Document Eq4MoZXpOK0keR89oee9bJr5n

BILLINGS, MONT. GAZETTE D. 44,000 SUN, 56.000 JUL 3 0 B76 '^T^ / EPA moves to tceep PCBs out of water (O Chicago Daily Newt level of 9 parts per million'of PCBs In fish and has been crtti* ' WASHINGTON - The Envi ronmental Protection Agency hu taken the tint step toward Ereventing further pollution of LS. waterways by PCBs, a ma jor industrial pollutant. The federal agency an nounced It will hold a hearing Aug. 20 on proposed regulations that would ban or limit the dis charge of PCBs into waterways by industry. cited by some environmental and health groups for permit ting even that much. Generally, the Lake Michi gan concentration of PCBs is below 10 parts per million, an Interior Department spokesman said. In smelt and lake trout, the range of PCB residue in the lake luu been from 2.5 parts per million to 165 parts per million respectively. PCBs (polychlorinated bi phenyls) are used in the manu facture of capacitors, trans formers and other industrial products in the United States and many other countries. They are similar to DDT in chemical construction, are not EPA Specialists acknowl edged that no immediate bene fits could be expected. The'reg ulations will not take effect un til s fuD year after being issued in final form -- and, that proc ess could take six months. ' ' readily biodegradable and have .Monsanto IndustrioT Chemi- a long ario durable lifetime. A cab Cj.T wIth headquarters in State and federal laboratory St. Louis.l* the only producer tests have linked PCBs to a - of PCBs. The corhpany said in rlety of human illnesses from* January that' it will phase out Ain lesions to miscarriages. In production after the industry a broader sense, they affect the makes arryngementi lor alter chain of Ufe, first contaminating native materials.' * ' basic foods and then invading ^Therein lies a critical prob human body fat and remaining lem. No substitute has been fuf- * there. ly acceptable to date. Last The EPA proposed specify month the EPA said that a fluid caily that all industries manu calldb polydimethybl]onane Wts ' facturing the chemicab be pro hibited from discharging an* PCBs. . "far preferable" to PCBs tor Die in transformers from Uie environmental viewpoint* ' It also proposed Uiaf plants that use PCBs to produce electrical transformers and ca pacitors be barred from dis charging the chemicals in' most But the agency said this flu id was more flapimable than / tht PCfis. implying industry might therefore find it unsufta- big. . ' _ wastes resulting from the man ufacturing process. Other limits would be set on the discharge of PCBs into waterways from plant operations. , Lake Michigan is the most severely contaminated of the Great Lakes in terms of PCB levels. Concentrations of ap to 185 parts per million trout have been found. * The. Food and Drug Admin istration has s^ff maximum 037297 mgns