Document kLd1pXG8m19YYE83g41YQ5eq

ROME, GA. NEWS-TRIBUNE 14,500 s. 15.500 0FC3 0 1975 'fftlEGED PCB POLLUTION GE sued for $1-billion A fl-bllllon pollution suit has been brought against the General Electric Co. and the Monsanto Corj>. by a group of JTft&pirwho'depend on the Coosa River for livelihood and recreation. The suit, filed recently In federal court In Birmingham, charges that pollution from a General Electric plant in Rome into ihe Coosa River has ruined their businesses. The plaintiffs said they filed the suit in the Interest of more than 5,000 residents of Northeast Alabama who /depend on Lake Welas, on the AUbsma-Georgli border for their livelihood, either direct* ly or indirectly. According to spokesmen, the damage suit may be the largest on record In an Alabama court. Last September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned people living and working along the Coosa that the G.E. plant in Rome was discharging polychlorin ated biphenaie (PCBi) into the river. The EPA also said tests showed heavy concentration ofPCBt, often more than the five parts per million limit set by the Food and Drug Ad ministration, In fish taken from the Coosa as far aouth as Weiss Lake. dumped. Officials said that halted the runoff of the chemical into (he river and (hat all use of PCBs would bo ended by next summer. Georgia officials banned commercial fishing on the Coosa, but Alabama officials did not. Monsanto was named In the suit because it manufactures the chemical used by the G.E. plant. A Georgia group has filed s $500-mllllon suit against G.E. and another group has filed a $500,000 suit In connection with the PCBs solution. G.E. concreted the area in which the PCBs were being HONS 053126