Document B5KkM2ykO9YyN5dN8KryG1ZDm

Eje <0nvut~$0mu%l RV BINGHAM JR. tor and Publisher ROBERT T. BARNARD Editorial Page Editor TUESDAY. OCTOBER 22. 1974. FOUNDED 1&26. ADELE VINCENT JOHN HART BERT MK WILLIE C. RIDDLE JAMES NOLAN HUCH HAY.NIE, Cartomut Cerox copies to: K. Vlttoae l. D. Scotc J. L. Nelson S. B. Osborne K. Greene P. J. Weaver K. B. Downey B. M. G. Zwlcker G. Pow U. J. Wilcox E. W. Harrington H. Waltemate |1 fir.......... .R.Flynn - Why we can't ' F- Act Although soffit of the bills fere not Hfe-ormatters. anyone who saw the story of ^f^ouisville'sll. F, Goodrich Company polyvinyl kjpjlodde pint hi h CBS television documents^kj&rday*igbt must wonder at the overall ' ihnut ofsuch criticisms of federal safety sUn* * ;- fdrts. V ,r ^iiTbe network showed private and public offi1 .#39iIS'reacttog swiftly to the first reports from ^^jU^Loulrrilte plant that three production iffiwefftBrs faad dted of a rare liver cancer. It - \3rired the controversy over safety *Uo- ' c&rds inside plants Which had been producing this plastic for as long as 30 years, and such : allied questions as bOw much vinyl chloride V fas should be allowed to escape into the atmo sphere or whether hazards exist for users of r: products fabricated from polyvinyl chloride. if The federal Occupational Safety and Health Admipitaration (OSHA) has needed prodding get Us complex inspection tr^Utfdwtlscttfiig machinery for industrial tjlbtly into motion, working people, on the one Jlsttd, want the strictest standards; industry 'people, on the other, talk of economic realism. JQmkeawpXor occasional OSHA delays is that UVoRfen oxl^ht JO the middle. Moreover, it takes time to decide on allow able levels of chemicals; tech as polyvinyl chloride, asbestos and beryllium, which may imperil health outside a plant as well as in It But if anything Is .dear Iran the Louisville scare, it's that Congress cook! do more, not make OSHA' more effective In the longflgggptedLstniggte for worker safety. 2467900.1 ,TUESDAY, OGTO$ 22 1974 *1 TheLouisville Times ... .. ` - nyl-chloride fumes involved :y--.-U -v * iewer-construction delay granted, but who pays? By M.KZTTS E, BUrSER putaping station; this water flowi directly source of income is money collected for Time* SttM mum to the river. sanitarysewer service, Using this money jrJ chloride, storm drainage and d basement* drew the attention ot letropoliUn Sever District (USD) yesterday. The floodgates are being installed in the large sower line to keep Ohio River flood water boot backing up Into the pumping station. to provide storm drainage in the city is not fair to the customers, it says. la tbe areas of Jefferson County out side of Louisville, MSD builds and main* tains atonn drains under a contract with i Pbrntsoternwiing. the board: 1 CbnstrocUoa work was stopped in July after workers complained that noxious tbe county. Fiscal Court pays the cost of this program. *- Learned that it may hare to so to : to determine who mutt pay for > ? construction delay caused by vinyl tie and other chemical fumes in * : sewer line sear the B. F. Goodrich ileal Oo. plant on Bells Lane. (The actor tor Use job said vinyl-chloride * in the sewer line reached 48 parti million -- perhaps far more than the federal standards for working condii would allow.) imnes often filled the sewer and made them sick. The fumes were traced to tbe lint leading from tbe Goodrich plant. The construction work was being done by Munich Engineering of Jeffersonville. James A. Hunch, president of the com pany, said after the MSD meeting yester day that be had had the fumes aoalmd. One test, be said, showed 48 parts per million of vinyl chloral* In the air in tbe sever line. But in Louisville. VSD pays for the maintenance of combined storm and sani tary sewers and for many storm drains. Since MSD customers outside the city pay the same rates as customers inside tbe city, the report say*, "county resi dents are helping to pay for ttrvicn pro vided is the rity." . Tbe board asked its staff to arrange meetings with city officials to try to work oat a clear-cut rtoradraicoee program. (Earlier Utlr month. Goodrich arid it Beard a report from its staff saying bad tested tbe fumes: it reported it found Boaement drains Ur it not dear about whether USD be city of Louisville is responsible for o-drainag* problems in the city. At itai, the report a*)*, sewer customers i lire outside the city are subsiding m-dralnigc programs for dty real' tt- "small concentrations- or "a trace*' of vinyl chloride.) Munich asked for an extension eg his deadline for completing the job because of the delays caused by tbe fumes, and became of a delay in the manufacturer's delivery of the floodgates. He estimated ' Approved a new regulation forbid* g tbe connection of basement-floor' ins to sanitary sewers -- but allowing connection of basement-sanitary the cost erf the original cost of about $900,000.) J, C-Taylor, delay at $71,995. (The (he project .was to be aKretarj-treamrer of ins If a special wire it used to keep MSD, told toe bond Goodrich had prom : water from backing op Into tbe bate* ised to cooperate id solving tbe problem, The new regulation on basement drains was proposed late last year after MSD customers complained ureter was backing up into their basements when it rained. The hottest protest* came from the Boo Air area, where sanitary sewage often backed up Into finished basements. MSD explained that local and federal regulations forbid storm water in sani tary sewer*. The backup* were being caused. MSD raid, by forbidden waters. In December, MSB proposed a new at If lb* ** becomes overloaded, but bad denied liability for paying for tbe regulation that would stop the connection iv : ; a delay.. of any drain to a uaUarpcewer line if ^Vlnytlddorttir1 - ;* He tod R.'W. Keats, tbe sewer district's the drain would be below the leva) of the attorney,. aaRI Munich or MSD .probably street (or the ground) over the sanitary- p v.The vhffl-chlorttle futon were dis- vnred doting tb*>u*nsaer when wort' t dat teJftwifr'Ite&Ki&m'to install Vinyl chloride tt y subsume* used In aktig pMM. lt has tgirii blalaed for would bav* to so-to coot to fete? Good rich topay for tbe delay. The board eranted Munich a delay in his deadline for cocnplcHng the project but did not ac^cm bis requeue for the extra money. .'?* ' v\:~ . newer line. Tim board made a special print of tor* bidding basement floor drains, oo the the ory that atom water seeping through the basement walls could enter tbe sanitary sewers through these drains. losing a rtfcrt fora of cancer. anfiosar- Sfonn drainage,. At a public bearing Aug. 20, represen >ma, which attacks the liver and has tiled at least cut former workers at the oodrkb plibt here. The >e*er.;fine, about 18 feet wide and 7 Icet higS. Carrics.stonn water overflow ton a *e*tf pumping station near Brils Me and 4ist Street to tbe Ohio River. The Goorfridb plant dumps treated waste oter into; fhe stonn rawrir below the The storm-drainage zeperi was pre pared sites Mayor Harvey Sloane cons* plained that dtiaoos.wtth drainage prob lem wt "getting the ruh-wouatr from city departments and MSD. Tbe report, says different state laws give the city and MSD powers to deal with *ws drainage. It also' points out that USD's main tative* of the home-building industry ex pressed strong objections to parts of the proposal In the modified regulation approved yesterday, MSD Will allow "sanitary sew age" connection! -- lor kitchens, bath room* and laundry areas -- below ground level, but only If a special valve Is In stalled to keep rawer water from backing up through tbe drains, 2