Document zoo0mKv205xppwxrneRbjVLwn

'v r u j yO P-- < r *"W* } - r M T Decision to Burn Dioxin Divides Arkansas Town lamination but also because the plant By KEITH SCHNEIDER is only a few blocks from day c a re . |pd4J*T* **Yt Tim center, a hospital and hundreds of JACKSONVILLE, ArtL, Oct 27 - house*. After years of community strife and scientific dispute, environmental offi cials In Arkansas today give final ap- proval to the l i m t t project ever un dertaken In the United State* to bum chemical wastes contaminated with dioxin. An Incinerator at the abandoned Vertac Chemical Company peatlckJe plant In the heart of this city of 29,000 people will begin burning the wastes on Thurs- Surveys by the state and Federal agencies say dioxin from the plant has contaminated Jacksonville's centra) city p a rt, making Us popular fishing ana swimming take off limits to the ubiic And already, more than $24 mil lion has been spent here by the Federal and state governments, much of It to incinerate chemical wastes considered leas dangerous than those to be burned starting on Thursday. day, the officials said. The old plant, These 2,700 barrels of highly toxic once owned by subsidiary of the wastes contain a defoliant known as Hercules Chemical Company, made 2,4>T, which was an Ingredient of Agent Orange defoliants used In the Jacksonville is torn over w hat to Vietnam War. If the project goes as planned, ac do with a plant's toxic waste.. cording to ah Analysis by pat Costner, Agent Orange and also popular to American agriculture and forestry. The compound was banned by the 6 .P A In 1979 because It was linked to chemist-, with the environmental kansas has so dominated the public birth defects. group Greenpeace, 150 to 900 grams of debate during Gov. Bill Clinton's 12 The barrels containing the 2,4,5-T dioxin would be released into the air years In the Governor's Mansion as the wastes here also hold 50 to 100 pounds here over the two to three months It chemical contamination in Jackson of dioxin, a byproduct of heating com- will take to burn the waste*. Officials ville and what to do about It The Bush- pounds containing chlorine. with the E -P A said today that the Quayle campaign has not used the Is Dioxin's notorious reputation and the agency was familiar with that estimate sue to make political points, princIpaDy Vertac plant's proximity to Little and did not dispute It. because the Federal Government has Rock, the state's largest city, have The release would be second only to been as Involved to making decisions made the state and Federal effort to an explosion In 1979 at a chemical plant here as the state. In addition, President dispose of the waste a study in the In Seveao, Italy, that dispersed roughly Bush supports incineration as a means management of a complex health is 2,000 grams of dioxin. for cleaning up the thousands of toxic sues. Disagreement an Risks waste sites across the country. Once regarded as the most hazard Joining the Decided Mr. Clinton's aide* and several city leaders today said the Governor's work on the issue nas been exemplary, ous Substance known to man, dioxin Is Aides to Governor Clinton said that "He's relied on scientific analysis, now the subject of Intense scientific he took part to the decIsion to inciner d * best technical experts, and health debate, with researchers disagreeing ate some two mllltoo pounds of chemi professionals to advise him,** u td Mi-. about Its effects. cal waste* containing dioxin, a byprod d u e l Wilson, a Democratic state rep In the esse of the Italian explosion, uct of manufacturing the defoliants. resentative from Jacksonville. "Some studies thus far do not indicate that the The Governor, his aides say, believes thing bad to to done and Clinton took release of dioxin Increased cancer in that leaving the wastes as they are 1 the steps that were needed to make the region, but some researchers note far more hazardous than destroying It sure it was done safety." that the accident occurred too recently through incineration. The aides also ,, But opponents of Incineration in for Its effect* to be measured, since said officials of the CllniocvGore cam Jacksonville said today they have cancer can take a long time to develop. paign were not consulted about the oome to distrust the state and the Fed-, The Environmental protection Agency decision because It involved a state eral Government They point to a re began a study In May 1W1 to reevalu Issue. . . view of test results done by Ms ate the risks of dioxin, a project that is Randall Mathis, the director of the Costner that found that the Incinerator to be completed next year. state Department of Pollution Control can destroy only 99 9 percent of the Tht Incinerator here has stirred and Ecology, announced the final ap dioxin,not the 99.9999percent required emotions on all tides, with some resi proval for the burning at a community by Federal law. The discrepancy dents warning of a public health calam meeting here. The state and the Fed means that much more of the com ity and others saying h la time to rid eral environmental agencies began pound than originally expected could Jacksonville of the chemical waste and planning the cleanup o f the hazardous be released. State and Federal officials end a controve rsythat has divided the wastes here five years ago. confirmed Ms. Costner's results but community since the late 1970's. The previous year, to 1986, Vertac said the lower rate did not violate Local opponents to the Incinerator had abandoned the plant, leaving be Federal law In this case. have hired the Influential Government hind roughly 30,000 barrels of chemical Some residents also bfsme the plant Accountability Project, a Washington wastes, along with acres of coma mi for birth defects and wtut they per public Interest law group. Mick Hafri- nxted soil, tanks filled with toxic ma ceive to be higher rates of liver illness aon, a lawyer from the group, said terials, and miles of poisonous piping. es, kidney disease and cancer. They today that a lawtuJt to block the project The E-PA lists the site among the say state officials have not made public will be filed here on Wednesday. No other environmental Issue In Ar- country's worst hazardous not onf/ because of extent wnaf sttheesmite#sw, the results of a health study that was J K a m a 1 a A f v A f> 4