Document 2qEyNXyJbLyLp9pq9KmwqdaLN

TO: mOM: Andv Johnson - B2SD Chuck Feqer - 1180 larch 15, 1978 EYI----- cc: E. T. Mollies - B3SA 1'80 'Th'/& By Ray Moseley ?*''?/$- OUTBOARD MARINE CORP. announced Thursday that it has filed suit in U-S. District Court charging the federal and stale Environmental Protection Agon* I cles with part of the responsibility for dealing with : toxic PCB dumped Into Lake Michigan at the firm's Waukegan plant. s . / Company. spokesman Hugh Thomas said Outboard /* Marine has spent $2 million to halt the discharges of / PCB into the lake and Is prepared to pay "our fair share" tn helping remove PCB from the lake if that is * deemed advisable. But he said the federal and state agencies have the responsibility, under Iho )0V2 federal Clean Water Act, to solve environmental problems that originated be* fore 1972. . * Outboard Marine's suit, filed Wednesday, calls on the agencies to conduct studies to determine what action, U any, is needed to deal with the PCB in the I lake.-' . . . " | rnt IS AN INDUSTRIAL prison related to DDT that collects in the fat of fish and animals when . ingested. j Outboard Marine, the country's leading producer ef' outboard boat engines, contends that it unknowingly dumped PCB Into the lake when hydraulic fluid leaked from dlc-easting machines. j The fluid was purchased from Monsanto Chemical I Co. starling hi .the lldrs and Outboard Marine did 1 not become aware of the problem until notified by 1 (he two agencies in 1570, Thomassaid. . A sjiokcsman fer the Monvanto Company refused i to comment until the company has cor.fcrcd with its I attorneys. I federal EPA officials also declined tocomment. j "As (ho situation stands, we mo at an impasse," Out* ( board Marine President Charles D. Strang told a press i conference in the Radisson Chicago Hotel, $03 N. Mich* I igan Av. .! MONS 000001