The action is taking place just outside the EPA’s new
headquarters in the Ronald Reagan building at 1300 Pennsylvania
Avenue. It highlights concern that the EPA is refusing to shut down
WTI despite a recent Ombudsman’s recommendation that the facility,
located just 400 yards from an elementary school, stop operations
immediately. Greenpeace activists and residents who have traveled
from East Liverpool are locked to both the inside and outside of
the bus. They say they will remain there until they get an
assurance from the EPA that the agency will fully implement all the
recommendations in the Ombudsman’s report.
The activists also hope to meet with EPA Administrator Carol
Browner and deliver soil samples taken from the school playground
near the incinerator. New Greenpeace testing shows the soil
contains levels of dioxin, a human carcinogen, six to nine times
the national average.
On Friday the EPA’s Ombudsman, citing faulty test burn data,
unreliable air monitoring and a flawed risk assessment, urged the
agency to stop operations at the incinerator for at least six
months to allow time for further investigations. However the EPA
refuses to suspend operations. “Allowing WTI to operate is like
giving a drunk driver the keys to the car,” said Terri Swearingen,
a long-time opponent of the incinerator who is now locked to the
mock incinerator. “We are making a personal plea to President
Clinton and Vice President Gore to keep their promises and ensure
the EPA shuts down the WTI incinerator,” said Alonzo Spencer,
another East Liverpool resident.
The activists and residents singled out Vice President Gore,
saying he should not allow the EPA to defy the Ombudsman’s
recommendation. At the protest site the activists are playing an
audio recording of Vice President Gore’s 1992 election promise to
block operation of WTI, a promise on which he never delivered. On
Saturday a Gore advisor told the media the Vice President now
supports all the Ombudsman’s recommendations including the one to
shut down the WTI incinerator.
“Can the Vice President finally deliver and press the EPA to
shut down WTI?” said Greenpeace toxics specialist Rick Hind. “This
issue tests how committed the Vice President really is to the
environment and the health of America’s children. Will he protect
East Liverpool, or will he ignore the evidence and let a corporate
polluter have its way?”
