🚀 go-pugleaf

In the article <3snamm$ika@news.missouri.edu>,
received on 26 Jun 1995 22:00:54 UTC,
ww@nyxfer.blythe.org (Workers World Service) wrote:
: ------------------------
: Via Workers World Service
: Reprinted from the June 29, 1995, issue of Workers World
: newspaper
: -----------------------
: 
: CALIFORNIA: A DUMP WAITING TO EXPLODE
: 
: By Gloria La Riva
: San Francisco
: 
: Evidence of a potential life-threatening disaster to communities
: near the Casmalia, Calif., hazardous-waste site was revealed June
: 19 at an emergency news conference.
: 
: Environmental Protection Agency internal documents were secretly
: leaked by anonymous sources within the agency. These employees
: were concerned about the imminent danger to the health and safety
: of nearby towns, and the EPA's failure to act properly to avert a
: crisis.
: 
: Casmalia is a town of 200 people in Santa Barbara County. The
: dump, located 1.6 miles away, is a massive 250-acre toxic-waste
: site operated by Casmalia Resources Corp. Since 1973, dozens of
: corporations have dumped tens of millions of gallons of
: pesticides and other chemicals, some in drums, into unlined
: trenches, landfills and "waste-spreading areas."
: 
: After an intense struggle by residents and Greenpeace, the dump
: was shut down in 1989. But the danger remains.
: 
: The greatest risk, according to a May 26 EPA internal memorandum,
: is the very real possibility that two of the "immediately
: adjacent, unlined" open landfills--one with cyanide and the other
: with acids--are in danger of mixing.
: 
: That would create a deadly cyanide gas cloud. These landfills are
: estimated to contain between 5 million and 7 million drums that
: are greatly deteriorated.
: 
: The EPA document further describes the eroding state of the
: unlined, open-air landfills: "Substantial gullies have developed
: at the base of the pesticide/solvent and cyanide landfills. ...
: If left unabated, these gullies could result in catastrophic
: slope failure and direct exposure of hazardous waste. ...
: 
: "The comingling of incompatible wastes could result in
: uncontrolled chemical reactions (e.g. formation of hydrogen
: cyanide and other toxic gases), fire and explosions."
: 
: No sooner were the EPA documents leaked to environmentalists than
: a new cover-up began. Greenpeace organizer Bradley Angel told
: Workers World that when he requested the files on the Casmalia
: dump from the EPA, he was told they were removed from public
: view, and that a Freedom of Information Act request would be
: denied.
: 
: Local residents and physicians spoke at the June 19 news
: conference at the Santa Maria Airport in Casmalia. They expressed
: their anger and shock. Casmalia resident Ken Vaniter said, "This
: is like being in a gas chamber waiting for the poison to hit."
: 
: "We are worried about a Bhopal-type catastrophe with thousands of
: people dead," said Dr. Daniel Ducoffe.
: 
: Organizers of the news conference demanded immediate funding to
: clean up the dump, that the government immediately inform the
: public of the danger, and funds to relocate residents.
: 
:                                -30-
: 
: (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
: if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World,
: 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwp.blythe.org. For
: subscription info send message to: ww-info@wwp.blythe.org.)