PCB Sampling at Bannister Federal Complex Finds No Indoor Air Issues
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 7 reported that results from March air sampling at a child care center and an adjacent building at the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City do not reveal health concerns at the facilities related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The results include tests for 209 different forms of PCBs in indoor air samples and from air samples taken from beneath the concrete floor slabs of Buildings 50 and 52.
EPA and its contractors performed sampling activities March 26-28 at the two buildings, which are part of the General Services Administration's (GSA) managed portion of the complex. Building 50 houses GSA's Kansas City South Field Office, and Building 52 houses the Bannister Complex Child Development Center. The sampling was conducted as part of an ongoing environmental evaluation of the buildings.
The agency's protocol for investigating suspected vapor intrusion calls for the collection of samples over an extended period of time and under different climatic conditions.
Groundwater, soil gas, and soil sampling around the two buildings should be completed in late June and July as part of an agreement between EPA and GSA. Additionally, two more rounds of air testing will be conducted before the end of the year as part of a comprehensive testing plan at these buildings.