OCR Text |
Show Ilk" "x-. O ikVji ' '" P I! V " k H n . u - v ( (i n , - I -1 , , ; . . ! V 0 ( f I : ".!' I . . It. Golden Eagle Refinery Manager Chuc k Stewart keepg watch over one of the TA If IMf Tljr I AAA plant's oil fumarrs. Workers at the Woods Crow facility were forced I Allll JU I lit LUwU recently to burn over 20.000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil after the canrer-caiuing agent wa discovered in a tample submitted to the state health department. taminated beyond 50 parts per million (ppm) must ship those materials to an approved E.P.A. hazardous waste dumpsite. SINCE GOLDEN Eagle burned their hazardous material, mate-rial, Mr. Stewart said the company com-pany has no remaining oil to be shipped out for burial. The nearest E.P.A.-approved E.P.A.-approved dumpsite is in Mountain Moun-tain Home, Ida. MR. STEWART added that a massive clean-up effort is being waged at the facility to check the machinery for possible possi-ble contamination. He said he wants to make sure the plant is free of PCB's. By MARK D. MICKELSEN WOODS CROSS The manager of the Golden Eagle oil refinery said Wednesday plant workers burned over 20,000 gallons of contaminated oil after the state health department depart-ment discovered the cancer-causing cancer-causing element PCB in an oil sample taken from the facility. CHUCK STEWART, the re-finery'i re-finery'i chief architect and supervisor, su-pervisor, said evidence of the contaminated oil began showing show-ing up shortly after a shipment of oil from an alternate supplier sup-plier arrived at the facility, around August 1980. He said workers noticed that instead of the traditional black color, the oil was clear. STATE HEALTH Department Depart-ment officials were called in to take samples of the strange liquid. li-quid. The results showed a contamination level of 68.7 percent, Mr. Stewart said. Meanwhile, a majority of the first 1800 gallons of oil was being sold to outside sources for burning oil and coal spray. Stewart said coal mining operations oper-ations buy the oil from him to regulate the amount of coal dust that accumulates in the mines. HE SAID ALL 1800 gallons of oil was sold by the time plant officials received any word from the state on the sample tests. However, when the second shipment arrived, its contents were held. But for storage, Mr. Stewart said the oil was combined com-bined into another of the plant's tanks. That tank was holding 20,000 gallons of un- contaminated oil. DUE TO THE State Health Department test results, Mr. Stewart said Wednesday none of the second shipment was sold. He said at one point, an Environmental En-vironmental Protection Agency Agen-cy representative from Grand Junction, Colo., was dispatched dispatch-ed to the refinery to get information infor-mation on the contamination. But rather than checking the oil barrels for the substance, Mr. Stewart said the man began be-gan taking ground samples. STEWART said he has already assured the E.P.A. that none of the oil sold from the first batch will work its way into the food chain. He stressed stres-sed that Golden Eagle deals only in burning oil and coal spray. When workers realized that an entire vat of over 20,000 gallons gal-lons of oil was contaminated, Mr. Stewart said that vat was emptied into the site's furnace and incinerated. HE EXPLAINED further that the furnaces used become so hot that the oily matter disintegrates, dis-integrates, allowing no danger-ous danger-ous fumes to escape into the atmosphere. In addition, Mr. Stewart said the first shipment of 1800 gallons was routed to a company com-pany where there is no chance that any of the employees will be effected by the contaminates. contamin-ates. HE ASKED NOT to reveal the name of the company. Under federal law, refineries refiner-ies containing materials con- |