For a year now officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Monsanto have been meeting and talking in Washington trying to reach a comprehensive agreement concerning the PCB situation in Anniston.From the beginning this newspaper and many residents of our area have asked for the community’s voice to be heard in the talks. Over the past year, plenty of suggestions were put forward about how the overall cleanup of our area should be accomplished.
Many were trying to look to the long-term. Many wanted not only for parts of Anniston and the streams to be cleaned up, but they wanted monitoring of the environment and the health of the community.
When we finally found out this weekend the outcome of those negotiations, it was clear that many of the wants of the community were simply not addressed.
Yes there is plenty in this package that will benefit the community, not the least of which is a signal that something will start happening soon to try to clean up our problem. But there is a glaring absence when you turn to a comprehensive health study of the area.
Health studies of the magnitude we need are massively complicated ordeals. And the truth is, the results could raise as many questions as they answer. But that does not mean for a minute that we should not have one. Frankly, the cost is not important to this community. What is important is obtaining as accurate a profile of this community as possible.
If, as a great deal of science indicates, PCBs are directly related to certain ailments, we need as much help as possible in finding out if we have a higher incidence of such illnesses than other communities.
We also find it disturbing that the EPA is relying on Monsanto and its affiliated companies to conduct most of the studies and the work.
Suffice it to say that the community’s trust in the EPA far outweighs its trust in Monsanto at the moment.
Oddly enough, Circuit Judge Joel Laird is contemplating an order from his court that would set out the kind of cleanup he would like to see occur. The EPA should see what this order looks like before it makes any kind of final deal with Monsanto.
That might not be best for everyone involved. But it is certainly best for this community.
