The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 20

ft I If III -y I I 1 B8 S.F. EXAMINER Apr. 29, 1983 EPA suspends fine against Rocketdyne, OKs its use of PCBs February of this year that the material contained toxic which federal law has barred from manufacturing use since 1979. According to EPA findings, Rocketdyne had specified originally that the material should not contain any PCBs, which sometimes occur as an adulterant In the Rigidax wax. The manufacturer had certified that Rigidax met Rocketdyne'i specif ications.

The manufacturer, Argueso of New York, said it informed customers In 1979 that the product no longer would be available. It was discontinued because of a tightening in PCB laws that year, according to company Vice President Lou Argueso. A Rockwell spokesman confirmed that Rocketdyne was notified In 1979 of the product's discontinuation, but he said the company was unaware of any PCB problem. He said Rocketdyne then stocked up heavily, buying several hundred pounds perhaps as much as a ton. "We thought we were buying enough to go through our contract," the spokesman said, noting that man ufacture of the $2.3 billion Rocketdyne space shuttle engine uses about 500 pounds of the wax each year.

In February of this year, Rocketdyne alerted federal and state environmental officials after It confirmed that the Rigidax wax in its stock contained more than 50 parts per million of PCBs the federal hazard level An EPA official said levels In the wax ranged from 300 to 1,000 parts per million. Rocketdyne told the EPA it had been been dumping waste materials at a West Covlna disposal site that to not permitted to handle waste with more than 50 parts per million of PCBs. This means, according to the EPA, that Rocketdyne violated hazardous waste disposal laws. Later in February, the EPA sent Washington staff members and one regional staffer to Rocketdyne's Canoga Park plant to discuss the company's waiver request and Its planned remedial action. A regional PCB expert returned to San Francisco and warned his boss, Crow, that a Rocketdyne official had mentioned her husband's name during the visit Crow said she merely thanked the employee, But during a March 3 meeting on the Strlngfellow case, Crow said, another staff member mentioned the PCB matter, causing her to Inquire whether Rocketdyne was on the list of 200 Stringfellow dumpers.

When she found that Its parent company, Rockwell, was on the list, Crow disqualified herself from Strlngfellow matters the next day. She said she did this to avoid any appearance of conflict of Interest created by her husband's sublease of a laser laboratory to Rocketdyne. On April 1, after EPA attorneys concluded she had an appearance of a conflict of interest but no potential criminal conflict, Crow permanently disqualified herself from all matters Involving Rockwell Interests. fi FSk rm ra rsr hi Lm TICKETED TICKETED PRICE SALE PRICE SALE 5.99 5.79 26.99 23.99 7.99 ...7.79 24.99......... 25.99 999 :...7.99 34.99.........

28.99 17.99 1 5.99 39.99 32.99 24.99 21.99 44.99 35.99 DAYS ONLY! FRIDAY, APRIL 29 THRU SUNDAY, MAY 1 MAS'H T-SHIRT HOT CHALLENGING TITLES FROM AcfiVisioM WE PMi YOU IN THE GAME. WHEN YOU BUY A (11 TM By Tim Relic rman Examliu itaff writer The federal Environmental Protection Agency has suspended a $30,000 fine against Rocketdyne subsidiary of a major Strlngfellow Acid Pits dumper and allowed the company to continue using toxic PCBs In manufacturing space shuttle engines. A special one-year waiver of the federal PCB ban was granted to Rocketdyne March 3 by EPA's chief toxics official, John Todhunter. The fine was rescinded the same day. Todhunter was one of several top EPA officials later to resign under fire for unrelated reasons.

An EPA spokesman In Washington said he knew of no other company granted a waiver for PCBs (polychlorlnat-ed biphenylsL But he added, "Rocketdyne acted as a good citizen in this case." A New York firm that supplied the material is under investigation, the EPA said. Rocketdyne had been illegally using and disposing of PCBcontalnlng material since 1979. The EPA made the concessions after Rocketdyne recently spent about $80,000 to clean up PCB contamination and agreed to spend an estimated $215,000 more to. protect workers and the environment from the suspected carcinogen. The continued use of compounds containing PCB is critical to Rocketdyne's fulfilling its obligations in a timely manner on government contracts pertaining to the space shuttle program and certain Department of Defense contracts," the EPA said.

The Examiner has learned that Rocketdyne was notified several years ago that the material no longer would be available. The company only accelerated its efforts to find substitute when its inventory ran low this year. The company said it discovered Just two months ago that the material contained PCBs. The federal waiver allows Rocketdyne to use 422 pounds of the PCBJaden material for up to a year. By then, Rocketdyne hopes to have developed a substitute.

It was on the day of the waiver that EPA regional administrator Sonia Crow said she first realized she had a potential conflict of interest involving Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Rockwell International, one of the major Strlngfellow dumpers now being sued by the federal government Strlngfellow Acid Pits in Riverside County is California's most troublesome toxic waste dump. Crow disqualified herself from all matters involving Rockwell, on the advice of EPA attorneys, because of her husband's business relationship with Rocketdyne. Crow said she played no part in the PCB waiver negotiations or the lifting of the $30,000 fine, although her San Francisco-based region encompasses Rocketdyne facilities in Southern California. 'It was a headquarters issue, not Region 9," she said in an interview. Rocketdyne, manufacturer of various space shuttle components including the engine, has been using a form of the waxy substance called Rigidax for machining and metal electroplating since 1972.

But the company says that it discovered only in 'Brownie Mary' is back in court "Brownie Mary," the 60-year-old former waitress busted for running a marijuana brownie business, must do an additional 200 hours of community service for violating probation by possessing four dozen drug-laced brownies. Mary Rathbun appeared before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Edward Stern yesterday with her attorney, Ellen Chaltin. The judge issued his sentence even though the probation report suggested Rathbun be sentenced to nine months in Jail. Chaltin told the Judge that Rathbun had baked the brownies for a friend suffering from the nausea that often accompanies cancer treatment and planned to send them to her. Marijuana is widely recognized as a relief for the nausea, according to Chaltin.

Assistant District Attorney George Beckwith doubted the defendant's story, arguing that on Dec 7, 1982, Rathbun was headed neither to the post office nor to a bus station but to a South of Market motorcycle shop, "possibly to make a delivery." Rathbun's troubles with the law began in January 1981, when San Francisco police officers seized 54 dozen oven-fresh, marijuana-laced brownies in her apartment, along with other drugs and the tools of the baker's trade: sugar, flour, eggs, margarine and 21,000 square feet of plastic wrap. The brownies were advertised as "magically delicious." Rathbun pleaded guilty to nine drug charges in May 1981. She was sentenced to 500 hours of community service and three years of probation. With yesterday's sentence, her probation will expire In June 1384. VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE! Cu u.t.k 4CfVl be fm rvr vww iviiit I and Sears Video Game mm "IMS System.

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