Times Beach

[jablome <jablome@cdmnet.com>]

FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST - DISPATCH...

               Dioxin Incinerator Should Be Retested, Official Says
               EPA Ombudsman Criticizes Handling Of Test Samples

               Sunday, December 22, 1996 

               By Joan Little
               Of The Post-Dispatch Staff 

The federal Environmental Protection Agency should act immediately to retest the dioxin incinerator at
Times Beach because of problems in the handling of earlier test samples, the agency's ombudsman says.

The ombudsman, Bob Martin, said he could not recommend continued operation of the incinerator - but
he stopped short of saying it should be shut down.

Some residents near the incinerator have been calling for a shutdown since the incinerator began
operations last March to burn dioxin-contaminated material collected from 27 sites in eastern Missouri.

Rep. Jim Talent, R-Chesterfield, on Saturday called the report "an absolutely damning indictment" of the
Times Beach cleanup, one of the largest Superfund sites in the country. The congressman, whose district
includes the site, predicted the EPA would shut down the incinerator until the retesting is done.

Gary Pendergrass, project coordinator for Agribusiness Technologies Inc. - the firm overseeing the
incinerator and the cleanup - said all of the allegations in the ombudsman's report have been investigated
by the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. "They've found there's been no
wrongdoing at all," Pendergrass said.

Martin issued his report Friday after a six-month investigation. The office of EPA ombudsman was
established by Congress in 1986 to answer citizens' complaints and grievances and to make
recommendations to the agency.

Testing at the incinerator is aimed at guaranteeing that it operates properly and safely, destroying the
dioxin contamination and sending harmless emissions into the air.

The report did not find that the dioxin stack tests were invalid or that criminal conduct had occurred.

However, Martin had serious concerns about how the test samples were handled. He estimates in his
report that retesting would cost $100,000.

His complaints about the earlier tests include:

Chain-of-custody procedures in handling test samples normally followed by the EPA were not followed
in the Times Beach stack tests.

Test samples were mislabeled and misplaced.

The mishandling of the samples, Martin wrote, "represents a lack of quality assurance in the highest
degree."

His report comes just over a month after the state of Missouri announced that no problem at Times
Beach warranted shutting down the incinerator. In November, the state said the findings of its monthlong
investigation found some poor record-keeping but no serious problems that could threaten the public's
health.

Earlier this month, the St. Louis County Council rejected a request from nearby residents that it seek to
shut down the incinerator. At that meeting, Robert Feild, who oversees the incineration for the EPA, said
that the burning of the soil should be finished by March.

Such reports have done little to halt the protests from residents living near the incinerator.

Steve Taylor, who heads the Times Beach Action Group, on Saturday called for an independent
investigation into the Times Beach cleanup. He said local residents don't trust the EPA and the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources.

"We don't want simply a shutdown and a retest because the state's been a bad player and a bad actor in
this," Taylor said.

In his report, Martin quotes Michael Bollinger, described as a veteran environmental professional, who
said questions raised by the Times Beach test results "indicate either incompetence, blatant carelessness
or potentially criminal deception on behalf of the sampling and analytical contractors."

Bollinger said explanations provided by Agribusiness are "grossly inadequate."

The incinerator was built at Times Beach to destroy dioxin, an unwanted byproduct of a manufacturing
process at a plant that once operated in southwest Missouri.

The dioxin was brought to the St. Louis area by waste hauler Russell Bliss in the 1970s. Bliss spread
dioxin-contaminated waste oil at freight yards and stables and on Times Beach streets to control dust. He
also contaminated his own property, an old farm off Strecker Road.

Covered trucks bring the soil to Times Beach, where it is stored in a sealed building awaiting incineration.

After all the contaminated material is burned, the incinerator will be 
dismantled and removed. The entire project is expected to cost more than $118 
million, with Agribusiness footing most of the bill because it bought the plant 
that produced the dioxin.