Anniston Star
February 27, 2003

Environmental organization criticizes PCB cleanup agreement

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
02-27-2003

A prominent Southeastern environmental organization came out against the Anniston PCB cleanup agreement this week, saying the agreement should spell out certain testing and remediation requirements.

In a Feb. 24 letter, Robert Martin, president of the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, asked the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the proposed agreement.

"It would not be fair or reasonable, as the work to be performed at the Anniston PCB site would not be adequate," Martin wrote.

The proposed agreement, or partial consent decree, was negotiated between EPA and Solutia, whose western Anniston plant is the source of widespread local PCB contamination.

The proposed agreement aims to cover all contamination from the Anniston plant - "everything that might be out there," said EPA attorney Richard Leahy.

It is purposely written broadly, he said, so as not to leave anything out inadvertently.

For decades, Monsanto produced polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the plant. The odorless chemicals, which have been linked to health effects including cancer, now pollute local waterways, residences and people.

Thousands of residents have sued Monsanto, its spin-off Solutia, and its parent company, Pharmacia, claiming the companies damaged their properties and health.

Martin said the cleanup agreement should require the polluters to implement recommendations from EPA's Environmental Response Team, a special group that reviews complicated pollution sites.

In 2001, at the request of community members, the environmental team looked at the Solutia property, where the Alabama Department of Environmental Management was overseeing a cleanup. The team found gaps in the work, and concluded there should be more containment, removal, and soil, air and water testing.

EPA said the proposed cleanup agreement would require the companies to implement the environmental team's recommendations.

But Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, which has done extensive work in environmental law in Alabama, argues that nothing in the proposed agreement specifically alludes to the recommendations.

"If that's not front and center in the decree, than I'm very concerned," Martin said in an interview. As a former national ombudsman for the EPA, he said, he knows how important the Environmental Response Team's work is.

Leahy said there was no reason for the EPA to exclude its own environmental team's recommendations. He said the shortcomings the team found in ADEM's cleanup were a main reason for negotiating the proposed cleanup agreement.

"A main priority will be to make sure that the work ADEM has done is adequate, or to do it ourselves," Leahy said.

The proposed agreement will not go into effect unless U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon approves it. Clemon held a hearing Tuesday in which a local attorney challenged the agreement. Clemon has made no decision since the hearing. It is not clear whether another hearing is planned.