Video: Toxin discovered in S. Seattle neighborhood

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SEATTLE - Another dangerous toxin has shown up in a section of Seattle's South Park neighborhood that is already a Superfund site because of PCB contaimination.

Agencies believe the asphalt company that once operated there, called the Malarky Asphalt Company, contaminated the soil before it shut down.

The Environmental Protection Agency is working with the city and Port of Seattle to clean up the cancer-causing PCBs, but the neighborhood just got news about another toxic problem -- high levels of dioxins.

Levels at some parts of the neighborhood are at 10, 20 and sometimes 30 times the levels deemed acceptable by the government.

It's unclear if the dioxins are related to the asphalt plant that closed down, but some investigators doubt it.

BJ Cummings, a spokesperson for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, says they don't know how the dioxins got there.

"We really don't know yet," she said. "At this point the sampling that was done was really to answer one question: 'Is it here or not?' We now know that the answer is yes."

She said dioxins are byproducts of burning.

"They're a toxic chemical. A carcinogen. Toxic at very, very low quantities," she said.

Investigators don't know if the dioxins can be cleaned up under the PCB Superfund project, but they say the dioxins will be removed.