The city of Anniston and a local environmental group both announced Tuesday their belief that EPA's draft consent order with Solutia and Pharmacia to conduct a comprehensive PCB investigation and cleanup does not fully address PCB woes in Anniston.
One of the community groups that submitted a list of requests to EPA for the consent order more than a year ago complains about two aspects of the draft consent - the potential impact on civil PCB litigation and the lack of current funding for health studies and medical monitoring for Anniston.
David Baker, president of Community Against Pollution, a western Anniston environmental group, has asked a senior Alabama senator to question EPA administrator Christine Whitman about the consent decree during a Congressional subcommittee meeting at 9 a.m. today in Washington, D.C.
Baker said Tuesday that he hopes Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, will ask Whitman "how EPA came to this agreement; who they have consulted with in the community to reach their decision; and how they believe it will impact ongoing (state) court proceedings, given the fact that the State of Alabama has joined this civil suit."
Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel Laird, who is presiding over the trial, has indicated that he may seek remedies to the PCB pollution that are different from EPA's consent order.
According to Baker, the community needs "immediate" funding for health studies and medical monitoring, regardless of whether it comes from EPA or Solutia.
Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said his biggest concern about the draft consent order, expected to be signed later this week, relates to special educational funding. He said he feels the proposed $3.2 million to be paid by Solutia to the Anniston community over 12 years is "drawn out and not well-funded."
Also, the city filed a motion in the Monsanto trial Tuesday asking Laird to appoint a panel of experts to oversee PCB cleanup activities in Anniston. The state attorney general had filed a similar motion several weeks ago.
Howell noted he believes the EPA did not contact the city government to find out what it felt was needed in the consent order. "There is no involvement, to date, at the community level," he said.
EPA officials have said that they presented a wish list to Solutia, based on community requests, last year when negotiations on the consent order began.
In a recent interview, EPA attorney Richard Leahy told The Star that the public would have an opportunity to comment on the consent order when it is filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham.
He said EPA agreed that Solutia should provide special education funding rather than health funding because "we thought it would benefit the community more."
The contents of the "wish list" and the draft consent order are now getting scrutiny in state circuit court in the injunctive relief phase of the Bowie v. Monsanto civil case. The 3,500 plaintiffs who accuse Monsanto of polluting their properties and blood with PCBs also are asking for injunctive relief, which could include PCB cleanups in waterways and properties and health studies and medical monitoring for people who have had PCB exposures.
The draft consent order does not include the proposed comprehensive health study mentioned in EPA's original wish list provided to Solutia last year. For this and other reasons, plaintiffs' attorneys in the Bowie case are arguing that EPA and Solutia have negotiated a faulty agreement.
During his testimony in the civil case Tuesday, Solutia environmental affairs director Dr. Robert Kaley said Solutia does not believe PCBs are causing significant health problems in Anniston, and thus Solutia should not fund a comprehensive health study.
He also said that if Solutia were to fund a health study, its findings might not "have credibility" within the Anniston community.
