NCD980602163_19990825_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_News Clippings, 1998 - 1999-OCR

State, Warren County to press Washington for PCB help
Cleanup project now is waiting on matching funds from the federal government
in southeast Warren. helping use $1 in state funds to can realize $11 million, that's no
Bv CHARLIE RICHARDS Tuesday night, at the final study the landfill threat and find small feat."
DAILY DISPATCH WRITER meeting of a local-state group a way to detoxify the PCBs But as Sherri Evans-Stanton,
WARRENTON -With state
dollars literally "in the bank,"
Warren County eyes have
turned to Washington for help in
cleaning up the PCB landfill
here.
working on the issue, a state stored there. a deputy secretary in the
official said $7 million have been That function is now com-Department of Environment
identified, pulled out from . plete, said Co-Chairman Dolly and Natural Resources,
unused funds and put in a spe-Burwell. explained, the $7 is "pending us
cial account for the PCB project. In addition to selecting a getting some federal money."
All that's needed to use that detoxification process, the group That's why the last subject
$7 million, and let a contract for has helped secure a $2 million discussed by the dying· Working
detoxification, is another $7 mil-state appropriation last year, a Group and the first to be dis-For years, Warren and envi-
ronmental leaders have been
pressing Gov. Jim Hunt's ad.min-
lion in federal funds. $1 million appropriation this cussed by its successor, a new ·
Meeting was the Joint Warren year and the $7 million set aside Citizens· Advisory Board, is how
County-State PCB · Landfill to match federal funds -a to lobby the federal government. -istration and the General
Assembly for a fiscal commit-
ment to detoxifying the burial
ground of hazardous chemicals
Working Group. Along with its potential total of $11 million. Mike Kelly, of the Division of
long name, the group has had "Our work is not finished," PLEASE SEE PCB, PAGE 3A
the purpose for several years of said Burwell, "but anytime you
PCB, from page one
Waste Management, · said Gov.
Hunt's liaison in Washington ,
has advised the first weeks of
September, when Congress
returns from its August recess,
will be important.
The Warren and state leaders
began Tuesday a campaign to
impress the state's senators and
congressmen on the importance
of including in the appropria-
tions bill for the Environmental
Protection Agency $7 million
designated for the Warren job. i
There was one other shift evi-I
dent at Tuesday's meeting. As
Burwell put it, "we want to revi-
talize the community." She said
the new advisory board should
not only work with officials con-
cerning the detoxification pro-
ject, but in redevelopment of the
area.
As Kelly said, the PCB land-
fill is located on a 175-acre site
that can not only be cleaned up
but turned into a positive pro-
ject.
Input is needed from the com-
munity and local government
officials in that regard, and that
will be one task for a communi-
ty coordinator to be hired with
an Environmental Justice
grant.
The state and the new advise-
~, rn-n11n urill ho "~vort.i,-in~ for ·
There will be nine members oi I
the advisory board. They !
include Burwell, Daria !
Holcomb, Massenburg Kearney,
Earl Limer and Dennis Retzlaf
of Warren County, Jim Warren
of NC WARN and Nan Freeland
of the Natural Resources
Leadership Institute, plus two
other local citizens yet . to be
named.
The other report from Raleigh
delivered by Evans-Stanton was
that the new Secretary of the
Department of Environment
and Natural Resources, Bill
Hol~an; 1s committed to f ~if~~~­
through on the PCB project.
"He's 100 percent behind it," she
said of the former environmen-
tal lobbyist.
landfill gets a
jt Warren County .
~ the $2 million it got from the
state, but discovers its landfill will he
'1eaned up ~rly.
The Associated Press
RALEIGH -Residents who be 11111' a
PCB-filled landftll in Warren C011atJ :r. ceived onlY a helion of tilt QlCJlllef-tliey
were seekina frcln lawmalrera tlds year, 'but they remain hopeful the dump will be
deaned up aoon.
Lawmakers earmarked only S2 million
in this year's llblte budget for the prqject,
far less than the $24 million residents aay it will take to clean up the landtlll.
But the budget provision that sets aside the lllOMY also lays out procedures to be follCIWld to 1__... tbe fC8I, ntquiring
the~= The nsiden1I. wbO haft IOIII
reJDOVUII the contaminated dirt for fear the PCBa will become airborne, COD8ider
the wutding la the prcmaion a victory. Same llllllllNn of the state Hollle bad gusbQcl , P1an Jut summer to dia up the . imdttll and move the dirt to a 1aDdftD in Utah.
"Th-. metlaodoloay for the cleanup
st,iyed so that's a real win for us," said Dollie Jturwe)l, a Warren County resident and eo-ebairwoman of the Warren County-State PCB Workina Group. The group, wbicb ineludea local residents and mvi-ronmental offleials, advises the state on the project and lobbies lelislators.
Althouah pleued that any plans to move
the dirt have IMn J ed. Burwell and
other n11ldiil•• bow aN IDCft bat-tles
"It's been a wr fer justice.. . The $2 million, tbanb to (stale Sen.) Frank Ball• I
ance, is another battle," Burwell said.
"We're going to keep fighting until we win
the war."
The lined landfill is estimated to be filled
with one million gallons of PCB-contami-
nated water, which is slowly leaching into
ground water. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has found that the land-
fill is not in compliance with federal envi-
ronmental rules.
The landfill opened in 1983, five years after the first spill of transformer oil con-
taining PCBs was found along highways in
Warren and other counties. The oil had
been secretly sprayed on. the roadsides by a company to get rid of the carcinogenic
substance.
Warren County residents protested the
decision to dump the PCBs there in 1982 and have been working for about five years
st
.. soil.
by IIWIUkefa te the __ , ~ -$2
million will be followed up with tbe appro-
priatiOIII to carry out tbe ...... Deborala Ferrucdo, anodm member of the workiJII ll"QUP, aai4l .... lies tblt
the money won't be eDOIJlll te. ao abeecl witb a third phlle ef ,-.-will instead be wasted.
"We an very lhaited witla ~ ariJ1icm,
more ~ we tboulbt WQIIII t" ruccio said. .
She aJao doeSll't trUlt state ..... to keep their pJ.edaes to come tm'Olllll with
IDOl1ey for the prqject.
"I'm always gurded. I've aeen bow poli-
ticians say one tbiDg 8Dd do ICIDOthiDa else," Ferrucdo said. "We coastamly quee-tion what they say, becauee we ... actions . .AIUl lblir to delay, dlllt', ....,,
Gov. Jim Hunt bad 101J1bt SlS m8lkm for
I the prqject in this year's 1,udpt JIIJlanr,,,
a Warren County Democrat, sponsored a bill that would have appropriated $24 mil-lion to clean up the landfill, but he scaled
the proposal back to S3 million to gain the · support of the Senate leadersmp. Eventu-
ally, lawmakers agreed on the $2 million
figure in budget negotiations.
Ballance said he believes the General
Assembly · will come through with the
money needed to complete the cleanup '
over the next couple of years.
"With having a Democratic House now, I think it will be easier to get what we need to move forward,'' he·· said.
Ferruccio said lawmakers have made a commitment . to the p~ople of Warren
County which they need to keep.
"Warren County has been and will con-
tinue to be a litmus test as to how govern-
ment treats its citizens,'' she said.
·:-
I EP~A ·· .-:N . PCB I I . ft:>._ --o ·--s . f Oiind :In iestS ·: ...
~·_at :warren -Site
.. , .·: -~ :_ --. . ,;; .
l\_ir"Sarnples CondUdeci irl August
· -By CHARLIE RICHARDS · · : . · ~~Working G~up. :>:-:: ·
. Daily Dispatch Writer . ·. ,-: -0• -·-· --The report EPA shared with
·•="··'.',-,.::. -,;; -_ _ ·: 0. -\·..;the state Thursday included
---~·::·RALEIGH : __ ·Th fi d al . _details of how the tests wei:e con-
E . .. . al-· e -e e: :-ducted, including information on
. ~--n~~nme~t , .---: _: Protect~op · -~llection methods, locations and
__ , ~e~cy ~~_tified ~~ :t{.C, ~vi-: :·analytical procedureii. -.sion of Solid Waste Management ·· · · --· · · . ·. Thursd tha-t-• a • ••• ling -T Techrifcians collecting' the afr
. . • ¥ ,· ay . arr samp con--•;-···· . . .:-. . , .
· : __ ducted a month ago at.the PCB m A~ said at the time they
'1an'~ site in Warren :County ?::,were usmg ~e most sensitive
. ·round n:o PCBs 'in the ·m :~;.-:-·'.-~ --::;me~ods ~vailab~e, ·and that
.. ,,-:<0n·;-fth-· · · · • · fn;-·--<-their procedures at been tested e o e concerns o "arren in urt. . , .. .. . --
. ·' residents and environmentalists ~; · co -· ~ · ·. <~: : < --·-· ·
.. _·. has been . that particles of the ··_ -'Pat Williamson,· spokesperson
.. -deadly toxin could be escaping · -for tlle __ Divisiori. of ~lid Waste
· 1~~ !e~ts o~ leaks _~"~e C?V~r. , .. M~e~~nt,_sai~_~w:84~y0the
· over the · landfill located near · state o!ficials are not sure why . Afton · .. m .southeast -'.Warren ·t1;iere was one '.'hlf during the
County. · __ : . ; ·_ .. ·.:.:,··· .'._.. .' low-voh.t~E:_ samp~ in Febru~. ;_. This, along '.l\ith. 'cri~c~~s -.;-'1Y. ·, :._, ·.? :•'."'·_ -.... ·
about water leaking from ·· the ·· ;;··It is possible the equipment
landfill, led to a ~~es of tests by may ha~e been contaminated,
· the state early this year. ·_. . • _ · . but that 18 only speculation. She
_ . •: :. . · ·,. :~)'lie .~sk, also produced data ·_said the Divisi?n used inde~n-
.·_ · to be used in designing a plan to dent ~rat.ones for _ samp~g
. :> detoxify the material in the analysIS for both of Its testing
· -, landfill. -· · -• events.
, • = ••. : The first air test conducted by . The E~A ~sts _in A~~ used
· . •}. . . the state in early February pro-. six momtormg ; Sites within the
duced one "hit" for PCBs in that fenced boundanes of the landfill,
"sampling event."· But there ~clu~g sites near the vent
were no "hits" in a subsequent pipe at its center. .
round of tests in· early March. . · . Wmd and other weather data
. The Joint Wamn/Sta~ Wo~k--were . recorded in order to deter-
ing Group asked _the federal _ mine the l~?on _of ~y pollu-
. Environmental -:,. _,·Protection tants found. -· .. · ' ··
Agency to conduct i~ own tests, ' They used a high-volume col-
leading to the visit to Warren by lection system over a · 24-hour
_ , a federal team in August. " , _. __ .. period.
·It was that visit that led to Meanwhile, since the air .test-
trespassing charges against a . ing developments, the EPA has
Warren couple, Ken and Debo-· issued an order to the state to
rah Ferruccio, who were protest-submit plans for correcting vio-
ing testing by the government lations found at the landfill con-
agencies without independent cerning the liquids (leachate)
oversight by scientists for the found inside.
I •
' , .
i l ! .
! .
l.
F·CB l.1JDRKit\K3 13F:DUF'
SGat p -03-97 04:07P
PCB, from page one
that the-state replac@ tht covitt
syrletn over tht: landfill, in addi·
tion to upgrading the pumpina
&ystem for leachate removal.
The NON edih, •EPA does not
1 re<X1mmend N?plAcing · the cover
sy:;t.em if North Carolina plane
to excavait and destroy PCB!!' in
the landfill in the near future." ·
Th~ one req\lir@numt con-
tained in the NON also may be
tncouraiing to the ~oncerned
citizens.
EPA requires the at.ate to sub-
mit a plan within 90 dayli to
~limi.nate leachate from the
landfill.
The first phaee of the plan
must provide for a pumpin( sy1-
tem to operate on a •mort-or,lesa
continuou.a basis."
The 9eeond pha~ would con-
cern replacing the cover eyatem.
But the state can noid Npl•c-
ing the cover by eubmittinc a.n
... applieation for an alternate_
method of PCB dispo11al for the
landfill soil within a year.
· The EPA imposed 1'10 fines in
Thund.ay's n-0tice, but it wamed
of po.!tible ftnea If the state failii
to implement retorrunendation1
in a timely manner.
IQ addition to an upended
p\llJiping eyf!tem and I poaaible
new cover, the NON reoomme.nd•
td monthly tnoniroring of the
leachate and ,emi-annual moni•
toring of surface and ,round
water.
EPA said the original 1979
permit required the 11ta~ to
inatall a leachate collection •Y•·
tetn, b~t the state ha, removed
•onJy small amount," ainee the
landfill wu inst:illod
It said "there is at least 10 fet•t
of st.anding liqwd over the bot-
tnm liner."· meining th• ~lee•
tinn i.y1.~m is not perfl'lrmtna.
Fax :[phone] Spp ~ '97 16 :51 P.02
(j} 1 ltT/fti;,-5 oV
~ ~
. . . I.
Fociis on the PCB site
., We are writing to corivey a\.initel
· request that we are making to the legis-
. ·1ature for help in ·protecting two commu-
nities threatene_d by dangerous industri-
al dumps. · -. '. ·
As your readers may know, the state's
commitment to begin detoxification of
the failing PCB landfill in Warren County
is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the state con-
tinues to leave open the possibility of
licensing a seven-state nuclear waste
site at the Wake and Chatham County
border, near the town of Moncure.
Warren County citizens have been.
concerned for years that the PCB land-.
fill would fail; that concern has now been
confirmed. Meanwhile, Chatham
citizens have lived for 10 years under the ,
threat of a nuclear waste dump which
appears increasingly dangerous as time
goes by. ·
Each of our county boards of commis-1
sioners has decided to show support
between the two communities. We now
· are asking members of the legislature to
join our efforts by expressing, to all lead-
ers of the House and Senate, their desire
to remove the toxic threat from both of
these communities. We ask that the
state terminate plans for a nuclear
waste site and focus its energies on
cleaning up the state-owned PCB land-
fill in Warren County. ·
. We appreciate that The N&O has pro-
vided news coverage for both of these
issues, as well as editorial support for
the PCB clean-up and to stop efforts at··
the radioactive waste site.
Pittsboro .,
:-_ Warrenton
MARGARET POLLARD ·
, Chair, Chatham County j
-· Board of Commissioners ,
J '
. JAMES HOLLOWAY .·
-Chair, Warren County
... Board of Commissioners
' '· 1 • ,\
PCB WORK ING GROUP Fax:[phone] F·. 01
B~ible interim usu are as a it pa.911ed 7 -1. with Fisher Yoting no. _
7 Warren group8;i•/2 1
I optimistic about
ruling on PCBs
ly CHARLIE RICHARDS
Deily Dispatet, Writer
'NAMENTON -The lOCAl-
state working group cone.med
with the mana,emtnt of the
sta.b!'ii PCB landfill in Warren
County took a poaitive i.nd opti-
miltic view Friday of tbiJ week'•
EPA notice requiring ltate
action at the bwdfill.
,. "We an pleued that;EPA
te11poftdfld t.n O\tl' enner9T'M ti
oon-cornpliance," said a formal
ata.tement from the Join~ War,
I"l'!D Cowity/State PCB Landfill
Workin1r Group.
The ,roup, made · up of ll'd.l
cititen.t, l'l!preeent.t:ives of en'V'i•
, ronmental orga.ni;r;ation1 and
state officiale, interpreted the
federal a,ency'11 order to the
atate aa linkin, •complia.n.cA to
detmiJkation."
The EPA Notice of Non-Coin-
plia.nce to the N.C. Divimon of
Wute ManagttD1111t dealt with
monitoring of the landfill and
the remQVa! of leachate that hae'
aC(,'Wl'I ula t.ed in the la.nd.fill.
'The key it.em in the NON for
tho,e coacerned about the uf'ety
of the landfill cont.am.in( the
toJOc ebetnical PCB ill EPN■ com•
ment that the at.a~ n11ed not
consider replacin, a caver IY'-
~m if it plan, to ezcavat.e and
de1troy th@ PCBt in the neat
future.
"Our goal ui deta..:ification of
the landftll &11d we will continue
to work toward that end,• aaid ,.
Dollie Burwell) a. Warren resi-
dent who co-<:hai.nl the Worl!ini
Group.
The formal 1tatement 1aid the
l'WP upect.t tb11 ~~ to udortn
EPA in itA corrective action plan
that it illtenda "to e.et.k funding
lor deuixification of th€ landfill
nmt ,ear when Ute legu,lature ie
back m Mltion'" and that th~
etatt will •cliooae detomicabon
over replaCJPtritnt o( the cover
.,.tela.".,., .
Sine~ its est-ablishment in
1994, the Wotk.ing Group hsa
UMd a atate appropristion to
hire leierice advwert arid COtl .
duet tau to detenni.ne the feBll i·
bility and 1nethodot01,Y for d~U>X•
ification.
-We expect to choo!M! a detmci-
ftcation technology by early fall
and tll cnmple~ • dc4ign ple.n for
that technology by t.he ftfflt of
the year,• aaid t.be etaternent.
Thoae concerned about the
landfill have been Heured
Tepeatfdly oftht ete.te'& intent tc
clean up the landfill when teagi-
ble1 but it hu abo been flltated
often that a eperial appropria-
tion will be P.q~d of the legis-
lab&N.
While formal quotes on the
coat h.avt not yet been obtained.
it hu been e.ti.mH~d it could
COit $215 million.
Tbf Work,.ng Group stat.ffi it
bc,pea to ahow the tupay~rs that
the dea.n up i.a the 'inor-e COl!t -
e!ective eC1lution" to the landfill
problem.
•
p1=B l.1.ICIF:l<It·,113 13F~CIUF Fax :•~Jl·~i-2:.,7-1000
09.'05!1~S~ 1J:32 9l g~5726E~
Cp~ S '~7 14 :51
1._,HHr""'C..L .~UL;-; ~· \~, •.• ~::_ • ·~-:· ,
1
-
PCB landfill cited
I
I for noncompliance
I ,\aSOCl-1 ""1,as
RAUlllGH -The U.S EnvitQfl•
mental ~tc:t1oo Aien~y has
cited * I>ivuioo of waste Marl·
•~ and d.e H.C. D@plrtment ot Envtrormont. HMl.th and N,ru-
1 1'111 R~!!., for not beinlZ in
j__ ccn,pl~ .,ith l"fl(U}ation• tor
the ttm-cwne<i PCB landfill in
i Watren COWlty
I The --~lo.ed lAndtW is the •t• __,. the st.at~ put PCB·
j ta&nrad .,U tlllt wa11 da.,m~d iJ-
le1atiY •• mo,~ than 200 miles I of d.lrt .-da in uie 19708. pea,
I
I .. cbllaicll1 Oftl:-C ulOd 11 • liQ-
~ mtlllillllldu:. \n et~ rrans-
fonaen. lbeY were banned in
1'76.
'?be .ku1 W 81'Tllll COUil ty..StaU
PCS Ldf'l1 WorkJ.Qe Gt'Oup wu
formtMt m 1flll4 by m.c state to
work on groblenu itl the larM1!1ll.
1lW "lninl ll'O-IJ Milt .t lettt!r
to the EP1''• retlooal dinctor 1.s[
f.U ~ rtt. CPA to ~t
nw \andl!II IDd rev'"° 1tate rile!!.
Tbc 1anddll •u in.,.cted ift J-,iu-
ar/. IIDd offlclalt tound the DiVt-
' lion of wane M.an-.r•mrnt had vi -
C
olAtl'<l Slltne or the mooltorina and
m1n.-reml!nt uquircm~ms ap•
i,roved 1n 1979 uid 1981, a rt":lt.Me
from DE!-Ll'iR sa.td.
The worlc:ifli aroup •.nt Ol.lt a
relea,qe uyin1 it 1earned of lhe
noncomplluce notke Thur~y,
but a releul! from the nr-:HNR
does not say when the aoticc •~
i:1sued Calls made to a !late
iipo~esma.n were not immediately
ntt1med.
"We Jus1 rec•ivcd the Nntic::" nf
Non-Compliance and plan to fol-
low all of the P'.PA ·, recommet\dl-
tioru llftc1 requirements. to the let-
ter." &&td Wilham L. Meyu, dine-
tor of the Diviaio11 or Waste Mail·
asm,enr. in 111 p~J;Mllted statemcct
Thur~lly
The noncomplwicc order uk.~
Nonh Carolina to 91.lbmit A twu-
phase plM to ~lirninate the mantr
tNt has lNtked from the di.rt with-
in ill) cay~ aft•t tht state rKrived
the notice .,r noncompliuce.
The Warren County landfill be-
e.am~ the s.ceh.e of an.iry ciVU
rtaht.~ protuu in ?982 when Gov
Jlm Hunt •1reed to bury tbf' PClh
iJ\ t~ .ioot, rnostly black county.
PCB, from page one ··---.,,..
that the @!Ulte ~µlare tht rovfr ~
system over the landfill, rn udc.-~
t ion t.{,) upsradins Ute pumpmi; .. '
8y8tem for leachate rtmovai {
The NON adda . '1:PA does nu, }
rfJiCOmmend ~placing tlu, ~vr, '·
t1v11terr. if North Carolir..a ~iar,0 t ti> excev!tte 111~d destrOY PC'Be ,r.i
the landtUl m tht r.ear futtrt: · ·,, ..,.
The one requirement c•):, -
tained in the NON al8-0 !!Ill) l)f-
encouragin~ to tht-cor,:e rnt',..
citiuna.
EPA reqoiree th@ ~tHte tc, ,i;m,
mit a plan wtthin 90 d.ays ;.,,
elitninate le&cha~ from t h e>
landfill.
Th~ first phaae of the pl -.
must provide for I pumpi~t: ~Y "
tem to opentt-on a "mare-0,•i~'!~
eontinuous bMll!."
The. ~ond phM•' would ;:oi ..
cern replacmj! the covto r ~,il~ ...
But the ~Utt um a-.·oid ~phi;·
ing the ccver by 11u':--tmittmg -1:·
application for an &lt.tmo.t~
method of PCB disposal l,r t !1~
lA.ndfi!l 1110il 'fs'ithm iii y@ar
The EPA impoe,ed nc fh--.ea >
Thundsy', notice , but it 'A·B.'"TIP:.
of poetiblc ~nefl if th~ gt.ate fa.J ~
l:.o implement racomme-ndaticnc
in a t:meiy manner
In addition to lin uppde--i
pumping S)"~U!m 11.nd a ~sit,\~
new C!"t~t, the NON recomrnerd-
ed monthly moniton ng of :nt
leachate and semi-ann ual rr.on:
t oring of surface fl.nd grounr.
91&~1'
EPA u.1d t.he or-,g:nal 19--:-~:
permit ~quirf"d the 11t&te r,c
iMtall a leach&~ collectiM &y:• ·
t.em. but the at.ate ha!! r ~rnoveci
'"only wall amountt" 1in."'t :h ...
landfill wu inttalled.
It Kid "there it! at lea.Bt 10 foet
of •tanding liauid over the b,)\·
tow Uner,~ p,..anlI~ Ul lJ collrv
tion ,ynem is n<>t perfotmll",ll:
---------------------------,----------------·-· ~ -Serving Vance, Granville & Warren counties • Volume LXXXI, No. 205 Friday, August 29, 1997 50 ce11ls WSIWX.Wt5 C 3 .G4 U JJ;~ lff ll. J.14 41 .U . Jl l\. .n: i I d l Z WJAl¥CM4#£U . .;GLt.W:£JJ.QJU!ltl'!A!l.h!lbWQ,&:;.~ P HHRi\lU~ EPA orders action on Warren PCB site By CHARLIE RICHARDS Daily Dispatch Writer RALEIGH -North Carolina's environ-mental agency was notified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency Thurs-day of violations in the handling of the PCB landfill in Warren County. state to place high priority on detoxifica-tion. The violations found. by EPA concern leachate, or liquids, that have accumulat-ed and been left in the landfill. William L. Meyer, director of the state's Division of Waste Management, said, 'We just received the Notice of Non-Compli-ance and plan to follow all of EPA's rec-ommendations and requirements, to the letter." co-chairman of the Joint Warren/State Working Group, was attempting Thurs~ day to gather a response from the group, which advises the state on landfill mat-. ters. She said in her personal opinion the Warren goal will remain detoxification and the NON "will not cause us to budge." this year to gather data to be used in selecting a treatment method, and tu ati:ive at a cost estimate. The Working Group hopes that process can be complet-ed this year. The state would need a spe-cial appropriation to finance the eflort. Several corrective actions were recom-mended by the federal agency, and the state was ordered to submit plans for some major steps to EPA for approval. Soils contaminated with the toxic chemical PCB were buried at the site near Afton in Warren County in the early 1980s. Citizens and environmentalists have advocated the material be treated, fearing PCBs may escape through the air or water, and the state promised to do so when it became feasible. Some citizens have feared an EPA order to remove the liquid from the land-fill could be used as an excuse not to treat the soil to detox.if y it. The EPA's Notice of Non-Compliance (NON) falls short of ordering a detoxifica-tion of the landfill material, as Warren citizens had urged, but it could be inter-preted as provided an incentive for the Asked about the NON's effect on local interest in detoxification, · a state spokesman said that remains the state's goal, "but we have this NON to deal with." The landfill consists of a liner under the mound of contaminated soil, which is then covered with another liner and a layer of soil. Qj = 0 Qj el) c,: c.. E 0 J::: r-. ~ u ~ One of the EPA recommendations is Dollie Burwell, Warren resident who is Tosting of the site was conducted early ~•bl)•..µJ.-trni::: 1<1)..-C:, 'OClJ i:::100 1• •i:::<l)<l.> ,::l""Crnrn '"O<lJ'(l.)'""O O')O'""COJ +.>• • a, ;.a s:: ci3 ° a, i::: •-, i::: ...o a, ...o _..., ...c: m f(;.. 00 s:: S ~ ro ....., ..c: ·-a, :-;::i i::: a, :a "'Cl ..c: '8 i::: i:---....., f(;.. a, ...c: a, "'o ~ > "'Cl ·-> i::: > m ui a.i O >-. i::: :::l _..., ,_. ui ~ 8 a, ,_. m ....., ui R _ro _ 0 "'Cl •-i::: _..., o :::l cn ui > ....., J!l ...o ::::1 biJ 8ro~Ou,8~~~c..,ro~ Ulf(;_, ~bl)~ .µ~bl)e~ Q)@~~ ro~Q)~so ~2 OQ) 0 OS:: 1l .s @ fil .g 1l m ~ ~ ~ s ~ ~ .g § 1l .s i ~ ~ ! :a ~ :: ~ t2 ~ ~ i ~ & § 0 "@ 5'o ci3 ~ .§ ts ~ ,B ~ ·a ....., ,_." ~ i... _..., ;.§ >-. <+Co Q) ~ 8 ....., 0 <!:: _..., ~ 8 ° ~ '8 '§ "' m g'J O -~ Ul Q) ;::l m 8 bl) ;::l "'Cl .i::: ~ Ul Ul gJ i... ...c: ~ ~~,E~~fgp~b ~ ~"@ Q) ~O) Q) ~ [J= : ~ ~.g i::: &;!Q)tl1l § . @"8z~-~ §@ •§i-s~.a~"'OQ)·:; ~;ll ,-, S:: w ,...... ·-Ul S:: ·-Z ...C: Q) I'.:: .µ . 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THE NEWS & 0BsERVER
IIOAY, AuGUST 7, 1998
Does PCB site
need a big cleanup?
BY JEROME B. WEBER
AND Ross B. LEmY
11111111
h re are several
nceptions relative to
PCB-laced soil storage
m Warren Coun~ and
· is a dire need of
knowledge involving the prindples
of bioavailability and mieoloe
before the state takes an,~
·Tile first misconception is tW
ININ-cataJyzed decompositioll
CIICD) is a safer or more effecthe
method of ~of PCBs (poly-
dllorinated biphenyla) than incin-
eration or other methods, or, in the caae of the FCB-laced son, if any
llrtber treatment is ewn
necessary.
. Safe, effective incinerators are
being used at present to dispose of
tome waste by many industries, but
POINT
OF VIEW
the question
remains, "Is the
PCB in the soil
toxic?"
In addition, the
Environment.al
Protection Agency
will soon publish new, less-·
stringent PCB disposal regulations,
expected to reduce annual disposal
costs by $178 million. '
Referring to the Warren County
site as a toxic waste disposal site or
landfill is inaccurate. It is merely a
.storage site, as biologists know.
The first question that should have
been asked is, "Is the PCB in the
storage i:;ite biologically active?"
Not "is it present?" or "Is it
extractable with hydrocarbon sol-
vents like hexane or benzene?"
PCB is known to be toxic (harmful,
destructive or poisonous to living
organisms), but is it
biologically available
(accessible or
extractable by living
organisms) in the
Warren County stor-
age s~te so~?
Sciiii . familiar
with the principles of
...,...nability and
logy are satis-
tbat the l)romise
byGoWrnor
~ c■llbten:d or destroy
t8lie properties
the PCB-contaminated
· question was met wheni
were treated
l>Al'tillll and.th• ftOil
~to the lterail
t are the principles of biol
cal availability and toxicolo~?
IAt's first define some additional ams:
l) Biologically available or
bioavailable - nutrients or
toxicants that are acceSS1ble for
use by living organisms and corre-i
lated with that fraction extractable
with polar solvents like water or
aqueous buffers;
2) Fixed or bound -nutrients or
toxicants that are present in a form
or position in soil media where they
are qot accessible to living
organisms and are not extractable
in significant quantities using polar
solvents, e,g., nutrients in soil min-
erals or toxicants bound to activat-
ed carbon;
3) Bioassay-a technique in
which the presence-of a chemical is
quantified by using living
organisms, rather than carrying
out chemical analysis;
. 4) Activated carbon -highly -
Jerome B. Weber, Ph.D., is a
professor of crop science at N.C.
State -Universit;y; Ross B. Lei.dy,
Ph.D., is a professor of toxicolo,r
at N.C State. Also contributing to
this article were Eugene J. ·
Kamprath, Ph.D., fonner head of
the university's soil science depart-
men~ and-Fred H. Yelverton,
Ph.D., an associate professor of
crop science.
adsorbent carbon obtained by heat~
' ing granulated ehareoal t.o exhaust
contained gases and adlorbed
chemiea1s, used in gu adlf)rptlon,
water purification, solve.nt
81')\ waste ~t•d as
tidote to cutaln tnleated poi-
ereal l)Jl~.....,., inp ~----to e leas bat.ndbl binding the
and removint H from
nor ehansm, it into a hann-
emfcal.
principle of bioavaUability is
iis on which the disciplines
t nutrition, erop production
sticide registration are built
ajor reason that soil testing
tories exist is the need to
Atermine biologically available
nutrients in soils. Only a portion of
the nutrients present in soil is
acce1&ible to plants and other .
organisms. If particular nutrients.
are not present in adequate quanti-
tie&; fertilizer ~d other soil amend-
ments must be applied.
In the registration of pesticides,
all products must be tested for
their toxic effects to livhig
organisms when present in air,
water or soil. Some products are
extremely toxic to wildlife when
present in water and are classified ,
as supertexic pesticides. A few are '
10 to 106 times more toxic than this
and could be called super supertox-
ic pesticides. How do those
products get registered for use on
1 lawns and en>plands if they are so
toxic to wildlife?
The answer lies in their extreme-
1 Iy low bioavallability when bound-~
soil colloids, particularly to orgamc
matter and clay minerals. .
These toxicants are even less
-~==-----, toxic when boun.d to
. There are good
reasons to think
PCB-laced soil
in Warren
County is not
a toxic hazard
to the public.
activated carbon. The
soil binding (known
as K) values for these
registered pesticides
range from 50 to 100,
less than one-third
that for PCBs. Thus,
soil bound (fixed)
PCB is less bioavail-
able (to,cic) then
these supertoxic pes-
ticides.
Therefote;the first
question that should
L---:,...'=.--'------be asked about the
toxicity (bioavailability) of PCB_ in
the soil in the Warren County site
is, "ls the PCB biologically
available?"
other publicat,lons,
ly be answered again !t!oassay-
ing soil sa,,nples taken . the storaae lite. These bioasaays are =~==-at N.C. State u~ ancfby pri-
vate contractors.
If scientists bad made tile
deciaian as to whether or not Ute
activated carbon-be&~ PCB-
. laced road lboulder soPa needed to
be picked up and tnms}Jorted to a
storage alte, the answw would
have beea no. The deci8lon, howev-
a; was made by law,ye:rs, Who inter-
preted the law to mean that son
contamillated by toxic substances
must be moved to a storage site,
even thouab the substances may no
longer be toxic.
We suggest the following: 1) the
soil in the Warren County storage
site be bioassayed to determine the
bioavailability (toxicity) of the POB
that it contains, 2) the soon-to,be-
published EPA disposal regulations
for PCB be examined, and 3) a task
force of scientists with knowledge
applicable to the situation, and free
from financial gains to be made by
the decisions rendered, should be
appointed to advise and make rec-
ommendations that are ·
envirolllnentally safe and economi-
cally sound.
'.·: '.,i\' ·( ;; : TRI-CO.UNTY THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1999 . ~ •; ', ~ . .. ' 3A.-: ..... , • , .,..._ .• '-· ·• ••·. ~ • .,. v~ :Hunf g8inS O.Ktfor Warren County PCB fu,g~.~-.' ,• ' ' '' • •• ' . : '. ' • I ,1; : ! \\'} -~ J'! ?: ."'\l~,, N . f d I f d ; Congresswoman Eva Clayton But,well saying, ''We are really as head of the state. · · · · . OW, 8 8 ra Un S :or Warren .. County, grateful the legislature passed . The status ofthe _money situ-' I I b g ht.. Congressman David Price and the ianguage." . i ation now is that cost estiJAates WI ~ SOU . •Senator John Edwards have Burwell, on Congresswoman for the detoxification ar~ neai: .·, the PCB project "on their list of Clayton's staff, is co-chairman $25 million. 1M11i,.,wwwathe legis_, BY CH~RLIE RICHARDS priorities," she said, and the of the Warren-State Working lature appropria~ DAILY DISPATCH WRITER ~te:iw-~\leeMcni.$'1'..millioa of Group that has developed·plans outright, which is being Used . . . \M,rinrni!J'ts•pendi~ · ' for detoxifying the landfill and now for final planning work. RALEIGH -Gov. Jim Hun : If some or all of that ount pressured Gov .. Hunt on the The transfer from . the "white got the auth~rizations he aske · is secured ~ and va'ns~ issue. . That group will_ be ~oo1s fun?" would make $~ mil-from the legislature to pur . Stanton said the state replaced soon· by an adV1sory hon available. A maximum and match federal assistance "absolutely'' is pushi for it _ committee to monitor· the grant' of $7 in federal money, for cleanup of the PCB landfill 8tete..funds,,would• eded~ cleanup process itself. matched by· the state, would in Warren County,fflDdwnow..the -mawln-That's where the new Burwell and others from bring the total to $17 million. p.wm.i,a.eJJatto-get,!Fthe-fedB,1¥ll language approved by the legis-Warren met with Gov. Hunt Some of that amount will be thritnrm--lature comes in; it .authorizes and top members of his staff needed before actual contracts In the second of two accom-the director of the budget office last week to assure continued can be let for the work. Pat plishments on behalf of the to transfer funds not to exceed efforts. She said the meeting Backus, the project manager, cleanup in this year's session of ,$7 million. .. ' · was prompted by a recent rally said planning is hi.final stages, the legislature, ~l_n,•iieheral "This a· big step," said Evans-and· telephone ·campaign,. to with some surveying on.the site Al,1e1nbl,-euthornied•ffl'ansfer-Stanton .• ''We believe we will Hunt and legislators. expected next week· to gather ...iwtptki,~miUion•~•mtditdPRny get some of the federal .funds. Th~ meeting in Raleigh was final data n~eded. . . .Cedelft~uude,u,q~dt "We are exhausting every possi~ attended by· Reps. Jim Backus said pre-quahfymg of Earher, the legislato~s adopt-:bility;" As to matchihg them, Crawford and Stan Fox, whose firms eligible to bid on the work ed a state budget that mcluded she said "that will not be· a districts include portions of could be done in August,· and a provision pushed by Sen. 'problemJ' ' Warreh. Burwell said the gov~ final designs should be coml Frank Ballance of Warr~n . Gov. Hunt's office issued a ernor earlier that day met with plete by October. That means ~ounty that ~~ '.statement saying,' "We're hon-Sert. Ballance I'eg~rding the tequests for proposals· frot'.h hon from the white goods oring our commitment to the legislative action. · cleanup contractors could-be funds" to be used on the landfill people of Warren County to Burwell said the governor .. made in December, P_t~viding problem: ·move forward on this cleanup, indicated he hopes to come to enough funds are available to Sherri .· Evans-S~anton, and I applaud the General Warren County to "kick off the continue the pro_ces~1 ·' . _ · deputy se~retary for pohcy and Assembly for meeting my actual cleanup" and that such a Hunt's statement said he will prog_rams m the .Department of request for the state allocation visit Would be "a great way to '.'pursue every available avenue Environment ~nd Natural to this project." leave office." The landfill was to secup~ the necessary state Re~our~es, explamed the latest · The news was welcotned iii created during the early 1980s and federal funding to complete legislative move. Warren · County, with Dolly during Hunt's first tour of duty the detoxification."
Stick with the plan
for a PCB cleanup
BY JOEL S. HIRSCHHORN
AND JIM WARREN
I·
1 The answer was a resounding yes. A
: technology called Base Catalyzed . ~LE.IGH Decomposition <BCD) had been invented 11e honor of North c,aro~a is m by EPA scientists. This process can safe-eo~y. The state s social con-ly destroy toxic compounds like PCBs
tra~t With Warren <?ounty ! and dioxins. The federal agency licenses residents, entered into nearly 20 1 BCD to companies, one of which was years ago when the s~te fo~ I contracted to test the Warren County a PCB Ian~ on the co~uruty, consist-1 Landfill contents following a strict proto-ed of a promise to detoxify th~ landfill col developed by the Working Group. when techno!o~ became available. BCD worked. BCD is safe.
That P':O~ise 18 no~ threatened, Relatively simple equipment could be becaus~ 1t 1s unce~m whe~er the cur-used at the site. It has already been rent l~gislature will appropnate used successfully at other PCB sufficient funds for the cleanup.. cleanups, including one in New York Governor Hunt formed the Jomt and at a U.S. Navy facility.
W~n County/State PCB Landfill . BCD isn't like incineration, which Wo~~ Group because of t~e. startling causes toxic air emissions; BCD will finding m 1993 that over a milli?n permanently destroy all the toxic chemi-gallons of water w~~ trapped ~ the cals, leaving only clean soil at the site. landfill: With $1 million ~ppropnated ~y Warren County residents and the state, the legislature, the ~orking Group, with which owns the landfill, would become
tw_o mdepe~dent , free of future risks and liabilities. Gov.
POINT
OF VIEW
science adVIsers and Hunt also supports the BCD solution.
Dep~ent of A preliminary design of the detoxifi-
Envrronment and cation project developed a reliable cost Na~al Resources estimate. Every possible facet of the technical staff,
thoroughly examined
the landfill's toxic contents, soil laced
with PCBs and dioxins.
(PCBs are polychlorinated biphenyls,
which were used to insulate electrical
transformers until the federal
government banned them in 1977. The
Environmental Protection Agency says
PCBs can cause cancer.)
Also, some dioxin contamination was
found in adjacent groundwater, suggest-
ing leakage from the landfill.
The Working Group analyzed various
approaches to detoxify the landfill; sev-
eral options were rejected, including
shipping the waste offsite to some other
community. ·
Finally, the group answered the core
question: Is there a safe and effective
detoxification technology to permanent-
ly remove the risks posed by the deterio-
rating landfill?
project was accounted for, so that no
additional funding would be necessary.
State Sen. Frank Ballance used the
Working Group studies and introduced a
bill to appropriate the $24 million that
the BCD project design had found nec-
essary.
Tiere has been a surprise in the cur-
rent legislative session. A haz-· ·
ardous waste disposal company
devised a political path to short-circuit
the comprehensive process with the $1
million of t.axpayers' money. The com-
pany did not speak to concerned resi-
dents of Warren County. They did not
even bother to visit the landfill.
This scheme proposes to load at least
120 million pounds of toxic waste onto
trucks. For many month_s tho~~ds of
Joel S. Hirschhorn is a science adviser
to the Joint Warren County/State PCB
La.ndJill Working Group and was former-
ly with the Congressional Office of
Technology Assessment. Jim Warren is
executive director of NC WARN (Waste
Awareness and Reduction Network) and
a member of the Working Group.
truckloads would move through Warren
end perhaps adjacent counties. Then
hundreds of railroad cars would carry
·the waste to another landfill in utah.
From a public safety perspective,
sending toxic waste to another landfill is
\ not comparable to using BCD technolo-
gy onsite to permanently eliminate the
risk. Such transport poses risks to pub-
lic health from releases of PCB vapors
and fine particles of contaminated soil
· into the air during loading of trucks as
well as from accidents and derailments.
One accident and spill could cause mas-
sive evacuation of nearby residents.
The EPA does not endorse transporting
such a huge amount of waste. And the
state would retain legal liability essential-
ly forever, because the transported toxic
waste would remain toxic waste.
The deception was created that this
would be a lower-cost solution. The
company gave a preliminary estimate of
$7.5 million less than the BCD cost, but
various necessary activities were omit-
ted, such as site testing and monitoring.
In the long run, this plan would not cost
less than BCD.
Llgislators should remember that in
982 the state refused to send the
aste to an out-of-state landfill,
choosing Warren County instead. At that
time, Hunt and the legislature promised
in writing to detoxify the site, not to
dump the problem on another state.
Hunt's budget request for $15 million,
while not the entire amount necessary
for clean-up, is enough to begin the
BCD project in earnest. But Warren
residents are concerned that the Senate
has so far approved only $3 million.
Funding such a small percentage of
the total could lead to another
unacceptable action -

a

short-term
repair, which makes no sense, especial-
ly with a landfill containing a million
gallons of water. It would be like
putting a bandage on a cancer.
Toxic waste landfills are like ticking
time bombs because eventually they all
leak. Working Group studies confirmed
landfill deterioration and, at .the group's
request, the EPA also examined the
landfill and found it in noncompliance
with key federal regulations.
In 1998, logic and honor mean using
BCD technology to safely eliminate the
problem. This means providing all fund-
ing necessary to permanently rid Warren
County of its failing toxic waste landfill.
Warren County gave birth to the
national environmental justice
movement. This legislature can give
North Carolina greater distinction by
righting the wrong done to Warren
County.
CHILDREN SUPPORT WARREN PCB CLEANUP
Children from Hollister Summer Day Camp make their feelings about a Warren County landfill
known at a rally at the Legislative Building. Activists urged legislators to fully fund a cleanup at
the site rather than moving the soil tainted by transforrner oil containing PCBs to Utah.
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBERT MILLER J,) 'I-0 11/' ~
JUL-!)-~~
--y, ·-J
!HU lU ;cu ~UNU, tVH ~LMIIUN U~l ur r n /\ 11u , LJL "tJULU 1 1
-c..,~
/ll\~k-t,
f~+/5
~+t.J
,LIC RECORDS THURSDAY, JU!jE 24, 1999
~THS Warre·n -reminds· g.overnor of PCB promise
Na.de,
it.er
1of
~ame
!e
•as
on,
rends
:00
M.
.t
at
iear-
i.,
,,
nnie
~ A.
,at.er
d of
'.try
1m;
all
lee
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'l\.
ls
it
Activitists ratty to rid
county of PCB landfill
--···-----------
Bv CffA1lUE RICHARDS
DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
WARRENTON -Activists in
the campaign to rid Warren·
County of its PCB landfill held
a rally here Wednesday to
encourage calls to legislators ·
i:.egarding funding for the
· detoxification project.
But they took advantage of
the occ~\Sion and the timing to
press Gov. Jim Hunt again to
hold to his promise made many
years a.go to clean up the land-
fill.
And the governor sent word
in retum that he is doing just
that.
"This is our last shot at ask-
ing the governor to live up to
his promiset said Dolly
Burwell, leader of the local part
of the Warren/State PCB
Working Group. She noted
Hunt is "serving out his last
tem1."
.-Hunt's spokesperson at the
rally was
·Sherri
Evans-
Stanton,
deputy secre•
tary for poli-
cy and pro-
grams in the
Department
of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR).
~e governor is fully com-
mitted to finding the funding
\
for detoxification in the coming
year.~ she said .
1 She explained that Sen.
Frank Ballance has included in
the Senate version of the bud-
get now being considered by a
legislative conference commit-
tee the transfer of $1 million
from the "white good fund" to
be used on the PCB project. ·
She said the governor's office .
also has provided language that
would direct her department to
look for funds from other·
sources, and direct the budget
office to allocate other available
funds needed by the depart-
ment.
The rally here is well timed,
Evens-Stanton said. "'It would
help now to call your delegation
members.ff It is critical now
because the budget may be out
by the end of June, she said.
Total cost of the detoxifica-
tion project is more tahn $24
million.
Also reporting at the rally
was Pat \Vtlliams, another rep-
resentative of DENR. She said
$2 million approp1iated last
yeai· is being used to complete
the final design for full detoxifi-
cation at the landfill, and that
her department is now pre-
qualifying companies interested
in the work.
Under the cunent schedule,
with funding, a contract could
be issued early next year, she
said.
Meanwhile, a three-year,
$225,000 grant from the fed eral
Environmental Protection
Agency will be used to provide
a community involvement coor-
dinator, who will keep citizens
informed and be involved in
.employment of local citizens
and use oflocal businesses.
Oxford ~ prepar~d for St. John's Day events
Masonic Home for
Children to hold annual
celebration on Saturday
OXFORD -The Masonic
Home for Children is preparing
for its rumual St. John's Day
Celebration, scheduled for next
Saturday, and Oxford is getting
ready to host the major parade
that draws thousands to down-
town streets.
U7-1----' L -·-·· • -· ..
The Police Department has
advised of a
new parade
route for the
Shrine parade
units that com~
from all over
the state.
Lineup of
parade entries
vvill be on East
Spring Street
from Belle
Wtlliamsboro, then west to
College and then north to the
Home grounds_
The schedule for the day
starts with the u.sual opening
ceremonies for visiting Ma.sons
and others on the campus at
9:30 a..m. The parade starts at
lOa.m.
A Gospel group will perform
during the lunch hour, starling
at noon, and headliners for the
afternoon of i:>nt&>l-t-<>1nrn.n~t-
--
Sehl
I
sur'
Loe{
her~
St ~l M.oj
v-ascu: 1Parhi·
Grall]·
plete{ counf
Lapat
Ven~
Inci51.
Hem
at Th
Adv.J ·
Lapai:
Surgr ·
Work.
Medi,.
Juue···.
Th
teach .. new1;
Jo rep~
surgt
Th
for sl'-
to 52'.
Laps
reduc'. hernr:
Mosf
ta1 th:
niqu!·
a spe _
(
t. ___., .
' ,(
The~-
tl0n5 d ~ ..
lhe i:~'
Carolina ;
$ol'VIC8$:·.
~.C. ti_:
is tour CtJ
46.93 5'
l)OundS l.
Jun-17-98 ll:40A
i?Dte'D~ "cw.1t:.O\MAJ ._.. ,_._ -,-•-~~ '.:'l:---. ' I .•-• ..
:Ounty Superior Court bv Judie __ ~ a.•:~: ..veapon with -,µ1".4~· ·-.;.!. ·.
~i ~~PCii~disJi;;f~
were arrested ~~: ~~itch upsets·
~:m~~::, Wfirrel1 g· foup ::_.
to poee absolut
uid. Officials New method could mean soil . '
Department Id b t k and Natural R wou e rue ed through Vance
legislators, 1~ _ -· _______ _
Horton of F By CHARLIE RICHARDS memberofthatcommission,said
Frank Mitche Daily Dispatch Writer he explained to bis fellow mem-
ently find ap hers the issue i8 an emotional
from Laidla WARRENTON -Vurions of . ?De, notjust a question of spend-
haul . the m protesters · lying in front of mg money. ~e are talking about
$16.6 million cks loaded with· hazardous health,» be said.
Group estim materials -a real life scene -We ~~ould do what the people
cation would from Warren County in the early ._ of. Warren Co\ihty want.ea: ~
Gov. Jim 19808 -were summoned again · 88.ld, explaining his vote against
for $15 milli this · week as Warren residents the motion to recommend the
detomicatio and environmentalists became haul-away. · · . . · ·
ed from othe up~t _aver a BWit.ch being pro-Sen. Frank Ballance from
Sen. Ball posed m the stare legislature. Warren County said it appears
bis own bill I The new · idea, recommended the big dollar signs have attract-
full1 __ ......... $,24 ..... -dmoifl~ . Wednesday by a legislative ed atl&lion and ,m,rybody bu llltlt.W.I group, i8 to haul PCB contami-an idea of how to solve the land-
nated soil away from the landfill fill problem. . Trin n . at Aft.on south of here to be He said, 11My position is clear:
'buried in Utah. That plan is in we need to use the :rnethod iden:
sharp oontrast to the one worked tified and approved and pre-
out by a joint State/Warren PCB --fe~ h,,Y the people in the com-
Working Group, which wants to muruty.
detoxify 'the material on site as . Ken Ferruccio, an environ-
promised by the state years ago. mental activist who lives iD the
-what would make them do lan~ area, said hauling the
that, after all we've done looking maten~ to_ another area would
at the problem," asked Dolly be a violatio~ of oommitments,
Burw_ell of W8lTen, co-chairman and "th~ environmental justice
of tlie Working Group. 'They con:imuru~ would pose serious
flatly ignored all our work," she resistance:
said, following the recommenda-th Fcrrucc~o recalle~ that he told
tion made by the Environmental e state in 1978 ovil d.isobedi-
Review Commission. ence would result from bqrying
Rep. Stan Fox of Oxford, a Please see Pell, ..... 4A ---·-·-· ·--·----
rm's way,
he is not
1 financial
!dress the
~ed. "It is
11'8e, I can
ncern of : I
,on't know
, this. We r .·
risk," said ,
~io one of ·
,2 and now ·
resswoman
ught to be
, to do the
red if the
ernateplan
1f 8 strategy
1te and not
1 "I believe
prevail," he
introduce : a
:vate firm, in
:Ui developed e state over
uiy and test-
L • ,i 'd !ClOUS, 8tU •• , 1' :· ,: .. • ,·. '~~ !
• '1''""""'· .... . 1
:hnmp
P.02
IOlll!A,,...., Alluno:>l.un:> ~' lllmi ti da1 a&OIIIO llllllld' LSIUZJ: ml Aao.:'~I IBl U• tlCII,,lllll;IIK..IIM)I /WI..., l'CllfL~~.!!l 1ii£1 ffl!V 1'9l9l Ill 96W. 1i I.If) .lllllllltPlll -,aqs,, 1IIIIIIS 111(![ .:ioo tiu. Pllll.s alij Ml'lln ~ ll9'illlltl-\■ ilbatun»,11~ _,., IIPli l'fllM ·Jtµ-i:=:s:1• .1:00A ~I JI ~di uw.i& INIIIIIAI ~i -s~d, _._ .. ,,.,.. ·...-io 'JO all0lt lll!WII' I.~ 11-'K .a,tts.-0.IOl.-...,l'lm m,s, -fUIIIH .,,.., • AYIIM illlflki!S~i Cl.t91.Wil81 ~ .tafoJj ■ :xll!lll !DIOllf-ld~ ·13"11.1111111 ..... ,,c;u. ufltij),....,.JOi:-J:IIUIIIIUOMI IOlla'\.liioadUIIS WJlli!U.lll.Jll!I Sentenl•uu ~ _,,-.,..,,___,, -•w<-•~1 rom.loo County Superio ,,-.~~···• •. ~ ... ,,._.,.._ ~:,! _ ..... ~1~.!; Hl>l~.= 1 !1111111'=1 ~ JJ11W•=1 ■ UlM 1£&9C'.I: ·--··-· • ,pttM PCB, from page one the hazardous materials in Warren County. AB promised, in 1982 hundreds marched and were arrested, launching the environmental justice move-ment against disposing of wastes in areas populated by poor minorities. If the legislature directs the state to use the hauling process, it will "leave no alternative but to pose absolute resistance," he said. Officials of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the legislators, led by Sen. Ham Horton of Forsyth and Rep. Frank Mitchell oflredell, appar-ently find appealing a proposal from Laidlaw Environmental to haul the material to Utah for $16.5 million, while the Working Group estimat.es on-site detoxifi-cation would cost $24 million. Gov. Jim Hunt's budget asks for $15 million this year for the detoxification, to be supplement-ed from other sources. Sen. Ballance has introduced his own bill to appropriate the full $24 million, and it specifies ---•'-.~-' "" ~ .. + .... ~nr11t;on. The Laidlaw proposal was dis-cussed by an appropriations subcommittee Tuesday and the Environmental Review Commission Wednesday. Mike Kelly, deputy director of the Division of Waste Management, said the Laidlaw haul-away proposal does not include several costly items such as monitoring the process and handling water in the landfill, which are included in the Working Group's clean-up plan. Little would be saved by the removal plan, he said, and it would leave the state liable for the toxic materials, while detox-ification would end the problem forever. Furthermore, Kelly said, the Laidlaw plan presented to legislators uses a preliminary estimate and is not a formal quote for the job. "The issue is not cost," stressed Ferruccio. He described the risk of thousands of truck-loads of toxic soil being hauled through Warren County, proba-bly to Norlina or possibly to Henderson., for transfer to rail cars. Warren residents have always opposed solutions' · that put other people in harm's way. he said. Ballance also said he is not interested in just the financial figures. "We have to address the issue of safety." He added, "It is not wise to change course. I can understand the concern of Warren people." Ballance said, "I don't know how we will resolve this. We have to work on that." ~we are the ones at risk," said Burwell, like Ferruccio one of the protesters in 1982 and now on the staff of Congresswoman Eva Clayton. "We ought to be the ones to say how to do the job." Ferruccio wondered if the · introduction of an alternate plan at this point is part of a strategy to create a stalemate and not solve the problem. "I believe common sense will prevail," he · added. For legislators to introduce-a new idea from a private firm, in opposition to the plan developed by citizens and the state over several years of study and test-i:tig, "is very suspicious," said nurwell. -' "O 0 w L C :::, I 1-1 " I 10 0) 1-1 1-1 ~ 0 l:i
Jun-1.7-98 11: 40A
P.01 I Sergeant Edwant8 was nu,
I t ;,' ( ~ ,qt• . . . _ '
Don't confuse PCBs, BCDs
Ongoing Warren dispute heavy on acronyms
·ay CHARLIE RICHARDS . -positi~n, w~ch means wing other
:Daily Dispatch Writer --chemicals with the PCB under certain ._ .
. . ~-. . ..... .conditioAA :BQ . ~~t. ._ . the substance .. •
If you follow the ongoing hazar&~;;; -~~fn~~~ elements •. ,· , . ·
aste l dfill · · ,u ·; · · · ' The Wr..:.:....~ .... t:e·· m kin G W an 18SU91n"arrenCounty,::. __ ::: •·~---~.':,~~~-·-.ti~•,yOr g roup
you know the bad stuff there ui PCB. · sefected ·that •.ifrietfiod 'after years of
· But lat.ely you _· may hear or see testing and . stwl~, ~ing a million .
'another acronym -BCD. : · . dollars of st.ate money. They looked at
· They sound a lot alike. other-methods, too. : ~·".·-:-• ..... _ :· . _.
· . They are very much different. . Years ~ Gov. Jim H~t and hpla· . _. .
PCB is the problem. tors promised_ t.o clean up the lanafi.lt /' •· '
~ ,o. '\S 16 77 Te ls" · · BCC is the solution. At least the ~hen and~~ technology became fea-
,._,"v' ,. :.?0 -aolution adopted and preferred by the Sible .. · .<. · •. ·:_ · :;At \t~ :;
::0 'a' ~ . Warren citizens· and the state Depart-Gov. Hun~ put money in his budget ·1
',; ~ JIN rnna ,;, :ment of Environment and Natural proposal this year to ~tart the BCD : It~~ t Resources. ._ . -. . · P~,:-~~ state officials have made
'; lliii t ·_ ~er int.erests .have proposed other cleai:r:~a. :~e 1>,rocess ~y -~ant_~~·:. ~ lit solutions. : ·•• -•.. . . • . . '._: use. All -thats needed LS . legislative
(' ~ PCB -.means ·. . Polychlorinated approval <d the budget.! 1; ·: _, ·
l-1..,_,,. ~ti,,,.~ Biphenyl, generally considered a toxic\, .. ,~ pl'9Ce&&,;pas ~~the ,~'!'1~/"',
~0£ compound. Soil contaminated with it's-~ l~~·beca~-~.Alt.ernate approach .
;{buried in Warren~ 'iii; a Iin~.._~l~ba"-·t;be'.:-
established by the state in _the early small mo~tain _of poisonous ~ fiiim':-'. , . ·
80s. · ·. · ·-· . · __ _ Warren Qotmty ~-som~here e~;'. · BCil· . -Base Ca Decom-~ . . .. .l, ~ •· .. :, · .·. 'J~~~-1~'-,P~~~ , ···• . . •. , .. ,\,-.,;,')it!\..-:,~,•:;·~~: ... ~ 11!5 . :f enittrla . rown, ..... , '.Iii )I ., ' '
l PCB, "from page one
Proponents say that might be there is no specification, the
cheaper Di · · f nr _.;._. __ . • _. .. .. . V1S1on o nMte Management
'f Qp~~t,_ say all the cost.s WQuld invite bids to use BCD
-i-hav~.~ included-,iJi that If · · · ····:-···· ... : ··· ~-.,-:
• 11 -'.lt •· •i al ...... ~ ( ....... 11..:· • ... ~.P.~~:,. th,t I use other ) proposa1. ey so say wie methods sucn · as· li'urymg~·the
t hauling would expose Wan-en PCB so~ewhere else can sell
t and other communities t.o dan-enough legislators on' the idea ·
1 ger .. And,. unt:il the ~ is neu-some other method could b~
tralized, 1t will remam a North specified in the law.
Caro~a. liability, no matter State waste officiala are dis-
where 1~ JS. -. turbed, and Warren residents
The 1Ssue will be resolved are mad, that some process
when, ~d if, the legislature other than the one they selected
appropnates the money. Sen. is even being considered.
Frank Ballance's bill would
specify the BCD method. If ~~,
-; -. ~
Tough talk on PCB landfill
W~rren· County residents· want
assurances that tainted soil will be
treated at the dump site. -·
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH -Warren C,ounty residents will
resort to civil disobedience if the state tries
to use a cheaper method to clean a PCB
landfill, county residents told lawmakers
Tuesday. .
If the state tries to haul away the conta-
. minated dirt, "I can promise you an absolute
and unyielding civil disobedience," said Ken
Ferruccio, who was involved in protests
when the landfill was built 15 years ago.
A task force under the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources has
recommended treating the soil at the dump
site to remove the cancer-causing PCBs.
The task force, which included local resi-
dents, estimates their proposal will cost $24
million. ' ·
A private company has offered to dig up
the landfill and ship the contaminated dirt
to Utah for disposal at a cost of $16.5 mil-
lion.
Joel Hirschhorn, an engineer and environ-
mental consultant who advised the task force,
told legislators on a budget subcommittee
that the $16.5 million figure is far too low.
"How are you going to implement this in
six months when you've got people lying
down in front of the trucks," he said. "They
did it before and they'll do it again. There's
no way they would ever do that project for
that much money."
The landfill opened in 1983, five years after
the first spill of transformer oil·containing
PCBs, was found along a Warren County
highway. Other spills w~re found in other
counties. The oil was traced to a private
company that was secretly spraying the
roadside to dispose of the hazardous sub-
stance.
Warren County residents protested for
more than four weeks in 1982 and blocked
trucks carrying contaminated soil to the
landfill.
The task force figure includes hiring and
training 25 local workers to help with the
project. Aft~r the landfill is detoxified, those
skills will help them find otherjobs, said
Henry Lancaster of DENR.
But several legislators questioned how
dangerous the PCBs are.
''You have problems in a lot of areas of the
state that have been around a lot longer,"
said Rep. Bill Owens, a Pasquotank County
Democrat. "If you're saying that moving it
is dangerous, then taking it out of the ground
and detoxifying it is dangerous."
The task force's recommendations were
based on a "moral and just reasoning," said
Dollie Burwell, a county resident an_p mem-
ber of the task force.
THE NEWS & DffiERVER
SUNDAY, MAY l 0, 1998
New EPA
bias policy
protested
widely
BY JOHN H. CUSHMAN JR.
. THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON -State governments
and major industrial groups are
challenging a new Environmental
Protection Agency policy intended
to ensure that minority neighbor-
hoods are not saddled with an un-
fair share of incinerators, dumps
and other sources of pollution.
The agency's policy addresses
mounting complaints by civil rights
and environmental advocates that
state agencies commit racial dis-
crimination in granting pollution
permits.
But opponents of the policy, which
the agency put in place three
months ago, are urging the Clinton
administration to withdraw it, argu-
ing that it would hamstring state
andlocalgovernments,encourage
frivolous lawsuits and discourage
companies from investing in
depressed cities.
The widespread opposition puts
the Clinton administration in a del-
icate political position. Many of its
allies in the environmental and civil
rights movements support the _
administration's longstanding pol-
icy of trying to reduce the burdens ·
of pollution on the disadvantaged.
In celebrating Earth Day on April
22, Vice President Al Gore directed
all federal agencies to re-empha-
size the administration's policy, say-
ing that "there have been strong
expressions of concern from com-
munity leaders that our efforts to
date have not been sufficient."
The federal environmental agen-
cy's policy provides detailed guid-
ance to the EPA office of civil rights,
which considers complaints of dis-
crimination filed under Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That
law prohibits state agencies receiv-
ing federal money from taking
actions that unfairly burden racial
minorities. The guidance is in effect
on an interim basis -while the
agency collects public comments.
The EPA's policy holds that even
when a pollution permit passes the
ordinary tests of environmental
laws, it might be illegal under the
civil rights law if it contributes to a
pattern of disproportionate pollu-
tion in a minority neighborhood.
In that case, a state would have
to change the permit, justify it to
the federal agency or face a loss of
federal money and possibly a fed-
eral lawsuit.
Civil rights groups, advocating
what they call "environmental jus-
tice," have complained that pollu-
tion falls most heavily on poor and
minority communities, a practice
they call "environmental racism."
The broad questions of whether
environmental racism exists and,
if it does, what policies can best fos-
ter environmental equity have been
debated for years.
Four years ago, President Clinton
issued an executive order telling all
federal agencies to reduce environ-
mental injustices. That put the
administration squarely in the camp
of those who believe, on the basis of
demographic studies and other evi-
dence, that minority groups have
faced discriminatory treatment in
the form of excessive pollution.
But the narrow question of how
to use pollution permits as a tool to
redress the problem has caused an
unusually vehement response from
business groups, which in the past
have shied away from the debate.
Business groups and state offi-
cials said their operations could be
hobbled if the agency's new guid-
ance was left in place. Every time a
permit comes up for review, they
warned, a company could be held
hostage by a civil rights complaint.
"It runs contrary to federal pro-
grams designed to bring jobs and
cleanup to low-income and minor-
ity areas," said William Kovacs, vice
president for environment at the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of
several business groups opposing
the new policy. "For the last 10
years, we have been trying to move
financial resources into urban
areas, trying to encourage jobs and
growth. No one is looking at the
long-term economic benefit."
Complaints challenging the loca-·
tion of incinerators, dumps, facto-
ries and other installations have
languished at the EPA, which has
at least 15 such cases under active
consideration. The agency has
rejected more than half of the 51
cases fifed in the last five years,
often on procedural grounds.
If anything, the civil rights groups
say, the EPA's new policy is too weak.
Decision for So lite
In a May 3 article on an unrelated
dispute between a Raleigh bar and its
neighbors ("The fight for Five Points")
you misi_nformed readers with regard
to litigation involving Carolina Solite
Corp. First and foremost, our case was
no "SLAPP suit," but rather an action
based upon the breach of a settlement
agreement by a group formed to
oppose Carolina Solite. Second, the
court did not "throw out" our lawsuit.
On the contrary, while declining to
issue the injunction that Carolina Solite
sought, the court later awarded
summary judgment in favor of the firm
and against the group and its
president. You got the result of this liti-
gation backwards.
RICKKANE
Raleigh
The writer is a lawyer who represents
Carolina Solite.
Legislators
. question
cleanup cos~~
Lawmakers wonder whether a .. ?.,
Warren County dump can be ~ ~
detoxified for less than $24 million.
BY JAMES ELI SHIFFER
STAFF WRITER
. A panel of lawmakers said they support Gov.
Jim Hunt's plan to clean up a deteriorating
hazardous _waste dump in Warren County, but
they questioned its $24 million price tag.
.The General Assembly's Environmental·
Review Commission got a unified message
Wedne~day afternoon from two groups often
at odds m the past -Hunt administration offi-
cials and Warren County residents.
They told legislators they had found a way
to clean up the 16-year-old landfill which con-
tains 40,000 cubic yards of soil co~taminated
with carcinoge~ic polychlorinated biphenyls,
or PCBs. The t1me had come they said for
the legislature to help Hunt fulfill his fos2
promise to detoxify the' dump when technol-
.ogy became available and feasible. The gov-
ernor's budget will ask for $15 million this ses-
sion and seek $9 million from federal agencies.
"A promise was made, and we hope it will
soon be fulfilled," Henry Lancaster, the state's
deputy secretary of environment and natural
resources, told the commission.
Bu.t lawmakers questioned the cost of
decontaminating the dump with the chosen
technology, which cooks the waste at a low
temperature to strip toxins from the soil and
re~de~ th_em h~le~s. Supporters say that
unlike mcmeration, this method spews no haz.
ardous substances into the air. . ·
Rep. John Weatherly, a Cleveland County
Republican, said toxic waste in his district
was disposed by traditional incineration with
"no emission" of pollutants.
''You're talking about public panic about air."
Weatherly said, referring to the concern ~f
Warren County citizens. "If you've got a local
public opinion problem, that's one thing."
Rep. Frank Mitchell, an Iredell County
Republican, said he has visited a utah haz-
ardous waste incinerator with a "beautiful"
performance .
"We need to fulfill our commitment. I'm not
arguing with that," Mitchell said. "I want to
make sure we're doing what is best. ... Maybe
we're getting ripped off."
Joel Hirschhorn, a scientist hired by the
~tate an~ local residents to monitor the pro-
Ject, rephed that he didn't think incineration
would save any money.
Despite the commission's tepid reaction to
the_request, Do~e. Burwell, a Warren County
resident and achVIst, remained optimistic.
"In some of the questions they raised, they
showed concern for the citizens of Warren
C~unty," she said after the presentation. "I
think the commitment is there."
James Eli Shiffer can be reached
at 836-5701 or [e-mail]
GUN~. tVH GLHYJUN U~l ur r HA NU, ~l~iO li Udd !"', Ul
~cJ ul~~
:T11-c·outiTY '.~r·;; ,. ·.-·,~:,a::.,•·_,,_,.:.· •. Wednesday, May 6, 1998
• ' •• t •,. ' ,,,, , V '
i:'. ,~ , :{..~ ··1 .:'.; I •\\ .,t. '• ._l\ >) ', '. , ....... , :r~ :f ~c:1.-y:·"' ·, ...
:i. ' A_Staff Report· \.r1'.J, .. J:_i:,: ;.\( · i -
( ' :\ ~ . ~. \\~t~ ._~:_.t)~,i ·,~': ............ ····-_ ........... ·-"~1• ..
. ~~ :. , .: •. :: i(~ -.r > ... ~ .
~ t • " ... Ir' ~ . RALEIGH -Gov.· J°l1ll Hunt
niade his commi~ent 'to deth:ri-
fication of the PCB :landfill in
.,,l • Warren definit;e ~ w~k· iith
submission of his budget t.o the
General Assembly, s:·.:.~:'·\ t· · :--. •\ 1 I + j\ 1 •/';, ~•, • l'Ji, · • • : \
· .. One of the largest 1tema in the
.r .. ~ $101 million en~ir0mn2nW
budget is the $15 million pegged
i..-. for the landfill. ·
'(~ ' ' I ' • ' • ,,, l • ·• "'f•• a. ! ·-'This is how the 'line' item~
Cl . described in a docu~e~~-~
the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources·: . -' · ._ · -:·
.· ... . . . -
. •pcB Landill . 'in . Warren
County -This landfill nooda
.,( : deto:rification, b~aUBe' 'it baB
fill.,.,;i unt'h ,nQtc..-.,,..;,i iQ 1.:. .. lnnu
.d .. '-"''-A •~ A-~ ~, ~-.. .. ~.,,. ~ •--o·
After two ye~ of ahidy, scien-
tists, state officials, and local
residents have set~ a .. ·sare
clean-up method, The total cost
will be $24, some of which is
~ected from fedetjil sources.•
. ' . . ~ .~ ~ '-!-1: ~; ~· . ' '
DENR officials and Warren
County representativea present-
ed their case for the project t.o a
legislative group lait week a.~.er
they learned the "governor
int-ended to include it iii his bud-
~------------------__,;----,-----------get~ ., . ·, ~' ;:,$ ' :
. ' ' •.·· :·. . :· ·. 'i ,• ,,... . ~ r commissioners begin ·reYi'eW
: .. ,_( -~
of draft budget ·.·
..
, • ;foO:ers started with a with the tax increase. That percent cost-of-living increase .maint-enance and janitorial ser• ! .. 1:at.e proposal and whit-amount can be spent, and more, for county employees and a vices. .. • .,
Hunt
calls for
boost in
spending
Republican leaders say the governor's
S 12. 9 billion budget proposal is
'reckless and foolish.' A long, divisive
legislative session seems likely.
BY JOHN WAGNER
STAFF WRITER
With the economy booming and tax revenue
rolling in, Gov. Jim Hunt on Monday proposed
spending an additional $1.4 billion next year on
higher teacher pay, expansion of his Smart Start
program and other initiatives he said would
"build North Carolina" at a time when the state
can afford it.
Under Hunt's proposed budget, spending in
the 1998-99 fiscal year would rise by 12 percent,
to $12.9 billion. He has earmarked millions of
dollars for new juvenile-crime initiatives, clean-
water programs and economic development in
rural and inner-city areas.
Most state employees would
get 4 percent raises -plus
a 1 percent bonus -start-
ing in July.
Republican leaders
immediately branded
Hunt's proposal as "reck-
less and foolish."
"There's entirely too
much spending," said
House Majority Leader Leo
Daughtry ·of Smithfield.
"When you grow go_vern-
ment at this rate, what hap-
pens when you have an eco-
nomic downturn?"
,
Gov. Jim Hunt
· seeks higher
teacher pay,
initiatives.
During an afternoon news conference, how-,
ever. Hunt, a Democrat, said economic models . 'D \.) l
sho~ed the budget would remain balanced for -~\' ~-· \)(
the foreseeable future. · \..-
"We can afford to do all_ the thi?gs I'.'7e set out * "
in this budget," Hunt said, calling his propos-•
als "an investment in our children's.~ture."
The spending plan -released one week
before the start of this year's legislative ses-
sion -set the stage for another battle with the
Republican-controlled House.
GOP leaders have proposed a tax-relief pack-
age that would cost the state treasury $228 mil-
lion next year -sapping revenue needed to
pay for Hunt's plans.
On Monday, Hunt endorsed one of the
Republican-backed tax cuts: elimination of the
state's remaining 2 percent sales tax on food.
. But Hunt proposed phasing out the lax starting
in July 1999 at the earliest Republicans have called
for discontinuing the tax_altogether in October.
Moreover, Hunt made no mention
Monday of GOP plans to eliminate
the inheritance tax, cut personal
income taxes or raise the home-
stead exemption, a move that would
help the elderly.
Instead, he made it clear that his
top priority this session is expand-
ing Smart Start, his early-childhood
program, into all 100 counties.
The program, which provides
day-care subsidies and other ser-
vices to preschoolers, operates in
55 counties at a cost close to $100
million. Hunt wants to spend an
additional $57 million next year.
Investing more money in Smart
Start, he argued, would produce
less crime, fewer teenage preg-
nancies, smaller welfare rolls and
a better work force. _
"The challenge before the legisla-
ture this year is a simple one: to put
our children's future first," Hunt said
Daughtry said House Republicans
are not opposed to Smart Start but
would like to see it expand "in a
more orderly basis."
He said GoP members may balk
at bringing the program to every
county next year.
"I think that amount of money is
going to be a problem, too," he said
Hunt's most costly proposal -
the second installment of a four-
year plan to boost teacher pay -
enjoys more widespread support.
Last year, -lawmakers passed a
blueprint to bring the salaries of
North Carolina teachers in line with
the national average by 2000. At the
time, the state ranked 42nd in the
nation in average teacher pay.
NEW SPENDING
Highlights of the $1.4 billion in new stole spending proposed by Gov.
Jim Hunt for fiscal year 1998-99:
■ Expand Smart Start to all 100 counties .......... $56.6 million
■ Children's health insurance program ........... $14.1 million
■ Other items .............................. $20.0 million
■ Teacher salary increases
(Average raises of 6.5 percent) ............... $227 .1 million
■ Other school employee salary increases
(4 percent raises and 1 percent bonus) .......... $51 .5 million
■ Community college salary increases
(4 percent raises and 1 to 2 percent bonuses) ..... $54.3 million
■ University salary increases
(4 percent raises and 1 to 2 percent bonuses) ..... $73.3 million
■ ABC incentive program .................... $115.6 million
■ Assistance for low-risk schools ................ $11 .1 million
■ Technology investments ...................... $1 0.0 million
■ Funds to mentor first year teachers .............. $9 .0 million
■ College financial aid increases ................. $7.2 million
■ Other items ............................. $175.9 million
■ Clean-water initiatives ...................... $34.9 million
■ Warren County landfill cleanup ............... $15.0 million
■ Beach renourishment ....................... $10.0 million
■ Other items .............................. $20.7 million
'"%: . " ;;~;¥B!J;JOBS/tCONOMK DMLOPMEif ~l!lfs::~.::::!
■ New visitor's center in Ra leigh ................ $10.0 million
■ State Fair bu ilding construction ................ $20.3 million
■ Global TransPark development ................. $5.3 million
■ Industrial development fund
(provides utilities and buildings) ............... $32.0 million
■ Governor's competitive fund .................. $5.0 million
■ North Carolina Aquariums construdion ......... $15.5 million
■ Other items .............................. $92.0 million
■ Match funds for area mental health ............ $38.0 million
■ HIV medications for low-income ............... $16.1 million
■ Other items ............................... $5.3 million
~~ .. , ... l~~~,r;; .~''ClliaflPt,iailc ~Fm7JUV£~TlilusttGl'IBlfilll!fTi:;i::·:•tu
■ Juvenile justice initiatives .................... $40.0 million
■ Other items .............................. $10.2 million
t11Lt1llllil¼~W'.&Jb\1f.r~L4rmm9Br._.~KI
■ Welfare reform reserve ...................... $20.0 million
■ Higher reimbursement adult-care homes .......... $3.8 million
■ Other items ............................... $9.0 million
jiwll1;f¾tll!.•J&liltlliffl~~V!~ffl,fm'lll,111.1izl@lli11%1llml
■ Year 2000 funding ......................... $34.3 million
■ New revenue systems ....................... $12.5 million
■ State employee salary increase
(4 percent raises and 1 percent bonus) ............ $90.5 million
Hunt's proposal calls for spend-
ing $227 million next year to boost
teacher salaries by an average of
6.5 percent. Another $115.6 million
is designated for the ABC program,
which provides bonuses to educa-
tors at high-performing schools.
The proposal sets aside $40 million
for a package of juvenile-crime ini-
tiatives that Hunt plans to unveil this
month. They are expected to include
a mix of tougher punishments and
prevention programs, drawn from
. .
Hunt's budget
Gov. Jim Hurit proposed spending an additional $ l .4 billion in
state money .. next year. Here's a :breakdown of where the new funds-
would go.
IN MILLIONS <stoi~~mployee salary
ill(reoses ----,
$90.S
Children __ (_6·_6%_)_--,
$90.7
(6.6%)
Jobs/economk __r;
development
$180.1
(13.1%)
"Including salary increases
General
government
$52.9
(3.9%)
Elderly/social services
$32.8
(2.4%)
,.·~~:-,:w.~,··« ·.-'2 ®'X'h" .··.·.·.· ... ',«..<w,,,·······.~~•· ··/;.,., ·.·= "' '"' ,.,
)ource: Governor's Office
the work of a blue-ribbon panel.
On Monday, Hunt said his pack-
age would include the formation
of a Cabinet-level department ded-
icated to the problems of youthful
offenders.
His budget would boost spending
on the environment by $81 million ·
next year. Initiatives include
increased monitoring of fish kills,
more water-quality inspectors and
$10 million for renourishment of
beaches battered by hurricanes.
The proposal includes about $12
million for initiatives related to
elderly citizens, including expand-
ed in-home services for those not
eligible for Medicaid.
At his news' conference, Hunt also
emphasized new spending on eco-
nomic development in rural areas
and "poverty-stricken, inner-city
neighborhoods." The budget sets
aside $2 million next year for State
Development Zones -distressed
urban areas where tax credits could
be used to lure investment.
The budget's "economic devel-
opment" spending also includes an
array of spending on museums and
other attractions.
For example, Hunt wants $10
The News & Observer
million for construction of a new
visitor's center in downtown
Raleigh; $3 million for "acoustical
enhancements" at the new
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
Performing Arts Center; and $11
million for a history museum in
Elizabeth City.
All told, Hunt's budget recom-
mendations would add 1,000 state
positions -half of them in
schools.
Monday's proposals were Hunt's
second round of recommended bud-
get adjustments. In March, he out-
lined close to $150 million in pro-
posed spending reductions.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-con-
trolled Senate will be the first to take
up Hunt's budget recommendations.
Senate leaders have already endorsed
several of his major proposals.
The Senate will then ship its ver-
sion of the budget to the House,
where Hunt's plans are certain to
get a chillier reception. Before the
session ends, the two chambers
must reconcile any differences.
"It's going to be ~ long, longs~-
mer," Daughtry smd. ·-
John Wagner con be reached
at 829-8902 or [e-mail]
Ties that bind PCBs
The writer of an April 17 People's
Forum letter on the Warren County PCB
site stated that "the isolated PCB lan~
site threatens no one and poses no
health concern." We agree, based on
the following reasons:
The soil-binding index of organic
chemicals (known as the K value) is
directly related to biological availability.
The greater the K value, the stronger
the binding to soil, the less mobile
through soils and the lower the biologi-
cal availability (therefore, less toxic).
The K value of many different PCBs
ranges from 300 to 600.
For comparison, Glyphosate (sold as
Roundup herbicide) has a K value of 240 .
. Most herbicides have K values that are
much lower. For example, the soil-
applied corn herbicide Atrazine has a K
value of 1.0.
Furthermore, all of the roadside PCB
was treated with an abundance of
activated carbon. The K value for PCB
binding.by activated carbon is hundreds
of times greater than for soil.
When trying to kill weeds, if Roundup
is applied to soil as opposed to the plant
foliage, the herbicide will not work The
reason is the Roundup is not biologically
available because it is bound to soil par-
ticles. PCB bound to soil, and in this
case to activated carbon, is even less
biologically active. There are many sci-
entific publications that address this
issue. _
There are several scientifically sound
methods of remediating the Warren
County PCB storage site that are much.,
less expensive than the method present-
ly being considered. The panel of
experts suggested by the letter-writer is
a good start. ·
J.B. WEBER, Ph.D.
Professor, Crop Science
EH. YELVERTON, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Crop Science
N.C. State University
Raleigh
Hunt vows to clean u~~
Warren County dump~
BY JULIA CORBIN
STAFF WRITER
WARRENTON -Sixteen years ago,
Gov. Jim Hunt promised residents
here that the state would clean up the
hazardous-waste dump foisted on
them despite their loudest protests.
On Sunday, Hunt started to make
good on that promise. The governor's
proposed budget for the upcoming
year includes $15 million to detoxify
the dump, Wayne McDevitt, secre-
tary of the state Department of the
Environment and Natural
Resources, told a crowd of more than
80 at the Warren County Courthouse.
That figure is almost two-thirds
the projected cost of the cleanup. The
budget will be presented to the
General Assembly this week
Dollie Burwell, a community
leader who has fought the dump for
years, said the response to
McDevitt's statement was over-
whelming.
"He got loud applause, and an
½men' on top of it," she said. "People
have been waiting for so~e sign of
. the governor living up to his
promise."
J'he state has estimated it will cost
almost $24 million to clean up the
dump. Hunt's statement listed sev-
eral agencies from which the state
will seek the remaining $9 million.
In 1982, the state buried 40,000 cubic
yards of contaminated .soil near the
Afton community in Warren County.
The dirt came from waste oil illegal-
ly sprayed along roads in 14 counties.
,, The oil was laced with PCBs, or
polychlorinated biphenyls, which
were once used to insulate electri-
cal transformers. The federal gov-
ernment banned PCBs in 1977; the
Environmental Protection Agency
says they cause cancer.
Hunt, then in his second term as
governor, ordered the waste scraped
up and buried in Warren County.
The county is one of the poorest in
the state, and 57 percent of its resi-
dents are black The dump became
a symbol of "environmental racism,"
in which facilities like incinerators,
toxic-waste dumps and chemical fac-
tories are disproportionately locat-
ed in minority communities.
The dump trucks c;µTying the con-
taminated soil were met with pro-
testers, and the images of state
troopers hauling local residents to
jail made the national news.
Hunt then promised that North
Carolina would clean up the dump
as soon as "appropriate and feasible
technology is developed."
Hunt's statement Sunday also
endorsed the method of detoxifica-
tion chosen by a working group of
community leaders and scientists
who spent more than two years study-
ing various methods, Burwell said.
The allocation still must pass the
General Assembly.
"There is no certainty at this point
... but it's a good feeling to have the
governor behind it," said Jim Warren,
the director of the N.C. Waste
Awareness and Reduction Network
-:. Julia Corbin can be reached '· _ at 836-2882 or [e-mail]·
PCB site merits a cleanup
Regarding the April 17 People's Forum
letter ("PCB site is no threat") about
your coverage of the failing PCB landfill
in Warren County: Although the letter-
writer complains about your lack of hard
scientific data, he seems to know
nothing about the comprehensive site
investigation conducted in 1997.
As your April 11 news article reflected,
the state-of-the-art toxic dump is failing.
The supposedly dry landfill contains
over a million gallons of water; scientists
hired by the Citizen/State Working
Group believe water is leaking in and
out of the dump. The leachate system
designed to remove liquids faijed years
ago. The dump's liner is in poor condi-
tion. Dioxins have been detected in
monitoring wells. PCBs have been ·
detected in air emissions. The writer
says these issues pose no health
concern but he doesn't live in Warren
County.
The condition of the dump is such that
EPA cited the state for improper '
management of the landfill. If left alone,
the dump, containing 40,000 tons of cont-
aminated soil, would surely worsen. The
letter-writer stated PCBs break down in
nature but fails to mention that this
process takes many decades.
As a member of the PCB Working
Group and its technical committee for
the past four years, I am glad the state
appears ready to rectify the injustice of
having forced this toxic dump on Warren
County in 1982.
At that time, Governor Hunt made an
explicit, written promise -after much
national news coverage of massive·
peaceful protests -to detoxify the site
when feasible.
It's now feasible and safe to do so. It
isn't cheap, but the state ·owns the land-
fill -and the responsibility to lift the
toxic burden off the back of Warren
County before dump failure worsens.
The nightmare has lasted too long. •
Durham
.JIM WARREN
Director, NC WARN
This Jetter was also endorsed by the
four other members of the Working
Group's technical committee.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER
APRIL 22, 1998
I advise and enjoin those who direct the paper
in the tomorrows never to advocate any cause for personal
profit or preferment. I would wish ii always to be ''the tocsin"
and to devote itself to the policies of equality and justice to the
underprivileged. ljthe paper should at any time be the voice
of self-interest or become the spokesman of privilege or selfishness
it would be untrue to its history.
-from the will of Josephus Daniels, Editor and Publisher 1894-1948
Relief .for Warren
Responding to protests, Governor Hunt pledged 16 years ago that a
toxic dump in Warren County would be cleaned up when possible.
Despite the expense, this is a pledge that deserves to be kept.
Sixteen years ago, state trucks hauled
soil polluted with toxic chemicals to
a landfill in Warren County, one of
North Carolina's poorest, on the Virginia
border northeast of Raleigh. Residents ·
and civil rights advocates -claiming
that a majority-black county was being
exploited -went to jail in protest of the
dumping, and Governor Hunt promised
that the burial site would be cleaned up
as soon as the right technology became
available. State environmental experts
say that day now has come. But while
the Hunt administration seems less than
enthused about a cleanup, the gover-
nor's pledge ought not be disregarded.
What's involved is basic fairness, and
a prudent approach to the risks: Warren
had no powerful polit~cal friends or
sharp-suited lobbyists back when the
state came looking for a place to get rid
of 40,000 cubic yards of dirt tainted with
illegally dumped polychlorinated
biphenyls, or PCBs, cancer-causing
chemicals whose use has since been
banned.
protests against the pattern of forcing
undesirable public projects on the poor
and disenfranchised, who often happen
to belong to racial minorities.
It was in the heat of that controversy
that Hunt, in his second term, made his
clean-up promise. Since then, circum-
stances have become more grave:
Officials acknowledged in 1993 that the
PCB dump had filled with 13 feet of
water, which threatens to leak into th~
groundwater and contaminate wells in
the surrounding area.
That's all the more reason to follow
the recommendation of a group com-
posed of state environmental officials,
Warren residents and environmental-
ists who say that a low-temperature
heating process would render the taint-
ed soil harmless. A few barrels of oily
sludge wiltremain, and that amount
could be incinerated.
The process is expensive, with a cost
estimated at nearly $24 million. North
Carolina, however, is ethically obligat-
ed to spend what's necessary in return
for this community's hosting of a dan-'The state prosecuted the polluters and
joined with the federal Environmental
Protection Agency to dispose of the soil.
Opponents of the landfill commendably
rose up in what became one of the first
. gerous dump these past years. It is like-
ly that federal grants would cover part
of the cost. In any case, Warren County
deserves finally to lay its struggle down.
'
LllMM ~ I ULJ!t.0 . ._.,.,, _. .... _,. .._,_,,, ....... ,_....,-r Cl.A • ';J·;.,.•...rj L'-.,;...;1..,._, , .'I~'
THE NEWS & OBSERVER
FRiOAY, APRIL l 7, 1 998
I a.d'IQ·e and enjoin tlu;,w! who direct the paper
in thr t.QMOrro,,n Ml"t'' t,1 advocate uny cau.~,: Jo, persorral
p,ofiJ or prt/trmenl. / ..,nu.id -..iislr it atway.r tn be ''the /t)<:sin '~
o,cd re dtvut• its.:lf lo th, polici~s nf equality aruJ.justict tn (he
Ulfderpri>'i./q1td. If tu paper .\·lwt,M u.t 'lflj timl! ~ tht w,ia
of st/f-lJJUNtlt or lucom~ the sp(lktsmlVt t>{ privil~ or Yelfishntss
it would bt u.n1ru, to its history.
-1,... 11!. will of 1-oitu• Daniell, ldilllt eta.I l'ullllWIM 119&.1'49
f· , f . r.-: .. \. J::.\:
Kids are waiting
· ··in effort to provide mliiions for heoith ins11rance coverage ior chiidren
of tile state's working poor has veered into a legislative tar pit.
The Issue simply does not have to be this complicated.
When it convened in special ses•
sion three weeks ago, the
Gener3.l Assembly faced a rather
simple Lask; allocatirtg $28 million in
state funds that would draw S80 million
from the federal treasulj' to ft.nance a
ht!alth insurance program fol" needy
children.
Now most legislators are back home,
at1d a handful of negr,tiators are locked
in a ~tandoff. Yet a plan sti!l must b(!
approved if North Carolina is to obtain
ils share of federal money to insure the
'1,000 children whose working•da.ss
families m!ike too muth money to qual-
ify for Medica;d coverage.
Forfeiting the money shouldnit be an
option, but that's a risk if heels become
dug in any more deeply on what ought
to be a relatively uncontroversial mea,
sure. Another risk is that bjtter feelin~
and continued stalemate could shadow
the regular short session that ~gins
less than a month from now,
Republicans who control the House
have been more sh..1bborn, and they
have Car less to be stubbom about. The
Senate's health insurance plan adberes
more closely to the approach recom-
mended by a bipartisan legislative com•
mission. The House plan is larded up
-\l,,ith tax credit~ t'or families that buy
their children private insurance; pre-
miums for families making more than
133 perC'ent of tbe tederal poverty level;
a waiting period to rliscoHrage familie~
from dropping private insurance that
they're now paying for. It should be eti.rn-
m at ed from contention because of it."i
-.. .ft
$215 million cost to the state treasury,
the out-or-pocket expense that it places
on already struggling families, and the
difficulty it poses for the state to admin-
ister.
Senate Democrats have been the one.s
to give more ground in recent days,
offering to accept a House idea to admin-
ister the insw-ance program through the
state employees health plan. In return,
the House was asked to accept hearing,
vision and dent.al coverage for the affect-
i?d children -benefits that it calluuslv
has om!tted. But House leaders have
rejected the compromise.
Taxpayers' t,ynicism also is growing
over the $104 a day that legislator.:; are
receiving for this special session. even
though many have gone home while the
negotiations grind on. More than half
the 50-member Senate and 23 members
of the 120-member House now are
declining to accept their per dit:m pay-
men ts Those who are collecting tax
money for doing nothing must realize
that the public doesn't appr~ciate Lhe
joke.
The Hcuse's m~gotiators no doubt are
sincere in their concerns, but they have
made this issue unnecessarily compli
cated, Children of the working poor
need msunnce coverage. The ap -
proach favored by the SenDte, whir,h
tracks well with the one crafted by th'!
lt!gisl.iti".e com.mission, is rar fr~m l~v-
ish. It's time, finally, to accomplish che
task at hand: passing an insurance plan
that will help keep North Carolina kidi:;
from hurting.
EDITORIAL
PCB site is no threat
The N&O has Wl'itt~.n dozens ol s:or1e~
on the PCB is$ue in ic\'1:1::ren Cot:r: '.y
Most of the article!-ar,, ~ :-epe:it ,;i; .h,.
same in!ol'mation, mainly with ~,Jt t,r :-:~:
scientific data. It would be h ;,ipf;1i ,t Y'.;·.:
b~~ your covi;:rage ·.vith harrl :.;,: '"'11 -
tifk data anti a to uch .,, re.::ilny.
The iM iati,:·r:! P('B l&ndflli site
threatens 110 onf: ;t:d poses no 1,Pr,.l!l1
concern. PC'8s hr-e3~ d,,-.vn m 1u'.:.it~
and move extremely siov. ty 1,1 cb._-, ~,<i.'.~,
Warren Count\' na::. many r:,·:•.~d.-;. r,ut
d eaning 1.1p th,., PCB ~it~ ,!, nN a hi?:''
priority place to spend $2f, million
DisLur'oanre of thl':' site wo,!id \J€ ., ,:.,:_.r;;
l)iete •.;,,asc~ oi tax doli,a·s. -~ :.C1l,n~,fi,-
paneJ of up€rts .',h'.m!d be c·:•n·.,1e:if',j t ,-.
decide the fate"' tht> PCB ~ite If __.-/
Warren Cninty has to b4!' paid •)ff ~-1 :ir;.
caUy. look fo:-!:-ome other a!terr.:~l i;,s.',.
JAMES M. STEW.<tR'
Kinst,1n
rctx -~1~-L~r -1uuu reu 11 .I..J\;~1~1a1-va. '-'••-" -.-. -r,--
PCB opponents to
apply more pressure
---------1itustinn ia poditlY1! for North ty CHAIIUE RICHARDS Carolina tbJt ycAT, anci ad~ ~ Ols!)9tch WIier cnlea or th'! ()Hnup tht111ld aRk • fnr the 11111 aml)Unt. to Wllllnatto A key ~Klatcr 011 environ-difficulti~ .,jtb (ut'llte lefisla-me11t«I matt.r11 hu encourotl'd tum ~ho11ld dollars cet tltrht. Wamn County ■nd oth~r ,nvi, H~ would he "col)Cl!rned If tht N)ll!Ml)tal lntere~t8 to •pply full A_n1ount 18 oot Pff!vidr,d," lie preti6Ure tbl• year for fondR to eAii:I. ~,,,~ It la importa11t that de1111 up the PCB laodfill 111 ont'I! the joo ia started 11.8 corn· 1':llllM .. t Warno. pletinn iR ~arttnl-t. And Rtf,. -------.. But Sen. Odum ctutionoo that R I c k thrrt! are many r;11u!K'a •ftkinc Eddlt:1t said •l4~ doll4r9, s.ud while 11. tur-ad voc ~ tu plua i~ exvtcted wht11 the l>I del(lxH'i• "'""~mhly ronvenr:ti In May. he rstlon or dnc• not have at p--nt ll.ll tht luu----up<fote on whP.t mil ht ovail~ble. a r d o u , Odum 6n.id hi• coo~m 1, not w a • t e only for the lmmediste an:4 and · buried at Afion should pu5!\ for time. but the long l'llng,. what 1111 1ppm9tiatlnn of the full dani:er the ehemkalt io the amount net<!~ when lhe Oener-londt'ill 'fflight poae for fuhln! al A,11embly bolds lta abort ~t-f"ncl"lltlOn!. aioo b1 May, · Rep. F,ddina snid th'-joi"t l"(-Rct,. Eddins. Ri?publk•n frnm i~lativ~ . c(!mmi.~l!ion prob,tbly WR.kc County, la ro-ebaitmnn ti .. m n,k for anC1t.her 1'1!)Xltt on thr. the t~alat\1.-e's E~Yirol)Jnen_tnl rca is!lll~ ~ore . th, ■es.i(ll'I Re,it!!• Cot11miss10tt. "'hich convrntK, to bring Its mt'ffl~ ~iv!d 11 ~l no $(11di~ mn-11p to d~te and to ~ prcp•n!d C(>t'11in~ tl)e la11d!iU whei, it met whrn It wme, ~fore them. In ~b(-r. Tht Wa1Ten/St1.te Work!~ 8,ipporil•4 wor,b al8(l came Gr(lllp bu hfen d~eloplng ti from · Sen. Franklin 0,:lurn. gtrat~ for the ~ssion. wilh D.ffiotT!lt or Ml'Cklenhufl' Ci,,in, Sen. Frank Ballance. [)emom,t ty, m-cbllim11111 of the comrnis-from Wnrren, ~rpectM In ~ke !lion. He Hid his "!)e~onnl poe;. thr let1d io !lffki"' an tll"PT'Opri-tion la .-.c aurh\ to cl~an up" the ,Linn. 'F;lected in tht r.ariy 'llOe l111ilt'itl. The l~ti~lnture ll'll•t whrn thr lr1ndflll WIit ereatrt.1. ·ank if lht landfill ~ a threot. 1,(-had ~n a l!'lldinl!,' r,ppc:,~nt and It does ..,.t (lllgbt to 1AM anrl 1189 worlr.cd hJt way into ~ Clln! r,( it." lesdenib.lp p!JO!rition !11 the Se ... -We wnnte<i to get up to dat~ ~l~.
,nd ¢ the f•rl• out: F,ddins Stat~ official~ have 1"1"1)!'atedly ~id. refrrnng to the ~1111rt hi• 81.,,rro the Wor\Jng Gr011p tl-iet rommlsi;ion l"!!q11~te<i from t.hto thi: detoJtillaition IJOctl is «ha""1 ltath J:k!pR:rt.ment of Envin:,n-b, t!i!l en,;ro11mental d .. p■rt· ment 11.1d Natural Jli:!!<lurct"-fflP1Jt. l'TI?(luent refer,:l)a! is Eddlfl!I uid •inti! que•tiorui m~de to • prornl~e 017" .. J:iunt l\n~ bc~n rai3fd sl,out ,"'.hether · · mAM ye11.n 11110 io clean up, the th~ l.~dml 1My be J~kintr toot-· J~o<Hill w~n f~a!l'ib!t. · -··•· 1.rnloated Wlltcr. he ,.,pport, Mtm!K-rr, expr,ct tn~iiht int~ cl"4ning it up .• , fflluldn't WMt th~ admh.tlst111tlo11'1 plau whon It JJt my erea: he ~dd'Jd. . t~ dep~rtmeot't new 1=14ry, Tb~ deputment, work•~« lnng-titrte Uu11t Ha'll'.i!ll@ Wey11e with • joint Stntl!l'Werren PCB [e-mail]1its Wa~n County. Wnrldnf Oroop, h11• •l)(!nt ~ mil-which th~ eJtpect thla month. Jto11 dol!an ~,-~ thl! put ff..,
~111"8 .,n 1lt1die11 of the lnndnll,
dtaigntd t.o tl~terrnlN! any Mfe-
' ty thrtat it may POil~ sl)d to det«mine "'hcther I.hf! waa~
a1n be de~ifitd.
A method hat beetJ sel~t~,
and , 60.J report on the det!liJ■ and eO!!t of h(IW det02ifiC11tiQft
could be done l• npertt!d thi• month. ,EstlJJi•te-e 114 hi~b ~• S26 tnllllun han ~a made, but 11.
s20 111i!liot1 ficurt w•• Jnea•
·tloned tteently. lddlnt •Id ..,,hil~ he cm1 ld ~ot
,peak l'o!' 1159 oth,r l~slatorw h1 the ~o hotl,C!I, M beli~@!I tb<J
\. 11J)1'mpriatfou wo11ld bRv~ • good chal)(t If It ,, lrn:h1ded h.1 (',oT.
Jim Hu nf• bu Ilg et proroeo I. He
1dn8M local oflict11, to "pttn the 910Yffll(lt to (I(! r,o."
· Sen. Odum 9411d he •grtt4
,.;d, F..ddl111r• that the ehnn~
fot '" 11ppn,p!'latioe ,~ bet~r if ~ ~ l1 ltidud~ la Cm. H'llflt'ft bidi;et ~•l
Eddlm 111~ the ,.,,eoue
r
I I ,.
I
I
r . t.i.,::
, . FEB 13 '98 09,: 2~£1~~~ · PUBLIC RFFHIRS _ \ .,11 IQ.I Rfl~ 119;&st • •·-J '1'11-CIUN'ff
!lily Otspatc~ , ~ _ f ~'[?'l _ Ne. 5
od high 1e~rn11.ire~
/llminglon 66"
l'l"Y f'f. Cloue'r Ctov<Az
. O 1 eilft AceuWea!tl•, Inc.
I.
'.ACROSS
CAROLINA
soclated Press
•' · HI tow Prep
55 27 0.00
uas 52 43 0.00
• -. fiO 32 0.00
! :.{ 59 34 0.00
63 36 0.00
o 55 27 0.00
·-55 28 0.00
le 60 35 0.00
59 35 0.00
h:w1'I r-1; % nm
Legislator encourages
PCB opponents to
apply more pressure
---· --------· ··-···-.. ··-·-·---·· situation it, positi'1e for North
By CHARlll: AtC~AROS
Oaify Dispatch Wnter .
. A key legislator on environ-
mental matters bas encouraged
Warren County and other envi-
. rotunental interests to apply
pressure this year for funds to
clean up the PCB l.andnll in
$0Utheast Warren.
And Rep. ·--,,.....fr,.,.._ A---...
~~::::t; :'I
. " .· of detoxifi~ ·'.§ .
cation of
the haz-
ardous
w a s t e
buried at Afton &hould l)llsh for
an apvropriation of the full
amount needed when the Geoer-
al Assembly holds its short ses-
sion in May.
Rep. Eddins1 .'Republican from
Wake County, is co-chainnan of
the legislature's Environmento.l
Review Commission, which
r~eived a report on studies con-
cerning the landfill when it met
. .. in Detember. -
Supportive words also came
from SeJl. Franklin Oduw,
Democrat of Meck1e11burg Coun•
ty, ,co--cha.irman of the com.mis•
sion. He said bis "personal posi•
tion ia we ought to dean up" the
landfall. The legislature must
·ask if the landfill poseg a. threat,
and it does "'we ought to take
care of il."
"'We we..n~d to get up to date
and get the tnd.s out," Eddins
said, refeniog to t.he report his
cor:nmission requested from the
state'Q Depart1nent of Environ-
ment and Natural Resources.
Caroliua t.his year, and advo•
calee of U:i.e cleanup should aak
for the full amount, to eliminate
difficulties with future legisla&
tores should dollars get tight.
He would be ·'concerned if the
fu.lJ amount is not provided,'' he
said, because it is important that
once the job is started .its com-
pletion is guaranteed.
But Sen. Odutn cautioned that
there are Illill\Y causes seeking
st.ate dollars, and while a sur-
l)lus is ~xpected when · the
Assembly conve.nes in May, he
does not bave at present an
update on what will be available.
Odum said his conet!ro is not
only for the immediate area and
time, but the long range. what
danger the chemicals in the
lat1dfill ·1n.ight pose for future
generations.
Rep. F,ddins said the joh:it lEg-
islative commission probably
will ask for another report on the
PCB issue before _the session
convenes, to bring its mem~rs
up to dale nud to be prepared
when it come~_before them -Th_e_ Warren/State Working
Group has been developing a
strategy for the se68ion, with
Sen. Fi-an.le. Ballance1 Democrat
from Warren, expected t.o take
the lead in seeking an appropri•
ation. Elected in the ea.riy '80$
when the landfill was created,
he has been a leading opponent
and hos worked his way into a
leadership position in the Sen-
ate.
State officia.ls have repeatedly
assured the Work.i.ng Group that
the detoxification goal is shared
bv the environmental d~part-
.. ~ ... • ,:, ___ .. --.. -~ .. -r . -·. .. . . ! -
HEf\J
• .Edwin McKinley WilsQn . 24,
of 806 Winder St., was arrested
by police on one felony count c,f
probation violation. 01l.e felony
count of latteny, and migde-
meanor counts of fklitiou,; regis-
tn1tion1 stop light equipmc.ot
vioiatiou and driving with a
revoked license. He i!i bc>ing held
u oder a secured $2,000 bond ,:ind
is scheduled to appear in Veaet>
County District Court March 2.
• Wi.llie James ,Johnson .Jr.,
26, of Vance County was arrest-
ed by police on misdemeanor
counts of no insurance, no dn-
vers lice115e and expired vehicle
tag.
He is b~ing held uncl~r (l.
secured $1,000 hood and is
5cheduled to appear in Distr-id
Court, Marth 24,
• Handy Lawson of Gay Street
t.old police he was aai:;ault.od and
rqhhcd while wfllking thrnug-b
Owt~n Street Mini Park Monday
afternoon .. Lawson said four
Rabies clinic In Stovall
STOVALL -The Granv il)('
County Humane Soddy and
GranvilJe Animal Cootrol offi -
c<'rs wiH conduct a rubies di nic
from IO a.m. to noon Saturday,
feb, 2t at the Stovall Fire Department. -... --.
Ruth Manni.di, apokesperson
f'R,AVIOl.ET INDEX: 2 •,jt·i··. . ' .,, . ' ~ ' \ .
ti to, today's ciate:
I ir1 1925.
, for today's &te:
In 1899. •.
6t.ate'$ Depw-t1nent of Enviwn-~ .. ~ ...... ..., ................. ., ... .t!,"' ... -................
ment and Natural Resources. by the environmel\ul depart-
Eddins said since questions ment. Frequent ref ere nee is
han been raised about whether ;• made .to .~ J)to~~. Gov. Hunt
th~ ~~dfill may be leaking·cont· ·:·made years ago to clean 'up:t.he
aminated water, be supports .. landfill wbeu foasibfo. ··•· ....... .._.
deaning it up. "I wouldn't want Mernber_s expect insight into
it io my are.a." he added. the adPUOJstration's plans when
.The , d:epartment, working the d~parlment's ue~ secretary,
w1th a JOint State/Warren PCB lor.ig-hme H~?t S.S$OC1ate Wayne
Working Group, haa spent a roil-Mc!)evit.t, vu;1t.s Wa.rr8n Coun.ty,
lion dollar8 over the past few which they expect this month.
years QD studies of the landfill.
desjgned to determine an.y safe-
ty threat it may pose and to
determine whether the waste
can be de~ifioo.
A method has been selected,
aud a final report on the details
R.nd cost of how d~toxification
•Ham
• Pimento ChE!ese
• Bacon. letttxe & Tomato
• Hc.tmbtirgers .-.r.u. • ~· .. _ ·
e Soop
~.-.~~·--t:.~t:
-~(
·'.~Milli : , I
~( ,.,, ...
w !Of to~/11 ,de FEB 13
tin 1899. ,_' ...
8()'.):
.S degree~; low, 31 .6
1, . -~~< ;:-,·: . ·.·
Tue&iay: 314,34 h.
a.m. levei today: 314,2 h..
,ro~!evel: 311.511.
•.'·j,,'< ,_'--: ' II,>._..;_:,·.
~.¼•,,; .:·· ,:_. . . ),
fllltmN Aupl t 2. 1g,r •
9.Ch ... S.l~t
Bo~ 908 -
!er/JOI\ N.C. 2?S::'16
through Sunday
~!ne.
l
~ '38 --09 : 29Ar·f EHNR -P-UBLI c°-AFFAI RS
and cost of how detmd.fkation
eould be done, is expected this
month. Estimates as high as $25
million hove been made, but a
$20 rn,ll;on figure was 1nen-
. tioned feeently.
Eddi 11s said while he could no~
speak for 159 other legislarors in
the twa houses, he believe$ the
appropriation would have a good
chance if it is included in Gov. Jun Hunt's budget proposal. He
advised local officials to "press
. the governor to do so."
Sen. Odum said he agrees
with Eddings that the -ch.o.nces
for an appropriation are better if
the project is included in Gov.
Hu.nt's budg~t proposal.
Eddiuti suggested the rev,mue
Budweis
KING OF B EEl
HARRIS INCORPCJ
. .. :-,,;, . . ,':.. ..: ..