20 Firms Assailed for Ozone Depletion
Despite mounting evidence that the ozone hole is growing larger, most major California aerospace and electronics companies will make no commitment for an early phaseout of ozone-destroying chemicals, a survey released Sunday by an environmental group has found.
Among the top 20 California firms leading in emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals--many of them defense contractors--none said they were willing to make commitments to eliminate the substances before Dec. 31, 1995, the deadline established by the Bush Administration with the support of industry.
Ozone is a toxic pollutant at ground level but at high altitudes protects life on Earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Ultraviolet rays cause skin cancer and cataracts, impair the body’s ability to fight off disease, stunt plant growth and threaten the marine food chain by killing phytoplankton at the ocean surface.
President Bush, alarmed by reports of rapid ozone depletion over heavily populated regions of the Northern Hemisphere, last February accelerated plans to phase out the damaging chemicals by the end of 1995, four years sooner than called for in an international ozone protection treaty known as the Montreal Protocol. Bush urged other nations to follow suit.
Many companies on the top 20 list of emitters compiled by Citizens for a Better Environment, a nonprofit statewide organization, have begun to reduce their use of the chemicals and turn to ozone-friendly substitutes, the group said. The group said that by phasing out the chemicals by 1993 instead of 1995, ozone depletion would end 20 years sooner because many of the chemicals remain in the atmosphere long after they are introduced.
Based on emissions of ozone-destroying chemicals reported by the companies to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 1990--the latest year available--the environmental group identified Hughes Aircraft Co. of El Segundo, Rockwell International of Canoga Park and Downey, General Dynamics in San Diego and Pomona, and Allied Signal of Torrance as the four top offenders. The companies accounted for putting 13% of the state’s 27 million pounds of two ozone-destroying chemicals into the atmosphere, down from the 30 million pounds emitted in 1989.
“California industry remains a major emitter despite available alternatives,” the group’s report said. “Irresponsible corporate behavior, military specifications which require the use of ozone depleters, and the failure of government policy-makers to require rapid phaseout are all to blame for the continuing high use of these chemicals.”
The report covers only two ozone-destroying chemicals, chlorofluorocarbon 113 and methyl chloroform, both solvents. Emissions of these substances migrate to the upper atmosphere, where the sun’s intense rays break them down, releasing atoms of chlorine. The chlorine drives a series of reactions that destroy ozone.
Total emissions are likely to be higher than reported by the environmental group because the study was limited to just two of the dozens of substances that erode the ozone layer.
Hughes reported that it has reduced the use of CFC-113 by nearly 47% and methyl chloroform by nearly 70%. Spokesman Richard Dore said that since 1988, emissions of all ozone-destroying chemicals have been cut in half.
General Dynamics told the environmental group that it hopes to phase out all chlorofluorocarbons by the end of 1993, but will make no promise. Allied Signal said it has urged the federal government to allow it to use substitutes on defense contracts, but will not commit to an early phaseout.
Rockwell said it has not seen the report and could not comment. But the firm defended its record. Since 1987, Rockwell spokeswoman Laurie Circle said, the company’s California-based businesses had reduced CFC-113 use by 47.3%. She said the Rocketdyne division reduced its use of CFC-113 by 95.2% and methyl chloroform by 61.6%.
Substitutes are available, said Jim Jenal, director of the environmental group’s clean air program for Southern California. The problem, he said, is that larger companies have not shared the technology with smaller firms. Only seven of 100 companies surveyed were willing to share information, the citizens group said.
“Companies that can do expensive research and development are in a better position to make the transition,” Jenal said. “The critical need is transferring this technology to smaller businesses, which often pop up using large amounts of these harmful chemicals and don’t have the knowledge to transition to something safer.”
Jenal said he hoped that disclosure of the list would put public pressure on the companies, which he estimated account for 1% of worldwide emissions of ozone-destroying chemicals, to do more.
The other 16 companies on the list are:
Signet Armorlite of San Marcos; GR/Grest Western Foam Products of Orange; McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. in Culver City and McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. of Huntington Beach; Sola/Barnes-Hind of San Diego; TRW Techmar of Irwindale; Shiley of Irvine; Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. of Sunnyvale; Conner Peripherals of San Jose; New Hampshire Ball Bearings of Chatsworth; Seagate Technology of Scotts Valley; Baxter Healthcare, Bently Divisions of Irvine; Allergan Medical Optics of Irvine; ITT Cannon of Santa Ana; Optical Radiation Corp. of Azusa; Northrop Aircraft Divisions of Hawthorne, and Teledyne Systems Co. of Northridge.
