Document 3QV9oKBLVZgjEZrBDxLb15wKy
/Another PCB Spill
Found Near Sanford
RALEIGH <AP) - A fresh strip of oily liquid, bollovod to be the latest in a trios of PCB spills on the state's roadways, was discovered Monday af ternoon along a six-mile stretch of N.C. 42 near
Santord. According to state High
way Patrol Capt. 0. R. McKinney, the new spin was discovered along a section of road already posted with chemical contamination warnings. He said the new inUl is about two feet wide.
McKinney said officials suspect the ^lli is related to the previous spills. He said the strip has not been
chemically tested. A (anker traveling the
stale's highways at night is snapscted of polluting more
than 290 miles of the state's roadsides with toxic PCBs, or polychlorinated btpbenois. Officials said that until Monday, no new spills had been reported in nearly
Monday's spill was Uncovered Just as state environmental officials were meeting to try decide how dispose of the con taminated soil in the spills. The officials, along with representatives of the Environmental Protection
Agency, mot in public and then held a private session, but failed to come up with a final propoaai for disposing of the thousands of gallons of PCBs.
Robert Carter, head of the water quality division of the stats Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, said officials
were considering digging one to throe inches into the soil in areas where PCB contamination is above the
tolerable level of 900 ports per minion.
We have retched the point where something needs to bo dene," Carter said at the meeting.
This Une drawing locates the polychorinated biphenyl
chemical spills an North Carolina highways. The poiaonous which reported^ causes cancer, has boon
deliberately dumped on rural roads In the state.
Carter said if the soil is removed, a lane area of stateowned land would be
needed for storage. He said
no storage sites have been
elected yet. But officials said they
were also considering placing activated charcoal
on the spills instead of digging up the sites. Carter aid the charcoal would "fix" or bind the PCBs,
precautionary measure.
Hines said researchers have found that the PCBs are a type manufactured in
the late 1960s by Monsanto Chemical Corp. They were
used as a heattransmitting aagent in cooking sub
stances such as fish meal, and In electrical tran
sformers and capacitors, he
said.
keeping it on the surface and preventing it from being
Hines said state officials are attempting to contact
washed away.
Carter said the charcoal treatment would slow the
Monsanto for information on who might have been using the chemical.
migration of PCB particles
but would not decon
taminate them.
"We are dealing with a
problem thal does not pose
an Immediate medical
risk." said Martin P. Hines,
head of epidemiology for the
Department of Human
Resources. "We don't even
think walking on the grass,
and exposure two or three
times, would pose,a risk."
However. Hints said his
department Is considering
taking Mood and urine
HONS
samples from people in (he
area of the* spills as a
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