They also claimed preliminary success in the larger struggle to
phase out mercury use and trade worldwide when US Congressman Tom
Allen (D-ME) announced that he would introduce legislation to phase
out certain uses of mercury and provide for waste mercury to be
stored and retired rather than exported to developing
countries.
"We applaud Congressman Allen's leadership role on this issue.
There is an emerging global consensus that all uses of mercury must
be phased out as soon as possible," said Michael Bender, executive
director of the Mercury Policy Project. "It is impossible to manage
and use it safely anywhere in the world but least of all in
developing countries lacking in regulatory infrastructure and
resources to safeguard the public and the environment."
The owner of the waste, Don Goldsmith of D. F. Goldsmith Inc.
decided to recall the first 20 ton consignment of the material
already on its way to India after protests began in India by
environmentalists and Indian dockworkers claimed they would refuse
to unload it. Likewise the Indian goverment expressed grave doubts
about it. The Goldsmith decision was no doubt influenced by the
fact that the States of New York and Maine declared the material a
hazardous waste, which would have made its entry into India
possibly illegal under the Indian hazardous waste import ban and
under the Basel Convention -- an international accord designed to
minimize trade in hazardous waste.
"The rejection of this shipment should send a clear message to
the industry that India can no longer be used as a dumping ground
for toxic products of processes which are to be phased out in
northern countries" said Navroz Mody of Greenpeace India.
U.S. based activists who initially raised the global alarm have
been protesting the export plans of broker D.F. Goldsmith for
several months, and have urged the U.S. to retire its mercury
problems rather than allowing the spread of toxic mercury around
the word, particularly to developing countries that lack the
resources and regulations to manage it safely.
"The people of India were absolutely justified in rejecting this
toxic shipment," said Michael Belliveau, toxics project director
for Natural Resources Council of Maine. "The mercury from the
Holtrachem plant has already despoiled enough of our environment in
Maine. We cannot let this same toxic nightmare cause even more
grief abroad." The mercury discharged by he HoltraChem plant has
resulted in the highest levels of mercury-contaminated sediment
possibly ever recorded in the world.
The coalition, which includes Greenpeace, Toxics Link of New
Delhi, Srishti in New Delhi, All India Port & Dockworkers'
Federation, Basel Action Network, Mercury Policy Project, the
Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Peoples Alliance, Peace
and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, the Native Forest Network and
the Maine Toxics Action Center, are calling for the U.S. government
to forever lock-up retired commercial mercury along with the
Defense Department Mercury Stockpiles which already contain about
10 million pounds.
Their hopes were raised dramatically last Thursday when US
Congressman Tom Allen, Democrat of Maine, announced that he would
introduce legislation directing the Department of Defense to
temporarily accept waste mercury, like that left after the closure
of the Maine HoltraChem plant. The bill also would direct the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to develop and implement a program
for long term storage to prevent use and trade of mercury.