JOINT STATEMENT OF THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONFEREES 

 mill operation. There were no "background" substances 

 to cause the PBI reaction in these waters. It is clear 

 to us that the PBI test in these study areas was^, in 

 fact, measuring sulfite v;aste liquor. 



"To answer the question regarding the use 

 of artificially spawned oyster larvae, we have gone to 

 some supplemental material submitted for the record by 

 the Washington State Department of Fisheries during the 

 two weeks following the conference. We have learned that 

 the conditions under which these tests were run are most 

 favorable to the proper development of oyster larvae. 

 This conclusion is well substantiated by the high rate 

 of survival in the control portion of these tests. 



"To resolve the question of the toxicity 

 of sulfite waste liquor decreasing with age, we again 

 went to the presentation describing the oyster larvae 

 studies. For the most part, the oyster larvae bioassays 

 were conducted with individual water samples collected 

 from each station by float plane. In other words, the 

 sulfite waste liquor for which toxicity levels were es- 

 tablished had gone through the natural aging process in 

 the receiving water. Therefore, even if the toxicity of 

 the waste liquor does decrease with age, this decrease 

 was accounted for in the tests and in the report recommendations, 



