News From USW: Today the United Steelworkers (USW) notified Giant
Cement Holding, Inc. (GCHI) that the union is ready to sue to correct
widespread environmental reporting problems at the company's hazardous
waste management facilities. In multiple "Notice of Intent to Sue"
letters, the USW alleges that GCHI and three subsidiary facilities
have repeatedly failed to report accurate information to state and
federal regulators about the identity and quantity of toxic chemicals
at GCHI operations in Alabama, Pennsylvania and South Carolina over
the last five years.
"We're trying to protect our union members and prevent an
environmental disaster that could threaten any one of the communities
where GCHI operates a facility," said USW District Director Connie
Entrekin. "It's time for Giant to come clean and be truthful about the
toxic chemicals that are used at the company's facilities."
Mr. Entrekin cited the recent disaster at EQ Industrial Services
of Apex, North Carolina to underscore the risks at the GCHI
facilities. On October 5, a raging fire forced the evacuation of
17,000 citizens in Apex. Dozens of firefighters, police officers and
residents sought emergency care for respiratory difficulties,
defective vision, and bloody noses. Days after the fire was out, town
officials were upset because they still did not have complete
information about the variety and quantity of chemicals that were
inside the EQ facility.
"Each of these GCHI communities is an Apex waiting to happen," Mr.
Entrekin said. "In fact, something similar already did happen in
Pennsylvania, thanks to GCHI's negligent environmental mismanagement."
In 1997, a fire in a hazardous waste storage tank at Keystone
Cement forced the evacuation of 1,600 residents of Bath, Pa.,
including hundreds of children from two nearby schools. A state
investigation found Keystone negligent, and the company paid nearly
$500,000 in fines, much of it directed to benefit local firefighters,
who worked courageously for hours to prevent an explosion.
In Apex, a fortuitous rainstorm saved the town from what could
have been an even larger environmental catastrophe. EQ did not provide
town officials with a list of chemicals at the facility until October
10, five days after firefighters and residents needed to have the
information.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986
(EPCRA) requires some companies to report their routine releases of
some 600 chemicals, under the US Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The public can use information
reported to TRI to track toxic chemical releases to air, water and
land in their communities.
In addition to 36 EPCRA TRI reporting violations, spanning the
last three years of available data at Keystone Cement in Pennsylvania,
the USW alleges that extensive TRI reporting violations have occurred
at two other GCHI facilities: Giant Resource Recovery in Attalla,
Alabama, and the Giant Cement/Giant Resource Recovery facilities in
Harleyville, South Carolina.
Giant Resource Recovery-Attalla has a permitted capacity to store
and treat up to 344,000 gallons of hazardous waste at a time. In the
last five years, the facility has not reported any chemicals at all
under EPCRA. The USW alleges that the facility, formerly known as M&M
Chemical, should have been reporting information for at least 29 toxic
chemicals, or 145 separate EPCRA TRI reporting violations.
At Giant Cement in Harleyville, South Carolina, the union has
already filed a citizen suit against the company and its subsidiaries
for their alleged failure to report under EPCRA for six specific TRI
chemicals over three years. The USW recently uncovered twelve
additional chemicals that the union suspects are not being reported
properly. The Harleyville facility is the 10th largest recipient of
hazardous waste in the United States, burning more than 100,000 tons
of waste annually. Hazardous wastes are shipped to Harleyville from a
variety of industrial generators, some as far away as Tijuana, Mexico.
If all of the allegations stick, Mr. Entrekin said that GCHI's
total liability could be as high as $6 billion as the Federal statute
provides for the daily assessment of penalties, with maximum penalties
of $32,500 per day, per chemical.
"The law calls for a serious fine because these are very dangerous
violations," said Mr. Entrekin. "GCHI could be putting union members
and our communities at enormous risk. There has to be a heavy penalty
to hold this company accountable and prevent other companies, in the
cement industry and elsewhere, from doing the same."
GCHI facilities across the country have consistently violated
environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, according to the EPA's enforcement and
compliance history database. In the last three years alone, GCHI
facilities have been the subject of more than 40 enforcement actions
from state and federal regulators.
Giant Cement Holding, Inc. is the wholly owned US subsidiary of
Spain's Cementos Portland Valderrivas, which in turn is controlled by
the construction and services conglomerate Fomento de Construcciones y
Contratas. With 850,000 members, the USW is the largest industrial
union in North America.
