Analysing clusters is difficult, partly because of the Texas sharpshooter problem. If you start with the cluster, statistical tests ( 'is this just chance?') become almost impossible. But it's important to remember that clusters are not just clusters - they are human lives blighted. And if you are already struggling to come to terms with that, scientists going on about Texas sharpshooters won't help.
Here is an excellent account of being on the receiving end of scientific rigour / scepticism. Love Canal incident was, 30 years ago, notorious as an example of toxic waste contamination.
I don't know where truth lies on this occasion but for me two facts stand out: (1) it takes a fairly special kind of idiocy to build an elementary school on land that someone is prepared to sell you for $1 and (2) the $1 land turned out to need a $145m solution.
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