Document j26gq57jn2jEq0JZ8XzrOq92

STLCOPCB4036253 On Today'* Editorial Page Congras* Leave* It* Mark Editorial For The MI*ourl Senate Editorial Vol. 110, No. 299 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH DowJonM 13.16 Close 2170.34 (Page 7B) i TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1988 . 44 Page* <S> Copyright 1988 ' 25* EPA To Investigate River Pollutants By Saflr Ahmed Of th Pot-Diip*tch Staff The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin today a major in vestigation of pollutants that are be ing discharged into the Mississippi River by eight of the largest chemical plants and two sewage-treatment plants In.the Sauget area. About 30 environmental engineers and scientists will take hundreds of samples of the discharges over the next five days in an attempt to deter mine whether the industries are com- NEW REGULATIONS to raise homeowner*' bill*........... Page 6A plying with federal clean-water laws, officials said. "We are deeply concerned about the pollutants being discharged into the Mississippi," Anne Welnert, an environmental engineer with the agency's Region V office in Chicago, said at a press conference Monday in Collinsville. The samples will be taken from the discharges from the following eight companies: Monsanto Co., Midwest Rubber and Chemical Co., Cerro Cop per Products, Clayton Chemical Co., Trade Waste Incineration, Big River Zinc (formerly AMAX Zinc Co.), Eth yl Petroleum Additives Inc. and Pfizer Pigments Inc. The first seven plants are In Sauget; Pfizer is In East St. Louis. In addition, discharges from the American Bottoms sewage-treatment plant and the Sauget Physical Chemi cal Plant will be tested. The sample* will be tested for ni trates, nitrites, ammonia, heavy met als, arsenic, mercury, polychlorinat ed biphenyls, oil and grease. Analysis of the samples taken will take several weeks or perhaps months, Welnert said. She said the agency had planned the investigation for months, partly because of ongoing concern over the quality of the water in the Mississippi River. The Investigation was not prompted by the recent study by Greenpeace, the International envi ronmental group, Welnert said. "While we are aware of the Green peace study, this action has been planned for quite some time," Weln ert said. Earlier this month, Greenpeace re leased a report that said that 19,000 excess deaths -- the highest death rate along the Mississippi River -- occurred in SL Louis between 1968 and 1983. Welnert said the companies had been told about the Investigation and had been "very cooperative." Asked whether the warning about the Investigation might prompt the companies to lower the level of pol lutants In the discharges, Welnert sald:l"I hope not. I have no reason to believe they will try to shut down their operations or change their discharge." Max McCombs, superintendent of environmental affairs at Monsanto's W.G. Krummrtch plant In Sauget, said the environmental agency had sent the company a letter this week In- See POLLUTANTS, Page Welnert said the Investigation, - awane that,the sampling, don^by the Pollutants which Is being done to conjunction agency *ta* anything other, thgn `rou with the EPA's National Enforcement tine." He arid that the compand had Investigation Center in Denver, Is fa-, gubmjttpd plans to. the agency for a From page one cused only on the discharges from, ' pre-treatment program to ditto up Its ' the Sauget area and does not extend'. effluent before It reaches, Sauget'* forming the company that it would be to any other discharges, aioijg (he sampling discharges from the plant Mississippi River. ' ' no response. all week. She emphasized that the environ Dave Adams, plant manager for McCombs said that the company mental agency has been concerned Ethyl Petroleum Additives Inc, said could shut down parts of its opera about the water In the Mississippi thp environmental agency probably tions to improve the quality of its dis River for some time and pointed out would require the company to make charges but that It would not do so. that In May, the agency Sued the costly Changes in Its manufacturing "Our operations are In compliance American Bottoms .Sewage-treatment processes to dean up Its discharges.1 with discharge standards," McCombs plant In Sauget '' Welnert said the last time the agen said. "We have nothing to hide. We The suit is pending Ip federal court cy conducted any Investigation of this, are going to cooperate to make sure ,ln Alton. In it, the agency alleges that scope'was lnl9*1,'when it tested the the data are representative of our the plgnt discharged pollutants that discharges from'Sauget's sewage ; operations." were the most toxic "ever measured plant and Yound that "lots and lots of The Krummrlch plant makes In Region V," which consists of Indl-. organic" chemicals" Were being dis-! chemicals for making rubber and ana, Ohio, Michigan, Wl^conslh aq<|, charged.Into the rtvef. '1 ' also makes swimming pool chemi Minnesota. 1 ' . . ' . Christine Bertetsaa ofthe JPgat-Dta- cals, Including phosphorous com Harry Scbwelch, president of Cerro. patch staff rsontritmte* information , pounds, benzene and chlorine. Copper Products Co., said he'was titi- tor thisstory. it ........ ........... . ...... Ul--I i . .nr I.inn i l>. ao fM O m a oO CO STLCOPCB4036254 I Believiilfe News-Detfattcrat 88?9ei KSC! Page 5, Section B 618 274 9719 MONSANTO BK BLDG 10^19/88 11:11 By WALLY SPIERS News-Democrat . Monsanto's Krummrich plant in Satinet will eliminate 45 salaried! jobs by the end of next January by offering workers a voluntary severance program. Employees who are eligible for the plan can take special severance pay and receive placement counseling, )ob search and retraining assistance. "Forty-five jobs are being eliminated," Andl Smith, a spokesman for the plant "Whether or not 45 people voluntarily take the plan, the Jobs will be eliminated." * Smith declined to reveal a listof theJobs being eliminated but said they cover a wide variety of operations at the plant The program is a direct result of the company's restructuring moves of 1985, which dismantling closed production units and "Monsanto has traditionally been very fair took some products away from the Krummrich, completing some major renovation and with their regorganizatknu," Smith said. "We., plant, said Smith. ; expansion projects, hesaid. realize we have a responsibility to th4; Smith said it was general knowledge that Employees with 10 or more years of service employees and their families. It's very painful - some Jobs were stillinJeopardybecause of plant who decide to accept the voluntary severance for everybody." - reorganization in 1985 and she didn't think that offer will receive one year's severance pay. . She said the Monsanto plan is a fair one and many people in the plant were surprised by the Employees with less than 10 years service will provide, as much assistance as to ""we. receive ooe-halfof their annual salary. enmlovees ' Bill Boyle, plant manager, said In a prepared Employees who are offered the programhave zT ,, ., , , ,, release that the plant reduced hourly t until Dec. 18 of this year to decide. Thefinal day ^*e Krummnch plant manufactures salaried workers In 1985 when the plant lost of employment for moat employees accepting specialty chemicals, like rubber chemicals and several keyproducts. . the severanceofferwill be Jaa51,lB9. chemicals for the company's detergent division. "We recognized that we would haveto reduce Officials said the plan isn't an early Th* chemicals It makes are mainly the number of salaried employees in certain retirement program, but that employees who intermediate chemicals intended for final use In areas," he said. "These kinds of decisions are are eligible for the severance program and also otherproducts. I; nevereasy. It Is, however, an essential response are eligible to retire will receive their regular Tbe plant employs about 850 people, Smith to today's difficult business climate." , - 1 ; . benefits from the retirement program and also said. It had more than 1,000 employees before The plant baa 'held onto some jobs by severance pay. thereogabizatlon. ' Little aflatoxin found locally j despite rate in Illinois, Iowa From staff and wire reports It may be months before It Is known bow much of the U.S. corn crop la contaminated with aflatoxin, a cancer- causing poison, but limited tests In Illinois sad lows have found more than a third of corn samples with high levels, officials said. However, farmers In tbe metro-east are not reporting problems with aflatoxin,local experts said Tuesday. "I'm not saying there's none around, but we haven't received any," said Torn Kramper, grain manager for Si Clair Service Co. "Anything we get goes in the drier, which wlllstoplt" Elevators screen tbe corn under an ultraviolet light that esrll 1 naM* nUa^Awka mImh* amIJ 1-- percent of the 4.9 billion bushels estimated in this year's harvest will reach the 2b-parts-per-bifUon aflatoxin level; considered dangerous for people and animals by the U& Departmental Agriculture. Better readings of overall aflatoxin levels will not be; available for several months because farmers typically store more grain than they sell at harvest time, said David Cook, assistant agricultural extension advisor in Morrison in northwest Illinois. "So come next February when they try to sell it, we will have a secondwave of aflatoxin reports, "Cooksaid. . " Tbe contaminatloa was caused by the drought this year, which made the corn crop more susceptible than normal MT. VERNON, IL REGISTER-NEWS D. 11,465 APR 18 1988 SAUGET, 111. (API -- An overfilled tank car apparently dumped hun dreds of gallons of a farm chemical component into the air, sendingsome 300 people to the hospital with eye irritations and breathing difficulties, from 250 to 300 gallons of chemical. It became a hydrochloric acid cloud when it hit the air. People suffering from eye or respiratory problems were treated at St. Mary's Hospital but none was with the moisture in the air, forming a gaseous fog, he said. The chemical will not cause long term health problems, Young said, but people who inhale it can suffer short-term problems. officials say. The spill occurred at a Jilqnsanto admitted, said Rose Lusk, a nursing supervisor. Among those treated "It can be an irritant to the eyes and respiratory tract," he said. Company plant here about 12:15 p.m. Sunday, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of East St. Louis families as a chemical cloud drifted over the southern part of that city, Just north of the plant. were seven firefighters. "There was nothing serious, mostly respiratory problems," added Alan Biggerstaff, head nurse in the hospital emergency robm. A Monsanto spokesman said there He said federal and state en vironmental protection agencies were notified of the spill. The Illinois agency was at the plant investigating by Sunday afternoon. "It was like smoke," said James were no iniuries at the plant. - - Tom Powell, an emergency Jackson Jr., 14, who with Anthony Emergency : crews ; sprayed the- response specialist for the Illinois Bell, 16, went door-to-door to spread chemical cloud with water for about Environmental Protection Agency, the' news of the evacuation ordered an hour before it dissipated. East St. said his preliminary investigation by firefighters. Louis residents were allowed to reached the same conclusion as "Clouds came through our house. return to their homes about 3 p.m. Monsanto officials --that the tank When we breathed it in, we started Phosphorous trichloride is used as car was overfilled by about 250 coughing." a "building -block" to produce gallons. Monsanto officials said the spill occurred when a railroad tank car being loaded with phosphorous trichloride was overfilled, dumping agricultural .and water-treatment chemicals, Monsanto spokesman irGlynir .Young said. It. is a volatile material that vaporizes when mixed Young said Monsanto would pay for the emergency treatment of those - who were affected by the spill. MEXICO, MC LEDGER D. 12,400 APR "j 300 treated after chemical spill: SAUGET -- An overfilled tank scar apparently dumped hundreds of gallons of a farm chemical ' component into the air, sending some 300 people to the hospital with eye irritations and breathing difficulties, officials say. P :; ^ The spill occurred at a Mogg^j^to Company plant here about 12:15 p.m. Sunday, and forcedTne evacuation of hundreds of East St. Louis families as a chemical cloud drifted over the southern part of that city, just north of the plant. ,. .' People suffering from eye or respiratory problems were treated at St. Mary's Hospital but none was admitted, said Rose Lusk, a nursing supervisor. :... __ii. Chemical spill prompts evacuation SAUGET, in. (AP) - An house. When we breathed it in, there were no injuries at the overfilled tank car apparently we started coughing." plant. dumped hundreds of gallons of Monsanto officials said the Emergency crews sprayed a farm chemical component spill occurred when a railroad the chemical cloud with water into the air, sending some 300 tank car being loaded with for about an hour, before it people to the hospital with eye phosphorous trichloride was dissipated. East St. Louis irritations and breathing overfilled, dumping from 250 residents were allowed to difficulties, officials say. to 300 gallons of chemical. It return to their homes about 3 The spill occurred at a became a hydrochloric acid p.m. ' Monsanto Company plant here cloud when it hit the air. Phosphorous trichloride is about'12:15 p.m. Sunday, and People suffering from eye or used as a "building block" to forced the evacuation of respiratory problems were produce agricultural and hundreds of East St. Louis treated at St. Mary's Hospital water-treatment chemicals, families as a chemical cloud but none was admitted, said Monsanto spokesman Glynn' drifted over the southern part Rose Lusk, a nursing Young said. It is a volatile of that city, just north of the supervisor. Among those material that vaporizes when plant. treated- were seven mixed with the moisture in the "It was like smoke," said firefighters. air, forming a gaseous fog, he James Jackson Jr., 14, who "There was nothing serious, said. . with Anthony Bell, 16, went mostly respiratory The chemical will not cause door-to-door to spread the problems," added Alan long-term health problems, news of the evacuation or Biggerstaff, head nurse in the Young said, but people who dered by firefighters. hospital emergency room. inhale it can suffer short-term . ` ` Clouds came: through our ^u A. Monsanto spokesman said ^problems.. . L-.V. y. . -V' i;:i &13L BELVIDERE, IL REPUBLICAN -D. 4,613R0CKF0RD METROPOLITAN AREA APR 18 1388 ' DSW 136289