Production of Deadly Chemical Resumed
Union Carbide Corp. on Saturday began producing methyl isocyanate at its Institute, W. Va., plant for the first time since a leak of the chemical killed an estimated 2,000 persons in Bhopal, India, in December.
Production was resumed without incident, although a series of technical problems had forced Union Carbide to repeatedly push back the original start-up date of April 1.
As recently as Thursday, Union Carbide executives called a press briefing to announce that the start-up would occur Friday, only to report the next morning that more problems--including a newly discovered oil leak--had forced another 24-hour delay.
“There’s no question that we’re being extra careful,” Union Carbide spokesman Thad Epps said. “We know the whole world is watching what we’re doing.”
The Institute plant, a few miles west of Charleston, is the only place in the United States to produce methyl isocyanate, a highly toxic chemical used as an intermediary compound in the production of about one-fourth of the world’s pesticides.
Since the Bhopal disaster, when the company shut down methyl isocyanate production, Union Carbide has invested $5 million in new safety equipment, invited local leaders inside the plant, commissioned a safety test by an independent consulting firm and hired a local public relations firm to convince the community that production of the chemical poses no threat to their health.
Still, some residents who live near the plant have not been reassured. On Thursday afternoon, about 20 members of a group called People Concerned About MIC formed a car caravan in front of the plant carrying protest signs that read, “Remember Bhopal,” “Safety Before Profit” and “Aren’t 2500 Lives Enough?”
Plans Called ‘Ludicrous’
“I’m absolutely worried,” said Paul Nuchims, an art professor at West Virginia State College who lives about 300 yards from the plant and who sent his wife and two young children away for the weekend. “There’s been a smooth and calculated public relations campaign by Carbide. But the safety procedures they have there are loose. And their evacuation plans are ludicrous.”
Lee M. Thomas, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, in an interview last week with United Press International, said that he “never would rule out the possibility” of a catastrophic chemical plant accident in the United States but that the chances of such a disaster are slim.
“Who can tell what will happen as far as any sequence of events that could happen?” he asked. “All kinds of things that we think are very improbable could come together at one point in time and you’d have a catastrophic accident.”
One of the biggest concerns of Nuchims and other Union Carbide critics is the company siren, designed to warn the community in case of an emergency, such as a leak at the plant. A few weeks ago, Union Carbide tested the siren full blast for the first time and, according to Nuchims, it was barely heard.
Union Carbide spokesman Epps confirmed that the test siren had a relatively low frequency that “didn’t get through concrete walls too well. Some people couldn’t hear it.”
As a result, the company donated a new $10,000 siren to Institute’s volunteer Fire Department that Epps said will be much more effective in alerting the community if a problem develops at the plant.
But, even the critics acknowledge that most residents in the Kanawah Valley--which is sometimes called the “chemical capital” because of its high concentration of chemical plants--are behind Union Carbide’s decision to resume production.
