Document D64NBJp8z71R85MjdX6VYKBd

Sdirnrriady Gazette SCHENECTADY, N, y. P. 55.934 APR 20 1976 State Opens PCB Penalty Hearings ( '. By PETER SLOCUM 1 ' Anoclited PitU Writer :>uB35r.v. m-sw- Ws that could lead to tn ordor mjulrini ito General Eteelrie , .ONCE Sofser hsa presented this final report, which will fol- - low st leoet two weeks of public , liesrings. Environments! Con- .servsuon Commissioner Ogden Co. | spend thou.eud.olM- , Held will Issue the flnsl abate Mrs coining up Ito Hudson ', mhnt snd elesn-up order. River boguu Monday. ; The department has not pre Th houringi, dicted whet It would cost to the state Depurtmcnt of Envl- ;purge the river of PCB pollu MiLMSat-B tion -- the current hearings will being conduced to decide-what '.examine just how possible that rKIn-nifty OB will piy tor dumpg PCBi into Ito Hudson. ' in Ffveubiuruwauryi u touring o--f-f-i-c--er found Uni GE' diuchurge ot -b -- but It hts ssked GE to post s 12 million compiltncc bond. PCBs, which resist nsturel Rlyehlorineted biphenyls, :decomposition much the way IBs, violated two uectioni of PDT docs, ere known to kill the stits'u Environments! Con- llish eggs |nd msy esuse can uervetion Lev. The company cer in rets. The effect on hu- hod, tod atilt tou, federal per -mens Is still under study. mits tblhorfifeif the dieeburgeu ,' A medics! teiun from Ml. from electric capacitor, plants -Sinai Hospital in the Bronx hu It Hudson Fulls end Fort Ed been conducting tests on GE ward. r Columbii University tour workers to determine whet con tinued eontect with chemlcel School Prof. Abraham Sofser has meent to tholr health. nude the legsl finding is Fab- General Eleetrlr Ms sc- ynsry nd U presiding again ut IknowlMged that some workers , the penalty hearings. While be -contracted skin rashes linked to because single-stite standards might eauae industries to move to other atales where regulation Is not an ntrtct. me jejuimmiho _yn,, me na* .tloo's oeily `PCB-maler, has an nounced plana to phase out pro duction. Reid's Insistence on the pen alty hearings, and presumably on making GE pay for aome of declined lo speculate Monday PCB. the domege, It reportedly a shout Ms eventusl ruling, hi! ; The department and GE hsve major Mumbling Mock to the Februsry decision otlered some been negotiating on and off for bchlnd-the-scene negotiations. etuos. Sofser erltieiied the stste end .months, In an atlrmpl to find a -reduced level of dumping On Monday, Aasociatsd In dustries ol New York, a major federal governments for sot agreeable in both sides. lobbying group for InduMry, Ucillng the problem of PCB - Commissioner Reid asked :asked permission to join the may. poUutton soooer, end noted (tot that all discharges stop this hearings Is support GE. A , OB bod "operated openly end .September, but there he statement said the depart negligently rather then to ee ,room for compromise because ment's p u r a u 11 of penalties ; oral or In dlsregsrd of PCB die- ;ito federal government is con ft "without legal authority mite"''cherge limits set In He per- - sidering a total ton lor 1ST?. end, if granted, will have far-, Also, the slate Commerce tie- 'retching and serloui economic ; He wrote thst his fins) rec- partment has urged that the I consequences to" the group's, Ommcndstlon would require GE I state not set tougher limits members. i to si least "drsstitslly" limit than the federal government .Its discharges, "end is rectify the effects of Its prior violt- .Mont where lawfully proper, -end economlcelly end environ mentally practicable." But to sdded thst effective govern 03667 ment ection could hsve pre vented much of the environ dientsf .damage end Hint hit yiONS i rocommendstion would tske ' thst Into sceount.