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November 27, 2005
Politican replaces other politician as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: exclusive pictures
Politicians in Madhya Pradesh have appointed a politician to take over from the politician who used to have the title of Chief Minister.
EXCLUSIVE PICTURES:
Posted by bhola at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2005
Chinese chemical factory explosion imperils city, causes panic as mass exodus begins
The citizens of Harbin each winter build a snow and ice city. This year the ice will be carcinogenic.
Emergency measures are in force in the north-eastern Chinese city of
Harbin, after water supplies were turned off.
The move came amid fears the city's drinking water could be contaminated after an explosion at a chemical factory upstream of the Songhua river.
Authorities in Harbin, home to 3.8m people, said the shut-off would last four days - though there are fears it could go on longer.
Schools and many businesses have shut, while flights from Harbin are
sold out. "Everyone wants to leave Harbin and it is very difficult to
buy tickets," a factory manager told Reuters. The chemical factory
processed benzene, a highly poisonous toxin that is also carcinogenic.
Fifteen hospitals have been placed on stand-by to cope with possible
poisoning victims.
More than 16,000 tons of drinking water is being brought in by road, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said - though this is less than
Harbin's residents habitually use in a day. The government initially
said the stoppage would last four days, but a water company official has told the BBC there is no set timetable for the resumption of supplies.
BBC Beijing correspondent Louisa Lim says residents of Harbin are
mistrustful of government statements, having originally been told the
stoppage was for routine maintenance.
Hoarding supplies
The initial announcement of water stoppages led to panic buying of water and food, sending prices soaring. Bottled water sold out at supermarkets and other shops in the city, but the China Daily reported that other beverages, including milk, were still available. "All containers are being used to store water, including the bathtub. It will be OK for four days, but not longer than that," a factory manager said.
There are also reports that some people have been sleeping outside in
sub-zero temperatures after rumours of an imminent earthquake. The order to cut off the water comes after a 13 November explosion at a
petrochemical plant in Jilin city, about 380km (230 miles) up the
Songhua river from Harbin. Five people were reported to have been killed in the blast, and more than 60 injured. The explosion forced the temporary evacuation of some 10,000 residents, but people have since been allowed to return home. The authorities gave no indication in the state media at the time that there were pollution fears.
However, the China Daily reported on Tuesday that the government had issued two statements. One simply spoke of water main maintenance and
repair, but the other mentioned the Jilin blasts. Harbin Water Supply
Company refused to comment, the paper said.
The authorities said there was no sign that the city's water supply had been contaminated, but the Beijing News showed pictures of dead fish washed up on the banks of the Songhua river near Jilin city.
Harbin is in China's north-east Heilongjiang province, and is one of the country's coldest cities, with overnight temperatures this week falling to -12C. It hosts an ice and snow festival each January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4462158.stm
HARBIN EMPTYING AS TOXIC SLICK FLOATS THROUGH
By Jane Macartney in Harbin and Times Online
Thousands of residents of Harbin, the Chinese city left without water because of toxic chemicals in its water supply, were making their way out of the municipality today as the poisonous slick wound its way down the city's main river.
The 80km-long (50-mile-long) patch of benzene-polluted water entered Harbin late last night after local officials shut down the city's water supply at midnight on Tuesday. Officials said that the benzene, a carcinogen that is lethal in high doses, was expected to take 40 hours to pass through.
Jane Macartney, The Times China Bureau Chief, is in Harbin, the capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang and home to four million people. She said that the initial panic of the water shortage has given way to a busy but orderly exodus.
"The stations are crowded with people trying to leave," she said today. "A lot of trains are completely full, sold out even of standing tickets. The airport is the same, with all the flights booked out, even though the government has laid on extra flights. On our flight from Beijing into Harbin yesterday, there were only six other passengers coming into the city.
"The majority of people are just leaving Harbin and going home to the surrounding countryside. Many of the peasants who have come to work in the city are going back to their villages to see the shortage out."
Yesterday, the provincial government gave the first official explanation for the shutdown, saying benzene, an industrial solvent, had rushed into the icy Songhua River after an explosion at a chemical plant in nearby city of Jilin on November 13. Contamination in the river was 29 times higher than safety levels.
Macartney said that the government's response to the emergency had seen the city overwhelmed with bottled water. Harbin's taps will remain shut off for four more days.
"The place is absolutely barging with bottled water. I have never seen so many plastic bottles in my life. The supermarkets are overflowing with shopping trolleys full of bottles, the streets have filled with vendors and carts selling bottles. They are everywhere," she said. "There are water tankers in the streets and they are making their way to the apartment blocks."
Earlier, officials put Harbin's 15 hospitals on alert for cases of water poisoning. Short-term exposure to benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness and unconsciousness while heavy consumption can cause leukaemia.
But Macartney said there were no reported cases so far: "There are no reported cases of poisoning yet but it would be impossible to verify them if there were," she said.
"That said, the government has improved its communication since the beginning of the shortage. In the beginning, the taps were just turned off and no one knew why. That's what led to mass panic-buying. But since then, the government has shared more information. Certainly the local newspapers are filled front to back with stories about the shortage. There's an overkill of information."
Senior officials in Beijing today put the blame for the pollution squarely on the shoulders of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which runs the chemical plant in Jilin, 193km (120 miles) southeast of Harbin.
"We will be very clear about who’s responsible. It is the chemical plant of the CNPC in Jilin province," said Zhang Lijun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, who told reporters that the company might be charged with criminal responsibility.
The explosion, which forced the evacuation of 10,000 people, occurred in a tower that processed benzene. The first sign of serious water pollution was a trail of dead fish, according to the official China Daily newspaper. On November 20, a monitoring station close to the accident found contamination levels 103.6 times higher than normal.
Posted by bhola at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2005
US persuaded Portugal: the Bush administration interceded with Lisbon on India's behalf to get Salem extradited
ASHISH K. SEN WRITING IN OUTLOOK INDIA
Senior US officials and intelligence sources point to the "considerable pressure" Washington exerted on the Portuguese government to facilitate Salem's extradition. "India had made a big deal about Abu Salem, and Washington agreed to help," a US intelligence source told Outlook. Though it was "long time coming", the "prolonged effort" did result in the Portuguese government delivering him to India.
Confirmation of the US involvement also came from a state department official who told Outlook that the Bush administration had "encouraged" the Portuguese to go through with Salem's extradition.
Salem cheaply selling off his multi-million dollar assets alerted US authorities.
"We were told that the Portuguese were working within their own laws and that this (extradition) would happen in due course," the official said. Explaining the delay in getting Salem and his companion actress Monica Bedi extradited, he said, "These legal
issues take time to sort out."
The Bush administration had been "on the case" much before Salem's arrest in September 2002. Officials point to a speech the then ambassador to India, Robert D. Blackwill, made in Calcutta on November 27, 2002, wherein he said: "For more than 12 months leading up to this arrest, American law enforcement agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, have closely cooperated with the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation and Interpol to track and ultimately capture Salem."
Blackwill also pointed out that because of the "prior involvement of the Bush administration in assisting India to track down Salem and the muscular relationship between our respective law enforcement agencies, the Indian CBI requested American assistance to intercede with the Portuguese to obtain custody of Abu Salem. The top of the Bush administration immediately concurred and acted within hours". American representatives facilitated several meetings between high-ranking CBI officials, the American ambassador to Portugal, and Portuguese officials in Lisbon, Blackwill had said.
Following 9/11, Bush issued Executive Order 13224 that identified terrorists and terrorism financiers. Salem, treasury department spokesperson Molly Millerwise told Outlook, did not figure in this order as a terrorist or terrorist financier. However, being in the US at the time, the gangster began to feel the heat when officials began to monitor activities of foreign nationals. With properties running into millions of dollars in New Jersey, he began selling these at throwaway prices after September 2001. The transactions caught the notice of US law enforcement but Salem managed to slip away to Europe.
His one-time boss Dawood Ibrahim was not so lucky. In September 2004, Juan Carlos Zarate, assistant secretary of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the treasury department, told a congressional committee that Dawood, holder of a Pakistani passport (No. G869537), had been listed as "an Al Qaeda facilitator now living in Pakistan".
Zarate called on the international community "to stop the flow of dirty money that kills". For the D-Company, "the business of terrorism forms part of their larger criminal enterprise, which must be dismantled," he said. Being designated a global terrorist meant that any assets Dawood owned in the US were frozen and transactions with US nationals prohibited.
It could have been good news for Salem who when he fled UAE, had hoped to settle down in a new country and D-link himself. But it was too late. He also made one mistake: entered the US on a false passport. Then 9/11 happened. And he was once again on the run.
Posted by bhola at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2005
Toxic: Don't weaken reporting, says Charleston Gazette
THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE/TRIBUNE BUSINESS NEWS
EDITORIAL
Every year, chemical companies, steel mills and various manufacturers are required to tell the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which pollutants they emit and how much. Public health officials and other researchers use the data, which also is available online at www.epa.gov/tri.
But now, the Bush administration wants to weaken the report requirement and make it biennial.
EPA officials acknowledge that there is concern about losing data if polluters are required to share information only half as often. Under the proposal, they would also be required to complete shorter forms. The changes would save about $2 million a year, and make corporate recordkeeping easier.
We are glad the EPA recognizes the need to balance the value of information with the hassle and expense of generating it. However, we are uneasy about the judgment of this administration and its allies in Congress. So far, the White House has favored benefits for companies over the public good, whether the subject has been energy policy, prescription drug benefits or mountaintop removal mining.
Creation of the Toxic Release Inventory was prompted in part by Union Carbide's disastrous 1984 chemical leak in Bhopal, India, where thousands died. Since then, contaminants have entered groundwater in the Bhopal area, affecting another generation of residents. A 1985 leak at Carbide's Institute plant injured more than 100 people and convinced people that a deadly leak could happen here, too. In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Protection and Community Right-to-Know Act, giving the country consistent and reliable information on all kinds of pollutants.
Knowledge is a powerful thing. When people knew what local industries were spewing into the air, ground or water, they pressured firms to clean up. West Virginia manufacturers invested millions, and cut emissions 75 percent between 1987 and 1999. The Toxic Release Inventory is a government program that serves the public well.
The EPA is required to notify Congress before making such a change, which it has done. It is also collecting public opinion on the proposal. We hope citizens raise serious questions about the weakening of vigilance.
We cannot see how generating data less often -- working with information that is two years out of date -- will help companies or their neighbors stay abreast of pollution. Indeed, it could help companies hide one-time increases by scheduling maintenance or cleaning during an off year.
The Bush administration already expects Americans to live with more pollution. It seems the administration doesn't want the public to know as much about it either.
Posted by bhola at 07:33 AM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2005
Salem's extradition a crowning glory for CBI: but while Anderson remains free it's a crown of thorns
SUMIR KAUL NEW DELHI, NOV 11 (PTI)
The extradition of underworld don Abu Salem, one of India's most wanted men, from Lisbon crowned three years of painstaking efforts by CBI, overcoming complexities of Indo-Portugal diplomatic ties and differences in legal systems of the two countries.
The news of Abu Salem's arrest came in 2002 and the happiness of the then CBI Director P C Sharma knew no bounds as for the first time some a country had confirmed his presence there after the don, main accused in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, repeatedly dodged CBI's efforts to nab him since the year 2000.
"It was an uphill task as we did not have any extradition treaty with Portugal. But everything was meticulously done. Everything was provided in a systematic way to the authorities in Lisbon," says P C Sharma who is now a member of National Human Rights Commission.
"I am very happy today that the efforts have fructified and Salem has been brought here," said Sharma who was instrumental in laying the foundation for Salem's extradition.
Sharma had lost no time in captalising on the Lisbon court order extraditing Salem and rushed a three-member strong team headed by the then Additional Director Vijay Shankar to the Portugal capital. He, himself, had visited Portugal twice.
"My aim was to ensure that no stone remains unturned in overcoming complexities of bilateral relations, differences of legal system followed in India and Portugal and expedite successful extradition in quicket possible time," says Shankar who is now the Director General of National Disaster Response Force and SSB.
Shanker is a jubliant man today. "I am delighted by this success of CBI and officers responsible handling this extremely sensitive and important case. CBI deserves all praises for extradition of Abu Salem, which is unprecedented and a shining example of co-operation between two countries in the global fight against terrorism." The first roadblock had come when Portugal refused to deport Salem as the Lisbon police had arrested him with a Pakistani passport showing his name as Arsalan Mohsin Ali. This was overcome with the matching of the finger prints.
Portugal Government then insisted on a formal extradition request which was handed over by the Indian Government without losing anytime.
Another problem cropped up when Portuguese authorities refused to entrain the extradition request with an assurance from India that Salem would not be given death sentence if he is convicted as Portugal's law prohibits extraditing a criminal to a country where capital punishment was in vogue.
After lot of legal wranglings, the Union Cabinet in January 2003 gave an executive assurance to the Portuguese authorities of not sentencing Salem or Bedi with capital punishment or a life term extending more than 25 years if they were convicted.
As the process went on smoothly, Salem made one last desperate attempt to block his extradition by pleading with the Portugese court that he belonged to minority community and would be targetted in India.
The CBI responded to this by sending to Portugal authorities a series of judgements of various courts and the history of India's secular ethos.
A major problem had arisen in July last year when the Lisbon court decided to extradite Salem but only on offences like gun running and forgery cases. This put the CBI in a spot and the agency moved the Supreme Court of Portugal seeking cancellation of that country's High Court order which otherwise meant that the investigating agency would not be able to book him in Mumbai blasts case.
All is well that ends well, may be the feeling of CBI officials as the case at times had become a legal vortex for them with so many petitions attempting to stop extradition of Salem at various courts of that country.
"We have spent heavily on the extradition," quipped CBI Director U S Misra as he skirted the question on a rough estimate of expenditure incu rred on visits of the agency officials to Portugal in connection with the case. "I dont have the figures but be satisfied, we have him here", said Misra.
Posted by bhola at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2005
Orchid explosion update and pictures
FROM SHWETA NARAYAN IN ALATHUR
Scrap metal flung off by the explosion
Neighbourhood children witnessed the whole thing
Report from the accident site of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Plant in Alathur
Sarvanan and I visited the accident site of the Orchid Chemicals and the neighbouring Alathur village at 11:30 am on 4 November 2005.
Report from outside the plant:
According to the workers outside the plant the accident took place in the phase 24 of the plant (a chemical recovery unit) at about 8:35 pm on 3 November 2005. Two boilers in the unit exploded and caught fire. The flames from the fire were reportedly about 100 meters high. Twenty fire engines arrived at the accident site approximately after the incidence and managed to doused the fire by midnight. The workers on the site said that 30 people were working in the unit at the time of the accident.
The company's report to press states 2 dead and three injured as opposed to the local resident's reports of 5 dead and 12-13 injured. Intriguingly, injured workers were admitted to different hospitals in the district like the Chengalpatu Government Hospital and Sankara Hospital. The window panes of neighboring buildings were shattered due to the impact of the explosion. Heavy metal beams from the unit (each weighing upto 300 kgs) were found scattered in the adjoining land about 75 to 100 meters away from the plant. A company official in his interview to The New Indian Express described the fire and explosion as a “minor accident”.
About 20 contract workers were engaged in clearing the metal debris from the land outside the unit. One of the contract workers interviewed told us that the two persons reported dead used to mix chemicals at the unit and that most of the injured workers were contract workers.
According to the community members accompanying us most of the contract workers were not local residents but were from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab. The police security around the area was beefed up and the workers that were interviewed refused to reveal their identity.
Report from Alathur village:
Alathur is a small village about 300 meters from Orchid Chemicals. The 1500 odd residents of the village were very scared after the explosion and fled their houses fearing further blasts and returned only in the morning. Individuals who witnessed the accident reported clouds of white smoke and a overpowering acidic odour. The odour lasted for about 3 hours after the incident and people experienced severe eye and throat irritation. We noticed a strong nauseating fruity odour around the unit in the morning during our visit. Upon enquiry it was reported that similar odours were very common and that the intensity of the odours was very high in the nights. E. Mohan a resident of the area showed his house that had developed cracks. There was no warning from the unit and the management did not inform the people about the cause of the explosion. As a result some of the residents gathered outside the plant immediately after, demanding information about the fire. The police arrived at about 9 pm and there was a lathicharge to disperse the crowd. No information from the company was provided even the next day to the people in the village.
Accidents in Orchid plant and other plants in the area were a regular feature. Three months ago one unit in the Sanmar plant in the same industrial estate had exploded. According to the local reports this was the fourth major accident in the Orchid plant in last three years, similar accidents have taken place in 2001 and 2003 too. About six months ago a contract worker was injured in the plant and his leg had to be amputated. About two months ago one more contract worker died inside the plant due to a fall from a tower. Some of the contract workers from the village who have worked inside the plant reported that the safety systems in the plant were almost non existent and none of the contract workers were provided with protective gears or were trained to do the job. The residents also complained that the company has dumped hazardous waste on the surrounding land and in the Buckingham Canal and as a result the agriculture and the ground water in the area is totally destroyed.
Posted by bhola at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2005
Indian government's letter confirms that Dow was caught lying
The letter below contains the the Indian government's confirmation that Indian Oil Corporation's contract to purchase technology from Dow Chemical has been cancelled because Dow in effect lied about the origins of the processes involved.
Key processes were patented by Union Carbide, which continues to be a criminal fugitive from justice in India. The fact that Dow, which refuses to produce Union Carbide to stand trial in India, thought it could get away with glossing over these facts once again demonstrates the contempt in which it holds Indian politicians, courts and people.
Had it not been for the intervention of the ICJB, the deal would have gone ahead. (See previous article for details of the ICJB campaign.)
Dow should not be allowed to trade in India unless it is willing to obey Indian law and produce its 100% subsidiary for trial in Bhopal, where it is charged with the culpable homicide of 20,000 human beings.
Posted by bhola at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)
Dow-IOC Deal Cancelled
In an official letter dated October 28, 2005, the Ministry of Petroleum confirms that the proposed technology transfer between Dow and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been cancelled because of Dow's "misrepresentation of facts" to the Indian Government. "Initially, it was believed that Dow Chemicals did not have any linkage with M/s Union Carbide...however, based on clarifications furnished by Dow Global Technology Inc., it now emerges that the Process Design Package was prepared by UCC and not by Dow."
Indian Oil sources confirmed that their agreement with Dow was cancelled after IOC found that critical submissions made by Dow were false. Dow had conveyed to IOC that the technology in question was a patented Dow technology, developed and marketed by Dow. However, Bhopal campaigners unearthed and presented evidence to the Government and IOC that confirmed that the Meteor technology remains a patented Union Carbide technology. In their response to IOC, Dow officials have alleged that the cancellation of the deal has caused a loss of $1.5 million.
In November 2004, after catching wind of the still-secretive deal between Dow & IOC, Bhopal survivors and their supporters launched a nationwide campaign demanding the blacklisting of Dow Chemical by the Government, and protesting against Indian Oil’s proposal to do business with a company that has refused to address its pending Bhopal liabilities.
The campaign included a nationwide boycott of IOC’s petrol pumps, as people were asked not to fill their cars with Bhopali blood. Survivors also wrote letters to the Prime Minister in their own blood, calling for the cancellation of the contract between Dow and IOC. In Chennai, We Feel Responsible, a major chapter of Students for Bhopal, and other supporters led a rally from Mayiladuthurai Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s constituency against the proposed deal.
Indian Oil's u-turn is a significant blow to Dow, which has earmarked South Asia as a critical region for future growth of its global businesses. Dow retains four major subsidiaries in India, all of which now look vulnerable to further protests.
Posted by Shevardnadze at 06:29 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
Explosion at Orchid Chemicals in Chennai kills 1, injures 2
By Shweta Narayan, Corporate Accountability Desk, Chennai
4 November, 2005. (1.45 a.m.)
Chennai: An explosion at Orchid Chemicals’ pharmaceutical factory in Alandur, 45km from Chennai, has killed 1 person and injured 2 to 3 persons.
Information at 12:30 am 04/11/2005 - Deputy Superintendent of Police office, Kanchipuram According to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kanchipuram, the information of the explosion was reported to the police at 9 pm on 3/11/2005, shortly after the incident. The officer described the incident as a steam boiler explosion that led to spill of purified acetic acid and other bleaching agents inside the factory premises. One person was charred to death and was beyond identity at the time. About "2 to 3 persons" are reportedly injured, and have been admitted to the Sankara Hospital in Perumbakkam. The officer also mentioned that a building in Phase 24 of the plant has also been partially damaged due to the force of the explosion. There were reports of fire after the explosion but the fire was controlled by the fire engines.
Local residents reported at 11 p.m. that the explosion was felt all the way to Mahabalipuram, about 10 km from Alathur. Fenceline communities living in Paiyalur and Vengaleri reported damages to their television screens due to the explosion.
Information 1:00 am on 04/11/2005 - Sankara Hospital, Perumbakkam
A staff nurse at the emergency unit of Sankara Hospital confirmed that two Orchid workers – Muthkumar (35) of Thangaraj Nagar in New Perungalathur and Mr. Suresh (21) from Kambar Nagar, Thiruporur -- were admitted to the hospital late in the evening by a co-worker. Both workers were reportedly working in the control room and were injured by the glass that splintered as a result of the explosion. The nurse said both workers are serious; Muthukumar’s condidion is reportedly very serious because of loss of blood.
There was no gas leak reported either by the police or residents, and no complaints of odour or chemical-related discomfort outside the factory. However, the force of the explosion has left people shaken.
Orchid Chemicals is the recipient of CII’s Leadership & Excellence Award in Safety, Health, Environment and Manufacturing in 2002. The ISO 14001 Company is the recipient of several awards given by industrial associations, including an MS Swaminathan for world class Environmental Management Systems award in 2003.
Posted by bhola at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2005
'1000 Fish' Build Pressure for Dioxin Cleanup
The Michigan Daily
November 2, 2005
Ecology Center pressures Dow
Environmental group is lobbying state government about dioxin in Midland
By Neil Tambe, Daily Staff Reporter
November 02, 2005
Several thousand paper fish may soon make a 66-mile journey from Ann Arbor to Lansing in an attempt by Ann Arbor’s Ecology Center to alert state lawmakers of the urgency of dioxin contamination in Midland, Michigan.
Volunteers from the center encouraged students to sign a petition and write their name on paper fishes as a symbolic sign of protest last Friday.
The center plans to lobby the state government about dioxin pollution in Midland and its surrounding watershed which hurts the fish and those living in the surrounding area. The pollution is allegedly the result of Dow Chemical’s dumping of toxic waste byproducts into the water. Because Dow is currently in the preliminary stages of cleaning up the dioxins, the center hopes that the signatures it is collecting will force Gov. Jennifer Granholm to focus on ensuring the cleanup of the chemicals. So far, the center has collected 2,000 signatures toward its goal of 5,000.
Dioxins are carcinogenic byproducts of various industrial and nonindustrial processes. They are known for their negative effects on the development of children and on the immune system.
Dow officials have said in the past that the company released dioxins into the air and the nearby Tittabawassee River until the 1950s, although the timeline of when Dow began halting dioxin production in the area is still disputed by state officials.
While Dow has agreed to remove the dioxins from the area, in the past decade, some residents of Midland and environmental activists have pressured Dow to guarantee it will clean up the dioxin pollution.
According to Ecology Center Director Mae Stevens, the affected area spans 20 miles along the Tittabawassee in Midland and into the Saginaw Bay watershed, Michigan’s largest.
She added that contaminated areas have concentrations as high as 16,000 parts per trillion. In most circumstances, Michigan residential guidelines regarding dioxins recommend cleanup when levels of the chemical reach 90 parts per trillion. The average for 68 other locations tested in Michigan is only 6.339 parts per trillion.
“(Dow) has accepted responsibility in large part,” said John Musser, a Dow official.
Musser added that dioxin dumping is a thing of the past and that Dow now produces virtually no dioxins.
Dow is obligated to shoulder the cost of the cleanup, said Robert McCann, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. He added that Dow is currently conducting the first steps of the cleanup, which include measures to prevent public exposure and alerting homeowners in affected areas.
Dow began its efforts at the beginning of this year, placing the highest priority on severely flooded areas on the riverbank, Musser said. He added that Dow must submit a comprehensive plan to clean up the dioxins to the DEQ by the end of this year before the cleanup process can begin.
The cleanup does not have a timeline yet, but McCann said Dow would probably have the cleanup effort well underway before the company’s current state-issued operating license expires in early 2013. Musser said a timeline for the cleanup could be set as early as the end of the year, as soon as their plan is approved and underway.
But not all parties find Dow’s efforts satisfactory.
“They’re dragging their feet,” said Tracey Easthope, who directs the Ecology Center’s Environmental Health Project.
In response to the possibility that dioxins may have contaminated Midland residents’ homes, Dow has conducted carpet and furnace duct cleaning, general dusting and landscaping to cover exposed soil. But Easthope said the measures are only superficial and do not eliminate the dioxins at their source.
“People don’t need a maid service,” Easthope said. “Unless you get the source, you are going to recontaminate the house.”
But Musser said Dow is waiting on the results of several studies that will examine the dioxin levels and their effects in lieu of taking immediate action on the issue. “It’s just premature to be talking about specific actions to be taken,” he said.
Some environmentalists have called on Dow to begin cleaning up the river immediately.
But Musser said that “to dredge the river would be very disruptive and would be very devastating to that ecology, and we don’t think that would be a good response at any level.”
One study on the effect of the dioxins is being headed by the University. Led by Environmental Health Sciences Prof. David Garabrant, research teams have investigated the dioxin levels in homes, soil and dust in contaminated areas since the summer of 2004.
Garabrant said the study’s goal is to discover the best possible method to clean up the chemicals.
“This research is going to address a critically important problem in the Midland and Saginaw area on a scientific, factual basis to assess the meaning of the problem and help people move forward,” he said.
Some have questioned the impartiality of the study because Dow allocated $10 million to fund the project. But Garabrant argues it is completely independent because Dow has no authority over the study.
“There’s a tremendous amount of protection against outside interference,” he said, adding that Dow only has access to public information from the study. Garabrant’s team hopes to release the results by next fall.
Michigan State University and the University of Missouri are also conducting studies related to the issue. Musser said Dow has spent $30 million on studies and preliminary response efforts.
Among students, there is a variety of opinions about the situation.
Engineering freshman Seifu Chonde, whose parents are Dow employees, has lived in Midland his whole life. He said Dow has provided jobs for many people in the area.
“Dow has made (Midland) a more respectable city,” he said.
LSA freshman Anna Lammers, who supports the Ecology Center’s efforts, said she hopes they will open Granholm’s eyes to the urgency of the situation.
“It all drains into Lake Huron,” LSA freshman Geoff Perrin said. “It’s pretty much everyone’s problem.”
Posted by Shevardnadze at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)