chronic tests, EPA turns to bioaccumulation bioassays, according to Tom Chase, an environmental engineer with EPA's ocean dumping program. However, he said there are currently no standards for bioaccumulation tests, and he acknowledged that regulators must look to more subjective measures. But Chase stressed that dumping is "not supposed to degrade the environment," meaning that under EPA standards dumped materials should be no more contaminated than ocean sediments found near the dump site. In determining whether this is so, EPA uses bioassay tests, in which test animals live in dredged muds and the concentrations accumulating in the animals are compared to a reference. If concentrations in test species are less than the reference level the mud p a cope
the bioaccumulation test If concentrations are very high the sediment fails However for Ipvels in betwppn Chase said a decision depends on a "subjecinterpretatinn thprp are signifirant adverse r e .
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Subjectivity has been an issue since at least 1993 when Clean Ocean Action began legal proceedings against EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers. The group challenged an ocean dumping permit that allowed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to dump dioxintainted Newark Bay sediments into the Atlantic Ocean. On appeal, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 ruled that in issuing the permit EPA had not followed Ocean Dumping Act re~ quirements However the ruling did not address the subjectivity of Region II's permitting decision and instead it focused on whether EPA had followed its own regulatory rpnuirements Likewise, according to Chase, the proposed rule addresses only procedures, and the Newark permitting decision would not be affected by the proposal. EPA issued the proposed changes {Federal Register 1996, 61 (41), 7765-70) with an initial comment period of 30 days, but on March 22 the agency extended that period until May 1. —REBECCA RENNER
NEWS SOCIETY EPA drops 16-year PCB import ban Claiming environmental and economic benefits, EPA has opened U.S. borders to the import of wastes with high-concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The March 18 announcement overturns a 16-year ban on the import of wastes with 50 ppm or more PCBs and is expected to result in more business for U.S. companies that treat, incinerate, dispose, or recycle PCB-tainted wastes. The increased business is expected to come from Canada and Mexico. However, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund have filed a legal challenge to the rule. In particular, they object to bringing more PCB wastes into the United States where most of it will eventually be burned. EPA estimates that some 400 million lb of PCBs are stored in Canada and another 100 million lb in Mexico and that the regulatory change could generate $500 million for U.S. companies to treat those wastes, assuming revenues of $1 a pound. Most of this income would go to three U.S. companies—Rollins Environmental Services, WMX Technologies, and Roy E Weston which run five incinerators that are permitted to burn PCBs. Revenues for these companies like the rest of the hazardous waste incineration industry are down because of a shortage of wastes analysts sav All this waste might not wind up in the United States, however; Canada has one PCB incinerator and Mexico has a PCB landfill operated by WMX. EPA estimates the U.S. revenues will range from $50 to $100 million a year for five years. "This might help a couple of companies, but it's not going to come near to solving the overcapacity problem," said Jon Hanke, senior associate, Environmental Information Ltd., a Minneapolisbased environmental technology research firm. He said the income estimates are too high and will depend on PCB concentration in wastes and how they are handled.
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For instance, he predicted a lot of PCB waste will not be incinerated but simply landfilled, a much cheaper operation. One nonincinerator company that hopes to profit from the change is S. D. Myers Inc., an Ohio-based PCB transformer recycler that pushed hard to lift the ban. Mike Valentine, Myers's development director, stressed the environmental benefits of recycling, saying only 2% of a 6000Tb transformer must be incinerated if the rest is recycled. He said most Canadian PCBs are in transformers, and the company has been lobbying Canadian officials to require recycling Driving the environmentalists' suit is opposition to incineration and the resulting dioxin emissions, according to Neil Carman with the Texas Chapter of the Sierra Club. He urged EPA to encourage development of nonincineration technologies before allowing more PCBs to come into the country. Carman applauded EPA's March 18 decision to permit the first-ever nonthermal, portable PCB destruction technology for high-concentration PCB wastes. The chemical treatment process, developed by Commodore Environmental Services Inc. (New York City), uses a solvated electron technology held in an enclosed, portable cement-mixer-like device to destroy contaminants according to the company But before PCBs can be imported from Canada, the United States must negotiate a treaty with Canada, and Canada must lift its own ban on the export of PCB wastes. EPA and industry officials said they have been assured through private conversations with Canadian officials that the ban will be modified and PCBs will begin to cross the border by year's end. Canadian officials however withheld comment. If the deal is closed these wastes will join some 400 million lb of other hazardous waste that traverses the U S —Canada border each year .—JEFF JOHNSON
