On January 30, 2000, a toxic chemical spill destroyed wildlife, devastated fish stocks and threatened the water supplies of nearly 2.5 million people in central Eastern Europe.

Romania’s Somes River, Hungary’s Tisza River and Yugoslavia’s Danube River, which is Europe’s largest waterway, were each catastrophically polluted. The toxic spill eventually reached the Black Sea and affected Romania, Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Serbia and Montenegro.

The spill began when the dam containing toxic waste material from the Baia Mare Aurul gold mine in North Western Romania burst and released roughly 3.5 million cubic feet (100,000 cubic metres) of waste water, heavily contaminated with cyanide, into the Lapus and Somes tributaries of the river Tisza, which is a tributary of the great Danube River.

Cyanide is extremely toxic and lethal to humans and animals, even in very small doses. It works by making the body unable to use life-sustaining oxygen. The cyanide-laced water continued to flow and soon reached the Danube, which flows through Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.

At this point, the cyanide reached a deadly density of 800 times the accepted maximum safe level. The situation was going from bad to worse because Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania all get drinking water from the Danube. (As a point of reference, the American standard as regulated by the Environmenal Protection Agency allows 0.2 parts cyanide per 1 million parts water (0.2 ppm) in U.S. drinking water.)

Loyola de Palacio, the European Union Commissioner for Transport and Energy, called the cyanide spill “a catastrophe of European dimensions.”

Officials from Hungary called the spill Europe’s worst ecological disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant calamity in the Ukraine. Shortly after this disaster, Hungary’s Tisza River was officially declared a dead river.

In fact, Hungarian towns along the Tisza were forced to ban the use of water, fishing and the selling of fish. While this move seriously threatened the livelihoods of many fishermen, authorities appeared to have no other choice. For the townspeople who lived along the Tisza, large amounts of emergency water had to be brought in because of the deadly contamination.

At the time of the spill, Serbia’s Environment Minister Blazic was quoted as saying, “The Tisza has been killed. Not even bacteria have survived.” Although the chemical was gradually being diluted by the river water and was beginning to lose some of its lethal effect, over the next weekend hundreds of dead and dying fish were reported collecting at the junction of the Danube and Tisza. This is an area just 50 kilometres upstream from the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade.

The allowable maximum of cyanide per liter of water is 0.1 milligram. By this time, at the Hungarian town of Szeged, which borders Yugoslavia, the cyanide level was 1.1 milligrams per liter. Roughly 300 tons of dead and dying fish were removed from the river and disposed of.

However, Hungary estimates that the overall fish kill throughout Hungary was 1,240 tons. Other wildlife, including Mute Swans, Black Cormorant, horses, foxes and various other carnivores as well as other domesticated animals were also affected by this toxic spill.

Following the Baia Mare cyanide spill, various environmental assessments were carried out by several international organizations to determine the affect this spill had on the Tisza River and its tributaries.

According to these reports, acute effects were noted wherever the cyanide plume passed along the Tisza river system. Along with the dead fish, plankton and macrozoobenthos were also discovered.

The spill also drastically increased the existing heavy metal contamination of soil sediment, especially including copper, lead and zinc.

Despite the increased heavy metal pollution, it does appear that the Tisza River Basin’s ecosystem is trying to regenerate itself, and much of the wildlife is also recovering along the Tisza and its tributaries.

According to a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), more dedicated action is necessary in addressing the environmental “insecurities” and threats to the region, which includes Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro.

The report also points specifically at the mining industry. In the wake of the Baia Mare cyanide spill, the mines, both active and inactive, are still considered sources of potential accidental pollution. They are singled out by the new UNEP report for special and close monitoring and attention.

Despite a recovering ecosystem, some of the pollution and heavy metal contamination along the Tisza River still remain and more needs to be done to clean up the water as much as possible.

International experts indicated that the main cause of the Baia Mare cyanide spill is a combination of design defects in the facilities, unexpected operating conditions and bad weather. Whatever the cause, this toxic spill certainly exacerbated the serious pollution problems this region has been facing for years.

For the people of the densely populated city of Bhopal, India, December 2 and 3 of 1984 mark a very dark anniversary — a time that left thousands dead and thousands more deathly ill and clinging to life. 

It all started in the late 1970s when Union Carbide India Limited constructed a pesticide plant in Bhopal. Their initial goal was to produce pesticides that would help increase production on local farms. However, the sale of pesticide did not pan out and the plant soon began losing money.

Then in 1979, the factory began producing huge amounts of the highly toxic methyl isocyanate, or MIC, because it was a cheaper way to make a pesticide known as carbaryl. In an attempt to further trim the company’s budget, employee training and factory maintenance were radically cut.

This is when many factory employees began complaining about working in potentially dangerous conditions. Many warned of possible deadly disasters, but management appeared to turn a deaf ear to these warnings.

Late in the evening of December 2, 1984, something began going desperately wrong in storage tank E610. E610 just happened to be the tank that contained some 40 tons of MIC. Water leaked into the tank, which ultimately caused the MIC’s temperature to rise dangerously high.

Some sources report that water actually leaked into the tank during a routine cleaning of a pipe, and the safety valves inside the pipe were faulty. The Union Carbide company claims that a saboteur placed water inside the tank. To date, there is still no proof to back up the company’s claim. It has further been posed that some of the workers may have thrown water on the tank once it began overheating, not realizing they were only making matters worse.

Whatever the cause, by 12:15 in the morning on December 3, MIC fumes began leaking from E610. There should have been six safety features, which would have either prevented the leak in the first place or, at the very least, contained it. Each of the six safety features failed that night.

The cause of the incident has been extensively researched. As water began causing the exothermal reaction, which released an amount of gas big enough to open the safety valves, the scrubbers failed. Under safe working conditions, the scrubbers would intercept any escaping gas.

Research also shows how factory personnel neglected numerous safety procedures. There were no valves to prevent water from entering the storage tanks in the first place, and the cooling installation of the tanks and the flaring installation that might have burned the escaping gas were also out of order.

In short, compared to its other locations, safety was very low on the priority list for this Union Carbide factory. As is often the case, imperative safety procedures were neglected because of budget cuts.

An estimated 27 tons of MIC gas escaped from E610 and began spreading across the densely populated city of roughly 900,000 people. In an attempt to warn the citizens of Bhopal, a warning siren was turned on; however, it was quickly turned off again to prevent people from panicking.

So as the gas began and continued to leak from E610, most Bhopal residents slept. Many only awoke when they heard other family members coughing and trying to get their breath, or when they found themselves choking on the mysterious, noxious gas.

It is reported that many people felt severe burning in their throats and eyes as they frantically got out of their beds. Some even choked on their own bile, while others fell to the ground in anguish and pain.

As panic ensued, thousands of people ran from their homes, but they did not know where to go for safety and help. Many families were separated in the mass confusion, and numerous people fell to the ground, became unconscious and were then trampled.

It is important to note that estimates of the death toll vary greatly. Most sources, however, report that at least 3,000 people died from immediate exposure to the gas, with higher estimates going up to 8,000. In 14 years following this terrifying and deadly disaster, about 20,000 more people have died from damage caused by the MIC gas.

Yet another 120,000 people are still living every day with the effects and fallout from being exposed to MIC. These people suffer from various ailments, including blindness, extreme shortness of breath, cancers, birth deformities and early onset of menopause.

To date, chemicals from the pesticide plant and from the leak have infiltrated the water system and soil near the old factory. Because of this, people who live near the factory site are still being poisoned.

Just three days after the disaster, the chairman of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, was arrested. When he was released on bail, he fled the country. Although his whereabouts were unknown for many years, he was eventually discovered living in the United States with one home in the Hamptons in New York and another in Florida. Anderson continues to be wanted in India for culpable homicide for his role in the Bhopal disaster.

One of the worst parts of this tragedy is actually what has happened in the years following that fateful night in 1984. Although Union Carbide has paid some restitution to the victims, the company claims they are not liable for any damages because they blame a saboteur for the disaster and claim that the factory was in good working order before the gas leak. The victims of the Bhopal gas leak have received very little money. Many of the victims continue to be in poor health and are unable to work.

Union Carbide was accused of deliberate evasion of regular safety procedures. During legal proceedings, where victims demanded compensation, solid evidence was shown that proved Union Carbide used untested technology in the Bhopal factory on a regular basis. In fact, when the gas leak occurred local physicians were not told anything about the gas. This resulted in a serious delay in getting proper treatment for exposure and developing emergency safety measures.

After long legal proceedings, in February 1989, a settlement was achieved. Union Carbide promised to pay 470 million dollars in compensation, but only a small part of this compensation was ever paid to the survivors.

However, Union Carbide states on its website that it paid the full settlement to the Indian government within 10 days time. In 2004, the Supreme Court forced the Indian government to pay the remaining 330 million dollars compensation to the victims and their families.

Eventually, Union Carbide sold the Indian factory to a battery maker. Then, in 2001, Dow Chemical Company took control of Union Carbide. This takeover led to discussions on who should be responsible for cleaning up the tons of poisonous waste that is still present.

Environmental activists are trying to convince Dow Chemical Company to clean up this massive toxic mess, which could lead to serious nervous system failure, liver and kidney disease, and cancer for many years to come.

December 3, 1984 will likely always be memorable for the city of Bhopal in Madya Pradesh county, India. The day when a cloud containing at least 15 metric tons of methyl isocyanate covered an area of Bhopal of more than 30 square miles.

Approximately 100,000 people still suffer from chronic disease related to gas exposure, and ten more people die from this exposure every year. This event is now known as the worst industrial environmental disaster to ever have occurred.

Today, the location is still polluted with thousands of tons of toxic chemicals, such as hexachlorobenzene and mercury. These chemicals are stored in open barrels. Rainfall causes rinsing out of pollution to local drinking water sources. Research also shows that some wells still contain up to 500 times the legal limit of these toxins.

In the 1930s and 1940s people and businesses did not pay a lot of attention to what happened to toxic chemicals produced during industrial processes. While there have long been regulations for the handling of these dangerous chemicals, enforcement of these laws was virtually nonexistent or haphazard at best.

Large corporations, such as Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation in Niagara Falls, New York, made a variety of chemicals, pesticides and plastics. This type of company would typically seal the contaminated substances in 55-gallon metal drums and leave them someplace nearby.

For Hooker, Love Canal was a convenient place to store these metal drums.

The Love Canal neighborhood is in the southeast section of the La Salle area of Niagara Falls, New York. The neighborhood spans 36 square blocks in the southeastern corner of the city, along 99^th Street and Read Avenue. Two bodies of water, Bergholtz Creek and Niagara River, define the northern and southern boundaries of the neighborhood.

Love Canal was the dream of William T. Love, an 1890′s entrepreneur who wanted to develop a planned industrial community, Model City. Love’s idea was to take waters from the Niagara River and reroute it around the Niagara escarpment in order to produce cheap hydroelectric power.

Love’s dream was not to be and Model City was never constructed. However, work on the canal to transport waters from the Niagara River did happen. In 1942, Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation purchased the Love Canal site. This is where the contamination of Love Canal began.

Between 1942 and 1953 Hooker Chemical disposed of roughly 22,000 tons of mixed chemical wastes into Love Canal, all while children swam and played nearby. Eventually, Hooker stopped using this dumping site and the land was sold to the Niagara Falls School Board for a price of $1.00.

In 1955, the 99^th Street Elementary School was built on Love Canal property and was opened to students. Subsequent housing development of the area brought hundreds of families to this suburban, blue-collar neighborhood along the Love Canal.

As time passed, the neighborhood continued to flourish, as families found the idea of building a new home so close to an elementary school appealing. But, there were problems.

Many homeowners began noticing that their basements leaked. Some families started smelling strange chemical smells and seeing oddly-colored water in their basements. Unfortunately, only a few knew about Hooker’s history of chemical dumping.

A startling symptom that something was not right in the Love Canal neighborhood occurred in 1974, when one family’s backyard swimming pool rose two feet out of the ground. When the pool was removed, blue, purple and yellow chemicals quickly flooded in where the pool had been.

By 1977 and after two years of uncharacteristically heavy rain and snowfall, the former canal was turning into a marshland. With high groundwater levels, portions of the Hooker landfill subsided, 55-gallon drums surfaced, ponds became tainted, basements began to ooze an oily residue, and noxious chemical smells permeated the neighborhood.

Physical evidence of chemical corrosion of sump pumps and permeation of basement cinderblock walls was also obvious. Chemicals were now noticeably seeping into the surrounding streams and soil. City officials looked into different ways of dealing with this ever-growing pollution problem, but determined that the cost was too high and the project ended up being bogged down in red tape.

By this point, many residents were concerned. Not only were they concerned about health issues, they were worried about the plummeting value of their homes. Those who tried to sell their homes, couldn’t sell.

Something finally had to give. So, in August 1978 the results of local, state and federal testing of the air and water in Love Canal basements were made public. State Health Commissioner, Dr. Robert Whalen, made it known that Love Canal was a great and imminent peril to the health of the public.

He suggested that pregnant women and children under the age of two, whose homes abutted one end of the canal, leave their homes. Apparently, the studies provided indisputable evidence of an unusually high rate of birth defects and miscarriages.

This announcement not only enraged homeowners, it left them frightened and discouraged. Many residents made the conclusion that adults and older children throughout the neighborhood

might also be in at risk. It was at this time that the residents took things into their own hands. They organized the Love Canal Homeowners Association to inflict added pressure on officials to buy their contaminated homes.

Lois Gibbs was elected president of the Association. Gibbs, a 27-year-old housewife who lived just two short blocks away from the canal, had a tremendous gift for organizing residents and keeping the Love Canal crisis in the news.

Not long after the birth of the Associations, President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster site. This proclamation freed up funds for residents of the south end of the canal to relocate. This was great for these families; however, those families living in surrounding areas were left unable to move.

This outraged many because of the mounting evidence of elevated rates of cancer and other serious illnesses. Residents throughout the community began methodically testing substances in their homes, area streams and soil. What they found was a staggering list of dangerous chemicals. Some of the compounds detected were C-56 (a carcinogenic pesticide), toluene, benzene, and even PCBs (a known toxic chemical).

Subsequent studies conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry revealed a frighteningly long list of 421 chemical records for water, soil and air samples in and around the Love Canal neighborhood.

Gibbs decided to conduct a systematic and thorough health survey of all residents outside the approved evacuation area. What she found was not surprising. The survey turned up high rates of bladder and kidney ailments, miscarriages, birth defects and nervous disorders.

After six more months, the state finally agreed to pay for pregnant women and those with small children to be relocated to temporary homes, but it stipulated that these families were to return to Love Canal when their children were older. Frustrated and angered by this temporary relocation, residents continued to write letters, sign petitions and conduct public demonstrations to maintain public awareness of the crisis at Love Canal.

Finally, in 1980, the state of New York publicly confirmed what many residents had long suspected. Among the poisonous chemicals found at Love Canal was dioxin, one of the most intensely toxic substances ever created.

With this announcement, the state had no other choice and agreed to buy the nearby homes. After two years of worrying, activism and continued chemical exposure, the remaining homeowners were finally allowed to leave. This, however, wasn’t the end of the Love Canal story.

Only a decade had passed before the government put some of those very same houses on the market again. A new community of homeowners moved in despite the pollution controversy and debate about whether the Love Canal site was still dangerously contaminated with potentially deadly waste.

Today, 30 years after the pollution crisis, Love Canal is really two areas. Secure behind chain link fence, there is the capped dumpsite that once held entire streets of houses. And, just across the street and to the north is a reborn neighborhood called Black Creek Village. The Village is full of homes that were rehabilitated and sold by the state-formed Love Canal Revitalization Agency.

While the Love Canal environmental catastrophe may not be the worst hazardous waste site the world has ever seen, it is one of America’s most notorious. What transpired at Love Canal led to the development of the federal Superfund program, which aids in the cleanup of toxic waste sites that could pose significant risks to the health and well-being of those living, working and playing around these sites.

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Gary Works is an extensive steelmaking complex that sits on approximately 3,000 acres along the south shore of Lake Michigan just 15 miles southeast of Chicago. It is known as the number one polluter in the Lake Michigan basin and the third largest throughout all of the Great Lakes. In fact, U.S. Steel reported dumping more than 1.7 million pounds of pollution into the Grand Calumet in 2005, the last year for which figures are available.

Federal regulators sent Indiana environmental officials back to the drawing board to make sure Gary Works, U. S. Steel Corp’s largest manufacturing plant, reduces the amount of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals that flow directly into a Lake Michigan tributary. As it turns out, Gary Works is one of the largest polluters in the Great Lakes basin, which makes the company an extremely important environmental factor.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blocked Gary Works’ proposal for a new water permit for its massive steel mill. This new permit would scrap, relax or omit the limits on the pollution that the U.S. Steel mill dumps into the Grand Calumet River. This is especially important because the Grand Calumet empties into Lake Michigan transmitting pollutants directly into the lake.

The EPA blocked the permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in a letter dated October 1. The letter informed Indiana regulators that the EPA will not allow any new permit for Gary Works until significant pollution problems are remedied. As stated in the Clean Water Act, because the USEPA has authority over state environmental regulators, Indiana’s hands are tied.

The EPA’s letter rebuked the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for giving U.S. Steel five years to limit several extremely toxic and potentially deadly pollutants, including mercury, lead, cyanide, ammonia as well as a known cancer-causing chemical – benzo(a)pyrene.

The EPA also condemned Indiana for failing to impose more rigorous environmental pollution standards that would help clean up the Grand Calumet River. Hoosiers, especially those living around Lake Michigan or near the river itself, know that Grand Calumet is one of the most contaminated waterways in the Great Lakes region.

As written in federal law, states are required to renew water permits every five years in order to meet the Clean Water Act’s goal of limiting and eliminating pollution. However, Indiana has not reissued a water permit for U.S. Steel’s Gary Works since 1994.

Indiana officials now insist that this new proposed permit will do more to protect the environment than the old documents did. While officials are not answering many questions, they have promised that they will not finalize the permit until public concerns regarding Gary Works’ pollution problems are addressed.

In a document previously posted on the Internet, Indiana regulators stated they had removed some of the more stringent pollution limits from the old U.S. Steel permit because they did not believe the mill was that likely to exceed these limits in the future.

Environmental advocates, including the City of Chicago, dispute this logic. They say that having a lack of specific limits only clears the way for U.S. Steel to dump unlimited amounts of dangerous and potentially deadly pollutants, including oil and grease, lead, arsenic, benzene, fluoride and nitrates, directly into the water. This is the same water that will eventually end up in the drinking water system of countless people.

Critics of U.S. Steel’s Gary Works also remember that this mill has frequently has been cited for violating the Clean Water Act. Just one example – As part of a legal settlement with the EPA and United States Justice Department, U.S. Steel is attempting to dredge millions of cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment from the Grand Calumet River because of years of past environmental abuse and irresponsibility.

This latest fight involving a well-known Lake Michigan polluter comes just three months after Indiana regulators gave a BP refinery, in nearby Whiting, permission to significantly increase the amount of pollution it dumps into the lake. This is huge considering Lake Michigan is THE source of drinking water for Chicago and numerous other communities.

As a result of widespread public protest and even threats of legal action, BP later decided to step back and even promised to meet the more stringent pollution limits as stated in its old water permit.

U.S. STEEL Corp.
CHEMICALS RELEASED INTO the Grand Calumet/Lake Michigan – 2005
 

A tragedy of the commons is a type of social trap that involves a conflict over resources between an individual’s interests and that of the common good. In this situation, a group of people work toward short-term individual gains, which, in the end, leads to a loss for the group as a whole.
Tragedy of the commons originated from a parable published in 1833 by William Forster Lloyd. The theory itself, however, dates back to Aristotle who said:

“That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it.”

Aristotle knew what he was talking about and one great example of this is the overfishing of our oceans, which has been increasing dramatically over the last 50 years as advances in fishing technology have been made.

In years gone by, it was common to see trawlers and fishing boats at the many ports around the country, and world. These boats, however, have been replaced by vast fishing ships that are capable of being at sea for weeks on end. These factory ships come with all the bells and whisles needed to preserve each day’s catch, which means that these efficient ships need to return to port only when their holds are full of fish.

As is the case with many advances in technology, the birth of the factory fishing ships brought about some devasting changes to the commercial fishing industry. While there was an initial seven percent increase in the number of catches each year during the 50s and 60s, there has been a steady decline in the size of the fish in each catch.

Additionally, roughly 20 of the planet’s smaller, but once prolific fisheries have vanished over the last 25 years. Many more fisheries are having serious trouble staying afloat and may not recover from this overfishing catastrophy.

As can be expected, technology found a way around the ever-decreasing size of the fish being caught in the indiscriminate trawler nets. Smaller mesh is being used, which allows much smaller fish, and other sealife, to be trapped. Because a lot of these smallfry are just that — too small — to be used as human seafood, many are crushed or minced and, ultimately, used as fertilizer or animal food.

As mentioned, net fishing is very indiscriminate, unlike a seasoned fisherman who knows what to keep and what to return to the sea to be allowed to grow into a real keeper. Today, just about any sea-living creatures, big or small, can get trapped in these new super nets.

It has been estimated that with every ton of prawns (or shrimp) caught, roughly three tons of other fish are caught, killed and discarded. Another estimated 20,000 porpoises die every year in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in nets intended for salmon and tens of thousands of dolphins are killed yearly by the tuna-fishing industry.

Photo credit: Merkur Nallbani via Creative Commons

It is necessary to mention that many types of commercially-caught fish have been harvested so feverishly around the globe that a once seemingly endless supply is now threatened on global levels. In fact, some research says there is reason to believe that the commercial fishing industry has actually prompted a change in the gene pool of several species of fish. If this is true, these fish are much less likely to thrive and may not be able to bounce back from the overfishing.

A study at Stony Brook University in New York focused on six generations of a small anchovy-like fish. Striking evolutionary changes were noted. The latter generations of fish turned out to be smaller, were less interesting in foraging for their food and produced fewer viable eggs.
Although this study was conducted in a laboratory setting, the findings could help explain an odd occurrence that has had fishermen and scientists perplexed for years. Even after overfishing has been halted, the population of many fish species simply do not bounce back to their previous numbers.

It appears that, as the larger fish are removed from the species’ gene pool, future populations get a little smaller with each passing year. The larger fish may be caught prior to mating, therefore, their stronger, healthier genes are lost leaving the smaller fish to replenish the depleted population.
The findings of the Stony Brook study challenges the assumption that if a few million fish are left in the ocean, even after overfishing has taken place, there will be enough for a given species of fish to restock itself. This assumption is further challenged by another study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington.

The researchers focused on and studied a population of New Zealand snapper, which had been depleted to around three million remaining fish. They assumed that three million would be enough to allow the population to replenish itself; however, what they found was quite different.
The scientists discovered that only one in 10,000 fish was still capable of mating. This meant that the genetic diversity of the entire snapper population depended on just a few hundred fish. Consequently, a reduction in a species’ diversity leaves the remaining population much more susceptible to environmental factors and pollutants, and it makes them less able to survive or repopulate the species.

If these studies are correct, it would seem logical that longer periods of reduced or completely-halted fishing would be required for the successful repopulation of overfished species.

Nature’s ability of restoring depleted fish populations is also dependent on whether the oceanic ecosystems are still capable of supporting an increased number of certain species of fish. Drastic alterations in the makeup of different species’ populations might possibly create new equilibrium energy flows which actually start to involve other species.

This ecosystem shift can have startling effects. For example, if virtually all the trout are eliminated from a certain area, the carp will most likely take over. If this happens, it will be impossible for the trout to re-establish a successful mating population.

Photo credit: Atanas Entchev via Creative Commons

Because of global overfishing, trawlers must seek their catch in deeper waters, which is threatening the delicate deep-sea ecosystem and the much diverse marine life that calls these areas home. Look at the coelacanths, which are closely related to lungfishes. These amazing fish were believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period. However, in 1938, a healthy, live specimen was caught off the east coast of South Africa.

What will happen to species, such as the coelacanths, if overfishing continues at the current rate?

While much factors into the problem of overfishing, one thing is sure. Ask just about any avid sea fisherman and they will confirm that the fish are smaller now than they used to be. With the whoppers being caught before they ever reach their spawning grounds, it may take many generations before the true kings-of-the-sea return. Hopefully, they will return.

With the help of such organizations as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an independent organization committed to finding a solution to the overfishing crisis, maybe there is still hope.
The MSC was founded in 1997 and has developed an environmental standard for sustaining and managing today’s oceanic fisheries. They reward environmentally responsible fisheries with the use of their blue product ecolabel. Consumers concerned about overfishing are now able to purchase seafood that has been independently scrutinized against MSC’s standards.
Since this past January, 22 fisheries, nationally and internationally, have been evaluated and granted certification for meeting MSC’s environmental standards.

Today, there are roughly 500 seafood products being sold in 25 countries around the plant that meet these standards. This may seem like only a drop-in-the-bucket; however, many times environmental improvement begins as a small effort but ends up making huge, positive progress that benefits the common good.

At the junction of the Mantaro and Yauli rivers in Peru, over 12,000 feet up in the Andes, is a small city of about 35,000 people. It is a community built on the mineral wealth of the mountains and exists only to serve the mines and the smelting company that processes the ore. In 1922 the Cerro de Pasco Corporation, A US-owned company with operations in South America, built a smelting plant in La Oroya, Peru. It was part of the expansion of North American and European corporate expansion into the resource-rich continent. A town grew up around the industrial complex.

The plant has changed hands many times over the years, including being owned by the Peruvian government from 1974 until 1997, when it was privatized and purchased by the Doe Run company of Missouri.

The plant gives off a list of toxins that includes high levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, and zinc. A 1999 study of school children in La Oroya found that 99 percent of them were suffering from lead poisoning and 20 percent were so contaminated that they should have been hospitalized. They couldn’t be hospitalized because the facilities do not exist to treat such a large portion of the population, unfortunately.

Doe Run has taken some measures, though they are largely insufficient and seem more related to public relations than improving the lives of residents. Children under six years of age and having more than 45 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood are bused to Casaracra, a 30 minute bus ride away, for eight hours a day. The World Health Organisation limit for lead is 10 micrograms per decilitre of blood, so to qualify the children have be 4.5 times the acceptable limit. Being removed from the environment for eight hours a day may reduce exposure somewhat, but the children still spend two thirds of their lives surrounded by emissions known to be toxic. The program also applies only to those six and under, leaving school-aged children exposed to the toxins 24 hours a day.

“Exposure to lead is more dangerous for young and unborn children. Unborn children can be exposed to lead through their mothers. Harmful effects include premature births, smaller babies, decreased mental ability in the infant, learning difficulties, and reduced growth in young children. These effects are more common if the mother or baby was exposed to high Center for Disease Control

Other pollutants, most notably cadmium, arsenic and sulphur dioxide, are also well above the acceptable limits set by the WHO. Children are not only more susceptible to the effects of exposure, but more likely to be exposed because they play in the dust and tend to put contaminated objects, such as toys, in their mouths.

As part of the privatization process, Doe Run was supposed to reduce toxic emissions and clean up the facility. In May 2006 Doe Run received its fourth extension to reduce toxic emissions and now has until 2009 to meet its targets. Given the lackadaisical attitude the company has exhibited so far, it is unlikely that it will do so without some sort of outside intervention.

Photo credit: Matthew Sully

The 2006 extension came in the wake of a civil court suit in which the Peruvian government was found at fault for failing to comply with the National General Health Law, the National Air and Environmental Quality Standards, and a Supreme Decree regarding declaring States of Emergency in cases of contamination.

Carlos Chirinos, the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA) attorney who handled the case said, “This decision confirms the urgent need to implement measures to protect the health and lives of the people in La Oroya that are affected by the smelter. We will closely monitor compliance with the court order, to ensure improvements in the quality of life and health for the populace, and the economic benefits that this will bring to the region.”

The Peruvian government has little power in their relationship with large companies. Not only does the government desperately need the revenue such companies provide, but the development and jobs are all that stand between many of the citizens and destitution. La Oroya is a perfect example of this kind of catch-22.

The land surrounding the complex is incapable of supporting crops. It is high in the mountains, where few crops can survive. It was marginal before the toxins released by the plant were a factor and is now incapable of supporting any sort of crop. The jobs that aren’t directly related to mining and smelting are spin-offs of those industries. Without the Doe Run plant, there would be no stores, schools, daycare, or medical facilities.

Photo credit: Matthew Burpee

La Oroya supports about 35,000 people locally but it also supports many more in various other parts of Peru. Office workers, executives, hotel and restaurant workers and a variety of others across the country depend on the mining and smelting industry for their incomes. To close down a major facility would be a severe economic blow and is not a viable option. So when Doe Run asks for an extension from the Peruvian government, it gets an extension.

Doe Run has also arguably made things better than when the plant was run by the Peruvian government. Lead emissions have been reduced by 35%, sulphur dioxide emissions by 5%, and waste water treatment has been improved. There have been attempts to recover land formerly contaminated by slag heaps.

Photo credit: Matthew Burpee

Emissions are still well above limits set by the WHO and the Peruvian government though. If Doe Run’s La Oroya operation were subject to the same laws they have to comply with in the United States, they would be forced not only to drastically reduce their emissions, but to clean up the surrounding area to a much larger degree than they already have.

Given the greatly reduced costs of operating in countries such as Peru, with their reduced wage and operating costs, there is little excuse for the continued contamination of La Oroya and its citizens. The kind of procrastination and evasion practised by companies like Doe Run in the developing world would never be tolerated in the developed world. Doe Run was forced to clean up its Herculaneum, Missouri operation. Why not La Oroya?

The Hudson River is beautiful. It begins in the Adirondack mountains, a little over 4200 feet from the base of New York State’s highest peak, Mt. Marcy, and flows for 315 miles; past the extraordinary rock formations known as the Palisades, to the southern tip of Manhattan, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

At the lower end of the Hudson, the freshwater from the mountain mixes with salt water from the Atlantic, forming an estuary. Past home to a variety of commercial fisheries, the Hudson River has been known to contain up to 200 different types of fish.

Yet despite its natural beauty, the Hudson River is a very dangerous place. Beneath the pristine surface is a PCB graveyard, where deposits of the known carcinogen have settled into the sludge that sits at the bottom of the river. For years environmentalists have been working to get it cleaned up. There is just one problem: the company responsible for the majority of the PCB deposits that pollute this national treasure is a very big company, with very close friends in Washington.

That company, General Electric Company (GE), has spent millions of dollars trying to convince Congress and the public that the proposed cleanup of the Hudson River will actually make the PCB problem worse.

Their main reason for resisting the original EPA-sponsored cleanup proposal, projected to cost in excess of $500 million, is a “moral” argument, not a financial one, says GE spokesperson, lawyer, and former CEO Jack Welch. He insists the cleanup is not necessary because PCB deposits have settled into the muck at the bottom of the river, which Welch says means that “the river is cleaning itself.” Scientists, environmentalists, and a variety of non-profit organizations (with no ties to GE ) say otherwise.

Despite the passage of the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act, which banned PCB manufacturing and required any use of PCBs be done within “totally enclosed systems,” numerous tests for PCB concentration have continued to yield extremely high levels of the contaminant throughout the Hudson River. In 1992, Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC) fish sampling data revealed a 300% increase in PCB levels of fish in the Upper Hudson.

As far back as 1977, when the EPA’s Clean Water Act made it illegal to dump any PCBs into navigable waters, the Hudson was becoming known as a toxic river. Yet six years later, an EPA study of the “PCB problem” in the Hudson River resulted in a Record of Decision (ROD) calling for no action. This caused extreme concern in the environmental community as it came even as the FDA reduced the limit for ppm PCBs in fish fit for human consumption, from 5 to 2, in response to new data.

In 1989, DEC took the lead and asked the EPA to reconsider their 1984 ROD of “no action.” DEC followed their recommendation by releasing the Hudson River PCB Action Plan, which would have required 250,000 pounds of PCBs be dredged from the bottom of the Hudson River. It has been 20 years since that recommendation was made, but no dredging has ever been done.

The “self-cleaning” nature of the Hudson, according to Welch, makes it dangerous to dredge the river. All that muck will come up, he says. Welch believes that if we leave it alone, river water will just naturally keep getting cleaner and cleaner.

Reality, however, does not support this argument.

In 1993, more than 15 years after PCB dumping stopped, DEC found an “oily liquid” at the GE site at Allen Mills that contained 72% pure PCBs. They also found seven GE PCB-laden capacitors in the water near GE’s Hudson Falls plant. This prompted DEC to order GE to clean up the land around the river, but they have yet to require any cleanup of the river, itself.

Meanwhile, scientists discovered that evaporation of PCBs allows them to become airborne–meaning PCBs in the sediment of the river, which are exposed at low tide, can potentially be breathed in by residents or tourists. This prompted research into PCB levels in locals. The results were not good.

High PCB levels were found in the bodies of people who do not eat fish. Additional studies showed high levels of PCBs in tree swallows and a 16-week old bald eagle tested for PCBs was found to have 71 ppm PCBs in its body fat.

Since then, a Natural Resources Damages Claim has been made, and the EPA has begun work on a feasibility study to outline the scope of work involved in a Hudson River cleanup. In 2002, they came up with a comprehensive plan that included removing “enough PCB-laden muck to fill more than 800 Olympic swimming pools from the bottom of the river.”

The cost of the program was estimated at more than $500 million. But in October of 2005, EPA announced a Consent Decree, which would, if accepted, allow GE to limit their cleanup to the first two phases of the original 2002 dredging plan, which would only cover about 10% of the site.

Since then, two separate lawsuits have been filed to force the EPA to disclose documents pertaining to the discussions they have had with GE and the White House, regarding the proposed Hudson River cleanup. But so far, mum’s the word. For political reasons the EPA prefers to keep secret the information that explains their sudden reversal of policy regarding a comprehensive cleanup of the Hudson river.

GE is putting an enormous amount of time and money into avoiding responsibility for the cleanup, despite the fact that they used and dumped PCBs into the land and water long after they knew they were one of the most toxic substances known to science.