Chemical fiasco in Florida residential area~

What is the name of your state?Florida
This is a short version. In August, a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) contractor made a "mistake" & thought that our city residential area was a rural state road. As a result, our neighborhood was sprayed down with a gassy, smelly yellow sticky substance that may have been an herbicide (still waiting for the Dept. of Agricultures soil tests to come back).
I immediately called the City of Jacksonville, & they sent haz mat out. The investigator could not tell me what chemicals were used & who did it. He did tell me to stay inside, & keep my pets inside. He went home for the day. Nobody else was told of the orders.
Since then, I have had to request mediation with the State Attorneys Office to retreve public records of the incident, and I have been told several different chemicals were used & many of the reports are conflicting. The FDOT said it is not their problem since they did not order the work and the City said too bad, because state law overrides local law (even though our street is maintained by the city not the state). Many animals became toxic after the incident (vet confirmed).
I would like to know if there is a law for public notification of a mistake being made. You may look at the photos and a few of the records at http://www.oopsherschel.com I thank you kindly for any suggestions.

You might try contacting the Florida DEP citizens services folks. The state wide number is 850-245-2118, I think you are in the Northeast District, their number is 352-333-2850. They will be most interested in residual contamination that might exist.

good luck

alligatorob said:

You might try contacting the Florida DEP citizens services folks. The state wide number is 850-245-2118, I think you are in the Northeast District, their number is 352-333-2850. They will be most interested in residual contamination that might exist.

good luck

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Thanks for your assistance! The DEP was contacted shortly after the incident, the local investigatior showed up and told my neighbors and me that the chemicals probably had broken down already and caused no harm to the enviroment (even though at this point in time they had no idea what chemicals were misapplied to the sidewalks and driveways and lots of animals were very sick). The DEP was also there when the Florida Dept. of Agriculture investigator showed up. The local DEP investigator could have cared less about us and what we had been exposed to.
A couple of weeks after the chemical incident a State of Warning was issued and to this day, NOBODY HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN TOLD AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT THE CHEMICALS WERE!.
The DEP sent me right back to the Dept. of Agriculture this week when I contacted them.
A local news magazine featured the events that appeared to have been a cover up. That is another story!