Dealing with PCBs -
Fernandez seeks to be
last mayor confronting PCBs
by Steven Higgs
reprinted with permission of the Herald-Times, Inc.
Anyone who doubts that there is a new attitude about PCBs in the mayor's
office should look at the agenda for this week's meeting of cleanup parties.
Under item IV - "Lemon Lane Landfill" - the final subsection says:
"Discussion of dispute resolution alternatives including requesting
the court appoint a Master to resolve outstanding issues." A "master,"
Mayor John Fernandez explained before the meeting, is a court-appointed
mediator with the authority to resolve disputes. Fernandez used that not-so-subtle
threat this week to force consensus on an age-old cleanup issue - how to
test for PCBs at Lemon Lane, the old city dump. And according to those involved
in the process, it is indicative of his general approach to the issue. "John
is more confrontational," said John Langley, the city's PCB project
coordinator since the position was created more than a decade ago. "He's
very good at using the politics of confrontation."
Fernandez is trying to speed up a PCB cleanup process that has take more
than a decade and barely made it off the ground. Westinghouse Electric Corp.
used PCBs at its Bloomington capacitor factory from 1959 to 1977, leading
to pollution of area dumps and a sewage plant. Westinghouse agreed in 1985
to clean up the waste sites, but disagreement over how to proceed has slowed
the effort.
Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert said officials from his company
do not view Fernandez's more aggressive approach as confrontational. "We've
not experienced any of that at all," he said, characterizing the process
as one of "cooperation and interaction." Dan Hopkins from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Fernandez is seeking answers.
"Right from the get-go, he's wanted action," Hopkins said. "He
has a very low tolerance for delays." Fernandez echoed that observation.
"I want to be the last mayor that has to deal with this," he said.
And if the cleanup proceeds according to a schedule agreed to by the
parties and a federal judge, that goal will be achieved. The schedule calls
for cleanups at Lemon Lane and the Winston-Thomas sewage plant to begin
in late 1997 and at all five sites by 1999, the final year of Fernandez's
term. "But there can't be any backsliding," Fernandez said, pointing
out that it is easy for the parties to get bogged down in legal and technical
issues. If it becomes clear that the schedule is threatened because the
parties can't agree on a point, Fernandez said, he will not hesitate to
take it up with the judge, or, apparently, to use the judge as a threat.
And at least on Wednesday this week, that approach worked. The question
of how to test for PCBs at the Lemon Lane Dump has hindered progress on
a cleanup plan for the past four years.
During this week's meeting, Westinghouse held fast to its position that
25 tests at "hot spots" and two sinkholes on the property were
all that was needed. Fernandez insisted that seven more tests were needed
along former access roads at the dump where PCBs may have been dumped. Before
the meeting ended, the EPA agreed to pay for the additional tests. The need
for a master was averted. Fernandez stressed that taking issues to the court
might not necessarily lead to the results that the city is seeking. But
it is better than letting the process drag on.
"We could still be sitting here four years from now," he said.
Another major departure from the past under the Fernandez administration
is a commitment to expand public input in the process. Langley said former
Mayor Tomi Allison encouraged input from a wide spectrum of the public.
But Fernandez has been more willing to include some from the environmental
community. "John has a renewed focus on people who have come to him
and showed an interest," Langley said. Monroe County Commissioner Tim
Tilton said Fernandez's actions are consistent with his pledge to an open
process. "He wants to make sure that the proceedings do not take place
under a cloak," he said. Fernandez said there will be no easy answers
to the problem and that any solution is going to have to have community
support. "I think it's critical," he said. "Any solution
is going to have to have community acceptance." He said the community
must be kept informed of the process and listened to.
"We've learned that preconceived deals that are just told to the
public don't work," Fernandez said. |
