PORT ARTHUR — Mitch Osborne, general manager of Veolia Environmental in Port Arthur, told a panel of Environmental Protection Agency personnel that his company destroying Polychlorinated Biphenyls, or PCBs from Mexico, a known cancer-causing agent, is good for the environment in Mexico and the United States.

Osborne believes the material would be stored-up in Mexico and create health hazards there, and with PCB molecules drifting across the United States’ border. Especially since the PCBs were originally manufactured in the U.S.

The public hearing was scheduled by the Environmental Protection Agency from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday, in the Port Arthur City Council Chamber. The hearing is one of the steps in determining if Port Arthur’s Veolia on Texas 73 will be allowed to incinerate PCBs imported form Mexico.

Bob Dellinger, director of EPA hazardous waste identification division asked Osborne if any portable non-incindiary equipment could be used in Mexico to eradicate the PCBs. Osborne said his company has invested millions of dollars in researching different methods and came to the conclusion there were no vital or cost-effective ways for non-incindiary technology.

Dellinger also asked Osborne if Mexico had their own incidinary technology to destroy the PCBs or if portable incidinary devices could be used in Mexico in which Osborne replied there were none of which Veolia has identified.

Veolia, a French-based company, petitioned the EPA for an exemption that would allow Veolia’s facility to incinerate 20,000 tons of liquid PCBs from RIMSA, the company’s sister company in Monterrey, Mexico. Veolia has been treating PCBs from the United States at its facility in Port Arthur since 1992.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, or ATSDR, Web site, PCBs are a mixture of individual chemicals which are no longer produced in the United States, but are still found in the environment. Health effects have been associated with exposure to PCBs include acne-like skin conditions in adults and neurobehavioral and immunological changes in children. PCBs are known to cause cancer in animals.

Osborne said these PCBs are no different from PCBs they have treated in the past and the community has no reason to fear for its health since those fears are not supported from the evidence.

“It should be most evident in our employees and they are showing no adverse health effects,” Osborne said. “We perform blood PCB levels testing and with 1,044 screenings, the Port Arthur community is generally healthy and is typical of any other Texas community.”

Dr. Neil Carman, Clean Air Program Director, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club said the PCB incineration is a “very serious issue” and is the reason why Congress banned the use of PCBs in 1976.

Carman dubbed PCBs as “PBTs” — an acronym standing for:

• Persistence- PCBs last and last for decades and long-living molecules

• Biocumulative- they enter into the food chain with higher concentrations of PCBs as one moves up the food chain

• And Toxic- PCBs have adverse health effects

He cited as an example cleft-pallettes in a number of children that may be caused by in-utero PCB exposure from foods the mother ate.

“PCBs move through the environment globally. They’re released in Port Arthur and move globally. They don’t stop here,” Carman said. “We already have an over abundance of PCBs. Most of us have them in our bodies and in our children and in our babies.”

Carman added when PCBs are incinerated, all of it is not burned up and new PCB molecules are re-created after they separate and come back together.

Also, the Veolia incineration process would create over one billion micrograms of PCBs which he called “extremely large quantities.” Carman also believes fugitive leakage could be created by transporting them or by storing them.

“I inspected incinerators for 12 years for the state and there are problems even at state-of-the-art incinerators. It’s a flawed technology,” he said.

Scott Schlesinger of the Environmental Trade Council said Veolia’s incineration techniques are in accordance with national and international law and PCB import is not illegal if the company meets the law requirements and receives approval.

“They (Veolia) have met standards as tough as anywhere in the world. When incinerating, 99.999 percent of PCB molecules are destroyed and requirements met,” he said.

Schlesinger said containers carrying PCBs must also meet EPA and Department of Transportation standards.

PCBs have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment because they don’t burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the U.S. in 1977 because of evidence they build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects.

Hilton Kelley, executive director of Community In-Power Development Association, CIDA, said pollutants impacts all lives in Port Arthur and he saw a need in the city of to create the organization. In addition to addressing pollution, CIDA also addresses social blight in the city.

“We’re constantly being bombarded with toxic chemicals,” Kelley said. “Southeast Texas is inundated with toxic waste. One out of five children use a nebulizer to breathe. Everybody here has probably known someone who has died from cancer. Enough is enough.”

Dellinger said they are nowhere near the end of the process and they want to reach the right decision on the matter.