Category: News on Related Issues
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Vietnam vets don’t know about Agent Orange help
MEGAN REITER, TIMES-TRIBUNE, SCRANTON, PA, OCTOBER 11, 2006 HONESDALE — Tom McDonnell talks with roughly 60 veterans each month. He’s found recently that some don’t realize the government can offer help to those exposed to Agent Orange, a herbicide used as a defoliant in Vietnam. “The veteran can not only receive compensation, but he can…
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Apex in the dark: Communities hosting toxic waste sites are ill-served when laws leave first responders guessing about chemicals held there
THE NEWS & OBSERVER, RALEIGH, N.C., OCTOBER 12, 2006 A fireball goes up over the Apex site, photographed by the Observer’s Chris Seward First reports said the ominous blaze at the EQ Industrial Services waste facility in Apex was generating clouds of deadly chlorine. Emergency workers decided to evacuate 17,000 residents (28, including some first…
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Possum poison fire sends 18 to hospital
Juliet Rowan, New Zealand Herald, October 11, 2006 Opossums, target for poison in New Zealand Eighteen people were taken to Rotorua Hospital yesterday after inhaling toxic fumes as possum bait burned. Workers at a Lakeland Helicopters hangar in Murupara, southwest of Rotorua, were preparing the bait for a drop when it caught fire. Fourteen workers…
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Apex fire – the rush to wait and see: chemical company passed recent inspection, but hadn't paid previous fine
BOB BURTMAN, THE INDEPENDENT, DURHAM, N.C., OCTOBER 11, 2006 The frenzy surrounding the Apex chemical fire provided as much excitement as the smoke and flames. A swarm of reporters, regulators, lawyers and politicians descended on the scene and provided breathless, non-stop coverage for the masses. In the information age, it’s volume that counts. The scene…
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DOE wants to try unprecedented pond cleanup at K-25 plant site
Oakridger.com, October 10, 2006 Sunfish feeding (AP) — The Department of Energy is considering an unusual “ecological enhancement” approach to cleaning up a contaminated pond at a uranium-enrichment plant. The Energy Department is in the middle of a massive cleanup project at the K-25 plant site, preparing it for private use. But before the site…
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Small fire in Oak Ridge uranium warehouse disclosed
Associated Press, October 10, 2006 OAK RIDGE (AP) — A small fire occurred late last month when workers inspected highly enriched uranium stored in a huge aging warehouse at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Officials said no one was injured and there was no release of radiation in the fire. The Washington-based…
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Dying cancer patients fight for Agent Orange justice
Jan Ravensbergen, CanWest News Service, October 9, 2006 MONTREAL — Chester Bednarski of Kirkland, Que., contends his officer training during the late 1970s at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick exposing him to defoliant Agent Orange triggered the cancer that today is killing him. A further 1,400 Forces vets or family members with Gagetown…
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Company says it committed no wrongdoing in Apex chemical fire
ELIZABETH DUNBAR, ASSOCIATED PRESS, OCTOBER 9, 2006 APEX, N.C. – An official for EQ Industrial Services on Monday said the company committed no wrongdoing in a chemical fire last week that caused the town of Apex to ask thousands of people to evacuate. Scott Maris, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Michigan-based company, said…
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Hazardous waste warning for Tobagonians
ANNA-LISA PAUL, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO EXPRESS, OCTOBER 10, 2006 Camille Roopnarine, sanitary engineer at Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, presents Anthony Ramnarine, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities, with the results of the National Hazardous Waste Inventory Study for Trinidad and Tobago at Crowne Plaza, Port of Spain, yesterday. While larger generators of…
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Ohio hazardous waste company fined for transport violations
WASTE NEWS, OCTOBER 9, 2006 An Ohio chemical and hazardous waste company will pay a $11,250 penalty to settle hazardous waste violations, the state Environmental Protection Agency said. Hukill Chemical Corp. of Bedford, Ohio, caused hazardous waste to be transported to a facility not permitted to accept such material. The company also shipped hazardous waste…
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DOE considering new way to clean up contaminated Oak Ridge pond
WBIR.com, Knoxville, Tennessee, October 9 2006 The Department of Energy is considering an unusual way to clean up a contaminated pond at the former site of the K-25 uranium-enrichment plant in Oak Ridge. The Energy Department is in the middle of a massive cleanup project at K-25, preparing it for private use. But before the…
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Give up present plan of expanding airport, says Patkar
The Hindu, October 9, 2006 Chennai, Oct. 9 (PTI): Asking the Tamil Nadu government to “give up” the present plan of expanding the city airport or “choose another location”, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar today said “thousands would be affected if the project is implemented” without change. “Thousands of locals will be displaced if…
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North Korea film fest honours VTV documentary about three generations affected by Agent Orange disease
Vietnam News Agency, October 7, 2006 Documentary Cha Con Nguoi Linh (Soldier Father and Son) by the Viet Nam Television, has received a golden cup for peace, independence and friendship at the 10th Pyongyang International Film Festival, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The TV programme, directed by Minh Chuyen, presents a veteran’s family…
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New Zealand: Concern about DDT contamination in Tasman District
RADIO NEW ZEALAND, OCTOBER 8, 2006 Tasman National Park, Nelson, on New Zealand’s South Island A Nelson community group wants assurances that DDT dumped near a stream 30 years ago is not causing a local hazard. Formerly confidential records have been released by the Tasman District Council, identifying 12 sites where chemical waste was dumped…
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N.C. waste accident prompts worry here: Louisville has own hazardous threats
James Bruggers, The Courier-Journal, Kentucky, October 7, 2006 When Mike Brown woke up yesterday and learned of a major accident at a hazardous-waste plant in North Carolina, the first thing that came to his mind was relief. “I thought, thank goodness we don’t have any of those facilities,” said Brown, deputy director of the Louisville…