By Fred Knapp, Stars and Stripes

The equipment, including electrical cable, transformers, and oil, contains polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, classified as a carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency. The items are currently stored at the Army’s Sagami General Depot, part of Camp Zama.

The Army announced on Jan. 12 that it planned to truck the equipment to Yokohama North Dock on Jan. 27, where it would be loaded onto a ship and leave for the United States around Feb. 1.

But those plans were not implemented due to what officials termed "logistical reasons."

Now, to fulfil a commitment to Japan to remove the items, officials are considering flying the materials back to the United States for disposal. Lt. David Gai, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday that shipment via air was "likely."

"We’ve been looking at the options and our intent is to return the materials as soon as we can. And air is one of the options that allows us to do that," Gai said. He said he thinks Yokota Air Base is the nearest facility to handle the shipment.

While surface shipping is preferred because it is cheaper and easier logistically, "We thought it was prudent and necessary to honor the commitment to the government of Japan to move these materials as soon as possible," Gai said.

Last year, the Army tried to ship 110 tons of equipment containing PCBs from Sagami Depot to Canada or the United States for disposal.

The cargo was refused in both countries, which prohibit the import of PCBs. The ship returned to Japan, where it was met by protests.

The cargo was eventually moved to Wake Island, where it remains in legal limbo.

Gai stressed that unlike last year’s shipment, which contained Japanese-manufactured PCBs, the items to be shipped now contain U.S.-manufactured PCBs. He said the EPA has agreed that the materials do not qualify as imports.

That does not necessarily satisfy environmental groups who are opposed to PCB shipments in general. "The U.S. EPA may have tried to rig some exemption, but the legality is unclear," said Marti Sinclair of the Sierra Club.

"The Club does not favor transoceanic shipments of persistent organic pollutants in general," Sinclair added. "The loss of such a shipment, especially in sensitive coastal waters, could have long-

lasting, destructive and disruptive environmental and economic effects."

Sinclair was responding to questions about potential surface shipping of PCBs, and could not be reached Friday to comment on the possibility of air shipment.

However Col. Jeanette Minnich, spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Japan, said, "We are committed to ensuring that materials are handled in accordance with the highest standards for safeguarding human health and the environment."

Sinclair also indicated that environmental groups are concerned with the possibility that the PCBs would be incinerated once they are returned to the United States.

"We do not favor incineration which only partially destroys PCB waste and also generates other highly toxic compounds which are released from the smokestack and thereby dispersed into the environment," Sinclair said.

Gai said most materials containing PCBs are not incinerated. In general, he said, only about 10 percent is incinerated, adding that even that figure is not all PCBs, but can include wood and other packing materials.

Once they get to the United States, Gai said the materials from Sagami General Depot will be taken to Pell City, Ala., by Trans Cycle Industries, an Alabama firm. There, they will be broken down into components, with some being recycled and some going to a landfill. The oil components will be taken to a Sun Oil facility in Canton, Ohio, where an incinerator is located, Gai said.

The current shipment is part of about 80 tons of materials containing U.S.-manufactured PCBs now stored at Sagami General Depot, Gai said. The goal is to remove all of those materials, he said, but they cannot all be brought to the States at once because of the limits on the amount that contractors there can handle at one time.

Japanese press reports have estimated another 150 tons of foreign-

manufactured materials containing PCBs are also stored at the Depot. Base officials have said the storage poses no threat to the environment, people who handle the materials, or the local community.

Referring to the currently planned shipment, Gai said "We’re at the point right now in this program where we’re trying to do the right thing."