Buried History: PCBs, Monsanto and Times Beach
CD Stelzer
Dixoins aren't the only problem Missouri.
PCB contamination continues to be overlooked or denied by public regulators
and Monsanto
By C.D. Stelzer
(first published in the Riverfront Times, Feb. 14, 1996)
First, hundreds of birds started dropping from the rafters like so many
miners' canaries. Then dogs and cats began to die. By September 1971, seven
horses had perished at the Shenandoah Stables in Moscow Mills, Mo. Before
the scourge abated, scores more would die.
Humans also succumbed, developing flu-like symptoms and skin
rashes. On August 22, Judy Piatt, the co-owner of the stable, admitted her
6-year-old daughter to St. Louis Children's Hospital. The girl, who played
frequently inside the equestrian arena that summer, had lost 50 percent of
her body weight and was hemorrhaging from the bladder. On a hunch, her
mother filled an empty Miracle Whip jar with dirt from the arena floor.
That soil ended up at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), where in 1974
scientists confirmed it contained trichlorophenol and a related waste
byproduct -- 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD) -- commonly known as
dioxin.
After the CDC announcement, dioxin grabbed headlines, spurred by
its links to Agent Orange and the Vietnam War. The resulting clamor allowed
the additional discovery of highly-toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
in the same soil to escape media attention.
This single detail is a clue in a mystery that challenges the
conventional history of Missouri's long affair with hazardous waste. It
also raises doubts about soil characteristics at other sites, the origins
of the toxins and the consequences of the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) plans to burn them soon at Times Beach.
The legal authority for the EPA and the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) to do so hinges on protecting public health. But
test burns conducted in November already show problems, including the
malfunctioning of an anti-pollution device. The EPA's inability to account
for all PCBs and other pollutants at nearly one third of the designated
cleanup sites adds to an already uncertain combustion equation.
These are among the reasons the Times Beach Action Group (TBAG), a
group opposed to incineration, contends the consent decree authorizing the
Eastern Missouri Superfund cleanup is void. TBAG also asserts the EPA
failed to address PCBs in its 1994 risk assessment.The activists' position
is supported by a recent report prepared by the Environmental Compliance
Organization (ECO), the firm hired through an EPA grant to represent
citizens' interests. In addition, Rep. Jim Talent (R-Chesterfield) has
raised questions about PCBs at Times Beach, and again asked the EPA to
delay incineration so alternative technologies can be given more
consideration. Last month, the congressman's voice was muted, however, by
the release of a General Accounting Office study favoring incineration. The
decision corresponds with the deregulatory mood of the
Republican-controlled Congress, and the trend of delisting Superfund sites.
Turning a blind eye on the environment may be in vogue among
certain special interests, but an an investigation by the Riverfront Times
has turned up long-neglected facts that warrant consideration.
* No PCBs were found at the facility in Southwest Missouri, where
the dioxin in the St. Louis area supposedly originated. This means PCBs
that are present came from another source or sources. Monsanto exclusively
manufactured PCBs in the United States until 1977.
* As early as 1972, an EPA official informed Monsanto about PCB
levels at the Bliss Waste Oil Co.tanks in Sauget, Ill., according to a copy
of a correspondence obtained by the RFT. This contradicts the EPA's own
chronology.
*Russell Bliss, the owner of the company blamed for the dioxin
contamination , signed at least two contracts to haul hazardous waste from
Monsanto facilities in the mid-1970s. In 1977, a Bliss driver dumped
hazardous waste at a site in Jefferson County. The sludge included PCBs
that state officials suspected came from Monsanto's research lab. The
cleanup took cost taxpayers $515,000.
* Prior to the Jefferson County cleanup, some PCB-contaminated
waste may have been transported by Bliss to property he owned in
Ellisville. Last month, the EPA decided, at the last moment, to dispose of
barreled waste buried at the Bliss/Ellisville site at a location other than
Times Beach. A a spokesman for the EPA last Friday said the agency may sue
to recover costs for that portion of the Ellisville cleanup from other
responsible parties that have yet to be named. The spokesman refused futher
comment pending any enforcement action, but did not rule out the
possibility that Monsanto may be among those who may potentially be held
liable.
* The EPA failed to provide information to the laboratory hired
to analyze soils from the dioxin sites. In an appendix to the federal
agency's 1994 risk assessment, the lab cites instances of missing data,
and states PCBs were found at four locations not listed by the EPA.
The Times Beach dioxin incinerator near Eureka is scheduled to
begin burning some 100,000 cubic yards of dioxin-contaminated soil from 27
sites in Eastern Missouri by March. Plans for the burn are proceeding
despite the ECO report, which questions whether current EPA methodology
for measuring stack emissions "leads to a vast underestimation of risk."
The citizens watchdog group warns that because of levels already found in
the environment "further exposure by populations to any dioxin should be
avoided." ECO concludes that "(EPA) data ... is insufficient to
demonstrate that the sites have been adequately characterized to all
potential constituents and the various congeners of dioxin."
In a pointed letter sent to the EPA regional administrator on Dec.
27, Rep. Talent took issue with the legality of burning PCBs without a
proper permit. In addition, he asks why sampling data for some of the sites
is missing.
Incinerating PCBs can actually create dangerous dioxins and
furans. Nevertheless, the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources (DNR), say the project poses no threat to human health.
"We're not saying that PCBs are not dangerous, but it's an issue
of risk, and the risk associated with very low levels of PCBs is not
significant," says Feild. "It's not like PCBs are not suitable for
incineration, that's the way you deal with them."
For its part, Monsanto denies any poisonous relationship with
Bliss, the man responsible for spreading the waste."We're not saying that
we didn't use him, but to the best of our knowledge, we don't believe that
he hauled any PCB or dioxin-contaminated material," says Monsanto
spokeswoman Diane Herndon.
Nevertheless, PCBs are undeniably present in some of the contaminated
soils. Knowledge of this, however, has long remained buried."It wasn't
until we discovered the Kimbrough report, which showed very high levels of
PCBs in the arena soils, that they (the EPA) gave us any site specific data
at all," says Steve Taylor, an organizer for TBAG.
Renate D. Kimbrough, a physician for CDC, first wrote about dioxin
and PCB contamination in 1975. Kimbrough then cited dioxin as the cause of
the Shenandoah Stables catastrophe -- but she also said the contaminated
soil contained up to 1,590 parts per million (ppm) of PCBs. The federal
cleanup standard for PCBs has been set at 50 ppm.
Earlier this month, Feild of the EPA admitted priority pollutant
data was missing on six of the 27 Times Beach cleanup sites. The gaps in
PCB data raises doubts hundreds of other locations in Eastern Missouri
known or suspected to have been sprayed by the Bliss Waste Oil Co.
"If they (EPA) are saying they didn't test for those (pollutants)
or a percentage of the them are lost, I find that hard to believe," says
Nina Thompson, a spokeswoman for the DNR. Asked if the DNR verified all
the sites Bliss sprayed with PCBs, she replied: "No, we didn't do that."
Instead, the state agency depended on the EPA. The DNR, she says, remains
confident proper protocol and tests were conducted.
However, some contaminated sites may have been overlooked.
According to research by former DNR official Linda Elaine James: "State and
federal officials ... investigated over 375 sites in the St. Louis area
based on information that Bliss may have sprayed there. About 45 of these
sites were never sampled because the investigation could not substantiate
Bliss at the site. Thirty were ruled out without sampling because they
appeared to have been sprayed by Bliss after 1972 or 1973, the assumption
being that Bliss had used up all of the (dioxin-contaminated) wastes by
this time. Over one hundred (other) sites were sampled and dioxin was not
discovered." But PCB levels at these locations remains an enigma.
Interestingly, the environmentalists were not the first to be
denied information on PCBs. Mantech Environmental Technology Inc., an
independent laboratory, refers to missing data in an appendix to the 1994
risk assessment. The appendix also states that four different Aroclors --
Monsanto's commercial name for PCBs -- were found at sites, where the
compounds had not been originally shown on spreadsheets.
"It's disturbing that these data are not available given the amount
of money that they (the EPA) spent in the early 80s gathering samples,"
says Taylor. "It's rather like going to the moon and losing the rocks at
taxpayers' expense."
All Roads Lead to Verona, or do they?
When CDC officials began investigating Shenandoah Stables, they suspected
PCBs or nerve gas. After finding dioxin, however, health officials focused
on Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam. Information from the Defense
Department narrowed the search to four sources, including Monsanto.
Ultimately, Syntex was held liable. Syntex owned Hoffman-Taff Inc., one
of the suspected firms. Hoffman in turn implicated the Northeastern
Pharmaceutical and Chemical Co. (NEPACCO), which leased part of its Verona,
Mo.plant. NEPACCO created dioxin as a waste byproduct of hexachlorophene.
Hoffman-Taff hired another responsible party, Independent Petrochemical
Co. (IPC) of St. Louis, to dispose of the toxic material. IPC
sub-contracted the work to Bliss.
In six 1971 trips, Bliss hauled more than 18,000 gallons of
dioxin-tainted sludge from Verona to his Frontenac storage tanks. His
drivers then sprayed the toxic mixture as a dust-suppressant on horse
arenas, unpaved roads, truck terminals, and parking lots.
However, the CDC's soil analysis from Shenandoah Stables, raises
questions about this version of events. That's because tests conducted on
contents at Verona indicated the presence of dioxin -- but no PCBs. If
PCBs found at Shenandoah didn't come from Verona, then there had to have
been one or more other sources.
One of the conclusions of the ECO report is "there is insufficient
data to support the contention that a single tank in Verona, Mo. is the
sole source for all dioxin contamination." Besides Monsanto, Bliss
collected waste from: Union Electric, Wagner Electric, Signet Graphic,
Benjamin Moore (Paint Co.), Edwin Cooper, White-Rogers, Jackes-Evans,
American Can, General Cable , Carter Carburetor and the Orchard Corp,
according to court records. Some of these companies generated PCB-laden
waste.
In 1971, Piatt, the stable owner, and her partner Frank Hampel
began tailing Bliss drivers. Their surveillance would continue for more
than year. During that time, the pair sometimes disguised themselves:
Hampel donning a woman's wig and Piatt wearing a man's cowboy hat. Their
undercover work paid off. The pair observed Bliss' drivers dumping waste.
On one occasion, Piatt watched a Bliss driver pick up a load at the
Monsanto facility in St. Peters, Mo. and dump it in a Mississippi River
slough. In another instance, she witnessed wastes being dumped at Times
Beach.
In late 1972, Piatt compiled an 18-page report. Her dossier cited
16 companies whose waste had been dumped by Bliss. Piatt's list also
included 31 locations that had been sprayed. She submitted the report to
the EPA, DNR and Missouri Department of Health (DOH).
A civil suit filed by Piatt subsequently revealed one of Bliss'
Frontenac tanks contained PCBs. Later, regulators found trichloroethylene
and PCBs in a Bliss storage tank in Sauget. Private tests conducted in
Times Beach in 1982 detected dioxin, PCBs, ethyl benzene, acetone,
toluene, and xylene. Depositions from 1972 through 1988 also indicate
Bliss and his drivers picked up waste at the Monsanto research
laboratories on North Lindbergh and the company's silicon wafer plant in
St. Peters. Bliss himself testified on Nov. 20, 1972 that he had sprayed
the streets of Times Beach.
Despite this early knowledge, it would be a decade before any
attempt would be made to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, the CDC
informed state authorities erroneously that dioxin had an estimated
half-life of only one year. While officials waited for the disaster to
disappear, the dilemma was compounded by excavations and movements of
contaminated dirt to other sites.
"There's clearly PCBs everywhere," says attorney Gerson Smoger,
who has been involved in Times Beach litigation."They didn't test, because
dioxin was the chemical of concern. They weren't looking for it, but it was
there -- everybody knew it was there. So to say it's not there is
ludicrous." Originally, Times Beach personal injury suits included
Monsanto as a defendant, Smoger says, but that effort was dropped because
"it complicated the case too much."
Bliss' prodigious activities also complicated the cleanup .In 1983,
then DNR-director Fred Lafser told The New York Times: "The feeling is why
go look for more problems when we do not have the staff to solve what we
know about?" Lafser told the RFT that same year, "Most of our hazardous
waste problems (in Missouri) can be traced back to him (Bliss) -- including
problems with PCBs, solvents and inks,you name it."
The EPA now claims ignorance. "We didn't even discover Times Beach
or any of the Eastern Missouri dioxin sites until after 1980," says Feild,
the agency's current Times Beach project manager.
But there is evidence to the contrary. In one letter dated Sept.
12, 1972, an EPA official provided details to a Monsanto executive about
testing for PCBs at Bliss' oil storage tanks in Sauget, Ill. The letter is
from W.L. Banks, chief of the EPA's Oil and Hazardous Substance Branch, is
addressed to W.B. Papageorge at the Monsanto research labs.
When asked to comment on the letter, Herndon of Monsanto said: "The
1972 letter to Papageorge in no way implies that Bliss was hauling Monsanto
PCBs. Since PCBs had only recently been identified as an environmental
concern, it might be very likely that Bliss and many waste haulers would
have PCBs in their storage containers at that stage."
The EPA letter to Papageorge is noteworthy given the Monsanto
executive's background. During his long career with the company,
Papageorge managed a PCB plant. By 1972, he had become Monsanto's director
of environmental control.
The Dittmer Incident
A record of the fire is preserved in a routine report filed away at the the
Cedar Hill Fire Protection District headquarters in Jefferson County.
There is nothing ordinary, however, about the call the rural
department received at 5:21 p.m. on March 11, 1977. When firefighters
arrived at the Albert Harris property near the town of Dittmer, they were
greeted by a toxic maelstrom. Gusty 25 mph winds fanned flames that licked
the sides of a recently dug pit near Calvey Creek. The heat inside the
10-foot-deep trench had caused toxic waste drums near the edge of the
excavation to explode. Investigators later found 125 barrels scattered at
the site. Working in the rain, 20 firefighters battled the blaze almost an
hour before bringing it under control.
After receiving complaints about pollution at the same location,
the DNR began investigating lot number 21 of the Greenbriar subdivision.
Testing of the pit's contents revealed high concentrations of PCBs -- up
to 20,000 ppm. The agencies found other toxins, too, including bromophenol
chlorophenol, a chemical produced only by Monsanto in 1964, according to
the EPA.
"It was a real chemical soup," recalls Robert Zeman, a former DNR
official. "This pit was just about every color of the rainbow from stuff
that was in it. The guy who was bringing the materials out there was an
employee of Russell Bliss. In the ensuing investigations and discussions,
(we determined) that Bliss was likely involved in the activity."
Bliss later testified that bottles found in the toxic pit came
from Monsanto's research lab. Asked from what major source he acquired his
hazardous waste, Bliss stated: "Oh, I would say Monsanto." The waste oil
hauler said that his company was regularly paid $200 to pick up a 40-barrel
load from Monsanto's research lab.
Despite indications that the Dittmer waste came from Monsanto, the
chemical company is certain the PCBs did not. "Monsanto's records indicate
that PCBs were not in the materials mishandled by Bliss," says Herndon,
The composition of the waste will never be known, however, because
Bliss literally coveruped the incident.After the DNR discovered the site,
the waste oil hauler pumped out an estimated 4,000 gallons of sludge
without the state agency's approval, and then hired a contractor to fill in
the pit. The nearby creek continued to be polluted by runoff from the
buried wastes, however. So despite further warnings to leave the site
alone, Bliss returned again before dawn one morning. The same contractor
opened the pit back up. Bliss, his son and one employee then hauled away
contaminated soil and barrels. When neighbors tried to follow one of the
trucks, another Bliss vehicle blocked their way.
Interestingly, some of that waste may have very well ended up back
at Bliss's residential property on Strecker Road in Ellisville. Interviews
with Bliss's neighbors describe an unusual degree of activity at his home
during the same time perio , according to a dissertation by a former DNR
official.
At a 1977 DNR hearing, Monsanto bills of lading signed by a Bliss
driver were entered as evidence. The receipts identify the wastes from the
Monsanto research lab as "one truckload (of) organic non-toxic solvents."
"I just tell them I don't want nothing toxic; that's why I have them put on
the tickets non-toxic," Bliss testified.
The transcript of a later hearing , however, shows that the
"non-toxic" classification contradicted the wording of legally binding
agreements between Monsanto and Bliss. In 1983, the DNR's Hazardous Waste
Management Commission met to consider granting Russell Bliss's son a
hazardous waste hauler's permit. At the meeting, the DNR brought up the
Dittmer incident. The agency also submitted two contracts, from 1975 and
1976, between Russell Bliss and Monsanto. According to one contract:
"...Organic solvents waste from the Research Center consists of ...
trace amounts of almost any conceivable chemical (organic or inorganic).
... Contents of the drum are accumulated from literally hundreds of
laboratory samples and organic and inorganic solvents present in the drum
are not known or controlled. Since it is probable that the total content of
any particular drum is at least as toxic as the solvent mixture, contractor
should exercise extreme caution in the handling of the waste. Contractor is
hereby warned that such waste may be toxic. ..."
In addition, the contracts stipulated Bliss possessed necessary
skills to perform his duties, that he would abide by the law and dispose of
the waste properly. Although Bliss broke the terms of the contracts, it is
also arguable that Monsanto's actions were not above reproach. There is no
proof the chemical company asked the waste hauler about his qualifications.
If Monsanto had inquired, Bliss might have responded as candidly as he did
later to the DNR. The waste hauler told the agency his knowledge of
chemistry amounted to an understanding of BS&W -- "bullshit and water," a
term he used to describe adulterated waste oil. Bliss also stated he had
two methods of testing the contents of the waste he hauled: "I sometimes
taste it, or put it on a napkin and see if it will burn."
The Politics of a Hazardous Waste Coverup
Rep. Talent is not the first to sound the alarm over PCBs. In 1970, Rep.
William F. Ryan (D-NY) raised the issue. Monsanto officials responded to
Ryan by saying they were "well aware of the concern" over PCBs.. The
company also said steps had been taken to insure public safety, but denied
knowledge of whether any PCBs had been released from its Krummrich plant in
Sauget. The next year, Monsanto began burning PCBs at a liquid injection
incinerator in Sauget. The burning continued for most of the next decade.
The PCB controversy resurfaced in 1980, when Missouri Gov. Joseph
P. Teasdale made a campaign stop in Ellisville, at a place that is now one
of the EPA's 27-designated dioxin sites in Eastern Missouri. With the TV
news cameras rolling, the governore railed against the hazardous waste
dumped at the location. Teasdale, however, directed his attack at PCBs not
dioxin, and his lambaste placed the onus for the toxic contamination on
Monsanto.
"I request that you help pay the cost of the sampling and analysis
work, and that if PCBs are discovered that you pay for the cleanup of the
site," the governor told Monsanto. Newspaper coverage of the event failed
to divulge that the site in question was on or near property owned by
Bliss. Teasdale wanted Monsanto to pay for the cleanup of three
Bliss-Ellisville sites, and all other PCB-contaminated locations in
Missouri. Monsanto later claimed their own analysis showed insignificant
PCB levels at the Ellisville sites. The company refused to consider
covering the cost of other PCB cleanups.
In 1981, the DNR paid to dispose of more than 100 barrels at the
Ellisville/Bliss sites that contained traces of PCBs. According to a report
issued by the EPA last summer, more waste is still buried there. Last week,
the EPA began further excavating the site. The non-dioxin waste is being
handled separtately at Ellisville because Syntex has not held responsible
for its cleanup, according to Feild of the EPA. He refused to comment
further pending any enforcement action by the agency. When pressed, Feild
said: "I'm not saying if we are or are not going after Monsanto." The EPA
official left that possiblity open, however, until a further determination
of where the barreled waste at the Ellisville site originated.
Teasdale was not alone in his attempt to make political hay out
Missouri's hazardous waste crisis. On Oct. 31, 1982, whi
re-election, Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.) announced a promising new method
for cleaning contaminated soils. The technique involved spraying the
effected areas with sodium hydroxide and polyethylene glycol. The method
had only been previously successful in treating PCB contaminated soil --
not dioxin. The idea to use the technique in Missouri had been suggested to
Danforth by Rita Lavelle, the controversial EPA assistant administrator.
Prior to her dismissal, Lavelle used the billion-dollar Superfund
program for political ends. In addition, congressional investigations in
revealed Lavelle had private discussions with officials at Monsanto and
other corporations concerning regulatory matters. When Congress subpoenaed
documents -- including those related to Times Beach -- the EPA initially
withheld the information on the advice of the White House and Department
of Justice. The level of stonewalling reached a crescendo when EPA
officials ordered the shredding of sensitive files.
The showdown with Congress forced Reagan to replace EPA
administrator Anne Gorsuch with William D. Ruckelshaus, who had headed the
agency at its inception. Environmentalists point out that during his
career, Ruckelshaus has had many close ties to polluting industries --
including a directorship at Monsanto.
CD Stelzer
CDST...@stlnet.com
cdst...@aol.com
Phone/fax (314) 781-1270