Avista Replacing Transformers to Eliminate PCBs

Jun 10, 2014 12:35 PM ET
Campaign: Shared Value

Originally published on The Spokesman-Review

Avista Corp. is spending $36 million over six years to replace thousands of electrical transformers that contain PCBs, a cancer-causing compound found in elevated levels in the Spokane River.

Transformers built before the 1980s contain small amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls, industrial compounds once widely used in lubricants for engines and machinery.

Avista voluntarily began targeting the older transformers for changeout years ago, gradually replacing them when utility crews scheduled other maintenance work at utility poles and substations. But in 2011, Avista stepped up the work, with the goal of removing all of its transformers that contain PCBs by 2016.

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