[CPEO-MEF] PCBs in fish

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[This article is important for this forum because it deals with the
uptake, by fish, of PCBs from old paint. This may be a problem for
decommissioned ships as well as certain military buildings, such as
Hangar 1 and Moffett Field. - LS]

Toxic Paint Muddies a Beloved Creek
By JIM ROBBINS
October 3, 2004
LEWISTOWN JOURNAL (MT)/New York Times 


LEWISTOWN, Mont. - Big Spring Creek rises up out of the prairie at the
cottonwood-tree-shaded state fish hatchery a few miles outside this
agricultural hamlet. It oxbows several miles through farmland and
pine-studded bluffs and into town, through neighborhoods and downtown.

The deep, clear creek also flows through the center of life here. The
water is piped without treatment into the faucets of city residents,
fishermen come from around the country to drop flies into its pools,
children and adults float the stream in inner tubes, and a local tavern
has a hole in the floor a few steps from the bar which allows patrons to
watch swimming fish while they drink.

"Lewistown wouldn't be here if it weren't for Big Spring Creek," said
Torger Oaas, a local lawyer. 

That is why high levels of toxic PCB's found in the stream and their
unlikely source have sent a ripple of shock through this central Montana
town of 4,000. 

PCB's were first discovered in the stream in the early 1990's, but at
low levels. An advisory was placed on eating fish. But after an old
industrial site at Brewery Flats, which officials thought was the likely
source, was cleaned up, they kept finding PCB's. Last year, they started
sampling above the flats, which no one had thought to do before.

...

for the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/national/03creek.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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