Document nmX4Qzegz8Ln9EaBbr9K86xp8

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. "> 130,000 (S) 136,000 JUN 1 3 1975 [sacctS) Lake States Asking Ban Against Contaminant PCB . Grand Bapidt Pmt Bumm LANSING - Bochum of continued high levels rf [Miyohinrin^ted biphenyls (PCBs) in the Great Lakes, a group representing Michigan and three other states has asked the Environmental Protection Agency /EPAltoseek a nationwidebasonthesale, distribution and um of PCBs. The chemicals have widespread use in' household products from paper to handsoap. asweD asheavy industry application. The request was made to Francis Mayo, Chicago, administrator of the EPA's Reg ion V7 which includes the Croat Lakes states. The EPA also was asked to explon the possibility of wing environmentally safe substitutes for PCBs. The recommendation to Mayo was (bade ittse, which is comprised of repreasMIves from Michigan, Indiana, Il linois, Wisconsin,the (Tijnsh andWildlife Service Croat Lakes Laboratory and the EPA. Thecommittee studied thePCBsituatkn ,after the D.S. Food and Drug Administra tion (FDA) seised several Lake Michigan fish shipments for having PCB concentra tions above the levels permitted by the FDA. Donald Healton, Great Lakes region al director for the FDA, also had declared that interstate shipments of Great Lakes fish would be halted this year ifsignificant ly high levels of PCBs wen found. He termed the content in Lake Michigan chubs, cohosalmonand laketrout"danger ously high." , Dr. Howard A. Tanner, director or mi micntgan uiponiNni of Natural Resources (DNR), has written AAayo asking what ho proposes to do in rosponM to the committee request. And DNR officials have met with the EPA in Washington, D.C. William. G. Turney, chief of the DNK's Bureau of Water Management, told the State Natural ResourcM Commission Thursday that EPA officials "appreciate" the problem but really don't know what to doaboutit. Turney said there la some question (CsrtfcNBS m sop 2* askew 1) MONS 031266 MOO.KX . . Great Lakes States Seek Ban on PCB (Confawd hn paf> 1A) ' whether EPAhai the authority to ciU such a but. Alt result, Turney said, any immediate ban probably will have to be pursued it the state level. . PCBs remain high despite the (act that the Monsanto Chemical Co., sole U.S. producer, said a fewyean aoothatltwould1 discontinue aalei for use as hydraulic and heat-transfer fluids. And Turoey said dlddrln continues as a "nagging" problem. DMdrin, used In southwestern Michigan In Wl. still la leaching into state waters, he said. In April, Turney said, the FDA made Its first qelnite of fish from Michigan waters because of contamination from dleldrin. Most production of dleldrtn and aldrinwas suspended by the EPA last August,Turney said, ft made exceptions for three minor uses. The chemicals were placed In re stricted-use categories by Michigan and Wisconsin about three years ago, neexp- But ha Moves PCBs representa sorious problem, in view of the fact voluntary restrictions on certain uses have not changed the level of confirmed that its use is diverse, M different products being identified as con taining PCBs. It proves that the restric tions havenotbeeneffective in loweringthe contamination, Turney said. PCBs. on the contrary, have been disco vered to be ubiouitous pollutants, he said. The chemical has been found oven in snowfall in Wisconsin, hepointedout. Ithas caused reproductive failures among her ring gulls around Lake Ontario and in commercially raised mink fhd Lake Michigan salmon. It also baa bean as sociated with reproductive failures of fish. Surveys of about 60 municipal wastewa ter treatment plants show that effluent from such pints is the major "point source" of PCB dischargee to surface waters. Finding of PCBs in fish and wildlife in remote places, he said, indicates that the contaminates are transported by air - as shown by the polluted Wisconsin snowfall. The atmospheric contribution to Lake Michigan could be very significent,Turney believes. One of thn serious problems posed with regard to ridding the environment of PCBs, Turney ro ll requires at least 2,000 degrees of heat for four seconds to incinerate PCBs, he explained. And scrubbing devices must he attached to clean the air of hydrochloric acid in the product of such combustion. No incinerators have beencleared in Michigan for PCB disposal, he said. Monsanto will dispose of them, but the cost is so high that industry is loath to ship its waste PCB liquids to the company. Many industries add PCB wastestoother oils and dispose of them through waste haulers. Since waste oils are renaimad, Turney said, thispractlce merely leads to recycling the PCBs. In some cases the PCBs get back Into the environment when the waste oils are used for duet control or are burned in unapproved incinerators and boilers, he explained ^ HONS 031267