Tag: industrial pollution

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…

David Mardiste, Reuters, October 6, 2006 TALLINN, Oct 6 (Reuters) – A delegation from the Ivory Coast arrived in Estonia on Friday as part of the investigation into the deadly discharge of toxic waste in West Africa. The Panamanian-registered Probo Koala was seized on Sept. 27 in the Estonian port of Paldiski on suspicions it…

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, October 7, 2006 Tallinn – Estonian prosecutors have evidence that an oil tanker implicated in a major toxic-waste scandal in Ivory Coast has been refining oil illegally at sea, a newspaper said on Saturday. Analyses of waste water from the tanker Probo Koala show that the so-called ‘slops’ contain levels of toxins which…

STEVE HARTSOE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, OCTOBER 6, 2006 Apex, North Carolina website As a timely rain storm helped scrub the air, firefighters cautiously tackled a chemical fire Friday at a hazardous waste plant where a thundering series of explosions filled the overnight sky with fireballs and a spooky yellow haze. Mayor Keith Weatherly said just after…

SouthernStudies.Org, October 6, 2006 The firm that owns the North Carolina plant where a chemical fire has been burning out of control since Thursday evening was fined earlier this year by state environmental officials for unsafe practices. More than 30 local residents and emergency responders have been treated at area hospitals for respiratory distress and…

Associated Press, October 6, 2006 LOWELL, Ind. – A family evacuated their home near a closed landfill this week after finding a chemical seeped into their well, but town officials say residents are at low risk for contamination. A man, his wife and a 9-month-old daughter left their home in front of the Indiana 2…

Josh Cable, Occupational Hazards News, October 6, 2006 A series of blasts and fire at a hazardous materials plant in Apex, N.C., created a pungent chemical cloud and prompted a state of emergency declaration and the evacuation of an estimated 17,000 residents in the Raleigh suburb. The blasts occurred Thursday night at a hazardous waste…

Darryl D’Monte Oceans around the world have been indiscriminately used as dumping grounds for every conceivable kind of waste — from sewage to garbage to toxic chemicals. It took underwater explorers like Jacques Cousteau to remind us that these wastes do not necessarily get broken down even years after their disposal; they lie at the…

Press Release – UNEP, October 4, 2006 Photo: Rolf Hicker, Hicker Nature Photography The Hague, 4 October 2006 – A rising tide of sewage is threatening the health and wealth of far too many of the world’s seas and oceans, a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says. In many developing countries…

Bill Berry, Capital Times, Wisconsin, October 3, 2006 STEVENS POINT – My how times have changed. When the state of Wisconsin established landmark ground water quality legislation in the mid-1980s, the wisdom of people like Dr. Henry Anderson was called upon to help make difficult and balanced decisions. Anderson is chief medical officer of the…

RENATA STEPANOV, EL MERCURIO, LA NACIÓN, OCTOBER 3, 2006 Pollution coming from Celco’s new plant in Nueva Aldea has caused many complaints. Chile’s largest cellulose production company, Celco, is facing criticism about smells emanating from its new US$1.4 billion plant in Nueva Aldea (Region X). This latest woe comes after the company’s much publicized stand-off…

Luc Gnago, Reuters Residents of Abidjan, Ivory Coast sickened by the toxic waste dumped in the city’s landfills, wait to see doctors. Poisonous fumes have killed seven and made thousands ill. The country’s government has resigned. Thierry Gouegnon, Reuters French waste treatment experts clean up toxic chemicals dumped at a landfill in the Ivory Coast.…

PAULINE BAX, ASSOCIATED PRESS, SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 The Probo Koala, blockaded by Greenpeace NEW YORK — Authorities in Ivory Coast asked Estonia to hold a tanker that left hundreds of tons of toxic waste in the West African nation’s main city, as another death was attributed to the foul-smelling substance on Tuesday. A judge heading…

Rohan Minogue, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, September 26, 2006 Amsterdam – The rust-streaked Probo Koala was no stranger to European ports, taking on and offloading petroleum products. But when the tanker had highly toxic waste to discharge, Europe proved too expensive and the cheaper and less regulated shores of West Africa beckoned. Seven died and more than…

Christophe Parayre, Business in Africa Online, September 26, 2006 Dakar – “We talk of globalisation, of the global village, but here in Africa, we are under the impression of being that village’s septic tank,” said Senegalese ecologist Haidar al-Ali. A series of pollution scandals, ranging from the discharge of toxic waste in Ivory Coast to…