Document YGN88VyoEyqzKnY3B4zGBO8NO

Wjt ^otirkr-founml BARRY BINGHAM JR. Editor and Publisher ROBERT T. BARNARD Eiiioml Pegt Editor TUESDAY. OCTOBER ZL 1974. FOUNDED 1826. Xerox copies to: A. Vlttooe R. D. Score J. L. Nelson E. B. Osborne X. Creene F. J. Weaver R. B. Downey B. H. C. Zwlcker C. Pow W. J. Wilcox E. W. Harrington H. Walteaace ]-*-! __________ X. Flynn BFG33525 A*foci( E'dttort ADELE VINCENT JOBS HART BERT SMKE WILLIE C. RIDDLE JAMES NOLAN HUGH HAYNIE, Corfoosiit 1r 1 r#r? it Why we can't relax the fight | ffor worker safety 3GUT 100 BltLS have boon introduced is pCongnera to weaken or even to repeal the V^tbree-year-old Occupational Safety and Health fvAct. Although some of the bills are oat lifeor* % matters, anyone who saw the story of `tte'slR. F, Goodrich Company polyvinyl ipUHbt hi k {CBS television donzmenta- . rfagpight must wonder at the overall thnut of such criticisms of federal safety staa* \ fortf, ^ ' - *" [ * v ?` * . Ti&fhe network showed private and public offl- 1 reacting tartfUy to the first reports from ^U^M'jLouisvllle .{riant that throe production had died of a rare liver cancer. It the controversy over safety stan- i inside plants Which bad been producing - this Static for as long as 30 years, and such i -- allied questions as bow much vinyl chloride Vjfas should be alkfsred to escape into the atmo- \f'#b*ru or whether hazards exist for users of r faodnots fabricatod from polyvinyl chloride. *'#(? The federal Occupational Safety and Health Vdmlnteratjpa (CK5HA) has seeded prodding ;to get it* complex inspection ; machinery for industrial ' into motKhL forking people, on the one ^ j want the' strictest standards; industry 'people, on the other, talk of economic realism. ,Qpext*#w/fljr occasional OSHA delays is that in the middle. However, it takes time to decide oa allowable levels of cbemfcala; sfccb as polyrinyi chloride, asbestos and beryllium, which may imperil health oidsfale a plant as well as in it But If anything isidear from the Louisville 'scare, it's that Congress could do more, not Ifei&lo make OSHAmore effective in the longftg&ptedjstruggte for worker safety. a 2467900J. 'TUESDAY, OCTOW* 23, 1974 fi TheLoiisviu^ Times `\j t 4` sa- : ' ' 1K Vinyl-chloride fumes involved Sewer-construction delay granted; but who pays? , By MARTIN E, SEEKER pumping staUon; this water flows directly want of income is money collected for Mxik nm sum rnnur to the river. sanitaiyoewcr oenrice. Using this money Vinyl chloride, storm drainage and flooded basement* drew the attention oi tea Metropolitan Sower District (MSD) board yesterday. The floodgates are being installed in the Urge sewer line to keep Ohio Biter flood water from becking up into the pumping station. to provide storm drainage in tbe city is not fair to the customers, it tay*. Ia tbe areas of Jefferson County out ride of Louisville, MSD builds and main tains storm drains under a contract with - In a 98tnote*estlar. (be board:' 1 Construction work eras stopped in July after worker* complained that noxious the county. Fiscal Court pays tbe cori of juris program. > : Learned that M may hare to fo to court to determine who muat pay lor a costly construction delay caused by vinyl chloride and other chemical fumes in a huso sewer line near the B. F. Goodrich Chemical 00. plant on Bella Lane. (The contractor (or (he job said vinyl-chloride fumes in the sewer line reached 48 parts ftr RiUion -- perhaps far more than the hour federal standards (or working eondi&M would allow.) fumes often filled the sewer and made them sick. Tbe fumes were traced to tbe Una leading from the Goodrich plant. The constraotko work was being dene by Munich Engineering of Jeffersonville. James A. Munich, president of tbe com pany, said after tbe MSD meeting yester day that be bad had the fumes analyzed. One last, be said, showed 48 parts per million of vinyl chloride in tbe air in tbe sewer line. Mat in IiOulsviOo, MSD pays for the malnteuanoe of combined storm sod mjuUry sewers end for many storm drain*. Since MSD customers outride the city pay tbe same rates as customers bufde the city, tbe report say*, "county resi dents are helping to pay for serricj* pro vided in tee city." . The board asked its staff to amege mettems with city officials to by to work out a efcureut ston&drdnage protfam. (Earlier this month. Goodrich arid it amnaawjkft; ** Heard a report Irons its staff saying bad tested the fumes: it reported it found MNnwfr wVfRi fbe law is not clear about whether MSD "small emeestmtiOBS" or "a trace" of or the city of Uminille is responsible for vinyl chloride.) atom-drainage problems in the city. At present, the report says, sewer customers yrbo lire outside the city are subsidizing siomdralnsge programs for diy rat* .dents. Munich asked for an extenaiea of hit deadline for completing the Job because of the delays cassed by tbe fumes, and because of a delay In the manufacturer's delivery of the floodgate*. He estimated * Approved a now regulation forbid ding the connection of bascmcot-noor' Inins 1o sanitary sewers -- but allowing the connection of buwqirotwnnitii? drains U a special vaiv t* used to keep the wafer front bathing np into tbe basefcenttffeettwc* the cost of tbe delay at S71.89S. (The original cost of (be project vu to he about 8808,088.) ,; J, C Taylor. iiecTetary-treaaurvr of MSD, told tec bomt Goodrich bad prom ised to cooperate id solving the problem, but lad denied liability for paying for tea The new regulation oo basement drains was proposed late last year after MSD customers complained water was hacking op Into their basements when it rained. The hottest preteste came from tbe Sm Air area, where sanitary sewage often backed up into finished basement*. MSD explained that local and federal regulations forbid storm water in sani tary aewers. The backups were being cwuMd. MSD said, by forbidden waters. in December, MSD proposed a new regulation that would stop tee cosnactfop delay,. r ; of any drain to a sanitary sewer line if \ 7 ;* He and SL Vf. Keats, the semofdistrict'* tbe drain avoid be bekwtee leval of tbe attorney,, sail Munich or MSDprcbabty street, for theground) over the sanitary- > ">4 '.V- '. t The visjlcHortSa lumen were Sis- covered daring U-manner; when: work- wouldteavote goto court toierw Cow rite terra fag the dotty. Tfce board canted Munich a delay in bis deadHae for completing tbe project -- tot did w* action hU request for tbe i Vinyl *Wfe(ha'&* auhrtioce oacd in extra money- ? '-&* . . . tasking p5Sft*i* Sw bdest blidtM fr ewer line. The board made a special point of forUddtag busmeat floor (train*, on the the ory that Stem water seeping through tbe basement walls eoadd enter the sanitary sewers through these drains. gausing a rare fora of cancvr, anglosar- Slone drnino$w,. At a publlb'hearing Aug. 20, represen coma. white attacks the liver and hai killed at least six former workers si tbe Products pUbt here. Tbe aeer.;ltac. about 18 feet wide and SI feet hittv<arri?s*tom water overflow fro* a *e*tr pume&tg station near Bella -taste and 41st Street to tbe Ohio Hirer. 17be Goodrich plant stomps treated waste Iwrter tola? j^ 4^ ,sowg below tbe The storm-drainage report was pre pared after Mayor Harvey Sloant com. plained teat ctiteeai.trith drainage prob lem were *Wtfag ten naHtnxrod'' from city departments and MSD. Tbe report: *j* different state laws giv* tbe city and MSD powers to deal with siOris drainage. It alsa'poiuis out that itSD'a main tatives of the home-bulMing industry ex pressed strong objections to parts of tbe proposal. In the modified regulation approved yesterday, MSD will allow "miUiy sew age" connection* -- for kitchen*, baterooms and laundry areas -- below ground level, but only if a sped*! valve is In stalled to keep sewer water from backing opt" ................ BFG33526 2^7S0OZ