Bay Pines Florida residents are the second group of Tampa Bay residents hit with bad news concerning a toxic plume of environmental contamination in their neighborhood. Just last year, the residents of the Azalea neighborhood learned that the Raytheon plant in the area had been leaking hazardous chemicals into their groundwater. As in the Raytheon case, Bay Pines residents only found out two weeks ago that a toxic mix of dangerous chemicals such as 1,4-dioxane, TCE and vinyl chloride and metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead were forming a migratory plume in their neighborhood.
State and federal environmental officials have known for many years about the problem but inexplicably chose not to inform residents of the potential dangers.