Fourteen containers of PCB-contaminated waste have been sitting since Wednesday on a ship at the Port of Seattle, with dock workers refusing to unload the cargo and environmentalists threatening to sue if the waste is brought ashore in Seattle. The 110 tons of waste, generated at U.S. military bases in Japan, had been headed for processing in Canada, but before the ship reached its destination, the Canadian government refused to admit the waste into the country. The EPA then granted the U.S. Department of Defense permission to temporarily store the waste at a Seattle warehouse. But Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) yesterday insisted that the waste won’t be unloaded in the state unless the Pentagon guarantees that it won’t stay any longer than two weeks. A Pentagon spokesperson said yesterday that there is not yet a final destination for the contaminated cargo.
