*************************************************************** COPA Press Release, June 95 In response to notification that the PCB-contaminated lagoon at the Winston-Thomas Treatment Plant spilled into Clear Creek in May. DEALING WITH PCBs IN BLOOMINGTON New Directions? Recontamination of Clear Creek was predictable, avoidable Bloomington, IN Recontamination of Clear Creek with PCBs two weeks ago was predictable and avoidable. Flood control devices as simple as a pump and a storage tank could have prevented the discharge of approximately 750,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated water. This section of Clear Creek was already cleaned up once in the 1980s to remove PCB contamination. By neglecting to enforce simple flood control practices at the Winston Thomas Tertiary Lagoon, EPA reversed one of the few remedial actions initiated at the PCB Superfund sites in the past 15 years. Of the six PCB Superfund sites addressed by the Consent Decree, the Tertiary Lagoon remains the easiest and least expensive to clean up. But EPA has resisted local pressure to expedite Lagoon remediation in favor of launching additional studies of wildlife contamination. The Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service produced alarming evidence of waterfowl contamination in 1992. They saw PCB accumulation of 2 ppm in mallards after only 2 to 10 days of feeding at the lagoon. After 100 days, the mallards had accumulated the highest PCB concentrations in the published literature. The Indiana Department of Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) judged the PCB uptake by mallards in the Fish & Wildlife study to be "remarkable" and reported that up to several hundred ducks feed at the lagoon for several months during fall and early winter migration. Extremely high PCB concentrations (up 4,400 ppm) are present in the sludge and clay at the bottom of the lagoon. These PCBs can seep into groundwater even when the lagoon appears "water tight." The presence of water in the lagoon means only that the rate of water entering the lagoon is at least equal to the rate of water exiting the lagoon. Although PCBs attach to fine sediment particles and organic matter, they also dissolve in water. Until the PCB-contaminated sludge and sediment is isolated, it will continue to contaminate lagoon water, groundwater, surface water and wildlife. High flow rates in Clear Creek mask the severity of the recent PCB discharges. PCBs bioaccumulate in the food chain, and discharges of even low concentrations of PCBs can have devastating effects. Is this the widely publicized "New Direction" we can look forward to now that alternatives to incineration are being sought? The old direction was bad enough. While EPA struggles with Westinghouse over what to do with the more complicated landfill sites, problems with simple solutions such as the Tertiary Lagoon should be put to rest.