Document ypXdpo59kwpqknx8QMwZ509LD

{ last week that levels of reus above its f allowable 6-parts-per-million standard 5 have been found in freah-waler fish from several areas in the U. S. The pda also said it may lower its 5 ppm level because "pcb* may be more toxic than previously thought." Other species of flsh may be included soon. Shad and sturgeon, which com prise more than 60% of the annual Hudson catch, were exempted from this week's ban, but the exemption is likely to be short-lived. "As soon as shad start running this spring, we'll do some rapid analyses, and if pcb levels are above whatever the pda mandates as safe, we'll extend the order," says a high-level executive in the stale's En vironmental Conservation Dept. The HRPA's Seymour says that the exemp tion is economically meaningless, any way. "The public will not make the dis tinction betwoen 'unsafe' base and 'safe' shad," he says. Polychlorinated biphenyls, a group of chemicals that is suspected of causing a host of human illnesses ranging from dermatitis to cancer, have taken their first clearly economic toll. Last week Ogden Reid, New York State's envi ron mental conservation commissioner, placod the Hudson River off limits to the company run high. GB*s Fort Ed ward and Hudson Falla plants, which qm PC8S as insulating fluids in the manufacture of electrical oquipmont, have been involved in administrative hearings over their discharge of PCBa into the Hudson since October (BWOct. 6), and Reid has made no bones The fishermen's plight has added more fuel to a fire that has alternately smoldered and flared since Reid con vened the hearings last fell to see whether QB'e discharge of pchr violated the state's Environmental Conserva tion Act. Since then the federal Envi ronmental Protection Agency has come down from its original suggested moat commercial fishing, saying that the Ituildup of pch* in the fish makes them unsafe for human consumption. about wanting the company held to a sero-discharge rule by Sept. 80. 1976. The fishermen are waiting for the out guideline of 3.5 ot. of PCBs discharged into waterways each day and is also calling for serodischarge. Mounting evidence of pcb contamina tion of fish caught elsewhere in the country raises the specter of a wider come of the hearings before they make a move. "Of course we've discussed a suit, but we're a party to the hearings, Last month Governor Hugh L Carey aided with ge and asked Reid to relent on hia zero-discharge stand and accept economic impact. Although neither environmental groups nor the Hudson River Fish ermen's Assn, have instituted legal ac tion against General Electric Co., which is blamed for the pcb contamina tion In the Hudson, feelings against so well wait til) they're over," says Da vid Seymour, president of the hrpa. Spawning ground. Since many of the fish specie* found on the North Atlantic Coast are spawned in the Hudson, other alaths may soon be involved. And the Food A Drug Administration said the 8.5 ot. per day limit. On Feb. 9, Abraham D. Sofaer. a Columbia Uni versity law professor who it adminis trative judge in the hearings, pro claimed gb guilty of violating two sections of the law. Last week ge pro posed an abatement plan to Sofaer, and he ia expected to reconvene the The shatter control method hearings and decide on the course of action the company should take. Part of the problem of PCB contamina tion stems from the chemicals' lack of res|>onse to traditional biological treat ment systems. But laat month a Cana dian scientist announced a new method that combines physical and biological treatment so successfully that It re duced 1*011 concentrations in laboratory found in sewage treatment sludge can digest the emulsified particles. The aoluHow. "Insolubility of PCBa was the major problem," explains Liu, who emigrated to Canada from mainland China in 1963. Making the PCBa soluble and breaking them down increases the surface area and helps the bacteria QE'e mow*. GE has msintained a atony silence through moat of the furor that attended the fishery dosings. It has made no forma) statements to the press, nor will it comment on the possi bility of damage suits. However, a company spokesman contends that at taining tero-discharge is tech nologically out of the question. "We be samples of effluent from 300,000 parts por billion to 19 ppb in the space of just one week. The method, which was developed by feed on the carbon content of the pcbs. "The greater the surface area, the faster the rate of biodegradation " Liu says. lieve the ultimate solution is finding a substitute for pcbs," he said. Monsanto Co., the sole II. S. producer of PCBS, has ssid it would discontinue Dickson Liu at the Canada Centre for The centre plana to build a pilot Inland Waters, in Burlington, Ontario, plant to prove the feasibility of the sys production of the toxic chemical as soon as an adequate substitute is uses ultrasonic vibrations to "shatter" the 1*011 solution into tiny, water-aol- ultlo particles. Lignin sulfonate, a com mon pulp mill effluent, is added aa an emulsifying agent to prevent the small particles from recombining. Reault: A tem for treating industrial wastes rich in pcbs. It is also researching the method's applicability to breaking down chlordane and lindane, two trou blesome pesticides. "We've found the combination," Liu says. "Now we're found, but there is no perfect replace ment on the horiaon yet. In the in terim, GE hopes its plan to keep dis charges below 3.5 os. will satisfy the state. Says the spokesman: "We hope the hearings will result in an under fortified strain of bacteria commonly opening the locks." standing of the problem and of the cor rective actions we plan to take." * SSL BUSINESS WEEK: March IS, 1076 HONS 037040 POLLUTION CONTROL