Friends & Partners
Fine-Art Landscape and Environmental Photography The Green Shop - Solar and Green Products For SA Save Bantamsklip Vegan SA - the veganism directory for South Africa South Africa Water Crisis Save the Flamingo Federation for a Sustainable Environment South African Photography Blog Border Collie Rescue Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility SA Climate Crisis DeSmogBlog Campaign Against Depleted Uranium Nuclear Free South Africa Uranium Free South Africa Urban Sprout The Antidote Public Environmental Arbiters Earthlife SA Groundwork GreenPeace UK GreenPeace USA WESSA Sustaining the Wild Coast Geasphere - Earth Matters C.A.P.E. Endangered Wildlife Trust Environmental Management Inspectorate Friends of the Earth GAIA CANE - Coalition Against Nuclear Energy BAN Depleted Uranium Greenhouse Effect of Global Warming Neverness Garden Route Botanical Garden Marlboro Gauteng Information Site The Greens Europe Free Alliance Kosi Bay Accommodation - Live Where Nature Lives Justice Project South Africa Class Action South Africa
| COEGA’S HAZARDOUS HOT POTATO |
 |
 |
| Written by INGELA RICHARDSON |
| Monday, 24 May 2010 21:50 |
|
What will Coega’s Alcan corporation do with their hazardous waste? Responsibility for the disposal of hazardous waste lies with the company and its past track record, including a court case against the United States government, is not encouraging. Spent Pot Lining (SPL) is a waste product of aluminium smelting. It is considered to be hazardous waste because it contains absorbed fluoride and cyanide. SPL used to be mainly dumped in landfills, but these are now banned in most countries and a stockpile of SPL is building up. About 20 tonnes of SPL is generated for every 1000 tonnes of aluminium produced. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of SPL are stored around the world awaiting disposal. According to a CSIR report, the general waste disposal sites to be used by Coega would be Arlington General Landfill and Koedoeskloof Low Hazardous and General Landfill. But by the time the smelter starts generating hazardous waste, the Aloes High Hazardous landfill will no longer be operating. A new hazardous waste plant is planned for 2007 at the Sundays River. The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) is the landowner and permit holder, but will not operate the H:H hazardous waste plant (H:H being the highest grading for waste processing plants). The Sundays River Valley Forum has said the H:H waste plant is badly sited. Two sites were proposed in the Sundays River Valley, with one draining into that river’s catchment area, and the other into the Swartkops River catchment area. The hazardous waste generated by the smelter would be about 4 030 tonnes per year and while awaiting disposal, the onsite storage of SPLs leads to leaching of contaminants into soil and water. CSIR states that: “the assessment of impacts and significance is based on the assumption that good practice measures will be employed in materials handling and waste management”. However, Alcan does not have a good track record of “good practice measures”. In 1992, Alcan was charged by the United States government, together with 20 other defendants, for response costs incurred in cleaning up the Susquehanna River. In September 1985 about 100 000 gallons of water contaminated with hazardous waste was released by Alcan into the Susquehanna River. Alcan refused to settle, and on May 8, 1991, the district court entered judgment against Alcan in the amount of $473,790.18. Commenting on this court case Dean William Prosser raised the very issue that affects Coega now. He said: “A very troublesome question arises where the acts of each of two or more parties, standing alone, would not be wrongful, but together they cause harm to the plaintiff. If several defendants independently pollute a stream, the impurities traceable to each may be negligible and harmless, but all together may render the water entirely unfit for use.” At Coega a similar situation exists where it is planned that pollutants and hazardous wastes from several industries be pumped into one specific area, rendering that area “unfit for use”. A statement released in the United States Supreme Court concerning the Alcan case said the law authorized the government to: “protect the public and the environment from the harm caused by the release or threat of release of hazardous substances and to recover the government's cleanup expenses from the parties responsible for the contamination”. Alcan was held liable for $13.6 million. It was determined that the identification of a “hazardous substance” depends on the characteristics, rather than the concentration, of the substance. The Sundays River Valley Forum obviously has reason for concern. Alcan will be responsible for its own hazardous waste disposal and was prepared to go to court with the US government over its own negligence. Currently, the Sundays River is one of the least polluted of the rivers flowing into the bay. Wherever a smelter is sited, there will be hazardous waste – but no one wants to catch this hot potato. |
Comments