Re: Brief History of Environmental Problems/Disasters

[LeAnn Herren <herren@iopa.sc.edu>]

What about the ICMESA plant in Meda northern Italy (12.5 miles north of
Milan).  The plant produced 2,4,5-trichlorophenol.  The accident orccured
July 10, 1976 when a reactor processing the trichlorophenol overheated.  The
chemical reaction produced 2,3,7,8-TCDD which blew a safety valve and
allowed about a kilogram of dioxin to be discharged.  The high point of this
one is they didn't tell the town anything was wrong.  A few days later they
said there had been a herbicide leak and not to eat local fruits and
veggies.  It wasn't until about two weeks later that the plant notified the
town what had happend (I guess people started to notice the number of
animals dropping dead around town) and evacuated the highest contaminated
area.  During the clean-up (which took over 10 years) local officials
transported dioxin contaminated materials in drums offsite, but no one
bothered to record where they were sent since the drums weren't even labeled
"hazardous" or "dioxin".  This lead the European Economic Community to set
up a waste control program for handling and transporting waste.  Litigation
is still pending on this one I'm pretty sure as people try to prove long
term health effects of the exposure.

You might also want to check out the Stringfellow site out in California
where they stored liquid hazardous waste for about 20 years in what they
thought was solid bedrock but wasn't.  The site sat over a major aquifer
supplying about a half-million people.

Hope this helps

At 02:49 PM 3/20/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Would appreciate help for putting together slides for Powerpoint presentation.
>
>To stress importance of and driving influence of "business risk" would like to 
>create a short list of environmental problems and disasters (Donora,PA-1912; 
>Love Canal 1942-1977; Exxon Valdez-1989; etc.) that "encouraged" public
action, 
>laws, regulations, etc.
>
>Your help in developing a meaningful list would be appreciated.  Send to:
>stephens.glenn@a1.dep.state.pa.us
>
>Thanks!
>
>
>
****************************************************************************
********
LeAnn C. Herren
Technical Assistance Manager
Center for Environmental Policy
Institute of Public Affairs
University of South Carolina
Carolina Plaza, Columbia, S.C.  29208
P(803)777-1864  F(803)777-4575
e-mail:  herren@iopa.sc.edu