Document ppK6aqkjqM8Vo8Xg251rmOMaB

SYRACUSE HcrM Journal a. 129,MS APR 20 1976 PCB battle in final round ' fsam .' : - , State wants pay for damage; GE says no i By PKTKR SLOCUM /ALBANY <AP) - The Gen eral Electric CO. and the Envi ronmental Conservation De partment are squared off for the final round of tho PCB bat tle. Tho department wants GE to stop dumping tho industrial chemical polychlorinated bi phenyls Into the Hudson River and to pay tor cleaning op some of the damage already done. Negotiations between the two sides aimed at a compro mise agreement on a reduced level of dumping have prpved fruitless so far, reportedly be cause of the department s de sire to extract a penalty from GE. A new phase of depart mental hearings began here yesterday that could lead to an order requiring GE to pay that penalty. v Testimony yesterday focused on a GE proposal for a water treatment plant to screen PCB* from the dis charges at its electric taped* tor plants at Hudson Fails snd Fort Edward, and on the Hud son River organisms which hive ingested PCB-polluted particles. Reduce Discharges EnCon Engineer Lawrence Nadlcr testified that a carbon filtration process designed for the General Electric plants could reduce daily PCB dis charges to about one gram, or 1-tMh of an ounce, dally. GE is presently reloading about two pounds a day into the river. Columbia University Law School professor Abraham Sofaer, who ruled in February that the PCB dumping violated state law, is presiding again at the penally hearings. While he declined to say discharge limits set in Ha what his final ruling would be, permits." ` , his February decision said that Once Sofaer has presented his final recommendation his final report, which will lot-, would at least require GE to low at least two weeks of pub "drastically" limit discharges lic hearings, Environmental "and to rectify the effects of Conservation Commissioner * Us prior violations where law Ogden Reid will issue the final fully proper, and economically abatement and clean-up order.' Snd environmentally practica The department .has not pre ble." dicted how much H would cost * He added that effective gov to purge the river of PCB pol ernment action could have lution, but It has asked GE to% prevented much of the envi post a 92 million compliance ronmental damage and that bond. ' , his recommendation would The current bearings will. take (hat into account. examine whether such s clean . Operated Openly up is possible. An EnCon offi-' The company Raa federal permlta authorising its dis cial testified that PCBs were successfully removed from a * charges. Sofaer noted that GE Washington Stale river bed bad "operated openly and through the use of a aophlstl- * negligently rather than in se cret or In disregard of PCB (Concluded on Page Elgfil) , i \................ ` <.*AW.\VW/< MOMS 03b*?9 PCB battle in final round fePiom Pi|e One) cated dredger. But the depart ment has suggested that re moval of the sediments might pose an even greater hazard because of PCBs stirred from the bottom into the current. Still Under Study PCBs, which resist natural -"decomposition much the way DDT does, are known to kill . fish eggs and may cause can cer In rats. The effect on humans Is still under study. A, medical team from Mt. ; Sinai Hospital in the Bronx has been conducting tests on OB ! workers to determine wbat continued contact with chemir cal has meant to their health. General Electric has ac knowledged that some workers contracted skin rashes linked to PCB. The department and GE have been negotiating on and .off for months. In an attempt to find a reduced- level of - dumping agreeable to both skies. * Commissioner Reid asked that air discharges stop this September, but there may be ; room for compromise because the federal government is con sidering a total ban for 1977. . Might Cause Move Also, the state Commerce Department has urged that the state not tel tougher limits than the federal government because single-state standards might cause Industries to move to other states where regulation Is nol^so strict. The MAP^nto Co., the nation's only PCB-makcr, has announced plans to phase out production. Reid's Insistence on the pen alty hearings, and presumably on making GE pay for some of the damage, Is reportedly a i major stumbling block to the ' bohind-Uie-sccnc negotiations. Yesterday, Associated In- duslrie8 of New York, a major lobbying group for industry, asked permission to join the , hearings to support GE. A ; statement said the depart- ment's pursuit of penalties Is "without legal authority and, If granted, will have farreach- . Ing and serious economic eon- sequences to" the group's members. /_ HONS 036680