Anniston Star
January 29, 2003

Federal report: PCBs in air around Solutia at high levels

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
01-29-2003

People who work or live in or around Solutia's west Anniston plant could be breathing harmful PCBs, according to a federal health report released Tuesday.

Some air PCB levels around the plant are many times higher than in larger cities, such as Baltimore, Md., and New Brunswick, N.J., said the report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

But because of the way the Anniston data was gathered, ATSDR scientists said they could not determine who is affected by the airborne chemicals, or how. Nor could they determine the source of the PCBs.

"We weren't able to make a health call with this data," said Lynne Wilder, environmental health scientist with ATSDR. "We don't know where it's coming from, we don't know the extent of exposure."

Community activists criticized the agency for putting out a report without having enough information.

The state and federal environmental regulators who oversee such data collection had little to say about its completeness.

The report said elevated levels were frequently detected in the air within a half-mile of the plant over the course of a year. Levels in four samples collected one mile away were comparable to other cities.

A news release based on the report said workers who frequently disturb soils, such as heavy equipment operators, might be exposed to the elevated levels.

For decades, Monsanto manufactured polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at the plant now owned by Solutia. The chemicals were used as insulators and lubricants, and have been linked to a range of health problems, from learning disorders to cancer.

PCBs were buried in company landfills and washed from the plant into ditches, creeks and yards, and also entered people's bodies.

ATSDR looked mainly at data collected by Solutia from January 2000 through January 2001, as requested by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It also looked at two days of EPA data.

The Solutia samples came from five air monitors on company property. There was no accompanying weather information to help show where the chemicals were coming from.

The testing process also didn't differentiate evaporated PCBs from PCBs attached to dust particles.

"At this point we don't know if it's dirt flying around on the side of the road or vaporizing off water," Wilder said.

The highest levels were found north of the plant, from two Solutia monitors near 10th Street, and two EPA monitors at Ware and 9th Street and Clydesdale and 12th Street.

In June 2000, one sample showed PCB levels 30 times the highest found in Baltimore in 1996. That is still a fraction of the levels recommended for safe work sites by the National Institutes for Occupational Health and Safety.

But ATSDR scientists cautioned that work levels are for healthy, middle-aged people exposed for 40 hours a week. They do not take into account more vulnerable children or elderly, or longer periods of exposure.

Data for the past two years is very similar, Wilder said.

The report recommended more sampling, both in the community and at the plant.

Those suggestions are not directed at anyone in particular, and are likely to be ignored, a local activist complained.

"Once again, ATSDR has come in and not gathered sufficient data to make an assessment of the health risks to the community," said Shirley Baker, health director for Community Against Pollution.

Past ATSDR reports on Anniston also concluded that more information was needed to draw solid conclusions.

State officials, who originally required the company to install the air monitors, said they could not comment on the report until they have had time to review it.

ADEM has approved a plan for the company to build a weather station and install three more monitors over the next few months, Solutia said.

"We're getting more data, and we're going to evaluate that," said Craig Branchfield, remediation manager for the Anniston plant.

The PCB levels were not unusual for an industrial city like Anniston, he said. He added that the air at the plant has been evaluated in the past, and is far below the highest levels considered safe for workers.

"We're confident that we're fine," Branchfield said.

EPA officials could not say why they had not required more useful data collection, but emphasized that air contamination would be looked at under the proposed cleanup agreement between EPA and Solutia. The agreement awaits approval by a federal judge.

"That is precisely one of the things we want to do in the consent decree," said Stan Meiburg, EPA's deputy administrator for the southeast region. "ATSDR is going to have input on future data gathering."

The report is open for public comment until March 21. It can be found at the Anniston Public Library on East 10th Street; at the Carver Library at 722 W. 14th St., at the Community Against Pollution headquarters at 1012 W. 15th St., at the EPA office at 1313 Noble Street, and at the Community Against Pollution Outreach Center at 1521 Cobb Ave.