Anniston Star
October 3, 2003

EPA meeting focuses on launch of group to advise on PCB cleanup

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
10-03-2003

The Environmental Protection Agency has received more than 100 nominations for the community group that will advise on the widespread PCBs cleanup here.

The names are from the Anniston, Oxford, Choccolocco Creek, and Lake Logan Martin areas, with the largest contingent from western Anniston, EPA officials said at a community meeting Thursday.

“The community put the momentum behind us,” said Stephanie Brown, community involvement coordinator for the agency, noting that the EPA had not even requested suggestions yet.

The EPA is overseeing the PCBs cleanup by Solutia.

More than 100 residents, including community activists, elected officials and business representatives, attended Thursday’s meeting.

EPA officials explained the process of choosing the community group, or CAG, which will be involved in decision-making for the cleanup.

For decades, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were produced at the former Monsanto plant in western Anniston. The chemicals, now banned because of health concerns, contaminate local waterways, properties, and people. Solutia now owns the plant.

The CAG could become a source of tension and turf battles, judging from some of the questions and statements made at the meeting.

During the question and answer session, some residents proclaimed their interest in being part of the CAG; others wanted membership to be limited to certain groups.

Still others reiterated concerns that have circulated in the community for years, about health clinics, compensation and issues such as groundwater contamination and the chemical weapons incinerator.

Several local community groups, including Community Against Pollution (CAP) and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, have made CAG nominations, Brown said.

There are several ways to go about assembling a CAG, Brown said. But the agency believes the best thing to do here is choose a core group from the nominations – people whose names come up again and again – and designate them as a steering committee, to decide the membership of the final group.

“The CAG must be community-driven,” Brown said. “You want somebody on the CAG that is going to express your needs, desires and concerns when it comes to the cleanup.”

The selection process needs to be fair and open, and the group must balance out the different interests in the community, she said.

“Give us the money,” one audience member called out during the EPA presentation, apparently reference to the lawsuits recently settled for millions of dollars.

Other residents expressed frustration at the selection process.

“As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one group to represent me, and that’s CAP,” said Curtis Ray. “Meetings are fine, but what about the victims?”

Wanda Champion asked why, since people have been advised not to grow food in PCB-contaminated yards, nobody was distributing free, fresh fruits and vegetables.

State Representative Barbara Boyd (D-Anniston) rose to emphasize that a health clinic should be the first priority, and to let the EPA know that she had asked several times that McDaniel Avenue be tested.

“I’ve made that request over and over,” Boyd said. “I’m making that request again publicly, so that my constituents know I’m doing my job.”

“I’m very concerned about the younger generation,” said one man, who lives in Oxford. “If we could get that straightened out, I’d be all right.”

At the end of the meeting, the several remaining attendees unofficially voted to approve the plan to form the CAG.

The EPA is still taking nominations for the group. The office can be reached at 256-236-2599.

The EPA also plans to have quarterly update meetings. The next meetings will take place on Oct. 27 at the Anniston City Meeting Center and on Oct. 28 in at C.E. Hanna Elementary School in Hobson City.