Document RpqYRENVovZO4B2K4L7roGLGv

Hit.tIVTM/I1.1TMM TI UoLrDE.RV r If t a i C8I1 V. MONSANTO COMPANY, et al CRAIG BRANcHfIEID April 25, 2003 REAGAN REPORTERS, LLC Phone: 334.262.7556 Fax: 334.262.4437 www.ReaganReporters.com ADAD21-003280 HARTOLDMON0038944 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 3 SOUTHERN DIVISION 4 ANTONIA TOLBERT, ) 5 et al., ) 6) 7 Plaintiffs, ) Civil Action No: 8 ) CV-01-C-1407-S 9 vs . ) 10 ) 11 MONSANTO COMPANY, ) 12 PHARMACIA, INC., and ) 13 SOLUTIA, INC,, ) 14 Defendants. ) i-L. r/ 16 in X/ nCQnCTTTnKT C\T? PDATn U D A MPUT? T T7T .Ti L/U^UU J. X X Wi'i V-/X 1\.X~X XViii J- 18 1 C\ j. y 20 S T I P U L A T I 0 N S /. X 22 IT IS STIPULATED AND AGREED by and 23 between the parties through their respective 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com Page 1 K h I 1 ADAD21-003281 HARTOLDMON0038945 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 2 1 counsel that the deposition of CRAIG O4. OmDwAuXiTvr'U/inuGTET oa Hmntu'niAVCN'P iuni tuUiav nakuAvirwa vamn^nifilva/uA 3 cause, may be taken before Laura E. Durden, 4 Notary Public in and for Alabama State at 5 Large, at the offices of Lightfoot, Franklin 6 & White, L.L.C., The Clark Building, 400 7 20th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama, on 8 the 25th day of April, 2003, commencing at 9 10:00 a.m., pursuant to the Alabama Rules of 10 Civil Procedure. 11 it is further stipulated and agreed 12 that it shall not be necessary for any 13 objections to be made by counsel to any 14 questions except as to form or leading 1 ^ mif^ctirvnc cUm11HU tUh1aUtI rV*rVnUr>llkc#JV1t fXrVvIr tUliIAV r^t/tIaUrutivauc 16 may make objections and assign grounds at 17 the time of trial or at the time said 18 deposition is offered in evidence or prior 19 thereto. 20 It is further stipulated and agreed by 21 and between the parties hereto and the 22 witness that the signature of the witness to 23 this deposition is hereby waived. 1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 For the Plaintiffs: 4 5 MR. D. FRANK DAVIS, ESQUIRE 6 Davis & Norris, L.L.P. 7 One Highland Place 8 2151 Highland Avenue 9 Suite 100 10 Birmin^hair A.i&b3ni 35205 11 12 For the Defendants: 13 14 MR. KEVIN CLARK, ESQUIRE 15 Lightfoot, Franklin & White 16 400 20th Street North 17 The Clark Building 18 Birmingham, Alabama 35203 iy 20 21 22 23 Page 3 1 EXAMINATION 9 pYciminatirm hv Yfr Davie 3^ 4 4 (No exhibits were marked and/or 5 admitted to this deposition.) 6 7 I, Laura t. Durden, acting as 8 commissioner, certify that on this date 9 there came before me at the offices of 10 Lightfoot, Franklin & White, L.L.C., The 11 Clark Building, 400 20th Street North, 12 Birmingham, Alabama, on April 25,2003, 13 beginning at or about 10:00 a.m, CRAIG 14 BRANCHFIELD, a witness in the above cause, 15 for oral examination, whereupon the 16 following procedures were had: 17 18 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD 19 having first been duly sworn, testified as follows: 20 EXAMINATION BY MR DAVIS: 21 Q. State your name for the record, 22 please. 23 A Craig Randall Branchfield. 1 Q. What state and county do you reside 2 in? 3 A. I live in Alabama, in Talladega 4 County. 5 Q. By whom are you currently employed? 6 A. Solutia. 7 Q. And what is your position at Solutia? 8 A. My position is manager over remedial 9 projects. 10 O How loner have vou been emnloved bv 11 Solutia? 12 A. IVe been employed by Solutia for four 13 and a half years now. 14 Q. Who was your employer before that? 15 A. A company called Morrison Knudsen. 16 Q. So you never actually worked for 17 Monsanto before starting with Solutia? 18 A. That's correct. I was hired by ii ay nGUiuiici. 20 Q. When did you begin working for 21 Solutia? 22 A. My initial position with Solutia was 23 as a manager of remedial projects, working Page 4 1 ` ' l , Si - " * . .; * ( : * | I R i Page 5 g j | I 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 I P| 1 I I | 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 2 (Pages 2 to 5) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003282 HARTOLDMON0038946 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 1 out of our corporate offices in St. Louis. L Q. When was the first time you had any 3 responsibilities with regard to Anniston? 4 A. The first time I had any 5 responsibilities would have been January of 6 2000. That's when I assumed responsibility 7 for my current role as project manager for 8 the Anniston remediation. 9 Q. When was the first time you visited 10 Anniston? 11 A. The first time I visited Anniston 12 would have been in probably September of 13 1999. 14 Q. What was the purpose of that? e U A n.. me _j_j_i_u_p--usc _w___a__s.__l_O____e__u_m___c_ uJu___w_n, _s_e__e_ me 16 city, and meet the --1 had been offered the 17 job as project manager. Basically, was to 18 learn a little bit about it and help me 19 decide whether I wanted to accept the 20 position or not. 21 Q. When was it you said you actually 22 accepted the position? 23 A. Actually accepted the position by Page 6 Page 8 1 for Anniston, I did maintain responsibility 2 for some other projects that I had been 3 working on for a period of time. But I have 4 since been relieved of those 5 responsibilities. 6 O. What other nroiects did vou maintain 7 responsibility over for a period of time? 8 A. After I came to Anniston or after I 9 assumed responsibilities for Anniston? 10 Q. Yes. 11 A There was a superfund site in Maryland 12 called the Spectron Galaxy site, which I 13 maintained responsibility for about a year 14 and a half after I came to Anniston. Fora IJ SliUll ytnuvi ux iiiiiv, x iiiaim-aiiivu 16 responsibility for another project that we 17 have outside of Texas called the Motco site. 18 There was also -- had some 19 resnonsibilities for some work that was 20 going at our coining plant in St. Louis and 21 some other miscellaneous recurrent superfund 22 sites. 23 There was about a six-month , 4 J ' t , 1 1 j | 1 October of 1QQQ. 2 Q. You told me what your title was at 3 that time, and we had a little break here 4 for a second. And now IVe forgotten what 5 it was. 6 A. Manager of remedial projects. 7 Q. For Anniston? 8 A. Since I started working for Solutia, 9 that's been my title both up in St. Louis 1A l\J oiiu diiivc; x aaauiiicu icspuuaiuimi&d ntit 111 11 Anniston. 12 Q. Once you assumed responsibilities in 13 October of 1999 for Anniston, did you also 14 have any responsibilities outside of 15 Anniston, or were you solely working for 16 Anniston? 17 A. At first, I wasn't fully responsible 18 for Anniston until January of 2000. Between 19 October and January was a transition period 20 between myself and my predecessor, Alan 21 Faust. 22 The second part ofyour question was, after I assumed responsibility Page 7 1 transition when I came down to Anniston, 2 where I was turning many of those projects 3 over to other managers. 4 Q. At about what date were you working 5 just on Anniston? 6 A. Well, except for the Spectron Galaxy 7 site, I turned over all my other projects by 8 April or May of 2000. The Spectron Galaxy 9 site, I kept responsibility for -1 cant 1 A remember the exact date. It would probably 11 have been sometime in mid 2001 before I 12 turned over responsibility for that project. 13 Q. During the period of time you have 14 been at Solutia, have you had any 15 responsibilities over any PCB sites other 16 than Anniston? 17 A. I had responsibility over sites where 18 PCB was typically a veiy small part of the 19 remediation. There were other issues we 20 were dealing with. There were no sites that 21 were specifically PCB-related, like Anniston 22 is. 23 Q. Pnor to the time you came to work for Page 9 " * , j j j | j | E 1 I | g I 1 | 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 3 (Pages 6 to 9) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003283 HARTOLDMON0038947 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 10 1 Solutia, had you been involved in any o remediation projects where the constituent, 3 which was the principle constituent 4 involved, was PCB? 5 A. No. 6 0. You told us about coming down to 7 Anniston in October of 1999. 8 But on at least one occasion 9 prior to the time you accepted the position, 10 did you come just once before you accepted 11 the position, or was it more than once? 12 A. Just once, before I accepted the 13 position. 14 Q. How long were you down in Anniston on x tUliloWtt XfirlleOtl AWpVoUocOirl>Vil9i 16 A. About a week. 17 Q. What did you do during that time 18 period? 19 A. A variety of things. Obviously, part 20 of the visit was to learn about the 21 remediation that was going on in Anniston, 22 meet the people that I would be working with 23 and would be implementing much of the work Page 12 i Calhoun County, off of Highway 21. & fV\^. TnJu_w_ lOl llUIil LJ11UVY V1WM 3 A. I would estimate less than two miles 4 from Snow Creek. 5 Q. Prior to the time you came to Anniston 6 that first time, had you reviewed any 7 documents or information, historical 8 information or current information, about 9 the site? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Tell me what you were told about the 12 site when you came down on that first trip. 13 A. That first trip, I just really 14 received a very broad overview of the work that was ongoing and a little bit ofthe 16 history. I was obviously told about the 17 history of PCBs in Anniston. 18 Anniston was one of the plants 19 Monsanto owned that manufactured PCBs, and 20 that we manufactured those PCBs from --1 21 don't know the exact date - late 1920s 22 until 1971. That we were currently involved 23 in a facility investigation to characterize Page 11 1 we were trying to accomplish down in 2 Anniston. 3 There was also another part of 4 my family accompanying me on that trip, and 5 we were interested in learning about the 6 area in general - schools and so forth -7 to see if it was someplace we would like to 8 come and live. 9 Q. You indicated that you currently live ii.nV iinn l unuuvgu pv-A'Vi/imnihij/r. 11 Did you move to Talladega 12 County immediately after coming to Anniston? 13 A. Yes. 14 0. Where in Talladega? I don't need to 15 know the exact address. I don't like to put 16 people's addresses on depositions. Some 17 people do, but I don't. 18 Where in Talladega? 19 A. It's in the city of Oxford, which is 20 just south of Anniston. It really sits 21 almost right on the border of between 22 Calhoun and Talladega counties. 23 It's less than a mile south of Page 13 1 the nature and extent of PCBs, both in our 2 manufacturing facility in Anniston as well 3 as in the ditches and downstream waterways, 4 the creeks. 5 I talked with some of our 6 consultants about some of the details of 7 those investigations - what we had learned, 8 what investigations we saw in our future, 9 and the type ofwork we anticipated doing in fiver the next seven*! yesrs while T was 11 considering being involved with the project. 12 I was also given what I would 13 describe as a very general overview of the 14 work we had completed prior to my coming 15 down; specifically, the cap and cover 16 systems we placed on our landfills, some of 17 the ground water collection systems we had 18 put in place on the plant site to monitor iy and collect ground water as well as some of 20 the runoffs we had implemented on properties 21 adjacent to our facility. 22 It was really sort ofjust a 23 broad overview of what we had done and what k 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 4 (Pages 10 to 13) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003284 HARTOLDMON0038948 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 14 1 we were doing and where we foresaw ourselves going. 3 Q. What do you recall being told about 4 what had been done so far? 5 A. At that time most of what -- most of 6 the work that I had been briefed on -- and 7 it wasn't by any means a complete 8 description of everything that had been 9 done -- is there is lots that had been done, 10 and we didn't get into all of it. 11 The larger projects we had been 12 involved with at the time was the capping of 13 the landfills that Monsanto had used and the 14 investigations that had taken place around 4 * the plant site, the actual collection of 16 samples and having those samples analyzed by 17 laboratories and what that data told us 18 about how PCBs were moving around in the 19 environment. 20 I was obviously told that there 21 was some ongoing litigation on the project. 22 But getting back to the remediation, I 23 learned a little bit about the ground water Page 16 1 1 is upgrade of our facility from a surface 4* water standpoint. That rainwater would flow 3 across our plant site. It would flow across 4 our historical landfill, which, of course, 5 had been closed, and you would get bits of 6 erosion. 7 The PCBs particles tended to 8 like to bind to soil particles, sedimentary 9 material. That surface water would capture 10 those soil particles and wash them into 11 ditches and creeks and wash them downstream. 12 When there were flooding 13 events, when that water would go outside the 14 banks of the ditches or creeks, there was a 15 potential for PCBs to be deposited in those 16 flood plains. 17 This is how the site we were 18 investigating at the time had been defined, 19 was the flood plains of these creeks and 20 ditches as well as the waterways themselves. 21 Q. At the time you came down then, you 22 saw them investigating PCBs outside the 23 flood plains? 1 j | 1 ? ! 1 ? ! : 1 collection systems we had on the site. 2 These discussions were very general. 3 It was just really a trip to 4 see what was going on. The more detail 5 turnover -1 guess would be a proper 6 term -- took piace between those months 7 between October and January, when I took 8 over the work they were doing in Anniston. 9 That first visit was just a real broad i4nV nature 11 Q. Let's, then, take a different 12 approach. 13 Let's say at the time that you 14 took over, what were you told then about 15 what had been learned about how the PCBs 16 moved? 17 A. As far as how the PCBs moved, at that 18 point I had been told, and this pretty much i9 remains the case today, that the primary 20 means for PCBs to be transported away from 21 the facility was through surface water. 22 When it would rain, the rain 23 would, of course, flow down a mountain that Page 15 1 A. When I came down, we had --1 have to 2 think about it. When I came down, it had 3 been just brought to our attention. I think 4 this was through the course of one of the 5 lawsuits that was ongoing at the time, and 6 it's still ongoing. 7 That some PCBs had been 8 detected in some properties outside the 9 flood plain. But at the time we didn't have 10 a veiy good sense for what those levels of 11 PCBs were or where they were, for that 12 matter. 13 That was not something that had 14 been completely developed at the time, 15 certainly not to the extent to which we've 16 developed that data today. 17 Q. Mien was it in 2000 that you moved 18 here permanently? 1iyA jaiiuoiy ui 20 Q. By January 2000, had Monsanto tested 21 the yards of any residents? 22 A. Some residential properties within the 23 flood plains of Snow Creek and Choccolocco Page 17 | 1 ; ' : j j 1 j 1 > fe 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 5 (Pages 14 to 17) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003285 HARTOLDMON0038949 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 18 1 Creek, as well as residential properties aujavviu i/s%j /vmjuiii laviuiy,<wtc1n<at Jn^incns^Aic/1u, 3 yes. 4 Q. Do you remember in general what the 5 results of that testing was? 6 A. It really varied based on the 7 location. Theoretically, you would 8 anticipate the higher levels of PCBs to be 9 closer to the facility, and as you work your 10 ways down the waterways, the levels would 11 fall. 12 That's generally what we found; 13 particularly, on Choccolocco Creek. Once we 14 get to Snow Creek, it's a little more 1< / cnrtttt/ TUf lOU l ott n1UmWx /VlIoVoOt*! r^rrl*ao/-u4-it-lrlgrr AV/1t4i 16 Snow Creek, but nevertheless, we still had 17 some of that data. 18 Q. Since then, do you have any idea of 19 the total soil samples you have done? 20 A. Total soil samples? 21 Q. Yeah. 22 A. If you want to include sediment 23 samples taken in the creek, the plant site, Page 20 i 1 direction. Of course, upward is nothing but A- iuicsi oiiuj ,,a iiiuu_i_i_uuu. 3 In the downgraded area of the 4 plant, outside the flood plain, you can pick 5 one property and not detect PCBs, and you 6 can go to the next door property and find 7 fifty parts per million PCBs. And you go to 8 the property right next to that and find two 9 parts per million PCBs. There is no clear, 10 consistent pattern to the distribution of 11 PCBs on residential properties in the 12 western parts of Anniston. 13 As we work our way downstream, 14 down Snow Creek, and get to the Choccolocco 15 PV^rioWoIUV) tUUiVa noftpm KVVpVrtVr1tmUVpOc tT;VpInJ; orvnarVA11nVt. 16 You get a very nice correlation between the 17 location of PCBs --1 should say the 18 concentration of PCBs both with distance 19 downstream, Choccolocco Creek, as well as 20 distance away from the banks of Choccolocco 21 Creek. 22 And without exception, when it 23 comes to Choccolocco Creek, we don't find | i I 1 ! ______________ 1 residential properties, commercial, 2 industrial, I would say in excess of 3 five-thousand. Probably much higher than 4 that, but at least five-thousand soil and 5 sediment samples within creeks themselves. 6 Q. I'm curious about the consistency and 7 predictability of those samples. You have 8 five-thousand of them. 9 If I picked out a residential in X V/ niAAA |/1VVV rVtIf nmnArh; dcotljirr, uTnTttUliUitiii uKuoulfuo amuilidv 11 of the plant, and said to you, if we sample 12 that piece of property, would we find PCBs 13 or not, and if we find them, what level, are 14 you now in a position to predict that? 15 A. There is a few that - Pm trying to 16 think of a good way to answer that question. 17 The simple answer to your 18 question is no. It's very difficult to l9 predict; particularly, in the Anniston area. 20 In the Anniston area, you can go and sample 21 one property - pick a location really. 22 This is typically within a half 23 mI1UiAl^V rAaWrUl1iuc nf*thp nlant Uin4 tUh&AV rlnurmoraHp/i Page 19 Page 21 1 PCBs outside the flood plain. So detecting 2 PCBs outside the flood plain is really 3 unique in West Anniston. It's really not 4 what we found in Choccolocco Creek. 5 So the simple answer to your 6 question is, in West Anniston, no, I cant 7 predict for you. On Choccolocco Creek, I 8 think I could give you a very good feel. 9 Q. On Choccolocco, your prediction would in A V/ Kl/Va kVaIlMcAVWrl AWAnX aMnil aWUclcJ nmnVtinIVnil tUh4aMt. *iAf. i4tV^w 4in4* 11 the flood plain, there would be PCBs 12 probably there; if it wasnt, there probably 13 wouldn't be? 14 A. In certain areas of Choccolocco Creek, 15 when we completed our initial flood plain 16 investigation of Choccolocco Creek, which we 17 did I want to say in -- I want to say in 18 late 2001. I think it was probably October i9 or November of 2001 when we went in ihe 20 flood plain of Choccolocco Creek and 21 collected soil samples. 22 For the first five miles of the 23 frr\m Snow PrRftlf Hnwn to a location inrrppV ''`''''"l **'*" *'*-- ' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 I ; 1 i | i ! \ \ j I 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 6 (Pages 18 to 21) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003286 HARTOLDMON0038950 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 the vicinity of Coldwater Creek - it's z aUa,, dL/UUl live UU1C9 uiauuivc -- wc UCIC^ICU 3 PCBs pretty much through the width ofthe 4 flood plain. 5 Once we got down below 6 Coldwater Creek, from a point about five 7 miles downstream of Snow Creek to about 15 8 miles downstream of Snow Creek, the PCB 9 detections were pretty much, without 10 exception, limited to the banks of the 11 creek. And I will define the banks of the 12 creek as anywhere within 50 feet ofthe 13 water. 14 Once we got away from the banks 15 Gi uiv viwjv, fukiavfiav iipb \_uiv nuii* tnutrir/"\ 16 exceptions. Generally speaking, we did not 17 detect PCBs outside the banks ofthe creek. 18 once we got below Coldwater Creek. 19 That's not something you would 20 find unusual. You would expect 21 theoretically, the way PCBs are transported, 22 that you find the higher levels PCBs in the 23 upstream areas and they would reduce as you Page 22 Page 24 1 1 PCBs are not there because of flood plain z UCjJuSiuuii. fj1l'Uiicatj/ic ful^iac**iaclui^AvAauiifaiAw ovsiiiwuiiiig 3 physically put them there. 4 Q. Would your conclusion be that there 5 have been multiple ways that PCBs are spread 6 around Anniston? 7 A. I think "multiple" might exaggerate. 8 There's really only two primary ways that 9 PCBs move around. 10 One is through surface water 11 transport, in deposition and flood plains, 1 | 1 i 1 l 1 1 R 1 1 12 and the other is literally picking them up 13 and moving them or picking the soil or other i i 14 material that contains PCBs and moving it otirl nlortirtff if fliprp (UiU ptuviug XV MIVtVi 16 There is some transport -- it's 17 a very minor component. Typically, it's not 18 even statistic from a deposition view, but 19 there is some minor transport through the 20 air. On most PCB sites, you typically don't 21 see that as an issue. That's really the 22 case in Anniston. 23 Most of the deposition in Page 23 1 go downstream, and you would find the higher 2 levels close to die bank of the creek, and 3 they would reduce as you move away from the 4 bank. We pretty much found what we 5 predicted we would find. 6 Q. In the same way that you found in 7 Anniston, PCBs that are fairly down in one 8 yard, and the next door neighbor, not nearly 9 so high, would you expect it if you did 10 multiple samples within a particular 11 person's yard that you would also find 12 significant variations in the levels of PCB? 13 A. I think in Anniston, yes. There have 14 been a number of properties that we have 15 sampled, or the EPA sampled, where we 16 detected fifty parts per million in the 17 front yard, and we have not detected 18 anything in the backyard. We have theories 19 about why that might be the case. We have 20 some data to suggest why that's occurring. 21 Yeah, within one particular property, 22 you can find variation within that property 23 K1/v) 1itWcV^Ulf) uTT/1liUiVrl1iI Lcliuirgrgnwr^ucktUc tWn nWcU tUhlaUtt fWlin1WcpV 1 Anniston is through surface water transport 2 or physical movement of the PCB-containing 3 material. 4 Q. But you agree that some PCBs move by 5 attaching themselves to soil and blowing in 6 the wind, so to speak? 7 A. Absolutely. And we have data showing 8 there are low levels of PCBs in the air in 9 our facility. io q Arid some PCBs get moved around bv 11 getting on the bottom of somebody's feet and 12 transporting around? 13 A. Sure, that's possible. 14 Q. Truck tires moving around or car tires 15 moving around, right? 16 A. That's certainly possible. I wouldn't 17 suggest that's the primary way PCBs moved 18 around Anniston, but it's certainly iy possible. 20 Q. When you are seeing PCBs in the 21 Anniston area above the flood plains, 22 outside the area where it flooded, do you 23 have a view as to what the nrimarv means Page 25 i t SE \ 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 7 (Pages 22 to 25) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003287 HARTOLDMON0038951 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 26 1 were for which it got there? z. .n. t ui uuisiuc uic iuaaa piaiiii 3 Q. Right. 4 A. Yeah. On many of the properties we 5 sample outside the flood plain, there seems 6 to be a correlation between the presence of 7 PCBs and the presence of old waste material 8 from foundries that used to operate in 9 Anniston many years ago. 10 I should also mention, just to 11 be clear, that we also see that inside the 12 flood plain, where we will sample a yard in 13 the flood plain and see some foundry 14 material in the yard and-also the presence 15 Ol orn X * 16 I don't think that would be - 17 that's unexpected because, typically, you 18 would use a foundry fill material or any 19 fill material of that nature to fill in a 20 low area, and if you're close to a creek, 21 you probably have more low areas you want to 22 fill in than not. 23 Q. Do you know in general where the Page 28 i this a phenomenon related to Anniston? z. A. I don't know. I wouldn't suspect it's 3 limited to Anniston. Die EPA issued --1 4 believe it's in the early 1980s. They 5 issued a report called "The EPA Treatability 6 Studies Report." 7 It listed characteristic 8 discharges from different types of 9 industries. And one of those industries was 10 the foundry industry, and it clearly lists 11 PCB as a characteristic discharge from 12 foundries anywhere in the United States. 13 But, as far as a specific 14 example, I couldn't give you a specific i_5 pYQnmlp 16 Q. You have indicated that sometimes you 17 saw foundry sand in the same area where you 18 saw PCBs. 19 Have you or anyone else done or 20 made an effort to correlate those; that is, 21 correlate samples, showing PCBs to foundry 22 sand in those same areas? 23 A. I don't know that I understand what is 1 111II < 1 1 foundries used to be located? 2 A. Some of them, yes. 3 Q. Are some of them in the flood plain? 4 A. There's probably one or two. I think 5 there's two or three foundries that were 6 iocated in the flood plain of Snow Creek. 7 Most of the foundries were located either 8 outside the flood plain, or if they were in 9 a flood plain, they were upgraded with our in X V/ iuviiiijr. 11 Q. Do you know of any areas around the 12 United States where they're concluding the 13 foundries, in typically the cities other 14 than Anniston, contain PCBs or any level of 15 PCBs? 16 A. I cant say I know specifically 17 anywhere outside the United States, but, 18 obviously, my focus isnt outside the United 19 States. It's in Anniston. 20 Q. I'm talking around the United States. 21 Do you know any basis for concluding in 22 general when you see the foundry sands in 23 other cities th&t you also see PCBs, or is Page 27 1 type of correlation you are looking for, 2 whether you are asking is there a 3 correlation between the mere presence of 4 foundry sand and the presence of PCBs. 5 Generally, speaking, yes, there 6 is. But foundry sands are unique. Imean, 7 foundry sands aren't a result of a 8 continuous, ongoing discharge, like you 9 would see in surface water. Foundry sands 10 are a result ofpile ofwaste that somebody 11 comes and gets something from that pile and 12 then hauls it away. 13 Wherever you - the different 14 materials - whether it's led, zinc, PCBs 15 the various constituents you would detect 16 from what you pull from that pile, obviously 17 depends on what is placed on that pile. 18 There are some areas that may have high 19 areas of led. 20 Probably there's some led waste 21 and probably other areas where maybe they 22 threw an old transformer that was filled 23 with PCB fluids, and that fluid may have Page 29 * < i | 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 8 (Pages 26 to 29) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003288 HARTOLDMON0038952 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 1 leaked into the foundry sand. And that T particular foundry Sand would have higher 3 levels of PCBs. 4 We have looked at properties 5 that have foundry sand and low levels of 6 PCBs, and it's typically low levels. It's 7 typically in the one to ten part per million 8 range. 9 But we have looked at the 10 correlation of the foundry sands, the PCBs, 11 and other contaminants; such as, led, and we 12 find there are a fair number of properties 13 in Anniston that contain all three that are 14 outside the flood plain and typically in 1 j* locations that, in our opinion, would be 16 physically impractical for the PCBs to have 17 come from us. 18 That leads us to a conclusion 19 that those PCBs are present on that specific 20 property or properties as a result of 21 foundry operations. 22 Q. You are using an assumption there 23 wasn't a significant amount of PCBs that was Page 30 Page 32 1 In Anniston, we see nothing of the sort. We see, as I described to you 3 earlier, very spotty levels of PCBs -4 non-detect here, ten here. We see it in all 5 directions. It's not indicative to air 6 transport by any stretch of the imagination. 7 Q. But ifyou proctor those results on a 8 map, you do see higher results for PCBs the 9 closer you get to the plant? 10 A. In the drainage ditches, not outside n the flood plains. Once you get outside the 12 flood plains and look at the residential 13 properties, I can take you to properties 14 that are greater than ten parts per million 15 that are a mile away from our facility that 16 have hundreds of properties in between them 17 where there's no detections of PCBs. When I 18 say "between," between that property and our 19 facility. 20 Q. As we discussed earlier, there seems 21 to be inconsistency in the results between 22 individual pieces of property, right? 23 A. We are seeing different levels and 1 8 I 1 { I 1 I 1 j Page 31 1 moved? 2 A. Yes. And the data we have certainly 3 supports that conclusion. I dont want to 4 call it an assumption. 5 Q. The only data you have is from when? 6 A. What type of data? 7 Q. Air. 8 A. We been collecting air data since 9 1999,1 believe. But the conclusion I would in 1 V/ draw isn't based on air data we are 11 collecting today. 12 It would be based on, if there 13 was an air source, what you would expect to 14 see versus what we are actually seeing. If 15 air was a significant source of PCB in the 16 West Anniston community, you would expect to 17 see a gradient. You would expect to see a 18 pattern of PCBs that would be detectable. 19 Very similar to what you see 20 with surface water - higher levels closest 21 to the plant; lower levels as you move away. 22 It would be in a direction consistent with 23 the Dr rev' *a*'"i^"n`0a w'Ti*n"*H**c' 1 different concentrations of PCBs from 2 property to property. 3 Q. That's really not what I'm asking. 4 What I'm asking, though, if you were to plot 5 all your results on a map and plot levels 6 detected. 7 Let's say, use different colors 8 for different levels. One color for under 9 five, one color for five to ten, one color 10 for ten to twenty, and so forth. 11 Dont you find that, in 12 general, the higher levels are closer to the 13 plant? 14 A. I think, when you are looking within 15 the drainage pathways, certainly. We never 16 tried to argue we are not responsible for 17 PCBs discharges from our facility. 18 Certainly, PCBs were discharged from our 4A iy facility. 20 And in those areas where we are 21 confident that those discharges, in large 22 part, came from our facility, that is 23 exactly what you see, what you just Page 33 i 1 | .| * 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 9 (Pages 30 to 33) ADAD21-003289 HARTOLDMON0038953 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 described. o Once you get outside those 3 pathways, once you get outside the flood 4 plains, what you are describing is not the 5 case. It is actually -- we have tried to 6 correlate concentrations with distance from 7 the plant in those outside the flood plain 8 areas, and it's scattered. You get no 9 consistent pattern or gradient that you are 10 trying to suggest outside the flood plains. 11 g. And your title once more is what? 12 A. My title? 13 Q. Yes, sir. 14 A. Manager of remedial projects. 15 Q. Does that mean you're in charge of 16 remediation in Anniston? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Is it, then, correct that, in general, 19 you do not take the responsibility for the 20 PCBs around the Anniston plant other than 21 the flood plains? 22 A. No, that's not correct. 23 Q. Well, then, is the opposite true? Page 34 Page 36 1 that got PCBs on them, whether they are in a flood plain or not, do y'all intend to clean 3 those PCBs up? 4 A. I would say we more than intend to 5 clean them. We are actively cleaning them 6 up. 7 Q. And are y'all just doing that out of 8 the goodness of your heart, or is it because 9 you admit you're responsible for them being 10 there? li MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 12 A. We are doing it because we made a 13 commitment to EPA, to ADEM, and regulatory 14 agencies as well as the community to address 15 PCBs in Anniston, and that is exactly what 16 we are doing, wherever we find them. 17 We could step in and draw a 18 hard line and say, these are ours and that's 19 all we are dealing with. That's not the 20 commitment we made. We made a commitment to 21 deal with them wherever we find them, and 22 that is exactly what we are doing. 23 Q. (By Mr. Davis) One of the places you ! j j j 1 1 p 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 | | Page 35 1 That you do, as the guy in charge of the PCB 2 remediation of the Anniston plant, take 3 responsibility for cleaning up the PCBs 4 around the Anniston plant whether they do or 5 do not appear in flood plains? 6 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 7 A. What is true is that we have made 8 commitments and reached agreements with the 9 Environmental Protection Agency and the 10 State of Alabama to go out into Anniston and 11 address the presence of PCBs, wherever we 12 find them. We have been in the process of 13 fulfilling that commitment for a number of 14 years. 15 Q. (By Mr. Davis) I don't know what 16 "addresses" means. I don't want to be too 17 picky. 18 Let's start with y*all 19 investigate, right? 20 A. That's typically one of the earlier 21 steps, to investigate, yes. 22 Q. What I want to know is, folks in 23 Anniston who have residential properties Page 37 5 1 found them was down at a park in Oxford? 2 A. Oxford Lake Park, yes. 3 Q. You dealt with them by putting them 4 under a parking lot? 5 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 6 A. l nere were two aiiiereiri mctuOuS we 7 used to clean up the PCBs down there at 8 Oxford Lake Park. Some of the PCBs we found 9 exceeded the toxic levels for managing them in onsite. They were higher than fifty parts ll per million. Those had to go to a regulated 12 disposal facility in a mill in Alabama. 13 Those PCBs that were less fifty 14 parts per million - actually, I should say 15 less than forty. 16 Anything less than forty, we 17 did manage at the park itself, and one of 18 the ways we did that was building a parking 1A iy lot on top of some of them. 20 Q. (By Mr. Davis) How did you manage 21 them other than putting a parking lot on top 22 of them? 23 A. Some of them were just capped in ; ; { 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 10 (Pages 34 to 37) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003290 HARTOLDMON0038954 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 38 1 place. There was an area in the park where Zr we worked out a cooperative agreement with 3 the City of Oxford to build some tennis 4 courts over the top of those PCBs as a 5 containment remedy. 6 There was another area in the 7 park, just across the street from where we 8 built the tennis courts, in another small 9 parking lot, where we just brought in about 10 18 inches of clean soil and placed that on 11 top of the PCB-containing soil and planted 12 some grass, which is growing slowly but 13 growing nonetheless. 14 Q. Is that an area where kids still play i J< in? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Are you not aware, based on your 18 reading literature, that PCBs buried will 19 migrate back to the surface? 20 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 21 A. I'm not aware of anything that 22 suggests PCBs that have been capped in place 23 will migrate to the surface, no. i A. I wouldn't define anything as "the gu___uAu uiu uoyo. 3 There is a -- the south 4 landfill, based on which section of the 5 landfill you look at, has different types of 6 caps now. 7 Q. (By Mr. Davis) I don't want to talk 8 about the current caps that have been put on 9 there since you're been there or just 10 shortly before then. I want to go back now 11 in the 70s or so. 12 Weren't there clay caps put on 13 that landfill a long time ago? 14 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. a ^ A. Certain portions of it had clay caps 16 put on it in the 70s. The south landfill 17 operated until 1986,1 believe. 18 Some areas have more -- I will 19 use the term "thorough" caps put in place 20 based on what was buried in that particular 21 part of the landfill. 22 Q. (By Mr. Davis) The area of the 23 landfill that had PCBs put in it, did it Page 40 1 1 jj 1 j I & * ! ; - , | 8 j I 1 O. (By Mr. Davis) Have you made an 2 inquiry in that regard or looked that 3 question up? 4 A. Absolutely. 5 Q. Your testimony would be that there is 6 no support for that? 7 A. My testimony would be that the 8 remedies we put in place are adequate, just 9 not in our opinion or but in the opinion of ivy the regulatory'agencies, and that that 11 potential issue you're suggesting, migration 12 back to the surface, if it exists, is so 13 small as to be inconsequential. 14 0. Have you been back out to test for 15 that to see? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Where you put the clay caps? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Let's move for a minute to your 20 landfills on the south side. 21 Do they have a clay cap on 22 them, back in the good old days? 23 MR. CLARK.: Object to the form. Page 39 1 have a clay cap put on it during the 70s? 2 A. During the operation of the landfill, 3 there would be layers of clay put on the 4 waste material that was placed in the 5 landfill. Then, when we closed down the 6 PCB-manufacturing facility and closed that 7 portion of the landfill, my recollection, 8 based on reading reports we provided to the 9 regulatory agencies, is that there was a 10 clay cap put on top of the PCB cell. 11 That area was then used for a 12 short period of time for some just municipal 13 waste -- paper, wood, not chemical waste. 14 Waste like you generate in your house. 15 Then, on top of that was placed 16 another foot or more ofclay, and, then, a 17 vegetating cover. There is quite a bit of 18 cap between the current vegetated cover and 19 wnt ere. imt e_ t\/iti is _aa.i. 20 Q. During the operation of the landfill. 21 as certain parts of the landfill were used. 22 there was clay put on top of it then? 23 A Yes,j that's m4v u- nd- erstanding from what Page 41 . > * ? . ; , ; ; 5 * , * 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 11 (Pages 38 to 41) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003291 HARTOLDMONOQ38955 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 1 I read. Ay. A f rj'/wAuii tuiu nu>o9) mtuAvi*ivo /vmInij/ oiiu riM&Aiv*/iiSv 3 clay put on it? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Is it correct that the PCBs in that 6 landfill have migrated back to the surface? 7 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 8 A. I don't think there's any data to 9 suggest that the low levels of PCBs that 10 have been detected on the cover of the old 11 PCBs cells were a result of migration to the 12 surface. - 13 I think a more logical 14 explanation is that the soil we used for 15 tMYlUiaki rV*11UaJ\/ /v'tumu rw'nrvmwmtvau UcnVm/lliVp IIaViTiT; 1VT vitl U1 16 PCBs in it. 17 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Where did that soil 18 come from? 19 A. I don't know. Logically, you would 20 suspect it came from somewhere in the 21 vicinity ofthe landfill, but I couldn't 22 tell you for sure. 23 Q. Didn't that clay come from the area 1 where the landfill was being expanded to; 2 that is, from up there on top of that hill? 3 A. I don't know specifically where that 4 soil came from 5 Q. 6 hill tion 7 that of 8 that f 9 the in wss 11 cert 12 13 with. \/ d 14 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 15 A. I apologize. I don't know that I 16 completely understand your question. 17 My first response is that I 18 don't know where that soil came from If 19 you're telling me for a fact that it came 20 from upgrade of the landfill -- 21 Q. (By Mr. Davis) I don't get to 22 testify. If I did, I'd tell you that for a 23 fact. Page 42 1 Best I can tell you is give you <3 UTinAfhpttAnI aiiflptiAti tt/kt/iti ip oppnma 3 with me for a minute that the soil used to 4 cap the PCB landfill came from the area of 5 the intended expansion of the landfill; that 6 is, also across the road there and also 7 uphill. 8 Would that have PCBs in it? 9 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 10 A. I'm not aware of any expansion ofthe 11 landfill uphill. The three PCBs cells were 12 located at the northern edge of the south 13 landfill. There is no additional landfill. 14 Q. (By Mr. Davis) I said "upgrade." Let L5 ms change the subject for just a minute -- 16 not subject, but change the question. 17 You would at least agree that 18 on the PCB landfill, on the south landfill, 19 the portion that had PCBs buried in it that 20 when yall tested the top of that landfill. 21 the top of that clay, you found PCBs? 22 A Yes, we did. 23 Q. What did you do to examine the Page 44 * \ \ Ki Page 43 1 question of whether those PCBs might have 2 been there because they were migrating up to 3 the surface from within the landfill? 4 A I'm not aware of any investigations 5 that were conducted to draw that conclusion. 6 That's not an investigation that would rise 7 to the surface as the one you want to do 8 right away. 9 The potential for PCBs to in migrate in that matter is so small. I don't 11 know that potential really even exists, 12 certainly with the concentrations.of PCIJs we 13 found in the low part per million rage. ; 14 That's not how PCBs move. . .J 15 Q. Quintard Mall - were you involved in 16 any way in figuring out what to do with some 17 PCBs at Quintard Mall? 18 A. Towards the end of the Quintard Mall 1A iy project, I was, yes. 20 Q. What was going on at Quintard Mall 21 when PCBs were detected? 22 A. The mall was in the process of 23 expanding to the east. In order to complete Page 45 ! t 5 ? : \ 1 \ jf! i * i | i 1i 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 12 (Pages 42 to 45) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003292 HARTOLDMON0038956 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 46 1 that expansion to the east, they had to uodiwaii^ uuiill uvci un ivp ui ljuvw ^iCK. 3 Q. Snow Creek currently runs under it? 4 A. Yes, it runs underneath the mall. 5 Q. Where were PCBs found at Quintard 6 Mall? 7 A. They were found both in Snow Creek, 8 along the banks of Snow Creek, and the flood 9 plain in that particular area. 10 Q. What did y'all do about that? 11 A. Once again, two different approaches 12 were taken. There were areas within the 13 creek and outside the banks of the creek and 14 the flood plain of Snow Creek where soils 1\.J* had to be excavated to allow' for the 16 expansion of the mall. 17 When those soils -1 should 18 say before they were excavated, we obviously 19 tested them to determine what levels of PCBs 20 were present. Those soils that had greater 21 than fifty parts per million of PCBs were 22 sent to the hazardous waste landfill in the 23 mountain. jPage 48 i yeah. o Q. They have known you contaminated the 3 Snow Creek and Choccolocco Creek since the 4 mid 70s, probably the late '60s to early 5 70s? 6 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 7 A. I couldn't tell you what the 8 regulatory agencies knew back in the 70s. 9 When I can tell you is that in the early 10 1980s, around 1983, if I'm not mistaken, the 11 EPA came to our site and conducted a 12 facility assessment, where they basically 13 looked at our site and looked at our 14 different manufacturing processes, both at 15 the time current and historical, and wrote a 16 report, which is called the "River Facility 17 Assessment," which defined in the EPA's view 18 what different areas of the facility needed 19 to be addressed most immediately under the 20 Resource Conservation Recovery Act. 21 Since the completion ofthe 22 River Facility Assessment, we have been 23 taking the appropriate steps to address i j 1 1 I | ; . $ J j 1 | | I 1 I Page 47 1 And those soils that were less 2 than fifty parts per million PCBs were for a 3 period of time just stockpiled at the 4 Quintard Mall site itself. And the final 5 disposition was they were buried under one 6 of two parking lots constructed at the mall. 7 Once again, this was all done 8 in accordance with work plans and overseen 9 by the regulatory agencies. 1IVA Q. The regulatory agencies have been li overseeing y*all's PCPB projects since what? 12 1972? 13 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 14 A. The regulatory agencies have been 15 overseeing work in Anniston since -1 will 16 use the term "environmental laws" were 17 passed by Congress and the EPA was formed. 18 Q. (By Mr. Davis) The regulatory 19 agencies have known that - the United 20 States government in the State of Alabama 21 has know about yall's PCB problem since the 22 70s, haven't they? 23 A. They have known we manufactured PCBs, iPage 49 1 those areas which were identified by the 2 EPA, and that would include the PCB 3 manufacturing process. 4 Q. (By Mr. Davis) So the time period you 5 know about -- as you say, y'all have been 6 working hard at it since the rniu '80s, for 7 almost twenty years? 8 A. For addressing environmental issues at 9 our facility, yes. 10 Q. Let's go on and talk a little bit more 11 about what you have accomplished in the 12 almost twenty years since then. We talked 13 about burying some PCBs under the parking 14 lot at the park and burying some PCBs at the 15 parking lot at Quintard Mall. Let's see. 16 Sometime in the '80s, do you 17 know anything about doing some work to clean 18 some PCBs out of a ditch leading to Snow 19 ^icciC; 20 MR. CLARK: Objection. 21 A. Yes, we did do some sampling and 22 removal of PCBs from a ditch. We call it 23 the 11th Street ditch. And that cleanup [j | 1 1 J I I 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 13 (Pages 46 to 49) ADAD21-003293 HARTOLDMON0038957 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 50 1 also went a short ways into Snow Creek. Xo. Q. (By Mr. Os vis) That cleanup started 3 at about where Bethel Church is? 4 A. I believe so. I don't know for sure. 5 Q. I know you weren't there. I don't 6 want to ask you too many questions about a 7 time period you weren't there. 8 What I'm curious about is, did 9 you ever hear from anybody how come at that 10 point in time the ditches further upstream 11 from Bethel Church were not cleaned up? 12 A. I couldn't give you a very specific 13 answer to that. Based on what I have read 14 and what some people have told me, we were i -*> uoavu Kv uiv jC--iDx nA uomuuA rAuT/u"YiTC\AA( rAumtuA htt/av ueivvu tinv 16 do some sampling of the 11th Street ditch 17 and Snow Creek and identify those areas 18 within the ditch that contained sediments 19 greater than fifty parts per million. 20 We identified those areas. We, 21 then, proposed to the regulatory agency that 22 we remove those PCBs from the ditch. 23 For whatever reason I cant Page 52 | 1 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Based on what you have seen since you have been out there, do you 3 have a judgment as to where the PCBs came 4 from that were in those ditches that were 5 cleaned up in the '80s? 6 A. In the 11th Street ditch and the 7 ditches adjacent to our facility -- I will 8 define "adjacent" as over in what we call 9 the east side properties, a residential 10 neighborhood that was east of our facility, 11 it certainly - the data certainly suggests 12 a high probability that those PCBs came from 13 Monsanto's manufacturing of those PCBs. 14 Q. Do you have a view as to whether they 15 came from the plant property itself or from 16 one or more of the two PCB dumps or how that 17 works? 18 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 19 A. I wouldn't define the landfills as 20 "dumps." 21 In answer to your question, the 22 surface water runoff from the west landfill, 23 the south landfill, and the plant site all 1 g I 1 j it I I j | 8 | 1 1 explain, the regulatory agencies did not 2 comment or address our proposals to remove 3 those PCBs for about a year or two years 4 until we basically called them up and said 5 we are going to do it. 6 We went out there and removed 7 that material and eventually was sent to the 8 landfill. 9 Q. At that point in time, you removed ii.nV them then to what level? 11 A. Fifty parts per million is what the 12 regulatory agencies asked us to do. 13 Q. Anything below fifty, y*all just left 14 there? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Anything above fifty that was upstream 17 from Bethel Church, y*all didn't investigate 18 or look at or do anything with? 19 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 20 A. I don't know if we went upstream of 21 Bethel and didn't find anything in the 22 ditches greater than fifty or if we just 23 didn't just go upstream. I don't know. Page 51 1 converged on the 11th Street ditch. 2 Q. (By Mr. Davis) So you would think all 3 three of those contributed? 4 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 5 A. Generally speaking, yes. It depends 6 obviously where those surface water runoff 7 points entered the 11th Street ditch. There 8 is a point downstream where you would be 9 correct. 10 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Was any effort, to 11 your knowledge, made in the '80s at the time 12 that work was done to cap the landfills or 13 recap the landfills? 14 A. The '80s, there were processes going 15 on in the south landfill. At that time we 16 didn't own the west landfill. That landfill 17 was owned by Alabama Power. 18 On the south landfill, there 4A IV were activities going on to place caps on 20 the south landfill at various cells at 21 different times. 22 Q. What about the portion containing 23 PCBs? 5 Page 53 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 14 (Pages 50 to 53) i.SSS.662.755o ADAD21-003294 HARTOLDMONOQ38958 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 54 1 A. As I said, that area, based on my 4r understanding or wlist took place back then, 3 was capped when we completed dismantling of 4 the PCB manufacturing process. 5 There was an area on top of it 6 used for a period oftime for municipal 7 waste, but it was finally capped, 8 quote/unquote, once and for all back in the 9 '80s. It would be before 1986 or '87. 10 That's when we discontinued use ofthe south 11 landfill. 12 Yes, there were capping 13 activities going on back then. 14 Q. You said there were capping activities x * going on. It may be me. I may be confused. 16 Here is what I'm curious about. 17 You had -- well, are you telling me that the 18 area of the south landfill that contained 19 PCBs was recapped in the mid 1980s because 20 yall learned that PCBs were leaking from 21 that landfill into the ditches? 22 A. No, I don't believe that was the 23 reason it was capped. The PCBs cells were Page 56 1 i A. I would say it's a combination of both. When we - obviously, when we remove 3 the sediments from the 11th Street ditch and 4 a small section of Snow Creek, we only 5 removed those sediments that contained 6 greater than fifty parts per million. 7 Anything less than fifty would 8 have been left behind. That's certainly a 9 source of PCBs found in the 1990s. 10 Additionally, when we conducted 11 some surface water monitoring from our 12 facility in -- I believe it was early 13 1990s -- '94, '95, somewhere in there. 14 In the process of obtaining our L5 storm water discharge limits, some low level 16 of PCBs were found in that water migrating 17 from the south landfill and from the plant 18 site. I'm sure those were another source of 19 PCBs into the 11th Street ditch. 20 Q. Were you involved in the work done 21 when some houses were tom down, bought by 22 Monsanto and tom down? 23 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 1 1 1 81 t & i 1 % 1 capped in the process of discontinuing the 2 use and operation of the south landfill. 3 A cap was put on to isolate the 4 material from the environment. That cap, to 5 the best of my knowledge, was not 6 specifically designed at that time to 7 address PCBs. 8 Q. The 1990s, when we are doing testing, 9 you found PCBs again in the same area that ixnv had been cleaned up earlier, right? 11 A. Could you be more specific? 12 Q. You found PCBs in file west ditch? 13 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 14 A. In the west ditch? 15 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Eleventh Street ditch? 16 A. Yes, we did find PCBs in the 11 th 17 Street ditch. 18 Q. The PCBs that you found in the 11th 19 Street ditch, is it your judgment that those 20 were the same - those were just PCBs that 21 had not been taken out in the 1980s, or were 22 they new PCBs that had been deposited there 23 from the landfills? Page 55 Page 57 ' 1 A. No. The property purchase program 2 Q. (By Mr. Davis) When I say "Monsanto," 3 Monsanto, Solutia. 4 A. I understand, yes. 5 Q. I'm talking about as they're all the 6 same. 7 A. The same project. No. The 8 remediation - file property purchase 9 program, remediation of those residential 10 properties that had been purchased was 11 completed before I became actively involved 12 with the project. 13 Q. Are you familiar in general what's 14 going on in the area of where yall 15 purchased property? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. What have you done with PCBs in that 18 area? 19 ax . vnjc_n__c_nmn_y._s_p_c_on&rnDig/,, rvoa ui uuu aiwa 20 were also placed under a cap and cover 21 system. 22 Q. So you're not aware of any PCBs in 23 those areas that were actually hauled off? * - i: l t 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 15 (Pages 54 to 57) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003295 HARTOLDMON0038959 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 A. If any were hauled off, it would have 2 KWpWptl*i iMn4 email mumtitv TA Vn IaMnMcTuTrpVri JirAVWiii1* 3 question, no, I'm not personally aware of 4 any hauled off. 5 Q. If it was hauled off, it would have to 6 be more than fifty parts per million? 7 A. Not necessarily. It would have been 8 PCBs that had to be excavated for one reason 9 or other. 10 The way the Toxic Substance n Control Act is set up, you can manage PCBs 12 in place. When I say "manage," I mean 13 you're going to remedy them in place, 14 regardless of the concentration. 15 Onr.e ynn hppan pvnavahVig nr 16 moving or mobilizing those PCBs, if they 17 were greater than fifty parts per million, 18 they need to be treated as a hazardous waste 19 and sent to the landfill or the mill. 20 Anything less than fifty can then be managed 21 on site. 22 So, to be quite honest, given 23 the location, I would be surprised if there Page 58 Page 60 i 1 expect to find PCBs there. The retention nyvniniwrl ic KWMiiiIllkt rIWafMh#iV*Ir lVUngrrhll lMinJ/J ar\A UAV 3 drainage ditch, which PCBs migrated through 4 from the south landfill, ran in an area that 5 was much, much, much lower than that 6 particular piece of property. 7 It's unlikely that PCBs would 8 have been able to migrate up to that point. 9 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Y'all just rerouted 10 that ditch into the pond? n A. No. That drainage ditch -- ine 12 drainage ditch itself was closed down. We 13 placed down some impermeable liners and put 14 some clean soil on top and basically capped 15 that pntirp area 16 The storm water flow from the 17 east side properties and the south landfill 18 and the plant site was incorporated into a 19 much broader and a -- well, a much broader 20 storm water control project that was a part 21 of the capping of the south landfill. I 22 should say the final capping of the south 23 landfill on those east side properties. The = L * ` ; j * ' s 1 are not PCBs greater than fifty parts per 2 million under that cap. 3 Q. There's a retention pond out around 4 the plant somewhere, isn't there? 5 A. Yes, it's on the east side properties. 6 Q. Do you know when it was put in? 7 A. 1996 - '95, '96, sometime in there. 8 Q. Do you know whether it's on the 9 property yall purchased under that program in r>f nnrrhasinp rpgiflpnttal nrnnprtW? ll A. The retention pond was built on 12 property already owned by Monsanto. 13 Q. Do you have any idea what the levels 14 of PCBs were on that property that was 15 already owned by Monsanto prior to the time 16 the retention pond was put in? 17 A. No, I don't. 18 Q. Based on your general understanding of * ri \y Trv^^nnns. hi *u.Lic a__r_e_a_,_w___u_u_iiju iuiio__e__y_u__u__r 20 conclusion that there are probably PCBs in 21 that location? 22 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 23 A---.- _Ba--se--d on the to-oro*iez--rainhv. vou wo--u---l-d---n--o---t Page 59 Page 61 1 ditch itself no longer exists. ' 2 Q. Does water coming off the south ? 3 landfill now go into that retention pond? * 4 A. Yes. ' 5 Q. Water coming off the plant now goes : 6 into that retention pond? , 7 A. No. From the plant site, it goes ! 8 directly to a discharge monitoring point, an j 9 outflow structure. 10 | Q A collection box?J 11 A. Yes, right by 10th Street. 12 Q. The water coming from the west 13 landfill, that would not go into that [ j 14 retention pond either? j 15 A. That's correct. There is another I 16 retention pond that is built, which collects 17 water from the area, from the west landfill ! 18 area, and that discharges through another 1 A outflow structure. ^ - 20 But both of them discharge into j 21 the 11th Street ditch. 22 Q. Does the water coming off the plant 23 property or let's say where the old plant j ( 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLCJ www.reaganreporters.com 16 (Pages 58 to 61) ADAD21-003296 HARTOLDMON0038960 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 used to be, does that go into any retention A0* tpwvnnu/1 Kovoifvn/irwo iut gwo/taac mtn unv tuUiva Cunti/vMir Pviiv'avarbw'Oi 3 A. No. Not now, it doesn't. 4 Q. Are the retention ponds designed to 5 assist in keeping PCBs from getting in Snow 6 Creek, or are they designed for a different 7 purpose? 8 A. They are designed for a different 9 purpose. They were primarily designed to 10 control the rate of surface water runoff n from those properties, from Coidwater 12 Mountain and the landfills. We are talking 13 hundreds and hundreds of acres. 14 We want to be able to control i_5 fMhipV r1aMVtpV aMkt w'fVXiUir*VVtii tUh4MaVt ctrvrm wVUafiVpir w uWcO 16 released into the downstream waterways, and 17 that's what those retention ponds give us -- 18 is a storage capacity. 19 Q. Basically, what they are designed to 20 do is what any commercial project would be 21 required to do; that is, have storm water 22 retention? 23 A. That's correct. They were used Page 62 1 obviously during construction of the cap and 2 cover system on the landfill in 1997, 3 somewhere in there. 4 The retention pond on the east 5 side property was used to collect sediments 6 that we knew were going to be disturbed 7 while we were constructing a landfill cover. 8 That would include both PCB-containing 9 sediments as well as the clean soil we were 10 bringing in. It would capture those. Hut 11 the primary design was for the storm water 12 control. That really remains its purpose 13 today. 14 Q. When you have a retention pond that's 15 primary purpose is to trap sediment 16 containing toxic substances, is there 17 typically a procedure for cleaning that pond 18 out? 1A iy 1Mmix.. /vITLAA KiTv.T._ /UMuJ*Cc.l 11.0 JU_1_Ce.101111. 20 A. Well, you have asked a question that's 21 really not so applicable to our situation. 22 You prefaced the question by saying it's 23 designed to capture toxic substances. Page 63 1 Q. (By Mr. Davis) No. I'm just talking o1n/\h+ UUUUk oMOc o rronoTol gVUVIUl nnnomlp yiUlViyiVi T*m A ill UVi 3 talking about these two retention ponds in 4 particular. 5 I'm talking, as a general 6 principle, assuming that someone did design 7 a retention pond or -- let's back up a 8 minute. 9 Are retention ponds sometimes 10 used to assist in keeping toxic substances 11 from leaving the area? 12 A. I'm sure they could be used for that 13 purpose. I have no experience with any. I 14 wouldn't argue that they could be used in is some circumstances for that purpose. 16 Q. You don't think that's typically done? 17 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 18 A. All I know it hasn't been done in any 19 of the projects I have been associated with, 20 which is an extremely small percentage of 21 all the cleanup projects going on. 22 Q. (By Mr. Davis) None of the -- well, 23 then, one of the cleanup projects you have 1 been involved with before has used a 2 retention pond similar to the ones that have 3 been put in before for the purpose of 4 keeping toxic substances from escaping? 5 A. None that I have been associated with. 6 Other than the case here in Anniston, that 7 is a partial result, I guess, for lack of a 8 better term, of our system. That's not what 9 it was designed for. 10 Q. If one had set out to design a 11 retention system for the purposes of 12 capturing toxic substances, would you have 13 done it somewhat differently? 14 A. Not in this particular case. You keep 15 using the term "toxic substances." I would 16 have to disagree with characterizing PCBs in 17 that manner. 18 For our case, where we are i r\ iy lOOidlig til r v yij.ij x mum a diuim wtuwi 20 retention pond, as we have it designed. 21 would accomplish that purpose. 22 Q. Your position is that PCBs are not 23 toxic? Page 64 j | f ' 2 1 * it ! i B I Page 65 f 15! 111 i i 1 1 I 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 17 (Pages 62 to 65) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003297 HARTOLDMON0038961 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 A. Yeah, that's my position. That's my r hplipf hacpH cm my IrrmwlpHop nf tVip iceng 3 Q. Your position is that PCBs are not 4 hazardous to people's health? 5 A. Not to humans, no. I don't believe 6 so. 7 Q. Have you expressed that opinion to any 8 of the residents of Anniston? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Have you expressed that to any of the 1 1 people wno live around the plant: 12 A. Yes. Anyone who asks me that 13 question, I offer the same answer. 14 Q. Have you heard other employees of 15 Monsanto express that same opinion? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Who would that be? 18 A. Many of the people I work with. Some 19 of the people I met who used to work in the 20 old Aroclor plant, retirees. 21 Q. Have you heard officers of Solutia 22 express that opinion? 23 A. I haven't personally, no. Page 66 1 management, our plant manager and site 7 IpaHerchin p.prtainlv T liavp HparH thfim 3 express that to the community. 4 Q. Have you heard them express that to 5 assembled groups of people? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. Who would that be and what assembled 8 groups of people? 9 A. Our plant manager has expressed that 10 opinion. Specific groups, I can't name them 11 ail. We don'i walk around joined at the 12 hip. 13 There's been several 14 presentations that him and I have given 15 jointly. There was a group of medical 16 doctors from Jacksonville State University 17 we talked to and we expressed that. 18 Q. I'm more interested in people from the 19 community. 20 Who have yall expressed that 21 to, what groups of people? 22 A. I don't know who our plant manager has 23 expressed it to specifically in the Page 68 ! ! 1 : ' j * j 1 Q. Have you heard other people with 2 titles at Monsanto express the opinion to 3 people who live there that PCBs are not 4 toxic or not hazardous to use? 5 A. I should take a step back. I'll talk 6 Solatia. 7 Certainly, I have heard the 8 leadership of our company express the same 9 opinion. That based on the studies that 10 have been done and our understanding of 11 those studies, that PCBs pose no long-term 12 health effects to humans. 13 Q. You heard officials of Solutia say 14 that to similar groups of people from 15 Anniston? 16 A. I have not heard it said to assembled 17 groups of Anniston, no. 18 Q. Have you heard them say it to any in 20 A. Personally, no. I would preface that 21 by saying I'm talking, which is what I 22 assume you're talking about, the executive 23 leadership. When you talk about our local Page 67 1 community. We were over there speaking at 2 functions together. 3 Personally, I have expressed it 4 to various clubs - Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis 5 Clubs. There is a leadership of Calhoun 6 County recently, just a week Oi two. I 7 spoke to a group of about forty individuals, 8 a number of which were from West Anniston. 9 I was asked that question, and 10 I gave that opinion. 11 Q. On any of those occasions, was anybody 12 else from the plant there? 13 A. Yes. There was one other person from 14 the plant at that particular occasion. 15 Q. Who was that? 16 A. He was the maintenance manager for the 17 facility, a gentleman named Mike Moseley. 18 He was there because he was part of this 1 C\ 1l^aon<u4wAwid<ilu.<pn v/i uuo PvaftluUiAvuimii Pwruummhj; grrirwrtuimp. 20 Q. Have you discussed that position with 21 other people at Monsanto; such as, the plant 22 manager? 23 A. Yes. Page 69 k t I , 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLc www.reaganreporters.com 18 (Pages 66 to 69) ADAD21-003298 HARTOLDMON0038962 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 70 1 Q. Is he aware you're expressing that i. ujjuuuii, maivl%A4- rind, ^L1ainiai IrJw#-'oLlaM aicana ut 3 hazardous to humans, to the residents of 4 Anniston? 5 A. Yes. 6 0. Does he agree with your expressing 7 that opinion? 8 A. As far as I know, he agrees. He has 9 never suggested otherwise to me. 10 Q. The surface water runoff ofthe plant. 11 is there anything in place between the plant 12 and Snow Creek designed to prevent PCBs from 13 leaving? 14 A. Yeah. There's a significant amount of i * / wvjilv tulvtuiti'oj Koowonn uvuw tinv rpwivAv*rvAx*uif Di v/^uDoa uvui 16 moving from the plant site to Snow Creek. 17 Q. What is that? 18 A. We talked about much of it - the cap 19 and cover projects. 20 Q. I'm talking about the plant area 21 itself right now. I think the cap and cover 22 we talked about has been done with 23 landfills. Page 72 i system to a single small collection point, jL wiicic li iS mpiuiii|^u uuuugii ommil anrvt+uitvrao+iAv/u1 3 carbon filtration system, to remove any 4 trace amounts of PCBs that may remain in the 5 water before it leaves our plant site. 6 There have been some small 7 sections - when I say "small," 10- or 8 20-foot sections, offile sewer system that 9 has been in just bad condition that it's 10 basically collapsed on itself, where we have 11 replaced those sections of sewer. 12 We have a warehouse facility, 13 where we used to process our Aroclor 14 products. There was a unit called a flaker 1i < unit Uiil V, lifkinli TT1UVU urac ** UO uUcJWp/U1 tn W tiim (Util in XXX flip WiW u/UYV 16 Aroclor products into a flake. We removed 17 that unit. We replaced some ceiling and 18 wall panels on that warehouse. 19 There are some areas of the 20 floor where we did some cleanup activities. 21 There is a process spelled out in the Toxic 22 Substances Control Act for cleaning up PCBs 23 which have leeched into concrete, using the E1 > i r t* i t l 1 1 A. That's correct. 2 Q. Places like that. Let's limit our 3 discussion for a minute to the plant 4 property; say, the area where file old 5 Aroclor plant used to be and the sewers and 6 ditches and whatnot. 7 A. Our manufacturing facility itself? 8 Q. Right. 9 A. Yeah. There's been a number of in 1V o^tn^ti AC fol/"Art nlo^A trt nrA\rAnt UVttflUVO MUWU piUW IV UVip yiWTVlUj UtiU 11 our hope is to eliminate the migration of 12 PCBs away from the facility. 13 I will start out with the old 14 Aroclor manufacturing facility, which had an 15 asphalt cover placed on top of it, to 16 isolate any PCBs from running surface water. 17 The sewer system on the plant site, there is 18 24-inch and 36-inch sewer system, which we ty have taken steps to line the inside of that 20 sewer to prevent any legacy sediments that 21 remain in that sewer that may contain PCBs 22 from migrating away from the facility. 23 We also routed that sewer Page 71 1 various solvents. And, then, we conducted 2 that process on certain areas of the floor 3 in our warehouse. That's another activity 4 we did. 5 There are other areas of the 6 plant site that had layers of crushed rock 7 placed on top of them to help reduce the 8 potential for PCBs to migrate away from the 9 facility. Those are some of the activities. in XV We are obviously still in the 11 middle of a -1 shouldn't say we are in the 12 middle of an investigation. We just 13 completed a river facility investigation on 14 the plant site. We anticipate the outcome 15 of the corrective measure study or 16 feasibility study that will follow will show 17 that there are some other measures we need 18 to take, and we will take those measures. iy Q. Let's -- I'm going to try to start 20 with the first one you mentioned, which is 21 the Aroclor area of the plant. 22 You have done some testing in 23 that area and found some PCBs in the dirt in Page 73 11 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 19 (Pages 70 to 73) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003299 HARTOLDMON0038963 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 that area? __ 2 aAai Tx'iVawv^irvf* whwqcj enmpiwtftvwctvinurtrgrulnvnnoviitni 1a0y8v8v 3 and '89. Yes, we did find PCBs in the soils 4 around the Aroclor plant. 5 Q. Do you remember what kind of levels 6 they were in general? 7 A. It varied. There was -- generally 8 speaking, they were on the order of ten to 9 fifty parts per million. There was a pretty 10 wide range there. n Tnere was one particular 12 location, where we detected PCBs levels 13 about 10,000 parts per million, but it was 14 an isolated hot spot. 1 s Q. Now, what was the situation in the 16 area of the old Aroclor plant when you stood 17 there? Was it grass, was it dirt, was there 18 a building on it? What was it, when you 19 took your job in 2000? 20 A. When I took my job, there was an 21 asphalt cover. 22 Q. So the asphalt had already been put on 23 it then? 1 A. When I came to the project, yes. 2 Q. So what you know about that, you know 3 from discussions from other people with 4 Solutia, and in the course of doing your 5 job, they told you what had been done? 6 A. Yes, pius also reading reports that 7 had been submitted to the regulatory 8 agencies. 9 Q. And the asphalt cap that you saw 10 there, or the asphalt area you saw there, 11 how big was it? 12 A. I would say between an acre and two 13 acres probably. 14 Q. What's under the asphalt? Is it clay 15 cap in addition to asphalt, or is it just 16 asphalt on top of the ground, or what is 17 that? 18 A. My belief is that under the asphalt, __ i txi _ _ i__ a. r i c___i u : _ j.i iy dllu 11 & dUOUl O UilIIvS 01 do^yllallj IS Ulv 20 old concrete path that the old Aroclor 21 manufacturing plant was built upon. 22 There may be a layer of minor 23 material to provide some structural Page 74 Page 75 1 stability for the asphalt. 0 n To the whole area under there} the 3 concrete floor of the old Aroclor plant, 4 some of it used to be a grassy area? 5 A. My understanding is it's all concrete. 6 I can't tell for sure. 7 Q. The only reason I'm curious about that 8 is you indicated you did some testing and 9 found some high levels of PCBs under there. 10 I don't visualize you testing concrete. n Can you explain that to me? 12 A. Certainly. Around the old Aroclor 13 plant, there are grassy areas as well as 14 asphalt roads. Obviously, we can sample IS through the asphalt. 16 I should say asphalt roads that 17 have been built since we discontinued the 18 Aroclor operation. But there are some 19 grassy areas around the Aroclor facility. 20 As I said, we can sample some of the old 21 asphalt roads. 22 Q. Was that area that you then did the 23 samples and found, at least in one case, a 1 very high result, but other cases -1 don't 2 want to characterize them. 3 A. I characterize 10,000 as pretty high. 4 Q. Were those areas also capped with this 5 asphalt? 6 A. Some areas have been capped with the 7 asphalt and others have not. 8 Q. What was done in the other areas? 9 A. In some of the areas, we haven't done 10 a--n-jv-t-h-i-n-0s v^e--t.---I-f.I..could ex*nand on that a 11 little bit, as part ofthe investigation we 12 did on the plant site, we did what's call a 13 risk assessment. 14 And that risk assessment looks 15 at the use of the property. It looks at the 16 potential exposure pathways, the routes and 17 time of exposure. The results of that risk 18 assessment -- the risk assessment concluded 1iyA 4La4 Un4 Dr'Qe tlvif lime VitrtK 20 occupancy area, which was defined as eight 21 hours a day, any high occupancy area that 22 had PCBs below the level of -1 believe it 23 was about forty parts per million would Page 76 , * * ; i , * * Page 77 * i - i * % ? 3 * 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 20 (Pages 74 to 77) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003300 HARTOLDMON0038964 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 require no further action from an exposure 2 tvrcT^rti\tr&v 3 That assessment was reviewed 4 and approved by the regulatory agencies. 5 From a migration perspective, that's 6 something we have to still evaluate. The 7 data we have right now suggests that there 8 is not any significant migration pathways. 9 We need to present that to the regulatory 10 agency still, and they have the final say 11 whether anything needs to be done or not. 12 Q. There are still areas within the 13 bounds of the manufacturing facility that 14 have significant levels of PCBs that are not 15 c.?mnpH9 16 A. I would say detectable levels that are 17 not capped, yes. 18 Q. What about sewers? The sewers you are 19 referring to, were those the old sewers that 20 were under the old Aroclor plant? 21 A. Under the Aroclor plant and the 22 largest part of the facility. There was a 23 sewer system that spread out across the Page 78 1 appropriate to line it. Basically, what you do is you take this -- it's like a big ball 3 of this -- I will use the term rubbery 4 plastic material. I'm way oversimplifying 5 this. 6 You use pressurized hot water 7 to push it into the sewer system, and that 8 pressurized water causes the material to 9 just not expand and go in the different 10 directions of the sewer, but the heat n literally -- I will use the term melts. 12 That's not what happens. 13 It literally melts the liner to 14 the side of sewer and creates this almost 1_5 like a hard plastic around the outside of 16 the sewer. It's basically hot water, 17 plastic, and pushing it through with heat 18 and melting the plastic. 19 Q. Tell me a little more about this 20 activated carbon system that's being used to 21 treat - let's talk first about all the 22 water coming off the plant property. 23 A. It's all the water, all the storm Page 80 1 11 1 ! i * i * i 9 a i ? | : Page 79 1 whole facility, yes. 2 Q. It was the same sewer system that was 3 being used at the time the Arodors were 4 being manufactured? 5 A. Yes, and it's still being used today. 6 Q. You found PCBs in that sewer system? 7 A. What we found was when we sampled the 8 surface water coming from that sewer system, 9 the sources were not even buried 10 underground, we did detect PCBs in the water 11 coming from that sewer system. 12 That's what led us to take some 13 steps to try and eliminate that migration 14 pathway. 15 Q. I suppose this question is more just 16 curiosity than anything else. 17 How do you line a sewer system 18 that's underneath concrete and asphalt? 19 A. It's an interesting process. The 20 first step obviously -1 will try not to 21 get in too much detail. 22 You videotape the whole sewer, 23 and you look for those areas where it's 1 water. There is no processed water. Just 2 storm water. 3 I apologize. Ijust flat out 4 forgot your question. 5 Q. I was talking about the activated 6 caroon system mat you put in piace. 7 What water is it processing? 8 Is it all the water off the facility, or is 9 some of it perhaps storm water? 10 A. It's orimarilv - it's not the entire 11 facility. It's primarily what I would 12 define as the southern half of the facility 13 that collects water in the storm sewer 14 system. 15 Q. Does that include the area around the 16 old Aroclor plant? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Water that used to run towards the i1 Cy\ nulrcad tracks, decs it still run thut wsy 20 and not through the carbon? 21 A. Yes. The water on the northern half 22 of the facility is directed primarily 23 through some concrete drainage features, Page 81 ! | ! ! * 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 21 (Pages 78 to 81) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003301 HARTOLDMON0038965 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 above ground drainage futures, to one of X three different storm water outflows along 3 the northern boundary of the facility, which 4 empties into the 11th Street ditch. 5 Q. Have PCBs been detected in the plant 6 property on the northern half? 7 A. There were one or two isolated 8 locations, where we have detected some low 9 levels of PCBs, yes. 10 Q. Let's talk for a second about the 11 northern half of the property. 12 What's in place to keep, 13 hypothetically, if PCBs were migrating in 14 the plant, from getting into Snow Creek? 1.C7 aiv/Tjoxv. nr a v. iu uic luim. 16 A. For just the northern part of the 17 facility? 18 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Yes, for purposes of 19 this question. 20 A. The only thing that's really in place 21 is the gravel and rock. It's primarily 22 crushed gravel that covers most of that area 23 of the facility. That's the only physical Page 82 Page 84 1 1 And the water is pumped from a A L collection sump, and it goes in the bottom 3 and it works its way through the four carbon 4 towers. 5 Q. Do you want to take a break? 6 A. When you get to a good stopping point. 7 if we could take a restroom break, that 8 would be great. 9 (Recess taken.) 10 Examination continued by Mr. Davis: 11 Q. I think that brings us to the 12 warehouse facility and the flaker. When you 13 said the flaker unit, you described a little 14 bit about what that was. 1 C vv oo tukioati ooAutinuavufkuituvgr tvkiiottft kUou/1u 16 been there ever since the term PCBs were 17 manufactured? 18 A. Yes. I don't know at what point 19 during the history of PCBs manufacturing. 20 but certainly since early the 1970s. 21 Q. Describe a little bit more of what was 22 in it and how big it was and where was it? 23 A IU do my best. I don't know much 1 I 1 8 1 i : 1 1 I 1 1 thing in place 2 There's also a program in 3 place. I should say was in place back in 4 the '90s, where we sampled those outflows 5 regularly to see if any PCBs, as well as 6 other things, were migrating from the 7 facility. Without exception, we never 8 detected PCBs migrating in any of those 9 outflows. 1IVA rv^\. l uu wcic Sampli_n_gowaiti: 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Were you sampling any sediment? 13 A. The sample would have included any 14 sediment that drained in that water sample. 15 yes. 16 Q. Let's get back to the carbon system 17 for the south part of the plant. 18 Tell me what that looks like 19 without looking at it. 20 A. There is - it's basically - the 21 carbon itself is in four different steel 22 tubes. They are about maybe two to three AaAt m /-11 /4 okAiif kmkomIVVl 111 UlOlllWlWl cuiu OlA/Ul hITiTraVlIiTrAV AIWaAtt lllgll. Page 83 Page 85 1 1 about the flaker unit because that was 2 before my time. The warehouse itself is a 3 large warehouse. I would say it's probably 4 a good two acres in size. 5 It is located literally catty 6 comer from the old Aroclor manufacturing 7 facility. There is a railroad spur that 8 comes up the western side of that warehouse, 9 where we have historically loaded and 1IVC\ off-loaded products. We currently use it to 11 store our dnim products that we still 12 manufacture out of Anniston. 13 It's got a large concrete 14 floor. It sits way up in the air. Metal 15 sides, metal walls. 16 Q. I think you already told us what you 17 did with that in order to alleviate that 18 warehouse? 19 A I wont suggest we are done 20 remediating that warehouse. What we did was 21 we took the things that obviously were 22 approving to be done, and we accomplished 23 those tasks. 1 | 'i i? 1 i i. ! j j \ \ j j j 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 22 (Pages 82 to 85) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003302 HARTOLDMON0038966 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 86 1 We still have some data, which 2 i*i/pV hHMarif/pV tbnV IVit'cVK/VpVptnl Jn/irVptfcVplUnVfpU/1wfnUf1liVA 3 regulatory agencies in a report. The 4 question is, do we still need to do anything 5 about what we didn't clean up, where we 6 found the lower levels of PCBs in the 7 concrete, and those questions need to be 8 answered. 9 We may need to do additional 10 work there or we may not. We have to figure n that out. 12 Q. You mentioned some crushed rock, and I 13 think you mentioned it being put down 14 somewhere to reduce migration. 15 Hnw Hnftg that wnrV9 T HnnV 16 understand that. 17 A. Basically, when I say "crushed rock," 18 it's really crushed. It's very hard. I 19 wont use "impermeable," but it's a very low 20 permeable surface. Water doesnt readily 21 sink down into it. 22 The way it prevents PCBs from 23 migrating is that when the water is running 1 across the surface and picking up little 2 sediment particles, it's picking up little 3 particles of that crushed rock, and it's not 4 picking up the underlying or potentially 5 PCB-containing soil particles. 6 Most of the areas of the 7 plant -- I should say in large sections of 8 the plant that crushed rock layer is up to 9 two feet thick. It's a fairly significant 10 ran 11 Q. What's the difference between putting 12 that down and putting clay down? 13 A. No difference really. Clay would 14 probably accomplish the same thing. Clay, 15 you would obviously want to - you wouldn't 16 want to leave the clay exposed. It would 17 probably erode much more readily than 18 concrete or these rock surfaces. iy So if you did lay down clay, if 20 you wanted to establish a vegetative layer 21 on top, but with the rock and gravel, you 22 don't need to do that. 23 O. You mentioned something earlier about Page 87 Page 88 1 1 the disturbed dirt with PCBs in it, and you O mttumij/ J1i1q1*tT/aV cUVn1m11VpUtlrUinllgrr avwIcva tVnV V>V /W^nVnllVpi T*1fT* 1 1 3 remember right, I remember you talking 4 about -- let me ask you this. 5 Suppose one has a piece of 6 residential property and one decides to 7 build a swimming pool, and you dig down ten 8 feet to build a swimming pool, and you find 9 in the lower part of that excavation PCBs 10 with a level of one part per million. n What do you understand you've 12 got to do? 13 A. From my perspective or the 1 14 perspective -- from my perspective, I would 15 so throush a verv ri porous reeulatorv 16 process. 17 Q. If somebody knew better and if they 18 did what's supposed to be done under the 19 regulations, what are you saying would be 20 done? 21 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 22 A. If somebody was going to put a pool in 23 their yard, well use that example, P B Page 89 1 practically speaking, my hope would be they & 2 would contact us if their property was in b 3 the area for potential PCBs and allow us to 4 check and see if PCBs were present, and if i s 5 so, allow us to address those PCBs on the i 6 property, wnicn we are wining to uu. 7 Just from a process standpoint, j 8 you would want to go out and sample the 9 soil, both on the surface and at various 10 depth increments to see how deep the PCBs 1 * 11 go. Typically, we are not finding anything 12 greater than a foot deep, but there are 13 exceptions to that rule. Not many, but j 1 14 some. 15 But you would get that data. 16 and based on the outcome of that data, you 17 would know how to manage that material once 18 you excavated it. If you excavated it and iy 1A1 WOd glCdlci mail iiiijr paito pvi nuuiuu, 20 you would have to go to this hazardous waste 21 landfill or mill. 22 If you were to excavate it and 23 it was less than fifty parts per million, 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 23 (Pages 86 to 89) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003303 HARTOLDMON0038967 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 90 1 technically speaking, you could leave it on &'J 1jw^1m11* pti*uA^n/vourhj>f Tiju3ivrf tulsiwa miiiAvii*va IniIitivaIiij't uuug, 3 and what we typically do when we come across 4 less than fifty material, and we excavate 5 it, we send it to another type of disposal 6 facility, which is a Subtitle C, which is 7 licensed to accept that type of material. 8 Then, you would build your swimming pool. 9 Q. (By Mr. Davis) You couldn't leave it 10 on your property on top? n A. Well, it depends on which regulations 12 you are working under. If you are just 13 strictly looking at the PCBs regulations 14 under the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 anything Ipcc than fifty^ ypah wp P.niilH 16 manage right there on that property. 17 Once we get into the Resource 18 Conservation and Recovery Act and Circular, 19 now we start conducting risk assessments. 20 And the levels for leaving material on 21 residential properties have been established 22 by the EPA. 23 The EPA did a risk assessment, Page 92 1 1 beds, that's been an area that was "> lUVUVlllwu KvouavLa'mAit 1iyOyOyO fvliiiowti rlpmiirpvrui cgnvrunip 3 additional sampling. It wasn't adequately 4 characterized on our first go through with 5 the facility. 6 We've recently gone out and 7 completed that characterization of that old 8 limestone bed area. 9 Q. Do you know when those limestone beds 10 were closed? it A. I don't know. I know it was after we 12 closed the PCB manufacturing facility, but I 13 don't know specifically the dates. 14 Q. What do you know in general about the i_5 rwnltg rtf this rprpnt testing? 16 A. We detected PCBs in the soils. 17 Typically, in that ten to twenty part per 18 million range, but there were some samples 19 that were a hundred parts per million. 20 Q. The work inside the ~ the work at the 21 facility itself in terms ofthis asphalt cap 22 and in terms of the carbon system and filings 23 like that, when did all that get started, 1 H ! i j 1 and they have determined that levels above 2 one part per million need to be removed in 3 the upper foot of the soil and need to be 4 removed from the property and properly 5 disposed of or properly managed. TOSCA is 6 just a waste management reg, with Circular 7 getting greater exposure. 8 If I haven't confused you 9 enough, the simple answer to the question is in givpn what wp Imnw ahnnt tnHay anything 11 above a part per million needs to be taken 12 off the residential property. 13 Q. Have you had any involvement with the 14 old limestone beds? 15 A. My involvement with the old limestone 16 beds, which were - let me make sure we are 17 talking about the same ones. 18 They were located - it's where 1A iy the runoff from the PCBs manufacturing 20 facility ran into before it left our 21 facility? 22 Q. Yes. 23 A. My involvement with the old limestone Page 91 1 about when? 2 A. The asphalt cap on the manufacturing 3 facility, I don't know when that was put in 4 place. But, as far as the carbon, the 5 system being put in place and lining the 6 sewers, that specifically was done, I 7 believe, in about 1998. 8 Some of the other actions we 9 discussed were taking place well before 10 that Wp laid a lot nfthe crushed rock 11 over the facility. 12 Q. Do you know when that was done? 13 A. I have seen pictures dating back to 14 the mid to late 1980s that show large areas 15 of crushed rock. I assume it was before 16 that. 17 I would suspect, based on my 18 knowledge of the history of the facility, 1iyA .w..a.s. 1in-- luLic. c.Aa.i1iy. m 41a0 n--u- uJ 1i070o/u3a^, tua uioAiiiMontnnt-1ivpyul 20 a number of manufacturing facilities. Our 21 P2S5,1 don't know what that stands for, but 22 that facility was dismantled, and when those 23 facilities were dismantled, rock was placed Page 93 J l * l t \ I I 8 i 1 i 1 1 1 1 I 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 24 (Pages 90 to 93) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003304 HARTOLDMON0038968 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 94 1 over large portions of those areas. That's probably a reasonable estimate of when much 3 of that material was placed. 4 Q. Anybody told you -- any employees of 5 Monsanto told you what the purpose was of 6 the limestone beds? 7 A. My understanding was that the PCB 8 manufacturing process, some of the runoff 9 from that process was slightly acidic. I 10 don't know the details, but somehow, small n amounts ofhydrochloric acid were produced 12 as part of the PCB manufacturing process. 13 Those limestone pits were 14 designed to partially neutralize that and 15 raise the Ph of thst. 16 Q. Are you familiar with any sumps that 17 were in place -- do you know about any sumps 18 that had anything to do with PCBs at any 19 point in time? 20 A. There was one sump that was located 21 immediately north - when I say 22 "immediately," me to you, ten feet north of 23 the PCBs manufacturing facility. That's Page 95 1 where we found the 10,000 parts per million 2 sample we had taken. 3 I don't believe they exist any 4 longer. I have never seen them. Ihave 5 seen reports saying that the drainage 6 features leading away from the Arocior 7 facility, that there were some traps that 8 allowed the gross PCB product to 9 disassociate itself from the water. It 10 wnnlH apt thp orncQ stuff 11 That gross runoff could be put 12 back into the PCB manufacturing process. We 13 were making a product, where PCBs going out 14 the door was a PCB we didn't make a penny on 15 or ever how much we sold PCBs for. 16 My understanding was there was 17 an extensive effort to try to capture as 18 much ofthat runoff as we could so we could 4ty/% put it back in that process and sell it. 20 Q. Here, I guess, is really what I'm 21 curious about. Prior to the late 1990s -- 22 let me restate it. 23 Do you understand that at some Page 96 1 1 point in time in the '70s that there was in place any systems to catch or reduce the 3 level of PCBs that might have been leaving 4 either of the dumps? 5 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 6 A. Are you talking specifically the 7 landfills now? Are you back to the 8 manufacturing facility or either location? 9 Q. (By Mr. Davis) The south landfill or 10 the west landfill. IH call it "landfill." 11 I don't want to get in a word contest. 12 A. Other than what I have already 13 discussed with you, as material was placed 14 in the landfills, it was not left exposed. 15 There was a laver of clav. as mv 16 understanding. 17 Q. At some point -18 A. That's the only step that I'm aware of 19 that would have been taken. There may have 20 been more, but, obviously, I was in 21 kindergarten back then. 22 Q. You don't know -- dealing with the 23 west landfill, you don't know whether that - i | i i Page 97 f 1 was really a landfill operation or a dump 2 operation in the sense you don't know 3 whether it had been covered with dirt or 4 not, do you? 5 A. No, I don't. 6 Q. Do you know whether there has ever 7 been up until the very recent past - let me 8 restate it. 9 Do you know whether there was 10 ever any effort from the beginning of 11 manufacture up through the 1980s to catch 12 any PCBs that might be leaving the west 13 bank? 14 A. Well, the west landfill only operated 15 until about 1960. When we transferred that 16 property through a property swap to the 17 Alabama Power Company - we gave them the 18 west landfill property, and they gave us a 1A iy piece of* property that wc wonted to do some 20 construction on. 21 When that property was 22 transferred, there was a soil cover placed 23 over the top of the landfill. It was l \ | , 1 1 334.262.7556 _Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 25 (Pages 94 to 97) ii.oooooo.mooi. n/ jcjcu ADAD21-003305 HARTOLDMON0038969 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 98 1 probably clay, but that's probably what's in __ 2 tV>p arpa Rnt T r*Qn*t t<?1 j ymi 3 specifics of that cover. 4 And, then, over time, this is 5 my understanding through what I have been 6 told, that landfill became heavily overgrown 7 with vegetation. Those actions would have 8 contributed to -1 should say those actions 9 would have helped reduce the potential for 10 PCBs to migrate from the west landfill. n Were those actions specifically 12 to stop things from migrating in the west 13 landfill? Back in the 1960s, probably not. 14 They didn't have the ability to detect these 15 things in the environment cn vnn wouldn't 16 know anything was migrating anywhere. And 17 the standards of society back in those days, 18 they didn't warrant you do anything more 19 extensive than that. 20 However, those steps would have 21 helped reduce the potential for PCBs to 22 migrate. 23 Q. Is it okay to poison people back in Page 100 j 1 material as it was placed, no, I'm not aware nVIf oUnlitjrttliiuintlfgT im uM1nAVtAiAl tMliipV VpAoUrhlj/ 1 QVSOWc) w"llP*T*l 3 some ofthe environmental regulations began 4 to come into effect, and we began taking 5 steps to understand and address the 6 migration ofnot just PCBs but other things 7 that may have been migrating from the south 8 landfill. 9 Prior to that, the only thing 10 I'm familiar with from reading reports is n what you just mentioned, putting a couple of 12 inches of dirt on top of it. 13 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Let me ask you, down 14 at the east water treatment plant, have you 15 hffpn involved with that? 16 A. The City of Anniston's Choccolocco 17 Creek Freshwater Treatment Plant, yes, I 18 have been involved in it. 19 Q. Are there high levels of PCBs on that 20 site? 21 A. "High" is a relevant term. We found 22 PCBs up to a hundred parts per million in 23 some locations. ; t s , * : ' j ! Page 99 1 the '50s? 2 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 3 A. I wouldn't identify that we were 4 poisoning anybody back in the '50s. 5 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Let's don't talk about 6 what's acceptable and what's not. 7 All I want to know is, do you 8 know of any efforts other than throwing some 9 dirt on top of the west end landfill that 10 yjp.rp. ftypir marie in the '70s '30s '40s 11 '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s to keep PCBs from 12 migrating from the west end landfill into 13 Snow Creek? 14 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 15 A. I'm not aware ofany efforts that are 16 taken. 17 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Now, would your answer 18 be the same on the south landfill, or do you iy know of some efforts that were taken at some 20 point on the south landfill other than 21 throwing dirt on top of it? 22 MR. CLARK: Same objection. 23 A, Other than throwing dirt on top of the Page 101 ; 1 Q. That's high enough that ifthey're 2 moved, they've got to be moved all the way 3 to the hazardous waste landfill? 4 A. At those locations, where we found 5 they were greater than fifty, the largest 6 portion of the site is in the one io twenty 7 part per million range, but there are some 8 areas very close to the creek where we found 9 fifty material, yes. 10 Q And Vail have done what with regard 11 to that up until now? 12 A. We have taken a number of steps at the 13 Choccolocco Creek Waste Water Treatment 14 Plant. First and foremost, we characterized 15 the area, so we know what's there and what's 16 not there and where it's at. 17 Q. Y'all have been investigating? 18 A. Yes, and that investigation is 1A A m4 Antn kapn rtiiran tA CVJllipitlt. rum uiai uaia nao uvvii gnvu uvs 20 regulatory agencies the waste water 21 treatment folks. 22 We have submitted a work plan, 23 which has been approved by ADEM, to address : ' : . } 5 j 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 26 (Pages 98 to 101) i.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003306 HARTOLDMON0038970 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 102 1 some stockpiled soils, which were placed on o a ovvuuii Vi iii^> wodiv nai&i ucauuciu 3 plant. That water plan has been approved, 4 and we completed a design for addressing 5 those stockpiled soils, which the State and 6 EPA are currently reviewing. 7 We have also had another work 8 plan approved to conduct the first phase of 9 the plant expansion. That is talking phase 10 at the Choccolocco Creek waste water 11 treatment plant. That work has been 12 completed. Within the next week or two, we 13 will be mobilizing some people down there to 14 complete the second phase of that plant L5 PYn'itictnn 16 Q. Complete the second phase of what kind 17 of expansion? 18 A. Just to give you a little history of 19 what's taking place at the Choccolocco Creek 20 Waste Water treatment Plant, the waste water 21 treatment plant itself began a project back 22 in late 1990s -- '98, '99, to expand their 23 capacity. They were violating their state Page 104 | i Q. Not permits to move PCBs? aA z. A. XVLgill. 3 Q. Construction permits? 4 A. Exactly. They also at that time -5 I'm not going to get into a whole lot of 6 finger pointing here. But they also had a 7 letter from ADEM informing them of the 8 potential for PCBs at present in Snow Creek 9 and in areas adjacent to Snow Creek. That 10 letter was in their contractual documents 11 with the contractor. 12 They chose to ignore it. 13 Nonetheless, they created this stockpile of 14 dirt. The State found out about it. The 15 will tVp tfrm "nnrntivpiicpVVUVV tVrWr1V\ ___TA. ,'111 WUV mv VV1111 |^M1U1 w 16 measures" against the contractor and the 17 Anniston Waterworks Sewer Board for not 18 paying attention to what they were told by 19 the State. 20 Nonetheless, we were approached 21 by the Water Board and by the State and 22 asked to become involved and start working 23 with the Water Board to address the soil 1 i i i 1 j I I 1 issued permit levels for discharging in the 2 Choccolocco Creek, and they had to expand 3 their plant to get back within what the 4 regulations allowed them to discharge. 5 They subsequently went out and 6 began building that plant expansion. In the 7 course of conducting that plant expansion, 8 they excavated about 60,000 cubic yards of 9 PCB-containing soil and placed it on a large LQ ctnrlmilp An Mctpm hotilr nf QnAU/ Prpplr JtVVlV^/UV VU U1V VIMWlil WUilA VI L/11V TT V>1 VVIVi 11 ADEM found out about this, and 12 the reason ADEM wasn't aware of this in 13 advance was because the contractor there did 14 not bother to get the appropriate permits to 15 conduct this work. So this was done without 16 the knowledge ofthe State, without the 17 knowledge of the EPA, and without the 18 knowledge of Solutia. 19 (J Didn't get the permits from whom? 20 A. From the State of Alabama. They 21 needed specific construction and storm water 22 management permits, and they did not get 23 those permits. Page 103 1 that had been excavated and to help them 2 complete that expansion. 3 So when I talk about phases of 4 the plant expansion, that is the plant 5 expansion I am talking about. 6 y. Ukay. l tie rCBs mat were found mere 7 are in the flood plain of Snow Creek and 8 Choccolocco Creek; is that right? 9 A. Yes. And, in fact, you are right on in Vv^tVi i-acpc That ig right whprp Snow Creek 11 and Choccolocco Creek come together. 12 Q. Y'all put those PCBs there, right? 13 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 14 A. I would not -1 would certainly agree 15 that some of the PCBs at that location are a 16 result of our discharges from our 17 manufacturing operations. As we discussed 18 earlier, PCBs were used for a wide variety IV of purposes, for many diiTerciii industries, 20 and it would not be unexpected for some of 21 those PCBs to have migrated through the 22 creeks and waterways also. 23 f) "V fRv Mr. Davisl But Vail nut most of \----V-----------------------------' -- - - * A Page 105 j 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 27 (Pages 102 to 105) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003307 HARTOLDMON0038971 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 106 1 PCBs down there? 7 KTR ("T APIf OKippt tn thp form 3 A. It would be difficult to quantify. I 4 would limit my statement that certainly some 5 of the PCBs are likely discharges from our 6 facility, which is why we are working with 7 them to address them. 8 Q. (By Mr. Davis) When did those soils 9 first get found with PCBs? 10 A I first became aware of it in early 1 1 4iuw, mayoe /\pm or may oi zuuu. 12 Q. Other than characterizing and 13 investigating and thinking about it, what 14 has actually been done to solve the problem? 15 A As T said we worked with thp water 16 board to complete the first phase of their 17 plant expansion, and some of that 18 material -- all of that material was less 19 than fifty parts per million, so we were 20 able to manage that material on the facility 21 itself. It's in a pile that's got a big 22 plastic cover over the top of it. 23 We also went to a large Page 108 1 A. As I said, the rest of those steps 2 wata tn on nnt artH wrvrlr \x/itVi tVip mntrartrvr' 3 such that when they constructed additional 4 excavation that those soils were managed 5 properly so they did not erode and be 6 released into the waterways. 7 By characterizing the areas, we 8 know where those areas are, and we can 9 proactively address those before they need 10 to be excavated to complete the plant 1 1 expansion. 12 Q. How much of the PCBs in the flood 13 plain at the treatment plant have /all 14 moved out of the flood plain? 15 A Very little. Maybe a thousand cubic 16 yards ofmaterial that was less than fifty 17 parts per million. 18 The bulk of the material that 19 was generated is still there. As I also 20 said, there is a process in place that is 21 well underway to address those with some 22 level of finality. 23 Q. Y'all have known that fish in j : L j \ ; ; i j j j Page 107 1 stockpile that was placed next to Snow 2 Creek, and that had a large plastic cover 3 placed over the top of it. Now it's 4 established a pretty significant vegetative 5 cover on top of it also. 6 Other than that, the steps we 7 have taken have been geared towards arriving 8 at the final remedy for that particular 9 site, which involves the work plans we 10 submitted and been approved and designed for 11 the stockpiled soil, and there will 12 certainly be more work that needs to be 13 done. 14 Q. So far, what /all physically 15 accomplished is /all put a sheet of plastic 16 over it? 17 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 18 A. We took appropriate steps to prevent 1 ft rL-D5 u11_U_1_11__llll:g__ld_li_l_igni_lU__l_llj.iU_1_U_5_C_C_A_W_t_tY_djlCU 20 soils. One of those steps was to put 21 plastic over the top of the stockpiles. 22 Q. (By Mr. Davis) What were the rest of 23 those steps? Page 109 ' 1 Choccolocco Creek had high levels of PCBs in 2 them since the late '60s or early '70s, 3 haven't you? j 4 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. ! 5 A. I don't know when we became aware of 6 jme presence ui r^r>s inruic nsii in ? 7 Choccolocco Creek. j 8 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Can you tell me when j 9 the process of trying to do something about 10 it started? ! 11 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. j 12 A. The process was begun back in the J 13 early 1980s, when we began taking steps that 1 14 began with the EPA's assessment at the 15 facility, to understand what the issues were S 16 at our facility, what different constituents 17 may be migrating, which PCBs turned out to 18 be the primary one migrated from our 1 ft j 20 That initial assessment done by 21 the EPA in 1983 has been the foundation upon 22 which everything we have done today has been 23 based upon. I 1 I 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 28 (Pages 106 to 109) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003308 HARTOLDMON0038972 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 110 1 Q. (By Mr. Davis) It's gotten all the 1 rvivmtijr (iva nmrtiiAvirva tukui'io9 nyiitlav v/vPi a vjjo futiioati lvimyvviAv iump 3 to a hundred parts per million down at the 4 intersection of Snow Creek and Choccolocco 5 has a big, old plastic cover on it, right? 6 A. I apologize. I didn't hear the first 7 part of your statement. When you are moving 8 into a process such as this, the initial 9 thing that's very well spelled out in both 10 the circular regs and it passes the common il sense test real easily is you start at the 12 potential source. 13 You don't want to conduct work 14 in the downstream areas, when you still have i_5 o V* cnnr^p MVtMVV fpp/lintr IVVUlllg tVw-\c<= U1VUV HAumctrp'im WV miOM VUUi orpcc U1 VIMi 16 You end up chasing your tail and making no 17 progress. 18 We started at the facility. We 19 essentially eliminated the migration of PCBs 20 away from the facility. And from the late 21 1990s, we are actively working to address 22 that. 23 Q. When are you going to be finished? Page 112 1 1 long-term risk. O A* TaUnvnocov tQufvAuQge) irivrav nmnull avvanIIvovaIt 3 the data and will be addressed -- they will 4 not be addressed right away. We have 5 completed where we can, and, unfortunately, 6 due to the ongoing litigation in Anniston, 7 there is a number of legal roadblocks that 8 have been placed in front of us. 9 But where we can get access to 10 those properties, we have addressed those. 11 If more are found, we will address those 12 also. The long-term risk to the environment 13 will be done in accordance with the process 14 that is installed by the regulatory i_5 Wp will nnllftpt flip Hata miir.h rf 16 what has been directed. We will analyze 17 that data to determine what the risk levels 18 are to the environment. 19 If the data suggests we are 20 exceeding those risk levels, we will 21 evaluate what measurements need to be taken. 22 Some of that has been taken also. As far as 23 when the whole process will be done, it's 1 B| 1 1 j . 1 , ; J I 1 1 1 Page lit 1 A. We will finish when we are done. 2 Q. When is that going to be? 3 A. I don't know. What's important is 4 that -- you have to look at this as two 5 different ongoing processes here. 6 There is a process where the 7 EPA -- primarily EPA now, but in the past, 8 it's been ADEM, has looked at the data we 9 generated and said these areas - and I can IQ he more specific if* you want to me. 11 These areas need to be 12 addressed now. These areas have levels of 13 PCBs, which, we believe, the regulatory 14 agencies, present a short-term risk to the 15 human health environment. We want you to do 16 something about those now. We have done 17 that, and we are in the process of doing 18 that. 19 There is another part of the 20 process, which says these areas have lower 21 levels of PCBs. We do not believe they pose 22 a short-term risk to the human health in the 23 environment. We believe they may pose a 1 Page 113 ` 1 more important the process be done 2 thoroughly and correctly for the short-term 3 risk than it be done now. 4 Q. I appreciate all that. Ijustwantto 5 know when - and let me give you some 6 guidelines by which we can talk about what I 5 ' 5 i ^ 7 mean by that. j 8 How long is it going to be 8 9 before the fish in Choccolocco Creek, if I I 10 gr nut thprp and apt a blight*! haskfttfill of______________1 11 them and take them home and eat them, that 12 I'm not going to be eating fish with those 13 levels? How long will that be? 1 | | 14 A. I don't know. | 15 Q. Five years, ten years, twenty years, 16 thirty years, fifty years? 1 | 17 MR. CLARK: Object to the form 18 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Do you have any 1 1 19 juugincui uu uiai: | 20 A. I don't know. That's part of our 21 investigation process. I will tell you that 22 there's some areas at the mouth of the 23 Choccolocco Creek, where it enters lower 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 29 (Pages 110 to 113) 1.888.00Z./3DO ADAD21-003309 HARTOLDMON0038973 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 Lake Martin, where we see PCBs levels in iminnuojti eonyovMvivooe nuif fiiigckiii TaVitivoir*vo uo vn/nnav 3 exception, the striped bass. 4 Q. I'm not talking about averages now. 5 My question is - I'm looking for the date 6 in the future, and you can tell me based on 7 your judgment and experience, that I can go 8 to the Choccolocco Creek and pull a 9 basketful of fish, take them home, and feed 10 my family and my friends, and nobody is n going to eat a fish over the FDA limit. 12 And you cant tell me whether 13 that's going to be accomplished in the next 14 five or ten or fifteen or thirty years. is MR. Cl.ARK: Object to the form. 16 A. I can tell you, in my opinion, in some 17 parts of Choccolocco Creek, you can do it 18 now. There are other areas of Choccolocco 19 Creek, where we are seeing low levels in the 20 fish fall, but we do not have enough data 21 yet. 22 When there will be more that 23 fit the FDA consumption limit, whether Page 114 1 Page 116 1 those questions. We do not have that nngritih; rvf 3 Q. Is it correct that the State of 4 Alabama is unable to pull a bushel basket of 5 fish out of Lake Martin itself and have them 6 all be below FDA standards? 7 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 8 A. You're correct, if they were to go out 9 there and pull a bushel of fish, that there 10 is a good probability that they would find ll some fish that exceed that fish consumption 12 level. That is the average. 13 Q. (By Mr. Davis) We are still talking 14 about my bushel now. is A. I'm answering the question, ves. 16 There are some fish that would be a low 17 percentage, but, certainly, the larger fish 18 are still above that limit, yes. 19 Q. So you don't really know a place on 20 Choccolocco where I can pull a bushel basket 21 and not find one or more in that bushel 22 basket? 23 A. Not on Choccolocco Creek. I fully f. - % 4 Page 115 1 that's by natural reduction in the levels or 2 whether we need to go proactively and reduce 3 that, whatever the answer to that - that 4 question will be answered as part of our 5 remedial investigation process that we are 6 undertaking under the EPA. 7 Q. (By Mr. Davis) The question of how 8 long it will take will be answered? 9 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 10 O fRv \/fr Ta mv KucVi^l 11 basket? 12 A. I told you there are certain areas of 13 the creek where you could get your basket 14 right now. 15 But in the areas where that is 16 not the case, and there are areas like that, 17 I do not have a good answer to that 18 question. I don't have an answer. It will 19 take as long as it takes. 20 We will keep doing this work 21 until we have the answer to those questions. 22 You have to collect a data of certain 23 quality and quantity to be able to answer Page 117 1 expect you would find at least one. 2 Q. Then, let's take a different standard 3 of analyzing when we are going to be 4 finished with this. 5 When is the time period going 6 to occur when a child can walk around in the 7 dirt in his yard and his neighbors's yard in 8 the area - let's just say within a mile of 9 that plant, that Solutia plant in Anniston, 10 Alabama, and not walk across any dirt 11 containing PCBs? 12 MR. CLARK: Object to the form 13 A. The answer to that question is it's 14 going to take a lot longer than it should. 15 We have offered for every property that we 16 believe there's a potential for PCBs to be 17 present, above the EPA's cleanup standard. 18 one part per million -- actually, we use the 19 ten parts per million because that's the 20 EPA's short-term cleanup goal. 21 We have offered to sample each 22 and every one of those properties. Due to 23 file ongoing litigation, both this case as - * % | \ 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 30 (Pages 114 to 117) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003310 HARTOLDMON0038974 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 118 1 well as other legal proceedings, we have not 0 vvvn oKIp hviv tirwv g<vvptf quvpvpvpcdctf tA tuUivngova pnpivAynAvti4kiiAvge< 3 It would happen a lot quicker 4 if we could get access to these properties 5 to sample them and find these properties 6 with PCBs to clean up and get access to 7 clean them up. The schedule is not being 8 hindered by our not willing to do it; it's 9 being hindered by people not allowing us to 10 do it. n Q. (By Mr. Davis) Name a single 12 residential piece of property that you 13 cleaned up below ten parts? 14 A. I can name thirteen. 15 Q. Below ten parts? 16 A. Let me take that back. You said 17 below. There have been none that are below 18 ten parts per million yet. 19 Q. You have been there how many years? 20 MR. CLARK: Let him finish. 21 A. If I could finish my question. The 22 process the EPA established - this is not a 23 process we established. The process the EPA IPage 120 1 up properties between one part and ten parts O unless you get a certificate of something? 3 A. I'm telling you the EPA has told us to 4 focus our efforts on the properties that are 5 greater than ten. 6 Q. You have time to do more than thirteen 7 pieces of property in three years, don't 8 you? 9 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 10 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Couldn't you finish? 11 A. Absolutely. 12 Q. Ae you doing it now, or are you 13 waiting on the consent decree? 14 A. In most cases, we have to wait for 15 people to oive us access to their nronertv. 16 Q. You know some properties that you have 17 tested that you have not been told you 18 cannot go on, and you have not been told you 19 cannot clean up that are between one and ten 20 where you haven't done a lick and a snake in 21 terms of cleaning up; isn't that right? 22 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 23 A. You're focusing on a very narrow piece 1 ,, , J ' ' * ` - * < , * 1 established, initial efforts were needed to 2 find those properties that exceeded ten 3 parts per million and clean those properties 4 up. 5 And we have done that where we 6 have been allowed to do that by the property 7 owner. You are talking about properties 8 that are below ten parts per million. 9 There are a streamline risk 10 evaluation completed by the EPA that says 11 you need to go - this is all part of the 12 consent decree that we have signed with the 13 EPA, and we are waiting for a federal judge 14 to decide if it's worthy of his signature or 15 not. We don't know yet. 16 As soon as he signs that, we 17 will then initiate a program and go out and 18 complete our sampling of these properties X9 and start cleaning up the properties below 20 one part per million and above the one part 21 per million. 22 Q. I'm a little confused. You're telling 23 me that die EPA is savins vou do not clean Page 119 Page 121 1 on a much larger issue. 2 Q. (By Mr. Davis) You're exactly right, 3 sir. I'd like you to answer my question. 4 A. The answer to your question is there's 5 a wide variety of issues that need to be 6 addressed. This a large site. I don't 7 think anybody will debate that point. It 8 includes the manufacturing facility. It 9 includes landfills. It includes forty miles 10 of creek. It includes almost 8,000 acres of 11 flood plain and waterways to that flood 12 plain. 13 You just cant sit down and 14 decide you're going to go out and take care 15 of everything at one time. You have to 16 prioritize your efforts. 17 And we have been asked and we 18 agreed with the EPA to prioritize our iy efforts on these subsets of properties. We 20 are getting to a point where our ability to 21 complete that effort is essentially stopped 22 because we cannot get to anymore properties. 23 We cannot get access to those properties, s I . i * J j | ? | ! f j 5 * 1 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 31 (Pages 118 to 121) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003311 HARTOLDMON0038975 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 Page 122 1 which is why we are now transitioning into those other properties. Yes, we will get 3 them cleaned up in very short order. 4 Q. My question is, don't you know of 5 properties that you have already tested that 6 are between one and ten parts per million 7 that you have permission to go ahead and 8 clean up, and you ain't done it? 9 A. No, there's no property between one 10 and ten that we have permission to clean up 11 yet. 12 Q. Because you haven't gone out and asked 13 permission. 14 There have been properties that u< i/y*ii noorv;vo Uvawamu wpvainu^uiLHiov/u1 avvvoo ftnv fuluiaofi 16 nobody says you can't clean up that are 17 between one and ten that you haven't been 18 able to clean up; isn't that right? 19 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 20 A. If we had a choice between cleaning up 21 a property that has two parts per million 22 and a property that has fifteen parts per 23 million, we have been told to focus our Page 124 1 1 up that we have not cleaned up. XdTiurtwtir, uitA- ivaovii ivi uiai 3 occurring is not that we are neglecting it 4 or we are ignoring these people. That is 5 not the case. 6 We are doing what is the 7 prudent thing to do and what the EPA has 8 asked us to do. We have been focusing our 9 efforts on those properties that are more 10 important to get cleaned up sooner, rather 11 than later, because of the higher level of 12 exposures. 13 To suggest we are ignoring a 14 certain segment of the community is 15 completely misleading and mischaracterizes 16 our efforts. 17 Q. (By Mr. Davis) In the first place, I 18 didn't suggest anything. 19 A. I think you are suggesting that, but 20 please continue with your questions. 21 Q. All right. What's the Miller 22 property? 23 A. The Miller property is a section of 1 mH 1 1 I 1 1 | 1 * . ;. i ^ j ' 1 1 resources on cleaning up the property that 2 has the fifteen parts per million. 3 Q. (By Mr. Davis) I didn't ask you what 4 your reason was or what your excuse was. 5 I'm asking whether or not that's correct. 6 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 7 A. What I am saying, there is a process 8 we have been asked to undertake, and we are 9 undertaking that process. 1IVA Q. (By Mr. Davis) I want an answer to my 11 question. My question is, isn't it true 12 that there are properties that you have 13 tested, residential properties, that are 14 between one part and ten parts that you know 15 of that nothing is standing in the way of 16 you cleaning it up other than perhaps your 17 time availability, and you haven't cleaned 18 them up? 19 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 20 A. It's more than a time availability. 21 The answer to your question, there are 22 properties between one and ten parts per 23 ImIUiIlJliInVnU tUhltaMt ur>/pV JImUlnVufr; wM liilli inipvpWH tn KWp rlptinp^ Page 123 1 property, about four acres in size, that is 2 located just outside our fence line, along 3 10th Street in Anniston. It's a property we 4 own. 5 Q. Did you acquire it recently? 6 A. I don't know the exact time we 7 acquired it. It was in the late 1990s, I 8 believe. 9 Q. What was that property used for before iXnV you acquired it? 11 A. I believe it was an old foundry 12 property, if I'm not mistaken. 13 Q. There are dozens and dozens of houses 14 that y*all have acquired from former 15 residents around the plant; is that correct? 16 A. Yes, I would agree with that. 17 Q. Would you agree that you have total 18 and complete access to those properties? iy A. Can you repeat the question? 20 Q. Would you agree that you have total 21 and complete access to those properties, the 22 ones you now own? 23 A. Yes. Page 125 j P . . , . j P i ; ` ; j 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 32 (Pages 122 to 125) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003312 HARTOLDMON0038976 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD - 4/25/2003 1 Q. Other than putting plastic over the 7 tnn nf thp Hirt nn tbnsp nrpnc wViat haw 3 you done to clean up the PCBs on those 4 properties? 5 A. There's two separate programs that I 6 would refer to. The first set of 7 residential properties we purchased was a 8 number of properties. I believe it was 9 thirty. I could be a little off on that 10 number. 1 1 jvcsiueniiai properties on wnai 12 we call the east side plants near the 13 defense plant. Those particular properties 14 have been cleaned up. The houses were 15 erased, and we nlaced a can and cover on it 16 I want to say maybe twelve or 17 thirteen properties that we have acquired 18 over the last year and a half as a result of 19 a legal settlement. Four of those 20 properties -1 believe that's the correct 21 number, four or five, had greater than ten 22 parts per million, and we have cleaned those 23 properties. Page 126 Page 127 1 Some of the properties, we did 2 not find PCBs, and we have not done anything 3 with those properties. But there are also 4 some, four or five, that contain between one 5 and ten parts per million. We have not 6 cleaned those yci either. 7 Q. What is the current situation ofthis 8 Conservation Core Project on Choccolocco 9 Creek? 10 A. The current status of that project is 11 we have negotiated an agreement with a 12 non-profit organization to go out and 13 establish this conservation corridor and 14 work with the property owners along the 15 creek and establish this conservation 16 corridor. 17 But that agreement has not been 18 signed and no transactions have taken place. in 17 rv^\. ir-\/~\j jkju agitt ix y\JU imu rdcpuds 20 dispersed outside Monsanto's property at 21 hazardous levels that you now have a 22 revision to warn the people who might be 23 affected by that? Page 128 1 1 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 1 7 A Pprhang ynn rnnlH hpttpr Hpfinp_____________________ I 3 "hazardous levels" for me. 4 I agree we have an obligation 5 to keep the community informed ofwhat we 1 1 1 6 find in our investigations and what we are | 7 doing to address it. We are actively doing 8 that because they are the stakeholders. ' 9 They have a stake in the outcome of this 10 process. ` 11 y. v^y ivir. wdvisj wuuiu yvu agicc u a 12 time period existed when Monsanto knew there 13 were hazardous levels of PCBs around its - 14 plant and the community did not, that ? 15 Monsanto had an obligation to warn the 16 people in the community or even, to use your ' 17 phrase, keep them informed? 18 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. e 19 A. Once again, it's difficult to answer , 20 because I don't know what you are defining 21 as "hazardous." 22 I would agree to the extent 23 that Monsanto knew or Solutia knows about | 1 1 11 Page 129 1 PCBs in an area, where something needs to be 2 done about it, that the company should 3 inform the community of that information. 4 Now, if I'm reading into your 5 question, stop me and I will stop talking. 6 Bui yuu have iu have the kuOwIcugc that 7 there is an issue before you can notify 8 people of an issue. You have to have the 9 ability to detect it, to know it's migrating 10 from the facility, to know there are rules 11 and regs established by society, which, as 12 reflected through governmental laws, say 13 this stuff here is not appropriate to be 14 here. 15 Once that is the case, yes, you 16 should let people know that and allow them 17 to have a voice in what's done about it. 18 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Then, you would agree, i n korl flip17 lykii sWvAaOmUmiplIWa) IX ITiVllOttlllV UUU UIUn1VATtiTmI1 mAAA VA1V 20 late '60s or early '70s that PCBs at 21 Choccolocco Creek were above the FDA limits 22 and also knew that the - let me rephrase. 23 You would agree, then, that if , ? * * j j | , j { 1 I 1 j 1| ii4.lbZ./55() Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters.com 33 (Pages 126 to 129) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003313 HARTOLDMON0038977 CRAIG BRANCHFIELD-4/25/2003 Page 130 1 Monsanto knew that the PCBs in the fish in 2 riincrnlnrpn waawwaww Cvi1vrew*ea*\kr x**nvf**rtv* wqIvwwav fvlniav aT7T^Av mlimiuivtcj^ 3 they had an obligation to warn people about 4 those levels? 5 MR. CLARK: Object to the form. 6 A. The simple answer to your question is 7 yes, but you've taken something and placed 8 it back in the time frame ofthe '60s and 9 early '70s. To best to my knowledge, there 10 were no FDA levels that could be exceeded, 11 much less technology to detect levels, where 12 the current FDA levels are set at. 13 To the extent you develop 14 knowledge and develop an understanding of 15 what's talcing place in the community and 16 have a baseline of regulations to compare 17 that against, then, certainly, you have an 18 obligation not just to inform the community 19 but invite them to have a say in the 20 process. 21 Q. (By Mr. Davis) Your answer would be 22 the same, ifin the early '70s or mid '70s 23 or whenever that information was available 1 ************ Page 132 3 *R*E*PO*R*T*E*R*'S**C*ER*TIFICATE 4 5 STATE OF ALABAMA 6 COUNTY OF JEFFERSON 7 8 9 I, Laura E. Durden, Notary Public in 10 and for the State of Alabama at Large, do 11 inereioy cenny imi ajt o. n. Apm* .. ,:i Azjf , zuuj, 12 pursuant to notice and stipulation on behalf 13 of the Plaintiffs, I reported the deposition 14 of CRAIG BRANCHFIELD, who was first duly 15 sworn to speak the truth, the whole truth, 16 and nothing but the truth, in the matter of 17 Antonia Tolbert, et al., Plaintiffs, v. 1 18 Monsanto Company; et al., Defendants, Civil 19 Action No. CV-01-C-1407-S, now pending in 20 the U.S. District Court for Northern 21 District of Alabama, Southern Division, that 22 the foregoing 131 typewritten pages contains 23 a true and accurate transcription of the Page 131 1 to them, right? 2 A. To the extent that any regulations 3 existed, and you had the knowledge that this 4 was going on. Once again, you get into the 5 ability to detect and know what's going on 6 there. 7 But back in the '60s and '70s 8 and beforehand, the ability to detect PCBs, 9 the levels we can detect them at today, 10 there's orders of matmitude difference. 11 MR. DAVIS: That's all the 12 questions I have. Thank 13 you. 14 15 (The deposition of CRAIG BRANCHFIELD, was 16 concluded at approximately 12:50 p.m., on 17 April 25,2003.) 18 i r\ iy 20 21 22 23 1 examination of said witnesses by counsel for 2 the parties set out herein. 3 I further certify that I am neither of 4 kin nor of counsel to the parties to said 5 cause, nor in any manner interested in the A fACllltC tkpTPrtf V 1VJU1W U1V1VVA< 1 This 1st day of May, 2003. 8 9 10 11 12 Laura E. Durden Notary Public 13 State of Alabama at Large 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Page 133 I -z. 334.262.7556 Reagan Reporters, LLC www.reaganreporters .com 34 (Pages 130 to 133) 1.888.662.7556 ADAD21-003314 HARTOLDMON0038978