U.S. Appeals Court Rules PCB Importation Program Is Illegal

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Clinton administration program Monday that had allowed private operators of incinerators to import highly toxic PCBs so that the compounds could be incinerated in the United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency had decided in early 1996 to reverse a ban--in effect for 16 years--on importing PCBs, arguing that their destruction in this country was safer than allowing stockpiles to fester in Canada, Mexico and other nations.

But the appeals court, based in San Francisco, agreed with the argument of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Inc. that the legislation that banned the manufacture of PCBs--polychlorinated biphenyls--also prohibited bringing them into the country.

Administration officials said they had not seen the decision and were unable to say whether it would be appealed to the Supreme Court.

When burned, PCBs produce dioxin, which is linked to cancer, brain damage, reproductive disorders and, in children, developmental problems. Despite precautions, incinerators emit minute quantities that enter the food chain through meat, dairy products and fish.

The court said in its brief ruling that the Toxic Substances Control Act “provides for a categorical ban on the manufacture of PCBs.”

“The ban on manufacturing PCBs includes an absolute ban on their import,” the court declared, adding: “EPA may not promulgate a rule governing the disposal of PCBs that would violate this categorical ban.”

One senior EPA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency believed that letting Canada or Mexico export PCBs to U.S. sites a short distance across the border was safer than long-distance shipments--say from Ontario to the Canadian West--that have the potential for transportation accidents that could let PCBs enter streams flowing into the U.S.

In addition, the official said, Mexico was being forced by a lack of adequate disposal sites to ship PCBs as far away as Finland and Holland for incineration, exposing the compounds to loss at sea.

Howard Fox, a lawyer with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, said the exemption was established “not to help the environment, but because incinerators were looking for more PCBs to burn.”