NCD980602163_19980411_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Press release from Ken and Deborah Ferruccio re State's Decision for Minimal Independent Oversight-OCR

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April 11, 1998
To: North Carolina Officials and the News Media
From: Ken and Deborah Ferruccio ~ ~~~·
Subject: State's Unilateral Decision for Minimal Independent Oversight
Undermines Democratic Process for PCB Detoxification In
warren County
The state of North Carolina is falsely representing the Phase II PCB Oetoxifls;atton
. Report as final and as having been approved by the membership of the PCB Working
'Group And by independent scientists hired to oversee the detoxification process
throughout this phase.
The Phase II Report was written by ETG Environmental and was supposed to be
written for the PCB Working Group and for DENA In association with independent
scientists Pat Barnes and Joel Hirschhorn. The detoxification report is to be submitted
to Governor Jim Hunt tor his upcoming budget
However, the PCB Working Group and the group's independent detoxification
scientist were not given input to the final draft of the report. Independent Science
Advisor Hirschhorn's response: .. It Is fraudulent for the state to represent the Phase
II Detoxification R!port and its budget as having been approved by the
membership of the PCB Working Group, The PCB Working Group never approved a
flnal draft, nor did I. I did not sign off on it. I'm terribly concerned there is an inadequate
budget for Independent oversight throughout the detoxification project"
In addition to an obvious conflict of Interest and a history of careless indifference and
neglect concerning the PCB landfill, the very fact that the state continues to preempt an
authentic democratic detoxification process Is reason enough to insist that adequa1e
funding be budgeted for independent scientific oversight throughout the entire
detoxification process.
Since 1996. the democratic process in the PCB detoxification effort has been breaking
down because the state has refused to officially reconstitute the PCB Working Group:
therefore, the state, along with acting co-chairs. has been able to make decisions
without PCB Working Group membership input or approval.
Detoxification of dangerous PCBs and dioxins ls a risky process requiring knowledge
of complex legal and technical issues. Therefore. Warren County's citizens cannot
afford to risk detoxification without continuous independent oversight through
an authentic democratic process.