[MB NOw! which Niagara River empties into. The…]
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-11-05Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 13 →
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MB NOw! which Niagara River empties into. The dump contains four times as much chemical waste as Love Canal and there is now evidence of leakage through fissures in the underlying rock towards the river.
This information comes (via New Scientist) from "The Ravaged River" report issued by the Public Interest Research Group PIRG), a US citizens group. PIRG accuses the US government of lying to the Canadians (who own the other bank of Niagara River and half of Lake Ontario) by covering up the extent of industrial pollution:
About 2000 million litres of dangerous waste water is dumped in the river every day, posing a serious ncalth hazard to the 400,000 people who get their drinking water from it. Part of the cover-up was the concealment by the US of the breakdown of a waste treatment plant after only 6 weeks operation.
Canadian tests found 24 chemicals from i the Us government's list of "priority" pollutants in the outflow from the "treatment" plant into the river.
Both the Hyde Park and Love Canal dumps are owned by Hooker Chemical and Plastics who have made a secret deal with President Reagan's new-look Environmental Protection Agency.
This deal would involve clearing up 90% of the dangerous waste (says Hooker). But the 10% left would still include tens of kilograms of dioxin alone -enough to kill off Niagara River and Lake Ontario and a few more besides.
Nothing less than removing all the waste and burning it will remove the danger. But this would cost Hooker $200 million-their plan would only cost $10 million.
By the way, previous studies have already shown Lake Ontario to have the highest concentration of dioxin outside of Vietnam. The Great Lakes area seems to be the most polluted area of the Western World.
*Love Canal in New York State was the site of a secret dump of hundreds of barrels of dangerous chemicals. A working class community living on top of it finally had to leave after years of suffering mysterious ilinesses and high rates ot miscarriage and deformity
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Organiser, Thursday November 1981 November › vovember 1981 Page 14