Test results reinforce need for PCB cleanup

Because they cause cancer, polychlorinated biphenyls haven't been manufactured in the United States in more than three decades

But they won't leave us.

A new state inventory of the James and Elizabeth rivers shows alarming levels of PCBs in several places in both, ominous for anyone who works or plays on the water.

If the presence of PCBs isn't surprising - contamination in both waterways has been known for decades - the persistence of the stuff remains a depressing constant.

PCBs are colorless, tasteless, odorless oily liquids and solids used as coolants and insulators in electrical equipment. PCBs can also be found in flame retardants, adhesives, inks and carbonless paper.

The chemicals spilled or leached and are washed into the nearest river, where they concentrate in sediments and the worms and insects living there. Since fish feed on those same critters, PCBs also end up concentrating in their flesh.

According to a story by The Pilot's Scott Harper, new testing by the state found high levels of PCBs almost everywhere in the Elizabeth and in several spots in the James.

Now measured in parts per quadrillion, state testers found portions of the Elizabeth and James had contamination of around 300 times the state standard. The highest levels in the Elizabeth were found near Military Highway; in the James they were near Hopewell's industrial waterfront.

Last week's results probably won't change the state Health Department's estimation that there's no general danger to human health because the PCBs sink into a river-bottom's sediments.

But they won't stay there, and that's the problem. The levels that remain, and the contamination of fish, show the durability of PCBs in the environment - and should provide a cautionary tale for both regulators and industry.

It should also provide the state with a renewed impetus to get moving to fix the problem. The first step is to find any continuing sources of PCBs and to stop them from contaminating our rivers. The next step is to somehow clean up the PCBs already there.

Damage to the Elizabeth has been inflicted for many generations. The good folks at the Elizabeth River Project this summer began the effort of getting a different kind of toxin out of the river near Money Point, where it gives cancer to fish and burns human skin.

That effort is expected to cost more than $11 million, money overdue and well spent. It will take many more millions to begin to attack the PCBs that lie beneath the river from one end to the other.