CITIZENS INFORMATION COMMITTEE 
 
MINUTES OF APRIL 20, 1993 MEETING 
 
 
Attendees 
 
John Foster, Bloomington Environmental Commission 
Joe Hailer, Coalition Opposed to PCB Ash 
George Hegeman, Monroe County Board of Health 
Diane Henshel, IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs 
Dawn Hewitt, Near Westside Neighborhood; The Audubon Society 
Dan Hopkins, U.S. EPA Remedial Project Manager 
John Langley, Bloomington PCB Coordinator 
Iris Kiesling, Bloomington City Council 
Joe Loop representing Rachael Loop, Indiana Public Interest   Research
Group 
Rex Osborn, Indiana Department of Environmental Management 
John Perrecone, U.S. EPA Community Relations Coordinator 
Rob Stone, Physicians for Social Responsibility 
 
Not Present 
 
Lee Caulfield, Bloomington Rotary 
Lynn Coyne, Bloomington Chamber of Commerce 
Sally Hegeman, League of Women Voters 
Michael List, Private Citizen, Chair 
Brian Pence, People Against the Incinerator 
Amy Roche, Student Environmental Action Coalition 
Jordan Shifriss, Harmony School 
 
Approximately 11 observers attended the meeting. 
 
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by George Hegeman who sat
in for Chair, Michael List. 
 
Approval of Minutes 
 
Hopkins said that Page 2, Paragraph 10 said "EPA has had" and should
say "EPA has seen". 
   
The minutes were approved as amended. 
 
Permitting Activities 
 
Hopkins said that there were no updates for permitting activities. 
 
Remedial Activities 
 
Hopkins updated everyone on the remedial activities at the  ABB Plant. 
Westinghouse installed 20 piezometers to determine the potentiometric
surface water levels, flow patterns and whether or not ground water
is contaminated. Hopkins said that Westinghouse plans to begin
excavation of the remaining areas at the ABB Plant on May 7th.  He
also said that Westinghouse asked if they could take some of the
excavated material to a permitted landfill.  EPA is reviewing that
request.   
 
Hopkins said that on April 7, 1993, EPA took public officials and CIC
members on an outdoor site tour of the ABB Plant. He said that it gave
everyone an opportunity to see the excavated areas that he had been
discussing at previous meetings. 
 
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Update 
 
Louise Fabinski ATSDR Senior Regional Representative, a part of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He introduced the agency
panel co-chairs that will be working on the Bloomington Health
Assessments. Ms. Fabinski said that ATSDR had met with Greg Steele to
get an historical perspective and Hopkins had given them site tours. 
She said that ATSDR would be conducting the health assessments for the
consent decree sites as mandated by Congress.  She said that they
would also look at the Fell Iron and Metal and ABB Plant sites as an
addendum but it would be later.  Ms. Fabinski will be back to collect
videotape footage of the sites.  She said that ATSDR would like to
invite citizens to show them the areas they wanted the committee to
see.  ATSDR is accepting nominations to fill the expert panel seats
until April 30th, and those can be submitted to her. ATSDR would also
like to know if the community has ideas for how ATSDR can get their
information out to the public. 
 
Dr. Allan Susten, overall Project Manager for the Bloomington Project
from ATSDR, said that they have a cooperative agreement with the
Indiana State Department of Health to assist with this project.  He
said that the public health assessment is an evaluation of existing
data and information and what health outcomes have occurred.  He said
that there are three purposes to the project: to evaluate the public
health impact of six Bloomington hazardous wastes sites containing
PCB-contaminated soil; to determine the public health implications of
incinerating the PCB-contaminated soil; and to identify and evaluate
public health considerations of technically feasible treatment
alternatives, including the no action alternative.  Dr. Susten said
that they will identify whether or not community and physician
education is needed. 
 
Susten said that ATSDR's approach is to convene three expert panels:
health; incineration; and alternate technologies.  They expect to
select approximately 10 to 15 experts for the health; 7-10 for each
of the other two.  These panels will be balanced with representation
from academia, government, industry, citizens, and scientists outside
of ATSDR.  ATSDR will be selecting the panel representatives after all
of the nominations have been submitted. The deadline for nomination
submittals is April 30, 1993. 
 
Susten said that the co-chairs will review all studies that have been
completed in Bloomington.  They will then submit their questions to
the panel members. The panelists will review the reports, answer the
questions in writing, and attend a meeting.  The meeting has not been
scheduled but is anticipated to be in mid-September.  
 
Susten said that ATSDR is not seeking consensus but information and
input.  ATSDR will take full responsibility for the final report.  He
said that they will not make recommendations proclaiming one
technology as more suitable than another or make mention of the
consent decree.  Dr. Susten said that was out of the ATSDR scope. 
 
Fabinski said in order that ATSDR get the health assessments done in
a timely manner, Fell Iron and Metal and the ABB plant site would be
done in a later amendment. She said that they would not be ignored. 
   
Henshel asked if EPA would be on the panels. 
 
Dr. Susten said that there would be representatives from EPA on the
panels because there are many qualified scientists that work at EPA. 
 
Foster asked if they would look at priority pollutants. 
 
Susten said they would be looking at all existing reports. 
 
Michael Conner asked if ATSDR would make recommendations or decisions. 
 
Susten said that ATSDR is not a regulatory agency so they cannot set
policy but they can make some recommendations. 
 
Fabinski added that ATSDR will be looking at technically feasible
alternatives including incineration of PCBs and the no-action
alternative, with a focus on protection of public health. 
 
Foster asked if ATSDR is funded by Superfund. 
 
Susten said that they are funded by the U.S. Public Health Service. 
 
Status of COPA's FOIA Request 
 
Hopkins said that EPA has delivered 15 of the 28 boxes of information
that COPA requested.  He said that EPA has had problems with copiers
breaking down and they are trying to get the remainder of copies made
so they can be delivered to COPA. 
 
Fell Iron and Metal 
 
Hopkins said that EPA has reached a decision about Fell.  He said that
essentially that the remedy is a two-part solution.  He said that
Westinghouse and Fell shall incinerate or arrange to incinerate the
PCB-contaminated soils and materials using the Bloomington incinerator
(Plan A) or an appropriately permitted commercial incinerator (Plan
B). (A) can be done if the following five conditions are met: 1)
Westinghouse receives written approval within six months after the
Decision Document issuance date which selects and identifies the
remedy for the site from the State, Monroe County, and the City of
Bloomington, to allow the Fell materials to be incinerated in the
Bloomington incinerator; 2) all permits, approvals, and certificates
necessary to construct the Bloomington Incinerator are obtained on or
before March 15, 1995; 3) construction of the Bloomington incinerator
begins on or before July 15, 1995; 4) all incinerator permits,
approvals, and certificates necessary to operate the Bloomington
incinerator are obtained by April 15, 1996; and 5) incineration of the
materials specifically identified in the Consent Decree begins in the
Bloomington incinerator by July 15, 1996.  If any of these 5 deadlines
are not met, Westinghouse must dispose of the Fell materials in a
permitted commercial incinerator. 
 
NOTE:  Hopkins said that there may be a typographical error in the
dates and he will check into that and let the CIC members know at the
next meeting. 
 
Dave Porter asked Hopkins why EPA did not just ask Westinghouse to
haul the Fell materials away instead of making them go through this
maze? 
 
Hopkins said that EPA is giving Westinghouse an opportunity to use the
Bloomington incinerator first. 
 
Dawn Hewitt asked if the Decision Document outlines the safety
conditions, method of transportation and routes, and excavation plans
in the event that Plan B is selected. 
 
Hopkins said no but Westinghouse would have to provide a work plan
describing those things if Plan B were chosen.   
 
Hewitt asked if there are guidelines for what Westinghouse's work plan
should contain. 
 
Hopkins said that there are some guidelines and regulations such as
the Department of Transportation requirements that would need to be
followed but other than that there are no written guidelines for a
work plan. 
 
Hewitt asked if the public would get to comment on Westinghouse's work
plan. 
 
Hopkins doesn't see a problem with the public commenting on the work
plan even though it is not a normal procedure. 
 
Deane Little's Presentation to the Consent Decree Parties 
 
Hopkins mentioned that he had discussed with Deane Little the idea of
submitting his Winston-Thomas data to EPA and Westinghouse's technical
people and then be prepared to give a presentation if the consent
decree parties are interested.  Hopkins received additional materials
from Little and Hopkins will submit this to the other consent decree
parties to see if they are interested in talking to Little further. 
 
Rob Stone asked if Little ever got a handle on the volatilization of
PCBs at Winston-Thomas. 
 
George Hegeman said that there did not seem to be volatilization.  He
said that the lab was sent the whole flask for sampling so that the
PCBs did not have an opportunity to volatilize. 
 
Henshel said that she has the guidelines for how ATSDR conducts health
assessments and she would like EPA to make copies and provide them to
the repositories and the local EPA office. 
 
Perrecone said that Henshel could give them to Sona Chambers and EPA
would provide the copies. 
 
New Business 
 
Joe Loop wanted to know if additional testing can be done at ICS and
Quarry Springs since it has been almost two years since sampling has
been done there.  He would like to have the area fenced since children
are playing there and he feels that they may be exposed. 
 
Hopkins said that fencing in that area is not justified since the
statutory thresholds are not being exceeded. 
 
Foster asked Perrecone to defend his paper that was presented at the
Superfund conference in D.C. 
 
Perrecone said that he wrote what he felt to be an accurate portrayal
of the situation and thought it was respectful of the Bloomington
community.  He said he felt badly that people are taking sections of
it out of context and misrepresenting what he intended. 
 
Perrecone announced that he would be working in a new capacity as the
EPA Region 5 Geographic Initiatives Coordinator for Public Affairs
beginning May 1, 1993.  EPA will be assigning another Community
Relations Coordinator to the Bloomington Project.  He reiterated that
he is very respectful of the Bloomington community and hopes they will
continue to question EPA so that they can do their jobs better, and
be more responsive to community concerns. 
 
Perrecone showed a videotape detailing the Indiana Woodtreating Plant
creosote cleanup that EPA conducted.  The videotape may be checked out
at any time from the local EPA office. 
    
Adjournment   
 
The meeting was adjourned by George Hegeman at 9:22 p.m.  The next
meeting will be held Tuesday, June 1, 1993 at 7:00 p.m. in Room
246-248 at IU's Jordan Hall.  There is parking available in the
Atwater Parking Garage for $1 if you bring your parking ticket to the
CIC meeting and have it validated.  A future CIC meetings will be held
Tuesday, July 13th, 1993. 
 
 
Adapted minutes recorded by Sona Chambers, U.S. EPA Region 5 Public
Information Center, staffed by Jacobs Engineering Group.