Document aDvOpmqMXykEML8xjDdNo8adM

Khn News Tht McGrtw-HiB Construction Wtskty Juns 5, 1986 Ceiling tiles found to shed PCBs Officials at Burlington County president for financial and ad Collegc hi Pemberton, NJ. arc ministratis e services, savs the grappling with live Tint raw of levels have varied with location a new toxic contamination problem. Acoustical ceiling tiles arc shedding PC.Hs into me air and onto ihc walls. floors and furnishings of ihcir primary classroom and office building. The manufacturer of the tiles tats it may have produced sev eral million sq ft of the in the building. The standard for air set bv the National Insti tute for Occupational Safety and Health n I tnirrogram per cu m. and readings at the col lege have ranged from 0.2 to J.W. For surface concentra tions, the NIOSH limit is 0 5 micromrami per sq cm. and the product. The tiles, made lav Arm* readings nave ranged from 0.09 to I0.4B. The readings are strong World Industries Inc.. Lancaster. Pa., were used m all below OSHa standards. But h is the more stringent about a third of the two-tforv. lev els recommended by MOSH )G8.000-iq-ft Lewii M. Parker that the state health depart Center, which opened in 1970. State health officials do itot ment is using in drafting ns proposal for pcrmiuibie expo consider the let el of pc.bs. or sure limits to be included m the polychlorinated biphenyls, to state's public emploiee occupa pose "an immediate risk." and tional safety and health law. the building is still in use. But say s Kathleen O'Lean, of the the cleanup may cost as much department. As of November as S3 million. 1980, the rules will also cover "U's a new; version of t*cis county and municipal workers, contamination for everybody." including the work force at says .Alan S. Todd, director of Burlington County College. industrial hygiene for Stewart- Unisntil According to a Todd Associates Inc., a consul spokesman for Armstrong, dur tant from King of Prussia. Pa., ing 1969 and 1970. three of the that dm eloped a cleanup pro company's commercial ceiling posal for the college. tile patterns were undercoatrd PCBs hate been found to with a product containing PCBs cause skin and liter diseases in produced by Monsanto Corp. workers exposed to ten high St. Louis. The patterns are level*. They are now repilaivd called Sanserra. Samaglto and by thcf.S Occupational Salt!' Embossed Design. and Health Administration and "While we regard the situa the 1.5 Environmental Protec tion seriously, wc don't look at tion Agency, but before their this as a major problem." a health naurdi became known, i Auguat M to jnramgaton of eoMspo bidding n New Jaraoy company spokesman tats He they were used in a number of not boliawad to be Wa cauaa of toe PCS oontamtoatton. claims that the companv Erodnets for flame resistance. doesn't have exact numbers but evin McCormack, of EPA's ex could have produced "several posure evaluation division, says the fed they were not released by the fire," say s million souare feet during the two-tear eral agency is investigating. He says Dr. Kenneth D. Rosenman, assistant period." He savs the companv doom EPA's economic technology* division esti commissioner of the N.J. Health Dept. nave "records showwing whr ere those cnl- mates that 6 million sq it of tiles were He says the fire was confined to one mgs were shipped." But it has been ac amanufactured and 2 million sq A may still be in place. Plro not saws. PCBs were discovered the structure has a number of air tively searching for installations by ing systems and the PCB contami checking buddings shown in old adver nation was found after the fire cleantuispements of the product. Armstrong at Burlington by state environmental of was completed in areas unaffected by and New Jersey officials have checked ficials investigating a fire in a chemical the fire. 25 buildings so far. But live spokemsn storage vault in the building last August. The danger of the contamination at savs only ~ one--a building in Arm Ilut me Are is not believed to be the the collrce is a matter of some dispute, strong's own technical center in Perm- source of the PCBs. "We're very sure Bernard 5. Rosenberg, the school's vice sylvania--had detectable PCB contami- to tm/Junes, raw HONS 003950 muon. and Ihh wu wtH Mow Ihr at ihr college. A Mmikiio spokesman says hit com pany met with Armstrong to discuss the situation. "We are skeptical that there is a health problem here, but we have not investigated the specific building.'' he says. Monsanto voluntarily stopped sell* mg KBs for "open uses" that could lead to human exposure in 1971. The college is Diced with the question of who will pay for the cleanup. Both Rosenberg and Armstrong say the issue is under discussion. Rosenberg says BCC would like the manufacturer to voKin* tardy absorb all the costs, which he esti mates at $1 million to $2 million. "We re not paving it," says Rosenberg, who (fid not rule out litigation. Armstrong says it is still investigating "the extern to which the chemical fire contributed to the problem." The cleanup proposal from Stewart- Todd Associates cam for the removal of the ceiling tdrs contaimnc rasa. The space above the ceding and all surfaces below would be vacuumed using high- efficiency Mien. Carpeting in five areas of the budding would also be removed. Non-PCI tiles in other areas would also be removed because they have absorbed some PCBs over the yean. By Limy Cms m Ml. Htify, A\J NJ. toxic cleanups slow management director. The legislature now seems dose to approv ing a Did that would help them procure liaotki) insur ance. But progress has also been hin NewJersey is debating a new package of 40% of the state's needs over the next dered by red tape involving dcp, die legislation designed to raise moon to five yean, estimated at more than $1 state attorney general and the state trea continue its toxic-wasie cleanup opera billion, savt John \V. Gaston, acting di surer, he dawns. tion! while Congress continues to mull rector of the waste management division - -Gaston says the state is beginning to over the reauthoriution of the federal of the state Dept, of Environmental Pro succeed in securing deanup funds from Superfund program. tection. Dtp is counting on Superfund responsible parties. Dir entered into a A package or bills that would raise and pavments from responsible private $2.2-miihon agreement with the French about $W2 million over the next five parties to pay for the rest. firm Rhone-Poulcnc Inc. to dean up years is now before the New Jersey sen Gaston predicts that die state will be contaminated soil and groundwater at ate's revenue, finance and appropria working on 926 toxic-waste sites by an insecticide pkmi last week. Other x- tions committee. The legislation would 1991. New Jersey alreadv has 99 sites cords are expected soon, savs Gaston. increase the corporate business tax from listed on the Superftmd National Priori- "This is making the funebng issues a 9 to 9.5% to raise between $40 million tv List, more than any other state. little less critical, says Sadat, 'it b the and $00 million for cleanups. Another Cleanup work is also being done on insurance problems that are debilitat- bill would double the tax for the state Spill Compensation Fund, raising an ad another 55 non-Superfund sues. Still, some of the state's momentum '"lad* left DEP two weeks ago to Mari ditional $15 million to $$0 million per in cleaning up its sites has been lost hb own environmental and toxic clcan- vear. And another would authorise a because ofthe inability of engineers and . up consulting firms. So for. he has been $200-million bond issue for dcamips. contractors to obtain insurance, says unable to obtain lability insurance for The package would pas for about klarwan kl. Sadat. DCP's former waste toxic-cieamip work. Groundwater laws urged Air rates would affect A new National Research Council report is providing fresh ammunition for con gressional advocates of legislation to protect groundwater. Three groundwater protection bills that have emerged in the House and Senate arc broader in scope than die recent!' pasted Safe Drinking Water Act. which rails on states to establish wellhead protection areas around public drinking water svstem wells. Supporters of additional legislation "want something that wifi treat ground water as a resource, as opposed to Just protecting drinking water for drinking purposes." says one congressional staffer. The National Research Council re port urges just that. In preparing its report, the counril surveyed groundwa ter protection policies in 10 states and three localities. It concluded that too often groundw atcr protection programs are simph rlcamip operations rather than compirhrmiu- programs designed to prevent cimtaminatiim. To develop compivlnitvivt- pit'vcmtvc programs. the report says nates will need more help from the federal government. Rep Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.) savs the report supports a bill he recemlv introduced. The bill (H R 3906) would reouirr the L.S. Geological Survey to enlarge its research in several areas, in cluding assessments of how much groundwater i contaminated or threat ened and how toxic substances behave in ground and surface water. Another bill sponsored by Rep. Albert G. Busta mante (D-Texas) would establuh a com prehensive state-federal regulatory program to protect groundwater. It b identical to one now in the Senate. The sac report recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency act "expeditiously" in setting the recom mended maximum contaminant levels (RMCLs) and maximum contaminant lev els (mcu) that it has already proposed to establish for some substances. If President Reagan signs the new Safe Drinking Water Act, kP.v must set stand.nds within three veais for 83 of 700 contaminants found in drinking waterO All resource-recovery plants built in Florida will have to be equipped with krubbers and baghouscs to control emissions if the Florida Dept, of Envi ronmental Regulation succeeds in pac ing a new regulation DEk announced ns intent after a state administrative hearing officer ruled that Broward County could build a SIA7- million, 5.300-ton-per-dav mass-bum plant without the air pollution connol equipment. Because there are no stale laws or administrative rules governing trash plant emissions. DC* attempted to force the county to install the equip* mem in a hearing required by Florida law. The county argued that the $20* million cost of installing a scrubber and baghouse would make the project un* economical and have little effect on air quality (iN* 5/22 p 15). The heating officer agreed. ,_ M The accncv will allow Broward C.ou - v to build the plant without the *9nlP* mem--foi now. nr* offivsnl* r*o believe dies would lose an aM*?1 heating ofliuTS ailing before Cov. tN*/JurS.im 11 HONS 003951