Bronx Officials Push For PCB Check
As the city struggles to come to terms with revelations in the Daily News about illegal PCBs in its schools, leadership on the issue is coming out of the Bronx.
Recent testing has uncovered alarming levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in five Bronx schools - along with two schools in Manhattan and one in Queens.
While the Department of Education has not acknowledged that the illegal contamination is a problem, Bronx elected officials are proposing solutions - at the local and national levels.
“I am deeply troubled about the reports concerning possible PCB contamination at city schools,” said Borough President Adolfo Carrión. “And while we could waste time debating PCB levels, the risk of exposure and the potential health risks, that will not address the underlying problem.”
Carrión has called for immediate action to protect students and staff from PCBs - and taxpayers from potential fines and lawsuits down the road.
Carrión’s plan calls for the Department of Education to take the following measures:
Immediate testing of the air, surfaces and caulking at all 266 at-risk schools;
An abatement plan with strict time lines for schools with confirmed contamination;
Establishing a monitoring protocol to assure parents and teachers that cleaned schools are and remain within acceptable exposure limits.
The DOE has so far said it has no plans to test for PCBs at the more than 250 other city schools built between 1960 and 1977, despite the city’s own air and dust testing turning up elevated PCB levels at schools where The News found contaminated caulk.
On a national level, Bronx Reps. Joe Crowley (D-East Bronx, Queens) and José Serrano (D-South Bronx) are taking the lead on legislation to find and remove all PCB caulking from schools, hospitals and public housing across the country.
“Like asbestos and lead paint, the presence of PCBs in our community poses a grave health threat, especially to our children,” said Crowley, whose district includes all of the Bronx schools tested.
“To effectively tackle this problem,” he said, “federal, state and local officials must work together.”
Serrano vowed not to let any inaction by the city further delay action that’s already 30 years late.
“We will be on the case until the PCBs are gone,” he said.
Elected officials from other boroughs also are taking local action. Read more..
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