A bill introduced in the Alaska Senate this month could protect local utility providers from liability associated with soil contamination.

The bill, called SB 173, would protect power companies that use pesticides on wooden power poles.

Darren Belisle, manager of power operations for Upper Lynn Canal for Alaska Power & Telephone, said the company owns over 1,100 Douglas fir poles in the Haines Borough pre-treated with a common pesticide called penta or PCP, short for pentachlorophenol.

Penta has been used since 1936 as a wood preservative, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Belisle said without the treatment, the life of the pole would be considerably shortened and customers would pay for pole replacements.

“The insects can hollow out the inside of the pole which will cause more and longer outages and will become a hazard to the public,” Belisle said.

The EPA has approved its use on utility poles, but has classified penta as a “probable human carcinogen.”

“Pentachlorophenol was once one of the most widely used biocides in the United States, but it is now a restricted-use pesticide and is no longer available to the general public… Pentachlorophenol is extremely toxic to humans from acute (short-term) ingestion and inhalation exposure,” one EPA report said.

Kristin Ryan, director of spill prevention and response for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, said penta is a regulated pesticide under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, which means the EPA provides specific guidance about the ways it can legally be used.

“I am aware of three instances in Vermont where byproducts from the manufacture of the poles has leached into private drinking water wells at unsafe levels,” Ryan said. “Recently, the Kenai Wildlife Refuge did some informal testing of poles in the refuge and found elevated levels of the same chemical byproducts some distance from the utility poles. That is the reason for the legislation. The risk is remote for significant leaching but it has occurred.”

In 2015, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists discovered what it termed “concerning levels” of the pesticide in soils around 12 power poles in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

In a letter to the DEC, refuge manager Andy Loranger said, “Results (of soil samples) reveal that a majority of poles treated with PCP, both historically (1950s) and more recently (within the past 20 years), have contaminated surrounding soils with concerning levels of PCP and dioxins/furans.”

Loranger said the initial testing was done when the utility company, Homer Electric Association, was considering removing a large number of poles from the wildlife refuge. The Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to help determine best management practices for that project, Loranger said, including leaving the poles or remnants of them as to not disturb the soil.

“Our concern is more for the potential with any contaminant that could have an effect from an ecological standpoint,” he said. “None of the sampling we did was looking at the potential for migration.”

Fish and Wildlife has not published its findings, but raw data from soil samples were released.

Ryan said the DEC is conducting research to determine if the wildlife refuge results were reliable. “We are also working with utility companies to develop Alaska specific best management practices for the removal of utility poles when they replace them,” Ryan said.

Belisle said only small amounts of penta are used to coat each pole.

“The preservative concentration is no greater than 8 percent in the carrier oil making up the solution used,” Belisle said. The manufacturer of the poles applies penta, not AP&T.

AP&T director of marketing Mark McCready said the company takes the same stance on the proposed bill as the Alaska Power Association, of which it is an associate member.

“We support (the bill) because it’s going to ensure that Alaska’s public utilities will not incur significant regulatory expenses from the legal use of federally regulated pesticides on wood utility poles,” said Michael Rovito, APA director of member and public relations.

The APA represents utility companies throughout the state.

The bill, sponsored by Republican senator Peter Micciche, was recently referred to committees in the state senate. Results from DEC research is expected in several weeks.

“In the State of Alaska, every wooden utility pole is factory-treated with a preservative/pesticide which prolongs the service life of the pole by protecting it from organisms that compromise structural integrity. It is logical to assume that soil coming in direct contact with treated utility poles for 30 or more years would include traces of that preservative,” Micciche said.

“The bottom-line purpose of my choice to bring SB173 forward is the financial protection of nearly every Alaskan ratepayer who depends upon a utility to deliver electricity to their home, business or facility.”