Document 6bokwB5Xwzd6Da07JbwVzNw7R

SCRIPT OF PCB PORTION OF NEWSCAST ON WRGB, CHANNEL 6, TUESDAY, SEPT. 9, 1975 6:00 P.M. ______________ WITH JIM WILLIAMS__________________________________ CRAIG: PCB's 1n the Hudson River from two North Country plants. The State has charged the Company may have done Irreparable harm to the Hudson River. Jim Williams has been following that story. J1m, what 1s the latest? WILLIAMS: GE officials regard polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs as vital Ingredients to the manufacture of capacitors. They use thousands of pounds of the chemical each day 1n their plants at Hudson Falls and Fort Edward. Dr. Edward Simons, who heads the Company's Environmental Protection Operation, says that a very small amount of the substance Is presently beglng discharged in the Hudson. I spoke with Simons and Stuart Richel, the Company's Environmental Legal Counsel. Simons says the chemical 1s not being dumped in the river but 1s lost in small portions at various stages of a complex manufacturing process. 773985 SIMONS: ) And 1t 1s through these paths that the discharges to the Hudson River occur. * These are losses that occur at various stages in the manufacturing operations, and our program to date has been to identify and plug up all of those losses, and it Is through that method that we have achieved the significant reductions from 30 or 40 pounds a day to the point where we are now losing less than 5 pounds a day and expect to be down next year to one pound a day, which 1s equivalent to something like less than a soda pop bottle per day of Inadvertent losses. It Is not dumping. WILLIAMS : Attorney Richel says that GE technical experts have had a of meetings with counterparts of the State Environmental Department to further reduce PCB discharges at the two N< Country plants. Richel said that the Company cannot ach discharge of the chemical by the end of 1976. The State proposing an order to that effect. RICHEL: If one is faced with an order the terms of which are una there must be a consideration by management of available I cannot sit here now and tell you that the Company woul decision to shut those plants. I have no right to make nor do I have any knowledge of such decision making. Hi of the options by law would have to be a consideration WILLIAMS: The current controversy was begun in July when the Fede mental Protection Agency transmitted to the State its f a study of the upper Hudson undertaken early in 1974. Department of Environmental Conservation then conducted study. Of prime concern was the discovery of high com of PCBs in fish. Meanwhile the State Health Departmen released findings which indicate that* while PCB can b the waters of the Hudson* it does not presently const! hazard. In any case* ENCON has scheduled a public he October 6 on PCBs and a final order should follow some that. I'm Jim Williams* Channel 6 News. C >C- A 773986 c < ( < ( <