PCB's and Country Life

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The city, naturally, is wondering who'll pay for all this. Monroe County technically has the responsibility for the old landfills that contain PCB-contaminated sludge and other wastes. The County Council, however, has refused to appropriate the funds necessary for the proper disposal of PCBtainted wastes until it has an assurance that Westinghouse will pick up the tab. A tab that—according to Rick Peoples—is expected to run about $50,000 a year . . . and which Westinghouse doesn't seem to want to pay (voluntarily, at least).

A QUESTION OF ECONOMICS

This brings us to the heart of the industrial pollution issue, not only in Bloomington but everywhere: money. For the cold, hard truth is that it costs more money—a lot more, in many cases—to dispose of poisonous chemicals in a safe and rational manner than to dump them into the sewer (or the closest stream or landfill). While the corporate giants save money by such dumping, though, the people of this country lose it in more ways than you can count.

Bloomington's residents, for instance, have had their standard of living lowered as a result of Westinghouse's waste-disposal practices. It's been lowered because of water that cannot safely be drunk by humans or animals (or used on gardens), sludge that cannot be put back on the land, land that—in some cases—cannot be used to produce food, cows that cannot be milked or eaten, and fish that cannot be caught for dinner. (The Board of Health has posted signs at nearby streams, warning people against eating any fish caught there.) And that's just the facts of the situation we face today . . . a situation that—if left unchanged—is sure to be worse 10, 15, or 20 years from now.

No, it's not a pretty picture. And it doesn't say much for the way our government agencies operate. But-at this stage of the game—that's the way things are.

WHERE LIES THE BLAME?

When I realize that all of this could have been averted by a serious warning to Bloomington's residents not to use the city's sludge—or by a system at the Westinghouse plant that would have eliminated PCB's at their source—I can only stop and wonder why this whole nightmare had to happen in the first place . . . and who should bear the costs. Should Sara and I, as individuals, graciously accept our losses? Should the community be responsible? Or should the industry that brought PCB's into the community assume our losses, as they have accepted the profits which—at least indirectly—those losses have made possible?

We think the answer to the last question is yes . . . which is why we've filed a class action suit—with 12 other Bloomington residents—against both the Monsanto Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation for the hardships they've caused us.

We don't know if we can win the suit—after all, we don't have the resources (legal or otherwise) of a Monsanto or a Westinghouse—but that's not really the point. The point is, someone has to fight the battle. Thus time, it's us. Next time, it might be you.

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