PCB cleanup faces delay • U.S. Army Corps still weighing options on how to carry out clearing of

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has indicated that it may have difficulty carrying out a cleanup of Cemetery 2 (Lower Base Cemetery) before the end of the year as it has yet to make a final decision on what type of technology will be used to remove the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination (PCB) in the area.

According to Maj. David Goddard and Helene Takemoto from the U.S. Army Corps Headquarters in Hawaii, the agency will have to explore other options in the cleanup but assured that the agency will take into consideration the residents’ health concerns.

Tanapag residents complained about the foul odor emitted from the thermal desorption process used in treating the PCB contaminated soil in the cemetery.

“I think the best way is to meet with the members of the community and see what method is acceptable to them,” said Maj. Goddard. He assured Tanapag residents during Wednesday night’s public hearing that the Army Corps wants to get the project in the cemetery done as quickly as possible, stressing that it was an obligation of the Department of Defense to the people of the village.

A resident of the village raised the possibility of suing the U.S. Department of Defense for the health risks involved in the PCB contamination. “If the community feels that they were unjustly treated, then they can sue,” Maj. Goddard said.

Aside from being too costly, the U.S. Army Corps cannot ship out the contaminated soil to the U.S. mainland since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has prohibited the agency from doing that, said Ms. Takemoto. “Right now, we want some of that contamination moved out so maybe we can stockpile it somewhere for shipment later on,” she said.

During the public hearing, Tanapag residents demanded a cleanup of the cemetery in time for All Souls Day since the government has prohibited the people from entering the area to prevent them from being exposed to the highly toxic chemical.

Ben M. Sablan, also a resident of the village, urged all the federal agencies to work together to remove the contamination to save the village.

In removing the toxic chemical in the cemetery, the U.S. Army Corps used an innovative technology in June 1997 known as thermal desorption, which involved heating of the soil in a very high temperature to turn PCB into gas which is in turn collected.

However, the on-site treatment stopped when Tera Therm, the company hired by the main contractor Environmental Chemical Corp. to carry out the job went bankrupt.

In September 1999, the US. Army Corps ended up shipping to the mainland some 1,094,000 lbs. of PCB- and dioxin-contaminated soil for disposal at a hazardous waste facility in the U.S. However, piles of contaminated soil are still left in the cemetery.

Norman Lovelace, manager for Region IX, U.S. EPA, said the federal agency will try to do everything to remove the PCB contamination in the cemetery as soon as possible.

PCB contamination in the village began when an unknown number of capacitors were left behind by the U.S. military in the 1960s which were originally purchased by the U.S. Department of Defense and used on Kwajalein Atoll as part of the Nike Zeus missile radar system.

Experiments conducted in animals show that PCBs have caused cancer as well as affected the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. Studies in humans have raised further concerns regarding the cancer-causing potential of PCBs.