Defense Environment Alert
an exclusive biweekly report on defense policies for cleanup, compliance and pollution prevention


Vol. 12, No. 7--April 6, 2004


ENVIRONMENTALISTS FORMALLY OPPOSE ARMY PLAN TO OPEN BURN PCBS

A coalition of 128 citizens and environmental groups is urging EPA Region V to prevent the Army from moving ahead with its plan to open burn buildings at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant in Wisconsin. Paint on the buildings has high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The Army maintains that open burning is the only safe way to demolish the buildings at Badger because of the explosive safety risk from the residue of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, two explosives that were used in the manufacture of gun propellants, dynamite and rocket paste. But buildings burned at other ammunition plants have not been found to have PCBs as high as at Badger - 22,000 parts per million, according to environmentalists.

The Toxic Substances Control Act limits the disposal methods for bulk product PCBs to licensed incinerators or certain types of landfills. But the law also allows EPA to approve alternate disposal methods if the alternatives "will not pose an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment," according to the PCB disposal rule.

EPA is still evaluating Army data, which the military says shows open burning would be safe. The environmentalists want the Army to use non-thermal technologies such as biological deactivation, mechanical demolition and disposal, or hydroblasting. "There are viable solutions that will set a different precedent - one that ensures a safe and healthy future for our children and our environment," says the March 22 letter to outgoing Region V Administrator Thomas Skinner. The letter is available on InsideEPA. com. See page 2 for details.

"The mere thought of open burning PCB contaminated materials is preposterous," Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), said in a March 22 press release. CWWG is a national coalition of groups advocating non-incineration methods for chemical weapons destruction.  "EPA regulates burning such materials by requiring 99.9999% destruction, even in incinerators," Williams said.  "In the Badger proposal there is zero control; zero monitoring; and, zero ability to determine the quantity of this probable human carcinogen released into the environment."

Warren Porter, professor of zoology and environmental toxicology at the University of Wisconsin, said, "PCBs and Dioxins are potent xenoestrogens that are biologically active at extremely low doses. They are very persistent and bioaccumulate in wildlife and people. Xenoestrogens have been linked to increases in breast cancer, heart problems in developing embryos, reduced sperm counts, neurotoxic, immune, and hormonal effects."

And Laura Hunter, campaign director of California's Environmental Health Coalition, said, "There are other means to solve this problem. The Army must recognize that open burning is not a solution, it is merely transfer of the problem." She noted that her organization in San Diego worked with the Navy to avoid the burning of PCB wastes and instead explore alternative technologies. "We encourage the Army to do the same in Badger."