NCD980602163_19830913_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Press Clippings and Press Release, March - Sep 1983-OCR

. i 1 • ! ' 1 ·i . I °'"'tfSJII~ --, , . _;'!.-::~ 2C The News and Observer, Ralelgll, N. C., Tues., Sept. 13, 1983 EPA tests method tto treat PCB-contaminated soil ,, . By MONTE BASGALL , SlaffWrllu -; The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is test-~g a portable incinerator designed to treat PCB-con-taminated soils like those that were removed last year from more than 200 miles of North Carolina ~adsides, a federal scientist said Monday at a Re-search Triangle Park conference. '· '.'It could have been used (on those soils), but at a much great.er cost. I'm not sure legislation is in place : that would have paid for it," said Dr. John E. : Brugger, a senior scientist at the Environmental Pro-; tection Agency's Municipal Environmental Research : Laboratory in Edison, N.J. • The 6,440 truckloads of tainted earth, which had : been contaminated during an illegal 1978 dumping, : were dug up and transported to a controversial War-: ren County PCB landfill after state officials said there , was no approved technology to destroy the PCBs (po-.;. .. :.•;;..·· , lychlorinated biphenyls) in place. And, in an interview during a PCB conference at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Brugger stlid, "In principle, there is nothing wrong with a landfill." The soils might have lain by the roadsides for .. many years" if North Carolina had waited for the Incinerator technology to be perfected and the appro-priate permits to be obtained, he speculated. Even then, the cost of reaching all the contaminat-ed sites and of heating almost 40,000 cubic yards of earth to destroy the PCBs, would have been $12 mil-lion to $15 million, he estimated. The state and federal governments spent about $2.5 million to dig up the PCB dirt and transport it to the Warren County land-fill. During a talk Monday at the conference, Brugger described the 156-foot-long incinerator, which takes up three flatbed trailers and has only been used for test runs in Edison. The device, which is designed to treat chemical spills at the scene, consists of a rotary kiln where tainted materials are initially heated and a secondary chamber where combustion is completed at tempera-tures up to almost 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Brugger said the incinerator had an initial shake-down in the spring of 1982 and completed trail runs last January with several toxic chemicals, including PCBs. The device, however, has yet to be tested with contaminated earth, and Brugger suspects abrasive materials in such soils might require that the kiln be frequently rebricked. So far, the only toxic chemicals detected in signifi-cant amounts in the incinerator's exhaust gases were trihalomethanes. Those were traced to city water that was used in the treatment process, he said. The NIEHS conference, which continues through Wednesday, is intended to address the many un-knowns about the health effects and chemistry of PCBs and related compounds. "That's why we have gone to this trouble to bring together what we think are people with the greatest basic scientific information,'' Dr. Robert A. Goyer, NIEHS deputy director, said in a telephone interview. PCBs, which are used in power transformers, them-selves include a large family of different chemicals. And, according to other reports presented Monday, some PCBs have been found to be more toxic to ani-mals and man than others • Spurred br hypotheses that adverse health effects are actually caused by contaminants in PCBs, indus-try has tried to make purer versions of the chemicals ; In the hopes those wouldn't be harmful, Goyer said. But there is also evidence that more-toxic com-pounds, including dioxins, can be created when un-, contaminated PCBs are burned incompletely, as they' would be in a transformer fire. ~
_ _ 'f/lJY3 _ ·w-s ~ I _ :Effects of BCBs Cons1d·ered--· , ·L.;.·" "-r· ~ • , • ':'~'.:!~ ~ More '-Harmful ;Than Dioxin:·.-e --Vorll TIIMt News ....,,._ . Another expert, Dr.~ RJtppe. -WASHINGTON -An expert has warned feuor of or~nic ellf:._, •t -Univ~-that fires in electrical transformers insulated of Umea in ·$weden, 9'fd · ta.e ""ve been j with polycbloriaated biphenyis. or PCB&, were f1NS or eJIPIOSiom in _.,. caipaci'91'8 · a far ·greater public health hazard tban sach taining Petts cww tp 1-two ,ean in widely f'81'ed poiJons •-AJ4!11t Qrange or the den, a simtllr~ Finland PCI diosin found at ~ Beac!b, Mo. one ---• Dr. ~ Sebecter said ,...., tbat the Ra fires that contamiaated a state~ balldinc capacli in Binghamton, N.Y., ~ 1111 _. a Net,..... big --office buildinJ _in Saa Fnncilteo ia Jaae witb qp toxic soot ..., .......... ef :an .....,. "'alt, in_ternatioltal pN>blem tbat would get· wene cmnents.1 unless pre,aative measuns-. ta-. '"'ftlis _ ....... __ can Jaap.-in any buildillg with PCS tra._. ~ formers;., Ile ui41. "They ase pu~ ~ u,_ ~-medic;al time bombl. •~ t.o = :-IC> off. . · . . atuc:lhll witlt ·ba:!, ==of~ tra.e"'f::· ~~ sults·---•d ers _in 1m. but that did '10t ....., ~ -~ · "'&d#«ter . equ~ Jf;&ellt,id ......... cal-~ .... Sod tiYe----tbe state~-... , ~..._.__ __ __ ..
SundaYi [heJfloriaa[imes-ilnion
Jacksonville Journal
118th Year -No. 177 13 Sections -156 Pages June 26, 1983 ®Copyright 1-983 Florida Publishing Co. 75¢
PCBs taken to the cleaners in Atlanta
-Katie Wood/Staff
Dr. Louis Centofanti of Atlanta experimented in a friend's lab-
oratory until he devised a safe way to dispose of PCBs.
By Katie Wood
Atlanta Bureau
. ATLANTA_ -An Atlanta company
1s transformmg PCBs into harmless
salt by a chemical process used to
clean oil containing the toxic sub-stance.
The firm, PPM Inc. -named for
the chemical unit of measure "parts
per million" -is one o'f only a few
companies in the country that have
developed within the past three years
a chemical method for destroying
PCBs.
PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls,
were used in a variety of commercial
applications from 1929 until 1977 when
the federal government banned them
after tests showed they caused can-
cer and other diseases in laboratory
. animals and skin diseases in humans.
Dr. Louis Centofanti, president of
PPM and the inventor of its chemical
process, said PCBs were used in ev-
erything from fluorescent light fix-
tures to paper and ink but were used
most extensively as a fire retardant
and coolant in oil used in electric
transformers.
As a result, some of PPM's best
customers are the utility companies.
"Their process, I recall, was just jam up -that's South Georgia for
good," said Glen Gosa, the environ-
mental affairs licensing and compli-
ance manager for Georgia Power Co.
PPM treated 60,000 gallons of PCB-
contaminated oil for Georgia Power.
The company recently became the
first to destroy PCBs in Canada when
it cleaned 23,000 liters of oil for the
Federal Pioneer Electric company in
Regina, Saskatchewan, said John Wit-
teman, a provincial director of Envi-
ronment Canada, an agency similar
to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. .
"We see it [the chemical method}
as a good means of cleaning up a lot
of our waste oils. These oils are just
being stored in Canada," Witteman
said.
PPM is cleaning 500,000 gallons of
PCB-contaminated oil for .the Virgin-
ia Electric and Power Co., in Norfolk,
Centofanti said. ·
Centofanti, 39, the former south-
east regional director of the U.S. De-
partment of Energy, said he devel-
oped the process in a friend's labora-
tory after he left the energy post
three years ago because of the
change of presidential administra-
tions.
Before working witt, the Energy
Department, Centofanti was a profes-
sor at Emory University and a chem-
ist with Monsanto, one of the largest
manufacturers of PCBs.
In his process, the contaminated oil
is pumped into a mixing tank where
chemicals are added that break down
the PCBs by attacking their chlorine
atoms, Centofanti said. After filter-
ing, clean oil, salt and a polymer resi-
due similar to the plastic used to
make cups remain, Centofanti said.
The clean oil can be reused in
transformers or burned in boilers, he
said.
"There is a nice savings when you
get down to that point," Gosa said.
Gosa said the price of new trans-
former oil is $2.50 to $2. 75 a gallon.
Centofanti said the price of removing
PCBs from old oil by the PPM meth-
od is about $2 a gallon.
Besides the chemical method, the
(See PCBs, Page A-2)
PCBs transformed into harmless salt
(From Page A-1)
only other federally approved disposal
methods are to bury PCBs In landfills,·
which some people contend only post-
pones the PCB problem ("We figure land-
fllls should be outlawed," Centofantl
said.), or to burn them in incinerators.
Dr. Ralph Kamai, a technical-project
manager for the Electrical· Power Re-
search Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., said
the chemical method offers benefits.
"The chemical processes have advan-
tages in that they do not have any gaseous
emwioils," Kamai said.
"Incineration is a good technique," he
said. "It's just a matter of the ~sychologl-
cal problems to the community' that wor-
ries about the smoke it sees coming from
the incinerators. These worries make It
difficult to find other communities wllllng
to accept new incinerators, Koma! said.
The only two incinerators in the country
are In Texas and Arkansas, so PCBs often
must be hauled long distances, he said.
But the chemical treatments can be
performed In mobile units that are taken
lo the P.CB-storage site, Kamai said.
"I see real benefits to the mobile facil-
ities. What it does ls It keeps the PCBs off
the highways," he said.
PPM has two mobile units -a third is
under construction -and two fixed-
treatment sites, Centolanti said.
One disadvantage of the mobile units,
Centofanti said, is that they are not cost
effective in treating small quantities or
PCB-contaminated oil.
"A lot of people just have two barrels,"
he said.
So companies with small quantities can
ship their PCBs to the fixed PPM sites in
Atlanta and Kansas City where they are
stored in three 10,000 gallon tanks, which
sit on diked, cement spill pans surrounded
by a barbed wire fence, until one of the
mobile units comes to town to do the
cleaning, Centofanti said.
While the chemical
process works well on
transformer oils,
chemical methods of
treating
PCB-contaminated dirt
and metals still are
being developed.
Kamai said Pl'M ls one of three compa-
nies marketing a chemical treatment of
PCB-contaminated oils. The other compa-
nies are Sunohlo in Ohio and Acurex in
California.
Although the precise methods vary
from company to company and are guard-
ed like the trade secrets that make Pep11l
different from Coke, Koma! said, they all
use a sodium treatment.
The early problem with that method, he
said, was the danger of fires caused by
metallic sodium.
"Everybody was scared to death of It,
so you had to find something to tame the
sodium," Centofanti said.
Kamai said the answer was an organo-
sodlum compound that Is easier to handle.
Centofanti said research has not ended.
He said five of PPM's 20 employees are
working on the development of new pro-
ceS11es. He will hire (hree or four new
chemists soon.
While the chemical process work!! well
on transformer olls, Centofantl said,
chemical methods of treating PCB-
contaminated dirt and metals stl!I are be-
Ing developed. '
Writer: Wastes ·1 i I ·1 ljy Tracie Colie hundreds of other companies have done -they should break ·. , staff Reporter ._ them down to. a harmless state or recycle them, Brown said. .l'.: LE_XINGTON -The journalist who first reported that tons -"One company's waste may be another's raw material," be of chemicals were buried under Love Canal said here yester-__ .said. · . . . . . day that people who dispose of chemicals improperly are Once chemicals are buried, they can r~ct with each other to poisoning the rest of us. · · . form even more bazardgus fUbstances, be said, and eventually And he argued that burying to,cic wastes in landfills is not an · may seep into undergrounc1 water supplies. ·:. answer to the disposal problem. "The EPA bas no idea bow milch water is contaminated in Michael Brown,(the reporter, talked about this way," be said. "There is no major freshwater system in what be called the poisoning of America by A rica that isn't contaminated." · toxic chemicals at a lecture at Davidson County Brown did agree, however, with No~ Carolina officials' Community College. ·. ecision to bury PCB-contaminated soil in Warren County. The Hooker Chemical Co. had buried 21,000 eople along the 210 miles of roadsides where the carcinogen ,, tons of chemical waste in a canal near the town as dumped bad begun to suffer health problems, be.said.· . · of Niagara Falls . in _New York state when "Something had to be done," he said. "It's one of the few cases , Brown stumbled onto the story. . ... here I thought the right thing was done." J . That's just a small part of the . 80 billion Brown said that because only one chemical was buried at the 1
pounds of toxic waste Americans generate an-Warren County site, the clay landfill lined with plastic likely '
nually. According to the Environmental Protec-would be able to contain il · ·[
tion Agency, only about 10 percent is handled · How "It's not likely to migrate," said Brown. He is author of the ,
properly during disposal. ., -. · N book "Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America by Toxic ,
In working on the stories on Love Canal for the Niagara Falls emicals." , ;
Gazette, Brown interviewed residents around the site who had Brown said that during his research at Love Canal, public f
chemicals seeping up through their yards and through h.!.se-officials told him repe_~tedly that the chemicals' present there · ·
ment walls. were of a safe level. · · ' ·
Breathing the fwnes and direct contact with the chemical "How can there be a 'safe level of a carcinogen?" he asked.
waste may have caused the cancer and other illnesses in many "Only one molecule may provoke a cell to become cancerous."
residents, Brown said. · Eventually, hundreds of families exposed to the chemicals
· Instead of burying hazardous wastes -as Hooker and . were moved from Loye Canal by the government. .. • -. TT '• • . ~-------------
i\;;:ril 6, 198'3
:rr . !-1os~s :·~. ;jcC2.ll III
Chief, Land Prot e ction Branch
Georgia Dept. of ~~tural ~esources
270 1. 'ashington Street S'•'
.',tlanta, G:'\ 30334
;1 . C. :Cox 1868
Tif'ton , G:'. 3179~
(912 ) 382-?576
~ '-..... , . ! .. I ·-...__,
Thrt n!-: y ou for y our assistanc~ with ".'\ profile of p::::-otest: P-ural
a'\r.",c :dcc1. figh t s b ;:ic!-:," O"..!r article on hazardous wast e facilities .
Space !'t~stricticns pn:::vent0d us :fron including infon::atj on f'ror..
Gco:::g:i.a, but n(:verthelcss I thank you for th0 information you
provid e d.
Enclosed is the Februa ry issue of CO\STAL FLAINS FARMER , in which
the article appears on page 14.
If' you have comr.ients about the story or suggestions for the
magazir.c j'n ge neral, I ~1:ou l n li>c glz.d to h ear fror.1 you.
~l~
vanc::ssc1 Ca:ric
Gcor£;ia/Flori da editor
enclosu re
a division of
Specialized Agricultural Publications, Inc.
(
\_
A profile of protest: Rural America fights back
When North Carolina governor Jim Hunt decided to put a hazardous
waste dump in Warren County, he learned that country people can
be stubborn indeed. It may be only the beginning of a long, long feud.
Jim Ward, who farmed
in the morning and
marched after lunch,
trims tusks while his
boars are otherwise oc-
cupied. The boars come
straight from DeKalb.
By Sid Reynolds with Elise Ward
Jim Ward's almost ceiling tall. He's a quiet
guy. In the midst of protest, he puffs on his
pipe, silently taking it all in, looking almost
bored with the ritual.
By all checklists, he's normal. But he lives
in Warren County.
Warren County North Carolina is poor,
mostly black and in the center of the news
too much.
It's the site of a hazardous waste landfill
that's raised more fury than any Hatfield-
McCoy battle. The fight's been a long one.
It's acquainted rural Warren County folk
with the Southern Christian Leadership Con-
ference whether the rural residents wanted
to meet up with such a force or not. It has
brought in TV helicopters with so much
respect for rural America that in one pass
they can lodge an acre of soybeans. And it's
resulted in more country people being ar-
rested en masse than almost anything in re-
. f <;,.;.'.;..,;,,,.: ~' ·,
cent Coastal Plains history.
Still, Warren County's home of one of the
cleanest hog farms in the country, bar none.
And that's Jim and Van Ward's.
To put it simply, if you know about hogs
and are familiar with McClean County san-
itation, Jim Ward could write the book.
Isolated, no doubt about it. The Wards' farm
is back in a clearing, away from any black-
topped road.
Once you find the farm, you have to show-
er and go through a change of clothes before
you can even see the hogs. You're asked to
disinfect already disinfected tennis shoes.
Then you can view the pampered porcines
... gutters without any remnants of dead
corn; sows that are truly sow pink.
After you've seen a number of hog facil-
ities, you can safely say Jim and Van Ward
take hog farming quite seriously. So at face
value at least, Jim and Van Ward aren't the
kind of solid farm folks you expect to find
PROTESTING. But Jim and Van Ward did
it.
Indications are, a number of rural Coastal
Plains farmers may be joining before the
decade's finished.
GEARING UP
In essence, hazardous waste laws are just
getting geared up to handle some of the con-
troversy. They're complicated at best. Most
people who don't live next to a hazardous
waste landfill claim if we want electricity
and Atari games, we've got to live with tox-
ic wastes.
But if you find out your county is being
considered as a hazardous waste site, your
positive perspective dims. In Warren Coun-
ty, 45 cattlemen signed a letter to North
Carolina governor Jim Hunt protesting the
landfill. James Fleming, a real estate broker,
wrote the EPA in Washington, D.C.,
the
me.
ogs
ian-
1ok.
1rm
,ck-
ow-
ore
i to
1es.
nes
:iad
,cil-
;ird
ace
the
;nd
.:lid
,tal
the
ust
Dn-
ost
ms
:ity
DX-
ng
mr
1n-
rth
he
er,
estimating that property values within five
miles of the site would drop 15 to 20 percent.
Warren Countians add a postscript: If you
can sell at all.
SIGNIFICANCE
It becomes important to Coastal Plains
farmers. As Southeastern states woo high
technology, hazardous waste becomes a vital
issue. Traditionally, such waste is placed in
"secured" landfills. And traditionally, these
landfills are not located in the center of the
Atlantas and Denvers of the world. Instead,
they're in rural America.
In Florida's Coastal Plains, for example,
some hazardous waste sites are reported
under assessment. Officials explain that the
initial identification doesn't mean they are
hazardous or illegal, but that they are being
watched. The summary alone sets the pic-
ture. In Alachua County, six sites are being
examined; in Columbia County, one site; in
Gadsden County, two; in Hamilton County,
one; in Jefferson County, one; in Lafayette
County, one; in Leon County, three; in Su-
wannee County, two; in Escambia County,
11; in Jackson County, three; in Okaloosa
County, one; in Santa Rosa County, two.
Warren County is simply an example of
what can happen: A profile of protest.
HISTORY
The Warren County affair started when
some frustrated businessmen dumped PCB
along 217 miles of North Carolina roadsides.
Some of the soil contained as much as 4,700
(some state reports say 4,900) parts per
million.
PCB has been deemed hazardous,
partly because it is readily stored in
body fat; it seems to concentrate
once it gets in the fat; it has a long
life span in the environment; and it
can cause health problems such as
stomach upset, headaches and skin
rashes. According to current Food
and Drug Administration standards,
food containing more than five parts
per million is inedible.
Widely used in electrical transformers,
small amounts of PCB are reported in almost
every American. Based on some studies,
PCB levels may be as high as 100 parts per
billion in soil.
As a chemical, PCB is very similar to DDT .
The difference: While DDT doesn't create
visible illness, PCB does.
DANGER
According to two out of three chemists in-
terviewed, the PCB dump in Warren Coun-
ty is essentially safe. The reason is the
chemical makeup of PCB. It ties to soil. Now
that it's married to soil particles, it isn't like-
ly to move into groundwater. And that's the
big problem with most landfill leaks.
Farmers should be worried, these special-
ists agree, if the dump contains a "stew" of
chemicals. Chemicals react to each other in
ways not even scientists thoroughly under-
stand.
Most chemicals can be ranked, according
to their danger. Anything related to nuclear
waste or the defense department usually is
considered very dangerous, scientists say.
What's a farmer doing in
a protest? This farmer,
who in the first half of
'82 sold 1,651 pigs at an
average of $49.44, has
his reasons-like keeping
his market. (His expenses
ran ~40.33 a pig.)
CPF: February 15, 1983 15
A profile of protest: Rural America fights back
REACTION
The story behind Warren County is now
moot. North Carolina had to do something
with the PCBs along the roadside. Whether
Warren County was the best site for a land-
fill is questionable. Scientifically, it wasn't.
But science, alone, doesn't render political
decisions.
On the EPA's list of potential sites, War-
ren County ranked fifth out of six possibi-
lities. In the state's analysis, based on soil
types and water-table depth, Warren Coun-
ty ranked second. Enter controversy.
CONTROVERSY
Charles Mulchi, who graduated from
North Carolina State University and now is
an associate professor at the University of
Maryland, says only one of the soil samples
he tested independently (using state samples)
met EPA specifications. He says the mean
average was considerably lower than EPA
standards.
In a legal affadavit, the environmental
chemist continues his assessment, saying
that the type of clay at the Warren County
site "is one of the least effective types for
holding back PCBs and preventing them
from leaching into the groundwater."
While the chemist did not assess the
distance to groundwater in his statement,
others have. Many contend that the Warren
County dump may, at some point, be dipping
into groundwater.
SELL OUT
Jim Ward explains that he and Van are
anything but activists.
They were concerned when the dump site
was proposed in December 1978. In January
1979, a public hearing was held about the
matter. Jim says more than 700 people at-
tended, voicing their concern. Ultimately,
Warren County citizens voted to take the
state to court. They didn't want a landfill.
From there, Warren County commission-
ers took the ball. In November 1980, War-
ren County commissioners learned the ·case
was lost. They appealed.
Soon after, things got muddled. According
to Jim, "Unbeknownst to us, the county com-
missioners and the state reached an agree-
ment but didn't make it public." In essence,
the commissioners dropped the suit.
PROTEST
Rural Warren County residents weren't
satisfied. As a result, they attempted to stop
the dump in almost any way they could. As
they watched the dump trucks haul in the
PCB-laden dirt, they marched back and forth
from Coley Springs Baptist Church, up
through the trees, almost to the mouth of the
dump. In protest. Day after day. They
marched to the state capital. They organized.
They got called radicals. And they lived with
the reporters, the hassles and the mounds of
research they had to complete.
Jim Ward became vice president of the
group. Van Ward became the finance
obtainer.
The dump was dug anyway.
The Wards still are scared PCB may end
up in their water. And they're worried about
what PCB may do, not only to people, but
to agriculture if the landfill would leak.
PCB does affect plant growth. In soybean
studies with PCB-tainted soil, the plants were
shorter and took up less water. Effects on
livestock also have been documented.
One thing Jim and Van Ward will remem-
ber. Landfill politics can get dirty. And
you've got to be prepared.
DIRECTIONS
In a post mortem, the rural folks of War-
ren County no doubt wish they could have
done some things differently. They learned
politics fast. But had they known what they
know now, they would have been much bet-
ter prepared.
A little known article in the Capital Univer-
sity Law Review inadvertently provides some
guidelines.
Alan Farkas is the article's originator. He's
vice president of the energy and environ-
continued on page 17
FOCUS
THE LOWDOWN ON TOXIC WASTE
According to scientists, hazardous
waste landfills such as the one in
Warren County, North Carolina
should be placed in areas with
hard clay such as montmorillonite.
The Environmental Protection
Agency has rules to cover all that.
However, EPA also can issue
waivers. Which in a nutshell
means so much for rules.
If you learn you soon may be liv-
ing near a dump, you may con-
sider: 1) a temporary injunction
(you'll need a good lawyer); 2) lear-
ning the basics, such as who will
hold the title to the land; monitor-
ing systems and where the buck
stops.
E
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A profile of protest: Rural America fights back
continued from page 16
ment division of Booz, Allen and Hamilton
Inc., a noted consulting firm. The object of
the article is to tell experts how they can
overcome public opposition to hazardous
waste disposal sites. Some clues: A delaying
technique may be the National Environmen-
tal Policy Act of 1969 or similar state re-
quirements, which may delay or even stop
a proposed development. There may be a
chance of getting guarantees of property
values. A reduction in local property taxes
or state income taxes, special services such
as parks, sewers, job training, fire equipment
Protesting isn't rosy. In
this case, Mother got ar-
rested while her son was
urged to watch. His tears
lured more news
cameras-the objective
all along.
or direct financial compensation have been
offered, but according to the article, often
refused.
RED FLAGS
If the bad news would come, Warren
County's people could probably offer some
hints.
But there are three that are foremost, ac-
cording to COAST AL PLAINS FARMER
research: 1) Make certain the county doesn't
have to pay for monitoring and maintaining
the dump. In some cases, if the title is re-
turned to the county, the county legally is
responsible for upkeep; 2) If the disposer
agrees to monitor health, make sure fat (not
just blood) samples are monitored. Fat is the
more accurate indicator. In Michigan, where
a chemical related to PCB was accidentally
used in cattle feed, cows donated the fat
samples .
According to Robert Lewis, branch chief
of EPA's environmental monitoring lab in
North Carolina, "Generally speaking blood
indicates recent exposure instead of long
term." 3) Make sure to check monitoring and
maintenance requirements. The EPA's reg-
ulations, scientists say, provide only limited
safeguards. According to the law review ar-
ticle, for example, the requirements apply to
"disposal sites for only 30 years after an
operation has ceased."
ODDS
Chances are slim that Coastal Plains
farmers will face many Warren County situa-
tions where the state moves in and digs a
dump. It's not politically popular and in
some cases, it may not be legal.
According to Allan Farkas, private com-
panies would be the more likely disposers.
Yet no matter where the hazardous waste
of the future is buried or who decides to bury
it, the county where it's placed becomes a
center of focus. Its citizens face a number
of significant decisions, most that depend on
answers to moral questions.
Three of those are moral questions you -as
farmers may have to face. Do you have a
responsibility to house waste? And what hap-
pens if it does affect your farm commodities
at some point down the road? What's your
responsibility to your customers?
The best way to handle those questions
may be to become informed at the first hint
of a dump in your barnyard. «::!¥'Ill'
CPF: February 15, 1983 17
,H.0 S r4,.
,:)t-~,I-
""t r ~ 7' ~ LA~ u
l,_ ~1ZZ } UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
,... ,:-
:,,_,, PRL),,,:,' RE G ION IV
March 11, 1983
345 COURTLAND STREET
ATLANTA. GEORGIA 3 0 365
Gordon Kenna [phone]
Atlanta, GA -Recent tests of liquids f rom the PCB landfill
in Warren County, North Carolina confirm that the landfill and
leachate collection system are operating in accordance with design
specifications, Charles R. Jeter, EPA Regional Administrator, said
today.
Jeter said EPA's sample results confirm earlier State tests
which showed "very low PCB concentrations in the collection system
and almost undetectable levels after filtration."
The leachate collection system was designed to collect,
filter, hold and recycle any liqu i ds in the landfill that
accumulate during or after construction. Afte r filtration,
the water will be used to spray irrigat'e a vegetation cover
t hat will be established over the cap to prevent e r os i on.
The highest value found in tests of t h e leachate influent
was less than three parts per billion and less than .3 (three-tenths )
parts per billion after filtrat i on.
The Warren County landfill was constructed to contain
PCB contaminated soil picked up along 240 miles of rural
North Carolina highways. The project was developed under
the EPA's Superfund program using 90% federal and 10% state
funds.
####
Mr. Bill Meyer
Solid Waste Management
Dear Bill,
DR. CHESTER E. GLEIT'
1428 DIXIE TRAIL
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA 27607
7 1983
It is my policy to keep all telephone calls with the "Press" on "background
only" and then follow up, immediately, with a note putting my words in
semi-quotable form.
( I even gave a lecture on this method in a National Am. Assoc.
Advancement of Science meeting).
Hope you will excuse my mentioning you by name -you were but
the most recent to agree-a simple filter will save (statistical) lives and
forever immobilize the fumes in cool charcoal. Spending money to
"research the situation" is EPA blackmail.
Yours, ( J.,.,,1 C ft,,~ '-~1-# ....... c.. --
Mr. Richard Hart
Re: Toxic vapors from Warren County Landfill Vent
From: C.E. Gleit
March 1, 1983
Research is an on-going process.
that the vapors vented from the Warren
"100% methane" and suggested a in-line
preventing future vent-pipe emissions.
In early January, it was clear
County PCB Pile were not
trap as a cheap means of
Only in February, did we get a clear picture of the unplanned
thermochemical crisis. Throughout the pile, hot spots are
developing, caused by the decomopsition of organic matter. Through
"self-destructive distillation", vapors form and diffuse upward
through cooler fine clay layers. We now know exactly what will come
out: everything in the original "spill mix" and all conceivable
thermal degradation products, with boiling points less than T . max-
The curious fact shown both by our computer stimuation and field
data is that the thermal pile is behaving as a "reverse gas
chromatograph", or thermal pulser, puffing out bubbles of
repurified toxic vapors through the vent tubes. Specifically, the
cool soil around the bottom of the tube cools and condenses upwelling
vapors until this spot of soil reaches the release temperature for a
specific component. Then, the pile produce pulses of the component.
The original landfill plans called for a vent-line trap.
Several members of the Solid Waste Management Division have stated to
me their personal support for containment. Most recently, in a
conversation earlier today, Mr. Bill Meyers stated that he had "sent
up" a similar recommendation. We still recommend the immediate
installation of a suitable trap. I have available a new gas-mask
canister and a roll of duct tape and have written Representative
Mavretic to see if someone could be authorized to install it.
According to the State's estimates of the time of (Tmax)ave'
time is of the essence.
cc. J. Mavretic