WARWICK – The Rhode Island Mall has paid a $36,100 fine for PCB use and discharge in several freight elevators, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week.
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a suspected carcinogen and exposure can cause liver problems and skin rashes.
The EPA said the mall violated the federal Toxic Substances Control Act by engaging in “unauthorized use and discharge of PCBs in several freight elevators.” In pits underneath the mall’s four freight elevators, PCB oil was found at levels exceeding 50 parts per million.
The settlement deal includes Rhode Island Mall remediating the elevator bays and completely complying with PCB regulations.
The mall opened in 1968, about 10 years before the United States banned PCBs, which commonly had been used in hydraulics machines, including elevators.
