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EPA FINES NH PUBLISHING COMPANY FOR PCB VIOLATIONS

Release Date: 04/15/1997
Contact Information: Leo Kay, Press Office, (617)918-4154

BOSTON -- The New England office of the Environmental Protection Agency fined a publishing company in North Stratford, N.H. $48,500 recently for failing to properly label and keep records of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as required under federal law.

The EPA alleges that Ayer Company Publishers, Inc. violated PCB regulations by failing to mark its transformers and capacitors, failing to inspect its transformers, failing to maintain annual and quarterly records, failing to apply for and obtain an EPA identification number before storing PCBs, and failing to construct an adequate storage area for its PCB capacitors.

EPA investigators found the violations during an inspection of the facility last May.

This case represents the second time the EPA has issued a complaint related to the six transformers at the facility. The EPA issued a complaint to the facility's previous owner, Hilco Inc., for $20,000 in 1993, alleging similar PCB violations.

This action was brought under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the federal law regulating the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use and disposal of PCBs. The regulations are designed to protect employees, members of the community at large, and the environment from being exposed to PCBs.

PCBs are no longer manufactured but remain in use as non-conductive, fire-resistant additives to coolant liquids in heavy electrical equipment. They are extremely stable chemical compounds in the environment, and are suspected carcinogens. Exposure to PCBs can cause liver problems and chloracne, a persistent skin rash.