Document J3VbrLprykBM9VE1LpzayLBYO

Mr. R. C. Isham - St. Louis BIND July 25, 1977 PCB Phase-Out Messrs: J. A. A. E. E. T. R. A. R. A. J. C. David Alley - B2SD Leisy - 1740 Mollica - B2SB Pohl - B2SB Stohr - B2SC Weber - B2SK Wood - B2SD G. F. Barton - BIND R. L. Neunreiter - E3ND M. A. Pierle - EISA J. J. Spano - E3NB Please review the enclosed Q&A on your thoughts and suggestions, of start using this on August 1 only questions from the media. PCBs. I'd appreciate course. We intend to for response to direct R. C. Isham jb end. PS: Additional questions with corresponding additional answers gratefully accepted. EX P-3225 Page 1 of 6 ^503681 PCB-ARCH0750779 Questions and Answers to be Used Only to Respond to Direct Questions from the Media. Second Draft 7/25/77 Q: Is the Monsanto phase-out of PCB on schedule? A: Yes, actually we're a little ahead of the plan to exit this business. In October, 1976 Monsanto announced that it would "shut down its PCB manufacturing unit, complete distribution of all inventories and withdraw completely from the market as the principal supplier of PCB dielectric insulating fluids to the electric power supply industry by no later than October 31, 1977." All production was terminated in July, 1977 and Monsanto will be completely out of the business by the October 31, 1977 deadline. Q: What will happen to the PCB plant? A: The entire PCB production area at the Krummrich plant is scheduled for decontamination and dismantling. All pipes and tanks in the production unit will be decontaminated and either destroyed or reused safely. Tankcars used to ship PCBs will be decontaminated and taken out of finished product service. Q: How many people are involved in this PCB unit and what happens to their jobs? A: There were 23 supervisors and operators assigned to the PCB unit. All have been offered new jobs at the Krummrich unit in other departments. None were layed off. Q: What will happen to the incinerator at the Krummrich plant? A: That incinerator was built 6 years ago primarily to burn residues created when PCB is manufactured. Lately we've also been burning spent PCBs from our customers' transformers. These wastes are within the relatively narrow specifications for which our incin erator was designed. After the incinerator is shut down, it will be decontaminated and eventually dismantled. This incinerator has handled relatively minor quantities of retrieved wastes (less than 10% of annual capacity). Most of our customers and indus trial users have been disposing of their wastes through commercial incinerators equipped to handle PCBs. Q: Is shutting down the PCB incinerator a responsible action when there is so much PCB to get rid of? A: We think we've been very socially responsible, right from the beginning of the recognition that PCBs are highly persistent (cont.) EX P-3225 Page 2 of 6 0503682 PCB-ARCH0750780 -- 2 in our environment. Our incinerator at the Krummrich plant was primarily made to handle residue PCBs from the production process. Its specialized design and small size doesn't make this incinerator as effective as larger and newer ones. For example, some commer cial incinerators are thought to be able to destroy 70-80,000,000 pounds of waste material per year. That means that all the PCBs shipped to Monsanto by our customers during the first 6 months of 1977 could have been burned in about 30 hours in just one of those really big and modern commercial incinerators (actual amount from January-June, 1977 225,000 pounds). So shutting down the Monsanto incinerator doesn't pose a problem in getting PCBs destroyed. Q: What was the capability of the Krummrich incinerator? A: About 6,000,000 pounds a year when everything ran well. Because of high temperatures involved we had to replace refractory linings more frequently than originally expected and this reduced our effective capacity substantially. Q: Will Monsanto landfill any of the PCB equipment? A: Yes. Smaller equipment will be decontaminated and then sealed in larger steel vessels. Final arrangements have not yet been made but we are investigating a number of potential sites to ensure that they are suitable for such landfill. EX P-3225 Page 3 of 6 OiuJbdJ PCB-ARCH0750781 r- ji 2 G ' Mr. R. C. Isham - St. Louis BIND. July 25,, 1977 --Messrs : G. F. Barton - BIND. R. L. Neunreiter - E3ND M. A. Pierle - EISA J. J. Spano - E3NB Please review the enclosed Q&A on PCBs. I'd appreciate your thoughts and suggestions, of course. , We intend to;, EX P-3225 Page 4 of 6 PCB-ARCH-EXT0382875 Questions and Answers to be. Used Only to Respond to Direct Questions from the Media. . . . Second Draft . 7/25/77 Q: Is the Monsanto phase-out of PCB on schedule? A: Yes, actually we're a little ahead of the plan to exit this business. In October, 1976 Monsanto announced that it would "shut down its PCB manufacturing unit, complete distribution of all inventories and withdraw completely from the market as the principal supplier of PCB dielectric insulating fluids to the electric power' supply industry by no later than October 31, 1977." All production was terminated in July, 1977 and Monsanto will be . completely out of the business by the October 31, 1977 deadline. , Q: What will happen to the PCB plant? A: The entire PCB production area at the Krummrich plant is scheduled for decontamination and dismantling. All pipes and tanks in the production unit will be decontaminated and either destroyed or .v reused safely. Tankcars used to ship PCBs will be decontaminated and taken out of finished product service. . Q: How many people are involved in this PCB unit and what happens to their jobs? .. ' .-V. : . . A: There were 23 All have been departments. supervisors and operators assigned to the PCB unit. ; offered new jobs at. the Krummrich unit. in other. . None wesf layed off. . . /: 'Vi' ` ' ... '-i- : : /: . ' v-./; :':;V Q:. T/Jhat will happen to the incinerator at the Krummrich plant? A: . That incinerator was built 6 years ago primarily to burn residues created when PCB is manufactured. Lately we've.also been burning spent PCBs from our customers' transformers. These wastes are : . within the relatively narrow specifications for which our incin- erator was designed. After the incinerator is shut down, it will be decontaminated and eventually dismantled. This incinerator . has handled relatively minor quantities of retrieved wastes (less than 10% of annual capacity) . Most of our customers and indus-. trial users have been disposing of their wastes through ;; commercial incinerators equipped to,handle PCBs. ,\ . ' . Q: Is shutting down the PCB incinerator,a responsible action when there is so much PCB to get rid of? ' . . 2 ,i.n. nnr. environment. Our incinerator at the Krummrich plant was primarily made toTfandle residue PCBs from the production process. Its specialized design and small size doesn't make this incinerator as effective as larger and newer ones. For example, some commer cial incinerators are thought to be able to destroy 70-80,000,000 pounds of waste material per year. That means that all the PCBs shipped to Monsanto by our customers during the first 6 months of 1977 could have been burned in about 30 hours in just one of those really big and modern commercial incinerators (actual amount from January-June, 1977 225,000 pounds). So shutting down the Monsanto incinerator doesn't pose a problem in getting PCBs destroyed. Q: What was the capability of the Krummrich incinerator? A: About 6,000,000 pounds a year when everything ran well. Because of high temperatures involved we had to replace refractory linings more frequently than originally expected and this reduced our . effective capacity substantially. Q: Will Monsanto landfill any of the PCB equipment? A: Yes. Smaller equipment will be decontaminated and then sealed in ... larger steel vessels. Final arrangements have not yet been made .y > but we are investigating a number of potential sites to ensure that they are suitable for such landfill. v. v . EX P-3225 .Page 6 of 6 PCB-ARCH-EXT0382877