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              Coalition Opposed to PCB-Ash in Monroe County, Inc.
                                        
                                      COPA
     
     
     COPA is a non-profit, grass-roots coalition of concerned community 
     members, business and professional people that formed in February 
     1990 to stop the construction of a PCB Hazardous Waste Incinerator 
     and Hazardous Waste Landfill in Monroe County.
     
     Since our formation we have tried to work with all local and State 
     governments to facilitate a safe community acceptable solution to 
     the PCB problem caused by Westinghouse.
     
     PCBs are highly toxic chemicals that were banned by the United States 
     Congress in the mid 1970's. Westinghouse Corporation used PCBs in 
     capacitors at their Bloomington plant from 1957 until the mid-70's. 
     Westinghouse made significant unauthorized discharges of PCBs and 
     capacitors throughout Monroe County until discovered by the City of 
     Bloomington Utilities Department in the early 1970's. The majority 
     of PCBs and capacitors are located in six Superfund Sites.
     
     The six National Priority List Sites are Lemon Lane, Neal's Dump, 
     Neal's Landfill, Bennett's Dump, Winston Thomas Sewage Treatment 
     Plant, and Anderson Road Landfill.
     
     The City of Bloomington and the U.S. EPA litigated and negotiated 
     with Westinghouse over this environmental disaster through the 
     early 1980's. This process culminated with the signing in 1985 of 
     the consent decree. The consent decree is a legally binding document 
     that was signed by the city, the county, the state, the U.S. EPA, 
     and Westinghouse. The consent decree is supervised by Federal Judge 
     S. Hugh Dillin in Indianapolis. In violation of federal laws, no 
     feasibility study (RI/FS) nor environmental impact statement (EIS) 
     were ever conducted to determine the extent of the problem before 
     the consent decree was signed.  Despite the known existence of many 
     sites, the consent decree addresses only five major sites in Monroe 
     County and one site in Owen County. It is estimated that over 
     1,200,000 cubic yards of PCB contaminated material is in these sites. 
     Because no feasibility study was conducted, no alternative solutions 
     were considered.
     
     As an additional affront to the rights of Monroe County's citizens, 
     EPA signed the consent decree before it was submitted to the public. 
     For these and many other reasons, many citizens consider the consent 
     decree illegal.

     The consent decree "solution" was to burn the PCB contaminated soil 
     using municipal solid waste as a fuel in a Westinghouse built and 
     operated hazardous waste incinerator. The hazardous ash from the 
     incinerator was to be deposited in a proposed hazardous waste landfill, 
     again, owned and operated by Westinghouse.

     Through our efforts in bringing the community together and pushing for 
     alternative remedies, enactment of a state law we helped sponsor, 
     and realization by the U.S. EPA that the Bloomington community would 
     not stand for a solution that may be worse than the problem, the 
     incinerator proposal has been officially shelved in favor of seeking 
     safer more responsible alternatives.

     Presently all consent decree parties are working on doing sampling 
     and site characterization of Lemon Lane to determine the possible 
     solutions for treating the contaminated area. Lemon Lane was chosen 
     first because it is believed to be the most complex site.
     
     COPA has been reviewing all technical documents to ensure proper 
     procedures are being followed and that the public is not again left 
     out of this process.
     
     Under new management at EPA since the signing of the consent decree 
     there has been a move towards allowing public participation. Under 
     a Federal EPA Technical Assistance Grant award to COPA we have been 
     working to simplify the technical and complex issues surrounding 
     cleanup of these sites.
     
     This COPA  bulletin board is being furnished to the community in an 
     effort to make it easier for the community to understand what is 
     happening and how citizens can participate. We hope that the enormous 
     available talent in Bloomington can work to be a part of the solution. 
     The bulletin board will take several more months to complete and 
     will continually be updated to ensure that everyone has access to 
     the most recent information concerning the clean up process.
     
     Please feel free to express your comments and criticisms so we can 
     improve on this format. As a non-profit volunteer organization we 
     welcome any financial support you may be able to give.
     
     We hope this service will help the citizens of Monroe County better 
     understand the PCB problem and more important give them the tools 
     needed to become part of the solution.
     
          
     
     "...the parties to this decree have not done the proper waste 
     characterization that is mandatory in the RI (remedial 
     investigation) prior to the selection of a remedy... I am not 
     aware of any waiver of the RI/FS except in the case of the 
     Bloomington action."
     
                                        Hugh Kaufman,
                                        Asst. to the Director of
                                        EPA Hazardous Substances                 
                       Control Division,
                                        November 11, 1986
     
     
     "...time has passed, and I feel changing circumstances render 
     the consent decree antiquated."
            
                                      Representative Mark Kruzan,
                                      Sept. 1990
     
     
     
     "...Monroe County is not divided on this issue. No one believes 
     this will be a better place to live if the incinerator is built. 
     Government leaders must begin doing whatever possible to reopen 
     the court-approved agreement and put an end to the possibility 
     of the incinerator."
     
                                      Bloomington Herald Times,
                                      Dec. 11, 1990
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