Document N2evRzaRy5JXZy3ao7KrvMKG8

Wit tmritV'$mxml BARRY BINGHAM JR. Editor fi*d Publisher ROBERT T. BARNARD Editorial Page Editor - TUESDAY. OCTOBER 22. 1974. FOUNDED 1826. Associate Editors ADELS VINCENT JOBS HART BERT EMKE WILLIE C. RIDDLE JAMES NOLAN . HUGH HAYNfiE; Cartoonist v < >< ' i i Xerox copies to: j A. Victooe i R. D. Score J. L. Kelson E. B. Osborne K. Greene P. J. Weaver R. B. Downey B. M. G. Zwlcker G. Pov W. J. Wilcox E. W. Harrlngccn H. Valcemate R.P.Kenney-A. L. Hacfield-C -R. Flynn Why we can't relax the fight or worker safety fMffiSfB'AOUT 100 BILLS have been introduced ia Congress to weaken or even to repeal tbe ^tfareeyear-old Occupational Safety and Health Aet Although some of the bills are oat fafe-or- s, anyone who saw the story of Goodrich Company polyvinyl >pttnt fat fc /CBS television documents* light must wonder at the over-all i critktsnu of federal safety stan- f dards. .{ \ ^ - ^'K-The network showed private and public off!- S^Htttreaetfaig swiftly to the first reports from 1 ~ ^Louisville .plant that three production haddied of a rare liver cancer. It l tbe controversy over safety stan- i intide plant* Which bad been producing this plastic for as long as 30 years, and such ;vi allied questionsj**>bhw much vinyl chloride V ift* should he allowed to escape into the atmo- - sphere or whether hazards exist for user* of T JsrOdagU fabricated from polyvinyl chloride. " f{} The federal Occupational Safety and Health :> (OSHA) has needed prodding tto get its complex inspection .ting machinery for industrial 1 into xnoUdti. Working people, on tbe one want the* strictest standards; industry people, on the other, talk of economic realism. jQMJ$*xmXfir occasional OSHA delays la that it^r^t^^t in the middle, i ' Moreover, it takes time to decide on allow* abte levels ot cbmnicalt, sfacb as polyvinyl chloride, asbesUm and beryllium, which may imperil health outside a plant as weB as in tt. But if anything, is .dear /ran the Louisville scare, it's that Congrew could do more, not ItoVM tnakn OSHA more effective in the tongftg&pte&jdruggfe for worker safety. `[ i : BFG29371 24033001 (TUESDAY, OCTOKJt 27, 197* e The Louisville Times' .' : .... ."Ki?A;#S,. ^. ... .-** %' . -V Vinyl-chloride fumes involv ed Sewer-construction delay granted, but who pays? By MARTIN E, BIEHER ponsping station; this water flows directly source of income is money collected for MMknNiSMMMir to the rrver. sanitary-snrer eerrice. Using this money Vinyl chloride, storm drainase sad flooded basements drew the attention of tie Metropolitan Sower District (USD) board yesterday. Tbe floodgates are being installed in the large sewer line to keep Ohio River flood water from backing up into the pumping station. to provide storm drainage In tbe city is not fair to the customers, it Says. In the areas of Jefferson County out side of Louisville. MSD builds and main tains storm drains under a contract with - In a 80-mtooK meeting. (be board; ^ Oaratraction work was stopped la July after workers complained that noxious the county. Fiscal Court pays the coat oi this program. , ; e* Learned that K may have to fo to court to delermine who must pay for a costly coariructioo delay caused by vinyl chloride and ether chemical fumes In * Urge sewer lint near the 8. F,, Goodrich Chemical CO. plant oa Bells Lane. (The cootractor lor the job said vinyl-chloride fume* in the sewer line reached 48 parts per miniera -- perhaps fsr more than the pgv federal standards for working eoadi- liras would allow.) fumes often filled tb sewer and made them tick. The fumes were traced to tbe lint leading from the Goodrich plant. The cosstrucUou work wat being done by Munich Engineering of Jeffersonville. James A. Munich, president of tbe com pany. said after the MSD meeting yester day that he had had the ftuaee analysed. One test, he said, showed 48 pans per million of vinyl chloride in the air in tbe sewer line. But in Louisville. JfSD pays for the maintenance of combined storm and uni tary sewers and for many storm drain*. Since MSD customers outride the city pay the same rates as customers inside the city, the report say*, "county resi dents are helping to pay for services pro vided in tbe city." . Tbe board asked its staff to arrange meetings with city ofSdflc to try to work out a dear-cut stornrdntoage program. I. <Earlier this month. Goodrich said it : " Beard a report from its staff saying bad tested the fumes; it reported it found Basement drains jibe law to not dear about whether USD or the city of Louisville is responsible for storm-drainage problems in tht city. At present, the report say*. sewer customers yrbo lire outside the aiy are subsidising .stonu-draluage programs for dty r*udents. - - k Approved a new regulation forbid ding the connection of baseroctrt-Ooor trains to sanitary sewers -- but aKswieg {be connection of baswUnt-aanitaiy drains If a special valve Is used to keep "small eoDeestratio&f* or ** trace" of vinyl chloride.) Munich asked for an extension of his deadline for completing tbe Job became of the delays caused by tbe fumes, snd became of a delay in the msntifartarer's delivery of the floodgates. Re estimated the cost of tbe delay at $71,893. (The original cost of the project .was to be about $800,000.) r J. - Taylor, secretary -triawjw of BSD, told the hoed Goodrich bad prom Tbe new regulation on basement dnira was proposed late last year after USD customers complained water was backing up into their basements when it rained. The hottest protests came from the Bon Air area, where sanitary sewage often hacked up Into finished basements. MSD explained that local and federal regulations forbid storm water in sani tary sewers. The backups were being caused, MSD said, by forbidden waters. the water front backing up into tbe bate. 1 if Ur* sower becomes overloaded. ised to cooperate id solving the problem, but had denied liability for paying for tbe delay., 'v In December. USD proposed a new regalalion that would stop the connection of any drain to a sanitary sewir line if -- / V1 inyl ,eWondr' ' ' vl The vinjVchkflrMU fume* were dis covered dnring 'ttra-iHef:whcn work- tit dog la^itege iUtfia aewerto install Be hnd R. W. Seats, the sewer tBstricfs attorney,, said Munich or UK) probably would have th so to court to fotee Good rich twpay far the delay. ,flra-ierd-mated Munich a delay in his deadline for completing the project ^*bet did not ct.<on his tt$oe*Tfor the v Vinyl cWpride is> substance ued in. nummoer, .^ wsS^. , the drain would be below the levs} of tbe street (or the ground) over the sanitaryaeworline. The board made a special point of for bidding basement fleer drains, oo tbe the ory that Moras water seeping through tbe basement walla could wrier the sanitary sewers through these drains. tasking pU*ti<*.lt has been blamed for pausing * i*'form ofu>cer. angiosar 5lwn drainage. At a ptfbliC'bearing Aug. 30. represen coma. which attacks the liver and has killed at least sis former, workers at tbe poodrkh plktot tarre. - The *e*<r,Be. about 18 feet wide and 57 feet Mttyearriet.atom water overflow from a lewtr puropfeg station sear Bella Lane and 41st Street to the Ohio River iThe Goodrich plant dumps treated waste '.water teu: tbe storm vrr bflow the The Honn-dminage report was pro pared idler Mayor Harvey sloant *a- plained that ritixensTith drainage prob lems were "getting the rmHKwad" from city departments and MSB. The report says different state laws give tbe city and MSD powers to deal wKh norm drainage. It abo poinls out that USD's main tatives of the homo-building industry ex pressed strung objections to puts of the proposal. In tho modified regulation approved Yesterday. MSD will allow "sanitary sew age" connections -- for kitchens, bath rooms and lauodry areas -- below ground level, but only If a sprtial valve Ja in- stalled.to keep sower wafer from becking np tidoegfctbe draow- ? ,. . `I'V- BFG29372 zopesow: rr