Home » Home » U.S Army Corps of Engineers Continues to Investigate Historical Debris and Potential Environmental Concerns at South Patrick Shores By Space Coast Daily  //  April 19 BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — Space Launch Delta 45 is aware of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers’ ongoing efforts in the South Patrick Shores community to investigate historical debris and potential environmental concerns These actions are part of a continued site evaluation based on community concerns and previous ground-penetrating radar scans conducted in residential areas Space Launch Delta 45 wants to assure the community and installation personnel that this activity is not occurring on Patrick Space Force Base or within South Housing The Corps’ investigation identified areas at private residential properties in South Patrick Shores and does not impact areas within the installation boundaries or south housing Space Launch Delta 45 remains committed to transparency and the safety and well-being of personnel and neighbors and will continue to monitor developments and coordinate with the appropriate agencies as needed The Space Launch Delta 45 is a unit of the United States Space Force assigned to Space Systems Command and headquartered at Patrick Space Force Base in Brevard County The wing also controls Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and is responsible for all space launch operations from the East Coast including launch activities for the Space Force For questions about the Corps’ activities, contact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directly at publicmail.cesaj-cc@usace.army.mil For more info, visit the Army Corps of Engineers Official Website or Army Corps of Engineers Geospatial Data. Click Here to Sign Up for Text Alerts the feds will dig deeper into what many who live just south of Patrick Space Force Base fear is making them sick Army Corps of Engineers says it will begin digging test pits next month based on the analysis of what the agency found from ground-penetrating radar surveys within a more than 50-acre area in South Patrick Shores where the military dumped World War II-era waste The Corps anticipates beginning the next phase of fieldwork in the Naval Air Station Banana River Off-Base Disposal Area cleanup in April The federal agency is in the process of calling and mailing property owners within the study area This next phase includes digging test pits based on the analysis of the data from the previously conducted ground penetrating radar survey What's the problem?Residents of the area have long raised concerns about what they see as an abnormal number of rare illnesses among their number and worry that long-forgotten military waste remains a continuing health risk What's the Corps been doing?More: Army Corps to start search for military waste in South Patrick Shores The Corps has been probing South Patrick Shores yards for any dangerous debris or chemicals left behind before and use ground-penetrating radar to survey for metals If soil or groundwater samples raise suspicions workers will place small canisters inside homes to test for vapors that might be entering the house from underground A state report in 2019, found no significant health risk. But a Jacksonville oncologist who graduated from Satellite High, said the state performed an inadequate study How many homes are affected?More than 300 homes lie within the 52-acre area south of Patrick Space Force Base targeted for cleanup Some residents fear what dangers a shovel might one day find in their yards from airplane parts to unexploded ordinance and drums of unknown chemicals While nobody's been injured from an explosion yet For information, visit www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil or call (800) 710-5184 SOUTH PATRICK SHORES Army Corps of Engineers will start digging in the yards of a neighborhood that’s been at the center of a possible cancer cluster some have blamed military chemicals and waste for a higher than average number of people getting cancer Two years ago, the Corps scanned yards with radars. the Corps said it will now dig in yards where its ground-penetrating radars may have detected old junk “If there is problematic soil or contaminants it would have to be addressed,” project lead Brad Tompa told commissioners South Patrick Shores was an ‘uncontrolled dump’ for the old Navy airfield where Patrick Space Force Base is today “Are you aware that there are residents who have dug in their own yards and that they have had massive side effects from the things that they have dug up in their yards?” Commissioner Katie Delaney asked him The county commissioner was talking about neighbors like Sandra Sullivan Sullivan found her yard was full of junk like lead and even an oil barrel she said still had oil in it “I know it’s made me sick,” she told News 6 In 2019, a report found certain types of cancer were higher around South Patrick Shores than in other parts of the country but the Florida Department of Health couldn’t confirm the cause For homeowners who gave the Corps their permission the Corps said it will dig in their yards with an excavator that will make trenches about eight feet deep and 10 feet wide the Corps said it will start sampling that soil for any contaminants starting this summer Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved James joined News 6 in March 2016 as the Brevard County Reporter His arrival was the realization of a three-year effort to return to the state where his career began PA and graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism TV Listings Email Newsletters RSS Feeds Contests and Rules Contact Us / Follow on Social Media Careers at WKMG Closed Captioning / Audio Description Public File Current EEO Report Terms of Use Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Info FCC Applications EEO Report Disability Assistance Copyright © 2025 ClickOrlando.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — While a Brevard beach renourishment project is wrapping up soon, it may cause some hurdles during sea turtle nesting season, which runs from March 1 through Oct. 31 steep sand cliffs have formed from the renourishment project The area is part of the $47 million Brevard County Mid- and South Reach Shore Protection Project which was started to fix major erosion caused by hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 One million cubic yards of sand is being placed on beaches from Patrick Space Force Base to 11 miles down to south Melbourne Beach Brevard County is a major nesting ground for Leatherbacks and other turtles home to an estimated 8,000 to 20,000 nests each year A Georgia couple staying at a beach condominim in South Patrick Shores notice a crowd gathering around something large on the beach.  “My friend has a little guide in her room on the sea turtles in the area," Matthew Graves said 'That kind of looks like a Leatherback,' and we were trying to guess its size."  and the mother turtle was laying eggs in a nest right up against a sand cliff that is several feet tall.  Graves was concerned she and other turtles would struggle and not be able to get past it or return to the ocean so it didn’t seem there was any viable opportunity for her to get past the first lip,” he said Now the question is whether the beach will be restored to level ground “How these things are forming and if anything can be done to make it more conductive for the turtles to be able to do their thing and continue,” Graves said Brevard County Natural Resources said the South Patrick Shores beach was the last portion of the mid-reach replenishment project The steep slopes can form after replenishment work Officials said they are confident more wave events as summer approaches will create a gentler beach slope Will and Pat Dixon live smack dab in the middle of what they fear is a waste dump of abandoned military chemicals and hardware Their home is in the center of a 52-acre area where workers next week will begin searching for old military waste Army Corps of Engineers community meeting at Pelican Beach Park in Satellite Beach The Corps was in town to discuss the status of an environmental investigation and pending cleanup of former defense sites just south of Patrick Space Force Base a military mess that has raised fears of health risks for decades Some area residents have long been concerned by what they see as an abnormally high rate of rare cancers and other diseases among those who have lived in the area But a Jacksonville oncologist who graduated from Satellite High said the state performed an inadequate study the Corps will begin scanning hundreds of homeowner's yards in the area with ground-penetrating radar seeking buried objects that could pose health or environmental risk The area was part of Banana River Naval Air Station during World War II This $5.8 million early phase of the project will yield a draft remedial investigation report in the summer of 2024 The purpose of the report is to determine the nature and extent of the military's impacts at the off-base disposal area The total cost and exact timelines of the cleanup have yet to be determined a feasibility study would follow and then a proposed cleanup plan which would include a public comment period the yard scanning comes as a milestone in a decades-long battle by South Patrick Shores residents to get federal and state government to clean up military waste Some residents who turned up Thursday expressed relief that government at last appears to be serious about a long-term clean up after residents brought health concerns to state and federal agencies studies by those agencies found "no apparent public health hazard officials said they also failed to find any records that the Navy owned or leased the land Then in 2018 debris found buried in residential yards led to requests for another investigation based on newly found records showing the Navy did use the property the area became eligible for cleanup under the Corps' Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program The Corps plans to move forward with investigations and cleanups where property owners have signed "rights-of-entry" to test for groundwater and/or soil contamination More than 300 homes sit within the 52-acre area south of Patrick Space Force Base targeted for cleanup from airplane parts to ordnance or drums of unknown chemicals Items dug up over the years have included small practice bombs that lack any explosives 182 of 318 eligible property owners have signed "right-of-entry" forms allowing the Corps to probe their yards for waste While the deadline to receive signed rights-of-entry has passed Corps officials are encouraging all property owners who received and have not yet signed the form to do so as soon as possible If someone signs the form after fieldwork begins the Corps says the agency cannot guarantee that property will be investigated The agency plans to probe South Patrick Shores yards for any dangerous debris or chemicals left behind before Pat Deabenderfer has lived several blocks south of Pineda Causeway outside the boundaries of the current 52-acre cleanup area He once found a 50-caliber shell in his yard He showed up to Thursday's meeting out of curiosity about how so much military waste wound up off base "I'm interested why they dragged it this far to bury it," Debenderfer said William Dixon also once found a 50-caliber bullet and an aluminum piece of an aircraft in his yard on 2nd Street East He heard of a neighbor digging up a propeller said he has multiple sclerosis but thinks that's unrelated to him living in South Patrick Shores But two of his three adult children have health issues that make him wonder: one a rare breast cancer and the other a neurological problem The Dixons and others recall the frustration in the 1990s when residents raised similar concerns and health and environmental officials failed to take action "I don't think they gave as much attention to it as they should have it seems like the Corps is taking the issue much more seriously Some residents have expressed disappointment in recent years at what they say hasn't been aggressive enough testing the Florida Department of Health released the results of a more than yearlong investigation of illnesses in the area concluding no significant public health risks the Jacksonville oncologist who grew up in Brevard and had helped get the state to investigate cancers in the Satellite Beach and Suntree areas said the state's investigation fell far short of what she'd asked for The DOH investigation failed to examine all cancer types or to include hundreds of local cancer cases activists and survivors reported to the health department has pushed the Corps for years to clean up the contamination near the base she joined Patrick Space Force Base's Restoration Board a panel that advises the military on base-related environmental cleanups Her biggest worry is that the testing is set up in a way that could likely miss toxic chemicals soaked into the soil Some scientists believe that "vapor intrusion" from such chemicals is a major source of indoor air pollution "My greatest concern is the volatile chemicals vapor intrusion into homes," Sullivan said via email Friday noting that vapors into homes were among the highest risk of exposure identified by the Corps and state environmental officials "Yet that is not tested until the end of the timeline Dumps are ubiquitous with vapor intrusion into homes," she added prioritizing testing of possible chemical exposures in homes should be the immediate focus Real-time monitoring is a sound technology." More:Feds suspect how dumpsite toxins enter Space Coast beachside homes: vapor intrusion Soil vapor intrusion into homes was the theory that Bob Bowcock — who consults on water contamination issues for environmental activist Erin Brockovich — speculated about during a September 2018 community forum in Satellite Beach hosted by Brockovich A Corps presentation in August 2021 appeared to validate Bowcock's theory he slammed the military for ignoring vapor intrusion and underplaying health and environmental risks from their past activities on and near bases "The Department of Defense is a shameful organization that has repeated this practice scores of times from Camp Lejeune to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean," he said at the time "It’s as if a giant plunger was forcing toxic air into these homes every time the tide rises It’s not rocket science … it’s common sense that was intentionally ignored — with purpose — the purpose being they thought they would get away with it." Information about the other potential cleanup sites can be accessed at this Corps site The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to begin the first phase of the Remedial Investigation field work (ground penetrating radar) near Patrick Space Force Base. For information, email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil or call 800-710-5184 Vapor intrusion: Feds suspect how military dumpsite toxins enter Space Coast beachside homes: vapor intrusion Documents exposed: Key documents exposed military's role in dump site near Patrick Air Force Base Next steps: Feds lay out next steps in military dumpsite cleanup among Space Coast beachside homes Jim Waymer is an environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Or find him on Twitter: @JWayEnviro or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer A tornado briefly touched down in the South Patrick Shores area late Wednesday afternoon twisting apart carports and ripping away parts of roofs in the area just south of the Pineda Causeway Police and FPL workers were on the scene at Ocean Boulevard Wednesday evening which appeared to be at the center of the damage "It sounded like a freight train going by," said Alex Casanova including pieces of someone else's roof that landed in his backyard More: Hail hits West Melbourne, strong storms roll through Brevard County The National Weather Service officials surveyed the area Thursday and determined that an EF-1 tornado ripped across the area with winds between 86 and 110 mph The Enhanced Fujita scale used to measure the destructive power of tornadoes goes from EF-0 to EF-5 it "seemed like Ground Zero," said Luann Manderville The two were getting ready for dinner and had the TV on when an alert came across her phone around 5:20 p.m. our power went out and you could feel wind coming through the windows they and Emmy were hunkered down in the bathroom her husband could see the lanai on the side of their house was gone where he discovered the carport awning on top of the couple's cars leaving Christmas decorations and more "spread all over the back yard," Manderville said They checked on older neighbors as soon as possible: "How fortunate all of us were compared to what has happened to so many people before," Manderville said She and her husband discovered a portion of their roof three blocks from their home and a piece of their neighbor's roof which they could identify "because of its color," Manderville said Manderville's just glad there were no reported injuries "Everything else can be replaced," she said "We're very fortunate that my cousin came from Melbourne Beach .. he said he checked on me immediately because it came up on the alert All the neighbors were checking on neighbors .. A 32-acre stretch of South Patrick Shores in Brevard County could now be eligible for federal Superfund money to clean up contamination from nearby Patrick Air Force base.  Designating South Patrick Shores as a Formerly Used Defense Sites has been a nearly 30-year fight for locals who have long tied a myriad of health problems with the area Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency for the designation “It means they’re eligible for money to evaluate the area and remediate whatever’s wrong there,” Posey said no one’s been able to tell us what it is.” Army Corps of Engineers is expected to finish a preliminary assessment in early 2020 Check here for more information from the Army Corps including the reasons why the change was made Army Corps of Engineers decided the site did not qualify as a former defense site because the Department of Defense never owned or leased the land But new documents uncovered in 2018 show the defense department did use the site to burn and bury construction material for Patrick Air Force Base with the landowner’s permission “Who knows what the shelf life is on some of this stuff some of this hazardous material,” Posey said Now we’ll find out for sure what the problem is and what it’s gonna take to remediate it.” The Navy used land south of Patrick Air Force Base to burn and bury construction materials The base was known as the Naval Air Station Banana River Residents have long tied a myriad of health problems with the base new research found a link between chemicals used on the Air Force base and certain cancers the Florida Department of Health studied the issue and found statistically-significant higher rates of cancer in two zip codes around Patrick Air Force Base the department found 130 more deaths than would be expected in the population pancreatic and lymphoma all had rates higher than expected the department said it doesn’t have the capability to determine whether the chemicals are the cause — and that the data does not support doing that complex investigation 468 suspected cancer clusters were investigated Only three investigations were able to establish a link between the disease and a specific environmental exposure For many years, experts struggled to explain exactly how toxic chemicals from old military dumpsites along Space Coast beaches managed to sicken residents around South Patrick Shores federal officials have signaled that they might have an answer: the cocktail of poisons come from underground in the form of vapors that seep into homes and can cause several health risks Army Corps of Engineers to state and local government officials which recommended studying indoor air quality of homes in the South Patrick Shores area the Corps noted that indoor air quality samples might show that homes were "potentially impacted by Navy-derived waste materials." "What jumped out at me as I read this was the emphasis on VOCs as the greatest potential pathway of exposure to the residents here," said Sandra Sullivan a South Patrick resident who's running for the Brevard County Commission Dist Sullivan obtained the 70-page presentation via a public records request to the city of Satellite Beach "This is the Corps of Engineers acknowledgement of that risk." Industrial solvents and other chemicals that contaminated drinking water near military bases around the country have been associated with outbreaks of cancers and other rare diseases, sparking lawsuits and federal intervention What long provided a degree of plausible deniability to the military regarding South Patrick Shores was the fact that drinking water to the beachside area comes from mainland sources Health officials said exposures would likely have to come from soil or elsewhere but there was no clear smoking gun — until now.  Soil vapor intrusion into homes was the theory that Bob Bowcock — who consults on water contamination issues for environmental activist Erin Brockovich — speculated about during a September 2018 community forum in Satellite Beach hosted by Brockovich So the Corps' recent presentation appears to validate Bowcock's theory.  'A smell I could not get out of my nose':  South Patrick Shores homeowner digs up old military waste In case you missed it: Key documents expose military's role in South Patrick dump site Bowcock said he told the Air Force representatives at a Satellite Beach City Council-sponsored closed-door round table three years ago that South Patrick is one the most perfect locations for toxic soil vapor intrusion to occur that he's seen anywhere in the country between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean," he said Friday via email "It’s as if a giant plunger was forcing toxic air into these homes every time the tide rises It’s not rocket science … it’s common sense that was intentionally ignored — with purpose — the purpose being "Reading this report today is heartbreaking pools and other infrastructure were being built in South Patrick Shores. There were also drums of chemicals electric wiring and other debris which were common at military bases of the past.   Biologists were also independently discovering that toxic compounds from once-widely used firefighting foams at Patrick Space Force Base Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center are present throughout the local food chain Apex predators — those at the top of the chain like dolphins and gators — store them in their bodies at higher concentrations with worrying implications.  But as South Patrick residents were getting sick and desperate, the military had been adamant for decades that they never owned leased or used an old dump site just south of Patrick Space Force Base when a federal investigation found no public health hazards in the area the Department of Defense reversed its long-standing position and admitted its forces are responsible for whatever military waste might be buried there. The about-face came because military researchers unearthed some 70-odd-year-old documents The letters and memos were buried among 150 boxes in several national archives. Their discovery has proved to be the key in getting Washington to take responsibility and ultimately clean up a long-buried — many fear toxic — military mess just south of Patrick Space Force Base The documents led to a major breakthrough on Aug. 24 2019 when the Corps formally made 32 acres south of Patrick — called the Naval Air Station Banana River Off-Base Disposal Area — eligible for the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) Program That opened the door for federal funding to clean up military waste found there The site has since been expanded to 52 acres The decision came after decades of public fears that buried chemicals and other military waste just beyond Patrick's borders — some dating back to World War II — have been contributing to local outbreaks of cancer The Corps wants to conduct a vapor intrusion study of willing South Patrick homeowners' houses but not all residents are on board yet for the Corps investigation only 142 of 317 eligible homeowners have signed "right-of-entry" forms to allow the U.S Army Corps of Engineers on their property to sample for soil and air contamination "We are lacking rights-of-entry in several places within the disposal area which could impact our ability to adequately evaluate the extent of potential Navy-related impacts. Amanda Parker Even Brevard Public Schools has yet to sign the right-of-entry form for Sea Park Elementary "USACE is coordinating with school officials to address access concerns they expressed related to allowing right-of-entry and how the work would be conducted at Sea Park Elementary School," Sue Hann "The right of entry is a standard form that doesn’t work too well with our security protocols We also need to coordinate how their work relates to the operation of the school." Hann said the school district is working with the Corps "to be more specific about how and when they (and their contractors) can access the campus They are aware of our concerns and are working with us to address them." She expects the issue to go before the school board in October or November the Corps is trying to get more people — who may fear harm to property values or don't trust government — signed up for the sampling "We encourage those within and adjacent to the 52-acre Off-Base Disposal Area who received a right-of-entry form to sign and submit it at their earliest convenience," Parker In a Corps "frequently asked questions" document the agency says the right-of-entry would be for five years to provide "sufficient time to receive signed right-of-entry forms analyze where we have permission to search scientific approach that allows us to collect all the necessary data where needed to thoroughly investigate the Off-Base Disposal Area." While disappointed in the Corps' transparency Sullivan is eager to know what might be intruding from beneath her home's concrete slab "My slab is cracked in numerous places," she said.  She sees the Corps investigation as an opportunity to clean up the neighborhood that would increase "I want to know I live in a house that's safe for my family." Information and right-of-entry form questions and answers fact sheet are posted on the Corps website:  www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver Property owners may return the signed right-of-entry form via email (FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil) or in the envelope provided with the letter they received in the mail. Those with questions about the form should call (800) 710-5184 or email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil The "Melbourne Beach crocodile" has become a multimedia star in parts of Florida .. The crocodile earned its nickname after a series of sightings in the Melbourne Beach area there have been about 14 reported sightings of possibly the same crocodile since 2019 Some of those crocodile sightings occurred outside of Brevard County but the majority of them happened in Melbourne Beach Here's a timeline of the Melbourne Beach crocodile's comings and goings Melbourne Beach crocodile really loves this part of Florida. It keeps showing up Dec. 17, 2019: According to FLORIDA TODAY, a crocodile lingered in a neighborhood in South Patrick Shores The reptile was seen in the Berkeley Street canal in South Patrick Shores South Patrick Shores is south of Patrick Space Force Base 2020: There was another sighting of the reptile hopped on a kayak to get a closer look: “He likes to bask at certain times of the day," Sutton a 2019 graduate of Melbourne Central Catholic Dec. 4, 2022: Pedro Tellez, a land management technician with Brevard's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, saw an 8-foot crocodile hanging out on the dunes near the county's Barrier Island Sanctuary in Melbourne Beach April 16, 2023: Ian Gronosky, a commercial drone pilot posted a video of a crocodile swimming in his backyard in Melbourne Beach (see above video) His caption states: "The American Crocodile He was born in Key Largo and is 16 years old he was hit twice by cars back to back and spent some time in rehab before being released he traveled from Key Largo over the years and ended up on our beachside around December this last year (2022) FWC said he got pretty beat up when trying to live in the ocean and ended up being captured had a transmitter added and released in Archie Carr." Information from FWC May 9, 2023: An American crocodile was spotted in Melbourne Beach, according to the town's police department. On May 9, Melbourne Beach Police posted photos of the crocodile and warned people not to feed the reptile, according to its Facebook page: "Florida Fish and Wildlife is aware of this croc hanging around Sixth Avenue River Access and the Key Streets They (estimate) his age to be about 10 years old This crocodile has been tagged with a telemetry unit to track him There are less than 12 statewide that are wearing this unit They picked him because he's one of the northernmost American crocodiles and they want to follow where he goes in the winter so please do not mess with or feed him; it is a felony." and just another eventful day for the SBPD!" June 27, 2023: A Facebook post showed a crocodile was spotted in the canal between Kenwood Court and Cinnamon in Satellite Beach June 30, 2023: A Satellite Beach community Facebook page posted photos of a crocodile and a map of the sighting: "Crocodile Spotted This Week In Satellite Beach … One of several in our area this year − This one spotted off Samson Island and also South Near Desoto Park." July 31, 2023: According to an Aug. 1, 2023, story in FLORIDA TODAY Florida Fish and Wildlife officials warned Brevard County residents to be on alert after a crocodile was spotted carrying away a pet dog near Tortoise Island The incident was reported to Satellite Beach Police "The statewide nuisance alligator program received a call yesterday about a video of the incident," Kristen Turner spokesperson for Florida Fish and Wildlife said in a 2023 email to FLORIDA TODAY The claim was then forwarded to the agency's crocodile team Agents searched for the missing dog and crocodile at the site A resident reported on Facebook seeing a crocodile swim along a canal with a medium-sized pug in its mouth Crocodile warning signs were posted near the area days later Oct. 1, 2023: A 9-foot crocodile was spotted hanging around the east bank of the Indian River in Indialantic Cam McKegg of Indialantic shared video of the reptile with FLORIDA TODAY: "We have not seen this croc before but had seen the one with the white tracker," McKegg said via email "My wife (Meg) and I have three French bulldogs so we are now taking extra precautions when we let them out in the yard occasionally we see long distance swimmers in the river and (are) concerned they are not aware there is a large predator in the river." 2023: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission relocated the Melbourne Beach crocodile the FWC released a statement about the Melbourne Beach crocodile: "The crocodile that the FWC relocated on Oct This particular crocodile has traveled over 100 miles during the course of eight months to return to Brevard County this animal has not displayed any concerning behaviors and is not considered to be a threat." the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released a statement about the Melbourne Beach crocodile: "The crocodile that the FWC relocated on Oct call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Commission at 866-392-4286 and a FWC crocodile response agent will respond Contributing: JD Gallop and Jim Waymer, FLORIDA TODAY Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper Jonathan Kegges James Sparvero BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The National Weather Service was on the ground in South Patrick Shores Thursday to verify that a tornado touched down in the South Patrick Park neighborhood The EF-1 tornado — packing peak wind speeds of 90-100 mph — touched down near the intersection of Lighthouse Landing St Wednesday and exited out over the Atlantic near A1A and Ocean Boulevard NWS meteorologists said the tornado was on the ground for a mile and was 300 yards wide The NWS had issued a tornado warning for the South Patrick Shores area just after 5 p.m According to Brevard County Emergency Management around 40-50 homes were impacted by the tornado Two roofs sustained major damage while 12 had minor damage as many as 12 power poles were damaged and around 126 FPL customers were left without power [TRENDING: Become a News 6 Insider] “That’s another signal that this thing packed a big punch in just a short amount of time,” said county communications director Don Walker Video from the area shows fences and sheds torn apart impacted autobodies and belongings strewn all over The county provided the following list of the most heavily-impacted streets as well as a map outlining the area with the most damage Jon Manzi said the walls of his living room collapsed Manzi was remodeling his home so he said he wasn’t here “I can’t imagine what would have happened if we were still living here so we are blessed in that respect,” the homeowner said the city of Satellite Beach and FPL received thanks from BCEM in their response efforts credited as instrumental in sizing up the situation checking on residents and securing the area Neighbors told News 6 that there was nowhere near enough time to prepare for the tornado, as opposed to something like a hurricane A woman we spoke with said that it was gone just as quickly A scrapper collecting metal said the tornado was worse on the neighborhood than recent hurricanes “The hurricane didn’t do as much damage as this tornado did,” Martin Carrizales said BCEM has since requested that residents of impacted communities send in photos and descriptions of property damage left behind by the tornado using an online damage assessment form The county stressed the form was not an application for assistance and served only as information used to help along emergency management decisions The News 6 weather team pinpoints your forecast and delivers all the weather news you need to know Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved joined the ClickOrlando team in November 2021 Jonathan Kegges joined the News 6 team in June 2019 and now covers weather on TV and all digital platforms Home » Home » Satellite Beach Brevard Fire Crews Extinguish Structure Fire on Tortoise Island in South Patrick Shores By Space Coast Daily  //  November 17 FLORIDA – Brevard County Fire Rescue crews responded to a structure fire on Tortoise Island in South Patrick Shores on Thursday afternoon crews contained the fire to the room of origin Reports suggest that there were no injuries “Brevard County Fire Rescue crews were assisted by Satellite Beach Fire Department and Patrick Space Force Base Fire Rescue,” said a BCFR spokesperson CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS As federal regulators mull limits for a group of cancer-causing compounds new tests keep finding these so-called "forever" chemicals in Brevard County and throughout Florida sometimes at several orders of magnitude above what scientists think are safe High levels of PFAS — short for per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances —  turned up recently in Cocoa Beach sewage South Patrick Shores soil and groundwater the University of Florida will unveil what it's found in the first year of a first-of-its-kind three-year PFAS study in Brevard County that aims to examine what happens to the chemicals in coastal areas after hurricanes and other severe storms The science of health risks from PFAS is emerging that science increasingly shows no level of exposure to these fluorinated chemicals is considered "safe."  PFAS consists of more than 4,000 kinds of chemicals designed to repel grease water and oil. They are used in the fire-fighting foams in fire-training exercises on military bases since the 1960s. The chemicals were also used in pesticides Teflon coatings and a litany of consumer and industrial products Their use has been phased out but the compounds remain in the environment for decades and are not regulated and other studies have shown the compounds inhibit the effectiveness of vaccines But the pathways of exposure to PFAS remain poorly understood and thought wildly variable. Biologists believe most of the chemicals make their way to us via food and water. But more recent research is discovering in some scenarios the highest relative intake of PFAS can come from breathing house dust and other indoor air.  Environmental Protection Agency's optional guideline for PFAS in drinking water is 70 parts per trillion (ppt) but some scientists assert the level should be in the teens per trillion or even lower to reduce long-term chronic health risks "Our communities want the power of knowing what’s in the water," said Bailey chief executive director of the nonprofit Fight For Zero "It’s important to us to have data on PFAS and to learn how these chemicals move before and to be able to educate the public on the information collected."  While EPA has no regulatory limit for the compounds in 2016 it published a voluntary health advisory for them warning that long-term exposure to the chemicals at levels above 70 ppt One part per trillion is roughly the equivalent of a single grain of sand in an Olympic-sized swimming pool Some studies show the chemicals endanger human health at a far lower levels than EPA's lifetime health advisory limit for drinking water Some states set guidelines for the compounds at lower levels set drinking and groundwater levels at 35 parts per trillion for PFOA and 27 parts per trillion for PFOS But some recent samples in Brevard and elsewhere in Florida topped EPA's 70 ppt lifetime health advisory limit for drinking water or showed other cause for concern: Pensacola had levels of 3.21 ppt and 2.87 ppt respectively.Tests of Cocoa Beach's sewage plant in May found a combined level of 172 ppt of two compounds weather conditions were dry which correlates to reduced groundwater infiltration that kept concentrations lower," Brad Kalsow director of Cocoa Beach's wastewater reclamation department "It’s good to see some lower concentrations More efforts need to be made to further correct the situation." The city had found higher levels in 2018 and blames it on the sewage coming into the plant from Patrick Space Force Base (PSFB) because of PFAS levels in the ground there measured as high as 4.3 million parts per trillion in 2018 Until phasing them out about five years ago the base used firefighting foams containing the chemicals Cocoa Beach has been sampling at its treatment plant headworks which combines all sewer flow from the city they find PFAS levels are near or slightly above EPA's lifetime health advisory limits for drinking water The most recent round of tests totaled $6,086.    the City will continue to sample and collect background data to have available if and when the DoD (Department of Defense) comes calling for remediation efforts," Kaslow said "We will also continue working with our Congressional Offices and PSFB to ensure actionable items/projects are being accomplished to help reduce concentrations even further." Florida's Space Coast has become a central front for better understanding of how PFAS behaves and exposes us in coastal areas. On June 23 in a free online public presentation researchers at University of Florida will unveil early first-year results from a three-year case study of PFAS in Brevard County funded by an almost $800,000 grant from EPA redistributes PFAS and how societal factors can worsen health impacts of exposure to the chemicals. UF's interdisciplinary team will characterize the different types of PFAS and biological samples before and immediately after a floods Then they'll create a model to forecast PFAS transport and risk exposure of different communities after floods "We want to understand how these pollutants could get to people," said Eric Coker assistant professor at UF's department of environmental and global health Drinking water for Patrick Space Force Base and the rest of Brevard's beachside comes from mainland sources: generally from the city of Cocoa for areas north of Pineda Causeway and from the city of Melbourne for areas south of the causeway.  Florida has no groundwater cleanup criteria for PFAS.  Army Corps of Engineers this month is seeking written permission from homeowners within a 52-acre former military landfill just south of Patrick to examine whether their yards need environmental cleanup Lawmakers have been pushing this month for PFAS cleanups Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the Clean Water for Military Families Act and the Filthy Fifty Act directing the Department of Defense to identify and clean up PFAS at U.S military installations with some of the highest levels Jackie Speier (D-Calif.-14) will introduce both measures in the House Jacksonville and Tyndall Air Force Base among 50 "priority installations" with the highest PFAS levels that must step up PFAS cleanups The Clean Water for Military Families Act would require the military conduct investigations and remediate PFAS $10 billion investment for the investigations and clean-up to ensure military families have access to clean More: Cancer mystery: 20 cases pop up among Satellite High grads within one year of each other More: Erin Brockovich inspires cancer survivors Read more: Brevard County school water tests safe but cancer fears remain 1st Annual Community Conference on Coastal Communities and Resilience to PFAS What: University of Florida and community partners 1st Annual Community Conference on Coastal Communities and Resilience to PFAS A free online community conference open to the public focusing on PFAS in Florida's coastal communities including updates about ongoing community-engaged research projects in Brevard County.  How to register: Visit https://tinyurl.com/coastalPFAS Consumer Reports/the Guardian tests of PFAS in Florida drinking water (ppt = parts per trillion) Source: Consumer Reports/the Guardian Cocoa Beach conducted sampling for PFAS in response to residents' concerns Cocoa Beach announced combined levels of the two compounds were as follows: 248.3 parts per trillion in a 10-foot-deep well at the golf course's northern end; 129.6 parts per trillion at a 10-foot-deep well well on the golf course near Banana River; 430.1 parts per trillion where Patrick Air Force Base sewage flows into Cocoa Beach's sewer system;284.4 parts per trillion at the Cocoa Beach's sewer plant's discharge right before treated sewage is pumped to reclaimed water storage tanks;177.2 parts per trillion at the point where all the sewage flows into Cocoa Beach's sewer plant.Satellite Beach's groundwater tests around the same time at three wells that ranged from 10 to 20 feet deep were 22.85 The Good War left lots of bad stuff behind — and buried — even on the Space Coast where U-boats sank merchant ships and our soldiers sank U-boats in fiery oil-leaking infernos Now, the federal government is back to locate, unearth and remove whatever long-hidden hazards from World War II and other decades-old military activities were buried near Patrick Space Force Base, an area where hundreds of homes now sit Residents of the area have long raised concerns about what they see as an abnormal number of rare illnesses among their number Army Corps of Engineers embarked on a $5.8 million project to use ground-penetrating radar to scan yards within a 52-acre site the federal agency has identified in South Patrick Shores which was part of Banana River Naval Air Station during World War II giving the Corps' contractor permission to scan their yards for buried military waste will conduct so-called geophysical surveys to define more specifically the location of any disposed waste generating a remediation plan sometime next year There have been early concerns from at least one of the homeowners within the area that the initial efforts are not covering nearly enough ground in residents' yards How long will it take?The geophysical surveys could take weeks or months The Corps plans to evaluate the data to determine if additional fieldwork is needed to fill any data gaps and/or to locate the limits of any disposed material then validating lab results of soil samples also could take months crews may need to resample nearby or deeper and/or need to install groundwater monitoring wells, Groundwater samples may need to be collected in different seasons more samples might need to be collected and/or installed The Corps anticipates a draft remedial investigation report in the summer of 2024 The purpose of the report is to determine the nature and extent of the Navy’s impacts at the off-base disposal area Some area residents have for decades been concerned by what they see as an abnormally high rate of rare cancers and other diseases among those who have lived in the area small pockets of people have suspected the base's radar facilities or chemicals and material that got dumped or buried in the ground were making them sick vehicle batteries and crushed barrels of petroleum during construction in South Patrick Shores A government investigation of the South Patrick Shores in the late 1980s and early 1990s found "no apparent public heath hazard" from waste buried in the area and the military denied responsibility for the waste officials said they also failed to find any records that the Navy had ever owned or leased the land The issue resurfaced in 2018 when a Jacksonville oncologist who went to Satellite High raised concerns that her cancer and that of about 20 others who went to the school might have been caused by environmental factors based on newly found records showing the Navy did in fact use the property More:Cancer mystery: 20 cases pop up among Satellite High grads within years of each other But the Jacksonville oncologist who graduated from Satellite High How much will all this cost?This $5.8 million early phase of the project will yield a draft remedial investigation report in the summer of 2024 Vapors from industrial solvents and other contaminants in the soil can rise up into homes through cracks in concrete slabs and other openings in homes Army Corps of Engineers to state and local government officials recommended studying indoor air quality of homes in the South Patrick Shores area The Corps noted that indoor air quality samples might show that homes were "potentially impacted by Navy-derived waste materials." Where can I learn more?Visit www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver/ Here is a link to the Remedial Investigation Fact Sheet: https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/22143 Contact: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District Toll-Free at (800) 710-5184 or FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver Project documents can be viewed at: Satellite Beach Library SOUTH PATRICK SHORES — After more than a year digging up scary rusty mystery junk in her yard and demanding answers from the government Sandra Sullivan has had enough.The environmental and justice campaigner has decided to shutter her Brevard beach home and leave the area for parts unknown Sullivan — who's been at ground zero in the fight to get a military waste site in South Patrick Shores cleaned up — fears for the health of her three children her husband and her father — who lives next door some of which resemble the dreaded neurological diseases and cancers that have stricken down so many in South Patrick Shores in recent years But with yet more lengthy government studies likely and any potential cleanup years away, she decided not to wait around anymore to hope for the best Sullivan and her family plan to move from their dream home sell their second house next door and start over somewhere else A sweet odor she suspects comes from buried military chemical solvents in her backyard now punctuates the bittersweet end to her family's decade-long tenure on Dorset Lane standing Tuesday amid the strange smell and heaps of rusty parts of God-knows-what she's dug up a transformer and an old rusty practice bomb are among her finds It's the unknowns that frightens Sullivan the most — things she and many of her neighbors didn't know about when they bought into South Patrick Shores so many years ago Sullivan's decision to move is a watershed moment in a long struggle for this sleepy beachside community Bitter memories still linger of the battle South Patrick Shores residents lost in the early 1990s when state and federal government declared there was no public health hazard from the World War II-era waste buried in some back yards But people there kept dying of rare diseases after prodding from a concerned oncologist — a cancer survivor and Satellite Beach High grad — and other grassroots efforts, state and federal environmental officials agreed to take another look hopes heightened when the military reversed its position, declaring the site eligible for a federal environmental cleanup program of formerly used defense sites as they learned how long potential cleanup might take.  Now they hear similar government runarounds to those they got three decades ago they say. Others fear more attention on the buried waste will hurt property values.  Internationally known environmental activist Erin Brockovich, who visited Satellite Beach in September 2018 to speak with residents about their health concerns, acknowledged that focusing on tainted soil and water could harm property values. But finding a solution and cleaning up the problem could help them rebound “I understand the concern,” Brockovich told FLORIDA TODAY in an interview just prior to her Satellite Beach visit. "If we look at the bigger picture our property values across this entire country are being impacted because of pollution. And you shouldn’t just hide behind that." said that if the federal government identified the contaminated properties in South Patrick Shores the land values could probably triple," said Bowcock, owner of California-based Integrated Resource Management Inc. "The government could make make money if they did it right." frustrating slog for South Patrick Shores homeowners like Sullivan who seek cleanups and/or just compensation from the military long after people are gone, somebody will ultimately get compensated," Bowcock said adding that the process can drag on for years "The federal government, they have all the time and all the power." Despite all the old military items Sullivan and others in the area have unearthed seeking claims against the federal government is an uphill battle "The first thing they do is deny all responsibility," Bowcock said "I don't care how much stuff she's dug up that's our process.' They win by attrition." And taking the federal government to court is lengthy you're looking at seven to 10 years." Bowcock said There needs to be some sort of claims program that's much more effective." The advent of national concerns about health impacts from fluorinated compounds in firefighting foams and other products could pressure Congress to speed up the federal claims process South Patrick Shores' homes hang over their concerned owners like an albatross.  who took a look at Sullivan's yard when he visited the area last year "She's kind of between a rock and a hard place Sullivan's conscience keeps her from selling so she wants the federal government to buy both homes "I don't want to sell my home to somebody and then find out later that they get sick," she said The government wheels in South Patrick Shores' saga began their slow grind during World War II the then Banana River Naval Air Station operated a seaplane patrol and pilot training station at what is now Patrick Air Force Base South Patrick Shores subdivision was built on mash land immediately south of the base small pockets of people have suspected the base's radar facilities or chemicals and material that got dumped or buried in the ground were making them sick vehicle batteries and crushed barrels of petroleum during construction in South Patrick Shores more than 450 residents from South Patrick Shores turned up for a town hall that spilled over from Sea Park Elementary to Satellite High School. Some sobbed in frustration. State and federal government couldn't provide concrete answers as to why 10 cases of Hodgkin's disease popped up in such a short period of time in South Patrick Shores and the residents diagnosed with the rare lymphatic cancer remained a sad and tragic mystery All the grassroots efforts culminated in a federal health investigation that found "no apparent public heath hazard" from the military waste  buried in the South Patrick Shores area And federal officials said they had no records proving the military owned leased or otherwise used off-base sites in the area for waste dumping having been diagnosed with cancer within a few years of each other She recovered from a rare cancer of the appendix the Florida Department of Health released its long-awaited report showing some elevated cancer rates in South Patrick Shores But more investigation would be needed to prove what's causing the cancers and the investigation fell short of confirming a cancer "cluster."  leukemia and a few other types of cancer at higher-than-normal rates in areas just south of Patrick Air Force Base behavioral and lifestyle risk factors that increases one’s risk for developing those cancers Some of the cancer survivors who pushed for the investigation criticized the findings for failing to take more recent cancer cases that local health officials and activists had compiled into account the fight for a cleanup crossed a major hurdle Army Corps of Engineers pulled an about-face and determined that a 32-acre site just southeast of Patrick is eligible for the Corps' Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) environmental cleanup program The federal agency found several World War II-era letters and memos that proved the military dumped various waste on the site Jenny Swisher wishes the military had owned up to the dump site much sooner before she moved next to Sullivan on SE 1st Street four years ago the 42-year-old a stay-at-home mother of five fears the same neurological disorders she often once saw as a nurse at a VA hospital in Lake Nona and feels fortunate her parents can afford to help her buy a new home but how do I sell my house?" Swisher wonders I'll take life … Being a nurse, I understand enough that there is no earthly way I would raise my family here.” Swisher finds shards of broken glass in her yard and pieces of little white dishes with anchors and Navy insignia on them she found a 1991 FLORIDA TODAY news clip about a former owner of her home unearthed an airplane fuselage and mortar shell in the yard A Patrick Air Force Base bomb squad had to come retrieve the bomb “People deserve a choice,” Swisher added “The problem is there's been deception The Corps is gathering information from property owners and in February plans to determine whether to move ahead with a cleanup project Sandra Sullivan plans to fill out what's called a Standard Form 95 The form is used to present claims against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) "for property damage or death allegedly caused by a federal employee's negligence or wrongful act or omission occurring within the scope of the employee's federal employment," according to the Department of Justice's website Environmental Protection Agency officials found dangerous levels of arsenic as well as chlorinated gases and the solvent dioxane. EPA decided the levels did not merit further action as the smoke where there's likely to be fire and wonders where the chemicals could be coming from She plans more independent testing of her own to help prove any future claim against the federal government Her and Swisher also are pursuing their own new health assessment of the neighborhood since federal health officials have yet to do so Sullivan laments having to leave the home she loves.  "I feel like I'm caught in limbo land," she says standing in her yard There's a heavy square box she suspects is an electric icebox made of lead. Wires insulated in fabric hang from various rusted electrical devices as a legless lizard slithers among the junk heap Sullivan worries most about her three kids She and her two younger children regularly suffered headaches and nausea until recently installing carbon air filters in bedrooms and an air handler I've never felt more at home or that I belonged more," she said Now her dream home brings fear and sadness.  Sullivan wrote in a recent post on her Facebook group: "There is a question at what point is the system not worth fighting any more?" Jim Waymer is environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663                                          Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer Support local journalism:  It you would like to read more government and political news, and you are not a subscriber, please consider subscribing. For details, go to offers.floridatoday.com A candidate for Brevard County Commission has filed a harassment complaint against Satellite Beach Police after she said they followed her home Thursday from a condo development just south of Patrick Space Force Base and interrogated her husband outside the couple's home who is running for the District 4 County Commission seat in 2022 says she stood on public easements Tuesday and Thursday when shooting videos of The Vue condominium development Sullivan has objected to the development over concerns that the building would endanger sea turtles and cause traffic congestion that could hamper hurricane evacuation issues that city officials say can be mitigated as the project progresses.  echoed by complaints to the city police on Tuesday and Thursday Sullivan said the city is trying to intimidate her after she raised questions about the development project She says the property she was standing on Tuesday is land owned by HP Communities LLC. which the city's building official confirmed to her via email. And Sullivan said she was standing along State Road A1A on Thursday to document construction activity before city police officers showed up at her home.  "How can they allege that I trespassed when I didn't leave a state road?" Sullivan said. "I was on a state road and didn't step off a state road. I was standing on A1A." Sullivan filed a harassment complaint with Brevard County Sheriff's Office against city police Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker said the police were just doing their jobs "There's no animosity," Barker said of the trespassing claims "The property owners of The Vue keep calling us. That's what the property owners are telling the police officers They're just responding to their complaints." Johns River Water Management District that workers were turning dirt on The Vue site without a water management district environmental resources permit Johns district sent a letter to Adam Facciobene offering the developer "compliance assistance." Facciobene was unavailable for comment Friday "An inspection was conducted at your project site on September 14 During this inspection and a review of the file potential non-compliance was noted," the St 4 letter states. "Construction of the project has started prior to issuance of the permit for phase 2 (63.220.020 F.A.C.) The purpose of this letter is to inform you of this violation and to offer you compliance assistance as a means of resolving the issue." "With regard to the correspondence dated October 4 We have discontinued any work covered under the St Johns Phase 2 permit for The Vue at Satellite Beach and will not proceed further with work covered under this permit until the permit is issued."  Sullivan contests the assertion that construction had ceased The Tennessee developer has plans to build The Vue complex expected to feature a four-star hotel single-family homes and three condominium buildings at the former Satellite Shores subdivision at the northwest corner of State Road A1A and Shearwater Parkway That 27-acre 100-home subdivision was originally built for Patrick Air Force Base housing This site is across the street from the state and federal Hightower Conservation area which biologists consider important sea turtle nesting habitat The current concept plan allows the developer to build up to 85 feet high with several hundred condo units Sullivan's recent run-ins with local law enforcement also have her concerned about her rights to redress government Jim Waymer is environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JWayEnviro Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer Support local journalism:  It you would like to read more government and political news, and you are not a subscriber, please consider subscribing. For details, go to floridatoday.com/subscribe In a landmark milestone decades in the making Army Corps of Engineers has decided to include an old 32-acre military dump site in South Patrick Shores in the agency's main environmental cleanup program paving the way for federal funding to remove military waste buried just south of the base The decision comes after years of public fears that buried chemicals and other military waste just beyond Patrick Air Force Base's borders have been contributing to local outbreaks of cancers "This has been a struggle for this community for so long and now there is finally some resolution for getting this all cleaned up," said Sandra Sullivan a local environmental activist who has been pushing the Corps to include the area in its main cleanup program Sullivan recently dug up a rusty practice bomb and other metal debris buried in her yard off Dorset Lane She says she holds her breath in her backyard not wanting to breathe in what smells like chemical fumes But she wasn't holding her breath that the Corps would come through with the federal cleanup designation for the South Patrick Shores old landfill area "I had felt this was being swept under the rug," she said The area now included in the Corps Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program stretches between Ocean Boulevard to the north The Corps signed the documentation that makes the so-called Naval Air Station Banana River Off-base Disposal Area eligible for the FUDS on Aug Patrick Air Force Base used to be called the Banana River Naval Air Station The designation means the military is finally taking responsibility for further assessing and ultimately cleaning up the waste buried just south of Patrick Air Force Base's southern border after decades of failing to do so Funding for future cleanups would depend on Congress “I’m pleased the Army Corps has taken a serious approach to the concerns of our community,” said U.S who met with regional leaders of the Corps earlier this year “The property eligibility is a critical first step in determining the area to be studied for potential contamination and remediation.”  research teams visited several National Archives facilities and found letters and memos not previously available according to a Corps fact sheet on the site. The recently located records which the Corps asserts were not available during a 1991 investigation the Navy used an area south of the base to dispose of trash and other military waste "As the Navy prepared to deactivate the base teams from the public works department south to restore the disposal area to the property owner's satisfaction "They burned all the trash and other debris and buried what remained," a Corps fact sheet says.  more than 450 residents from South Patrick Shores turned up for a town hall that spilled over from Sea Park Elementary to Satellite High School. Some sobbed in frustration Health concerns included Hodgkin's Disease cancer rates and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Health officials at the time concluded investigation of the South Patrick Shores area in the early 1990s that found "no apparent public health hazard." According to a notification email to stakeholders the Corps does not yet have an approved project." The agency will complete a preliminary assessment of the site's history and the Navy’s use of the land "and evaluate if further investigations are warranted. If so the Corps will request approval for a project. Once the project is approved the Corps will initiate a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study."  The Corps plans community meetings throughout the process and will post documents and other materials on the Corps’ website as they become available.  The preliminary assessment is expected in mid or late October The federal agency's Jacksonville district manages the so-called Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program in Florida The district's FUDS program is the fourth-largest in the corps It handles some 146 sites and executed $17 million in cleanups last year It's uncertain at this point how much the South Patrick Shores site will cost to clean up. One FUDS cleanup site in Fort Pierce will approach $30 million That's where up to 40,000 personnel trained at the installation trained for the D-Day invasion including "frogmen," the precursors to the Navy Seals They trained for Naval Underwater Demolition Teams the Corps began reevaluation of part of the South Patrick Shores Subdivision after local activists and a Jacksonville oncologist raised concerns about cancers and other illnesses they fear are linked to buried military waste at or near their homes began hearing about fellow Satellite High School graduates who were getting cancer "I'm just so grateful that they responded to our multiple letters and are taking our concerns seriously," Greenwalt said Friday "I think all citizens of Brevard should feel proud that their voices are being heard. I'm grateful to know that the investigation still continues." the FUDS designation crosses a crucial first hurdle in getting the waste cleaned up and the feds to "own" the problem even when the odds seem stacked against you you have to have faith until you've exhausted all options," Sullivan said Army Corps of Engineers plans community meetings throughout the process and will post documents and other materials on the Corps’ website as they become available. For information please see the attached Site Summary fact sheet or visit www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver FRIDAY'S UPDATE: Beachside Brevard boil water alert remains in effect; crews repair broken water main The city of Melbourne has declared a beachside boil water alert for residents and businesses from DeSoto Parkway in Satellite Beach northward to the Pineda Causeway in South Patrick Shores A "sizable" beachside water line break was reported Thursday morning Utility workers later discovered water leaking into a storm drain near South Patrick Drive and Jackson Avenue in Satellite Beach Crews confirmed that a 12-inch water main had broken. Crews isolated the broken pipe by 4 p.m. and repairs were expected to begin about 5 The boil water area encompasses the northern two-thirds of Satellite Beach population 11,056. South Patrick Shores is an unincorporated community of nearly 6,000 people extending roughly north of Satellite Beach's Shearwater Parkway neighborhoods to the Pineda Causeway The boil water notice is affecting 5,000 to 6,000 households and businesses another 10,000 to 15,000 households and businesses may be experiencing or have experienced low pressure — but not low enough to trigger the need for the boil water notice Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker said "we have gotten calls all morning" from residents reporting low water pressure we worry about our businesses with these boil water notices So that's our biggest concern," Barker said Beef O'Brady's in South Patrick Shores shut down posting a sign on the door: "Closed Until Further Notice Due To Water Main Break." Dunkin' Donuts in Satellite Beach closed its lobby and offered a limited menu during the boil water break And Long Doggers on South Patrick Drive closed for lunch Melbourne workers were staging trucks and heavy equipment at the scene of the water main leak Orange cones blocked sidewalk pedestrian access near manholes along the river side of South Patrick Drive Barker said this geographic area is particularly problematic And that area's the lowest elevation in the city by South Patrick Drive — especially the north Satellite Beach area So all of those utilities are under an immense amount of pressure," Barker said if you have weak spots in the utility pipes they are more apt to break than other areas that don't have those problems," she said Melbourne supplies drinking water across to an estimated 170,000 residents across southern Brevard West Melbourne, Melbourne Beach Palm Shores, Melbourne Village and adjacent unincorporated areas Melbourne maintains 5 miles of transmission mains and 52 miles of smaller distribution water lines in Satellite Beach, Ralph Reigelsperger Melbourne's public works and utilities director Text of Melbourne's notification: "Water pressure in the area has dropped below the minimum system requirements as work is underway to search for the cause we advise that all water used for drinking A rolling boil of one minute is sufficient bottled water may be used.This precautionary boil water notice is expected to remain in effect until the required bacteriological survey shows that the water is safe to drink You will be provided with a notification at that time." For questions or to report anything unusual beachside residents should call Melbourne's public works and utilities administration office at 321-608-5000 (daytime) or 321-255-4622 (after-hours) The boil water alert also affects a small portion of Indian Harbour Beach north of DeSoto Parkway in the Lansing Island area Melbourne's beachside water supply got knocked offline for about three days after lightning struck the John A Buckley Surface Water Treatment Plant near Lake Washington.  Satellite Beach and South Patrick Shores experienced a boil water alert for four days after a water line broke during a fire hydrant replacement project between the old Our Club Health & Fitness and Atlantis Urgent Care on State Road A1A in Indian Harbour Beach vice president of the South Patrick Residents Association noticed the water pressure drop while gardening about 8 a.m What's going on?' It was like trickling out," Mariani said "The infrastructure is breaking down and needs to be overhauled But I think city officials are aware of it and county officials are aware of it," he said "We're confident the city of Melbourne will find the leak and fix it We've been through hurricanes and power outages For the city of Melbourne's list of frequently asked questions regarding boil water notices, click on this link. More: Satellite Beach tests high for red tide VIDEO: Cocoa water main bursts off Fiske Blvd. Twitter: @RickNeale1 Support local journalism:  Subscribe to FLORIDA TODAY at floridatoday.com/subscribe To provide our community with important public safety information, our newsroom is making stories related to the coronavirus free to read. To support important local journalism like this, please consider becoming a digital subscriber The new coronavirus casts plans to clear up the suspected health threat from old buried military waste in South Patrick Shores into uncharted waters as federal funding priorities shift to conquering the virus putting future environmental cleanups on unsure ground or endure quarantine and funding uncertainty the novel coronavirus adds another element of uncertainty to the long-awaited cleanup of a World War II landfill southeast of Patrick Air Force Base. For residents many who have already waited more than three decades for relief it's just another in a long line of hurdles and delays the federal government appears to fast-track the plan at least in terms of trying to get state officials to sign off on it Army Corps of Engineers announced it had finished an early assessment of an at least 25-acre dump site southeast of Patrick The Corps sent the 247-page draft study to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for their review seeking the state agency's comments by March 31 The upshot: The Corps' analysis acknowledges the "potential" for hazardous toxic and radioactive waste at the old landfill resulting from the Navy’s disposal by burning and burying military debris at the site Further consideration and action by the Corps will determine if the identified potential hazard warrants a formal cleanup project led by the federal agency The report documents at least two accounts of small arms ammunition and other waste being found at or near the site "There are credible accounts of residents finding 55-gallon drums "High corrosion levels noted on material uncovered in 2018 and 2019 indicates minimal potential of thin walled ferrous (iron) vessels such as 55-gallon drums, remaining intact." But the report also states: "This assessment did not identify any unsafe structures or debris remaining from the military’s previous use of (the site)." The assessment is a key milestone for the Corps deciding what to do next with the site "The research places emphasis on establishing and chemical warfare materiel (CWM) activities," the draft assessment says The Corps is leading the cleanup of the so-called Naval Air Station Banana River Off-Base Disposal Area which the federal agency submitted to DEP on March 13 for their review the Corps' director of contracting issued a memo urging managers to monitor review and to be transparent about how COVID-19 will impact all contracting and field work travel restrictions and alternative work locations the Corps' Jacksonville district has not been advised of any reduction to this year's funding for the federal agency's formerly used defense sites (FUDS) funding due to COVID-19 or any other issue, Amanda Parker a spokeswoman for the Corps said via email Thursday based on the results of the preliminary assessment the Corps is requesting approval for a project and funding for a a study "to characterize the nature (what) and extent (where) of impacts attributable to the Navy's activities." Congressional funding for FUDS projects is made at the Department of Defense level "Projects are ranked and funded based on level of risk to the public at each site across the nation," Parker said.  we do not yet know the full impacts of the virus and cannot speculate on them at this time," she said was a secondary field to Naval Air Station Jacksonville until its deactivation in 1947 The Navy buried waste just southeast of the base from 1942 through 1947, "based on a verbal agreement and a written letter from the representative of the landowner," the assessment says.  Naval operations of the offsite landfill ended by February 1948 The Navy transferred the station to the Air Force in 1948 which reactivated the installation as the Joint Long Range Proving Ground The Air Force renamed it Patrick Air Force Base in 1950 "Historic records indicate that the Navy’s off-site solid disposal area included burning 'destructible materials,' burying 'non-flammable materials,' and “literally anything and everything had been dumped in the area,' " the Corps' report says Builders bought the land and began constructing single-family homes in 1956 for South Patrick Shores completing redevelopment of the former disposal site by 1961 residents’ health concerns led state and federal agencies to investigate concluding there was no provable public health hazard But the health concerns lingered and reignited in 2018 who grew up in Satellite Beach brought the issue to the attention of state health officials and to environmental activist Erin Brockovich Dr. Greenwalt, an oncologist and cancer survivor, began to notice her friends being diagnosed and dying of cancer compiling more than 40 cases of people under age 40 who grew up in the area and were diagnosed with cancer many of them fellow Satellite High School graduates Other grassroots efforts identified many more cases of cancer and other diseases that are less common Last year, Florida Department of Health officials concluded the higher cancer rates in Brevard are no reason for alarm The state agency has no further plans for extensive investigations into the matter.  But the Corps decided to review whether the site was eligible for its cleanup program “Right now the priority is on COVID-19 as it is a widespread pandemic that should be taken very seriously,” Greenwalt said Thursday “But when we are past the COVID pandemic I hope the DEP will continue to assess our situation and try to move forward on cleanup if needed.” Further consideration and action from the Corps will determine if the identified potential hazard warrants a cleanup under the agency's Formerly Used Defense Sites environmental cleanup program The Corps says 25 acres of the site is eligible for the cleanup program but according to the Army Geospatial Center’s analysis the dumping site may be more than twice as large (about 52 acres) Historic aerial photographs show that after the Navy’s “restoration” of the site in 1948 dumping of waste may have continued on the site in the early 1950s "by unknown parties though there is no evidence that Patrick AFB or the military participated at that point," the Corps' assessment says As the Cold War and the Space Race heated up people flocked to South Patrick Shores for their slice of the American Dream and to help the nation reach the moon "The residential developers that graded the land and constructed the homes found buried material and may have further dispersed it while grading the development tracts," the report explains "The subsequent homeowners did not have mandatory solid waste collection until 1982 and there are accounts of burning and burial of residential wastes on site before that time It is unknown if these activities may have contributed to potential contamination .. homeowners kept digging up military items in their yards: practice bombs The Corps said there is "no definitive evidence" of explosives of concern but the site's use for solid waste disposal "probably included munitions debris found at the site in the form of practice bomb Our journalists are working hard to report on the coronavirus and its effects on the Space Coast, and bring you the stories free of charge as a service to the community. If these local stories are important to you, support us by becoming a subscriber. Right now you can try a digital subscription for $3 for 3 months A tornado may have touched down late Wednesday afternoon in South Patrick Shores Some homeowners saw parts of their roofs ripped away and windows blown out Others saw limbs torn from trees and carports twisted apart ➤ Storm damage reports ➤ Track power outages Emergency responders, including the Red Cross and Florida Power & Light arrived on the scene Wednesday evening to help residents in the area the National Weather Service Melbourne issued a severe thunderstorm warning Severe thunderstorms were spotted along a line extending from 7 miles northeast of Port Canaveral to near PatrickSpace Force Base to near Melbourne Forecasters warned 60-mph wind gusts and quarter-size hail were possible with the storm A tornado warning was issued minutes later — at 5:17 p.m — after radar indicated rotation in a severe thunderstorm was located either over South Patrick Shores or Patrick Space Force Base How many people are without power in Brevard County?The Florida power outage tracker showed 287 people were without power in Brevard County as of 4:30 a.m FP&L's power outage map showed all the outages were in the area of South Patrick Shores  It "seemed like Ground Zero," said Luann Manderville who was at her Pelican Drive home with her husband Possible tornado: A possible tornado strikes South Patrick Shores; no reported injuries The National Weather Service Melbourne will conduct a storm damage survey today to determine whether it was a tornado or another sort of wind event, according to Kole Fehling, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne. Brevard EOC said residents with any property or home damage as a result of the storm are encouraged to submit photos and a description of the damage to help the agency better understand the impacts Contributors: John McCarthy; J.D. Gallop; Britt Kennerly With hurricane season on the horizon and turtle nesting season just over a month away crews are scrambling to shore up Brevard's vulnerable Mid-Reach dune area with extra sand before they have to halt work until November For some residents of this narrow barrier island the sight of dump trucks carting in sand is welcome it brings concerns that too much sand will bury and destroy a rare reef the federal government deems "essential fish habitat." dunes will be the focus of where sand goes along this stretch of beach and how much of the reef gets buried remains to be seen — especially by the environmentalists watching See more Photos: Sand flowing onto Brevard's mid-reach and south beaches Citing "delays in equipment availability," the U.S Army Corps of Engineers recently announced plans to focus on dunes from South Patrick Shores to Indian Harbour Beach Club when all work on the beach must stop because of endangered and threatened sea turtle nesting The $47.6 million sand-pumping and placement project to restore dunes and beach from Pineda Causeway to South Spessard Holland Park had been delayed for several weeks because of problems with the dredge putting sand on the beach should end by the start of turtle nesting season on April 30 "The change is being adopted to provide maximum coastal protection to the most critically eroded areas of the Mid-Reach before the start of the 2024 hurricane season given the limited time remaining to work on the beach," Corps officials said in the release "This change has been coordinated with Brevard County to best meet the goal of the authorized project to provide coastal protection while in compliance with all relevant environmental and regulatory requirements." California — will return to complete adding sand to "the dunes and all templated berms in the Mid-Reach segment as well as renourishment of the entire South Reach segment as originally planned," Corps officials said in a release "The berm generally refers to the area of the beach between the dunes and the water." The project aims to put about 1.1 million cubic yards of sand on 11.5 miles of beach from the southern border of Patrick Space Force Base through Satellite Beach Indialantic and ending in Melbourne Beach at Spessard Holland Beach Park New Brevard sand will fix erosion from Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole The so-called Mid and South Reach Shore Protection Project is 100% federally funded to restore damages from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 Dutra Dredging dredges the sand from Canaveral Shoals — an area about nine miles off of Cape Canaveral — and stockpiles it on the beach between Spessard Holland North and South parks The sand then gets hauled by truck north on State Road A1A to be placed in the Mid-Reach area instead of pumping it directly onto the the beach to minimize burial of nearshore rock reef habitats an environmental activist from South Patrick Shores has long taken issue with the volume of sand being increased on the project in recent years and the amount of nearshore coquina-rock reef that similar sand placements in the past buried killing rare worms and other marine life that lives on the reef you're going to have less and less life," Sullivan said of the nearshore reef getting buried by the sand project "How many more times are you going to do it before it becomes lifeless?" coastal geologist at Florida International University is that very few scientists study the impacts of beach renourishment on the rare Sabellariid worm reefs that span from roughly Cape Canaveral to Biscayne Bay The worms settle onto the nearshore limestone and build protective tubes out of the surrounding sand create tide pools that provide vital habitat for marine life "It is kind of difficult to find an expert that is looking at the interaction of these nearshore reefs with sediment but beach renourishment in particular," Parkinson said "They've always been buried and re-exposed There are so many other elements of pressure The real question is 'what's the tolerance of this stuff to an environment that has changes.' " A landmark paper about the worms by Florida State University in 1968 found that they have been "instrumental in building and protecting beaches of the geological past and in exerting control over the evolution of shorelines." The worms are very resilient and their larvae can quickly reestablish on the coquina rocks a biologist at Jacksonville University who's studied the worms' reefs from Palm Beach to Brevard for years he worries about the continual bombardment with sand that can kill the worms "This is a species that's adapted to a naturally harsh environment They can be covered over for a couple days and still survive if they're re-exposed," McCarthy said The worms' reproductive capability way outstrips the pace of coral-reef growth rates "They're like little brick layers," McCarthy said the federal government allowed the Mid-Reach dredging project which offsets about three acres of the reef that the project buries with a $10.6 million But Sullivan and a few other local activists contend that the artificial reef falls ecologically short of making up for the buried natural reef Federal officials insist they are trying to protect as much of the reef as possible the USFW and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issue what's called a "Section 7 biological opinion" on beach renourishment projects to ensure species and habitat protection to minimize "takes" — the legal definition for when a protected species is killed Fish and Wildlife Service officials said in response to questions from FLORIDA TODAY that their "standard procedures were followed in working with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to complete the biological opinion for the project The federal agency added that it's the Corps decision on whether or not another biological opinion would be needed it is up to the action agency (in this case the U.S Army Corps) to determine whether a re-initiation of consultation including a Biological Opinion would be required." New Space Coast beach sand project raises property protection for some, concerns for others Satellite Beach's website discusses the Mid-Reach: satellitebeach.gov/residents/sustainable_satellite/beaches/beach_renourishment.php Call Brevard's beach project hotline for updates: (321) 574-8855 SATELLITE BEACH — Cancer fears trigger strong emotions in this small town But passions really heated up when city officials held a closed-door meeting Monday with an associate of celebrity activist Erin Brockovich prompting at least one formal complaint that the city broke state open meetings law "There needs to be transparency," said Sandra Sullivan who recently dug up a transformer, chunks of metal and other old junk in the backyard of her South Patrick Shores home Sullivan said she filed an online complaint with the Florida Attorney General and via a Facebook cancer survivors' group she urged others to do the same Her follow-up Facebook post encouraged concerned citizens to call in complaints to State Attorney Phil Archer.  Florida Attorney General Office Spokeswoman Kylie Mason said Monday via email sunshine violations are handled by the local state attorney’s office."  More: Erin Brockovich associate vows to help find cancer answers More: Officials: Beachside school tap water is safe from cancer compounds Sullivan and other property owners in the Satellite Beach and South Patrick Shores area long have worried about military waste from Patrick buried decades ago: airplane parts Brockovich plans to hold a community meeting in Satellite Beach on Sept state and Air Force Base officials. But at the door of council chambers Satellite Beach Mayor Frank Catino denied access to about a dozen concerned citizens Catino told them it was a private meeting because fewer elected city officials were there at any given time than would trigger Florida's open meetings law He and council members Mindy Gibson and Mark Brimer rotated in and out of the council chambers to avoid breaking state open meetings law which requires public notice and public access if two or more elected city officials are present City Manager Courtney Barker said during the meeting that the city kept invites limited to keep the meeting professional and focused "There is a level of professionalism that's being lost," Barker said Monday noting that some of the same individuals turned away Monday had been posting to social media video clips from a recent community meeting about the cancer concerns and posting negative comments to make it appear the city is not taking the cancer concerns seriously That notion led Barker to reply to Brockovich's Facebook post that was critical of local government's response "We're just trying to keep it professional," Barker said Local cancer concerns reemerged in the Satellite Beach area after Dr cancer survivor and Satellite High School grad began questioning whether local environmental exposures contributed to her rare cancer (of the appendix) and the cancers of about 20 fellow SHS grads She began corresponding with Brockovich and compiling local cancer cases Clift Greenwalt has identified at least 54 cases of people who either went to SHS or grew up in the area Concerns had centered on groundwater contamination from fire extinguishing foams that Patrick Air Force Base for years used for fire training at the base Recent city groundwater tests at three wells also found fluorinated chemicals linked to the foams (as well as other sources) as did recent groundwater and wastewater tests by the city of Cocoa Beach Bowcock told officials at Monday's meeting that the fluorinated chemicals themselves are not a problem in the local drinking water but the chemicals may be a good indicator that other And those compounds can enter homes via cracks in concrete slabs or any other openings under homes Sullivan said she has no interest in suing the city over the closed meeting "This problem is bigger than us," Sullivan said That means you don't exclude people who have been very involved in this process." Support local journalism: Sign up for a special Summer Sale offer for new subscribers at floridatoday.com/subscribe Mott thought he spotted a large alligator floating in the Berkeley Street canal Saturday near his neighbor's home "I just kind of alerted him: 'You've got a gator swimming around your dock I go outside and it had actually climbed on top of his dock and into his yard," Mott recalled "We quickly realized that it wasn't an alligator It was a crocodile — which is completely dumbfounding to me," he said never before ran across a crocodile," he said The surprising South Patrick Shores crocodile generated numerous sightings Monday and Tuesday on Facebook and social media Mott estimated the toothy reptile measured 8 feet to 10 feet in length American crocodiles are a threatened species in Florida but have recently migrated northward and inland via canals into freshwater areas the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports "Often the sight of an American crocodile frightens nearby residents and visitors and typically choose to stay away from areas where people live," according to the FWC website they can become accustomed to people after prolonged exposure to people and may even allow people to approach them closer than is advisable they may learn to approach people if they’ve become accustomed to receiving fish scraps at fish cleaning stations or have been directly fed by people," the website said Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for Greg Workman a crocodile was captured by a trapper near the Cocoa Beach Pier startled beach-goers spotted an alligator swimming in the Atlantic Ocean near Park Avenue in Satellite Beach More: From the yard to a container: Rattlesnake, caught by Cocoa trapper, moved to serpentarium for antivenin More: Orange iguana spotted at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, startling visitors Neale is the South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.  Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com Satellite Beach Fire Department crews quickly tackled an attic fire that nearly gutted a home and spotted over to another residence Thursday afternoon George’s Court in South Patrick Shores More: Body found in backyard after Brevard resident said he shot at 2 men trying to break into home A Brevard County Fire Rescue engine also was at the scene The cause of the fire was not immediately known.  Military engineers spelled out Friday the next steps to clean up a World War II-era dumpsite that many fear has long been sickening the beachside residents who live above it More than 300 homes lie within the 52-acre area south of Patrick Space Force Base targeted for cleanup Some fear the dangers a shovel might one day find in their yards Nobody's been injured from an explosion yet but other findings in backyards have kept the fear alive "While practice munitions and smaller (ammo) cartridges have been recovered we have no evidence of munitions with explosives hazards." Andrew Rebman said in a video presentation posted Friday.  Read more: Corps holds community meeting on old Space Coast military dump site 'A smell I could not get out of my nose': South Patrick Shores homeowner digs up old military waste The presentation the Corps posted online walked homeowners through how the agency will probe South Patrick Shores yards for any dangerous debris or chemicals left behind before during and after World War II. Workers will drive in mini-excavators grab soil samples by hand, push-roll ground-penetrating radar to survey for metals and put small canisters inside homes to test for soil gasses if soil or groundwater samples raise suspicions those vapors are entering homes The Corps plans to conduct a soil-vapor-intrusion study of willing South Patrick homeowners' houses in instances where soil or groundwater contamination is found But not all residents are on board yet for the Corps investigation.  160 of 317 eligible homeowners (50%) have signed "right-of-entry" forms to allow the Corps on their property to sample for soil and air contamination The Corps is seeking additional rights of entry many in the area say that while they welcome the long-awaiting investigation they fear the Corps won't look long enough This stage of the investigation will prepare a report of risks from contamination then the next stage would devise a plan for how to clean up the contamination and remove health risks to homeowners.  The Corps said it posted the presentation online instead of holding a community meeting, because of health and safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic They said residents can submit questions to the Corps via email at FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil or by calling 800-710-5184 Answers from the federal government couldn't come soon enough for Martha Bryant Many of her neighbors have faced a similar diagnosis I don't see how it couldn't be something in the community," said Bryant who lives on 1st Street in South Patrick Shores who now live in the same house Bryant grew up in.  Bryant and several others in South Patrick put their own air monitors in their homes and Bryant's recently spiked as high as 23,500 parts per billion for total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), almost 80 times what's considered safe however they can do it so that truly cleans it up so that it's all the way safe," Bryant said. "It's such a community here Cancer mystery: Cancer rates are higher in Brevard County, but health officials don't know why Read more: Feds suspect how military dumpsite toxins enter Space Coast beachside homes: vapor intrusion In May 2019, the Florida Department of Health released a more than yearlong investigation of illnesses in the South Patrick Shores area the Jacksonville oncologist who grew up in Brevard and had helped get the state to investigate cancers in the Satellite Beach and Suntree areas said the state's investigation feel far short of what she'd asked for The DOH investigation failed to examine all cancer types or include hundreds of local cancer cases activists and survivors reported to the health department Florida Department of Health officials assured at the time that the higher cancer rates in Brevard were no reason for alarm genetics or random chance and dropped investigations into the matter.  Experts struggled for years to explain exactly how toxic chemicals from old military dumpsites along Space Coast beaches managed to sicken residents around South Patrick Shores. But for the first time federal officials  signaled this past summer that they might have an answer: the cocktail of poisons come from underground in the form of vapors that seep into homes and can cause several health risks Industrial solvents and other chemicals that contaminated drinking water near military bases around the country have been associated with outbreaks of cancers and other rare diseases, sparking lawsuits and federal intervention. But what long provided a degree of plausible deniability to the military regarding South Patrick Shores was the fact that drinking water to the beachside area comes from mainland sources.  Soil vapor intrusion into homes was the theory that Bob Bowcock — who consults on water contamination issues for environmental activist Erin Brockovich — speculated about during a September 2018 community forum in Satellite Beach hosted by Brockovich.   The acknowledgement that soil vapors could be at play came in an Aug 9 presentation by the Corps to state and local government officials U.S. 192 landfill permit: Brevard County Commission OKs signing permit for U.S. 192 landfill, but keeps options open New landfill?: Brevard commissioners to debate where to put new landfill to replace Sarno Road site 4 seat, obtained the 70-page Corps presentation via a public records request to the city of Satellite Beach.  Sullivan hopes the Corps will install so-called slab depressurizations systems to vent away harmful VOCs before they can enter homes. Carbon filters in air handlers also can help reduce VOCs as well in your indoor air she said, but do not address spikes.  Among the holdouts still to allow the Corps in to test is Brevard Public Schools The school district has yet to sign the right-of-entry form for Sea Park Elementary citing concerns over security and how the work would be conducted assistant superintendent of facilities, said the Brevard Public Schools is working with the Corps on BPS' concerns "I expect to take a right of entry to the board in December or January," Hann said via email Watch the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presentation at https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver/ Jim Waymer is environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at  jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JWayEnviro Worried about what military waste may lurk underneath your yard or home Army Corps of Engineers will be available Nov 9 at Pelican Beach Park in Satellite Beach to discuss the status of an environmental investigation and pending cleanup of former defense sites just south of Patrick Space Force Base The Corps plans to move forward with investigations and cleanups where property owners have signed "rights-of-entry." "While the deadline to receive signed rights-of-entry has passed we encourage all property owners who received and have not yet signed the form to do so as soon as possible," the notice to residents reads "If someone signs the form after we start field work we cannot guarantee that the property will be investigated."  Vapor intrusion: Feds suspect how military dumpsite toxins enter Space Coast beachside homes: vapor intrusion Documents exposed: Key documents exposed military's role in dump site near Patrick Air Force Base Next steps: Feds lay out next steps in military dumpsite cleanup among Space Coast beachside homes More than 300 homes lie within the 52-acre area south of Patrick Space Force Base targeted for cleanup Some residents fear what dangers a shovel might one day find in their yards we have no evidence of munitions with explosives hazards," Andrew Rebman said in a video presentation posted last November.  use ground-penetrating radar to survey for metals If soil or groundwater samples raise suspicions workers will place small canisters inside homes to test for vapors Feds lay out next steps in military dumpsite cleanup among Space Coast beachside homes 182 of 317 eligible homeowners (50%) has signed "right-of-entry" forms to allow the Corps on their property to sample for soil and air contamination Brevard Public Schools also decided to allow the Corps entry to look for contamination on the grounds of Sea Park Elementary School.  the Corps also lists on its interactive FUDS map several other sites that don't currently have cleanup projects:  Some fear the Corps won't dig deep in the South Patrick Shores area enough to find contamination of South Patrick Shores, has pushed the Corps for years to clean up the contamination near the base a panel that advises the military on base-related environmental cleanups. "I have learned that the appropriate test is direct-push technology — a core sample to the water table," Sullivan wrote in an email.   "While I am appreciative of the $5.8 million dollars for dump testing which was sped up by Congressman (Bill) Posey, it is sad for our community that the USACE testing the fill is to garner a 'no-further response,' " Sullivan wrote referring to the possibility that the agency fails to sample adequately to find enough contamination to merit a cleanup "How they test determines the results. It is not rocket science that contamination that needs to be tested is below the debris."  Residents have been disappointed before at what they say hasn't been aggressive enough testing. For example the Florida Department of Health released a more than yearlong investigation of illnesses in the area including too many children," Sullivan added "Friends and children have died while we continue to wait for testing."  Want to learn more about former military contamination sites along Brevard's barrier island Army Corps of Engineers representatives will be available to discuss the Naval Air Station Banana River Off-Base Disposal Area and the environmental investigation and proposed fieldwork approach between 3:30 p.m Satellite Beach.  For more information email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil or call (800) 710-5184 Army Corps of Engineers will be available Thursday 16 at Pelican Beach Park Club House in Satellite Beach to discuss the status of an environmental investigation and pending cleanup of former defense sites just south of Patrick Space Force Base The meeting had been originally scheduled for November but was scrapped because of Tropical Storm Nicole More than 300 homes lie within the 52-acre area south of Patrick Space Force Base targeted for cleanup use ground-penetrating radar to survey for metals The Corps plans to conduct a soil-vapor-intrusion study of willing South Patrick homeowners' houses But not all residents are on board yet for the invasive tests at least 182 of 317 eligible homeowners (50%) have signed "right-of-entry" forms to allow the Corps on their property to sample for soil and air contamination Brevard Public Schools also decided to allow the Corps entry to look for contamination on the grounds of Sea Park Elementary School Some residents have expressed disappointment at what they say hasn't been aggressive enough testing theFlorida Department of Health released a more than yearlong investigation of illnesses in the area Information about the potential cleanup sites can be accessed at this Corps site The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to begin the first phase of the Remedial Investigation field work (ground penetrating radar) near Patrick Space Force Base. Corps officials will be available to discuss the environmental investigation between 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, at the Pelican Beach Club House, 1495 State Highway A1A, Satellite Beach. For information, email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil or call 800-710-5184 Support local journalism. Unlock unlimited digital access to floridatoday.com Click here and subscribe today. dropping off like miniature cliffs to the beach below Hurricane Nicole's fierce waves pounded the Space Coast's public beach infrastructure forcing ongoing closures along a 23-mile stretch of State Road A1A from Sea Gull Park in South Patrick Shores southward to Bonsteel Park Officials continue to warn surfers, swimmers and beachgoers to stop using storm-damaged "People are just walking through the dunes And it's impossible for the police department to keep that in check," Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker said Melbourne Beach Resort: Deemed unsafe after Hurricane Nicole, resort plans to repair, reopen Official: Satellite Beach condo tower not in immediate danger, despite Nicole beach erosion 'For me this is home': Boaters who rode out Hurricane Nicole risk their lives for their boats "Walking through the dunes just makes erosion worse And walking through the (damaged) crossovers is very They're not structurally sound right now," Barker said "So it's better to go to ones that are open," she said Following is a list of Brevard County public beach access points that remained closed as of Friday: Crossovers are closed at Sea Gull Park and SPRA Park Of Satellite Beach's 17 public beach access points Pelican Beach Park (the two southern accesses).Crotty Beach Park.Magellan Avenue."All of the accesses above have a drop off so please use caution," the city website warns City recreation officials have also had to cancel beach-bonfire permitting indefinitely because of damages to dunes and crossovers City officials have closed the following beach access points Bicentennial Beach Park.Millennium Beach Park.Near Serena Shores Condominiums. "At this time it is unclear how long each of these beach access points will remain closed As more information and dates become available additional updates will be posted," Indian Harbour Beach Police Department announced on Facebook "Please DO NOT climb over or bypass the roped off and boarded off areas at each of these closed beach access points to gain access to the beach Doing so could result in injury," the Facebook post said "Anyone observed climbing over or bypassing the roped off and boarded off areas at each of these closed beach access points could be issued a Trespass Warning and be banned from the park for up to 1 year," the post said Three crossovers are closed at Canova Beach Park: Wallace Avenue the north beach access and the Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible access The public crossover is closed near Radisson Suite Hotel Oceanfront Futch Memorial Park at Paradise Beach main ADA-accessible crossover.  More: Andretti Thrill Park reopens after Hurricane Nicole rips large hole in exterior wall More: Muscle car museum stages FPL crews working to restore power to Brevard after Nicole Indialantic Town Manager Mike Casey said no dune crossovers were damaged in his 1-square-mile town nor were any oceanfront buildings structurally compromised Melbourne BeachAll public access points are open in the town of Melbourne Beach Beach crossovers remain closed at these locations: Indian River LagoonInland along the Indian River Lagoon Brevard County officials also report damages at a trio of facilities in Grant-Valkaria: a wooden pedestrian boardwalk — which was damaged by Hurricane Ian — remains closed at Kiwanis Park at Geiger Point On Merritt Island, Intracoastal Waterway Park is also closed near State Road 520 Satellite Beach City Council Member Dominick Montanaro warned surfers and swimmers to be alert to seaborne construction debris knocked loose by Nicole “Please be careful if you’re going out on the beach Even the people in the water: There’s a lot of floating lumber in the ocean right now but it’s out there," Montanaro said during Wednesday's City Council meeting “I was here for the Thanksgiving Day storm back in the late ‘80s And you could go to Sebastian Inlet — and you probably could have built 20 homes with the wood washed up on the north jetty," Montanaro said Federal Emergency Management Agency and Brevard County Emergency Management assessment teams toured damaged shoreline structures this week Countywide preliminary estimates show Nicole's jumbo-sized waves likely inflicted more than $10 million in beach erosion damages Brevard County Communications Director Don Walker said a mid-October estimate determined Ian wreaked $8.43 million in beach damages primarily in the southern portion of the county "That's another reason these areas should be left alone so they can get a good idea of what the damage actually is," Walker said of closed crossovers the county can benefit from whatever federal dollars are out there to help get these sites back to the way they were pre-storm," he said Nicole racked up about $700,000 in damages to Satellite Beach's dune access points, Barker said Officials are seeking price quotes to accelerate emergency repairs at popular Hightower Beach Park and Pelican Beach Park So we'll be going through our insurance company but we still have all the co-pays and all that stuff we're hoping that FEMA can reimburse some of those damages," Barker said Barker said Nicole damaged the racquetball-court doors at the DeSoto Recreation Complex Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1 Support local journalism. Subscribe today. Jill Phelps stands by her choice to stay in her house even after suspecting years ago that it was slowly killing her Phelps has withered from size 12 jeans They fit so loosely she uses a rope to hold them up Her infectious smile defies her haggard 95-pound frame echoing the resolve that sustained her as a reluctant activist who 30 years ago took on the U.S Air Force to bring down a Cold War-era radar dome near her neighborhood She fought hard to remove the dreaded radar station at Patrick Air Force Base that had stirred so many neighborhood health fears she thought the risk to her and her family went with it But the story of this quiet, small beach town’s health woes didn't end with the radar's removal she believes it was only one piece of the puzzle contributing to health risks in the area airplanes and other World War II junk buried beneath her tropical island paradise Science can’t — or won’t — prove she's right But Jill Phelps is convinced what the military dumped underground is partly to blame for why she's wasting away “It wasn't just solely the radar,” Phelps says There were other pathways of exposure to whatever chemicals might have seeped into the lagoon from the ground ponds and ditches of Patrick Air Force Base and its nearby dump sites Like many families in South Patrick Shores Jill's family used private wells to sprinkle laws when she was growing up.  “I ate a lot of fish off that river,” she recalls of growing up here in the 1970s Doctors aren't exactly sure what's killing her her own immune system is eating away at her nerves. Myelin the insulating sheath layer on her nerves she says, of something called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) CIDP is characterized by a progressive weakening and impaired sensory function in the arms and legs She describes her symptoms as resembling a mix of multiple sclerosis (MS) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and cancer if she were able to turn back the clock she would still choose South Patrick Shores I’m not leaving my home,” Phelps said “I made it to 60; that’s a long-enough life.” She would rather die here at 60 than in some "snow-drift" state and live another decade or more.  brought her family to Brevard County in 1966 as the Space Race accelerated with better opportunity than in small-town Pennsylvania she peddled her bicycle to remote South Patrick Shores beaches with no motels But her sense of safety would slowly erode after she became a mother and began hearing more about rare illnesses near the base, the nearby radar station and all the odd military waste dug up in yards.  which soon grew beyond just the radar station also would push hard — to no avail — for a federal cleanup of military waste buried before Some neighbors worried about the impact to their property values But they chose to stick their necks out for what they thought was right Phelps is proud that the battle she embraced three decades ago lives on in a younger generation of activists taking up the mantle. Others newer to the fight look to her and her husband for inspiration encouragement and the lessons learned going up against the slow-moving but powerful wheels of government "Jill and Lee are heroes to me for their work in the '90s," said Sandra Sullivan who's among those in South Patrick Shores who've taken up the torch of local environmental activism the couple helped ignite 30 years ago Like many in the modern battle to clean up military dump sites south of the base Jill Phelps never set out to become an activist she began to hear of rare illnesses in South Patrick Shores including a dozen or more cases of Hodgkin's disease, a rare cancer of the lymphatic system. The more she looked the more odd cases had popped up: other rare cancers The  diseases appeared to cluster along the streets she knew so well Jill Phelps got worried. Autumn would be OK "We thought being zapped by the radar was what was harming people,” she said The static interruptions in their living room and car were a constant The radar would cause static pulses over car radios as motorists crossed the Pineda Causeway "It came through the stereo system," Jill Phelps recalls No one knew the health risks of long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from radar stations Jill Phelps drew up a petition demanding the U.S just like they do on every other issue," Phelps told FLORIDA TODAY at the time.   "I am beginning to wonder if it is ever going to happen," Jill Phelps told FLORIDA TODAY two years after beginning her petition drive.  A private archive helps rekindle a new driveThe radar station eventually came down Lee and Jill Phelps saved a ragged old white plastic bag and manila envelop containing piles of old state and federal documents from the 1990s health investigation including their numerous letters to the editor Something told them they might one day need these documents again Sullivan points to their two-inch-thick stack of reports documents and newspaper clippings as being critical to her own research into the issue and in helping to quickly reignite and streamline the military reconsidering the area for eligibility for federal environmental cleanup.  Some documents included the original ground water tests and a 1991 state environmental report with a key passage that caught Sullivan and others' eyes It mentioned a military dump site in South Patrick Shores with a shocking litany of waste including discarded machine gun belts with ammunition the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded that neither the radar station nor the military waste were causing an outbreak of Hodgkin's ALS and other rare diseases in the South Patrick area People kept getting sick and dying of the same rare diseases 30 years later, came a doctor — Dr Julie Greenwalt, a Jacksonville oncologist Among Brockovich's early phone chats with locals who helped convince her to get involved was Lee Phelps He would walk her and her water consultant through the history of the dump sites his and Jill's research and past efforts trying to get the military to clean it all up "They definitely turned out to be valuable," Lee Phelps said of the documents he and Jill held on to for all these years Greenwalt, the Florida Department of Health agreed to take another look at whether disease is clustering in the area. In May the department released its long-awaited report showing some elevated cancer rates in South Patrick Shores But more investigation would be needed to prove what's causing the cancers and the investigation fell short of confirming a cancer "cluster." The report did not examine neurological diseases such as Jill's Then in August, the Corps reversed its previous decades-old position and deemed a 32-acre site southeast of Patrick as eligible for its cleanup program "I wouldn’t be dying if they had admitted it back then," Jill Phelps said "Maybe back then there would have been some hope for people like me.” “The damage is done,” she said “The contaminants have ruined the land She wants just compensation from the federal government for her family and for those directly impacted by what the military buried — in more ways than one and for taking my father’s life at 56," Jill Phelps said They didn’t know they were doing wrong She often wonders what exactly they did know at the time and about what they know now and might be burying yet again.  -- A beachside resident made a shocking discovery after digging in her backyard of her South Patrick Shores home Sandra Sullivan has been digging up small items in her backyard presumably left from the WWII era Sullivan called the Sheriff's Office and it took deputies one look before they called for backup Patrick Air Force Base personnel came to Sullivan's home shortly after and placed the mortar carefully in a case and removed it and that point we knew we were dealing with something serious," Sullivan said According to a site analysis from 1991 of South Patrick Shores a contractor involved in cleaning up the subdivision prior to construction reported encountering debris like jeeps A 1992 report from the Florida Department of Health states construction in the area began in the 1950s Verbal reports suggest that an unidentified party used a small area as a dump Even a United States Environment Protection Agency report done that same year confirms that miscellaneous military-related waste was reportedly deposited on a portion of the community buying the house back in 2009 was a bad idea I just want run away from here as fast as I can for the safety of my kids," Sullivan said Sullivan is reaching out to the Department of Defense to request consideration for funds under the FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Sites) program Spectrum News 13 has reached out to the Air Force several times and are still waiting for a response — Cleanup continues in the South Patrick Shores area of Brevard County after an EF-1 tornado with 90 MPH winds damaged 85 homes a week ago A crew with a claw truck was working on Pelican Drive Wednesday morning going house to house scooping up yard waste taken down by the tornado Terri Sommer Mendez rented a dumpster to collect all the damage at her home She lives in one of 85 houses affected when the storm blew through “It did all this in under a minute,” Mendez said The tornado blew her aluminum shed into the neighbor’s house “It actually hit his house so hard it shifted the patio on the side It’s going to have to be replaced,” she says She stacked the remains of the shed up on the curb “Our roof has extensive damage from debris hits and there’s still sticks and twigs embedded under the shingles,” Mendez said The county says the estimated storm damage doesn’t meet the FEMA threshold But information has been submitted to the SBA via the state It could be weeks before the agency makes a formal response County officials are urging residents not to place vegetative piles in front of light or power poles fire hydrants or low hanging wires to avoid damage during removal efforts plastic bags are not accepted as yard waste containers The county says debris pickup is one time per household Meantime Terri is looking forward to getting back to normal Federal officials have signed off on a study of how to clean up a 52-acre military dump site just southeast of Patrick Air Force Base a major milestone in a decades-long battle to address the buried mess that World War II and the Cold War left behind in Brevard County Army Corps of Engineers has greatly expanded the size of the area impacted by military waste the area potentially impacted by buried military waste is two-thirds larger than the previous estimate with potential toxic contamination now extending to near the Sea Park Elementary School playground, where aircraft parts were found during the school's construction Corps leadership signed project approval documentation enabling the agency to move forward with seeking funding to award a contract for what's called a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study. The purpose of the study is "to characterize the nature and extent (what in what amounts) of environmental impacts attributable to the Navy," Corps officials said in a fact sheet about the cleanup The federal agency spent months gathering information from property owners to determine whether to move ahead with a cleanup project under the Corps Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) environmental cleanup program.  As rare cancers and other illnesses seemed to keep clustering along streets of South Patrick Shores residents long wondered what the military might have dumped in the palmetto scrub during the 1940s and 50s before the land was sold for family housing Fears came to a head in the early 1990s when Congressman Jim Bacchus convened public hearings on the health concerns near Patrick Air Force Base. More than 450 residents from South Patrick Shores turned up for a town hall that spilled over from Sea Park Elementary to Satellite High School. Some sobbed in frustration cancer rates and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease a degenerative disease of nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.  Many who grew up in the area fished and swam in the base's survival training area canal and played near toxic landfills But state and federal agencies concluded the waste buried in the South Patrick Shores area was not a public health risk the Department of Defense reversed its long-standing position and admitted its forces were responsible for whatever military waste might be buried just southeast of the base's border. The about-face is because military researchers last year unearthed some 70-odd-year-old documents that proved the military had dumped and burned waste on private property south of the base pilots flew anti-submarine patrols from the base the Navy started up a photographic laboratory and a submarine school at what then Banana River Naval Air Station which also would be home to a search-and-rescue blimp squadron the base operated the "dump and destroy" area Pelican Drive to the west and Highway A1A to the east.  Dr. Julie Greenwalt, a Satellite Beach native and radiation oncologist in Jacksonville, brought renewed attention to the prevalence of unexplained illness in the area a few years ago when she began to document dozens of cancers in young fellow Satellite High graduates including her own rare cancer of the appendix and that of her best friend who lost her battle with breast cancer Greenwalt's work drew environmental activist Erin Brockavich to hold a town hall meeting in September of 2018 putting more pressure on the Department of Defense An earlier analysis by the Corps found about 32 acres of potentially contaminated land but an analysis of historical photos has expanded the area to 52 acres "We will further refine the boundaries during the course of our investigations," Corps officials wrote in the fact sheet describing the cleanup plan Sandra Sullivan, a local environmental activist who founded WAVESaction group, has dug up a rusty practice bomb incineration material and other waste in her yard off Dorset Lane in South Patrick Shores will helping nudge the Corps to move ahead with the cleanup "It's Congressman Posey's effort on this that said 'enough is enough,' " Sullivan said.  Presentation on the way: Due to health and safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, rather than an in-person meeting, the Corps will post a presentation explaining the project, the Preliminary Assessment, Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study process, and the path forward. The link to the presentation will be on the project website (www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver/) on Wednesday call the Corps at (800) 710-5184 or email FUDS.Florida@usace.army.mil If these local stories are important to you, support us by becoming a subscriber. Right now you can try a digital subscription for $3 for 3 months The diagnosis was devastating: colon cancer at age 30 It came as a complete shock to Julie Greenwalt a Satellite Beach native and radiation oncologist in Jacksonville who knows only too well that such cancer rarely strikes people under 40 Making it worse, the news arrived just 10 months after her best friend who'd just had her first child months before "I couldn't handle the thought of my son not knowing me."  Then Greenwalt heard of other SHS alumni — at least 20 —  all young emails exchanged and now a group of 17 survivors are united demanding that their cases and those of their friends get wider attention and a reason for their suffering be discovered and thwarted More: What's the definition of a cancer cluster? More: What is cancer? More: Teacher's final lesson: How to stay hopeful while fighting pancreatic cancer The usual suspect is Patrick Air Force Base and a concoction of chemicals used there over decades that may now be lurking underground in water tables or in the very lagoon where they played and fished as children But new science makes it unclear if the base or some other yet-to-be-found factors are at play.  This is a story of an urgent struggle between people's need for answers and the slow and uncertain pace of scientific research and government response State and federal authorities are working to determine if the cancers are truly linked — what researchers call a cluster — or just a freakish happenstance Epidemiologists warn such investigations are lengthy expensive and often inconclusive. The cause of many cancers remains unknown and true clusters are rare The complex interplay of genes and infectious and chemical agents obscure cancer's many causes Relatively small numbers of cases to work with limited available data on occupational risks lifestyle and demographic factors also complicate cluster investigations The discovery of groups of friends and neighbors becoming ill on central Brevard's beaches Now what appears to be the latest outbreak of cancers in the shadow of Patrick's control tower has focused attention again on what role More:  Feared cancer cluster has residents on edge More: Firefighter's throat cancer won't still his activist voice More: Promise in Brevard steps in after woman w/disabilities loses mom to cancer The latest suspect: fire extinguishing foams used on the base could have infiltrated the local water table. But residents in Satellite Beach and South Patrick Shores get their potable water from Melbourne and Cocoa though residents and schools regularly use groundwater on lawns and landscaping The survivors' cause has been bolstered by recent national attention to those firefighting foams and other military related contamination linked to cancers and other illnesses at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina There's also a conspiratorial urgency of sorts surrounding the firefighting compounds because of recent federal attempts to hide new information showing that the health risks of these chemical cocktails are worse than previously thought Environmental Protection Agency worked to bury a federal health study highlighting those risks after an unnamed Trump administration aide warned in emails obtained by POLITICO it might trigger a "public relations nightmare." On Wednesday the Trump administration released the report in question perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are unregulated. But science is finding that even at extremely low exposures the compounds are implicated in some types of cancer immune suppression and pregnancy complications according to a scientific panel that examined the chemicals from 2005 to 2013 and recent scientific studies More:  St. Lucie cancer cases get state, local scrutiny More:  Rash of glioblastoma cases prompts intense community concern More: Cervical cancer: What you need to know Like petroleum and dry-cleaning solvent plumes the compounds can migrate long distances in sandy soils like those on the beach They have turned up in groundwater at Patrick Air Force Base in 2014 and 2017 at thousands of times the federal government's current lifetime health advisory level for drinking water — one sample more than 61,000 times The federal drinking water lifetime health advisory for the chemicals is 70 parts per trillion or about 70 grains of sand in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. One groundwater sample at Patrick drawn in 2014 measured 4.3 million parts per trillion it's unknown whether the chemicals extend beyond Patrick's borders Clusters defy proofGreenwalt has no idea if or to what specifically she and others at or around Satellite High might have been exposed to years ago only that it's probably worth looking into given their young ages at the time of diagnosis and in such a short time span.  "It's really absolutely not normal for this many people in one high school to get cancer," Greenwalt said It seems like all of my friends from high school are getting cancer." Greenwalt urges current and former residents to monitor their health extra carefully and if they were diagnosed with cancer at a young age to report it to the county or state health department as soon as possible Many researchers are loathe to leap into the minefield of cancer cluster investigations state and federal health officials say they're taking the concerns in Brevard very seriously with all the usual caveats about the Herculean hurdles to prove a cluster or its causes are beyond random chance They also point to a previous investigation of the South Patrick Shores area in the early 1990s that found "no apparent public heath hazard." More: Focus on eyes: Cancer and the eyelids More: Throat cancer took his natural voice, but this firefighter still has much to say More: How to download and use FLORIDA TODAY's apps for iPhone, Android "We're just beginning the investigation on that," Barry Inman an epidemiologist at Brevard County Health Department "It will take quite a while to determine anything." One hurdle to proving a cancer cluster in the Satellite Beach area is that clusters tend to be the same kind of cancers. "I am hearing many types of cancer," Inman said of the Brevard cases adding that he did not yet have a specific number of cases so early in the investigation.  The decision about whether to —  and how to — proceed with an investigation would be made by chronic disease epidemiologists at the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee Epidemiologists warn that definitive conclusions are unlikely "With the tens of thousands of these sorts of events that have been reported unfortunately, we've never learned anything about the causes of disease from those events," said Dr an epidemiologist at Brown University.  "I can guarantee there are ZIP codes with higher rates of those diseases — in Florida," Savitz added That guarantees some areas will have very high rates even if there's nothing (causing it)." Similar recent federal investigations of fire foams' cancer impacts have proven inconclusive Residents were frustrated in 2016 when three communities near Horsham Air Guard Station the former Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove and the former Naval Air Warfare Center in Pennsylvania Facebook:  Like FLORIDA TODAY on Facebook for more news, features Twitter:  Follow @Florida_Today on Twitter for Space Coast news, tweets Instagram:  Follow @Florida_Today on Instagram for more photos and video but we have good reason to be concerned," Savitz said of the fire foam chemicals. "It's almost impossible in a given case with one community, one cluster, to make that kind of causal inference," Savitz said. "You can't lump all cancers together They all have different kinds of patterns and causes." says federal and state health officials need to take another look.  "We're too young to have cancer," Greenwalt said. "We were exposed What about the five years (of students) behind us Is the same thing going to happen to them?" So far there is no sign that there are more cases which is why Greenwalt encourages residents to report all developments to the county Patrick Air Force Base began using firefighting foam that contains the fluorinated chemicals in 1970 including those that are now the focus of concern. In 2000, American manufacturers began phasing out the harmful compounds and Patrick Air Force Base switched its fire crash rescue trucks in 2016 to what is supposed be a safer formula.  The chemicals were also used in industrial and consumer products to make the products resist stains heat, water and grease. Examples include Teflon® cookware waterproofing fabric and coating on fast food wrappers. Until several years ago made Teflon® at a plant in Parkersburg Va. The company faced multiple lawsuits by people who worked there The compounds build up in the body over time.The many ways they can enter the body complicates pinning down a "smoking gun" exposure That includes drinking water, air, dust, consumer products, food such as fish and shellfish or food packaged in materials containing the compounds People also get exposed by touching carpets and other surfaces treated with the stain-proofing compounds More: Breaking down breast cancer, things to know about the disease More: What women should know about breast cancer More: While rare, breast cancer can affect the young No link yet has been found between the fire foam chemicals and colon cancer A 2011 study of Inuit women in Greenland found a positive association between the compounds and breast cancer but not a statistically significant one.  the cancer cases Greenwalt kept hearing about among fellow Satellite High grads prompted her to contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta There weren't enough cases yet of the same kinds of cancer after residents in Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach posted on Facebook a recent Military Times story about cancer concerns surrounding firefighting foams who lived in Patrick Air Force Base housing and was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease at 13 Dozens of local cancer survivors and relatives of those who didn't survive weighed in on social media with their theories about the causes.  Emery worries about soil exposure or the seafood she ate from Banana River. As a young girl she fished and shrimped near the north end of the base when her dad was stationed there from 1979 to 1981 would get covered head to toe in mud as they played in their yard asthma attacks and frequent emergency room visits from kindergarten through second grade. Then Gordon got a tumor on his knee Doctors thought she had mono or something related Emery suspects her chemical exposure could be a factor in her daughter Emily's chromosomal abnormalities More: Lung cancer: 5 things to know about the disease More: Q&A: How cancer treatments are like mud runs More: Colon cancer is common but preventable She thinks health officials dropped the ball in the early 1990s during an investigation of Hodgkin's disease neurodegenerative diseases and other health concerns in the South Patrick Shores area "It's hard for me not to get emotional about it," Emery said they just want to cover it up because they don't want to be blamed we're going through hell just trying to survive."  No 'smoking gun' contamination sitesThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 1992 reported on South Patrick Shores the Brown epidemiologist, says would be "the normal mix of what you find in many A current Florida Department of Environmental Protection contamination database shows a few toxic sites at nearby gas stations but is considered low risk and low priority for cleanup because it's not near any wells used for drinking water.   is (any potential contamination) reaching people?" Savitz asks Most of the concern regarding the fire foam compounds revolves around drinking water exposure Savitz served on the science panel that carried out exposure and health studies linked to Dupont's Washington Works Teflon® manufacturing plant in West Virginia The panel determined the chemicals are linked with increased kidney and testicular cancer and most strongly with increased cholesterol levels More: A less invasive way to test for colon cancer More: Did you know? Skin cancer can occur in uncommon places More: Know the 3 types of skin cancer and what they mean Savitz says there's no evidence that colorectal Hodgkin's or other diseases are linked to the chemicals but acknowledges much of the science is unsettled The chemicals defy "smoking gun" cause-effect relationships like cigarette smoking and lung cancer he said. "With these environmental chemicals, it's somewhere between subtle to not there at all," he said "I'm not saying without a doubt I can exonerate these chemicals," but the link so far has proven to be elusive Tests of Melbourne's  and Cocoa's water systems for fluorinated chemicals in 2013 and 2014 detected none of the compounds according to Florida Department of Environmental Protection data.  But due to rising concerns about the fire foam compounds the military has embarked on a massive cleanup of 664 contaminated fire- and crash-training sites nationwide A March 2018 Department of Defense report found that all 28 groundwater samples recently taken at Patrick exceeded the EPA lifetime health advisory level for fluorinated chemicals. Sampling showed 15 of 16 areas tested at Patrick and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had the compounds at levels in the groundwater greater than EPA's advisory level who manages environmental cleanups at Patrick and CCAFS emphasized at a recent meeting of a committee that advises the base on its cleanups.  "We don't have a defined drinking water exposure pathway," Butler said we don't have additional plans for (fluorinated chemical) assessment or cleanup actions at the Cape or Patrick." More: Prostate cancer: 5 things to know about the disease More: Nutrition for Today: Fight cancer with your fork Butler says the Air Force would need the EPA first to come up with regulations for how much of the chemicals can be in the environment before it decides how and whether to investigate whether the compounds are present beyond the base's fence line into the surrounding communities 1992 investigation ends in dead endsFor local cancer survivors the recent attention on the newest chemical suspects is reminiscent of much older buried and above-ground suspects that drew angst and frustration in an early 1990s investigation that ended with a whimper "It's crazy to me that they dropped the investigation cancer rates and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a degenerative disease of nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord that causes muscles to atrophy Media coverage at the time cited a dozen cases of Hodgkin’s disease near Patrick from 1967 to 1983 between Pineda Causeway and Sea Park Boulevard Department of Health's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that the Satellite Beach ZIP code area actually had fewer cases of cancer than would be expected in comparison to statewide averages. The report also concluded that the available data did not show people were being exposed to contamination that would be expected to cause adverse health effects  "The soil and the groundwater sampling in the area did not indicate significant contamination," the report said. "Based on the available data ATSDR considers this site to be of no apparent public health hazard." But the report did note workers who excavated for homes there in the 1950s found a dump containing vehicle batteries and several crushed barrels and two "reportedly filled with oil." Workers removed the debris before construction Samples taken within two feet of the surface found lead but not at levels high enough to cause public health concerns and didn't find any evidence of a contaminant plume While the radar of concern was removed in the mid 1990s some local cancer survivors still suspect health impacts from the two remaining radars near the base's southern end "The evidence that these kind of community exposures cause cancers is somewhere between negligible and very small." DeLaura Middle and other schools in the area But Brevard school officials said they know of no evidence of an environmental problem at Satellite High or the other nearby schools in their historical radon They said soil testing associated with a new auditorium built in the 1990s and other major building renovations on campus in the 2000s did not raise any environmental red flags "Never any known issues," said Dane Theodore assistant superintendent of facilities for Brevard Schools District officials said they haven't heard any cancer concerns from parents "Thousands and thousands of people have gone through there," Theodore said of Satellite High Satellite High and DeLaura are on Melbourne's water system which also has raised no red flags about the drinking water that would prompt tests from the taps But all the assurances are little comfort to cancer survivors like Amie Morgan who moved beachside from New York at age 3 attending DeLaura Middle and Satellite High who now lives in Orlando, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 one of seven known breast cancer cases from SHS all who graduated within a few years of each other "No doctor has considered me a high family risk because I was only 26," Morgan said. "Now I am cancer free for two years." the odds of a woman in her 20s developing breast cancer is 1 in 1,732 Nor are expert reassurances much comfort to Kathleen Marler Ricky, was only 7 when he was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma the previous owner of the Marler home on Harwood Avenue in Satellite Beach stopped by curious to see what they'd done with the place "Is it going to happen again?" Kathleen Marler asks as Ricky tapped away at a survival video game called Fortnite "Is it just going to be swept under again?" They used their well to water their yard for about a month "As soon as I realized how gross the water was I didn't care if we had grass or not," Kathleen Marler said the most trying time in his mother's life her eyes welling up as Ricky bounced on a gray leather couch as 10-year-olds do was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer on May 12 "I didn't want to leave my son," Hicks said She learned her diagnosis right around the time of Jack's pre-kindergarten graduation ceremony "I said to myself this would not be the last time I see my son in a cap and gown." "He's definitely the one that kept me going." "I can't say for certain...It literally  could be anything ... We've all kind of walked a similar path." Twitter: @JWayEnviro Support local journalism: Sign up for a special summer sale offer for new subscribers at floridatoday.com/subscribe • Anyone concerned about cancer in the Satellite Beach and South Patrick Shores area or to provide information related to cancer concerns call the Brevard County Health Department at 321-454-7111 • CDC cancer cluster page: cdc.gov/nceh/clusters • To read the Florida Department of Health fact sheet on PFOS/PFOA, click here SATELLITE BEACH — Looming across State Road A1A from Publix the Oceana Oceanfront Condominium twin towers are fueling social media speculation that a wave of overdevelopment is striking Satellite Beach — à la Fort Lauderdale Those Facebook posts are false and misleading Among the inaccurate social media rumors: the Oceana developer did not have to pay impact fees; Satellite Beach does not have sewer capacity to allow additional development; and the Satellite Beach City Council adopted ordinances without informing the public "We'd rather give you the correct information than combat this on social media which is what we feel like we're doing all the time right now always understand that the devil is in the details The approval processes for projects are very complicated," Barker said "There's a lot of details that are often left out of memes or comments on Facebook," she said Barker and Mayor Frank Catino discussed the history of Satellite Beach growth and development during a public presentation at the David R Satellite Beach was built out by the 1980s — save roughly 40 percent of the oceanfront that city officials preserved — and new residents may not recall the older buildings that are now gone She distributed information on two developments sparking the social media rumor mill: Oceana: The 108 condominiums will replace the 108-room Ramada Inn that was built in 1986 The hotel elevator shaft stood 85 feet high Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne battered the hotel in 2004 The developer that bought the property also planned to build a six-story oceanfront condo building off the end of Ellwood Avenue a deal was struck: The city took title of the 1.9-acre Ellwood parcel for preservation and the developer received increased height and density limits for Oceana The developer is paying $543,792 in impact fees for Oceana Satellite Shores: This 27.5-acre subdivision at the northwest corner of State Road A1A and Shearwater Parkway formerly contained 105 former Patrick Air Force Base rental homes. These ramshackle structures are being demolished A Tennessee developer is in talks with City Hall to build single-family homes This property was part of the Patrick AFB south housing complex that was built in 1957 and once encompassed 999 homes The vacant "100 Acres" tract south of Shearwater Parkway remains under contract for privatized military housing for the next 30 years It’s the same lots that had something on it before that are just changing," Barker said it’s not necessarily a bad thing in many ways," she said More: Doubles Beachside to build new Satellite Beach restaurant at old Peg Leg's property on A1A More: Pineda Causeway pipes to bolster beachside Brevard water supplies during hurricanes Tuesday's PowerPoint presentation showed that fewer combined people live in Satellite Beach South Patrick Shores and Patrick AFB today than in 2000 He said only Air Force married couples with children qualified to live in south housing so the 999 units each averaged about four people "The graduating classes of Satellite High School back then There was another elementary school on base Sea Park Elementary School was at capacity with portables Holland (Elementary) is down," Catino said "So the number of people that impacted that development and our streets then — I can tell you A1A was a lot more crowded with people going to the base and so forth back then than it is now," he said Barker encouraged attendees to submit public record requests if they have questions about a project She said officials will post video and a PowerPoint presentation from Tuesday's forums on the city website at satellitebeachfl.org Neale is South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY Support local journalism: Sign up for a special summer sale offer for new subscribers at floridatoday.com/subscribe INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH - For at least the past 46 years Indian Harbour Beach officials have wished the U.S Postal Service would create a new ZIP code for the city rather than sharing the 32937 ZIP code with neighboring Satellite Beach and South Patrick Shores City Manager Mark Ryan said sharing a ZIP code can cause headaches for residents who have to explain themselves to skeptical TSA agents in airport security lines "It's now ventured into a Homeland Security issue Some people have reported to us that some of the online purchasing will auto-populate the ticket information at 32937 as being Satellite Beach the consumer gets the ticket and goes to board the airline — and their ID says Indian Harbour Beach," Ryan said Mayor David Panicola discussed the matter with State Rep he formally requested a new 32938 Indian Harbour Beach ZIP code in a May 16 letter to a U.S Panicola wrote that his city's residents and businesses receive misaddressed mail and address labels bearing the incorrect city name Postal Service rejected the city's request the Postal Service must take into account all factors when considering these requests We must make decisions with a priority on avoiding additional operating costs especially when significant service improvement to our customers is not a factor," David Jordan Ryan said the Indian Harbour Beach City Council will discuss whether to appeal the decision But there's a catch: If the appeal is denied then the city cannot file a similar ZIP code request for the next 10 years The City Council ZIP code discussion has not been scheduled The 32937 ZIP code extends beachside between the Eau Gallie and Pineda causeways The post office is located on South Patrick Drive in Satellite Beach two black binders crammed with paperwork chronicle the ZIP code campaign dating to Aug That's when the Melbourne Times reported that Golden Beach Boulevard resident Ann Isaac petitioned city leaders for a ZIP code and post office Indian Harbour Beach mail bore a Melbourne postmark Indian Harbour Beach leaders feared the city was losing police retirement system insurance-premium revenue Revenues were improperly allocated elsewhere because of the shared ZIP code a site plan emerged to build a new post office in the old Shopper's World Plaza That commercial complex was battered by the 2004 hurricanes and the site is now the Harbour Landing plaza anchored by Lowe's off State Road A1A Indian Harbour Beach leaders sent a ZIP code letter with eight attachments to President Bill Clinton Jeb Bush and local congressmen included copies of 634 individually signed petitions the City Council raised the topic with producers of the CBS News show "60 Minutes." “I thought the Homeland Security issue was relevant enough to raise this to approval level "This is an issue that’s near and dear to every American's heart: Homeland Security And if the airline tickets don’t match the driver's license rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter