Document jR6OEax0jNMB40B9vEEobkX5

OIICAftO SL'N-TIMES cmoso. nL r gl\S?l HMQ NOV 3 B79 %f*~ MQNS 0 0 8 6 8 * U.S. acts to halt Waukegan PCB influx . B* ^-P,JK,9W from entering Lake Michigan next spring. **Anything over 1$ to 20 pounds is a serious problem,** the EPA official added. Emergency measures to prevent additional toxk PCBs from McGuire said his agency is exploring the use of a culvert to entering Lake Mickigan at Waukegan were announced Friday divert stormwater and melted snow away from polluted sec ky tke federal government tions of the drainage ditch. The US. Environmental Protection Agency estimated tke program would cost $300,000 to $400,000. Waukegan karbor is considered to have the largest concen tration of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) anywhere on the Great Lakes. . THE EPA MOVE WAS called **a good step forward** by Brad Marlon, assistant director of the Lake Michigan Feder ation, which has bean pressing for a solution to the persistent PCB problem. Laboratory tests have linked PCBs, which build up in the Marion said it was the first indication that EPA is willing to fatty tissue of Lake Michigan fish, to a wide variety id health move abend with technical eotutions-without waiting for the. effects, including reproductive problems, cancer, liver damage, Outcome of the lawsuits. - loss of hair and even death. EPA and mate officials say the toxic chemical was dis charged from the Outboard Marine.Corp. plant at Waukegan. Company officials report that they stopped using PCBs in hy draulic fluids at an old die-casting plant in 1071. But PCB resi dues remain on the bottom of the harbor and in nearby North ^JOHN McGUIRE, EPA regional administrator, said Friday -that his agency will spend federal money on the emergency program, if necessary, under a special provision of the Cleon Water Act. First, EPA has asked Outboard Marine to take steps to pre vent heavy PCB discharges from North Ditch next spring. It expects a response next week. -11 they don't take the steps, we will do It with federal .funds,*' McGuire said. i ' He called the new program a ehort-torm, **Band-Aid ap proach" to prevent an estimated 400 to 450 pounds of PCBs