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New Study Links PCBs From Alcoa With Those Found In Badin Lake Fish

Expert Says Fish And Sediment Samples Show Relationship To Contaminants
From Alcoa's Badin Works Facility, Adds More Evidence Against Relicensing

STANLY COUNTY, N.C. - John H. Rodgers, Jr., Ph.D., a renowned water quality expert with Clemson University, has released a new study that indicates there is a relationship between the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used at Alcoa's Badin Works facility on the Yadkin River and the PCBs found in the fish and sediments in Badin Lake, a 5,300-acre reservoir that empties into the Yadkin through the Narrows Dam. This conclusion adds further evidence that Alcoa is the source of the PCB contamination found in the lake earlier this year. It is also yet another example of how Alcoa has been a poor steward of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project, which includes four dams and powerhouses along a 38-mile stretch of the Yadkin River at High Rock, Tuckertown, Narrows and Falls Reservoirs in Davie, Davidson, Rowan, Montgomery and Stanly counties.

Alcoa, a multinational firm, has applied for a new 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to control, govern and sustain ownership of water flowing from the Yadkin River and continue overseeing its monopoly of hydropower generated by the Project. Opponents of Alcoa's stewardship of the Project, including the Stanly County Board of Commissioners, have cited the firm's poor environmental record as a key reason for denying the relicensing. As Badin Lake serves as the primary source of drinking water for Stanly County, a location for fishing and swimming, and an economic driver for the entire Uwharrie Lakes Region/N.C. Central Park and the State of North Carolina, this new link tying the PCBs in fish and sediment in the lake with Alcoa's own operations strengthens that concern.

Using 30 fish samples collected Feb. 11 and seven sediment samples collected April 2, Dr. Rodgers compared samples with information on the PCBs used at the Alcoa Badin Works Facility provided by the N.C. Division of Waste Management this year. As PCBs are a family of industrial chlorinated chemical compounds that include 209 possible forms, or "congeners," he and Dr. Matt Huddleston analyzed the PCB congeners and concentrations in the fish tissue with those in sediment samples from the southwest arm of Badin Lake (near the Alcoa facility), the northwest arm and the northeast arm. Based on their analysis, they reached the following conclusions:

There is a relationship between PCB congeners in sediments from the southwest arm of Badin Lake and PCBs in fish from the lake.
Congeners detected in the fish tissue provided further evidence of sediments as a source of PCBs
PCB congeners detected in sediments from the southwest arm of the lake (near the Alcoa facility) have concentrations significantly greater (on the order of 10 to 100 times greater) than sediments from other parts of the lake.
PCBS congeners in sediments from the southwest arm co-occur more frequently with congeners detected in fish samples throughout the lake than do congeners in sediments from other parts of the lake.
Fish sampled from the southwest arm of the lake were consistently more contaminated by PCBs than fish collected from other parts of the lake.

The doctors then compared the predominant PCB congeners in the sediment and the fish with the congeners present in the Alcoa-related PCB and detected most of the latter in the fish tissue and sediment samples from the lake. Of the 76 PCB congeners associated with Alcoa operations, 18 either were not analyzed in fish tissues or were combined with other congeners for analysis of sediments. Of the remaining 58 Alcoa-related PCB congeners that were analyzed individually, 57 occurred in fish tissue, 55 occurred in sentiments, and 54 occurred in both fish tissue and sediments for a greater than 93 percent match.

Earlier this year, the state study found elevated levels of PCBs in Badin Lake fish, so on Feb. 11, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a fish consumption advisory for Badin Lake advising that pregnant women, nursing women and children under age 15 should not eat any largemouth bass or catfish from Badin Lake and that other people should not eat more than one meal a week of catfish or large mouth bass from Badin Lake. Alcoa filed a contested case challenging the posting of the PCB fish consumption advisory.

Fish consumption advisories occur when the DHHS finds fish in and around the state with elevated levels of contaminants that may pose a risk to human health. Unborn children and young children can be more susceptible to developing problems as a result of contact with contaminants, which is why advisories are often more stringent for them. According to the DHHS advisory, PCBs can cause anemia; acne-like skin conditions; damage to the liver, stomach or thyroid gland; changes in the immune system or reproductive system; and behavioral problems.

The Stanly County Board of Commissioners maintains that Alcoa has failed to clean up its past operations in the county that discharged hazardous pollutants into North Carolina air and waterways for decades and affected plant and animal ecosystems and harmed humans due to exposure or ingestion. It favors establishment of the Yadkin River Trust, now under review by the General Assembly, to ensure better water quality for the Project than what Alcoa provides.

Quotes:
"Once again Dr. Rodgers has revealed information that is damaging to Alcoa's claims about being environmentally responsible for the decades it has maintained control of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project," said Stanly County Commissioner Lindsey Dunevant. "On behalf of the board, we urge state legislators, the DWQ and other concerned leaders to review this study seriously and explain why Alcoa's record of pollution at Badin Lake, combined with its refusal to say how and when it will clean up its existing contamination, make it worthy of having 50 more years to exploit and monopolize water rights for our state's second-largest river at the economic and environmental expense of North Carolina citizens."

About John H. Rodgers, Jr., Ph.D.:
A recognized expert in water quality, Dr. Rodgers is a professor and director of the ecotoxicology program with the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Clemson University in South Carolina, as well as co-director of the Clemson Environmental Institute. He has worked professionally as a researcher, consultant, teacher, author and participant in ecology and environmental studies for more than 35 years on hundreds of projects. His extensive list of honors and awards include a listing in International Who's Who and a certificate of appreciation from the Environmental Protection Agency. A member of the American Water Resources Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation, among other organizations, Dr. Rodgers earned his Ph.D. in aquatic ecology and botany at Virginia Tech in 1977.

About This Effort:
In 1958, Alcoa, the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, secured a federal hydroelectric license for the Yadkin Project on the Yadkin River in Stanly, Davidson, Montgomery and Rowan Counties in the Central Piedmont. In return, Alcoa promised aluminum manufacturing jobs for Stanly County for years to come. Alcoa has now essentially disappeared as a major employer in the region and shut down its manufacturing plants, but it wants to continue reaping the benefits of the Yadkin River after its license expires in April of this year. In addition, Alcoa discharged hazardous pollutants into North Carolina air and waterways for decades while harvesting immense profits from the Yadkin River, but has yet to finish cleaning up that contamination. It has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to obtain another 50-year license. If Alcoa is successful, one of North Carolina's most valuable water resources will be used to maximize Alcoa's profits, instead of being used to benefit the people of North Carolina, who themselves are in dire need of affordable electricity, local economic development, and clean, adequate drinking water.

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