Date: January 13, 2011
Source: News Room
The US EPA conceded this week that a study conducted by Waste Management of its Kettleman Hills Landfill, the largest hazardous waste site in the west, showed that its level of cancer-causing chemicals was too low to harm the health of a nearby community where a high number of babies have been born with serious birth defects. The company said its study, designed and overseen by the EPA, showed instead that the level of PCBs surrounding the landfill in Central California was similar to contamination found in rural areas across the country, even in the remote wilderness. Local families denounced the study, saying it would provide no comfort to the parents of infants who had died from heart murmurs and Down syndrome. EPA officials said the study was only one piece of information that the agency was considering before making a decision about an application for the landfill's expansion.
See also: "EPA Gives California Hazardous Waste Landfill Green Light," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100720D.htm).
See also: "Cleanup Complete at Largest Hazardous Landfill in the West," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100518I.htm).
See also: "CalEPA to Investigate CWM's Kettleman City Landfill," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100330B.htm).
See also: "CA Governor Urges Immediate Investigation of Birth Defects near Toxic Landfill," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100202C.htm).
PRESS RELEASE
Safety of PCB handling confirmed
Wenck Associates, USA, has completed an extensive polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) study at WM's Kettleman Hills Facility, which found that PCBs treated, stored and disposed at the facility do not have an adverse impact on human health or the environment. The study focused on measuring twelve PCB congeners identified by the World Health Organization as having dioxin-like properties. Soil, air and vegetation were sampled within the landfill property boundary where, due to proximity, potential risks would be highest.
'The evaluation done of PCBs in soil in the Kettleman Hills Facility in conjunction with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was unusual in its level of complexity, thoroughness and comprehensiveness,' said Dr. Arthur L. Frank, Professor of Public Health and Chair, Department of Occupational Health at Drexel University School of Public Health. 'For a Toxic Substances Control Act permitted site, this evaluation went far beyond what has been done at other such sites, and is among the most complete assessment ever performed,' he said.
The study's goal was to assess the worst-case potential human health and ecological risks within and outside the landfill boundaries that could be associated with the handling and disposal of PCB wastes.
'The study shows that the low levels of PCBs detected in soils within the boundary of the Kettleman Hills Facility are similar to levels that have been found in many remote and rural areas throughout the country where there has been no industrial activity,' said Brian Bowen, director of environmental protection for Waste Management. 'We worked closely with US EPA to employ very conservative methodologies to ensure that potential risks were not underestimated so the community could be confident in the findings.'
Risk calculations were performed using data collected from air, soil, and vegetation within the facility property boundary and in accordance with sampling and verification protocols required by US EPA Region IX. Air monitoring was conducted over a one-year period and included more than 15,000 hours of data measured from multiple air-monitoring stations approved by EPA.
PCBs are a mixture of individual organic chemicals used for 50 years until their manufacture was banned in 1979. They are still found in transformers, electrical equipment, fluorescent light ballasts, and other industrial uses such as paints and caulking.
PCBs are very stable, but require careful handling. Waste Management of the Central Valley's Kettleman Hills Facility has a permitted PCB waste landfill and is a permitted PCB commercial storage facility under the Toxic Substances Control Act. PCBs represent less than two percent of the materials the facility handles. The Kettleman Hills Facility primarily processes PCBs from transformers, capacitors and contaminated soils.
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