RCA - Environmental Record

Environmental Record

A former RCA facility in Taiwan's northern county of Taoyuan polluted groundwater with toxic chemicals and led to a high incidence of cancer among former employees. The area was declared a toxic site by the Taiwanese Environmental Protection Agency. Both GE and Thomson spent millions of dollars for cleanup, removing 10,000 cubic yards (7,600 m3) of soil and installing municipal water treatment facilities for neighboring communities. A spokesman for RCA's current owners denied responsibility, saying a study conducted by the Taiwan government showed no correlation between the illnesses and the company's facilities, which shut down in 1991.

A plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania which RCA operated from the late 1940s to June 1986, released more than 250,000 pounds of pollutants per year from its exhaust stacks. Tested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the groundwater at the facility is contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,2-dichloroethylene (1,2-DCE). In 1991 and 1992, contaminants were detected in monitoring wells on the east side of the Conestoga River in Lancaster.

The shallow and deep groundwater aquifers beneath the Intersil Facility in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, which RCA operated in the 1960s and later sold to Harris Corporation, contain elevated levels of volatile organic compounds.

A site in Burlington, Massachusetts which RCA used from 1958 to 1994 to make and test military electronics equipment, generated hazardous waste (VOCs, TCE, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes).

In Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, an RCA-operated plant generated wastes containing chromium, selenium and iron. Four lagoons holding chemical waste drained into the limestone aquifer. Used water from the manufacturing process (process water), containing ferric chloride, was treated onsite to remove contaminants and then was discharged into a sinkhole at the site. The treatment of process water created a sludge that was stored onsite in drying beds and in surface impoundments.