Document yrmNzYYeyNN120YdrxNaK9R2
Verbatim from des moines office '
March 23, 1977 11:00 AM
FYI: G. F. Barton J. A. Alley J. K. Clark W. R. Corey J * E. McKee J. T. Nolan L, A. Miller R. A. Stohr J. C. Weber D. Wood
FROM: LR-?--C. I sham
Tuesday, March 22, evening paper Des Moines Register by Amy Craig
Questions For Dealtr On PCB Waste
T
/
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency officials were to question a Min neapolis waste oil dealer about his suppliers Tuesday after a highly toxic substance found in Iowa was traced to him.
Richard Cable, head of the Minnesota agency's Spill Unit, says Hy Friedman will be queried on the origin of 13,600 gallons of contaminated solvents.
The? solvent contained about 60 gallons of polychlorinated biphenyl
(PC3) 'which can cause birth defects, illness and death. The solvent
which was discovered in Iowa last week before it was to be spread on
gravel roads first was mistaken as crank case oil.
.
In other developments in the case Bud Karachiwala of the Iowa Dept,
of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said he received unconfirmed reports
that the driver of one of the tanks carrying the solvent had come
dam with symptoms of chloracne,. a condition suffered after
handling PCB.
,
The driver who was questioned Thursday in St. Paul, MN told police he
had delivered 4 loads: of the solvent to Schmitty's Road Oiling Co. in
Cedar Falls.
.
Minnesota's Kable said Friedman apparently sold the contaminated solvent to A-l Drain Oil Service in St. Paul and it was then stored in'a tank. The solvent disappeared from the St. Paul tank and officials found 4,000 gallons had been shipped to Mankato, MN and the remainder to Iowa.
-more-
ds\n s'0454
STLCOPCB4070441
/
Kable. said Friedman had opereited under about 9 different company names
involved in waste solvent processing.
`
Kim Scherkenbach in charge of the Minnesota Unit's ^Enforcement and Compliance Division said Friedman collects waste oil from a number of firms and sells it for road or other work.
PCB is manufactured only by Monsanto Industrial Chemicals Co. of St. Louis, MO but it could be generated as a by-product from other firms, Scherkenbach sard.
Much of the St. Paul PCB comes from electric transformers.
.
According to Iowa Power and Light Co. officials here. Of the
estimated 3,000 transformers in Iowa only about 6 have PCB. All of
those are in underground vaults and only Iowa Power employees have
access to them. The PCB transformers are being replaced as:they
wear out.
oOo-
* DSW 310455
STLCOPCB4070442