Every now and then it helps to get one of those very real reminders of the fact that we have a PCB problem in our community.Sure, we hear about it all the time. Seldom does a day go by when this newspaper, for example, does not cover an aspect of it. There’s the civil trial in Circuit Judge Joel Laird’s court. There are the other civil cases that might be coming down the line. There are the various studies and undertakings being carried out. There is the agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and Monsanto over the comprehensive cleanup of the area.
Yes, our community knows a thing or two about PCB contamination.
But the reminder this week that fish in many of the surrounding waterways have elevated levels of PCBs and are still not safe to eat, brings the problem out of the realm of the abstract for most of us and into our every day lives.
Take a trip out to Choccolocco Creek sometime, just about anywhere below Anniston. It is a beautiful stream full of all of nature’s wonders. You can even take you pole or rod along with you and fish until your heart is content.
Don’t eat what you catch, though. That striped bass is liable to be laced with PCBs.
And it’s not just Choccolocco. Advisories have been posted in at least five popular fishing areas along the Coosa River.
That’s a blow to the fisherman in all of us, but it is, of course, bad for everyone. It is bad not so much because we will have to go without any catfish, but because of what it says about our area.
Years ago, Lake Erie had a huge problem with pollution. No one ate fish out of the place because of mercury contamination. It was a setback for recreation, but the entire area around Lake Erie gained a sort of reputation as a toxic wasteland.
The lake and the region around it have since made a comeback, and the image of a contaminated region has faded into the background.
Contaminated fish in our streams, then, is just another challenge that we have to overcome. It is just another signal of the mammoth task ahead of us.
In time, however, if Monsanto cooperates and the EPA does its job and the community watches over the process like a hawk, we will be able to solve our problem and rebuild our image.
