Government agencies and CBS are gearing up for a private court conference Wednesday in an effort to break a gridlock on how to continue financing and monitoring PCB cleanup in the Bloomington area.

The in-chambers discussion is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in Indianapolis.

Cleanup of PCBs started in the 1980s with the company, which was then manufacturer Westinghouse, paying for most of the removal. CBS has asked the court to resolve outstanding issues when it comes to finances and future remedies at the dump sites.

"At this point, direct negotiations among the parties have reached an impasse, based on the fundamentally different perspectives of the parties," according to CBS' request

The parties had until noon Monday to put the finishing touches on their proposals on how to resolve the decades-old environmental problem.

Now the court has stepped in to help mediate between CBS and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The proposals include confidential settlement positions, which neither the opposing parties nor the public can view.

The private documents were submitted to federal Magistrate Kennard P. Foster for review. Foster will return them to the parties after meeting with them, said law clerk Perry Secrest.

The conference, requested by CBS, is not a public proceeding. It's to get both parties back on track, Secrest said.

CBS submitted two settlement proposals last month, but wouldn't disclose the details.

CBS is the latest successor to Westinghouse Electric Corp., which used PCBs - or polychlorinated biphenyls - in making capacitors at its now closed plant in Bloomington.

PCBs were used as insulator fluid in Westinghouse capacitors. The chemicals were banned in the mid-1970s as a health threat by the federal government, after many locations in the Bloomington area were contaminated.

Government and CBS representatives agree that Foster should visit local PCB dump sites. The federal government would also like to tour surrounding areas.

"The primary threat is found in downstream areas, often miles from the original landfills, where fish continue to have unacceptable high levels of PCBs as result of ongoing releases of PCBs from springs near the unfinished sites," according to a document filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the EPA.

Meanwhile, the city of Bloomington doesn't want any party to give up on the consent decree that has directed all parties involved in the cleanup since it was drawn up in 1985.

The city owns Lemon Lane Landfill and could face legal liability without the protections provided by the consent degree.

John Langley, deputy director of city utilities, said the city continues to be interested in good remedies at the sites. "The city wants to treat every drop," he said.

Mike Baker, of Citizens Opposed to PCB Ash, understands the city's position in wanting to follow the decree because of liability concerns.

"CBS has always held liability over the city and community's head," he said, referring to the threat of bankrupting the city.

Baker said he'd like to see the court side with the government agencies, all of which agree on remedies, so work at the sites won't be stalled or delayed.

"EPA has a timeline in place for each of the sites," he said.

The recent plan for the city-owned Lemon Lane Landfill and other PCB-related documents can be viewed at www.copa.org.