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August 22, 2006

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
 
For more information contact:
Laura Olah, CSWAB (608)643-3124

 
EPA Makes Landmark Decision Prohibiting
Open Burning of PCBs by Military
 
The EPA today announced its decision to prohibit open burning of PCB wastes found in old buildings owned by the military.   The landmark decision could block the planned burning of hundreds of buildings at closing bases across the country including Wisconsin's Badger Army Ammunition Plant and the Ravenna Arsenal in Ohio.  Concentrations of PCBs in paint on pipes, walls, and other surfaces at Badger are as high as 22,000 parts per million (ppm) which is more than 400 times the EPA threshold of 50 ppm.

In a conversation with representatives of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) today, officials from EPA's regional Chicago office said that EPA Headquarters in Washington DC has made a formal decision prohibiting the military from open burning regulated levels (above 50 ppm) of PCBs.  Army officials in Wisconsin and Ohio have been notified of the determination by telephone and a formal decision document is being prepared.

"The EPA's decision is incredibly important especially in terms of children's health," said Laura Olah, Executive Director of CSWAB, a community-led group that organized a national campaign opposing the Army's planned burns.  "Infants are extremely vulnerable to the devastating health effects caused by exposure to dioxins and other toxins released by open burning."

"This decision, however, does not resolve the Army's long-standing practice of open burning munitions-contaminated wastes and infrastructure," Olah emphasized.  "The prohibition only stops the Army from burning PCBs.  If paints are completely removed, these structures can still be burned."

At Nebraska's Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant alone, more than 1,200 explosives-contaminated buildings have already been burned.  Thousands more have been burned at closing bases across the country including the Joliet Arsenal in Illinois, Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in Kansas, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, and the Ravenna Arsenal in Ohio.

 "There are safe non-thermal alternatives to open burning," Olah said.  "The EPA's decision is an opportunity for change but the Pentagon has to be willing to come to the table and be part of the solution."

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