Pcbs

Last Monday afternoon, a crane removed a 1 1/2 -ton steel-gray transformer in the basement of Jenkins Hall at Morgan State University -- and state officials sighed with relief. State-owned buildings, at least, were now officially free of toxic PCBs.The state and other large power users had raced against an Oct. 1 deadline to remove all of their large, old electrical transformers that were once filled with hundreds of gallons of coolant laden with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) or risk fines of up to $25,000 a day."

As a reminder of just how persistent some toxic chemicals can be, a Johns Hopkins-led research team reports finding traces of long-banned DDT and PCBs along with other contaminants in the blood of 50 pregnant women checked from Baltimore and its suburbs.  In a study posted online by the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology , the scientists say they detected more frequent and vigorous fetal movements in the wombs of...

The Sanctuary, a retired World War II-era vessel languishing in Baltimore waters for years, contains high levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, according to a report obtained yesterday by The Sun. The survey, performed in July by a company that once considered buying the former Navy hospital ship, confirms the suspicions of environmentalists. It contradicts assertions by the new owner, Potomac Navigation Inc., that the vessel contains few PCBs. The Delaware-registered company plans to take the vessel to Greece in the next few weeks, but concerns raised by a Seattle environmental group, the Basel Action Network, could delay the process.

For nearly 30 years, local, state and federal authorities have wrestled with what to do about an old dump in North Point that's been leaking toxic waste into nearby wetlands and Back River. On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Sauer Dump a Superfund site, making it a priority for a federally supervised cleanup. When it will finally get cleaned up, though, remains an open question. An EPA spokesman said more investigation is needed and couldn't say when work might begin to deal with the contaminants lurking in the soil and sediments.

The body of a young bald eagle killed along the upper Hudson River contained high concentrations of PCBs, a toxic industrial chemical that is the Hudson's last significant taint, New York state environmental scientists have reported.The finding, although limited to one eagle, is significant, the scientists said, because similar levels of PCBs in eagles or eagle eggs from polluted areas of the Great Lakes have been linked to reproductive problems and deformities in the birds. The scientists said they were concerned about PCB contamination of eagles because, after nearly a century in which the birds of prey were only rarely seen along the Hudson, eagles have begun nesting on its banks in the last few years.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Pataki administration has ordered General Electric to clean 700,000 cubic feet of soil contaminated by PCBs at an old factory that dumped the chemicals in the Hudson River, a move that environmentalists lauded as a good, though limited, step.The cleanup order by the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, which the department estimated would cost GE $28.4 million, applies only to the defunct plant in the village of Hudson Falls, 50 miles north of here. It does not address the far more contentious question of whether to dredge PCB-contaminated sediments in the river, a step long demanded by environmental groups, and resisted by GE.Lately, there has been a flurry of activity over PCBs in the upper Hudson, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepares to decide whether to order dredging, paid for by GE, which could cost the company more than $1 billion.

There's something lurking in Baltimore Harbor mud that seems to be chewing up the toxic PCBs left there by decades of industrial activity. If scientists can figure out what's going on, they might find ways to unleash the microbes on tainted waterways across the country.Kevin Sowers, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland's Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) has been pulling muck from the harbor slips around his laboratory at the Columbus Center, cultivating the microbes that live in it, and watching them slice up the PCB molecules.

A former World War II hospital ship that has spent much of its retirement languishing in Baltimore will soon be towed to Greece, under a plan that's raising legal questions and pollution concerns from a Seattle environmental group. In a statement set to be released today, the Basel Action Network said it has contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, the Maryland Port Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency with allegations that the Sanctuary contains polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, thought to cause cancer.

Two days before a state inspector was due in for an announced spot check this summer, a north Anne Arundel County industrial construction company hurriedly disposed of waste materials, ordering a crew to dig a hole and bury them, current and former employees say.The Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are investigating McShane Inc., at 605 Pittman Road just south of Baltimore, for possible illegal storage of...

Exposure before birth to relatively small amounts of PCBs, a kind of industrial pollutant, can result in long-lasting deficits in a child's intellectual development, a new study has shown.The researchers found higher than expected rates of "low normal" IQ scores, poor reading comprehension, memory problems and difficulty paying attention in 11-year-old children who had been prenatally exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in concentrations only slightly higher than those found in the general population.

The Shoshana S. Cardin School has abandoned plans to move to the former Rosewood Center in Owings Mills next fall but will leave open its option to move to another portion of the site. "It's very, very disappointing," said Shoshana S. Cardin, co-founder of Baltimore's only independent Jewish high school, where 56 students are now enrolled. "We were on a high. Parents, students, faculty, we were on a high that we'd have our own building and be in there in September." Barbie Prince, the head of the school, said Thursday that school officials made the decision after looking at a preliminary environmental study of 55 acres, now owned by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, that the school had a contract to buy, contingent on the outcome of the study.

For seafood lovers, there's no more confounding dilemma than balancing the nutritional benefits of fish and shellfish against the ill effects of the environmental contaminants contained within them. The latest advisory issued by the state - a warning to restrict consumption of striped bass and bluefish caught by anglers off the coast of Maryland - is a depressingly familiar example. In this case, the problem is polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, odorless and colorless compounds used by the electrical industry but banned by the U.S. more than three decades ago. PCBs have been linked to cancer and can cause damage to the human immune system and liver.

State officials warned Wednesday that people should restrict consumption of Atlantic striped bass - the state fish and one of the most popular with recreational anglers on Ocean City's beaches and charter boats, as well as with area restaurant diners. The Maryland Department of the Environment issued the advisory for striped bass, also known as rockfish, and bluefish caught in coastal waters because they contain high levels of a banned toxic substance. People should not eat the fish more than once a month, the state said.

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's injunction that bars a retired Navy hospital ship decaying in Baltimore's harbor from being moved overseas. M/V Sanctuary was rotting in the Patapsco River for 18 years until it was sold at a court-ordered auction in October to Potomac Navigation Inc. The Delaware-registered company planned to tow the ship to Greece in December, but the move was delayed by costly legal wrangling with the U.S. government. In November, the U.S. District Court in Baltimore granted the Environmental Protection Agency an injunction to prevent Sanctuary from leaving U.S. waters.

One of the toughest things I have to do as a Baltimore biology teacher is to teach my students about the scientific method. That is, basically, the set of rules under which science operates. Every year, when my kids take the High School Assessment, they have a lot of difficulty on that section of the test. They don't quite understand about variables and how to run a controlled study. I always worried that this would hinder them if they went into a scientific profession. Now, however, I can take comfort in the fact that it prepares them for jobs with the Maryland State Department of Education.

The Environmental Protection Agency filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the owner of an old naval ship decaying in Baltimore's harbor clean up the vessel within the country, after a recent report showed it contains dangerously high levels of toxins. The ship, a decorated World War II craft, has been rotting in the Patapsco River for 18 years, neglected and abandoned until it was finally sold at court-ordered auction in October to Potomac Navigation Inc. The Delaware-registered company planned to tow the M/V Sanctuary to Greece in December, but it has been delayed by costly legal wrangling with the U.S. government.

A retired Navy hospital ship, abandoned by its previous owner and ostensibly bound for Greece under a new buyer, must remain in Baltimore's harbor after the Environmental Protection Agency obtained a warrant this week to search it for toxic chemicals and secured an injunction barring it from being exported. The multiweek delay will cost new owner Potomac Navigation Inc. hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The company bought the vessel Sanctuary for $50,000 through a court-ordered auction in August.

Federal and state environmental officials are investigating a north Anne Arundel County industrial contractor suspected of illegally storing hazardous chemicals, authorities say.The investigation could lead to fines of up to $50,000 if the company, McShane Inc., was convicted of any criminal charge.An inspector from the state Department of the Environment visited McShane, in the 600 block of Pittman Road, in early June on a tip from a former employee and found a drum containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

A retired Navy hospital ship, abandoned by its previous owner and ostensibly bound for Greece under a new buyer, must remain in Baltimore's harbor after the Environmental Protection Agency obtained a warrant this week to search it for toxic chemicals and secured an injunction barring it from being exported. The multiweek delay will cost new owner Potomac Navigation Inc. hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The company bought the vessel Sanctuary for $50,000 through a court-ordered auction in August.

The Sanctuary, a retired World War II-era vessel languishing in Baltimore waters for years, contains high levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, according to a report obtained yesterday by The Sun. The survey, performed in July by a company that once considered buying the former Navy hospital ship, confirms the suspicions of environmentalists. It contradicts assertions by the new owner, Potomac Navigation Inc., that the vessel contains few PCBs. The Delaware-registered company plans to take the vessel to Greece in the next few weeks, but concerns raised by a Seattle environmental group, the Basel Action Network, could delay the process.