Document 6yzRLnqDq4Y60q8BwKrLNym6

31 THK WAI I. STUF.F.T JOl'KNAI., Thur,,l..y, Aug. 9. 1979 Lhnvelcome Incinerator Fight Over PCBs Shows How Hard It Is J To Destroy Chemicals and Satisfy People By Docci.am Martin Stott XrtKirtrr >/ Tm: Wai i.Kiukkt LOGAN TOWNSHIP. N.J.-The smiling executive plunges twi* fingers Into a quart Jar of clear liquid: ihe viscous substance consists of polyrhlorinattxi biphenyls, or 1'CBs, llic only lo\jr chemicals wluise manu facture Is spccl/ieoJIy outlawed by Congress. 'You've got a lot worse stuff than this in your medicine cabinet." he asserts. Maybe Hut just try telling that to resi dents of this surprisingly rural community in the industrialized Delaware River Valley. Althmigli ninny of them work itt nearby chemical plants, the townspeople are hop- pint,' mad at the prospect that Umusands of pounds of RGBs will Is* trucked into a plant 0|tcrn(ed here by Hollins Environmental Services Inc. a chomlcalwaste-disposal comtwny The modernistic facility, which Is sur rounded by acres of tomato and pep|>er fields, has been here for about a decade Now. alone with another Hollins plant in Deer Park. Texas, and a disposal plant in El Dorado, Ark., it has applied to liecnmc one of tin* first federally sanctioned sites for in cinerating PC'Hs. None has vet been ap proved The tDwns|RHi(i|e's angry reaction will un doubtedly lie related in oilier communities ns tie* nation wreslles with (he problem of finding plaies lo destroy toxic wastes. "They're using us as guinea pigs." says Mnrv More, the young deputy township clerk, who worries that the chemicals could kaim her two children. `Everybody fe<-ls they've had it shoved down their craw." says Glen Hughes, a heavy-equipment equator. Rosemary Wil son. ilie owner of a country store, savs she'll "put the jdace up for sale" If the IVH burn Inc begins. Pollution Feared The opponents ;uv a coUecU'>n of local lieoplc. Including housewives, laborers, some professional jrfnple and local oifi-untu. Tliry sav. among other things, tint PCH- buiimig would polln'c nearby Raccoon Creek. |ioison underground water supplies and drastically depress log'll land values. And they recall a 1X77 explosion at the plant (hat killed six workers. . The township's indignation is Laird by vehement distrust of Hollins, which i> a sub sidiary of R]/,' Coni, and was o-n- of the first comiunies to make a legmnntc busi ness of di-miivitT ti*\i' clietm.-a's. Al a lieaung Iasi week. lead'-tits told officials of the Environmental Protection Agency that the romp.iUV's np-nations here h.ne been characterize,! bv 1imK.ii:: drum.?, noxious odors and sl"pn\ preeeiimvs The company oil such charges, ll savs dial it d.ies ami will Jo an efteotive job safely. Hut PPA ofiuiaN al the h- anm; said they were preparing a federal soil aimed at liulimg any abuses. National environmental groups aren't di rectly involved in the dispute; more than most people, they realize the need to dispose of toxic chemicals someplace. However, some of the representatives are trying to ni.ikr sure that things are done as safely as possible at lirgan Township. Scientists say tests have proved that PCHs can be safely and completely de stroyed by incinrration. Moreover, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency have vowed they won't let the burning begin until they're absolutely satisfied that people will lie protected. An KPA expert. James Marshall, direc tor of external programs for tlte agency's New York-New Jersey office, says, "in gen eral. PCHs can be incinerated without any ! public health risk" because the temperature Is hit;li enough to completely transform the PCHs into harmless carbon dioxide and wa ter. U some PCHs did escape, he says, the smokestack is constructed in such a way as to dis;>erse them high enough and far enough to minimize health risks. As for any danger before incineration, he says, there are "very clear icqniremenls" silled nut to safeguard the public during lrnns)wiri. handling and storage He that as It may. says Mayor John Wright, who works in a Du Pont chemical plant, "no town in its right miml is going to let thesi- kinds of things come in." nearly, tlu- jH-uplf here won't !>' happy until tin- Rol- ' Itus plant is forced out of existence. "It's morally not right." Kenneth A. DiMuzio. a ( lawyei, said at the hearing. j Ail of which strikes some observers as j distressingly ironic, l-'or years, critics have castigated PCHs. (minting to spectfic cases ! of the chemicals' turning up m the* Hudson River, Nnrih Carolina ditches and even mothers milk. Now that the federal govern ment has set rigid rules for burning the stuff so thoroughly that 9*1.!*' of what is mcineraltni is supposed to lo destroyed. some poo- pie see (longer in that, tfxv A similar battle is raging in K) Dorado. The Midnight Dumper "Everybody wants it picked up; nobody wants It put down." says Eckhardt C. Deck, the EPA's regional administrator for New York and New Jersey. That could lx* disastrous If society doesn't give industries a place to dispose of toxic waste. Mr. Beck asks, "what are they going to do?" He answers his own question succinctly: "give it to the midnight dum per" who illegally gets rid of toxic wastes late at night by the side of the road or in va cant lots. Mr. Beck's blunt conclusion carries omi nous implications, extending well beyond the 440 million pounds of PCB wastes said to be strewn about tlto environment and the 750 million pounds of PCBs still in use. The ERA says It may cost $f0 billion to clean up past years' midnight dumping of toxic chemicals. Further. it is calculated that each year enough new haaardous waste ts generated-and. for the most part. Improp erly discarded- to fill every street and alley in Manhattan to knee level. PCBs play an important role m this chemical honor story. Congress specifically banned their manufacture In the Toxic Sub stances Control Act of 1976. because they are suspected of causing cancer and birth defects by getting into the air and the food supply. PCHs were the only substance so singled out. Not Made Since 1977 Primarily used as insulators In electrical equipment. PCHs haven't been made since 1977. (There are adequate substitutes i Since the 750 million pounds stiff In use wait be phased out over the next 40 ye:us. PCBs will increasingly exist solely as garbagedangerous garbage: The planned incinera tion method appears to be the only wav to effectively gel rid of it. "It's a spwky waste," acknowledges Jack Uircott. the Rollins executive who immersed His fingers In the PCH Jar. Rollins's president. William R Phthpbitr. agrees. You're never going to gel peuph* to accept this." he says in a moment of near despair. "It's just impossible." Ncvorthe less, the company already spent inure than S7i00.000 preparing its plant here for the ar rival of tlio PCBs. The local opposition couldn't care less. "The ovens of Germany have not Ltii de stroyed. only relocated." read a sign placed in (tom ol the Rollins plant gate. Another of the townspeople's messages paraphrased the popular song "You Ijght Up Mv Life " It said, "You Sunk Dp My life " Sometimes this emotion simply spill', out of control. As a public hearing last spruit:, a woman beg in jumping atnut wildly, lim ing insults at Rollins officials. "If she it had a gun," Mr. Ptnlipbar says, "she would have shot us." HONS 006644 2 Aug. 9, 1979 WALL STREET Tours Don't Help Even cunipany-spotisored tours of the plant don't exactly dispel fears. Behind Its high fences are discharge lagoons bubbling like witches' cauldrons, scores of drums la beled with skull and rmssbones. and a belching 300-foot smokestack. To boot, the operation regularly emits a "sickening smell." says Esther Slusarski, a leading op* ponent. Rollins says it has already proved It can do a professional Job of disposing of more than 10.000 different kinds of hazardous chemicals- In Logan Township, Deer Park and Baton Rouge. La. It even burned PCRs before the more stringent federal rules took effect. The company was Instrumental in helping the EPA determine the tougher standards. At least one townsperson is convinced: "It's boiler to have them burned under con trol than dumped soniewhete." says Grace Filemyr, who operates a vegetable stand across the road from the plant. "A lot of people are making statements not based on fact." she says. "They go off the deep end," Explosion Remembered The debate ts made considerably nastier by the memory of the fatal explosion 20 months ago that sent black smoke billowing thousands of feet in the air. Remembering that. Mayor Wright says: "These people aren't to be trusted in any way. shape or form." Rollins, which contends that the accident was precipitated by outside contractors, not by Us own employes, says the catastrophe actually proved the plant's safety. "The ex plosion was an absolutely worst-case situa tion." yet tests by outside experts showed that toxic contamination "was all con tained" on the plant grounds, Rollins's Mr. Lurcott says. PCHs aren't explosive and played no part in causing the accident, the company says. But one of H tanks involved did have mate rial containing PCRs in It. and one reason the accident caused alarm was the fear that PCHs might have escaped Into the atmos phere. The whole controversy could be resolved within the next few months; the EPA hopes to conduct a test-bum. largely to measure the effectiveness of Rollins's monitoring equipment. Several times, small quantities ! of PCHs are to be incinerated at 2.700 de- ` grecs Fahrenheit. Hut Mayor Wright hints ] that the townspeople may resort lo violence to halt the test bum. "We're trying to stop it completely." he say's. EPA officials say that the test-bum isn't specifically required by law and that they are demanding tt principally as an extra guarantee of safety. They promise that it will lie closely scrutinized. "The place will be crawling with Feds." an agency spokes man says. In the end. the dispute comes down to a question of balancing the national need to safely depose of toxic chcmieajs with under standable local wislirs to s*- ii done else where. "In this neck of the woods, the general view is 'laM'sdo it all in Nevada.' " Rollins's I Mr. l.iimm s.iys. He doubts that the people in Nevada would agree. JOURNAL HONS 006645