill 12,500 dump trucks has waited for disposal. Formerly owned by bankrupt Escambia Wood Treating Co., the site has not been added to the priority list of EPA’s Superfund program, the first step toward a permanent solution.

Until then, no decision can be made on how to dispose of the soil.

The excavation cost about $4 million. The estimated cost of completing the job is at least $25 million and possibly much more. It could take two years or more once work begins.

Officials in EPA’s Atlanta regional office said they are pushing hard to get the project on the list. They made it one of the top three in priority among nearly 6,000 sites in the eight-state Southeast area, said Narindar Kumar, site assessment chief in EPA’s regional Superfund office.

“I’m aware of all the concern on the part of the citizens and we’ve got congressional people also interested,” Kumar said. It’s a temporary solution.”

If all goes well, the site should be added to the list in mid-1994, he said.