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PCB warfare among agencies
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Posted on Dec 15 2000
The Issue: U.S. Army Corps and Attorney General’s Office at odds on PCB work in Tanapag Village.
Our View: Differences over testing issues need to be settled in the interest of villagers.
The Attorney General’s Office disagrees with the Army Corps of Engineers’ testing method and clean-up of PCB contaminated areas in Tanapag Village.
The AG’s Office asserts that the Army Corps has tested the food chain in areas where there’s low level of PCB toxic materials. And the ACOE failed to test pigs and land crabs in places known to have heavy dosage of PCB materials.
There’s also the ACOE allegation that villagers “stole” PCB containers 30 years ago which it cannot substantiate. Then there’s the disagreement over methodology on risk assessment.
It is well and good that the AG’s Office has raised these serious which places the ACOE on its toes in the work it has undertaken on the PCB controversy. We hope that the differences do not translate into a gamesmanship or one of a test of power play on a matter that requires both sides to buckling down to addressing and resolving the issue at hand.
The food chain has been contaminated including root crops, land crops to fish in the Tanapag lagoon. For all we know, incident of fatal health conditions may have evolved into serious ailments since years back among villagers who have no inkling of the fatal dangers of toxic materials on their health.
If the ACOE has failed to test the food chain in places heavily inundated with PCB toxic materials, then it must do so forthwith as pointed out by the AG’s Office. After all, we’re dealing with the health and welfare of villagers which call for resolution, not continuing warfare, between local and federal agencies. Si Yuus Maase`!
